Published to YouTube The Alena31 on February 13, 2011.
I was listening to this song last week — watching this video, actually — and it brought to mind Jack and Georgiana’s story. I think you’ll recognize why this story came to mind when you read the chapter I am sharing below. 🙂
Enticing Miss Darcy, Chapter 3
“I am expected?” Jack asked with a surreptitious glance toward Georgiana.
“Not so much expected as hoped for,” Lady Margaret said with a smile. “Now, come sit here, my boy.” She motioned to a chair that was between her and her granddaughter.
“We are always pleased to have you call, Mr. Ralston,” Elizabeth said as she rose to pour the tea.
Jack did not miss the relieved look that passed between Georgiana and Mrs. Darcy. Perhaps not everyone was hoping to see him as much as Lady Margaret implied.
“I am always delighted to be accepted into your drawing room,” he replied. “It is the expected thing for a gentleman to call upon a lady after a soiree, is it not? They have not changed the rules of propriety and politeness on me since last season, have they?”
Lady Margaret chuckled. “They have not.”
“It is lovely of you to have called,” Georgiana added. “Did you enjoy the ball last evening?”
Jack inclined his head indicating that he had enjoyed himself. Calls, even when made at the home of someone whom you knew, were not particularly enjoyable. The conversation was always so stilted – for propriety’s sake and all that nonsense.
“It was a very enjoyable evening, although I did leave with emptier pockets than when I arrived.” His lips quirked up into a half-smirk. “Not that I minded so much. I had every intention of leaving my money with Mrs. Pratt.”
I’m flip-flopping this post just a tiny bit today, as I am starting with just a few lines from something I wrote last week and will end with an excerpt from an already published book.
The following lines are part of a chapter of His Darling Friend, which will post in a couple of weeks. However, since this story does contain touches of Jane Austen’s Emma it seemed to match quite well with the musical video clip below. (I have been watching a few Emma clips to get some inspiration lately. 🙂 )
“Then, it shall be perfect. Do you think we might try it now?” He motioned to the piano.
Victoria tamped down her irritation about having to play anything at all, handed the remaining sheets of music to Diana, and took her place at the instrument. The things one had to endure to please one’s mother!
Thirty minutes later, once Mr. Carlyle, who was as exacting as she had imaged him to be, was satisfied with both his performance and hers, Victoria was allowed to quit her spot at the piano.
“Of all the frustrating, arrogant men!” she complained in a whisper to Diana. “Did you hear him instructing me on how best to play?”
Published to YouTube by Movieclips on October 2, 2011.
A note about the song from Wikipedia:
“Silent Worship” is featured in the 1996 film adaptation of Jane Austen’s novel Emma, where it is sung by Gwyneth Paltrow (as Emma) and Ewan McGregor (as Frank Churchill). Although Somervell’s 1928 English adaptation of the 1728 Handel aria was done more than a century after Austen’s 1815 novel, the original Italian aria was recorded in Jane Austen’s own handwritten songbooks. In the film, Somervell’s piano introduction to the song is shortened.
So, as you can tell, there is to be some sort of musical performance at the Abernathy House party. This week, I wrote the practice session chapter of His Darling Friend, and that is all I wrote on any story! It was a heavy editing week as far as stories go. Tom: To Secure His Legacy should be in the hands of my first reader before you read this on Monday morning. So, that moves one pressing project off my list of things to do for a while, which means I can hopefully start thinking and working on my other projects more — including deciding what new story is going to step into the lineup.
The only other item which I wrote this week was an Austen Authors blog post about His Darling Friend, which will post tomorrow, February 12, 2019. I wrote it to announce the beginning of a new, free-to-read, weekly story to those who might not always read my blog or who do not even know about my blog.
And that was it for my writing work this week. 🙂
Since I do not have a current work in progress story to share a longer excerpt from at present, I thought I would share an excerpt from an already published book. This scene is from Chapter 5 of Discovering Mr. Darcywhere Colonel Fitzwilliam and Lady Catherine are “up to no good” (aka arranging a compromise 😉 ) and was chosen because it involves practicing the piano, which I think goes well with the excerpt from His Darling Friend and with the video.
Graeme’s brows furrowed, and he shook his head in disbelief. “Of course, I love her. She’s Bea.” He moved to rise, but Shelton’s hand on his arm stopped him.
“No, not as a friend. She’s the one you spoke about when you visited, is she not?”
