Discovering Mr. Darcy – Page 3

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

Music Monday: The Northern Mist, Dan Gibson

Last Saturday, a friend and I visited a local thrift store. They were having a twenty percent off everything sale — how can you resist that! As is my normal habit on entering a thrift store, I began my perusal of items with the books, DVDs, music CDs, and paintings. In other words, all the imagination inspiring treasures.

“Dan Gibson The Northern Mist.” YouTube. Ed. RELAX NATURE MUSIC -Emmaqui3♥. YouTube, 21 Aug. 2015. Web. 26 Mar. 2017.

I found two CDs of instrumental music. They have both found their way onto my mp3 player on my desk, and I have been listening to birds while writing every day this week. The song in the video above is track two on Songbirds at Sunrise. In my opinion, which is the one that matters when the music is for my writing time 😉 , I think these songs are perfect for imagining a scene in a garden or meadow, and part of what I wrote did take place in a garden. However, only a small part. So, apparently, the music is equally as effective when plotting compromising scenes in libraries. Sadly, I am only going to share the garden portion today.

The story I was focusing on writing this week is called Not an Heiress and is a sequel to the story Discovering Mr. Darcy — this story got its epilogue and has been sent off to my last editor. It should be published sometime around the middle to latter part of April.

Other than writing just over 7,000 words on this new story, I also added close to 1,000 to With the Colonel’s Help and edited six chapters of At All Cost, which should be starting the editorial rounds by the beginning of April. Needless to say, it was a busy and tiring week, but it was also extremely enjoyable. I am quite excited about all four of the projects that demanded my attention this week. So excited, that I have had trouble sleeping. The good colonel has been assisting me with working out plot ideas when I should be sleeping. I have asked him to wait until a more appropriate time of day, but it seems an impatient colonel outranks a mere authoress. 🙂

Now, shall we get on to the longish excerpt from Not an Heiress? This sequel will focus on Colonel Fitzwilliam and Mary Bennet and will feature a compromise. As you should all know by now if you have read my secondary character stories, don’t expect a completely typical Mary. This Mary reads sermons and is rather serious, but she has a particular reason, at least when Richard is around, for reading this material. (Also, Lady Catherine in this story and in Discovering Mr. Darcy is also not typical — demanding and all, but not typical. This is definitely Austen with a twist.)

EXCERPT FROM Not an Heiress:
Continue reading Music Monday: The Northern Mist, Dan Gibson

Music Monday: Beautiful World, Tim Janis

Sometimes a scene or a melody, a lyric or a bit of conversation is all that is needed to spark the imagination. Other times it is just simple curiosity asking questions. And still other times, it is rest and relaxation that renew the ability to create. This week, I took some time to refresh my imagination.

Timjanisreocrds. “Peaceful Music, Relaxing Music, Instrumental Music “Beautiful World” by Tim Janis.” YouTube. YouTube, 16 Feb. 2017. Web. 25 Feb. 2017.

An exercise I like to do when I come across a lovely piece of music with such gorgeous pictures to accompany it (like the video above), is to add people to the scene. Is there a delivery boy running down that street with a knapsack on his back, late and fearful of punishment? Is there a girl similar to Miss Morland sitting in the shade of that tree as the house and windmill stand watch in the distance? Is there a child with a basket gathering flowers in the forest? Who waits inside that cottage with the lantern lit and for whom are they waiting? What stories do you see in the pictures and hear in the music as it swells and soften?

~*~*~

I freely admit that I struggle with taking time to refresh. I see goals and tasks laid out before me, and I tend to push my wants and desires down beneath the feelings of responsibility. This enables me to get a good deal of work accomplished even when I do not feel like working, but it also makes it difficult for me to take the time necessary to step back and breath before plunging into the next item on that never-ending to-do list.

However, there comes a time when the mind begins to get weary and the benefit of taking some time to refresh is greater than the need to push on and complete a project (or begin a new one). I hit that wall at the end of last week. I have just recently published a book and completed a new manuscript for a short novella. My brain was tired. It needed to rest. I fought the need for a couple of days (I’m no quitter, you see 😉 ), but eventually, I could no longer deny the need to just relax.

