Mary: To Protect Her Heart – Page 3

Music Monday: I’ll Be Home For Christmas (The Carpenters)

“Shhh. Rest quietly.”

The heaviness on his chest lifted, but instead of feeling relieved, he missed the warm, protection of whatever it was. Or whoever it was, he adjusted as a hand cupped his cheek.

“We will be to the dock soon.”

He attempted to open his eyes again, but they still would not allow him to look at the lovely lady who was now stroking his forehead.

“Rest,” Mary cooed.

A drop of something wet splashed on his cheek and was quickly brushed away. Sniffling. She was crying. He forced his eyes to open enough so that he could see her through his lashes. If he could get his arms out from under these blankets, he could touch her, and she would know she had nothing to fear. But he could not do more than lift his hand and place it on his stomach under the blankets.

[from Mary: To Protect Her Heart]

Uploaded to YouTube by christamtime4u on October 21, 2011

Wouldn’t you like to know what is happening in that scene with Mary and Gabe?

Well, today is the day when you can because today is release day for Mary: To Protect Her Heart!

(And remember that this story as well as Charles: To Discover His Purpose, Henry: To Prove Himself Worthy, and His Beautiful Bea are all available to read in Kindle Unlimited.)

It was a busy week getting things ready for the release of Mary’s story mixed in with other things such as going to speak to a class of young writers (grade 4) on Wednesday. It’s always such fun to go into my friend’s class and share my love of writing with such eager learners. I also got to read some of their stories — which were excellent!

The busyness of the week, however, contributed to my not quite getting everything done that I needed to do for Mary’s release. I did not get Advance Reader Copies out until Sunday — Sunday! I don’t usually send emails on the weekend, but this time I had to. I also do not have a print version of the book ready to go at this time. It should be ready by the end of the week.

In other story news,

I have gotten my Nature’s Fury and Delight stories back from my final editor and have started on those corrections. Chapter two of Frosted Windowpanes will post this Thursday.

(Thank you to all who read and to those who commented on last week's post. It is so exciting to me to see people taking a chance on this Austenesque original tale.)

I picked the video above partially because I thought the images really fit with that story being set in the winter around Christmas time — and it is a story about a homecoming. As I explained in my author note last Thursday, this collection of stories was specifically written as a Christmas gift from me to my newsletter subscribers. If you are not a subscriber, you can click the link at the bottom of this post and be added to the list. Anyone who joins the list before the end of December will receive a copy of this book, and I am hoping to be able to give away a lot of copies. 🙂

I finished my first round edits of Delighting Mrs. Bennet and have sent that off to my first reader. Yay! Publication is still slated for the beginning of January.

I wrote the first installment of Loving Lydia, but I did not get any more of Tom’s story written. Therefore, there is no story excerpt this week (again — I’m starting to feel guilty about that 😉 ).

I think I need someone who can look at my writing plate when I am planning and tell me “No, that’s too much. Put one of those stories back” 😀 because it seems when I stacked this plate I definitely filled it too full. 🙂 [But there are just so many tempting story treats to pick up and play with.] Hopefully, by the new year, I will have it whittled down to manageable. And I thank you for your patience during this very scattered period of my life. <3

Until next Monday — have a blessed week!

Leenie

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Music Monday: The Christmas Waltz, Frank Sinatra

Welcome to the month of December! The last month of the year! Can you believe it?

Since it is December, I am going to be posting Christmas songs all month long. Here’s the first one. I did pick this one for a specific reason.

Published to YouTube by Christmas Channel on October 31, 2017.

On Thursday, I am going to be posting the first chapter of a Touches of Austen novelette called Frosted Windowpanes and every time I go to open that document, this song pops into my head because of frosted windowpanes line. 🙂

Frosted Windowpanes is one of the novelettes in this collection:

I am currently working on final edits for Mary: To Protect Her Heart because I have to have the final document uploaded to Amazon by Thursday, but after that is done, I will be doing final edits on this Nature’s Fury and Delights collection.

I wrote this book with a specific purpose. Even though it will be published, it’s a gift, first and foremost. I attempt to write a book to give to my mailing list each year. So far, I have succeeded three years in a row if you count this year. 🙂

I’ll mention this again on Thursday, but I’m not just giving the book to those who are currently on my mailing list, I am extending it to anyone who wishes to join that list before the end of December. I know not everyone is a mailing list sort of person. There are some who would rather purchase the book. (I know because that’s me. I’d rather buy. 🙂 Is it ok to admit that?)

For those interested in signing up to my mailing list, there is a link at the bottom of this post in the signature area where my Leenie B Books logo is.

In other news — one week from today, Mary: To Protect Her Heart will be live on Amazon and in Kindle Unlimited. I just put Henry: To Prove Himself Worthy, Charles: To Discover His Purpose, and His Beautiful Bea into Kindle Unlimited. I’m a bit excited and nervous to see how this Kindle Unlimited experience goes.

