Today, I’m not giving you a short excerpt to read. I’m giving you the whole first chapter of Assessing Mr. Darcy. This book is the final entry in my Dash of Darcy and Companions collection, and you can download it today for FREE from Amazon. (Today, August 9, only. It goes back to regular price tomorrow. However, it is also available to read in the Kindle Unlimited program.)
As you will see from the chapter below, Mr. Collins is not Mr. Collins in this story, but rather William Bennet.
I think you’ll also figure out why I decided to pair the above picture with this book, but I have to ask: Do you suppose the lady in the painting is spying on her new and handsome neighbours like Elizabeth is? 🙂
PUBLISHED TO YOUTUBE BY KING CALAWAY ON JANUARY 25, 2019.
This is one of those songs I just happened to see as a suggestion on YouTube. I had never heard of this Country Pop group before. So, I clicked play and decided it was a song worth sharing and pairing up with Assessing Mr. Darcy.
(You can find this song on Spotify at this link. I don’t get anything for sharing this link. I am just trying to do my part to help musicians earn a few pennies when listeners listen. 🙂 )
I’ve chosen the following chapter because it is when the first hints of a desire for “Building a World for Two” begin to filter into Darcy’s thinking. It is the moment he meets Elizabeth. (Yes, this is a story where Darcy falls for her immediately, and then they work through some stuff.)
Assessing Mr. Darcy, Ch. 4
Darcy had found his tea with Bingley to be refreshing, but not so refreshing as the feel of the wind against one’s person as he rode. At least, that is how Darcy saw it. He and Bingley had discussed the basics about which books were most important to look over first and what Bingley’s hopes were in securing an estate like Netherfield. It was for Bingley as it was for many gentlemen.
Bingley wished to gain the prominence that such an estate would bring him as well as a place into which he could put some of his inheritance in such a fashion that it would continue to reap benefits well past when he departed this earth. Bingley was no fool. He was happy and amiable as well as obliging to a fault at times, but he was no fool once he put his mind to a matter. It would take some doing, but Darcy did not expect it would be overly long before Bingley understood the workings of an estate as well as any gentleman did. Darcy smiled wryly. Bingley had the added advantage that he was likely to gain the approval of all his neighbours with very little effort. That was how Bingley was. He liked people, and they liked him. It was an enviable quality.
“I see the knoll,” Bingley circled back to where Darcy was riding at a slower pace. “There.” He pointed to his left. “And that fence there must be the one of which the groom spoke. We are nearly at the end of Netherfield’s lands in this direction. I shall have to ask him tomorrow for a marker of where it ends in the opposite direction.”
“Do you truly care to know?” Darcy teased. “Are there pretty ladies at an estate in all four directions?”
Happy Leap Day! What a wonderful present to wake up to — an extra Saturday. 🙂 Here’s a look at what I have been up to during this last week of February 2020.
Writing News
So far (as of Friday evening), this has been an excellent writing week. I have put the new routine of rereading one day and writing the next into place, and it seems to be working quite well. I feel a lot less stressed over “getting it all done,” which has been wonderful to feel more relaxed. I think, depending on how today goes, I might actually get more written this week than I had initially thought I would. It’s always such a better feeling to be on top of things than trying to catch up. 🙂 It’s amazing what can happen when you embrace, rather than fight, the way your mind wishes to work. 🙂
Richard rode in silence for a full two minutes before deciding that it was best just to lay out the whole sorry business before his cousin and endure whatever teasing might come. “I am considering selling my commission and applying to my father for the land he has promised me.”
“Have you had your fill of military life or is it more than that?”
Richard rolled his eyes both at the question and the way his cousin was tipping his head and studying him. That look always said that Darcy already knew the answer. “I do not wish to ask a wife to either follow the drum or wait for whatever remains of me to be returned to her, nor do I wish to leave fatherless children if there should be any such blessings to come our way.”
Richard cast a wary sidelong glance at Darcy, expecting his cousin to have some comment, but Darcy did not. Instead, Darcy just rode on, looking forward with an occasional glance in Richard’s direction.
Richard blew out a breath. “It was likely three or four o’clock this morning when I came to the realization that following a lady around and studying her finer qualities to assure her of her worth was not a good way to keep one’s heart from becoming attached to that lady.”
A lifted brow? That was all the response he was going to get? He sighed. Very well, he would continue as Darcy expected him to do. “In battle, it is good to scout out the enemy, study their tactics, and make notes of their strengths and weaknesses. It is not the same with ladies.”
Published to YouTube by Daughtry on September 28, 2012.
Well, today I have three excepts for you that contain gentlemen at that moment when they are about to admit that their lives need a lady — a particular lady — in them. The first one is from a book that is already published (above the video), the second (just below this paragraph) is from my new release, and the third is from a current work in progress (at the end of this post) which is currently posting on Patreon.
“Congratulations,” Darcy replied, and then after a moment to ponder Bingley’s words, during which he considered his friend married to the sister of the only lady who had, to this point in his life, captured his attention as none other had ever done, he added, “Do not play with her emotions.”
Bingley scowled at him. “I would not.”
“No, I do not think you would, but you must appear to be above such since if you are found wanting, then I shall also be found wanting, seeing as I am your friend. That is, of course, if we can prove to the younger Mr. Bennet that I am not as reprehensible as my actions have accused me of being.”
Bingley grinned. “You do not wish to be found wanting?”
