When author life collides with the need to feed the family.
Sometimes the work just has to get done, and the location is of secondary importance. 🙂
I know when I was teaching I marked paper when at a concert, after a seminar in my hotel room to the wee hours of the morning, in the car when waiting to pick someone up, and during a business meeting at church. That habit of doing work whenever has transferred over to my writing life.
Feet up and comfy on the couch
In fact, I began writing seriously while I was still teaching in a traditional classroom, which meant squeezing writing in between the planning and marking.
So, where have Zoe and I written other than at our desks? Find out in this week’s episode of the *LLS Society Papers.
The live stream will begin at 3 PM Eastern (4 PM Atlantic).
*Longbourn Literary Society (LLS) is a Facebook group founded by three friends, who share a love of writing and Jane Austen for the purpose of promoting those loves and our work.
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You can find Rose and Zoe’s websites at these links:
Do you judge a book by its cover? If you do, you’re likely not alone.
A partial screenshot of one of my design folders on canva.com. I use Canva for many things, including cover design.
First impressions are important, and normally, when scrolling or strolling through a bookstore, the first thing that is going to draw your attention to a book is the cover. That means a cover is a pretty important part of a book.
In this week’s episode of LLS Society Papers* Rose, Zoe, and I are discussing what goes into covering our books. Please note that this is not a how-to. This is just a conversation about our preferences and practices when getting a book’s cover ready to make that all important first impression.
The live stream will begin at 3 PM Eastern (4 PM Atlantic).
*Longbourn Literary Society (LLS) is a Facebook group founded by three friends, who share a love of writing and Jane Austen for the purpose of promoting those loves and our work.
~*~*~
You can find Rose and Zoe’s websites at these links:
Roger flopped back onto the grass and placed his hat over his eyes. “You will keep me safe from marauding females if I fall asleep, will you not?”
“Perhaps,” Victoria replied.
Roger lifted his hat and looked at her. She smiled in return, and he once again put his hat over his eyes. She would not let anyone accost him – at least, not anyone he did not wish to have accost him. The thought of him finally choosing someone to be his wife pricked her heart.
“You would not consider aparson, would you, Miss Hamilton?” Mr. Clayton asked.
“No, she would not,” Roger said from beneath his hat.
“I think I can speak for myself,” Victoria retorted.
[From tomorrow’s chapter of His Darling Friend, A Touches of Austen Novella]
Published to YouTube by Val on September 24, 2007
I really do not have a tie in between song and stories this week. I just happened to like this video. 🙂 So, let’s just get right into my writing news.
First, and absolutely most importantly…
Today is release day for Tom: To Secure His Legacy!
It is available in the Kindle store and in Kindle Unlimited. Currently, the price is reduced ($2.99 USD) and will remain that way until the end of the week, when it will go up ($4.99 USD). [All currencies are reduced and all currencies will be going up. I just could not list them all.]
Tomorrow, I will have a post about Tom’s story on Austen Authors. I hope you will drop by and maybe discover a few facts about coffeehouses, the London stock market, and how the two things go together.
Of course, don’t forget to also stop by and read Roger and Victoria’s story here tomorrow. 🙂 I managed to get caught up on this story this week! (But, I fell a week behind on Lydia’s story. 🙂 Eventually, it will all get caught up.)
Aside from writing two chapters of Roger’s story and getting my Austen Author’s post written. I started a new story! It has no title, and I have only written 1000 words or so. BUT… it is started! The plan so far has Kitty Bennet as the heroine and possibly Mr. Waller as the hero.
If you have read or when you read Tom’s story, there is a scene where Tom and Faith meet the Darcy’s (from Two Days Before Christmas) at a ball, and they have Mrs. Darcy’s sister Kitty with them because Kitty is visiting the Gardiners. The story I have just started will be set during this visit. The book will (probably) be the third in the Darcy Family Holidays series even though it stars a character from the Other Pens, Mansfield Park series. I am really enjoying having these two story worlds merging in places. I just love thinking of all these characters living in one big world.
I have removed Oxford Cottage, For Peace of Mind, Listen To Your Heart, Through Every Storm, and With the Colonel’s Help from all vendors except Amazon in preparation for the publication of Darcy and… A Pride and Prejudice Variations Anthology later this week. This anthology will be available in Kindle Unlimited for a minimum of three month. I have not committed to a definite plan on this yet as this is the first Pride and Prejudice work I have offered ever in Kindle Unlimited. Depending on how it does. If page reads stay high or sales are good, I might extend the Kindle Unlimited enrollment for a second three-month period. This is all a grand experiment at this point. But I know that just as there are some readers who only read in Kindle Unlimited, there are also parts of the world where buying books from Amazon is not a possibility. Therefore, I would love to figure out some way of rotating books through the Kindle Unlimited library and then back out to other distributors. I’ll do my best to keep you up-to-date on that here as well as in my newsletter.
And, that, I believe, is all my writing news for this week. I am still not far enough along in that new story to share from it. So, once again, here is an excerpt from a previously published story, and I think this excerpt might sort of go with the theme presented by today’s music choice of “Better Together” — even if not all the participants in this scene are terribly willing to cooperate 😀 and work together.
“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. 🙂 )
It’s hard to believe that another year has come and gone. Today, I’m going to take a little look back at 2018 as we “Let Her Go.” ( 🙂 I do love a good pun!)
Published to YouTube by The Piano Guys on February 19, 2014
It was a busy year!
Let’s begin by looking at the Class of 2018 books. 🙂 I have included the month in which they were published for those who might be curious about that sort of detail.
January
March
April
May
June
October
December
To go with this peek at the Class of 2018, I have created a quick three-question survey. I would love it if you would take a minute and answer these questions. I’ll post the results of the survey next week.
Recently published does not equal 2018 bestseller. The bestsellers for the year are on this graphic. Some of the new releases made the cut, but not all.
Here’s another interesting statistic from the year:
At the time of my writing this post on Saturday, December 29, 2018, my yearly word count total is
327,242 words
But…there is still today, and I am hoping to find time to write a little bit. I did not finish the fourth installment of Loving Lydia on Friday. I only got part way through it before I had to stop for the night. It needs to be done.
Speaking of Loving Lydia, it will be the first Thursday blog story of the year, and it starts posting this Thursday!
In that same vein of thought, you might like to know that Delighting Mrs. Bennet, which is the book that comes right before Loving Lydia in the Marrying Elizabeth series, is scheduled to be published NEXT Thursday, January 10, 2019, and will be the first book published in 2019. Preorder details should be arriving soon, I hope. (I still need to work on a few things for this.)
I am still working on Tom: To Secure His Legacy. This book will be the first book posted on Patreon for 2019 and hopefully, will be the second book published. (Fingers crossed — well, yours not mine. Typing is too difficult when you cross your fingers. LOL)
I have some other plans that I am trying to get nailed down better as this year ends and a new one begins. Hopefully, I will be able to share some of those plans with you in next Monday’s post.
For now, I will leave you with a small excerpt from Tom’s story (which I did not get to write on very much this week due to holidays and my husband being off work).
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.
