Sweet Regency Romance – Page 52

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

Music Monday: Beautiful World, Tim Janis

Sometimes a scene or a melody, a lyric or a bit of conversation is all that is needed to spark the imagination. Other times it is just simple curiosity asking questions. And still other times, it is rest and relaxation that renew the ability to create. This week, I took some time to refresh my imagination.

Timjanisreocrds. “Peaceful Music, Relaxing Music, Instrumental Music “Beautiful World” by Tim Janis.” YouTube. YouTube, 16 Feb. 2017. Web. 25 Feb. 2017.

An exercise I like to do when I come across a lovely piece of music with such gorgeous pictures to accompany it (like the video above), is to add people to the scene. Is there a delivery boy running down that street with a knapsack on his back, late and fearful of punishment? Is there a girl similar to Miss Morland sitting in the shade of that tree as the house and windmill stand watch in the distance? Is there a child with a basket gathering flowers in the forest? Who waits inside that cottage with the lantern lit and for whom are they waiting? What stories do you see in the pictures and hear in the music as it swells and soften?

~*~*~

I freely admit that I struggle with taking time to refresh. I see goals and tasks laid out before me, and I tend to push my wants and desires down beneath the feelings of responsibility. This enables me to get a good deal of work accomplished even when I do not feel like working, but it also makes it difficult for me to take the time necessary to step back and breath before plunging into the next item on that never-ending to-do list.

However, there comes a time when the mind begins to get weary and the benefit of taking some time to refresh is greater than the need to push on and complete a project (or begin a new one). I hit that wall at the end of last week. I have just recently published a book and completed a new manuscript for a short novella. My brain was tired. It needed to rest. I fought the need for a couple of days (I’m no quitter, you see 😉 ), but eventually, I could no longer deny the need to just relax.

What did I do while relaxing? I watched some tv. I read a book. I listened to some podcasts and to Sense and Sensibility on audiobook. And as my few days of forced r&r drew to an end, I allowed myself to write a couple of short things — nothing associated with any current projects. [One of those short things, Love is Patient, has been added to my short stories collection which you can find at this link.]

It was refreshing! I am certain I could have used a few more days of rest, but those deadlines on the calendar could only be ignored for so long. I have begun work once again on the manuscript that I recently finished. It needs a second going over before I send it to my first reader to get her feedback on the story’s plot. I have also continued with my re-read of Listen to Your Heart in preparation for that second anthology of books that I want to make. I have not started any new projects — or at least, I don’t think I have. You see, one of the things I wrote this week was an idea I had about a year ago for an alternate scene in Mansfield Park. As I finished writing that scene, I realized that it might not be just a scene. It might be the beginning of a longer story. How long? I am not certain. I am not even certain that I feel fit to tackle it at present — I think it needs a bit longer to rattle around in my brain, to grow and shift and expand in form if it thinks it is going to be made into a longer work.

So, that leaves me with the question of what to share today. First, there is the link above to a short story for your reading enjoyment. And then there is this. The first chapter of Discovering Mr. Darcy as it currently looks after a second pass through. Continue reading Music Monday: Beautiful World, Tim Janis

Music Monday: Little Moments, Brad Paisley and More

This Music Monday is full of info and includes two songs because, well, I’ll explain as we get to them. 🙂

BRADPAISLEYVEVO. “Brad Paisley – Little Moments.” YouTube. YouTube, 02 Oct. 2009. Web. 12 Feb. 2017.

First up is Little Moments by Brad Paisley. I adore this song. It is so cute — and the ending is perfect! And, in my opinion, it is the little moments that show the greatest amount of love in a relationship. Grand gestures like romantic plans on Valentine’s Day as well as special getaways and gifts are all wonderful. Don’t get me wrong. I love them. However, when you’re struggling to keep it together because everything has gone wrong or the kids have stomped on your last nerve, and your husband folds the laundry or does the dishes or just wraps his arms around you and listens to your mostly coherent babbling — to me, those are the whispers that shout. Those little moments are so very precious.

I do have a story connection for this song, too. Tomorrow, February 14, is release day for So Very Unexpected. (It may actually be available already. Due to a blizzard warning being issued, I uploaded the files early just in case we run into power outage issues.) Now, if you read this story when it was posting on Thursdays, I think you will agree with me that Marcus and Lydia will likely have a lot of little moments in their relationship. Even the manner in which they met in his cottage because she had taken a wrong turn seem to fit quite well with this song.

I will be at Austen Authors tomorrow with an excerpt and some thoughts as well as a chance to win an ebook copy of So Very Unexpected. Stop by if you get the chance.

So obviously, I spent time getting my post for Austen Authors ready this week. I thought I had it done before but then, changed my mind and rewrote it. 🙂 I also spent a good bit of time rereading So Very Unexpected and making the line edits. Then, I made certain the print cover was ready — the spine width could not be set until the final page number was known. This also required the writing of a synopsis for the back of the book and the various retail sites. By the time I got all that done it was Saturday! So, no new words on my current work in progress. 🙁

As I sat down to begin getting blog posts scheduled on Friday, I kept coming back to this thought: “What will I share on Monday? I really want to share something new on Monday.” Well, yesterday, I decided to give myself a writing exercise. When I have not written in a week or more, I often find a writing exercise beneficial. Below is my writing exercise. In honor of both Valentine’s Day and the release of So Very Unexpected which is the third book in the Willow Hall Romance series, I decided to write a love letter — a particular love letter. In book 2, Darcy leaves Willow Hall and on his way, he stops to deliver a letter to Elizabeth. One of the readers here on my blog mentioned that they would like to see that letter (I think it was Linda who suggested it), and I wrote that idea down for later. Well, it’s now later. 🙂 (And song two is after the letter…so keep reading.) Continue reading Music Monday: Little Moments, Brad Paisley and More