Tag: Music Monday

Music Monday: SHINE, The Washboard Union

This is not the song I had thought I would be sharing today.  However, when it popped up in my YouTube notifications, I changed my original plans because I have heard this on the radio lately, and I have been eagerly awaiting the video so that I could share it. I love how upbeat both the tune and the words are. It’s a great pick me up song for any time of the day, but I do think Monday mornings are probably more in need of picking up than most (except maybe Wednesday afternoons as your energy flags in that midweek slump — or is that just me?)

TheWashboardUnion. “The Washboard Union – Shine – Official Lyric Video.” YouTube. YouTube, 21 July 2017. Web. 22 July 2017.

So, while you’re tapping your toes to this happy song, let me tell you briefly what I have been up to this past week in my writing life.

During my editing block:

First, I finished first round edits on Henry’s story and sent it to my first reader, who messaged me that she enjoyed it and has some notes for me, which we will discuss probably this evening.

Then, I pulled up the copy of His Beautiful Bea with all its line edits and began a final read through of that before working on the formatting.  It looks like everything but the print edition should be ready for release day, August 1, 2017. (Hopefully, by the time this post goes live, both the e-book and print files will be uploaded and just awaiting review and proofing for appearance.)

I also sent out a sneak peek at chapters one and two of His Beautiful Bea to my mailing list, and I set up a Touches of Austen Readers Group on Facebook where readers can discuss elements of Austen they find in the book as they read.

Note: If you would like to read my explanation of what the Touches of Austen Collection of books is and the first chapter of His Beautiful Bea, you can do that at this link: His Beautiful Bea Preview

I’m rather excited about taking this step into writing Austenesque stories.  I just hope I survive the Mrs. Bennet-like fit of nerves that accompanies doing something new!

And then in my writing block:

I’m still working on what will be my next Dash of Darcy novella. I think I might have finished the cutting and splicing of the previous stories into the new story phase at least for now, and depending on how long this story ends up being in the end, I am at the “one-third to one-half done” mark. 🙂

The excerpt below is an entirely new part that I added to the story this week. (No, the story does not yet have an official title. 🙂 )

EXCERPT from Dash of Darcy #4:  Continue reading Music Monday: SHINE, The Washboard Union


Music Monday: Softness and Light, Brian Crain

Pause your busy Monday for a couple of minutes and try this little imagination exercise.  Click play on the video below. Then close your eyes and see if you can imagine yourself travelling in a carriage with the light filtering in through the window.

Briancrainfan. “Brian Crain – Softness and Light.” YouTube. YouTube, 07 June 2012. Web. 15 July 2017.

Were you able to see it?  Isn’t this song perfect for a carriage ride on a sunny spring day? I found it to be.

In fact, it is this song and that exercise that I used to settle my brain into one of my writing sessions this week which resulted in the carriage ride shared in the excerpt at the end of this writing news update.

This week, I began working my way through my first round of edits for Henry’s story.  I am just past the halfway point with that, and I am still loving that story! I hope to have my edits done before Wednesday this week so I can send that story off to my first reader.  Because I am pushing to get that done, my writing sessions were shorter this past week.

As I mentioned last week, I was in need of a new story to write this week and had several options from which to choose.  Well, I settled on one that I had attempted before and had given up on.

I’m not the sort that likes to give up. 😉 So, I am giving it one more shot — and so far, it seems like it is going to work.  I wrestled with it for a day and then decided to discuss my concerns with a couple of writer friends.  That was an excellent choice because a couple of helpful comments was all it took for me to have a lightbulb moment about how this story might be accomplished.  We’ll see if it works out.

The story has a working title but as I am still very uncertain if that title will stick, I will just refer to it as Dash of Darcy 4 because it will be the fourth Dash of Darcy Collection Novella. (And if all goes according to plan, there will be at least one sequel and maybe two sequels to add to my Dash of Darcy Companion Stories Collection.)

As with all my Dash of Darcy novellas, the story departs from Pride and Prejudice at a specific point and then follows a new path to happily ever after for Darcy and Elizabeth. This story starts at the conclusion of Darcy’s disastrous proposal — before he can even leave the parsonage — and takes a one hundred eighty degree turn.

This novella is a reworking of three short stories I wrote several years ago.  These stories — A Change of Heart, Just Three Words, and With My Whole Heart — can be found in their original forms in my short stories collection HERE.  I can’t promise that all of what you read in these stories will end up in the final product as the story has to be expanded and some ideas might not work with the new plot additions, but these three stories are my starting point.

The following scene (currently the beginning of chapter 3) is entirely new material that I am adding to this story and follows the rewritten A Change of Heart (which has been expanded enough to be chapters 1 & 2).

EXCERPT FROM Dash of Darcy 4:  Continue reading Music Monday: Softness and Light, Brian Crain


Music Monday: Starlit Dream, Peder B Helland

This week, I spent a lot of time with “relaxation” music playing in my office. Why?  One word. Edits. 🙂

SoothingRelaxation. “3 Hours of Beautiful Relaxing Instrumental Music – Study, Relax, Background ★31.” YouTube. YouTube, 19 Mar. 2016. Web. 25 June 2017.

I have decided to give my story His Beautiful Bea one more going over before I send it off to be checked for commas, spelling, word usage, and the like.

I’m attempting to add a bit more emotional depth to the story. This story does not contain an enormous, spectacular conflict.  There is conflict, but it’s internal to the main characters.

