Georgiana clung to Elizabeth. “You were so brave. I could not even look at them.”
“I was not brave, Georgiana. I was angry. I am angry. Come, we should try to get some rest.” She pulled the young girl onto the bed with her, wrapping her in her arms. “Your brother will find us.” Elizabeth ran her hand gently over Georgiana’s hair smoothing it away from her face with a soothing caress. Soon, she could hear the steady breathing of a sleeping child. It was only then that Elizabeth allowed her body to tremble and a tear to escape her eye before drifting off to sleep.
Note: For those who might be sensitive to flashes of light, the video is very "flashy."
Published to YouTube by Simply Three on September 22, 2017
From the title of the video and the excerpt from Oxford Cottage, can you tell what sort of tone the excerpt from Mary: To Protect Her Heart might have? 😉
This will be the last excerpt from Mary’s story that will be shared on my Monday posts, and I am leaving you with a bit of a spoiler from the portion of the story when trouble starts to brew and bubble over. But before I get to that, I have some exciting…
WRITING NEWS:
First, I want to tell you that there will not be a Wednesday post this week. I just did not have enough time to get everything done over the weekend, and so that is the item that got cut off the to-do list.
Second, I have an Austen Author’s post tomorrow. There will be an excerpt from and a chance to win a copy of Mary: To Protect Her Heart included in that post.
Third, I am not sure if all the stores will reflect this price at the time when this blog post goes live or not, but both Henry’s and Charles’s stories are on sale for $2.99 USD with other currencies adjusted accordingly. These will be on sale until Mary’s story publishes. And that info brings me to…
Fourth, Mary: To Protect Her Heart will be on pre-order by the end of the week. I have finished first round edits, and it has been sent to my first editor. I believe the publication date will be December 10, 2018.
Fifth, I have also finished first round edits on Nature’s Fury and Delights: Thunder, Mist, and Frost! They will be sold in a bundle of three novelettes instead of individually. I do not have the publication date set at this point. Mary has to be attended to first, so by next week, I should have a date for you. (Should being the important word there 😉 )
I did no new story writing this past week as I spent all my time editing, so there will not be a story excerpt with next Monday’s post, and at this point, I am not sure when I will be ready to start sharing from a new story as I haven’t gotten anything started. I have Loving Lydia on the to-write list as one of my next projects so that can be ready to start posting on Thursday’s in January, but I haven’t even thought about which other project will be started at the same time. It could be Tom Bertram’s story or something completely different. I’ll be giving that some thought this week.
In addition to the editing I was doing this week, I was also finalizing ebook covers for the two upcoming releases. And here is the first look at those covers.
She shook her head. Mr. Marsh truly was the complete opposite of Mr. Edwards. She stood and looked around her room – the room in which she had been wallowing in self-pity for two days now. She had been wallowing! She did not wallow. She shook herself and pulled herself upright. Two days was enough.
“Did you need something, miss?” her maid asked as she entered.
“Yes, Sally, I need several things. First…”
[From Charles: To Discover His Purpose]
Published to YouTube by Liz Rockfiles on April 1, 2016.
Every romance has a new day at least once in the telling of the tale and often more than once. These new days might include the moment when two young lovers meet for the first time, or, as in the excerpt above, one or the other of the pair has that epiphany moment when he or she realizes what (or should I say who) will truly make them happy. In the snippet from Charles, Evelyn has dried her eyes and put away her hurt feelings and is ready to begin her new day.
In the excerpt from one of my works in progress that I will share below, we have the dawning of a new day just about to happen. The excerpt shows Bingley and Darcy just before they will meet the lovely ladies that reside at Longbourn.
But first, before I get to that, here’s just a little update on what I have been working on:
I have three projects in various stages.
First, I have a short story that is helping me practice my dictation skills and has reached about the 5,000-word mark where trouble has just literally walked through the door.
Second, I have written the first 1423 words of Mary’s story for Episode 3 of the Other Pens, Mansfield Park series. I still need to finalize her title. I had originally thought to call it Mary: To Discover Her Heart, but I used the word discover in Charles’s title. So I need a verb to go into this blank –>
Mary: To _________ Her Heart
She had really been guarding and hardening her heart for a good portion of her life, so I have considered using Unlocking, but I’m not sure if it is best or not. If you have suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments.
Third, I think I am about halfway through the first draft of Assessing Mr. Darcy. I had some great writing days this past week! I would be thrilled if this week was as good. However, there is that pesky thing called school that is starting.
This is not terribly writing related, but…
I did rearrange my office/school room/living room/dining area. 🙂 (Our house is not large and this room has many purposes.) I’m really pleased with how it turned out.