For those who don’t know, Kindle Unlimited is a subscription service provided by Amazon. A reader pays a certain amount of money per month and can then borrow and read books that are part of the program. I don’t know much more about how it works as a reader since I am not a member of the program.

For the author of the book, being in the KU program means that his or her content is exclusively distributed through Amazon. It can be purchased just as any other book can be with the author receiving a royalty (35% or 70% depending on pricing), but it can also be borrowed with the author receiving a fraction of a cent per page read.

One of the last numbers I saw for how much was being paid per page was something like $0.004. That means a reader must read at least 3 pages before an author earns a penny.

Let’s say my book is short and only 90 pages long (because that is an easy number to work with in calculating this). If I am earning approximately a penny for every three pages read, I would receive about 30 cents for a complete read of that 90-page book.

That same book if it were sold for say $2.99 (the lowest allowed price for a 70% royalty payout), the author would receive about $2 for that book. That’s a big difference, isn’t it? Kindle Unlimited works best for long books because they have lots of pages or for books that are read by tons of people (more people than would normally purchase a book).

Since I write books on the shorter side, I’m a bit nervous about how much money these books will make. (This is a business after all. A business based on a passion, but a business none-the-less.)

My hope in putting these books in KU is to attract more readers to a series of stories that are not Pride and Prejudice based and that do not star Darcy and Elizabeth. It’s just easier to take a chance on a book when you’re borrowing and not seeing the money go out when you click on the book to read. (You’re still paying for the book with your subscription, but it feels free.)

If this experiment goes well, then I might be putting other books in the program. Time and statistics will tell.

I do not have a story excerpt for you again this week. I have been spending more time editing than writing. I’d say maybe next week, but I won’t bank on it. This week will have lots of editing time as well.

Have a great week. I hope you join me on Thursday for that first chapter of Frosted Windowpanes.

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Music Monday: I Saw Three Ships, Jennifer Thomas

“What I would not give for a book or a bit of stitching,” Margaret said.

“I do not think I could enjoy either with all this rocking,” Mary said. She would do well to not become ill from the motion.

There was nothing to do besides pace their small confines in a staggering fashion as they attempted to grow accustomed to the motion of the ship or sleep. And so, they did one for a period of time, and then endeavoured to do the other when their legs grew weary. They huddled together as comfortably as they could in a corner they created by pushing around a couple of crates. It felt secluded and gave the illusion of being safe.

[from Mary: To Protect Her Heart]

Published to YouTube on November 14, 2017, by Jennifer Thomas.

*music ends at about 3:30 with information about the performer after that mark

As I mentioned last week, we are on a short break from any work in progress excerpts on Mondays as I am just beginning some new stories and have nothing ready to share. However, when I found this music video I just couldn’t help using a small excerpt from Mary’s story to go with it. (And I’ll admit to wanting to tempt everyone into reading her story. 😉 ) Those few lines above are from when the real trouble (and danger) begin in the story.

Mary: To Protect Her Heart is on pre-order for a special price until December 10, 2018. After December 10, the price will go up. Henry’s and Charles’s stories are also on sale until Mary’s release day, so this is a great time to pick up all the books in the series.

During the pre-order period, I will be working on the print edition, making final corrections to commas and typos, working on promotional graphics, and sending out a limited number of advance reader copies to my mailing list as well as sharing some of those ARCs in my Leenie’s Sweeties Facebook Group.

But that’s not all I am working on. At the same time, I need to get Nature’s Fury and Delights: Thunder, Mist, and Frost ready to publish on December 18 (my next Austen Authors post day), and I am working my way through the first round of edits on Delighting Mrs. Bennet, which will be published in early January 2019 (probably January 3 or 10). It is a busy but exciting time of year in my writing world.

You would think that all those activities would be enough to keep me scurrying and wondering how I will get it all done — and you’d be right 🙂 However, I just don’t feel right when I don’t get to write. 😀

So, I have started Tom Bertram’s story. I’ve only written about 1000 words so far, but I have done many hours of research before I wrote any of those words. (Yes, I am once again pushing myself to explore new things with this story. I really don’t know why I do this to myself. 🙂 I guess I just like the challenge of learning.)

By the end of this week, I hope I might be ready to start writing Loving Lydia. I want to get my first read through/edit of Delighting Mrs. Bennet done first, and I think I can have that finished by about Thursday if my schedule works. I think you might have some idea from where part of the conflict in Loving Lydia might stem after seeing Wednesday and Thursday’s posts.

