Music Monday: Ode to Joy to the World (The Piano Guys)

Merry Christmas!

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:

books2read.com/u/mvKkqX

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.)

And now for…

AN EXCERPT FROM Tom: To Secure His Legacy: (This is the first look at our heroine) Continue reading Music Monday: Ode to Joy to the World (The Piano Guys)

Music Monday: The Woodshed is Full (Dean Brody)

Elizabeth could not agree more. Darcy’s love was the best Christmas gift she could have ever received, and every year, from that one forward, in addition to gifts being exchanged on Christmas morning in the Darcy home, gifts of the heart would be given as well. But these gifts, these special gifts of love, would neither be given nor received on Christmas morning but would always be shared, just as Georgiana’s had been — two days before Christmas.

[The final lines from Two Days Before Christmas]

Published to YouTube by Dean Brody, November 28, 2014.

Traditions. They are often a big part of the end of the year holiday season.

A tradition for me in my writing life, which is going on three years this week, is writing and giving a story to my readers on my email list. The process starts in the early fall as I decide on the story to be written. Then, I usually spend October writing and November editing, so that the book is ready to distribute in December.

This year, I started writing the first of the three novelettes in the book I am giving away in August. I wanted to learn how to write using dictation, so I knew the process would not be fast — and I was right. I wrote in small sections (while getting ready in the mornings). It was interesting how my brain was trying to get used to speaking a story rather than sending it through my fingers to the computer. (I am not sure that it is completely familiar with that process yet) The software also had to get used to my style of writing. (It’s getting better but still needs work.) Needless to say, these three stories needed a LOT of editing for typos and punctuation. 😀 However, it was a great learning experience, and I am going to do it again — after New Year’s.

Anyway… These three stories will be both given away to my mailing list and published to Amazon and on whichever of the other vendors are open and not on holiday hours. 🙂 (Thursday is the planned day if all goes well.)

If you wish to join my mailing list and pick up these stories for free, you can do that from now until the end of 2018.

I will be talking about this book and sharing an excerpt from each of the stories tomorrow, December 18, 2018, on Austen Authors.

Of course, I will also be posting a chapter of Frosted Windowpanes, which is one of the three stories in this collection. I will post the final chapter next week. Just because the book is being distributed this week does NOT mean I will not finish posting that story.

As you can probably guess, I was busy getting last edits done on Nature’s Fury and Delight’s: Thunder, Mist, and Frost this past week, but it was not all I was working on. I also…

sent off Delighting Mrs. Bennet to my final editor and have a tentative publication date set for January 10, 2019.

wrote the second chapter of Loving Lydia and scheduled the first chapter to post on January 3, 2019. 🙂

wrote chapter 3 of Tom: To Secure His Legacy — which means I think I am ready to start sharing a few snippets of that here. However, I cannot promise that I will have something to share each Monday during the holiday season. I think I will, but you know how busy it can be at this time of year. Therefore, I don’t want to make a promise I might not be able to keep. But anyway… Shall we take a peek at a few hundred words from Tom’s story?

AN EXCERPT FROM Tom: To Secure His Legacy: (this is from chapter one) Continue reading Music Monday: The Woodshed is Full (Dean Brody)

Music Monday: Period Drama Couples – Sunday Afternoon

“I would choose you before I would choose myself.” He placed a hand, which had been made rough from working with his men in the militia and the wood he loved, on her cheek. “I do not have the means just yet to support a family,” he began.

“But you will.” She squeezed his hand tightly.

He smiled and nodded. He would gladly face whatever trials might come as he established himself as a tradesman just to have her continue to look at him as she did now with such confidence in his abilities. “Yes, I will, and when I do, I would very much like to create that family with you. Will you marry me when I am established?”

A smile lit her face and eyes as she nodded. “I would like nothing better.”

