I have been listening to lots of instrumental Christmas music lately as I have been writing a couple of Christmas stories. I completed one of those stories this week. Christmas in Gracechurch Street should be published in the first half of December. But that is not the story I am highlighting today.
Today’s story excerpt is from A Very Mary Christmas, which is currently on sale until tomorrow, November 24, 2020. I have chosen to pair this story with this relaxing Christmas album, which has been on my listening while writing rotation, because I’m thinking Nicholas might have benefited from being able to play some soothing music after he ends up with unexpected and very troublesome holiday visitors. (And it is because of those somewhat unwelcome guests that I picked “Welcome Home for the Holiday.” 🙂 )
I updated my book promotions page yesterday. (You can find that page in the menu at any time.) This is just a repeat of that information, but I wanted the sale to be on my main blog page. I’d hate for anyone to miss out on a sweet deal like this.
Fred and Whit are two of my favourite characters. Such troublemakers!
Price reduced to $0.99* from November 20 until November 24, 2020.
Since the gentleman Mary loves does not seem to return her feelings, there is only one thing on Mary’s Christmas list: escape her mother by going to town.
Nicholas Hammond would like nothing better than to enjoy a peaceful Christmas without any additional bills to pay or disasters to clean up.
However, Nicholas’s brother, Alfred, and Alfred’s friend Whit are not about to give either Mary or Nicholas what they want for Christmas. Instead, they are scheming to see the two married. (Hopefully, everyone survives their machinations.)
Grace Love was not the sort of lady who sat on the side during dances. She was not the sort of lady who stayed at home when there was an outing to the park. She was not the sort of lady who avoided any sort of fun. Or, at least, she had not been such a lady until now. And all it had taken for Grace’s world to change had been one house party.
With eyes narrowed, she watched the progress of her sister’s hat as the carriage Felicity was perched in made its way down the street.
“Grace, dear, do not spill your tea on that chair.”
“Of course, Mama.” Grace pulled her attention back to the sitting room in the house they were renting for the season and away from her treacherous sister.
[from Her Secret Bea, Touches of Austen Book 3]
Provided to YouTube by CDBaby. Published on YouTube on July 5, 2015.
I had considered attempting to find songs with either the word secret or whisper in the title for each week that this story posts. However, I do not know how many weeks that will be, and I thought I might get bored of that. 😀 So, I might toss in a few secretively titled songs over the weeks but not every week. This week, I have selected a song that is on my Music to Write By playlist on Spotify that has a title which reflects what must happen as a story is being written. The imagination must dance! 🙂
And my imagination has been dancing. I am not sure how many conversations Mary and Wes have had in my mind this week. It all has to do with future possibilities, however, and not the portion of the story I am currently writing. They are even making it a bit of a challenge to focus on any other story but theirs. But then, we should expect Lord Westonbury to be a bit troublesome, shouldn’t we? LOL Continue reading Music Monday: Dance of the Imagination (Greg Maroney)
Christmas in July continues today with a Mary Merry Christmas Medley and another book giveaway. Can you guess which book? Did I give you a good enough hint?
Published to YouTube by pok12341 on December 26, 2011
There are only two books remaining on our list: A Very Mary Christmas and Two Days Before Christmas. The giveaway link is located, as always, after my writing news and just before today’s story excerpt.
Writing News:
I don’t have a lot of news for you this week. I’m still working on writing both Delighting Mrs. Bennet and Charles: To Discover His Purpose. I managed to do three days of two writing sessions each. However, I worked on Charles’s story for most of those second writing sessions since that story needs to be completed first. (I would still like to have this story ready to publish in August — it’s just turning out to be longer than expected)
Because I put extra time into that story, there were 3 chapters posted at Patreon last week, and I know I have at least 2 chapters ready or almost ready to post this week. 🙂
My goal to have the Dash of Darcy and Companions Collection all updated by next Tuesday, the end of the month, is a faint possibility for the ebooks, but the print ones might push me past that deadline as will the fact that I would like to add a couple of bundles. So a more realistic goal for completion is before August 15.
And I think that is it for the writing news. Now, for the …
Sometimes a song will inspire a story. It can be the emotion of the melody or a simple lyric. And then, there are those times when a song reminds you of a story. That is what this incredibly fun song did for me this week. Read on for a few short snippets of that story and a peek at something sort of new that I started writing this week.
BrettEldredge. “Brett Eldredge – Somethin’ I’m Good At (Official Music Video).” YouTube. YouTube, 28 Feb. 2017. Web. 04 Mar. 2017.