Darcy shook his head. “I think your advice is excellent. I believe I must marry Miss Elizabeth.”
So that ^^ is my big news for this week. Assessing Mr. Darcy has been published! Thank you to those who have purchased the book and to who have left reviews.
Now that Assessing Mr. Darcy is published, I must turn my mind toward the next release. Mary: To Protect Her Heart has a “Release Day?” sticky note in my planner for next month. I am working diligently toward that goal, but I still do not have the first draft completed. Therefore, that sticky note might have to shift a bit. I hope it doesn’t but that is why it is on a sticky note so it can. 🙂
I am also working on my third short story in the Nature’s Fury and Delights collection. I hope that once I have this third story done, I can start releasing them individually and perhaps in a bundle for those who like bundles.
This third story has been more challenging than the others because I am taking elements of Persuasion and inserting them into a new plot with original characters who live in the vicinity of Willow Hall. It’s the combination of trying to let my imagination run but with a few boundaries that has created the challenge.
New (original) characters and plots take a different sort of effort compared to writing a story with familiar characters (such as Darcy and Elizabeth) because you have to establish who these new characters are and why a reader should care for them. There is also the need to create the source of trouble for the hero and heroine. In a Pride and Prejudice inspired story starring Darcy and Elizabeth, there are some handy villains one can always call up on to stir things up. Not so in an original work. 🙂 And honestly, that’s the part that had me thinking hard this week. I think I have it sorted out, however. This week’s writing sessions will test the veracity of that statement. 🙂
I want to say thanks to pedmisson, who left a comment on last week’s Music Monday, because the characters and the estate in this short story now have names. 🙂 Yay! (I can now stop calling the hero Mr. Bob because he’s Patrick Mullins.]
The next project that is written in my planner is to start the next Thursday’s Three Hundred story. I have two titles I am kicking around at present. They are Loving Lydia and Improving Miss Lydia. It will depend on the direction of the goals and motivations in the story and what the end result should be, and I won’t know that until I get elbow deep into it. But, I’d love to know which title you would pick. Just drop your choice in the comments. [To clarify, this story will be like Confounding Caroline and Delighting Mrs. Bennet. It will feature our dear couple as they move along the path to wedded bliss, but Lydia will be involved in some fashion as part of whatever it is that has to be overcome << that’s vague, huh? purposefully vague]
That’s all the writing news I have for you today, so now, that third excerpt I mentioned above.
“Let me put a point on it for you, my dear sister. Had I not attended that last party at your persuasion and had I gone to Norfolk as I had planned, we might both be happily married. But,” he dropped her hand and held up a finger to mark his point, “you wished for me to see Mrs. Rushworth. You thought there would be great entertainment in it. Do not cast this debacle at Fanny’s feet. She was the only one in this whole sorry tale who was without guile. She refused me because she knew I was not worthy of her, and I was not — as anyone who reads a paper or sits in a drawing room with a cup of tea knows, I was not. And with that blackness attached to my name, I shall have a difficult enough go of it trying to find a lady of substance to accept me. To throw myself back into the society I kept before…” He shrugged and shook his head. “It would be foolish. Therefore, I will gladly welcome you and your friends at soirees such as this, but I will not be accepting any invitations to private parties, save for those held by Dr. and Mrs. Grant. I will call on them next week after I am truly settled in town.” He bowed to the gaping women and hastened out into the corridor.
Published to YouTube by ForKingAndCountry on October 4, 2018.
Talk about cutting ties and burning the ship! Henry knew that he had to cut ties with his former life if he wished to make a lasting change. His sister Mary is going to have to do the same before she can be free to become her best self. Jane Austen tells us at the end of Mansfield Park:
…and Mary had had enough of her own friends, enough of vanity, ambition, love, and disappointment in the course of the last half-year, to be in need of the true kindness of her sister’s heart, and the rational tranquillity of her ways.
In the excerpt that follows my writing news, Mary has gotten to the point of having had enough of her friends, enough of vanity, ambition, love, and disappointment, and she is ready to move on with new friends toward a happier, more contented life.
That is why I have selected today’s music video. I think the song expresses the concept quite well.
But, before we get to that excerpt, let me give you a few updates about what’s happening in my writing life.
First, Assessing Mr. Darcy is available for pre-order. ARC copies will be sent out to my mailing list and Leenie’s Sweeties Facebook Group today, and my $2 patrons will receive their copy of the story. Assessing Mr. Darcy will go live on Friday, October 26, 2018 (a day later than I had expected but as early as I could schedule it with one of my distributors). Tomorrow, I will have an Austen Authors post with an excerpt and a giveaway for this book.
Second, I have started a new short story set during December and in the Willow Hall world. This story will feature original characters who are part of the community that surrounds Willow Hall and Kympton, and there will be at least one cameo appearance by a couple of Willow Hall characters. I am also hoping to give it just a touch of Persuasion flavour as there has been a rejection and a separation of lovers before the story begins. I still need to name the main characters (both the guy and gal) as well as the estate that the hero has inherited.
Third, Mary’s story has reached about the halfway point — I think. I will start posting this story on Patreon this week (hopefully today). I did a lot of research this last week for this story since Gabe is not just your standard landed gentleman but rather a fellow who is in trade, was born in India to a Company man, and now owns his own business and partners in backing privateers. And those are all new to me things to weave into the backstory and character of a hero.
And I think that is all the writing news I have for today. So, now we can get to that excerpt where Mary set a new course for her life by leaving her old friends behind.