What did I do while relaxing? I watched some tv. I read a book. I listened to some podcasts and to Sense and Sensibility on audiobook. And as my few days of forced r&r drew to an end, I allowed myself to write a couple of short things — nothing associated with any current projects. [One of those short things, Love is Patient, has been added to my short stories collection which you can find at this link.]

It was refreshing! I am certain I could have used a few more days of rest, but those deadlines on the calendar could only be ignored for so long. I have begun work once again on the manuscript that I recently finished. It needs a second going over before I send it to my first reader to get her feedback on the story’s plot. I have also continued with my re-read of Listen to Your Heart in preparation for that second anthology of books that I want to make. I have not started any new projects — or at least, I don’t think I have. You see, one of the things I wrote this week was an idea I had about a year ago for an alternate scene in Mansfield Park. As I finished writing that scene, I realized that it might not be just a scene. It might be the beginning of a longer story. How long? I am not certain. I am not even certain that I feel fit to tackle it at present — I think it needs a bit longer to rattle around in my brain, to grow and shift and expand in form if it thinks it is going to be made into a longer work.

So, that leaves me with the question of what to share today. First, there is the link above to a short story for your reading enjoyment. And then there is this. The first chapter of Discovering Mr. Darcy as it currently looks after a second pass through. Continue reading Music Monday: Beautiful World, Tim Janis

Music Monday: Beautiful Relaxing Music 106, Soothing Relaxation

What was I listening to this week while I was writing? This beautiful, relaxing, and imagination-inspiring piece of music. And thanks to such lovely music and a few snow days, I had a very productive week. So, click play and while the music plays, let me tell you a little about my week and share a sample of what I wrote.

Helland, Peder B., Soothing relaxation. “Beautiful Relaxing Music: Japanese Music, Chinese Music, Romantic Music, Meditation Music ★106.” YouTube. YouTube, 30 Dec. 2016. Web. 19 Feb. 2017.

To be honest, last Sunday seems like two weeks ago rather than just one. (I write these posts on Sunday’s usually.) We were in the midst of a very, very snowy period here in Nova Scotia. In about seven days, we went from no snow to about a metre of snow, and that spring that the groundhog said would come early looks incredibly far away! 🙂 However, the last couple of days have been fairly sunny and on the warm side of freezing so things are melting slowly.

While I may be pining for green grass and spring flowers, the snowy days did afford me some extra writing time as schools were closed for three days. So, while my sons shoveled and played video games, I strapped myself to my desk chair and took care of business — a lot of it!

On the publishing side of work, So Very Unexpected made its ebook debut this week on Tuesday and was featured in my post on Austen Authors. The print version also debuted this week, but later than expected as the storm that started on Sunday shut the city down for a couple of days, and my proof copy was delayed in reaching me. However, both print and ebook versions are now available.

Writing wise, I started a re-read of Listen to Your Heart. That book is going to be put in an anthology, and I am taking one more swipe at picking up remaining errors — not that I will catch them all. 🙂

In addition to starting the re-read of that book, I also worked on the next Dash of Darcy book called Discovering Mr. Darcy. I am happy to report that I managed to write just under 8,000 words and have completed the first draft. It is now sitting for a few days before I begin going through it to add in the bits and pieces of description and whatnot that I missed on the first pass.

For me, it seems the editing process is less about cutting things out than it is about adding details in. 🙂 Once I have a second go at that manuscript, it will be off to my first reader so she can tell me what I might still have missed as far as plot goes, and for me and my many charts and list, that is where the publication process begins.

And that was my week — other than getting things ready for the blog and to share on social media and other rather mundane businessy type things and squeezing in some homeschooling on the non-snow days. 🙂

Below is a portion of what I wrote this week. Remember, I was writing the ending of this book, so read at your own risk of spoilers. This scene is where Mr. Collins, who discovered Elizabeth and Darcy in a compromising position, finally decides to see reason.

EXCERPT from Discovering Mr. Darcy: Continue reading Music Monday: Beautiful Relaxing Music 106, Soothing Relaxation