So Very Unexpected – Page 2

Does life imitate art or art imitate life?

Welcome to the first Longbourn Literary Society (LLS) Society Papers Broadcast post on my blog. (Yes, that is a mouthful, is it not? LOL)

Zoe Burton, Rose Fairbanks, and I have been doing these video chats as Facebook live videos for a year and have just recently moved from Facebook to YouTube so that the videos can be accessed more broadly.

Now, I realize I mentioned that I would share these videos on Sundays here on the blog, but I just had a “brilliant idea” which means this is either going to work or be a dismal failure. LOL

I think that I can share the link to the video early and then if you want to join us live, you can just use it to hop over to YouTube where you can comment, or you can just watch us here. We’ll see. Fingers crossed. And please accept my apologies if it does not work. I will get it sorted out afterward if necessary.

This week, we are discussing how real-life experiences have inspired scenes on the page and reading from some of those scenes as well.

[The broadcast will start at 3 PM EST or 4 PM if you’re in the Atlantic time zone like I am. 😉 ]

Books and links mentioned in the show:

Rose’s Books

Stolen Moments with Darcy books2read.com/u/mZN2wD

The Secrets of Pemberley books2read.com/u/b62Ne6

Mr. Darcy’s Compassion books2read.com/u/3kGWdn

The Gentleman’s Impertinent Daughter books2read.com/u/mgLqVx

Letters from the Heart books2read.com/u/4AYVnd

No Cause to Repine books2read.com/u/mYR17G

Mr. Darcy’s Kindness books2read.com/u/bMx184

Leenie’s Books

Through Every Storm mybook.to/TES

Mr. Darcy’s Comfort http://bit.ly/mdctab

So Very Unexpected http://bit.ly/SVUTab

Zoe’s Books

I Promise To … https://zoeburton.com/zoes-books/i-promise-to/

Promises Kept https://zoeburton.com/zoes-books/promises-kept/

To Save Elizabeth https://zoeburton.com/zoes-books/to-save-elizabeth/

Friday’s Race to the Weekend: https://zoeburton.com/category/fridays-race-to-the-weekend/

Join our Facebook readers community

Longbourn Literary Society: https://www.facebook.com/groups/LongbournLiterarySociety/

Subscribe to our channels

Zoe http://bit.ly/ZoeBurtonYT

Rose http://bit.ly/RoseFairbanksYT

Leenie http://bit.ly/LeenieBrownYT

Discover more about Leenie, Rose, and Zoe and their books

Leenie: https://www.leeniebrown.com (You’re here already 🙂 )

Rose: https://rosefairbanks.com

Zoe: https://zoeburton.com

Have a great weekend! Thanks for joining us!

Music Monday: Luck Be A Lady (Emma and Mr. Knightley)

Today, we are going to start with just a small snippet from tomorrow’s Sweet Tuesday story.

“Pull the bell, please, Victoria,” Diana said as she took a seat at the desk near the window. “This message must get sent to Mrs. Love straightaway. We would not wish for her to worry that her daughter has gone missing.”

Victoria moved to do as requested while Grace set forth on an explanation of how her mother rarely worried about her. It was Felicity, it seemed, who was the cause for concern.

“And she was found in the garden – alone with Mr. Everett Clayton. She is fortunate that Mother was not there or the scolding that she would have had to endure!” Grace leaned forward and whispered. “She was not wearing her bonnet, and her cheeks were very rosy when she returned to the house. She will not tell me what she was doing, but I am not so stupid as she thinks. I have heard what happens in dark corners of gardens.”

To Victoria, it looked as if the young lady was quite interested in what happened in dark corners of gardens.

“Proper young ladies do not find themselves alone in gardens with gentlemen.” Diana’s tone was firm but gentle.

“Oh, no, of course not.” A smile tipped the right side of Grace’s mouth. “Unless she wishes to marry the gentleman.”

[from My Darling Friend, A Touches of Austen Novella]

Published to YouTube by Rosie McCann on December 27, 2015.

Jazz is not often a style of music I listen to, but when I heard this song, it just seemed to be a very Miss Grace Love sort of song. 🙂 So, naturally, I had to share it with the excerpt above.

Before I get to my news, I thought I would share the results from last week’s “How Do You Read” survey. There were not a great number of responses, but this is how the replies I received broke down.

I must also say that I enjoyed reading the comments left on the survey.

How would I answer these questions?

Well, I purchase through both Kindle and Kobo, but I also read on OverDrive as that one connects with my local libraries ebook catalog.

