by Roseanna White | Feb 20, 2012 | Word of the Week
There’s little I like more than realizing a word in common use today has come to mean the opposite of what it once did.
Snob is definitely one of those words.
It appeared in English from some mysterious place, and scholars aren’t sure of its origins–just that it made its debut round about 1781 with the meaning of “shoemaker.” That’s right–shoemaker. LOL. The boys at Cambridge University soon adopted it and applied it to anyone of the working class.
Fifty-ish years later the word took a turn and was used to mean someone of a lower class who “vulgarly apes his superiors.” Slowly, throughout the nineteenth century, it evolved into one who puts on airs . . . who insists upon his gentility . . . and finally, by 1911, someone who insists upon it to the point of looking down their nose at those who are inferior.
Quite the trek that word has taken, eh? Love this one!
by Roseanna White | Feb 16, 2012 | Thoughtful Thursdays, Uncategorized
I should probably have saved this topic for two weeks from now, when, if all goes well, I’ll reach the end of my manuscript. But I’d probably forget by then, so . . . 😉
I’m an optimist. I can find hope in anything. That’s probably why I love stories of romance–you just can’t beat a happily ever after. And, frankly, if a book doesn’t have one, chances are I’m not that crazy about it. Not to say I don’t approve of other endings, think they’re perfect–but rare is the book that makes it onto my favorites shelf with a less-than-blissful ending. It’s happened. But it takes one heck of an author.
And it’s also why so much of the Old Testament leaves me with an aching heart, especially reading the books about the kings of Israel and Judah. Going through all those chronicles with my daughter, she asks constantly as she’s trying to keep the names straight, “So which king was he? Did he love God?”
And so often my answer has to be, “No.” Or worse still, “He did when he was young, but then he caught up in his money and his glory and worshiped Baal. He forgot about God.”
Xoe, bless her sweet spirit, will always look up at me with those big blue eyes of her and ask, “But how could he forget God? God saved him!”
She’s so right. At six, she understands the simplicity of it and doesn’t see the complication. At six, she sees only the “happily” and not the “ever after.” And I wish, oh how I wish, I could toss a “The End” into some of those stories halfway through. Stop it where it’s still happy. Ignore the depressing epilogue.
But I can’t, because I have to teach my kids that getting to that one big moment isn’t enough in life. It doesn’t stop when we reach one goal, do one great thing for the Lord. We don’t have just one volume, with one climax. One neat resolution. No, we have to press ever onward. Because “the end” doesn’t come until the end.
I shake my head at the critics at romance who mock our beloved happily-ever-after because of these very reasons. And my head-shaking is valid. Because, hello, who wants to read a gazillion-page novel that tracks a person from birth to death? No thanks. I want my novels to entertain and inspire. And those stories, those endings, serve to get me from big moment to big moment in life. They help me remember what can happen. Over and again. Time after time. Volume after volume.
But so often, I think we pray for the short term. Just one good thing, Lord. Just send me one good thing. But as I reread those Old Testament stories, they’re making me look farther. Pray for good lives for my loved ones, not good turns. Good ends, with middles that lead them there. I’m praying, now, for endurance and fortitude.
Blessings come, and I praise the Lord for them. Crises come, and I pray to the Lord through them. But between climaxes, between resolutions, what am I doing? That, I think, is where those kings of old fell away. When they grew complacent. When they forgot who sent the rain, who delivered the army, who pulled away His protection and let the enemy come.
There are mountains in our life, in our faith. There are valleys.
But there are also plains. And the only way to trek across them without ending up in the land of Baal is to keep our eyes forever on the pillar of fire and smoke.
I love a good ending. But you only ever reach one in life when you realize it’s a looooong journey to get there.
by Roseanna White | Feb 15, 2012 | Remember When Wednesdays, Uncategorized
Monday, during my big writing day of the week, the unthinkable happened–I ran out plotted story! Agh! Which is to say, I’m not anywhere near done my MS (okay, nearish), but I’d only figured out in detail up to a certain turning point. Which I’d just finished. I then had to sit back and go, “Okay . . . now what?”
My particular method of writing historical romance is to take two plots and weave them together. The first is mine. My characters, their motivation, the events of their lives that have very little to do with anything but my own reality. But then my second is history. The actual people, places, and events that shape the world I put my characters into. When all goes well, that second plot is what fuels the first toward its resolution.
