Sweet Regency Romance – Page 51

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: Pachelbel in the Garden

Happy Victoria Day! Today, the plan is that I will be spending some time in the garden with my husband getting some things cleaned up and planted. I am not a great gardener, but I appreciate a good garden — and writing scenes that happen in gardens (see the excerpt below). I also appreciate lovely, relaxing, imagination-stimulating music. The video below is the soundtrack that has been playing in the background as I wrote this week.

Crystalkaleidoscope. “Pachelbel in the Garden (relaxing Music, Sounds of Nature).”YouTube. YouTube, 11 Apr. 2014. Web. 20 May 2017.

Pachelbel’s Canon in D is a favourite of mine, so I was delighted to stumble across this music on YouTube this week. It makes great background music, so click play and read on to see what I managed to accomplish this week.

It was another good productive week for me. I finished edits on Better Than She Deserved. I got the print copy of At All Costs finished, proofed, and approved — it is all ready for release day this THURSDAY! [You can get your copy at this link.] 🙂

And then, I managed to almost finish writing the first draft of the story I started last week! It is amazing how just a couple thousand words a day adds up! It appears that it is going to be a short novella, but I never expected it would be very long for a couple of reasons. First, I ~~like~~ LOVE novellas, and I tend to write what I like. Second, it is the first story of this type that I have written, so short seemed a good place to begin my learning journey. (Of course, I might find I like writing these just as short novellas — there is a very good chance that might happen.)

Now, having reached nearly the end of that story, I am faced with the need to design a cover and give it a title. I had given it a name that went well with the idea I had in mind as I began typing words into my document. However, the characters as I got to know them lead me down a different path. So, that title no longer fits the idea of the book. I think I am going to call it His Beautiful Bea because the main element that I took from Mansfield Park when planning this story was to model my heroine after the quiet, reserved Fanny Price. I have tried out a couple of other ideas and my mind keeps coming back to this one.

So, here is part of a garden scene from His Beautiful Bea that I wrote this week: Continue reading Music Monday: Pachelbel in the Garden

Music Monday: Berlin ~ Original song for 12 cellos (and a kick drum),The Piano Guys

I listened to several things while writing this week — my birdsongs cd, silence, and my Music to Write By YouTube playlist. Obviously, today’s selection is from that playlist. 🙂 I kept randomly selecting a place to begin the list and hit shuffle. This song (and The Assassination of Jessie James OST ) popped up in just about every shuffle. Both songs helped set the correct mood for part of what I was writing — and boy, did I do a lot of writing this week!

ThePianoGuys. “Berlin – Original Song for 12 Cellos (and a Kick Drum) – The Piano Guys.”YouTube. YouTube, 10 Apr. 2013. Web. 07 May 2017.

In fact, it was a record-setting week for word count, I believe. (Seeing as I have just started keeping records, it seems safe to say that. LOL).

How record-setting was it?

Well, Caroline’s story started the week with about 5,000 words and ended the week with just over 17,000 words! Specifically, I wrote 12,961 words! (And that does not include the few hundred I wrote for this Tuesday’s AustenAuthors.net post. :)) But, I had some goals I wanted to reach, and I pushed hard to achieve them. And, having hit them, I felt very accomplished at the end of the week. (I had to use that word since it was a Caroline story I was working on. 😉 )

What were those goals?

Finish the first draft of Caroline’s story — which by the way now has a title (and as of Sunday afternoon an ebook cover)
Finish the final edits for At All Costs.
Write and schedule my post for Austen Authors, which includes an excerpt from At All Costs and an excerpt from Caro’s story that I have not shared here.

All three can be crossed off the to-do list!

So, looking forward to the week ahead, I will now need to start first round edits on Caro’s story and keep plugging away at getting At All Costs ready for publication. And, then, well, I guess I have to pick a new writing project to start so I have something to share with you next Monday. Hmmm….I wonder what it will be?

One quick reminder before I get to the excerpt — With the Colonel’s Help will begin posting this Thursday. 🙂 I am looking forward to it!

And a little story note: I took the name suggestions of Franklin and Rhett but flipped them (because I wanted to call the hero by his last name and enjoyed calling him Rhett instead of Franklin when I was typing 🙂 ) Thank you, Patty and Julie, for your help with that! 🙂

I think the story excerpt below gives a good indication of Mr. Rhett’s personality — although, it is a teaser and ends with a question unanswered. 🙂

EXCERPT FROM Better Than She Deserved: Continue reading Music Monday: Berlin ~ Original song for 12 cellos (and a kick drum),The Piano Guys

Music Monday: Fields of Gold, 2Cellos

While I wrote this week — and it was a busy week of writing, my Music to Write By YouTube playlist, which includes the song below, got a good work out. Besides music to keep me company while writing, I also had a couple of author friends who joined me via the internet during writing time.

Mborray07. “2CELLOS- Fields Of Gold.” YouTube. YouTube, 06 Aug. 2011. Web. 29 Apr. 2017.

