October 12, 2024
What a month October has been for some already! I hope you’re all hanging in there and are safe. We’re doing well up here in Nova Scotia. The leaves are starting to turn colours and soon we should see the full effect of that change before they start dropping and raking season begins. 🙂
I’ve finished the manuscript for How to Marry An Accomplished Lady and am working my way through some edits before I send it off to be proofread and returned for final edits. I have not started the short sequel that will go with that book yet. It’s on the schedule for next week.
I’m still working slowly through Oxford Cottage’s refresh and discovering that it will be impossible, without a full rewrite, to limit the point of views to just two or three, so I’m going to polish it up, add depth where I can, and limit the number of point of view shifts where possible but not stress over having more POVs than I wanted.
As you should know, I have started creating some audiobook versions of the vignettes that I have shared in the past in these newsletters and sharing them on YouTube. I’ve also started making my story connections posts into audio versions to share on YouTube using the same narrator.
As I am working my way through these short vignettes, I have learned some of the tricks and hacks to working with the digital voice I am using to make the stories sound as natural as is possible. That’s why I started with the short vignettes. (The voice I am using is a cloned voice that is made available for such use by the voice actor who is paid whenever their voice is used.)
I hope that this audio venture will make my writing more accessible to more people and that it will eventually open up a new means of earning money for my writing business through some audiobook sales on select platforms and through monetization of my YouTube channel. (And honestly, my business needs that because it’s struggling.)
One of the requirements for me to monetize my YT channel is to have 1000 subscribers. I’ve got 72 at this moment while I’m writing this. So, obviously, I’ve got a long way to go there! I’d love to have you subscribe to help that number grow!
(By the way, a new story vignette was added to the playlist this morning. You can listen to it here.)
I’ve also discovered some of the ways I can offer discounts on my Etsy shop, so I have one set up for this month. You can see the details of that below, and I have submitted my shop to be included in a promotion Etsy is running next month. So, that’ll be two new promos tried in two months.
There is so much to learn as you try new things! But one should always be learning in my way of thinking.
Let’s see, what else have I been doing?
I’ve been working on some marketing things and have created a few new bookmarks to pair with books in my Etsy store. And I’m trying to keep up with my other pen name as well.
Oh, and I’ve been working on getting the Teatime Tales stories into regular and large print. I’ve got these four complete and the remaining two are in progress!
But, I’ve also made one cutback on things I am doing. I am closing my Ream Stories page. It just didn’t turn out to be the right fit for me. So, I will, instead, focus my membership efforts on Patreon. There will still be a free read each month – but only on Patreon. I am working on getting all my non-KU books added to the collections section of Patreon for those who would like to subscribe to read them there.
As you may be able to tell, my brain and body are improving in what they can handle. I still have a distance to go to get over this long covid thing, but the improvements are unmistakable when I compare this October with the past two. 🙂 I’m currently in the midst of deciding where I can find help to get me further along this healing path. One option I had hoped to use was unavailable to me, but there are more things to explore.
And I think that’s it for my update this month. Did I overwhelm you with it? It sure turned out to be a long one! I’ll have to share how I am managing to do more projects next month since this one has gone on long enough, and I don’t want you to miss out on the FREE books listed below and the new installment of Harriet and the Colonel.
IN THE TEAROOM
It was Rose Fairbanks turn to post in the The Sigh-worthy Romance Tearoom this month. She shared an update about her writing life and a house reno.
THIS MONTH’S PATREON FREE READ
BOOK DEALS
These first two book of the Other Pens series are FREE for a limited time. Henry’s book is free until January 31, 2025, but Charles’s is only free until the end of this month. They are free everywhere, including free to read in the Collections section on Patreon.
So Very Unexpected is FREE until October 15 but only on Amazon because it is in KU, and the next image is the Etsy sale I mentioned earlier. All the books and book bundles in my shop are included in this sale. My shop is set up in Canada so that’s why the dollar amount is listed in Canadian dollars. The amount will adjust depending on what currency you’re purchasing in.
SOMETHING NEW TO READ
Our story about Harriet and the Colonel continues. Remember that you can read previous parts of this story under the menu item Harriet and the Colonel (password: SBHC) right here on my blog.
Chapter 2, Part 2
Harriet moved from one case of pretty baubles to another and again, peeked over the shoulder of the person ahead of her to see if anything caught her interest. Shopping was not her favourite activity unless it was shopping for clues, which is what she was doing today. That is not to say she despised the activity. Oh, she tolerated it quite well, but it was a whole lot better than tolerable when the mission was not just to acquire a fan or string of pearls or the like but was instead a covert mission.
“May I be of assistance,” asked a gentleman who was dressed a bit better than the other clerks behind the cases. “We are quite busy today, and I would be very much saddened to see a lady of quality such as yourself leave my shop without being waited upon.”