“It will not be a life of ease,” he cautioned. For a moment, despite his desire to have her as his wife, he doubted whether he was doing the right thing in asking her to share such a life. His thumb caressed her cheek. “You deserve so much more.”

“I love you,” she said, pressing her cheek more firmly against his hand. “I will be happy nowhere else save at your side.”

He knew that he felt the same. It was why he was prepared to defy his father. No matter the money and property he may be losing by choosing her, he knew his life would never be so pleasant with those things as it would be with her at his side. Still, he could not resist asking, “You are certain?”

“Yes.”

“Then, may I ─ ”

“Yes. You must kiss me.”

[From His Inconvenient Choice]

Published on YouTube by MimaShar on Jul 25, 2014

Sigh. That’s a favourite scene from that book. I do love those moments when one or the other of the main characters finds that their place in life is next to the man or woman they love. 🙂

Trivia Question: Do you know who the he and she are in the above excerpt?

I’m not to that point in any of my current works in progress, however. I’m still either in the very beginning or somewhere in the middle. I am no further along in Mary’s story, but I am making progress in both the short story I am writing and Assessing Mr. Darcy. And other than to tell you that, I really have no writing news to share. School has started. We are getting our routines established and schedule refined, and writing continues as best it can while that happens.

While I have very little by way of writing news to share, I do have a story excerpt. This chapter from Assessing Mr. Darcy will be posted in its entirety on Patreon today. I am currently about two chapters ahead of this spot, but I thought I would share a little taste of what a family dinner at Longbourn might be like.

AN EXCERPT FROM Assessing Mr. Darcy: Continue reading Music Monday: Period Drama Couples – Sunday Afternoon

Music Monday: Mariah Carey – Without You (Pride & Prejudice 2005)

“I must go.” He did not know where he needed to go or what he needed to do, but he needed to be somewhere that was not here…somewhere where he could feel the anguish in his heart…

[from Charles: To Discover His Purpose]

Published to YouTube by fkwk101 on May 17, 2013.

I had a wonderful few days away in Prince Edward Island with my husband, and I did nearly no work during those times. I did check to make sure my scheduled items were posting and a few small things like that, but otherwise, no work was done. But that does not mean that I do not have some writing news. I do, and I will list that below. My time off, however, does mean that there is no print version of Charles’s story ready to go. I will work on that this week.

Not only is not having the print book ready on release day is a bummer to me because I like to have things done on time, but it is also the cause of some misinformation on the book’s Amazon sales page. And this information is a bit of a pet peeve of mine, and something I am constantly trying to educate people about. 😉 (Do not blindly trust Amazon’s page counts on books.) Let me tell you why.

The sales page lists the book as only 170 pages. However, my pdf of the book, which still has some formatting issues that must be addressed, currently has the book at 290 pages for everything including front matter and back matter, which includes a sample chapter of another book. The story itself stops on page 258 of the pdf. Even with that number shrinking a bit when the formatting issue is resolved, the number of pages in the book will still be more than 170! Word count wise, the story comes in at just over 46,000 words. That’s a long one for me. 🙂 In fact, it’s about 10,000 words or more longer than novellas, and actually puts the book in novel territory.

But no matter the length, I’m delighted that soon this lovely novel will be available to be read by one and all. Charles is an awesome character, and he and Evelyn make one terrific couple. You really need to read it. After all, it is a Leenie Brown book and as such, the story will not disappoint you. (I hope 😉 )

So, here is my…

Writing News:

Release day for Charles: To Discover His Purpose is tomorrow! *so excited*

And I have a blog post about the book tomorrow on Austen Authors which will include a giveaway.

I have started two new stories.

One will be a short story that I am dictating. I have not used Dragon Dictation before so this story is my first learning experience as I get used to speaking my story into existence instead of typing.

The second will be a Dash of Darcy story, and I am giving you the first 900+ words of the story below in an excerpt. This is the story I mentioned last week which features Mr. Collins once again in a different way. In fact, his name isn’t Mr. Collins in this story.

