by Roseanna White | Apr 4, 2012 | Remember When Wednesdays, Uncategorized
I usually post a Remember When more appropriate to the Resurrection season this week, but every thought I have about it today I discover I’ve already posted about, LOL. So I’ll get reflective tomorrow, but today we’ll keep talking about whatever I’ve been researching.
A small excitement I had recently was getting the enthusiastic go-ahead from Harvest House to plan a novella to use for promotional purposes between the releases of
Ring of Secrets and its sequel, tentatively titled
Mask of Truth. This story will be the happily-ever-after of a character from
Ring of Secrets, the second book being about his daughter.
So as I started thinking about what could happen in this snippet of a story, I realized I still needed to have the tension of war–given that it’s in all the other stories. And I knew approximately when I’d need this book to be set. So an idea niggled, I did a wee bit of research, and I commenced grinning.
The French Revolution. Perfect.
Most of the Revolution was a bit too late for me, but those first days of it would be just perfect. My hero, though British, could make his way into France as a favor to a friend. The favor being to find this friend’s estranged wife and daughter and bring them back to England before the violence he suspected was brewing could erupt.
So of course, my hero does. And of course, he finds the daughter, my heroine. And of course, they’re going to fall in love. But, of course, that brewing violence is going to spew over just in time to cause some difficulty. Climax around the storming of the Bastille, anyone?? 😉
I’m going to have to do some whirlwind research about the French Revolution for this one, but I’m looking forward to writing this character’s romance. =) He deserves his happily ever after. Of course, after fighting in the American Revolution, his first thought upon ending up in France during theirs is going to something along the lines of, “Another revolution? Really? Grrroooooooaaaaaaannnnn.” LOL
by Roseanna White | Apr 2, 2012 | Word of the Week
Since it’s Holy Week, I thought I’d try to find a word that looked forward to the path that Jesus walked in these next few days–and I knew “Easter” had some background, so it was the winner. 😉
When Anglo-Saxon Christians first started celebrating the Mass of Christ’s Resurrection, they gave it the name Easter, after Eastre, the goddess of fertility and spring, whose holiday was likely the vernal equinox. All neighboring languages use a word derived from Latin pasche, or passover. (Which makes a while lot more sense.)
Easter eggs are attested from 1824, the Easter Bunny from 1909. And as a matter of fact, Easter Island is so named because the discoverer did so on Easter Monday! (Actually, he was the second to discover it, but the first didn’t bother naming it.)
And though Christianity has a long history of “taking over” pagan holidays and traditions and using them to get new converts to observe Christianity instead, I have to say I don’t like the English word. I’d never paused to consider it until my piano teacher back in the day refused to use the word “Easter” and instead called it “Resurrection Day.” (Of which I fully approve!) She would even retitle songs for our recitals when necessary. One year I was playing “Easter Song” on the organ, and it because “Resurrection Song.”
But no matter what we call it, this time of year remains my favorite. I love this week leading up to that most glorious day. This Thursday we’ll be observing Maundy Thursday with a messianic seder feast, which I’m really looking forward to. Our usual church service will be on Saturday, and Sunday morning we’ll have an outdoor sunrise service focusing on the resurrection, followed by a breakfast.
And of course, we’re cramming our school week into 3 days so that we can begin our Spring Break in time for the holiday. I hope everyone has a blessed, blessed Holy Week!
by Roseanna White | Mar 29, 2012 | Thoughtful Thursdays, Uncategorized
“An original writer is not one who imitates nobody, but one whom nobody can imitate.” ~ Francois Rene Chateaubriand
Last Friday my friends and family surprised me with a celebration for me and my books, and it was such a fun party, filled with such beautiful elements, that I just have to share. =)
My day had been dedicated to cleaning. I pulled on a shirt I’d just found shoved between two others in my closet, which I’d been looking for for months–the one my best friend sent me for my birthday a year and a half ago, that says “Reading Is Sexy.” Oh yeah, that’s me. LOL. Then I got down to business. I dusted. I straightened. I swept. I scrubbed. All with the knowledge that doing so would make my sciatica shoot pain all through my back and hips that night. It always, always does. See, this is why I don’t clean! 😉
“Imagination and fiction make up more than three-quarters of our real life.” ~ Simone Weil
As David was headed out to run an errand, he paused at the door to say, “Hey, think about if you’d like to go to dinner tonight or something. I could use a good dinner and a nice glass of wine.”