Ok, did you listen to the song? If you did, do you have any guesses about which story or characters this song might have reminded me of? For me, I think I shall never be able to read or write about Whit from A Very Mary Christmas without picturing Brett Eldridge. 🙂
Below is where we first meet Wit.
Nicholas Hammond groaned and rose from his chair. “Why are you here?”
“Good day to you, too, brother,” said Alfred Hammond, flopping into a chair. “You remember Whit?”
“Mr. Whittemore.” Nicholas greeted the young man, who had accompanied Fred into the study. At least Ethan Whittemore had the good sense to look uneasy. Nicholas came around his desk and propped himself on the edge of it, intentionally kicking his brother’s foot while crossing his ankles. “I might ask the same of you, Whittemore. Are you not both supposed to be in school for at least another week?”
“Old man Frohock cannot abide a bit of fun,” said Fred, “and wishes not to see me again until after the New Year.”
Nicholas motioned for Whit to take a seat. “I assume you were part of this fun?”
“I was, sir.”
If Nicholas did not know the sort of young man Whit was, such a concise answer given in such a humble tone might have convinced him that Whit was an innocent caught up in a scheme not of his doing. But, Nicholas knew Whit. Whit was the brains of the pair seated before Nicholas’ desk. The idea for a scheme might originate with Fred, but the planning and execution lay firmly at Whit’s feet.
Whit might be the “brains” of the scheme, but it certainly seems that any scheme he promotes to Fred ends in disaster and near tragedy.
“Grab some coins and your great coat,” whispered Whit as they moved down the hall. “Wickham will be playing cards tonight, and he is an easy mark. I dare say, we can double our money and then arrange for a bigger event where we could win more — that is if you are up to riding against Wickham.”
Fred paused to consider the thought. “But if we lose?”
“That will not happen. Aside from your brother, you are the best rider I have seen. However, if needed, I will write to my father to cover the expense and take my chances with being sent to sea.” He grabbed Fred by the shoulders. “But, that will not happen, for we will not lose — although, tonight, you will lose. We must make Wickham think he has a chance against you. A friendly ride out after the game with a small wager, and then we beg him to let us attempt to win it back — along with additional money from his friends.” Whit slapped Fred on the back. “If not for that lad carrying the milk, the scheme would have worked on Allston.” He chuckled. “Actually, it did work. We just were not allowed to collect, but this time, there will be no lad with milk and no Mr. Frohock to keep us from our winnings and your brother from marrying.”
He had good intentions. If only he could run a scheme without something going wrong. Thankfully, he finally got it right. (Although his timing needs some work.)
The door at the end of the room cracked open just as Nicholas stood to draw Mary into his embrace.
“Are you finished? We are getting cold.” Whit’s head poked through the small opening.
“Then I suggest you find the main entrance to the church and use it,” said Nicholas.
“But what is your answer?” Though Whit’s head still poked into the room, he was obviously struggling against someone who was trying to pull him back.
“I have not prepared to leave Longbourn,” said Mary.
“We have seen to that,” Whit slapped his hand in the direction of whoever was attempting to extract him from the room. “Fraser also knows to expect Miss Mary. Not a thing has been left undone.” He finally lost his struggle, and the door slammed shut for a moment before reopening.
“He is persistent,” muttered Nicholas. “What shall I tell him, my love?”
Whit was just such a fun character to write! And to tie this in with what I was doing this week — I have put together another anthology of previously published stories. Despite the Circumstances is a collection of four stories that have a common theme of love against the odds. The titles included are Oxford Cottage, Listen to Your Heart, Waking to Mr. Darcy, and A Very Mary Christmas.
Along with getting this collection organized and uploaded to the various retailers, I finished going through Discovering Mr. Darcy and sent it to my first reader and have her comments back — I have a few things to work on for that story this week.
And then, I opened my story ideas and partial works folder and randomly picked one to open. This was labeled P&P 4, which means it is the fourth story idea I started writing. I stopped that story at just over 14,000 words! That was probably due to focusing on some other project and then just never came back to this story. Well, I have decided that I will try rewriting it. (My style of writing has changed a bit since that first attempt at this story and rewriting seemed easier than just editing.) I am not certain where this story is going or if it will go directly to publishing or take a stop in Thursday’s Three Hundred yet, but it is underway. I haven’t gotten very far into the rewrite — about 3500 words or so, but here is a bit of that beginning. Oh, and I have renamed it, at least for now, as With the Colonel’s Help. Continue reading Music Monday: Somethin’ I’m Good At, Brett Eldredge