Delighting Mrs. Bennet will conclude this Thursday. I will be leaving it up for about a week (and a few days since I do my blog post work on Saturdays) before removing it from the blog. That means there will be a month between when this story ends and Loving Lydia begins. But don’t worry. I am not going to skip any Thursday posts. I just happen to have something else planned for the month of December — which you can find out about next week. 😉

One last little writing news item that is not so little to me. I have always sold all my books on as many sales platforms as possible. However, based on past experience and my analysis of previous sales numbers as well as the direction in which I would like to go with my writing career, I am going to be pulling Henry: To Prove Himself Worthy, Charles: To Discover His Purpose, and His Beautiful Bea off all of my vendors except for Amazon so that I can place these books in the Kindle Unlimited program for at least 90 days. My hope in doing this is to make the stories available to a large group of readers who might feel more willing to take a chance on a Mansfield Park-based story by borrowing and reading it rather than committing money to something they don’t realize they will enjoy. (I mean, they will enjoy the stories. I just need to give them the chance to discover that they will enjoy them, ya know what I mean?) It wasn’t an easy choice to make. I am not a fan of the exclusivity that Amazon demands to be part of the Kindle Unlimited program, but, after talking to several people I respect, it seemed that trying this approach is a good business decision. I will be asking to have them removed from other sellers after Wednesday this week since Charles’s story is still in the Kobo Plus program until that day.

I’ll share more about the direction I would like to go in my writing career later — probably in January. For now, I’ll just say that I have always said I was an author of Austen-inspired and original fiction, and I think it’s time to start working more original fiction into my catalog of books. Don’t worry. I don’t plan to stop writing sweet stories. I’m just shifting a bit. But, I’ll explain more when I have more of a plan in place. I’m just starting to attempt the planning part. 🙂

I think that’s all the writing news I have for now.

Have a great week!

Leenie

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Music Monday: Unsafe Haven (Simply Three)

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.

[from Oxford Cottage]

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.

And now for that last…

STORY EXCERPT FROM Mary: To Protect Her Heart: Continue reading Music Monday: Unsafe Haven (Simply Three)

Music Monday: Jane Austen Couples, You and Me (Lifehouse)

Elizabeth laid a hand on her heart and reminded herself to breathe. He had not been critiquing and criticizing her every movement? “Miss Bingley holds no place in your heart?”

He chuckled. “Only as the sister of a friend because she must. I find her trying, at best.”

Elizabeth tilted her head. Her brows were still furrowed. Was there anything she had accurately deciphered about Mr. Darcy?

“There is only you,” he added, stepping just a half step closer to her.

She shook her head. “I do not know you.” She gave a half shrug. “I thought I did, but I do not.”

“What do you wish to know?” He clasped his hands behind his back to keep from touching her.

[from Discovering Mr. Darcy]

Published to YouTube by tori2103 on September 14, 2007.

Today, we have two excerpts that go with the song choice. The first, which is at the beginning of this post) is from a place in the story where the hero (Darcy) is finally getting an opportunity (given to him by his scheming aunt and cousin and a locked door) to explain himself to the heroine (Elizabeth). The second, which is at the end of this post) is from a place in the story when both the hero (Gabe) and the heroine (Mary Crawford) are starting to realize that there is only “You and Me” — she’s the only one for him, and he’s the one gentleman who Mary might actually be able to trust with her heart.

Before we get to that excerpt, however, let me tell you what I have been up to in my writing time this past week:

I have begun getting my three Nature’s Fury and Delights short stories (novelettes) ready for publication as it just dawned on me one day that we are almost halfway through November and if I want these out before Christmas, I had better get a move on! 🙂 Time can sometimes slip away from me. 😀 I still have to make some decisions about how to publish and how to brand the covers and such, but the editing is about a third of the way completed.

We only have three posts of Delighting Mrs. Bennet left, and my brain is beginning to work on the story that will follow. I am also beginning to get posts ready for December as I’m taking a little break from the Marrying Elizabeth series and starting that again in January. I am also considering making some changes on the blog — but Thursday stories won’t go away. Wednesday and Monday things might or they might change. I really don’t know at this moment, but I thought I would give you an advance heads up on that. (It’s that time of year when you look back at what has happened and plan for the future. 🙂 )

And finally…drumroll please…I finished the first draft of Mary: To Protect Her Heart. I know there are a few things I need to go back and add in in the last portion of the book, but the story arc is done. It will just creep into novel territory as listed by Romance Writers of America, which is over 40,000 words. I do not have a publication date right now as I am behind on getting the book ready. I am expecting that instead of the end of this month it will be the beginning of next — which means there will be lots of Christmas time Leenie stories to read with this novel and three novelettes, right? 🙂 Sweet things are on their way!

Now, on to…

AN EXCERPT FROM Mary: To Protect Her Heart: Continue reading Music Monday: Jane Austen Couples, You and Me (Lifehouse)