Graeme blew out a breath and turned to face his friend. “Bea loves my brother, and I only wish to see her happy.” No matter how the idea of his brother marrying Bea irritated him! She deserved better than a dolt who had to be convinced of her worth rather than recognizing it of his own volition.
Shelton nodded his head slowly as if he were considering what Graeme was saying, but Graeme knew better. Shelton was reasoning things out, piecing things together, and drawing conclusions. A gentleman did not survive as a rake and be generally well-liked as Shelton had without a keen mind.
“She loves my brother,” Graeme repeated. It had been foolish of him to speak to Shelton about a lady whom he found enchanting but was unavailable. However, his tongue had been loosened by alcohol that night after they had ridden out to purchase Shelton’s new hunter, and the things that Graeme had been pondering since the evening he had nearly kissed Bea during that blasted card game had come spilling out. He had been wise enough to leave out names, but still, he knew Shelton was no fool.
“You truly wish to see her happy?”
Graeme looked at Shelton warily. “Yes.”
Shelton smiled. “Then, capture her heart before your brother can break it.”
The hairs on the back of Graeme’s neck bristled. The smile Shelton was wearing was calculating. He had seen it before — often right before some poor chap was about to be fleeced or lose his lady.
“I consider myself the charitable sort,” Shelton continued, “and I am approaching that age where a wife will be expected. I could save her heart from harm.”
Graeme’s eyes narrowed. “You will stay away from her,” he growled.
Shelton chuckled, clearly enjoying taunting his friend. “Will you call me out if I do not?”
Graeme folded his arms and smirked in return. Shelton knew that Graeme would never call anyone out. It was, for one thing, illegal, and for another, Graeme was not the best shot nor all that adept with a sword. So to use a duel as a threat would be of no effect. However, there was a threat that Graeme knew would shake Shelton. “No, I will shoot your horse.”
Published to YouTube by Solis Music on March 5, 2017.
Mr. Shelton in the above excerpt is getting his own story! His story will have some definite nods to Jane Austen’s Emma just like His Beautiful Bea had nods to Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park. And I am working on fleshing out an idea for a story for Bea’s brother Max that will have nods to Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey. That book will be released in the fall as part of a multi-author project which I cannot yet tell you about but am nervously excited about being part of. However, you can start reading Mr. Shelton’s story tomorrow right here on my blog. I have chapters 1-3 scheduled and should have chapters 4 and 5 written before the end of the week. (I missed writing a chapter last week — but more on that later.) The name of Mr. Shelton’s story will be His Darling Friend, and even the title has a bit of a nod to Emma in it. In Emma, Mr. Knightley calls Emma dearest and most beloved. I wanted something similar but did not want to use those words, and darling has the idea of being dear and beloved, so that is why I chose that word for the title.
Needless to say, I am a bit excited to begin sharing this story with you tomorrow. 🙂
His Beautiful Bea is going through a little bit of a makeover. I have given it another reading and cleaned up yet more typos and such (although no matter how often you proof, there always seems to be something that gets missed.) I have updated the file for the ebook and given the book a new cover! The print book will hopefully be ready before next Monday. There are a few more hoops to jump through to get that done than to do an ebook. For those who read in Kindle Unlimited, His Beautiful Bea is in that program and can be read using your subscription.
Now, for the reason I did not get a chapter of His Darling Friend written this past week:
I finished writing Tom: To Secure His Legacy!
Yes, I am excited about that as well! This week, I might be a bit less excited as I reread it before sending it off to my first reader to check for story issues. 😀
The bad part of this news is that I will not have any new story excerpts to share here on Mondays for probably two or three weeks as I need to pick a story to work on then start writing. 🙂
I have no idea what that next story will be at this point. Hopefully, I will have that figured out by next Monday as well. It seems I have a lot of things to do this week! 🙂
So, here, for the last time as a Music Monday work-in-progress, is…
“Has Miss Linton told you about Eiddwen House?” He picked up his cup and saucer and rose from the table.
“Only that Miss Barrett helps match servants and positions.”
Charles stood at the window which overlooked the street. “It is a remarkable place.” He turned and faced Henry. “She took me on a tour of it today. It is all very organized and efficient – not that I would expect less from a proper chit like Miss Barrett.” He tipped his head. “She is very demanding.”
“Much like her mother?”
“Precisely,” he punctuated the word with his lifted cup. “But far more kissable.”
“Yet, you did not kiss her hand.”
“Strange thing that.” He shook his head. He still was not entirely certain why he had foregone such an opportunity. He had never hesitated to press his admiration of a lady in such a way. He shook his head again. She was different. He did not know why or how, but Miss Barrett was different. The same scheme as he always played would not work with her, nor – his brows rose – did he wish it to.
