A Dash of Darcy – Page 6

Music Monday: Wind, Brian Crain

When I write, I like to have instrumental music playing. This is not news to those who have been following my blog for any length of time. 🙂 I have several playlists of music that I can choose from when I sit down to write. Often, I pick randomly. However, for this last story — the one I just finished the first draft of this week — I couldn’t pick a random piece of music. This story demanded I listen to Brian Crain.

29briancrain. “Brian Crain – Wind.” YouTube, YouTube, 26 July 2016, www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wfu6k8IGOXU.

There were two albums my brain favoured for this story. One was Piano and Light. The other, which contains the above song, was Piano Opus. A few minutes of closing my eyes and listening to either of these albums seemed just the thing to let my brain know it was time to write. Even when I sat down to write this blog post, I put on “Wind” and before the song was half over, my brain had calmed and was focused on writing. I think it is amazing how our bodies can learn to react to signals like that!

Now that you know why I am sharing this particular piece of music, let’s move on to the writing news for the week and then enjoy a story excerpt.

Tomorrow, Tuesday, August 15 from 3-5 pm EST, Zoe Burton, Rose Fairbanks, and I are hosting an Austen in August Garden Party on Facebook. There will be opportunities to share some favourites, test your knowledge of Jane Austen’s novels in a scavenger hunt, and (hopefully) pick up one of our books in a giveaway. Giveaways (7 of them) will be scattered throughout the time, and you will have to be present to claim a book. You can join the party here:

Austen in August Garden Party.

Henry: To Prove Himself Worthy is now available for pre-orders with a release day scheduled for August 29. You can pre-order that book at this link:

Henry: to Prove Himself Worthy.

(Oh, by the way, this is one of the books I will be giving away at the party tomorrow.)

As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, I have completed the first draft of Unravelling Mr. Darcy. I have let it sit for a couple of days, and will begin working my way through the first round of edits this week.

While it was sitting, I started writing what will be the next Thursday’s Three Hundred story which is called Confounding Caroline and is excerpted below.

AN EXCERPT from Confounding Caroline: Continue reading Music Monday: Wind, Brian Crain

Music Monday: SHINE, The Washboard Union

This is not the song I had thought I would be sharing today. However, when it popped up in my YouTube notifications, I changed my original plans because I have heard this on the radio lately, and I have been eagerly awaiting the video so that I could share it. I love how upbeat both the tune and the words are. It’s a great pick me up song for any time of the day, but I do think Monday mornings are probably more in need of picking up than most (except maybe Wednesday afternoons as your energy flags in that midweek slump — or is that just me?)

TheWashboardUnion. “The Washboard Union – Shine – Official Lyric Video.” YouTube. YouTube, 21 July 2017. Web. 22 July 2017.

So, while you’re tapping your toes to this happy song, let me tell you briefly what I have been up to this past week in my writing life.

During my editing block:

First, I finished first round edits on Henry’s story and sent it to my first reader, who messaged me that she enjoyed it and has some notes for me, which we will discuss probably this evening.

Then, I pulled up the copy of His Beautiful Bea with all its line edits and began a final read through of that before working on the formatting. It looks like everything but the print edition should be ready for release day, August 1, 2017. (Hopefully, by the time this post goes live, both the e-book and print files will be uploaded and just awaiting review and proofing for appearance.)

I also sent out a sneak peek at chapters one and two of His Beautiful Bea to my mailing list, and I set up a Touches of Austen Readers Group on Facebook where readers can discuss elements of Austen they find in the book as they read.

Note: If you would like to read my explanation of what the Touches of Austen Collection of books is and the first chapter of His Beautiful Bea, you can do that at this link: His Beautiful Bea Preview

I’m rather excited about taking this step into writing Austenesque stories. I just hope I survive the Mrs. Bennet-like fit of nerves that accompanies doing something new!

And then in my writing block:

I’m still working on what will be my next Dash of Darcy novella. I think I might have finished the cutting and splicing of the previous stories into the new story phase at least for now, and depending on how long this story ends up being in the end, I am at the “one-third to one-half done” mark. 🙂

The excerpt below is an entirely new part that I added to the story this week. (No, the story does not yet have an official title. 🙂 )

EXCERPT from Dash of Darcy #4: Continue reading Music Monday: SHINE, The Washboard Union

Music Monday: Let Her Go, Passenger/Break of Reality

Today, along with some writing news and a short story excerpt, I have the same song two times for you. The first video is an instrumental cover of Passenger’s “Let Her Go” by Break of Reality. This video is on my writing playlist (no lyrics means it can play while I write).

Break of Reality. “Let Her Go – Passenger Cello Cover by Break of Reality.” YouTube. YouTube, 13 May 2014. Web. 15 Apr. 2017.

The second video (below) is a lyrics video that someone created. I thought I would share that one for those who might be curious as to what the words to the song are. It’s not a happy song, but I have not been writing happy stuff this week (see excerpt), so it fits.

Marcohordijk. “Passenger – Let Her Go (Lyrics).” YouTube. YouTube, 15 Dec. 2012. Web. 15 Apr. 2017.

So what have I been doing this week in my writing life?

