The Saturday Broadsheet, with all my writing life updates, is now available at the link at the bottom of this short post.
In this issue of the Broadsheet you will find:
Info about what is posting on my blog. (As if you didn’t know, right? LOL)
An update on my current writing project.
Info about several books that are on sale.
And in the story connections section, you will find some illustrations of characters in and a few lines from a Shakespearean play that appears in one of my books.
Below are two videos that highlight an instrument that was just being developed and becoming quite the “hot new” thing during the early 1800s. It is called a harp-lute.
This first video is of a lady singing “The Last Rose of Summer” while playing the harp-lute. I thought the video was such a good one to inspire the imagination of what music in the drawing room might have looked and sounded like.
And the second video is an informational video telling a bit about the history of the instrument and showing how it is played.
The story I have chosen to pair with today’s musical selection is Protecting Miss Darcy. The excerpt below is from a conversation Alfred Langley has with his aunt (Lorcan Langley’s mother, hero of Cherishing Kitty) about the prettiest flower in the garden. 🙂
That’s right, Alfred, you just keep telling yourself that Georgiana is only your friend. No one is believing that besides you and Georgiana. 😉
I thought today, we would take a look at another instrument that might have been in Georgiana’s music room (the oboe) and some music from a composer who not only wrote music for oboes, but also for piano. I’m sure Georgiana might have had some sheets of his music in her music folder.
The first video (above) introduces you to the oboe that was in use in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The second video (below) is a short piece that was composed by Haydn for the oboe. Can you imagine the delight and enjoyment that Georgiana and her brother would have gotten from going to a concert and listening to something like this?
This excerpt is from a book (Cherishing Kitty) that stars Kitty Bennet, but her dearest friend in this series is Georgiana. Therefore, Georgiana plays a role in Kitty’s journey to happily ever after.
Here they are talking about Georgiana’s upcoming season. Georgiana’s story (Protecting Miss Darcy) follows Kitty’s story and leads up to her season.
Georgiana does begin her study of character with Mr. Alfred Langley… and spoiler alert… she also ends it with him. The path from here to there, however, is not a pain-free one. 🙂
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.
PUBLISHED TO YOUTUBE BY RYANN DARLING ON JANUARY 6, 2018.
This is a video I “stumbled” upon by accident on YouTube while looking for Music Monday video options. What a sweet discovery! I think that this song pairs well with the relationship between Lydia and Richard in my Marrying Elizabeth series — especially with the scene they share at the end of the chapter I am sharing below — and if you’ve read the wedding breakfast scene at the end of Loving Lydia and remember the song Lydia sings for Darcy and Elizabeth, as well as her colonel, I think you’ll agree that this is another song she might sing to him. 🙂
Mary huffed as she stood beside Elizabeth, waiting to be allowed entrance to Netherfield the next day. There had been a long and lengthy discussion between Mary and her father after Lydia had told him what Mary had said on their walk.
“You are to be polite,” Lydia said.
“I know,” Mary grumbled.
“And apologize.”
Again, Mary huffed. “I know. Stop speaking.”
“Good day, Mr. Harvey,” Jane said as the door opened. “We are here to see…” She looked at her sisters. “Well, everyone it seems.”
“Very good, ma’am. If you will follow me.”
“That lace Mama selected looked very nice on Elizabeth’s wedding dress, did it not?” Jane asked Lydia. She was attempting as always to direct the conversation so that the argument from a few moments ago would be lost.
“It was lovely,” Lydia agreed.
“Only two more weeks,” Kitty whispered, “and we shall have to call on you here, Jane.”
Jane smiled broadly. “It seems so far away and yet so close.”
When he had asked, their mother had assured Darcy yesterday that she thought all the necessary preparations for a wedding would be completed by the end of the week. There was nothing to be concerned about except whether Colonel Fitzwilliam would be able to attend and if standing for a full service would be too much for Mr. Bennet’s leg. Therefore, a date had finally been decided upon, and Elizabeth knew that Jane was eagerly anticipating becoming the mistress of Netherfield.