“As I was saying,” he began again, “I have promised to alert her if I hear of any quality positions for valets or groomsmen, and I am asking you to tell me if you hear of any. It is a good thing she is doing there at that house.” He turned back to the window. “Not a piece of money exchanges hands,” he added. “I am considering making a donation.”
There was a spitting and sputtering behind him.
“Yes, a donation,” he answered the shocked question that was drowning in Henry’s incorrectly swallowed tea. “I know I do not offer up my funds on anything easily, except a lark of a bet, but…” He turned toward Henry. “I believe I might actually be able to do some good. Me. How is that for a shocker? Charles Edwards, philanthropist.” He shrugged. “And it might well earn me that kiss I desire.”
[from Charles: To Discover His Purpose]
Published to YouTube by Home Free on April 26, 2016
I’ve decided that for the Monday’s in January, I am going to try to share motivational sorts of songs since it is the start of a new year and where I live, it’s often cold and grey, so a little light might be nice. 🙂 I’ll try to see if I can come up with story tie-ins for them, but I’m not promising I can. (If I can, they might be a bit of a stretch.)
Today’s tie-in is the fact that Charles is willing to try just about anything to get a kiss from Evelyn, and it is this willingness, by the way, that brings about his discovery and change. Trying new things can lead to some wonderful results. (Or devastating disasters as might just happen in the above story before the wonderful results.)
I have some plans to try some new things this year. One of those things is that I hope to begin posting a second story on Tuesdays. My goal for the first post is February 5. I’ll share a bit more about that right before the story excerpt today since I made an attempt at starting that Tuesday story and am going to share it with you.
As I did last week with the poll I included, I am planning to be more “interactive” in my Monday posts from time to time. I do not have any survey questions for you to answer today, but I do have the results from last week’s poll, which I closed on Saturday morning so that I could get this post ready on Saturday night. 🙂
The chart images are a little small, so let me copy the summary here:
Q1. Mr. Darcy’s Comfort is the most read book, but every book has been read at least once. Yay!
Q2. This one was fun! Master of Longbourn (Mr. Collins) wins as favourite. 🙂 (Sorry, Darcy. 😀 but it could have been worse. Poor Charles, Mary, and Georgiana were nobody’s favourites in this group.)
Q3. There seems to be the most interest in reading Assessing Mr. Darcy, but none of the books look like they will be sitting on the side like an unloved wallflower. 😉
I found looking at the results to be great fun. I hope you enjoyed being part of that fun.
Now, before we get to the story excerpt, I have some publishing news. I wish it was better publishing news, to be honest, but it is what it is. I have submitted my files of Delighting Mrs. Bennet to Amazon for a preorder. At the time of my writing this post on Saturday night, those files were still not published. However, the print copy of Delighting Mrs. Bennet, which I submitted after the ebook, has been published. In addition to that, I had a question at one of my uploading platforms which I sent to their help desk on Thursday, and I am still waiting for a reply from them.
However, on a brighter note, I had not one issue with uploading to Kobo, so here is the only link I have at present for pre-ordering Delighting Mrs. Bennet (it is a Canadian link since that is where that site directs me, but you should be able to switch between stores easily): https://www.kobo.com/ca/en/ebook/delighting-mrs-bennet
You will notice that the cover for Confounding Caroline has changed (or is changing — Amazon has not yet put the new cover up, and I have no idea why). This cover change was made out of necessity. I need the cover images to be similar for this series, and I had selected a few images of the same couple used in the first Confounding Caroline cover for use in the future series books. However, when I returned to the site to purchase those images, I learned that the site has closed its doors. I was so saddened by this, but feeling bad was not going to change things. So, I developed a plan B — and made a new cover. 🙂 These stories have Darcy at their center. Therefore, I have gone with a Darcy image on them.
Finally, we can get to that excerpt. (My, this is a long post!)
Sometimes, as I am in the beginning stages of brainstorming a story, I find it helpful to just jump in and write an opening scene. That is what I did this past Tuesday, and the excerpt below is that initial partial scene I wrote. I am nearly 100% certain this is where I want this story to start, but there is a small chance that it could change.
The story has no title yet. It will star Roger Shelton, who was Graeme Clayton’s friend in His Beautiful Bea, and will be the second story in my Touches of Austen collection.
These stories are original sweet Regency romances with intentional nods to Jane Austen’s novels. His Beautiful Bea nodded to Mansfield Park but was in NO WAY a variation or a retelling. It has an original cast of characters as well as an original plot line.