Every evening this week, I met up with my friends, Rose Fairbanks and Zoe Burton, for an hour of uninterrupted/undistracted writing time. Well, it was supposed to be uninterrupted and undistracted, but there are kids that wander through my corner of the living room and there is also the occasional “Oh, I need to know that” quick search that easily pulls one off onto some interesting tangents. However, despite these little diversions, I did accomplish what I wished to and a bit extra. Part of the reason for that is the fact that I didn’t stop writing at that hour limit unless I had completed a scene or had met my thousand-word minimum for that day.

But as you know, writing is not all that is on my schedule. I also have a scheduled editing slot in the evenings with specific daily minimums of work that have to be accomplished there, too. 🙂

(A little side note: I am finding that I am rather driven by goals — I don’t like to miss those minimums at all. My husband would likely make some comment about my stubbornness here. 🙂 Also knowing I am going to write a post about what I did or didn’t do in a week is motivational. So keep reading these Monday posts, and you should get books/stories on a regular basis since I don’t want to have nothing to share. 😉 )

So, here are the particulars of what I accomplished:

Editing: I completed my edits for Not an Heiress and have sent that story on to my first editor. So, it is well on its way to being ready for publication in June.
Writing: I completed a first draft of the next Thursday Three Hundred story, With the Colonel’s Help. I used to write these stories each week, but when I got to At All Costs, I decided to write the full draft before beginning posting to make sure I had all the series things wrapped up as they should be. Well, I liked having it set to post each week. 🙂 So, I decided to try it again this time around because I am kind of into the whole scheduling thing at present in an attempt to maximize my productivity. 🙂
More Editing: I began final edits of At All Costs. The tentative publication date for that book is May 18. So, after the epilogue posts this Thursday, the story will remain up until next week. Then it will have to come down as I make final preparations to publish the story.
More Writing: Since I managed to finish With the Colonel’s Help, I have turned my writing attention to writing Caroline’s story. If it is going to be a short story, which I cannot tell quite yet, I am about a third of the way through it. I should be able to tell if the plot I have in mind will be more or less than ten thousand words soon….I hope. 🙂

So, since my new work schedule seems to be work quite well, I have a new problem for which to find a solution. Completing Caroline’s story will cross off all the stories on my “Write Me” list. One of the things that I am considering putting on that list is an Austenesque story. Back in January, I mentioned that I wanted to try one, so I think I am going to give one, based in part on Mansfield Park, a shot…maybe…. 🙂 There are also those fairytales I had wished to attempt as well as a set of three stories (find them here if you wish, beginning with A Change of Heart) that I would like to develop into a Dash of Darcy story, and I have an idea floating around for a companion story to that one. I just need to decide where to begin and write out that list, it seems.

Now, for a short clip of something I wrote this week. This is from With the Colonel’s Help and comes from the section of the story that is starting to wrap up the issues (the denouement), so, although I have tried to excerpt it without too many spoilers, it is, in of itself, a spoiler — read at your own risk. 🙂

EXCERPT FROM With the Colonel’s Help: Continue reading Music Monday: Fields of Gold, 2Cellos

Music Monday: Enchanted ~ Period Drama Montage

Today, along with writing news and a writing excerpt, I thought I would share this fan video that YouTube was so kind as to suggest that I needed to view. 🙂 I think it is very well done —

SpellboundStudios. “Enchanted ~ Period Drama Montage.” YouTube. YouTube, 31 July 2012. Web. 22 Apr. 2017.

— and I enjoyed the song, so I added this video to my Music Meets Movies playlist. I’m up to 72 videos on that list now. It’s a great place to take a short break between writing projects. And this was a week full of projects. Let me list a few of them for you.

Tuesday was the official release day for Discovering Mr. Darcy on all retailers. It was a good launch with the book ranking fairly high in some of its categories, and it already has 7 reviews the last time I looked. Thank you to all who purchased and to those who reviewed as well.
The print copy of that book finally came and, after a slight tweak, it was approved and is now available for purchase.
Because of the way the epilogue flows from Discovering Mr. Darcy to Not An Heiress, I wanted to have Not an Heiress available for people to preorder when they finished reading Discovering Mr. Darcy. That meant getting a file transferred into the proper format, writing a book description, filling in all the information required on all my retailers, and setting a date. As it is booked right now, Not an Heiress will release on June 20, 2017. This is the first time I have placed a book on preorder before it has entered the final stages of editing, so I will admit to being a bit nervous. However, I believe, I have set aside enough time to complete all the editing that needs to be done before the deadline for the final manuscript upload. In fact, I should have first round edits completed by the end of this week.
I mainly focused on With the Colonel’s Help during my writing hours this past week, but I did write a few words that are the beginning of what I am planning to make a short story to go with At All Costs, although I have this sneaking suspicion it could end up being a bit longer than a short story. 🙂 Oh, and At All Costs has been sent to my final editor for reading. That story will be available May 18, 2017 (hopefully 😉 ).

So, as you can see, this was a busy week of varied activities, which meant lots of opportunities to watch Music Meets Movies videos as I transitioned from one activity to another. 🙂

Now, to chose a bit of the writing that I did this last week. While I managed to add around four thousand words to With the Colonel’s Help, I think I will give you a peek at those first 700+ words from the rough draft of the story about Caroline, which has no title as of yet. Be prepared for a surprising Mr. Hurst in this scene.

EXCERPT FROM Caroline’s Tale: Continue reading Music Monday: Enchanted ~ Period Drama Montage