And I have all my school stuff ready to go except for the TV which needs mounting on the wall. (There will be many video lessons this year, so I wanted a good screen for watching.)
Oh, and the house has been painted! It is now a pretty blue/grey colour instead of the olive-y brown/green it was before! There are a few little details that my husband has to work on, but the big part is all done. He worked hard on it in some very warm weather. But, he wanted to get it done before his work schedule shifts with the beginning of school. And he did it!
I think that’s all the “news” from me for today, so now, how about an excerpt from chapter 4 of Assessing Mr. Darcy? (Patrons, you will have this full chapter before the end of the week. 🙂 )
“I must go.” He did not know where he needed to go or what he needed to do, but he needed to be somewhere that was not here…somewhere where he could feel the anguish in his heart…
[from Charles: To Discover His Purpose]
Published to YouTube by fkwk101 on May 17, 2013.
I had a wonderful few days away in Prince Edward Island with my husband, and I did nearly no work during those times. I did check to make sure my scheduled items were posting and a few small things like that, but otherwise, no work was done. But that does not mean that I do not have some writing news. I do, and I will list that below. My time off, however, does mean that there is no print version of Charles’s story ready to go. I will work on that this week.
Not only is not having the print book ready on release day is a bummer to me because I like to have things done on time, but it is also the cause of some misinformation on the book’s Amazon sales page. And this information is a bit of a pet peeve of mine, and something I am constantly trying to educate people about. 😉 (Do not blindly trust Amazon’s page counts on books.) Let me tell you why.
The sales page lists the book as only 170 pages. However, my pdf of the book, which still has some formatting issues that must be addressed, currently has the book at 290 pages for everything including front matter and back matter, which includes a sample chapter of another book. The story itself stops on page 258 of the pdf. Even with that number shrinking a bit when the formatting issue is resolved, the number of pages in the book will still be more than 170! Word count wise, the story comes in at just over 46,000 words. That’s a long one for me. 🙂 In fact, it’s about 10,000 words or more longer than novellas, and actually puts the book in novel territory.
But no matter the length, I’m delighted that soon this lovely novel will be available to be read by one and all. Charles is an awesome character, and he and Evelyn make one terrific couple. You really need to read it. After all, it is a Leenie Brown book and as such, the story will not disappoint you. (I hope 😉 )
So, here is my…
Writing News:
Release day for Charles: To Discover His Purpose is tomorrow! *so excited*
And I have a blog post about the book tomorrow on Austen Authors which will include a giveaway.
I have started two new stories.
One will be a short story that I am dictating. I have not used Dragon Dictation before so this story is my first learning experience as I get used to speaking my story into existence instead of typing.
The second will be a Dash of Darcy story, and I am giving you the first 900+ words of the story below in an excerpt. This is the story I mentioned last week which features Mr. Collins once again in a different way. In fact, his name isn’t Mr. Collins in this story.
Other than those things, I am hoping to start Mary’s story this week. Hoping, not promising. 🙂 And in non-writing news, my house is in the process of being painted, I am getting last details ready before school starts next week, and my eldest son has started a new job so my car is not always at my disposal so things have to be planned a bit more carefully.
And now for…
AN EXCERPT FROM Assessing Mr. Darcy:
Elizabeth Bennet leaned against one of the oak trees that grew on the hill near the edge of Longbourn’s property. Taking out her spyglass, she settled in to watch. Overhead the brilliant reds, yellows, and oranges were still mixed with a few traces of green, and normally at this time of year, she would sit beneath one or another of these trees and attempt to paint their splendor. The feat usually ended with her applying paint to the leaves and pressing them on her paper. Her desire to capture beauty far outshone her ability. Her future home would not be filled with her own creations. Instead, she would have to rely on purchased paintings or perhaps, she could convince her younger sister Kitty to produce a few pieces. Kitty was the most artistic of her four sisters.
Today, however, observing the leaves above was but a peripheral pleasure. Today, she had far more interesting things at which to peer. Netherfield had been let at last! The grand home with its park that abutted this very edge of Longbourn’s property was to welcome a young unmarried gentleman and his sisters. One sister, she had been told by her uncle was similar in age to her. It would be a pleasure to have another lady in the neighbourhood. She smiled. Especially a lady with a wealthy brother in want of a wife.
“What are you doing?”
Elizabeth jumped, nearly dropping her spyglass. “Why must you insist on startling me, William?”
William Bennet smirked. “Because it is so delightful to see you jump.”
“It is because I can do sums better than you.” Had Elizabeth’s hair not been secured under her bonnet, it would have flipped quite satisfactorily as she turned her head.
“Yes, well, you inherited your father’s keen mind, and I am stuck with my father’s dull one.” He stood next to her on her left and leaned against the tree trunk.
