Roseanna White - Roseanna M. White

Remember When . . . Inspiration Arrived in the Mail?

by Roseanna White | Jan 6, 2016 | Remember When Wednesdays

I set a goal for myself this past fall. I’d turned in my final Ladies of the Manor book in September. I’d done my rewrite and revisions on it, turning A Lady Unrivaled in again before Thanksgiving. I hoped to have new projects to work on in the new year. So how to spend those last few weeks of 2015?

I knew my answer–finishing up Giver of Wonders, my biblical novel that is scheduled for release in fall of 2016, to be scheduled around A Lady Unrivaled‘s release and Christmas. Since, you know, this is a Christmas novel. =D

But this book had given me some trouble. I started writing it in a new-to-me-program about a year ago…and I’m apparently too stuck in my ways for this program to work for me. I got 20,000 words in and stalled. I did absolutely nothing with it for months, while working on my other books. And when I pulled it back out, I just wasn’t sure what I was going to do.

So I bucked down. I got in a nice groove. I had to put it aside for a week again when my galleys for The Reluctant Duchess arrived (this is the life of a writer with multiple deadlines, LOL), and then I got back to it again. Slowly but surely, that word count climbed.

But around Christmas, when I’d counted on the Joy of the season propelling me forward in this Christmas story…I stalled. I reread what I’d written. And I knew something was missing.

See, my biblicals are…er…intense. They have a spiritual depth that isn’t always demanded from my other books. They are where I really explore faith and God and His world that I cant always see beyond mine.

It didn’t feel like I was doing that enough in this one. I spent a day talking it out with my critique partner/best friend, Stephanie. With my husband, David. I figured part of it out. Then I sat down one evening with a book I’d ordered, which had just arrived a few days before Christmas. Saint Nicholas, Bishop of Myra: The Life and Times of the Original Father Christmas.

I’d ordered it on a bit of a whim, thinking, The life and times, huh? That could be handy. I haven’t found a ton of research on that online. Wise, wise move on my part. As soon as I started reading this, I knew what I’d been missing. I got a glimpse of the land my characters would live in, the culture surrounding them. I gained a deeper understanding of the political and spiritual climate. I could finally picture the architecture.

And it made all the difference. It only took a few chapters, but reading the words of someone who had walked in the places where my characters would have walked made me realize I’d been lacking some key details. More, showed me part of the depth I’d been missing, that came of a clash between the Greeks and the Christians that was far greater than all my online reading had led me to believe.

My goal had been to finish Giver of Wonders by January 1. Of course, that had been before I knew I had galleys coming on another book, so I extended my deadline by a week to make up for it. And I am so thrilled to report that yesterday, after a marathon 2 hours of quiet while my husband had the kids out and about, in which I somehow managed to write 5,000 words, bringing my day’s total up 8,199 (even though I also laid out the interior of a book for press and did homeschool), I got to The End. (I never actually write “the end,” but, you know. I got there!) I still need to go back and alter the beginning to match the info I discovered from The Life and Times, but the story is there. Done.

And I am one happy girl. =)

Sale!

by Roseanna White | Jan 4, 2016 | Announcements, Book News, Sales

First of all, thanks to all my fabulous readers for sharing about the 1-day-only sale of The Lost Heiress on the 2nd. In unprecedented awesomeness, it skyrocketed to the top of its lists and even cracked the top 100 on all Kindle books! If you heard any strange shouting for joy, that was just me. 😉

And now that the 1-day-only sale is over, I want to share about another sale, this one for my Culper Ring Series (digital editions). These prices will run until January 31st–your chance to snatch up the whole series for under $5!

Otherwise, it’s back to the grind today. School will begin at our kitchen table promptly at 9…and I’m going to use the time until then to work on Giver of Wonders, which is thiiiiiiiiis to “The End”!

See y’all back here soon for some more special stuff I’ll be focusing on this week!

Word of the Year – Mine

by Roseanna White | Jan 1, 2016 | Holidays, Word of the Week

Every year, I pray for a word. Instead of a resolution, just one word that I can strive for in the year. It doesn’t always come. But as I drove home on the last day of 2015, I knew what my word was for 2016.

Mine.

It started as a game with my kids. My husband and I would both latch hold of them, and we’d play a mock tug-of-war game amidst their giggles. “Mine!” I would say, tugging on them. “Mine!” David would argue, pulling them close for a hug. The kids both thought this was hilarious fun.

In the mornings, my son still calls to me three days out of five. He can obviously get up on his own, and he does, often. But some days he sticks to the old tradition of calling out, “Mama!” And I go in, and I gather him up, and I hold him close. “Mine,” I often whisper into his ear. “My boy. I love you.” When I go in to wake his sister an hour later, I sit down on her bed, run a hand over her hair, and say, “There’s my girl. Time to get up, sweetie pie.”