I would describe the story as a gentle realization of love. Nothing horrible happens.  No one faces death or disowning.  There are no refused proposals. The setting and the action of the story is all rather pleasant and agreeable. The battle lies in the hero recognizing those odd feelings for what they are while the heroine grows to understand that what she thought was love, was nothing more than infatuation.

In my opinion, this is the sort of story that needs extra attention paid to the emotional details, and that is what I am trying to do on this last pass through my manuscript — give those details the attention they are due. Will I be successful? I don’t know because each reader will have to decide that for him or herself.  I can only make certain the story is to my liking before I send it out into the big, scary world. 🙂

All the attention to minute details and being self-critical required when editing tends to leave my brain in desperate need of soothing.  However, when you add the fact that both the story I am editing and the one I am writing are “new forms” of stories (one being Austenesque, which I have never done, and both based on Mansfield Park instead of the more comfortable Pride and Prejudice), and you get one very stressed out Leenie! 🙂 Therefore, relaxation music was NECESSARY.

The above composition was what was playing during my last writing session on Friday when I was writing the excerpt below.

EXCERPT from Henry: To Prove Himself Worthy: Continue reading Music Monday: Starlit Dream, Peder B Helland


Music Monday: Unwritten, Natasha Bedingfield

This week I was “staring at the blank page before me.” 🙂

As I mentioned last week, I took a few days off to allow my brain time to relax. So, this week, after requiring myself to take one day of absolutely no work (Monday),  I decided it was time to start working the brain back into the writing schedule.

NBedingfieldVEVO. “Natasha Bedingfield – Unwritten.” YouTube. YouTube, 25 Oct. 2009. Web. 04 June 2017.

The process actually started with writing my blog post for Austen Authors — which you can read tomorrow. It is about Not an Heiress and includes three excerpts from the story.

Then, I turned my mind to an idea that was sparked this comment by Patty on last Monday’s blog post.

An idea for a story, could you write a piece that made Crawford redeemable?

Hmmm…Could I? It was a thought that gave me goosebumps — still does. And that is a good thing.  That’s what happens when excitement mixed with apprehension skitters through me. 🙂

So, I went in search of the answer…and that process looked like this:

I started by spending a good deal of time on Tuesday rereading portions of Mansfield Park and taking notes.

Then, I messaged a couple of author friends, and they very kindly let me discuss Mansfield Park, Henry Crawford, and various plotting sort of things. (It just helps to “talk it out” some. 🙂 )

After that, I needed time to think and mull over my thoughts — but I forced myself to begin writing a possible scene, just a piece.

This was followed by another period of thinking which consists of finding a relaxed position — often lying on my bed with a notebook next to me for jotting down thoughts ;), turning on specific music that I use just for this purpose, and letting various scenes play out in my mind.

Then it was back to writing.

Have I discovered the answer to the question of whether or not I can reform Henry Crawford?

Maybe. I think so. I hope so. 🙂

This is where the apprehension comes into play. The story is starting after the conclusion of Mansfield Park. Henry has had some time to regret Fanny and has made some changes. But…am I drawing on the small nuances of potentially noteworthy character in him as I see them in canon and developing them in a believable way?

There’s only one way to find out — write the story. 🙂

Here’s a look a the first thousand words of Henry’s story:   Continue reading Music Monday: Unwritten, Natasha Bedingfield


Music Monday: Emma 2009 – If You’re Not the One

Last year, I participated in Austen Authors’ read along of Emma. It was my second reading of the novel. It’s a very good story — but a long one, and, to be honest, one that I struggled with at times just because it seemed to not move along fast enough for me, and there were some characters (including Emma) who aggravated me. 🙂 However, I did find this second reading gave me a better appreciation for some of them.

Elementoffun. “Emma 2009 – If You’re Not the One.” YouTube. YouTube, 04 Jan. 2010. Web. 27 May 2017.

I think my favourite character was Miss Bates. She often shared some information in her long meanderings that hinted at what was really happening, and if other characters had paid closer to attention to her rather than tuning out her babblings, they might have discovered things before they did. But, Miss Bates was not a character designed to be listened to.  I find that so clever of Miss Austen to use such a character in this fashion.

Today, I have chosen to share one of the three aimagined scenes that I wrote during the read along. There is a place where Miss Bates leaves her house to meet up with Emma and is engaged in talking outside of her home for some time — since you know Miss Bates is not a lady of few words — and Frank and Jane are left alone with a slumbering Mrs. Bates.  Rebecca Jamison who was the discussion leader that week asked what we thought happened in that little interlude in chapter 28 when the two true lovers were left alone.  Below you will find my answer — in vignette format.

The reason I have chosen to share this particular piece of writing instead of something I wrote this week is because, well, my brain seems to be in a little slump, and it was occupied for most of the week with the publication of both Better Than She Deserved and At All Costs.

I did sit down with a story I wrote some time ago and have always wanted to extend into a novelette or novella, but as I started rewriting it, I was finding that the story was not capturing my imagination. I believe my writing suffers when I am not fully engaged in the story, so I decided to tuck that story away for now. I also think the story needs an expanded concept and better conflict/plot development before I go back to it.  This means, however, that I am back to needing to decide on a writing project.  So far, I haven’t landed on anything, and I am attempting to just relax and refill the creative well with things like music videos such as the one above, reading, movies, and fun activities.

So, while my brain rests and recovers from the workout I have given it of late, enjoy this little scene of what might have been in Emma.

An Interlude Between Acts: Continue reading Music Monday: Emma 2009 – If You’re Not the One