Me, giving him The Look. “Honey, do I ever pass up going out to dinner?”
David: “Well, think about where you’d like to go. Someplace where we can sit back and relax.”
Which meant not fast-food–got it. I got back to work, scrubbing etc. And luckily started to get a headache in late afternoon, which prompted me to take some ibuprofen–something I otherwise never think to do for other pain, though I’m pretty sure that’s what saved me from hobbling around all evening going, “Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow.”
“The creative person is flexible–he is able to change as the situation changes, to break habits, to face indecision and changes in conditions without undue stress. He is not threatened by the unexpected as rigid, inflexible people are.” ~ Frank Goble
Round about 5, I started looking at the clock. David was on the phone (not an unusual occurrence) but he hadn’t mentioned anything else about dinner. Did I need to cook? I assumed not. I’m good at that assumption. 😉 Eventually he came up to shower. Xoe asked if I’d put Egyptian eyes on her with my eyeliner–sure, why not!–so I slapped some makeup on myself as well and said, “I guess I should change out of my t-shirt.” Though I didn’t. Not until David was headed back downstairs to “take care of a few more things” (insert my stomach going “No! Grrrrrooooowwwwwllllll.”) and said, “Are you ready? I thought you were going to change. Maybe Mommy could match Xoe.”
Xoe liked that idea and pulled me up the stairs to try to match her cute little shirt and skirt. I obligingly changed, then was informed that my mother-in-law thought she left her wallet at the church earlier, so we had to stop over and check before we went to dinner. (Church being two minutes from our house.) Okay. Nothing unusual there, LOL. So we headed to the church.
“None of us will ever accomplish anything excellent or commanding except when he listens to this whisper which is heard by him alone.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
And I saw the cars. Which made me think, “Hmm, the 4-H club must be doing something. But their night is Thursday, not Friday. I wonder what . . . is that Mom and Dad’s car? What in the world are they doing here?” Then the car in front of us pulled in and proved to be my neighbors growing up. I sent David another Look and said, “What’s going on?”
David said, “I don’t know. Go in and see.”
Riiiiiiiight. That’s when I knew what was happening. Still, I was shocked beyond shocked when I opened the door and saw two of my out-of-town friends there with their kids!
All around the room, in addition to the amazing friends and family who had come to celebrate with me, including my high school cross-country coach, those out-of-towners, and several others who had cheered me on all my life but I rarely see anymore, were decorations that proved how well my mom and sister knew me. My sister’s school had donated some books that were in terrible shape and so could be cut up, so decorations were all made from or around book pages.
“A great book should leave you with many experiences and slightly exhausted at the end. You live several lives while reading it.” ~ William Styron
There were pages cut into leaf-shapes all over, sometimes attached to brown-paper trees, or to my mom’s cute little twig arrangement, and also scattered on the tables. (And yes, I’m such a dork that I sat there eating and trying to figure out which book they might have come from by reading the 4-words I could see per line, LOL.) And of course, the calla lily arrangement. =)
My sister had also found a bunch of quotes on books/writers that she’d printed and matted and put on the walls. (Those would be the things I’m quoting here.) So awesome! Even the cakes were books!
“Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind.” ~ Rudyard Kipling
It was a fabulous party, and I had such a great time hanging out with my friends and family and being amazed that they had all gone to such trouble for me. So a huge, big thanks to everyone who came. The hugest, biggest thanks to Mom and Jen for planning such a perfect-for-me party. And for all my writers friends, take notes on those decorations!! They so make the perfect book party! =)
“These are not books, lumps of lifeless paper, but minds alive on the shelves.” ~ Gilbert Highet
I had a few moments of surreal euphoria when I looked around and saw my book covers, my books, my titles on the walls. Was this real? Did I really have that many books on or destined for the shelves? Hard to believe. And while I’m certainly not famous or best-selling or anything like that, I’m living my dream. And that is just a blessing beyond what any words can ever express.