I was worked on getting the print version of Discovering Mr. Darcy ready. That was not easily done as my computer did not wish to play nice with CreateSpace for a couple of days, and then, I forgot to change the font colour on the spine and didn’t notice until I got the digital proof back. That has been fixed, and I finally have a print proof on its way for approval. They say that I should have it by April 25th. I am hoping I have it sooner. 😉

I finished Not An Heiress — the epilogue is done! And it was fun writing a little bit about the Darcy and Fitzwilliam children. 🙂 And I began first round edits on the story in preparation for June publication. Although this story will not be ready to release for a couple of months, I am hoping to have a preorder up for it by Tuesday, so that when readers finish DMD, they can order NAH and be ready to continue the story that the epilogue of DMD hints at.

I returned to writing With the Colonel’s Help just in time for the story to take a sad, angsty turn. As a result, writing times have been shorter and word counts have been less because I struggle with the emotions of writing things like this in large doses. I internalize the emotions — happy or sad — when writing and reading. I have needed a longer “decompression” time after those sections. The good news is I think the story should be through its darkest part very soon, and then I can get things set right. That should be easier (and faster) to write.

And now for…

A SHORT EXCERPT FROM With The Colonel’s Help: Continue reading Music Monday: Let Her Go, Passenger/Break of Reality

Music Monday: I Be U Be, High Valley

Happy Monday! Today, I decided to share a song because, well, it has just been stuck in my head a lot lately. It is just one of those that sticks. I love this group’s music. And even though this has a more traditional country sound to it, I like it, which is not always the case for me. But then it has such fantastic lyrics which I am certain plays almost as big a part in my liking it as the rhythm and melody. Although I did not choose the song to have a connection to what I have been writing this week, I think I can make one.

Highvalleymusic. “High Valley – I Be U Be (Official Music Video).” YouTube. YouTube, 07 Apr. 2017. Web. 08 Apr. 2017.

This week, I reached what I think is the end of Not an Heiress. It still needs an epilogue and would have one by now, but I ended up with a touch of the flu and had to take a day off from writing. (That was not easily done 😉 )

In this story, the hero, Richard, and the heroine, Mary, are really opposites when you consider them separately. She is bent on propriety, and he is more willing to have some fun. However, they blend together into something unique and strong. They have a passionate love that overcomes her propriety, and they both have a desire to help those who are less fortunate. And though, they, at first, think they cannot be together, it becomes obvious that their love is not going to just fade away and be replaced by another. Thankfully, Lady Catherine guesses that they love each other and forces the issue, so the coming together of the two happens more rapidly than it would have otherwise. And it is a sweet relationship that they have! I can see Richard singing this song to Mary. It seems to echo what his thoughts of Mary are.

In addition to finishing the main portion of Not an Heiress, I also completed the line edits of Discovering Mr. Darcy. And, just now, late on Sunday evening, I have just submitted my ebook files for review to all my retailers for a short preorder. The release day for the ebook book is April 18, 2017. (Print will probably be about a week later.)

Tomorrow, it is my turn to post on Austen Authors, where I will be sharing an excerpt from Discovering Mr. Darcy and talking about short stories/novellas a bit. And there is a chance to win an ebook copy. I hope you drop by and say hi!

Before I post an excerpt of what I wrote this week, I thought I would share the cover images for Discovering Mr. Darcy and Not an Heiress.

And now for a bit of what I wrote this week. Remember, this is from the end of the book so it will contain spoilers. It is a bit shorter of an excerpt to hopefully avoid any major reveals. Read at your own risk. 🙂

EXCERPT FROM Not an Heiress: Continue reading Music Monday: I Be U Be, High Valley

Music Meets Movies Monday: Elinor&Edward, It’s You

Today, we have a little twist to the Music Monday video selection. This is the most recent addition to my Music Meets Movies playlist on YouTube. I find this playlist to be a wonderful place to take a few minutes break before I begin writing or between writing activities such as switching from editing to writing.

Catchingraindrops24. “Elinor & Edward | It’s You.” YouTube. YouTube, 04 Oct. 2014. Web. 01 Apr. 2017.

I find listening to song lyrics is a great source of creative inspiration — especially when they are paired with lovely images from a favourite Jane Austen adaptation. However, I can’t actually listen to music with words when I write because it is too distracting, so I leave them for those times when I’m not writing.

For the past three weeks, I have been trying out a new routine for my writing work time — breaking it into sections dedicated to various things that need doing. Two of those sections are editing and writing new things. When I have to transition from editing to writing, I need to have something to calm the critical section of my brain and help me relax into the creative part of my brain. Music works very well for this.

During my editing time slots this week, I was able to complete the first round of edits on At All Costs, and in one writing section, I wrote its epilogue. That story has now been sent off to my first reader, and I am waiting to get her comments back before I will touch it again. I will be putting Discovering Mr. Darcy in the editing time slot this next week as I got that manuscript back from my second reader. Hopefully, I will have news about a preorder of that book by next Monday.

My writing time this week focused on Not An Heiress, the sequel to Discovering Mr. Darcy, and I managed to add about 8,000 words to it. I think I am on the downward side of the story hill and should have the story wrapped up in another week or a bit more. And then it can slip into that editing slot. 🙂

Below is one day’s worth of words from my writing times this week, and, I think, the song above matches up pretty well with what has been happening in this section of the book. (I also happen to envision Mary as looking a lot like Elinor in this version of Sense and Sensibility.)

A Word of Warning: I am at least halfway through this story, so, as always when we get to the second part of a story, this excerpt will contain spoilers. 🙂

EXCERPT FROM Not An Heiress:
Continue reading Music Meets Movies Monday: Elinor&Edward, It’s You