“Do you know,” Walter continued as Grace took a seat on the bench, “that this was my favourite place when I was just a lad and came to visit my grandparents.”
“Was it really?” Grace smiled and ran a hand over the bit of slab next to her where he was about to sit. “It is a lovely bench, and the aspect from here is delightful.” She leaned toward him when he finally took a seat. “I am particularly fond of arched garden gates, and you can see the gate between the hedges quite perfectly from here. I imagine that the gate is even more delightful when all the flowers are in bloom.”
“It is,” Walter agreed. “And when the tree behind us is laden with leaves, there is something very cozy feeling about this place, almost as if one could hide here, which I must say, I have.”
“You have hidden here?”
Walter nodded. “When I was just a boy of about six, I used to curl into a ball under this very bench when playing hide-and-go-seek. Every time.” He gave her a sheepish grin. “I would not advise using the same hiding place over and over if one has been found in it. It is the surest way to lose a game.”
[from Her Secret Beau, Touches of Austen Book 3]
Published to YouTube by Simply Three on February 27, 2014
Published to YouTube by SaraBethie on January 16, 2014
The top video is an instrumental piece and has been on my Music to Write By playlist for a long time — it was the first song added to that list. 🙂 The bottom video includes lyrics and is one of the videos on my Music Meets Movies playlist.
I thought the song was good for tomorrow’s chapter of Walter and Grace’s story as they are in the garden alone and in a special place in that garden. Hopefully, you will get a chance to read that chapter tomorrow — it’s a good one. (But then, aren’t they all? Well, not all of them include almost-kisses.)
There is also an Austen Authors post of mine you can read tomorrow. It’s more pictures than words 🙂 I’m sharing pictures from some of my summer fun, and I am hosting a giveaway as well.
A quarter of an hour and two days was a long enough wait to find out who the mysterious Grace Love was. Her secret smile had taunted and tantalized him since he first saw it in the park. He would be put off no longer. And so, he urged his horse to traverse the short distance between orchard and house as swiftly as possible.
“Why are you here?” Mr. Norman whispered to Walter when Walter took a seat next to him in the sitting room at Erondale.
“You were late.”
“It could not be helped,” Norman returned.
“So could not my arrival here.” He turned a smile on his hosts who were looking at the two gentlemen curiously. “I beg your indulgence of my poor manners. My friend is somewhat startled to see me as I was supposed to have been engaged elsewhere. However, plans change.”
“I hope it was not anything unpleasant which caused your change in plans.” Grace was looking at him with concern.
“A prodigious lack of patience,” Mr. Norman muttered.
Walter chuckled. “My friend is correct. I seem to be incapable of waiting very long for anything.” He looked pointedly at Grace. “Especially if the longed-for item is of great intrigue.”
[from Her Secret Beau, Touches of Austen Book 3]
Published to YouTube by Austenita30 on January 9, 2009
Can you see the connection between the song title and the excerpt? Someone has a crush on Miss Grace. He finds her fascinating and tantalizing, which I believe is a bit like how Henry Tilney starts out with Catherine Morland. And that is why I chose this video to share with you today. Continue reading Music Monday: Northanger Abbey – Crush (David Archuleta) +Cover Reveals
Grace pasted a smile on her lips. She had been doing her best to not meet up with her mother, for doing so would inevitably lead to having to speak with her sister. And, she was not wrong, for Felicity was at her mother’s side, looking all eagerness.
“He was very nice looking and exceptionally light on his feet,” said Mrs. Love.
“Oh, indeed!” Felicity cried. “He might be one of the best dancers here.”
“Even better than Mr. Ramsey?” Grace asked. Her sister should be thinking only of Mr. Ramsey, but, of course, she was not.
“Yes, I do believe so, though I would not for all the world tell him so,” her sister replied.
“What was his name?” her mother asked eagerly.
“Mr. Norman,” Grace replied. “He is a physician.”
Her mother gasped and blinked. “A physician? He has no estate?”
A wicked thought captured Grace’s imagination. “None of which I know, but he has a home here in Bath. Some rooms somewhere. I really do not know where. There is still so much to learn about Bath.”
[from Her Secret Beau, Touches of Austen Book 3]
The Dance by Doug Hammer, Provided to YouTube by CDBaby on July 2, 2105.
I chose this song from my Music to Write By playlist because of the title and because of the playful tone. Tomorrow’s story begins with the clip above in which dancing is mentioned and where a dance all of Grace’s own making begins. 🙂 The question is — will the dance go as planned or will some stumbling and tripping happen along the way causing some ungraceful moments or worse, a catastrophe?
I’m also going to share a scene from a previously published book below. In this scene, there is also a game or dance set to begin, but first, let me update you on the progress of my current writing projects. Continue reading Music Monday: The Dance (Doug Hammer)
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.)