It’s a part of our family language, this claiming of the ones we love. This Mine.

Yet it touched something deep inside me when my little boy started putting his arms around me, pressing close, and saying, “Mine.” It’s his way of saying I love you. It’s his way of saying, We’re a family.

Yesterday, when I asked God what He wanted me to dwell on this year, I imagined arms bigger than Rowyn’s, bigger than David’s, bigger than the world coming around me. And a voice far deeper whispering in my ear, “Mine.”

For they are my people, and I will be their God.

The question of what it means to be His is one that has fueled contemplation and discourse for millennia. I could write a long, long post on my thoughts on the matter here and now.

I’m not going to do that. I’m not going to think about what I know about it already. I’m just going to ask.

What does it mean to belong to God?
How will my daily actions change if, before I do anything, I remember that I am His and He is mine?

My every action, my every reaction should start from that one central point.

I am His.

My speech. My writing. My everything should reflect it.

I am His.

My relationships, my family, my commitments should be kept in their proper places.

I am His.

May 2016 be a year filled with Joy and blessing. May its hardships and trials pale in comparison to the love we feel in our Father’s arms. May we find peace amidst the turmoil that has its claws in the world, and may we know the path He would have us tread. May He open our eyes to the truths of His Word, of His Spirit. May we understand what He calls us to do.

And may our every act, our every thought be rooted in that most basic truth–that God has wrapped us in His arms and whispered that claim into our ears.

Mine.

Thoughtful About . . . the Old Year, and the New

by Roseanna White | Dec 31, 2015 | Thoughtful Thursdays

I know, I know. Every blogger in the whole blogosphere is reflecting now on the exit of 2015 and the entrance of her baby sister. But under the firm belief that reflection is good for the soul, I must join in. 😉

As I look back over 2015, I see a year full to bursting with moments, milestones, and new missions that won’t just pass into history with the dawn of a new year.

This year, the very first novel I wrote saw publication, after 20 years of revisions and rewrites, and after 9 other published novels. I can’t quite explain how that feels, to have poured so much love into a project over so long, starting when I was twelve, and finally hold the finished project in my hands. It’s exhilarating. And it’s humbling. And it’s terrifying. Because now my very first baby is out in the world, and there are people who love it and people who hate it, people who judge those characters who have been so close to me for so long…yeah. But for all the negatives that come with putting out one’s work, they’ve got nothing on the positives. Thank you, Bethany House, for making this dream come true and pushing me to make this last version the best one by far!

This year, my designing took off in ways I honestly hadn’t expected. By my quick calculations, I designed over 60 book covers in 2015. For someone who thought she’d just take on freelance projects for some fun and extra cash, it’s been big fun and quite a blessing. I so love all the new writers and publishers I’ve gotten to meet through this, the new relationships formed, new discoveries made. God has really blessed me through this designing gig, and I’m so grateful to Him for the opportunities He provided.

Xoe in the Nutcracker –
I would post one of Rowyn,
but he refuses to be captured
on camera!

This year, my kids have grown up on me! Okay, not fully. But Xoe is 10. Double-digits. And starting to look like a young lady. And sometimes I just want to, as my mother always threatened, put a brick on their heads so they stop growing! It’s so cool to watch these fun little people learn and laugh and become who they are. They’re in 5th and 2nd grades now, and being their teacher continues to be something that wears me out but fills me up. I love being a homeschooling mom!

My post-Christmas project

This year, I took up knitting. Technically, this fall. And I am totally hooked! I made a lot of Christmas gifts this year–and as gifts, I received yarn, circular needles, blocking mats, and giddiness as I got to dive in and create some new projects–like the boot toppers for my mom, above.

This year, my husband started chasing his dream. He’s long been interested in TV and film, and this year he took the first steps toward learning how to produce it. He went on two mission trips to Bulgaria in 2015, in March and October. During the second one, he visited a refugee camp with camera in hand and a heart to hear the stories of the refugees, and he came back with interviews that have become his first film. Along the Path is finished and ready for viewing; I’ll post a link next week. I’m so crazy-proud of this guy, who has always said that his calling is to help others reach their calling. It led him to start the Appalachian Relief Mission, took him an ocean away twice so far, and fills him with purpose. One of my greatest honors this year, and one of my biggest goals for 2016, is to support him in his dreams as he has always supported me in mine.

This year, my focus hasn’t changed much on the outside…but it’s changed a lot on the inside. Somehow, in the last few years, I’ve stopped caring about the things that surround me. I just want to be the woman God has made me. I just want to serve Him. I just want to help others know Him better.

And this year ended with a Joy I’m not at liberty to share just yet. 😉 But it’s a promise of stories to come and a 2016 filled with words, and it made this holiday season pretty darn bright for me!