by Roseanna White | Feb 8, 2012 | Remember When Wednesdays, Uncategorized
First, today is the LAST STOP of my
Annapolis blog tour, and I’m going out with a bang–on
Seekerville! Talking about the importance of our words, both the ones we speak (or type) and the ones we don’t. Head on over! And now for your regularly scheduled programming. 😉
~*~
I finally, finally reached a critical turning point in my manuscript–my hero, long stranded in Cuba, gets to come home. But as I sat down, fingers poised over keyboard and ready to make his dreams come (momentarily) true, I paused. And said something like, “Aww, man. How am I supposed to get him there?”
I knew all along this would be tricky. In 1861, it was, shall we say, a bit difficult to gain entrance to the Confederate States of America. See, there was this little thing called the blockade . . . LOL. I had a plan for it, but it was a loose one. Based upon a few quick searches, some squinting, and a couple, “Eh, good enough for now”s.
But it wasn’t good enough for the real thing. So my internet searches got more intense, and where they failed, I looked for help. By the end of my work day on Monday, I’d exchanged about a dozen emails with six different historians. And I had enough to go on.
I’d determined that the most likely port of entry from Cuba would be Cedar Key, Florida. So my search started with the lovely, oh-so-friendly folks of
Low-Key Hideaways, who had a plethora of historical information about their little island on their website, including a wonderful hand-drawn map from the 1880s. I emailed the info address on their website and within
minutes had a response, which was also forwarded to a friend of theirs who knew the island’s history well.
Said friend applauded me for making the Cuba-Cedar Key connection and referred me to others from the town who had written books about it during the Civil War, so could answer any questions I had about the town’s layout at the time.
That was a lovely start to my day, that verification that, hey, I’d landed him in the right place! Phew! And it was a good spot, because it was the western most terminus of the Florida railroad. Surely, surely, that would make it easy, right? I could just stick my hero on a train to Savannah.
Except, er, there seemed to be no train from Florida to Georgia. Um . . . I found a map that had a connector line marked as “built during the war,” but it didn’t tell me when. Argh! This was the point where my hubby said, “You just need that one railroad buff who can answer your question off the top of his head. Find him.”
I started doing random searches for “Florida railroad Civil War” and came across and article sourced from the Railway & Locomotive Historical Society. Needless to say, their website was my next stop. I found the email address for their historical editor, sent him a few questions. Which he forwarded to the historian at the Florida East Coast Railway. Who forwarded it to a professor friend who’d just written a book about it.
I’d found my guy! He emailed later that evening answering my exact question–and giving me the year on that connector line, which was, sadly, two years too late. =( But I now knew that my hero could only take the rail from Cedar Key to the other side of Florida, Fernandina. From there, it would be a stage coach to Savannah.
Not what I’d planned on–but doable. And right. Oh, how I love knowing I’ve gotten details like that right!
All that research made for not as much writing time as I’d liked, but it was well worth it. And now I have a host of oh-so-helpful people who are on my acknowledgment list for this book. =) And more information on Civil War Florida than I ever thought I’d need to know. 😉
by Roseanna White | Feb 6, 2012 | Word of the Week
Cool. It could be argued (successfully, I think) that cool is a word that not only gets used, but over-used. It’s the word we use to mean someone is hip, fashionable, or has that certain something that sets them apart as desirable. Or, spinning off that, it’s the word we use to say we really like something. It’s the word we use to tell someone to stop (cool it!). And of course, it’s a temperature word, too. =)
Last week I found myself wanting to write “cool it!” so I looked it up. Well, I didn’t find the etymology of that particular use in my quick browsing, but I did find a few of the others interesting. I tend to think of “cool” as a modern word, and that “fashionable” meaning is indeed rather new, coming from 1933. But still, it’s older than I thought, and comes, so it is said, from the jazz movement. Which makes sense, because I can totally hear Louis Armstrong in my head going “Cool, man. Cool.”
Where it surprised me, though, was that its use of being attached to a sum to give emphasis to the amount is from 1728. You know, like “He won a cool million in the game.” I had no idea that one was that old!
In 1825 it adopted the meaning of “calmly audacious.” That, I daresay is what made the way for the above-mentioned “fashionable,” since, well, it’s pretty cool (ha ha ha) to be calmly audacious. =)
I hope everyone had a great weekend and is gearing up for a stellar Monday! Time for me to get down to business–I’m going to finish this manuscript I’m working on in the next three weeks, even if it kills me. So if you have the urge to say a prayer that I survive it . . . 😉
by Roseanna White | Feb 2, 2012 | Thoughtful Thursdays, Uncategorized
Monday and Tuesday of this week, I had the joy of attending the Christian Product Expo in Lancaster, PA. I went with CAN (Christian Authors Network), who was hosting the breakfast on Tuesday. Each author sat at a different table so we could chat with the retailers. After that, we each gave a five minute speech. And then we all had books to sign and give away to the retailers.