Other than those things, I am hoping to start Mary’s story this week. Hoping, not promising. 🙂 And in non-writing news, my house is in the process of being painted, I am getting last details ready before school starts next week, and my eldest son has started a new job so my car is not always at my disposal so things have to be planned a bit more carefully.

And now for…

AN EXCERPT FROM Assessing Mr. Darcy:

Elizabeth Bennet leaned against one of the oak trees that grew on the hill near the edge of Longbourn’s property. Taking out her spyglass, she settled in to watch. Overhead the brilliant reds, yellows, and oranges were still mixed with a few traces of green, and normally at this time of year, she would sit beneath one or another of these trees and attempt to paint their splendor. The feat usually ended with her applying paint to the leaves and pressing them on her paper. Her desire to capture beauty far outshone her ability. Her future home would not be filled with her own creations. Instead, she would have to rely on purchased paintings or perhaps, she could convince her younger sister Kitty to produce a few pieces. Kitty was the most artistic of her four sisters.

Today, however, observing the leaves above was but a peripheral pleasure. Today, she had far more interesting things at which to peer. Netherfield had been let at last! The grand home with its park that abutted this very edge of Longbourn’s property was to welcome a young unmarried gentleman and his sisters. One sister, she had been told by her uncle was similar in age to her. It would be a pleasure to have another lady in the neighbourhood. She smiled. Especially a lady with a wealthy brother in want of a wife.

“What are you doing?”

Elizabeth jumped, nearly dropping her spyglass. “Why must you insist on startling me, William?”

William Bennet smirked. “Because it is so delightful to see you jump.”

“It is because I can do sums better than you.” Had Elizabeth’s hair not been secured under her bonnet, it would have flipped quite satisfactorily as she turned her head.

“Yes, well, you inherited your father’s keen mind, and I am stuck with my father’s dull one.” He stood next to her on her left and leaned against the tree trunk.

Elizabeth lifted the spyglass and looked toward Netherfield as her heart pricked her. Finally, after no more than two minutes of silence, she turned to him. “You have had Papa to guide you, and you have done well. I should not have been so cruel as to point out something with which you struggle. But you do vex me at times. I do not appreciate having the working of my heart tested on such a regular basis simply because you are light of foot.”

He shrugged. “And I should not startle you, but we both know that I will continue to tease, and you will continue to retaliate with the one thing you do better than me.”

Elizabeth’s brows rose. “One thing?”

He laughed. “The one thing I will allow that you do better than me.”

“I dance better than you.”

“Very well. I will admit that you do two things better than me, but I will not admit to anything further. A brother must feel at least marginally superior to his younger sister.”

Elizabeth allowed it to be. He was not her brother by birth. He had been born William Collins, a distant cousin to her father. However, even at birth, he had been far more important to her family than some cousin. It did not matter that her father and his father had not spoken to one another in years. William Collins was the heir to Longbourn since her father had never produced a son.

It had been years, fifteen to be precise, since William had arrived with his few bags and his poor manners and lack of learning on Longbourn’s steps. His father had died and since there was no nearer relation and since he was the heir to Mr. Bennet’s estate, the child had been delivered with all his worldly possessions to them, to be their son and brother.

He had been ten, and after six months of living with them, he had asked if he too could be a Bennet. Her father had willingly obliged, excessively pleased to have someone bear his name who would not be giving that name away before a parson in a marriage ceremony.

There was a carriage approaching Netherfield. Elizabeth focused her glass to look as closely at it as she could. She could not see much detail, but the equipage did appear to be very fine, almost regal.

“A carriage,” she said, handing the spyglass to William.

William adjusted the glass for his use and whistled. “This Bingley fellow is not shallow in the pockets, is he?”

“I dare say he is not,” Elizabeth agreed. “Give the glass back when they have stopped. I want to see how the grooms and driver tend to their passengers.”