But as I sat there staring at my screen on Monday, plotting, I was at a total loss. My notes on the Civil War stared blankly back at me. See, I’m now in early October of 1861. During which nothing big enough happened to make the big time lines. So what in the world was supposed to anchor my story?? I had nothing, not a thing in my notes until February. February! What in the world happened until then??
Plenty, of course, just not on a grand scale, not the kinds of things that make the lists for general Civil War history. Luckily, I have a resource that gives me specifically Savannah’s history, which is what I need. Because there was an awful, awful lot going on in Savannah during those “empty” months on the time line.
Panic.
Vigilantes.
Islands on the coast falling to the Yankees.
General Lee’s arrival.
Statewide questioning about whether Savannah is worth fighting for–a question Savannahians didn’t much appreciate.
The blockade cinching tight.
And that’s not getting into the politics that had all of Georgia in an uproar. See, one of the BIG reasons for succession was Federal v. State Rights. Slavery laws were but one example of this, the fact that the southern states felt the north had no right to dictate to them what they could or couldn’t do, that the federal government shouldn’t have such power. But what was the Confederation doing? Dictating to them what they could and couldn’t do. Telling them they had to raise a certain number of troops, and that those troops weren’t to defend Georgia, they were to be sent to Virginia to fight on the front. And that their slaves had to be sent wherever the Confederacy needed them, to dig trenches.
And that, since there weren’t enough volunteers, they’d have to institute the first-ever draft on North American soil.
Can you imagine how those people felt? They’d declared a revolution to keep a centralized federal government from deciding what their states could do–only to create a new one that did the same thing, and in ways even the politicians in Washington hadn’t done. Was it any wonder the people were disillusioned? Panicked? And, where necessary, devious?
This first year of the war might have been relatively quiet compared to the rest . . . if you’re standing at a distance, looking at the divided nation as a fractured whole. But when you get up close, you see it was far from it.
There may not have been so many loud shouts, but there was a world of mumblings. What they lacked in cannon fire they made up for in quiet betrayals—betrayals that led directly to those louder months coming, when disillusioned rebels led the Yankees straight to the heart of Confederate fortifications.
Oh yeah–I’m having lots of fun with this “little” history. =)
by Roseanna White | Feb 13, 2012 | Word of the Week
You get two for the price of one today. =)
I can’t tell you how many times in historical writing I have the urge to use the word “finagle.” You know, like She finagled him up the aisle. Or He finagled his way out of it. Something to convey some tricky footwork, so to speak.
But I generally can’t, because finagle didn’t come about until 1926. Really late! And at the time, it meant to cheat at cards. One authority says it’s related to figgle, which is to fidget. Hmmm. Either way, it’s modern meaning of some fancy (and likely questionable) maneuvering is waaaaaay too new to use in any of my historicals.
So then I have to think of what word I can use, and I inevitably fall back on maneuver. Maneuver has been around since the 15th century with a meaning of “hand labor.” (Man meaning hand, that’s no surprise.) But in the mid-1700s, it was applied to military movements. And from there, it was a quick jump to “artful plan, adroit movement.” More what I’m usually looking for.
But wait! Interestingly, the noun came first. The verb was actually a back-formation and didn’t make its literary debut until 1777. Thus far safe for all my historicals, but if I ever write earlier than that, I’m going to have to keep that in mind!
So there you have it. Some interesting factoids to help you maneuver through your week. 😉
by Roseanna White | Feb 9, 2012 | Thoughtful Thursdays
In case anyone missed my Seekerville post yesterday, I thought I’d share it here today. In case you, um, didn’t just want to go over there and read yesterday’s post . . . okay, so I’m in the middle a BIG reunion scene in my manuscript and don’t want to take time away from it to write a blog, LOL. Indulge me.
And keep in mind that the post yesterday was the last stop on my blog tour, so your last chance at a free copy of LFY Annapolis and to enter my big giveaway that way!
~*~
As a writer, I’m always aware of the importance of words. As a writer, I pay attention to any mention of them in the Bible. As a writer, I cringe when I realize how carelessly those precious, life-giving syllables are often used. Not just in writing, but in speech. In life.
We all know the beginning of the gospel of John.
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.
In Him was Life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness did not comprehend it.”
It’s a beautiful throwback to Genesis, where God spoke creation into being. A poetic illustration of how Christ fulfills the promises set forth in the very beginning. A fine example of how powerful words, the Word, really are.
Words create. But conversely, words can destroy. Why are lies so dangerous? Why is bearing false-witness one of the big Ten? Because words are one of the most powerful tools we have at our disposal, and the Lord wants us to use them wisely.
“Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt,
that you may know how you ought to answer each one.”
Colossians 4:6
When we use words with the express goal of damaging others, we’re not pleasing God. He wants us to edify each other, to encourage. Even if we’re calling out someone’s mistakes (something we’re definitely told to do), we’re given strict instructions on how to do it. Why? Because it matters. Because God knows that if we just go up to our friend and say, “You’re such an idiot,” then we’re going to be hurting, not helping. Our words need to be a stepping stone for others, not a stumbling block. And so we need to take care that when we speak, it’s with the love of the Lord shining through us.
I think this is a pretty simple idea, and one that most people understand on some level. They know very well that the old “sticks and stones” rhyme is about as false as it gets. And yet, how often do we speak things we later regret? How often do we send a rash, nasty email and then wish for the backspace key? How often to do we make a dire prediction about someone, rather than going to them and lovingly admonishing them?
Are we then surprised when our predictions come true?
“As we must account for every idle word, so we must for every idle silence.”
Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard’s Almanack
One of the ideas presented in the book of James that always struck me the most is that we’re not just held accountable for what we do and say, but for what we know we ought to do and say but don’t. God judges our hearts, our motives. That means that if the Spirit whispers Go talk to her, but we hem and haw and stay put, afraid of “not coming off right,” then we’ve done something wrong.
It’s tough, right? We don’t want to hurt people by speaking amiss . . . and we’re never quite sure we’ll say things right. We don’t want to be held accountable for using words to hurt someone . . . but then He tells us that we’ll also be held accountable for not saying or doing things? Um . . . little help, God!
“Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and our God and Father,
who has loved us and given us everlasting consolation and good hope by grace,
comfort your hearts and establish you in every good WORD and work.”
II Thessalonians 2:16, 17
God doesn’t leave us floundering after giving us these commands, thank heavens. He gave us a whole Book to help us. Jesus came to help us redefine. And then the Spirit was given to “teach you all things, and to bring to your remembrance all things I [Jesus] said to you.”
We can do this. We can use our words as He ordained. Whether you’re a quiet, introspective person or an exuberant extrovert. Whether you write epics or only the occasional email. We’re still all held to that standard.
As one of those people who writes countless emails a day, who has written thousands of pages of fiction over the years, who is partly responsible for choosing which books WhiteFire Publishing produces, I think about that standard a lot. I know the fear of words being taken wrongly by readers, of them being misused, of being judged harshly for them. I know the fear of not writing things as I ought, of it being more about me than God, of getting carried away with my wisdom and so not fulfilling my ultimate goal of sharing His. That’s why I bathe my work in prayer. Day in, day out, I beg Him to help me write His words. Yes, I know they won’t hold a candle to the Word He’s already inspired in His writers so long ago—but if I can help expound on the truths laid out in the Bible . . .
“This will be written for the
generation to come,
That a people yet to be created
May praise the Lord.”
Psalm 102:18
About a year ago, a reader emailed me. She said that as she reads, she keeps a notebook handy, and when something strikes her as true, encourages her, or helps her understand a gem of the Lord’s wisdom, she writes down the line from the book, the title, author, and why it spoke to her. I was touched deeply to learn that I had a page in this notebook of hers. She shared with me how important she feels words are, how powerful, and how much she admires writers for living by them. And I thanked her for the enormous blessing she bestowed upon me by letting me see that the books I sweat and cry over have an effect. This is what God wants us to do with our words—to mutually build one another up. To encourage, to edify, to be a blessing.
“Sing to Him! Sing psalms to Him!
Talk of His wondrous works!”
Psalm 105:2
Have you ever noticed how everything in the Bible ends in praise? Read the Psalms. Even the ones that are lamentations end in hope, end in glorifying the Lord. With a few exceptions, each and every song written by the psalmists will show a heart poured out and then given over to the Lord’s will, which by nature requires praise. In the epistles, the writers will admonish, direct, guide . . . and end with prayer and praise. Why? Because that is what our words are meant to do. We are to Shine for the Lord, to glorify Him through the words of our mouth, just as He breathed life into us with His.
He guides us. He calls us. And when we say in response, “Here I am, Lord,” then we are fulfilling our potential.
My ultimate prayer is that I can be like Samuel.
“So Samuel grew, and the Lord was with him
and let none of his words fall to the ground.”
I Samuel 3:19
Lord, let my words never fall to the ground. Let them all fly heavenward to You, for You . . . that through them You may Shine.
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.