I do not have a Kindle Unlimited membership as I tend to be a slow reader and a re-reader so I would not save any money by having that membership. And I am about saving money! I remember reading one response that mentioned loving a book sale, and I couldn’t agree more! I love a good sale.

I am not a paperback reader. I prefer ebooks.

Well, enough of that survey. Thank you to all who took the 2 minutes or so to take it. I found it enjoyable to see your answers.

As far as writing news goes:

I am still slowly working on adding chapters to both Loving Lydia and His Darling Friend. Unfortunately, I have fallen behind where I would like to be, which is causing me some stress. But, it really cannot be helped. There is just a lot of none-writing writer stuff that needs doing.

I am also slowly working through final edits for Tom’s story, which is currently on pre-order! Yay! So, now, I must get the final manuscript ready to upload to Kindle by March 7 — four days before the release day, March 11, 2019.

One thing that is very important to note about this pre-order is that Tom’s story is listed at $2.99 USD* which is a special introductory price that will go up to $4.99 USD after the pre-order ends. (*Other currencies also reduced based on USD price.)

I have the new bundle I wish to put in Kindle Unlimited nearly formatted. I still need to get a cover made for it, write a blurb, and remove the books that will be in it from other vendors. But, it is coming along. I would like to have it ready to put in Kindle Unlimited by March 18th or so to mark my four-year publication anniversary.

I think that is all for my writing new for this week, so let me leave you with a longer excerpt from one of my published books.

I chose this excerpt because it features a young lady one might think would be as willing to compromise a fellow to get him to marry her as Miss Grace appears to be. However, this young lady is rather surprising and likely not at all as you might think.

I also chose to feature her because she made me get teary-eyed when I was writing this week. (And so far, in every story in which she has played a major role she has tugged at my heart and caused me to keep my tissue box close.)

AN EXCERPT FROM So Very Unexpected:
Continue reading Music Monday: Luck Be A Lady (Emma and Mr. Knightley)

Music Monday: Beautiful Relaxing Music 106, Soothing Relaxation

What was I listening to this week while I was writing? This beautiful, relaxing, and imagination-inspiring piece of music. And thanks to such lovely music and a few snow days, I had a very productive week. So, click play and while the music plays, let me tell you a little about my week and share a sample of what I wrote.

Helland, Peder B., Soothing relaxation. “Beautiful Relaxing Music: Japanese Music, Chinese Music, Romantic Music, Meditation Music ★106.” YouTube. YouTube, 30 Dec. 2016. Web. 19 Feb. 2017.

To be honest, last Sunday seems like two weeks ago rather than just one. (I write these posts on Sunday’s usually.) We were in the midst of a very, very snowy period here in Nova Scotia. In about seven days, we went from no snow to about a metre of snow, and that spring that the groundhog said would come early looks incredibly far away! 🙂 However, the last couple of days have been fairly sunny and on the warm side of freezing so things are melting slowly.

While I may be pining for green grass and spring flowers, the snowy days did afford me some extra writing time as schools were closed for three days. So, while my sons shoveled and played video games, I strapped myself to my desk chair and took care of business — a lot of it!

On the publishing side of work, So Very Unexpected made its ebook debut this week on Tuesday and was featured in my post on Austen Authors. The print version also debuted this week, but later than expected as the storm that started on Sunday shut the city down for a couple of days, and my proof copy was delayed in reaching me. However, both print and ebook versions are now available.

Writing wise, I started a re-read of Listen to Your Heart. That book is going to be put in an anthology, and I am taking one more swipe at picking up remaining errors — not that I will catch them all. 🙂

In addition to starting the re-read of that book, I also worked on the next Dash of Darcy book called Discovering Mr. Darcy. I am happy to report that I managed to write just under 8,000 words and have completed the first draft. It is now sitting for a few days before I begin going through it to add in the bits and pieces of description and whatnot that I missed on the first pass.

For me, it seems the editing process is less about cutting things out than it is about adding details in. 🙂 Once I have a second go at that manuscript, it will be off to my first reader so she can tell me what I might still have missed as far as plot goes, and for me and my many charts and list, that is where the publication process begins.

And that was my week — other than getting things ready for the blog and to share on social media and other rather mundane businessy type things and squeezing in some homeschooling on the non-snow days. 🙂

Below is a portion of what I wrote this week. Remember, I was writing the ending of this book, so read at your own risk of spoilers. This scene is where Mr. Collins, who discovered Elizabeth and Darcy in a compromising position, finally decides to see reason.