“Success comes to a writer, as a rule, so gradually that it is always something of a shock to him to look back and realize the heights to which he has climbed.” ~ P.G. Wodehouse
by Roseanna White | Mar 28, 2012 | Remember When Wednesdays, Uncategorized
Now, I haven’t yet found a perfect image for Thad, so feel free to help me out there! If you think of an actor or painting or something that just screams “There he is!” please pass along a link! I’ll post a few possibles, but I’m not sold on any of them yet.
Thaddeus Lane was born in New Haven, Connecticut, the third child but first son to the hero and heroine from
Ring of Secrets. With a chemist/philosopher for a father and a former-spy for a mother, one may have expected that Thad would follow the rest of his family (including his sisters) into the world of intellectualism. But instead, Thad seized upon the intrigue and followed it into adventure.
In the years leading up to the War of 1812, there was opportunity aplenty for adventure on the high seas, and that’s where Thad went. I picture him tall and lanky. Handsome, but in a way that makes him pleasant to look at without making women swoon right and left. He’s a privateer, so picture him standing on the deck of a romantic-looking ship, ready to swash some buckles. (Or maybe buckle some swashes? LOL) 😉
But the real key to this guy is his personality. You’ve probably met someone like him–he’s the type that could make friends with a rock. With a wall. With men, with women, with old and young, with allies or enemies. He’s the type that makes his nieces and nephews squeal with delight just by walking into a room, the type that every other privateer in the Atlantic, Caribbean, or Gulf has met and liked.
He’s the kind that absolutely everyone, everyone trusts. Which of course makes him the perfect intelligencer. =)
Thad is a man with secrets abounding, but no one ever thinks it of him, because he seems so open and honest. But while all the American privateers happily send along to him any information they have on British movements on the seas, they have no idea that he’s using it all to compile false information to feed back to their enemies. Who, after all, would suspect that open, honest Thad is capable of such duplicity? They know he’s organizing them a bit–a born leader, that one–but no one ever suspects that he’s the linchpin to American intelligence work during the war.
Thad’s also a softie with a quick sense of humor (he’s going to have some oh-so-fun exchanges with his socially-bumbling father) and a sense of responsibility for way more than is actually his responsibility. The first glimpse we’ll get of that is the fact that he married his friend’s widow several years earlier just to provide for her and her son in her final year of life. Of course, said friend comes back from his supposed-death a year after that . . . on the surface, this friend will be grateful his family was cared for when they assumed him dead. But I’m guessing there’s going to be a spark or two that flames up because of it through the course of the book. =)
Now, when Gwyneth arrives on the scene, Thad’s going to be a bit torn. He’ll greet her with the same good humor with which he greets everything, but a daughter of a British general? Entrusted to the care of his family during the closing months of a war with England? Yeah . . . he’s none too sure about this pretty, conflicted little gentlewoman.
Which is going to make it tons of fun.
by Roseanna White | Mar 26, 2012 | Word of the Week
Gotta say, I love the word “balderdash.” (Though I have a hard time ‘hearing’ the word without imagining a top-hatted English gentleman huffing it in an upper-crust accent, LOL.) And it has a long history with the English language. =)
Balderdash came into English round about the 1590s, though its origins are misty. Originally it was the name of a drink–a mixture of liquors like milk and beer or beer and wine (eww). It was in the 1670s that it got applied to a senseless jumble of words.
Looking at its parts, it appears that the “balder” is from the Danish word that means “noise, rumble” and the “dash” is from the Scandinavian word, which originally carried the meaning like in dash to pieces. It gained the “move quickly” meaning in the 1300s. So combined, you can see where “balderdash” would come to mean things combined in a noisy, careless fashion.
And of course, now it’s a very fun word game. 😉
I hope everyone has a great week!
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.