by Roseanna White | Jul 9, 2012 | Word of the Week
Last week I had the pleasure of going over edits of Ring of Secrets with my awesome editor, and she proved her awesomeness by discovering some words I hadn’t thought to look up but which were way too new for my 1780-set book.
One of the most surprising is lowlife. It feels like an old-fashioned word to call somebody, doesn’t it? Like it should be from the age when base-born was one of the meanest things you could say about someone. But . . . it’s not.
The adjective form, low-life, did indeed enter the English language in 1794, meaning “vulgar, disreputable.” (Still too late for my story, mind you…), but it didn’t make the transition from adjective to noun until–get this–1911! Aaaagggghhhhhh!
Thanks heavens for an editor who thought to look this one up. She knows this sort of thing is important to me and got to laugh while I went “Aaaaaggghhhhh, really? Really? What in the world can I call him then?” LOL. (Enter “miscreant” and “criminal” for the two places in the book I’d used “lowlife.”)
I hope everyone was a great week!
by Roseanna White | Jul 5, 2012 | Thoughtful Thursdays, Uncategorized
I got it! I got it! My cover for Ring of Secrets has arrived in a share-able version, so naturally today must be spent in sharing (assuming you haven’t already seen it on Facebook).
Exciting!!! Also exciting is that you can pre-order them on Amazon (please “like” the page for me!) and ChristianBook.com.
And the official blurb, to remind you of how much FUN Ring of Secrets is going to be… =)
This exciting romantic spy novel from Roseanna M. White combines
fascinating cloak-and-dagger secrets with a tale of love and intrigue
during the Revolutionary War.
Winter Reeves is an aristocratic
Patriot forced to hide her heart amid the Loyalists of the City of New
York. She has learned to keep her ears open so she can pass information
on British movements to Robbie Townsend, her childhood friend, and his
spy ring. If she’s caught, if she’s hung for espionage…well, she won’t
be. Robbie has taught her the tools of the trade: the wonders of
invisible ink, drop locations and, most importantly, a good cover.
Bennet
Lane returns to New York from his Yale professorship with one goal: to
find General Washington’s spy hidden among the ranks of the elite.
Searching for a wife was supposed to be nothing more than a convenient
cover story for his mission, but when he meets Winter, with her
too-intelligent eyes in her too-blank face, he finds a mystery that
can’t be ignored.
Both believers…and both committed to a
separate cause. Will their faith in God lead them to a shared destiny or
lives lived apart?
by Roseanna White | Jul 4, 2012 | Remember When Wednesdays, Uncategorized
Happy Independence Day!
Liberty Tea
In the 1770’s Colonists forsook the partaking of tea imported from
the British, and thus American women looked to their own gardens and the
world around them to create their own teas. Ribwort, sassafras, willow
bark, birch, strawberry leaf, lemon balm, verbena, and currant bush
were used as substitutes, as well as raspberry leaves which were used to
make “Hyperion Tea.” Spearmint, peppermint, wintergreen, orange
bergamot, catnip and pennyroyal were used to create mint teas. Flowers
such as red rose petals, blossoms of linden, elder, red clover,
chamomile, violet, red rose petals, rosehips, linden blossoms, elder,
red clover, chamomile, violet and goldenrod were also brewed into tea.
Teas were also made from sweet fern, spicebush, ambrosia, twigs of sweet
gum, fennel and dill seed, parsley, thyme, marjoram, rosemary, and
sage.
Wanna know more? Hie thee over to Colonial Quills, ask for a cup, and settle in with the ladies for an Independence Day celebration Colonial style! We’re going to have a blast!!
https://www.roseannamwhite.com/2012/07/independence-day-liberty-tea-party.html
by Roseanna White | Jul 2, 2012 | Word of the Week
Waaaaaaaaay back in 2006 when I started submitting a historical manuscript, I had an editor respond saying that some of words were too modern. Like “whatnot.”
Now, I won’t argue that some of my words were indeed too modern. But that she chose that one as an example gave me a chuckle. =)
Whatnot dates to the 1530s, meaning “anything.” It’s a very literal world, from what + not. Even as a piece of furniture, it’s from the early 1800s, named after the items it’s meant to hold. I personally love tossing this word into a historical–it’s one that feels old, yet is still in occasional use today so is easy to understand.
On a not-word-related note, I’m in one of the areas hit by the severe storms/tornadoes over the weekend, and while we didn’t even lose power at our house, my parents are still without electricity, and it’s going to take a long time to clean up all the damage from felled trees at my mother-in-law’s house–prayers appreciated!
by Roseanna White | Jun 28, 2012 | Thoughtful Thursdays, Uncategorized
With the fires raging in Colorado, this is a topic on a lot of minds this week. As someone who used to have a major phobia of fire, wildfires are a terrifying thing to me, and my prayers go out to all those affected, both residents and the brave men and women fighting the fires.
But that’s not exactly where I’m going today. 😉 It so happens that in my daily reading, today I got to I Corinthians 3.
12 Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, 13 each
one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it
will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of
what sort it is. 14 If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. 15 If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.
I’ve always been so struck by this. It’s not talking about salvation–we’re saved, Paul makes that clear in verse 15. But, as members of God’s family, we’re given His foundation and then have to build our lives upon it. We’re given our choice of things to build with. Gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw. And then the Lord’s holy fire will test it.
Fire is the theme in one of my two works-in-progress, so I’ve been giving it a lot of thought. It’s one of the four ancient elements, a force that can give life or destroy it. Out in Colorado, it’s wreaking havoc . . . and bringing a lot of people to their knees before God.
Fire refines. It burns away the garbage, burns away the chaff, and leaves purity in its wake. Usually this is in a contained situation, like in refining silver or gold. I would never-ever try to apply it to a wildfire! Don’t mistake me there. But even in the wake of that tragedy, there are those seeds, long dormant, brought to life and let to grow only because they were exposed to the high heat of the flame. Trees that gain life through destruction.
When I was a kid, terrified by fire, my neighbor’s fire barrel turned over once, and half his yard burned before he got it under control. This brought my fears back to the surface real quick–but then I noticed that, in spite of the drought, that grass that had burned came back vibrant and green, while the rest of the lawn was an ugly brown.
Somehow or another, the fire brought life.
My prayer is that I can build my life’s work with purity. With metaphorical gold and silver, with gems and precious stones. I pray that when the fire comes down upon me, it leaves me and mine gleaming rather than consumed. I pray no loss is suffered.
Lord, direct our hands as we’re building, help us build for You. Help us make the right decisions that will withstand that holy fire. And give us the peace to know that even when something seems to be burned up and left destroyed, it’s only so that You can send us something new, something better to take its place. Go before us, Father, and make clear the path.
Roseanna M. White is a bestselling, Christy Award winning author who has long claimed that words are the air she breathes. When not writing fiction, she’s homeschooling her two kids, editing, designing book covers, and pretending her house will clean itself. Roseanna is the author of a slew of historical novels that span several continents and thousands of years. Spies and war and mayhem always seem to find their way into her books…to offset her real life, which is blessedly ordinary.