This is the first trade show I’ve ever attended–the closest thing to it was the Home School Fair I went to last spring. Otherwise all my big events have been writers conferences, so this was a great new experience for me–a glimpse into another, critical side of the industry. It was so interesting to sit at the tables and heard the store owners talk about how they got into this, how long their stores have been open, what they use for engraving, what sells best in their stores, how much they charge for certain things . . .
But of course, one thing I really loved was hearing, “Oh, that’s where I know you’re name! I carry your book!” and “The Love Finds You line is so popular!” =)
Though for me, the absolute best part was the signing. Getting to chat with each and every retailer, seeing where they were from. I had a box of
Love Finds You in Annapolis to give away, and also a box each of
Jewel of Persia and
A Stray Drop of Blood. I knew going in that most of them would already carry the LFY line, and none would carry the WhiteFire titles. So I was really, really intrigued to see that they were just as interested in my Biblical titles as
Annapolis. =) One retailer apparently even started reading JoP during the morning activities and was raving about it over lunch, LOL.
I think so often we get caught up in OUR part of the world, our specialty, our corner, that we tend to be oblivious to the other sides. Or at least I am. 😉 This reminder that those other sides of the coin are still part of the same was wonderful. To realize that we’re all working toward the same end, joint parts in the body of Christ, striving to do the same things–reach others for Him, and tend His flock. It was an experience I’m eager to repeat, and one that will affect how I see my own side of the coin from now on.
by Roseanna White | Feb 1, 2012 | Remember When Wednesdays, Uncategorized
First, I want to thank everyone for sharing my excitement and offering your congrats and encouragement on my Big News. Being able to talk about it at last makes it so new and real, LOL.
I was tempted to talk about the Christian Product Expo I just attended in Lancaster, but since that’s not historical, ha ha, I figured I’d better spare you all those details that probably wouldn’t interest everyone. 😉 So instead, I thought I’d share some of the things that have struck me in the memoir I’ve been reading for research.
Last week I downloaded a dozen free books on the Civil War, most of them original texts from the era. The one I opened first was A Confederate Girl’s Diary by Sarah Morgan Dawson. Sarah was a young lady in Baton Rouge during the war, and getting her view of events has been so interesting. It isn’t just the events through her eyes that get me–it’s her outlook on the whole state of affairs.
What strikes me most is her casual acceptance of looming death. One of the parts I just read says something along the lines of “I assured Mother that Charlie could protect me. And of course, should he be killed, I’m perfectly capable of protecting myself.”
As they’re evacuating the city during a brief shelling, they go by a camp of guerilla soldiers, and she and her sister call out something like, “Die protecting us!” Even when it’s her own brother’s and father’s lives on the line–or extinguished–it’s told in her diary with grief but no despair. But rather with a calm acceptance of whatever life might give.
And yet there’s also the kind of scattered delight that reminded me of a character in an Austen novel. When Sarah is telling about the above-mentioned escape from the city, she gets only a block away before her shoes become so uncomfortable that she decides to turn back and get different ones. And of course, once back in the house, she thinks she had better grab some spare clothes. And of course, then she must gather some ribbons . . . and a comb . . . and her letters–but which ones?
The picture she paints of herself, comically oblivious to the shells whizzing overhead when it’s about something as critical as finding her favorite belongings, is that of someone who has adjusted in ways she never imagined to a world gone quite mad.
And that, in my opinion, is one of the most amazing traits of humanity–our ability to adapt. No matter the era, no matter the circumstances, as a whole we will change as our circumstances dictated.
Much like this Confederate girl who mourned the loss of the Sarah of old . . . but didn’t let it render her speechless.
by Roseanna White | Jan 30, 2012 | Announcements
If you want a word of the week today, I’d have to with “surreal”–which is how this big news feels to me. (But did you know it wasn’t a word until 1927??? I guess before that people may have just used unreal. But that doesn’t quite capture it, so special thanks to Monsieur Apollinaire for coining it in French.)
Many of you probably saw my announcement on Facebook on Friday, but if not, I can finally announce the big news I’ve known about since October–
Harvest House just bought a three-book series from me!
