Before we get into the writing news for this week, I wanted to say that I know the past nearly two weeks have been fraught with strife for my American readers, relations, and friends. You have and will continue to be in my prayers, and I want you to know that I will continue to strive, as I always have, to demonstrate through my actions and words my love and respect for you all.
Writing News
So far this week, I have written one chapter of Protecting Miss Darcy. That’s it. That’s all I wrote. 🙂 I hope to have time later today (Friday) to write another chapter of something.
My reason for such a low amount of writing this week was editing. I finished my first round read-through of Matching Mr. Darcy and have sent that off to my sister for her critique.
Publishing News
Sneak peek time!
By this time next week, I expect to have preorder information for Matching Mr. Darcy to share with you. If you’d like to see the book cover and read the first (unfinalized) chapter of this book, you can find both of those things at this link.
Can you believe this is the final Saturday of May? That means we have almost survived another month of 2020. 🙂 At times, it feels like time is dragging, but then, I immerse myself into my work, and, when I look up, I’m surprised at how much time has passed. I hope you are finding ways to make 2020 enjoyable and find the beauty in life despite any restrictions which still remain where you are. Below, is an update on the enjoyable, writing-related things that take up a large portion of each of my days. 🙂 And at the end, as my something extra, I have included one way I am attempting to add beauty to my life on social media.
Writing News
I don’t have any excerpts of writing to share with you this week because I don’t want to give anything away in either story that I am writing. So, this will be a short and kind of boring 🙂 update on how my works in progress are progressing.
In my writing time, so far, I have written one chapter each of Protecting Miss Darcy and Her Convenient Forever. I’m actually planning to get one more chapter of Protecting Miss Darcy before the week is over.
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?”
PUBLISHED TO YOUTUBE BY PHILLIP PHILLIPS ON AUGUST 2, 2012.
This song is one I often listen to as an instrumental cover by The Piano Guys while writing, but I thought that today, I would share the vocal version, which is on my Whatever for Whenever Spotify playlist. (This song on Spotify can be found here.)
The lyrics are what has me pairing this song with Master of Longbourn today. The Mr. Collins in this book is searching for a home. He has demons that fill him with fear. However, he finds himself surrounded by those who are willing to help make Longbourn his home.
Using the candle he held in his hand, Collins lit a second one that was in the lamp on the table next to where Mr. Bennet had been sitting earlier that day. He looked around the room.
Mr. Bennet had told him he was to make this room his second refuge. His first was his bedchamber, of course. There he could lock himself away without there being much chance of being disturbed, but here, he was more accessible, and here is where Bingley had very firmly insisted he should read each evening.
Truth be told, Bingley had wished for him to sit with the others in the sitting room, but Darcy had pled his case and convinced Bingley that the study would be better for reviewing what needed to be learned.
Collins tipped his head and eyed the book on the desk. He wanted to go over it again. He was positive he could remember nearly everything Mr. Bennet had told him about the tenants listed in it. He glanced at the door. No one was with him; he could peek at it.
He crossed to the desk, placed his hand on the book, and just as he was about to lift the cover, shook his head and retreated to the chair near the lamp without the book. He did not want to have to tell Bingley or Darcy tomorrow afternoon that he had spent another evening studying, for both gentlemen had thought it best if he spent one evening consuming the novel he had promised Kitty he would read.
He sighed as he settled into his chair, and taking up his book, he placed it unopened in his lap while he pondered the lovely Miss Kitty Bennet and watched the shadows chase each other in the flickering dance of the candles’ flames. Perhaps in the new year when Bingley had his ball, he would dance two sets with her. Perhaps by then, she would even be accepting of his addresses, or at least, by then, he would have learned enough from Darcy and Bingley to be able to present them. By spring, he might even find himself in a position to make her his wife. That thought could not be made without a smile finding its way to his lips.
“May I enter?”
Evelina clattered to the floor as Collins started at the sweet voice that called to him from the door.
I hope you are staying safe and well. I and my family are safe and well, which, this week, means more than we have not contracted a virus because last weekend our province was the site of the worst mass shooting in Canada. To say it has been a challenging week is an understatement.
Be that as it may, I still went to work and did the things, and, below, you will find information about what I accomplished in my writing life this week, as well as publishing information and book sale news.
Writing News
Here’s an update on my writing I have with a short excerpt from two of them.
Her Convenient Forever: I wrote chapter three this week. So, I am on track to start posting that story on my blog on May 12 as I had hoped I would be. Here is an excerpt from chapter 3.