His shop? Did he mean that he was the proprietor and not just an employee?
“It is a lovely establishment that you have set up for yourself.” She watched his features for how he would respond to this. As she had hoped, he smiled and inclined his head while his chest puffed a bit at the complement.
“I am most pleased to hear you say so. Now, is there anything with which I might assist you? Was there something in particular that you were looking for?”
She opened her reticule and withdrew a hair comb that had been her mothers and was far too lovely to wear as an everyday accessory. As she did so, she made certain that the few pounds she carried were visible. “My father had a pocket watch that matched this in its design. The flowers and leaves that is. It did not sparkle as this does for who needs a watch to shine when it is tucked in one’s pocket?”
The shop owner nodded his head, looking quite attentive, as she spoke.
“My sister’s husband has a birthday in just a month, and she has commissioned me to find him a watch as a surprise. He has always admired my brother’s watch – which as you might have guessed used to be my father’s watch. Would you have anything that would come close to this?” She turned the hair comb this way and that as if admiring it. It truly was a pretty piece of jewelry.
“I have a few watches in a box in the back.” He glanced around the store. “They are not new,” he said softly. “They were accepted on tick, if you understand my meaning.”
“They are not pilfered goods, are they?” She asked the question in a whisper.
“Oh, goodness, no!” The shop owner assured her. “They are simply a means for someone to pay a bill.”
She made a show of blowing out a soft breath in relief. “In that case, I would be happy to examine them.”
“If you will follow me, we can look at them in my office.”
Harriet motioned to Jimmy who was standing near the door, and then, they both followed the man into his office where he proceeded to withdraw a box from inside a small mahogany chiffonier. Inside the box were four watches, all neatly displayed and cleaned. There was not a speck of dust on them.
“Oh,” she said as her eyes fell on the very watch for which she was looking. “They are quite lovely. I am sure that whoever had to part with them was quite sad to do so.” She put out a hand. “May I touch them?”
“To be sure. Pick them up and feel their quality. Inspect their design. We never accept any items, from any source, which are not of the highest workmanship.”
First, she examined the gold watch next to her brother’s stolen silver one. She put her hair comb next to the engraving on the back and made a small tsking noise when it clearly did not match.
“That is a fine watch. Your sister’s husband would be proud to use it,” the shop owner encouraged. “But the one next to it might be closer to what you are looking for.” He lifted it out of the box and handed it to her.
Harriet ran a finger of the glass and then closed the front protective metal face over it. It clicked closed just as it should.
“Oh, it is covered in vines!” she cried in delight. “It is not just the same as this comb, but my does it not come close?” She looked up at the shopkeeper as she turned it over. “Is this the maker’s mark?” She asked when she saw the small G.P., which stood for Giles Philips – her father’s name, on the back.
“It must be,” the man said. “Although it is not one with which I am familiar.”
“He is very good whoever he is,” Harriet said. “Is it terribly expensive?”
“I am afraid I cannot part with it for less than fifty pounds for I must cover what I purchased it for and make a little to pay for housing it.”
Harriet sighed and turned it over in her hands. “My sister was hoping to spend no more than thirty, but I must say this one is exquisite and I do have a few pounds of my own. Are you certain you cannot take forty-five? I just that much in my reticule. The transaction could be complete this instant.”
That lit a gleam in the man’s eyes. “Forty-five, you say?”
Harriet nodded and held her breath.
“This is a private sale,” the man said with a pointed look. “I am no pawnbroker.”
“Oh, I understand. I will not say a word to anyone about where I found this, except for my sister, of course. She will need to know.”
The man’s head bobbed up and down slowly for a moment before he sat forward in his chair and smiled. “I think we have an agreement. Shall I wrap this for you?”
“Oh, no, there is no need. I have come prepared.” She took her money out of her reticule and then, pulled out a small blue velvet pouch. “My sister gave me this so that it would be easy for me to pass it to her without causing any suspicion since it is the bag she uses when she lends me earbobs and broaches.”
“That is very clever,” the man said as he accepted her money.
“Oh, it is, but then, my sister is far cleverer than I. I am sure I never would have thought of it. The things she came up with us to do when we were young that had I been in charge of the planning we would have been in trouble for sure, but not with her.” She added a laugh at her own expense here.
“There is always one in any lot of siblings, or so my wife says.”
“Indeed, I fear she is correct from what I have heard,” she agreed as she placed the watch inside her reticule, and then handed the whole thing to Jimmy. “Thank you so much, sir. You have made both me and my sister very happy.” She dipped a curtsey and took her leave.
Would not Edmund be surprised when he found this on his desk tomorrow? Now, if only she could discover who it was who had sold it to the owner of this shop.