William laughed. “You do not. You wish to see if Mr. Bingley is as handsome as he is rumoured to be.” He looked through the glass once more. “There is a second carriage.” He handed the glass to her. “You will want to see this one.”

“Why?” she asked, positioning herself to be able to look at the second carriage.

“You will know when you see it.”

“Oh, my!” She looked at William. “Does Mr. Bingley have two carriages, one that is lovely and another that could carry the Prince Regent?”

William shook his head. “I would venture a guess that he has not come alone.”

“A friend?”

“That would be my assumption. A very wealthy guest.”

“Do you suppose it is a gentleman?”

William laughed. “Yes. A single gentleman is not going to bring some fancy lady with him.”

“Why not?” Elizabeth made a face at her brother. “He has sisters. It could be a friend of theirs.” She scowled at the look of disbelief on William’s face. It was his way of questioning her ability to reason things, and she hated it. Not because it was a hideous face or anything like that, but because he never used that expression except when she had not thought things through properly. She despised being wrong.

~*~*~

KOBO AMAZON NOOK IBOOKS MAILING LIST PATREON SOCIETY6

Music Monday: Christmas Canon (Trans-Siberian Orchestra)

Welcome to Christmas in July. Each Music Monday this month will feature Christmas music and a giveaway. Scroll down below the video for a few details.

Published on YouTube Oct 26, 2009, by Atlantic Records

I have five books which are set around Christmas:

A Very Mary Christmas

For Peace of Mind

No Other Choice

Two Days Before Christmas

One Winter’s Eve

Each Monday, I will leave a link in my Music Monday post which will have 5 copies of one of those books at it. (Books will be given away in random order — not in the order listed above.)

There are five Monday’s in July.

That’s a total of 25 books being given away — just like the day on which Christmas falls 🙂

Two other pieces of information you might wish to know:

Each Monday post is scheduled for 8:05 am Atlantic time.

The link will be located just before my story excerpt each week because I would like you to read the post, but feel free to read after you have clicked to see if any books remain. 🙂 I get it — being quick on the click is important here.

Now, let me tell you about how I decided on the musical selection for today. I sent out an email to my mailing list to give them a heads up on this special month of Music Monday posts. I was, at that time, still undecided about what video I would share today. Well, before I had made my final selection, I received a reply to the email I sent out, and in that reply, there were two suggestions of groups with great Christmas music. One of those groups was Trans-Siberian Orchestra, and the other one was Blackmore’s Night. I went to YouTube and looked them both up and listened to a few songs. The song above I had never heard before, and it was so beautiful that I just had to use it today. (In case you’re wondering, it’s quite likely that I might use one from the other group on another Monday.)

In other news…

Master of Longbourn has launched successfully and has several lovely reviews. 🙂

Tomorrow, Tuesday, July 3, 2018, on Austen Authors, I will be discussing part of the plot structure of Master of Longbourn as it pertains to Mr. Collins’s inner journey.

I managed one day of writing on two stories this past week. So, not exactly a great success for the new writing routine, but it’s a good start.

I have Thursday Three Hundred posts scheduled all the way through September now, and still, Delighting Mrs. Bennet has not reached its conclusion. That means the release date is still unknown and will likely not be any sooner than sometime in November.

The first three chapters of Charles’s story have been posted at Patreon, and I am beginning work on Chapter 4. I hope to get at least one more chapter completed and posted at Patreon this week.

Before I get to the excerpt from Charles’s story, here is the link where there are five copies of For Peace of Mind waiting to be claimed. The copies are available on a first come, first serve basis until all five have been claimed or the link expires on Friday, July 6, 2018.

CLICK HERE TO CLAIM ONE OF THE 5 COPIES OF For Peace of Mind.

[update: All five copies have found homes.]

And now for…

AN EXCERPT FROM Charles: To Discover His Purpose:
Continue reading Music Monday: Christmas Canon (Trans-Siberian Orchestra)