Elizabeth lifted the spyglass and looked toward Netherfield as her heart pricked her. Finally, after no more than two minutes of silence, she turned to him. “You have had Papa to guide you, and you have done well. I should not have been so cruel as to point out something with which you struggle. But you do vex me at times. I do not appreciate having the working of my heart tested on such a regular basis simply because you are light of foot.”
He shrugged. “And I should not startle you, but we both know that I will continue to tease, and you will continue to retaliate with the one thing you do better than me.”
Elizabeth’s brows rose. “One thing?”
He laughed. “The one thing I will allow that you do better than me.”
“I dance better than you.”
“Very well. I will admit that you do two things better than me, but I will not admit to anything further. A brother must feel at least marginally superior to his younger sister.”
Elizabeth allowed it to be. He was not her brother by birth. He had been born William Collins, a distant cousin to her father. However, even at birth, he had been far more important to her family than some cousin. It did not matter that her father and his father had not spoken to one another in years. William Collins was the heir to Longbourn since her father had never produced a son.
It had been years, fifteen to be precise, since William had arrived with his few bags and his poor manners and lack of learning on Longbourn’s steps. His father had died and since there was no nearer relation and since he was the heir to Mr. Bennet’s estate, the child had been delivered with all his worldly possessions to them, to be their son and brother.
He had been ten, and after six months of living with them, he had asked if he too could be a Bennet. Her father had willingly obliged, excessively pleased to have someone bear his name who would not be giving that name away before a parson in a marriage ceremony.
There was a carriage approaching Netherfield. Elizabeth focused her glass to look as closely at it as she could. She could not see much detail, but the equipage did appear to be very fine, almost regal.
“A carriage,” she said, handing the spyglass to William.
William adjusted the glass for his use and whistled. “This Bingley fellow is not shallow in the pockets, is he?”
“I dare say he is not,” Elizabeth agreed. “Give the glass back when they have stopped. I want to see how the grooms and driver tend to their passengers.”
William laughed. “You do not. You wish to see if Mr. Bingley is as handsome as he is rumoured to be.” He looked through the glass once more. “There is a second carriage.” He handed the glass to her. “You will want to see this one.”
“Why?” she asked, positioning herself to be able to look at the second carriage.
“You will know when you see it.”
“Oh, my!” She looked at William. “Does Mr. Bingley have two carriages, one that is lovely and another that could carry the Prince Regent?”
William shook his head. “I would venture a guess that he has not come alone.”
“A friend?”
“That would be my assumption. A very wealthy guest.”
“Do you suppose it is a gentleman?”
William laughed. “Yes. A single gentleman is not going to bring some fancy lady with him.”
“Why not?” Elizabeth made a face at her brother. “He has sisters. It could be a friend of theirs.” She scowled at the look of disbelief on William’s face. It was his way of questioning her ability to reason things, and she hated it. Not because it was a hideous face or anything like that, but because he never used that expression except when she had not thought things through properly. She despised being wrong.
If, someday, I should be so fortunate as to earn your good opinion as well as your heart, you have only to tell me, and I will be yours for time and eternity.
[from Charles: To Discover His Purpose]
Published to YouTube by FallingforJJ on December 15, 2010.
This song seemed to fit the scene from which I took the quote above so well that I had to share both today. 🙂
The quote on this graphic is from the same scene as the one above.
Charles: To Discover His Purpose is ready to be delivered to ereader devices everywhere next Tuesday, August 28, 2018!
I finished the final edits and was able to get advance reader copies distributed this week. I am so relieved to have that done before I run away for a few days with my hubby. 🙂 I will be able to relax much better knowing that part of the publishing process is complete.
I would like to say the print book is almost ready, but it still has not been started beyond some formatting. Therefore, this time, the print book might arrive later than the ebook.
You can find a link to all my vendors by clicking this picture. There is also a description of the book there.
Charles’s story is the second in my Other Pens, Mansfield Park episodes. Mary Crawford’s story will be the third, but that is not yet started. It is waiting until after my vacation time is over.
I started a new story this past week. This one will be a Dash of Darcy story. There was a reader on Facebook who suggested making Mr. Collins into a member of the Bennet family from a young age, and I have taken that little idea for this story. I have no idea if I will even get close to what she had in mind when she gave me that suggestion, but so far, the story is really enjoyable. I should have enough of it written soon (maybe even by next Monday) to start sharing some excerpts here.
I should also tell you that I have almost finished my Dash of Darcy and Companions Collection re-organization project. This week I created two Companion Duos. These were also the result of a reader’s suggestion on Facebook. She had the Dash of Darcy Duos and was wondering if I would do a Companions Duo. I hadn’t thought to do that at that time, but after considering it, I created these two:
Duo 1 includes A Very Mary Christmas and Not an Heiress (both are Mary Bennet stories).