EXCERPT from Discovering Mr. Darcy: Continue reading Music Monday: Beautiful Relaxing Music 106, Soothing Relaxation

Music Monday: Thunderstruck, 2Cellos

In this week’s Music Monday post, I am sharing a bit about what I did with my writing time this past week as well as a story snippet and a fun video that I think sums up how Elizabeth feels in the excerpt when she figures out exactly where she is. Enjoy! And have a great Monday!

2Cellos. “2CELLOS – Thunderstruck [OFFICIAL VIDEO].” YouTube. YouTube, 18 Feb. 2014. Web. 05 Feb. 2017.

WRITING NEWS:

This week has been a low word count week for writing. There were other things that needed doing. One of the things that I did was create a new cover for

One of the things that I did was create a new cover for So Very Unexpected. I had one that I was using as I was writing and editing the book, but I wasn’t completely happy with it. I am much better pleased with this new cover. At the same time, I also created a cover for At All Costs and for the bundled Willow Hall Romance series. I have also started working on the print cover for So Very Unexpected as well as getting final file formats started. I should have my last edits back this week and NEXT Tuesday, the book should be published in ebook format with print being ready shortly after.

Part of my writing time this week was devoted to the new story I have started and the other part was given to preparing an Austen Author’s post for next Tuesday. The first draft of that post is ready, but it still needs graphics. And I must decide if I am going to do a giveaway.

One reason I did not get as much story written this week is that I have hit a wall of thinking (which means I must be at least halfway through as that is where this wall usually hits). There are details that need to be considered. So while my brain works on those things, I did some reading and a bit of planning. Between this and the graphic work for the covers, my brain is feeling nearly ready to tackle those decisions.

STORY EXCERPT: Continue reading Music Monday: Thunderstruck, 2Cellos

Music Monday: Relaxing Celtic Music, Peder B. Helland

Helland, Peder B. “Relaxing Celtic Music: Fantasy Music, Flute Music, Harp Music, Beautiful Music, Relaxing Music ★91.” YouTube. Soothing Relaxation, 17 Sept. 2016. Web. 15 Jan. 2017.

This is a fanciful piece of music, is it not? I found this video about two months ago, and it has become a standard go-to piece of music for getting my mind into writing mode. There is something about it that just grabs my imagination and leads it down the creative path. It is also calming which helps me shift from the busyness of a family to the right frame of mind to think and create. (Seriously, it almost magical how well it works for me.) Because of these things, it has a place near the top of the playlist on the old mp3 player that lives on my writing desk. This piece of music does have a connection to some of the writing I did this week — in a roundabout way. I’ll get to that in a minute.

First, to give you an update on my current writing projects, I have been editing, editing, and editing. I have completed the first round (the most strenuous round) of edits for chapters 1- 12 of So Very Unexpected. The story, which when it completed posting here was around 36,600 words, is up to about 39,300 words currently, and I have several more chapters to go before I am done editing. I think it is very safe to say that this story will cross that 40,000-word novel threshold. I haven’t made any big changes. It has been more of a refining of what was there — adding details, rewording, smoothing, making certain that Lydia’s eyes which started as blue and ended hazel in the first draft are now hazel throughout — those sorts of things. I has also been helpful to know exactly what happens in book four before doing these edits since some things tie together there. So, I am happy I decided to finish book four’s first draft before picking up my editing pen on So Very Unexpected. I will continue editing this week and will more than likely share an excerpt of this story with you next week instead of this week since today, I have something else planned to share with you.

Tomorrow, Tuesday, January 17, 2017, is my day to post on austenauthors.net. My post is about my writing plans for this year. Part of these plans involves attempting to write Austen-inspired fairy tales. If you are listening to the music video, do you see how this music could play a part? This music makes me think of fairies and magic and all things fanciful (and romantic 🙂 ). Another part of my plans for this year involves the creation of a special Facebook Group,

Another part of my plans for this year involves the creation of a special Facebook Group, Leenie’s Sweeties. It is primarily for those who are fans of my books and would like to help promote them, but it is also a place where I hope to interact with readers while I work on putting my writing plans into action over the course of the year.

Now, in place of a story excerpt this week, I am sharing a link below to a story I placed on the Austen Author’s Writer’s Block Forum for my post tomorrow (which means you get to read it early). This story is an Austen-inspired fairy tale that I wrote a couple of years ago in response to a writing challenge.

Enjoy the story, and I hope to see you at Austen Authors tomorrow!

Miss Contentment: An Austen-Inspired Fairy Tale — Click to read this story on Austen Authors Writer’s Block Forum

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