I am keeping to the same format as I did last week and sharing an excerpt from something I was working on this past week, and then sharing a longer excerpt from a published book at the end of the post. Both excerpts take place at balls just as the video does.
This first excerpt is from near the end of Tom: To Secure His Legacy:
“I am glad to hear it,” she replied.
He tipped his head slightly to one side, his brow furrowed.
“Truly,” she assured him.
That returned his smile to his face just as the music began. For the duration of the set, they spoke in snatches about things of little significance – flowers, the weather, the crush of people, and so on. It was perhaps the longest and best conversation about the mundane things of the world in which Faith had ever taken part.
“I fear I will not be able to offer another set to you,” Mr. Bertram said as they made their way from the floor. “Unless, of course, you do not mind strolling in the garden rather than dancing during the set.”
He was limping more than usual. His leg must be hurting him most grievously. He had performed admirably while dancing, even if his hopping and skipping had been a trifle awkward at times when he began favouring one leg over the other.
“I am not a walking stick,” Faith whispered, “but you may lean on me if you wish.”
“I am certain I can make it to where I left my cane,” he assured her with a smile.
“Do you even think it wise to walk in the garden? Would your leg not do better if you were to rest it?”
“You sounded very much like Mrs. Durward just now,” he replied with a laugh.
“I promise not to instruct you to sit by the fire.”
“Very well, then, shall we adjourn to the card room?”
She shook her head. “My brother has made me promise to dance as often as I am asked. I fear he might not think I was doing as he requested if I disappear from the ballroom. However, I would not be opposed to a short stroll of the garden and perhaps a small rest on a bench during some other dance tonight.” It was almost as close as she dared come to declaring her feelings for him, there was one more thing she could say in that regard. “I was sorry to have missed your call yesterday.”
They had reached the edge of the room, near the door to the corridor, and with a look over his shoulder, he led her into the hall.
“My brother…” she protested.
“Might be out here. I did not see him in the ballroom just now,” Mr. Bertram replied with a grin.
Published to YouTube by Lily C on March 18, 2018.
I have begun the final read-through of Tom’s story and have set a tentative release date for March 11, 2019. I say it is a tentative date, but I firmly believe that date will hold fast. I just like to leave a little wiggle room at this stage of things.
I have not started any new stories, nor do I actually plan to start one for at least another week. I have decided that some of the projects I have been putting off really should not be put off any longer and deserve attention.
One of those projects is the rearranging of some book bundle content. I am, for various reasons, going to be unpublishing two anthologies: New Beginnings and Despite the Circumstances, and creating a new anthology (title and cover to be revealed later).
This new anthology will include Oxford Cottage, For Peace of Mind, Through Every Storm, Listen To Your Heart, and With the Colonel’s Help. I plan to put this anthology in Kindle Unlimited for at least three months. While that is great news for Kindle Unlimited readers, it is not so great for readers who do not read through Amazon as I will be required to remove those books from all my other vendors. Kindle Unlimited demands exclusivity.
I am uncertain at this point if this collection will come out of Kindle Unlimited after the 90-day term is over or not. As I have mentioned in other Monday posts, I am shifting to work on things that are not Pride and Prejudice related more often this year. To do that, I have to try new tactics that might help keep royalties up where they need to be for me to draw my salary from my writing/publishing business, Leenie B Books.
Once again, I will say that removing books from other vendors and making them exclusive to Amazon has not been an easy decision, but I will not truly know if Kindle Unlimited can help keep royalties up unless I try it.
I have the Other Pens, Mansfield Park series and His Beautiful Bea in K.U. but they are not Pride and Prejudice based books and so have a smaller number of readers willing to give them a try. They are not doing poorly compared to how they did when non-exclusive, but the numbers are still on the lower end of things. So, I need to “experiment” with stories which have a larger reader base willing to read them.
If they do well, I might put other collections of books in Kindle Unlimited. This might be for an extended period of time or it might be on a rotating basis so that the books can be made available to readers on other platforms as well. I’m really uncertain how it is all going to work out, and there might be some bumps and missteps along the way.
To help me as I make some of my decisions, would you be willing to take a quick two-question survey? If so, you can find the survey at the link below. The questions are simple. Question one gives several options for ways you prefer to buy and read books. You can select as many options as apply to you. Question two gives you a blank to share anything you would like me to know about how you read that is not included in the survey.
I will leave the survey open until Friday. Thank you to those who take the time to participate.
And, I think, that is all the news I have for you this week other than I am still working on His Darling Friend and Loving Lydia.
Oh, no! There is one more thing. I will have a Friday Feature worth checking out this Friday. 🙂
And now it is time for the second excerpt I promised at the top of this post.
Below is an excerpt from the epilogue to Willow Hall, which can be found at the end of At All Costs. I thought it went well with the mood set by the video above. However, it is from the end of a book, so read at your own risk. 🙂 Continue reading Music Monday: The Last Dance (Samuel Sim – Emma 2009)