Now, here’s why this is so surreal. Some of the first Christian fiction I read was by Lori Wick. I discovered her books when I was twelve, and my mom and I would both read all of them, even sharing them with my piano teacher. Those books were what inspired my first novel (finished at age 13). And as I finished that first novel and started dreaming of publication, my eyes naturally moved to the spines of those books I so loved.
Harvest House. Oh, the wonders of a publisher like Harvest House! It seemed everything on my shelf was either from Harvest or Bethany. Surely, surely I could find a home there!
But as the years went by and I learned more about the publishing world, I started to think that, while I would find a great publisher (surely!), it probably wouldn’t be those ones I’d dreamed of for over a decade. And that was okay.
Still, when I had the chance to meet with an editor from Harvest House at the 2009 ACFW conference, I was excited. I pitched to her a contemporary romance, and she read the first few pages right there in the appointment, and declared that my writing was great. I was now excited but also guarded. I knew how long these things could take, and how an enthusiastic editor didn’t always mean anything.
Sure enough, a year went by without hearing anything. I got in touch with this editor and discovered that she’d misplaced the manuscript, so I resent–along with a slew of other proposals for historicals she’d asked to see when I inquired about historical romance possibilities.
But after many months, I got the bad news on that contemporary–they just weren’t doing straight-up contemporary romance. So I said, “Well, what about a historical romance set around George Washington’s first spy ring, during the Revolution?” I’d just had this idea, you see, knew it would be a great follow-up to
Annapolis, which had recently been contracted.
She said, “Oh, I’d be interested in looking at that!” So after finishing up a couple other projects, I got to work researching this idea I had. I titled it
Ring of Secrets and came up with one of the best one-line blurbs I’ve ever managed:
For a Patriot daughter in Loyalist New York,
opening her heart could mean a noose around her neck.
I sent it off totally unsure that those first three chapters were any good, but I said, “Eh, it’ll take her a good while to get to it, anyway. I can always send her a revised version . . .”
An hour later I get an email from this editor. I opened it up thinking it would be, “Thanks, got it!” But no–it said, “Call me!!!” Uh . . . okay. 😉
In short, she loved it. Loved it so much that we agreed then and there to meet at the conference we’d both be attending in Oregon in August, and that I’d deliver whatever I had finished at the time. She warned me she wasn’t the type to take things to committee before she’d read the whole thing, but I was so excited to hear her talking of taking it to committee that that didn’t bother me at all. 😉
So in August, she read the 75% of the book I had finished, and her enthusiasm for it left me giddy. In September, she told me when the committee meeting would be, in October. The day of, she emailed me several times making sure she had every detail of information right, and to tell me to pray. Warned me it would be two weeks before I heard.
Then it came–the email from her, to me and my agent, with the words I’d waited 15 years to hear: “Harvest House wants to buy this series!”
My first three-book deal, with a publisher I’ve admired since my introduction in Christian Fiction! I could hardly believe it then, and I can still hardly believe it now, three months of negotiations later. =)
But it’s real.
Ring of Secrets (assuming the title doesn’t get changed, which is always a possibility), a fictional account following the real-life, documented activities of Washington’s most trustworthy spies, will release 1 January 2013. Just less than a year from today. Here’s my unofficial description. =)
Winter Reeves is a Patriot daughter forced to hide her heart amid the Loyalists of the City of New York. Though she has learned to don a mask to hide her thoughts, she has also learned to keep her ears open so she can pass information on British movements to her childhood friend and his Culper Ring. Never before has she had a problem hiding her true heart behind an image of brainless beauty. But then, never before had someone seen straight to her soul.
Bennet Lane returns to New York from his Yale professorship with one goal: to find Washington’s spy hidden among the ranks of the elite. Romance was supposed to be nothing more than a convenient cover story for his search, a way to gain entrance to the world he had so long shunned—though women are terrifying, baffling creatures that inevitably render him bumbling. But when he meets Winter, with her too-intelligent eyes under her too-blank face, he finds a mystery too intriguing to be ignored.
In a world where loyalty can be bought and sold, where no one can be trusted, and where threat dangles ever before them, Winter and Bennet must find a way through the snares of intrigue . . . before their secrets can swallow them whole.
Winter and Bennet (and Robert Townsend, Benedict Arnold, and a host of other historical figures) will be a reality soon. Followed every six months by their sequels, which will follow the next generation of both Culper Ring and the family in the War of 1812, and then next-next generation in the Civil War. 😉
Yep . . . definitely surreal. But oh, how I praise Him for it!
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.