Roger’s story will give a nod or two to Jane Austen’s Emma. As you read the excerpt below, see if you can see anything which might make you think of something from Emma. Leave your thoughts in the comments.
(one note: I don’t have it woven into the story yet that this is taking place at the house party Bea’s cousins were planning to attend. It is a very first draft so it’s likely missing a few things. 🙂 )
Published to YouTube by ThePianoGuys on November 16, 2017.
I thought we should start this day before Christmas with a rousing, joyous song, and this arrangement of Ode to Joy and Joy to the World certainly fit that description! So click play and let your spirits be lifted as you read my writing news and enjoy a small excerpt from Tom’s story.
WRITING NEWS:
Frosted Windowpanes concludes this Thursday. I published this novelette along with two others last Thursday. (One is a Pride and Prejudice Variation and the second is a Sense and Sensibility Variation) This bundle of stories was also given out to my mailing list subscribers. If you wish to subscribe and get this collection of three novelettes as a gift, you can do that here:
Click the picture to be taken to the form to subscribe.
This mailing list offer is only good for another week. So if you’re a mailing list sort of person, sign up soon. If, however, you are not a mailing list sort of person and would prefer to purchase the book, you can do that here:
Here’s a little bonus info thing for the curious (like me 😉 ):
Wondering how long a novelette is? This handy chart can help. I got this one from Wikipedia. I use a slightly modified version of these numbers for classification purposes.I know that for one Romance Writers of America award (I think it is the RITA contest), they use 20,000 to 40,000 as the word count range for a novella. Therefore, since I write romance novellas, I use the RWA numbers for novellas, which means a novelette for me goes up to 19,999 words. The novelettes in my Nature's Fury and Delights book are between about 9,200 and 11,675 words. :)I think it is important to note that classifications can vary by genre. (The above chart is not a romance genre chart.) There is no one set guideline. I just thought you might like to know how I am classifying my stories. :)And one more thing I must include here before returning you to your regularly scheduled Music Monday post: Neither word count nor page count defines a good story -- story structure does that. ;) But that's a whole other discussion (and a topic I love discussing).
Ok, now back to my writing news:
Next Thursday, Loving Lydia will begin. I have written three Thursday posts of Loving Lydia so far, and hope to get another one written this week so that I am a month ahead of what is posting.
I have received the final edits for Delighting Mrs. Bennet back from my proofreader and will be starting on those this week. I hope to have the preorder set up for this book by next Monday — However, it is the holiday season so my plans may not go as scheduled. I’ll let you know next Monday. I still expect to have this book published on January 10, 2019.
My writing time was very limited this past week due to the book coming out on Thursday and Christmas preparations. However, I did manage to complete two chapters of Tom’s story. (I began one of those chapters last week, so really I only wrote one and two-thirds chapters. 🙂 ) I’m hoping to get at least that much written this week, but again, all story production plans are subject to change this week. [I will begin posting this on Patreon after the holidays are over.]
While working on Tom’s story this week, I discovered that dictation is a great way for me to do story brainstorming. There is something that happens when I talk out loud to myself that helps the ideas come together and start to connect better than any other method I have used previously. It was kind of exciting to see. I had noticed that using dictation when brainstorming for Lydia’s story had seemed to help, but I wasn’t sure if it was a fluke or not. It appears it is not. I think my brain works best this way. (And figuring out how my brain works best is exciting stuff to me.)
Now, before we get to the story excerpt, I have some publishing news. I wish it was better publishing news, to be honest, but it is what it is. I have submitted my files of Delighting Mrs. Bennet to Amazon for a preorder. At the time of my writing this post on Saturday night, those files were still not published. However, the print copy of Delighting Mrs. Bennet, which I submitted after the ebook, has been published. In addition to that, I had a question at one of my uploading platforms which I sent to their help desk on Thursday, and I am still waiting for a reply from them.
You will notice that the cover for Confounding Caroline has changed (or is changing — Amazon has not yet put the new cover up, and I have no idea why). This cover change was made out of necessity. I need the cover images to be similar for this series, and I had selected a few images of the same couple used in the first Confounding Caroline cover for use in the future series books. However, when I returned to the site to purchase those images, I learned that the site has closed its doors. I was so saddened by this, but feeling bad was not going to change things. So, I developed a plan B — and made a new cover. 🙂 These stories have Darcy at their center. Therefore, I have gone with a Darcy image on them.