Duo 2 includes Becoming Entangled and Enticing Miss Darcy (both are sequels to Unravelling Mr. Darcy).
I only need to complete a few print copies for this collection, and the project is done! All the ebooks are ready and available.
And that’s it for the news this week. Even though I will be away for a few days this week, both Wordless Wednesday and Thursday’s Three Hundred will post as usual. I just might be slower responding to comments.
Looking back at my list of Music Monday posts, I see that I have used this video twice before. I used it first in 2015 when I was busy publishing Her Father’s Choice and had no excerpt or much of anything to share with the video, and I used it again in 2016 when I was writing The Tenant’s Guest. That time I had a story excerpt to go with the video — and yes, that story excerpt did include a kiss. 🙂 Today, I am using this video because the desire for a kiss is at the heart of Charles’s story.
Published to YouTube on January 29, 2013 by Maggie Peters.
Finley handed Charles his left boot. “She deserves to be loved and kept safe. I should be very sorry to see her heart broken.”
With a final tug and a stamp of his foot, Charles’s boot was comfortably in place. “I have no intention of engaging her heart. I only wish to steal a kiss. Nothing more.”
Finley’s eyebrows rose as he handed the jacket to his master.
“You fear that I cannot do that without causing her harm.”
“She is so kind,” Finley replied.
“So you have said.” Charles pulled his sleeves straight as Finley smoothed the back of the jacket. “I shall do my best to not cause her harm. I can promise no more than that. She is too tempting.”
[from Charles: To Discover His Purpose]
Today, sometime after this blog post has posted, I will be setting up the pre-order for Charles: To Discover His Purpose, and while things are slowly swinging into motion for the publication of Charles’s story on August 28, 2018, I wanted to share with you a first look at the book blub and cover. So, without further ado, here they are. (Oh, and Henry’s cover got a small update, too, which I will also be uploading today.)
All he wanted was a kiss, but what he got was so much more.
Charles Edwards is no stranger to scandal. He lives an easy, carefree life, floating from one moment of pleasure to another. Or, at least, he did until one fateful night when two young ladies asked him to come to their aid. Since then, Charles has been hiding from society until his injuries heal, which is what he was attempting to do when one of those ladies – the one with the kissable lips – re-enters his life.
Evelyn Barrett loves nothing better than assisting others. Therefore, when she is presented with the possibility of guiding a shiftless gentleman toward improving himself, she just can’t refuse. It should be an easy task. All she needs to do is sidestep his charm and ignore is good looks while pointing him in the right direction.
However, Charles has no intention of taking Evelyn’s advice and then leaving her alone. A gentleman determined to claim a kiss from a lady must ingratiate himself with the lady. And that is where the trouble begins.
As the two spend time together, desires increase, affections are engaged, and Charles’s end goal shifts. But will his scandalous past be the very thing which keeps him from achieving what he desires, or will he find himself at the beginning of a new scheme and direction for his life?
You might like to know that Charles is Henry’s good friend.
Charles: To Discover His Purpose is the second episode in Leenie Brown’s Mansfield Park Continuation found in her Other Pens Collection of books. If you like well-written stories of sweet redemption, then you will love this story of facing the challenges that reformation can bring and discovering the pleasure that only deep, abiding love can provide.
So, put the kettle on, grab your copy of Charles: To Discover His Purpose, and let this sweet romance inspire a hope that even the most reprobate, wandering heart can, with care and proper direction, be transformed into that of a worthy gentleman ready to forge a new path in his life.
I have not quite decided how I am going to be doing my advance reader copies this time around, since I’m scheduled to take a short vacation with my husband soon, I don’t have the final edits back yet, and I’m not sure if my husband would appreciate my needing to work on edits during our time away. 😀 So, stay tuned. I’ll post on my social media pages when I am ready to send out the ARC newsletter to give you a heads up.
In other news, Delighting Mrs. Bennet is done. I just need to reread what I wrote on Friday and get that scheduled for the last Thursday in November. A release day for that will be announced later as we get closer to the story being finished posting. I like to publish a Christmas story in the first part of December (I have a couple of ideas in mind to chose from) and some publishing companies have limited hours during the holidays which makes publishing tricky, so I’m thinking Delighting Mrs. Bennet will not be released until January 2019.
So what will I be working on during my writing time this week? As I am writing this post, I don’t know for certain, but it will likely be Mary’s story. Thank you for the comments left last week. I have found them helpful as I begin to solidify in my mind where Mary is starting and what she needs to become her best self.
