by Roseanna White | Oct 23, 2014 | Thoughtful Thursdays, Uncategorized
It’s Xoë’s birthday. That means cinnamon rolls and homemade macaroni, and a day off school (woo hoo!). It means presents and pink and laughter and fun. And a mommy who solemnly swears to stay off her computer most of the day.
Of course, Xoë isn’t up yet, so here I am. 😉
I had preconceived notions of motherhood–who doesn’t? I thought I’d be perfectly patient all the time, nurturing my babies to adulthood with wisdom and boundless love.
I’ve got the love part. And I sure try to be wise. Patience…well, let’s say parenthood has taught me a lot in that department.
And though I have moments of temporary insanity when I walk into the living room and it looks like a toy bomb has exploded, those moments are far, far outweighed by the ones where I draw my kiddos close and think, “Yep, this is it. This is what life is about.”
Xoë is my firstborn, and she’s such a special little girl. I can’t quite believe she’s 9 today (HOW DID THAT HAPPEN???!!!), but I figure it’s a good time to make a list. Nine reasons out of the gazillion that I love my brave little princess.
1. She’s always thinking about others. She shares gladly with her brother (most of the time, LOL) and even more gladly with cousins and friends. She’d rather make sure those she loves are happy than herself. I’ve never met a child more eager to help. (She loved being my helper at book events, like in the photo above.)
2. She’s smart. I’ve yet to introduce a concept in school that she hasn’t grasped within a day or two. (Okay, Roman numerals took a few months–but when she got them, she got them with a vengeance! She’s now quicker at them than I am!)
3. She’s clever. Which is different from smart, LOL. I love hearing the witty things she says, the clever little jokes she’ll make. Makes my day every time. =)
4. She believes in celebrating. I’m talking, any occasion she can come up with. We had a First Day of Fall Festival just last month, and she’ll make decorations and banners for whichever party she decides to throw in a given week–and this girl plans months in advance. I pray she never loses that heart to rejoice over the little things! It makes life so much brighter. =)
5. She’s not afraid to be crazy. Nothing makes me grin more than when she does a silly little walk or dance.
6. She’s still a little girl. In a world where kids idolize TV stars and musicians, where I often shake my head at how primary schoolers try to act like 17-year-olds, my little girl is just that. A little girl. I know part of that is likely due to our lovely little homeschooling bubble, but I’ll keep it that way for a while longer, thanks. A 9-year-old should be a little girl!
7. She’s thoughtful. Just last night when she heard the reports of the terrible events in Canada yesterday, she asked, “What’s terrorism?” And then, after I explained it, “But why would anyone do that?” We had a rather lengthy discussion on it all…
8. She’s creative. She draws, she writes stories, she designed in Photoshop…yeah, I know. Sounds like me, LOL. But seeing what she creates always leaves me with this big ol’ glow of pride…
and..
9. She’s not afraid to be herself. Over the years she’s ended up among some pretty relentless leaders–her cousin, the neighbor girl, etc. And she rarely insists on being the leader. But she also isn’t afraid to say, “No, let’s not do that.” No matter who she’s with, she’s Xoë.
And oh, how I love my Xoë. Happy birthday, pumpkin!
by Roseanna White | Oct 22, 2014 | 17th-19th Centuries, Remember When Wednesdays
I’m up on Colonial Quills today, and I’m talking about . . . what? A giant screw? A printing press? Huh?
Yep. Our homeschool year has been full to bursting with oh-so-interesting fun facts about early America, but this one won the right to appear on the CQ. 😉 Hop over to read the full article!
The year was 1620. The crowd of passengers crammed into the small vessel
numbered 101. Among them were adventurers, seekers of fortune…and a
group of Separatists who wanted a fresh start in a new land where they
could worship as they saw fit.
We’ve all heard the story of the Mayflower. But I confess that
for many years it was just a tale trotted out at the end of November,
and I had always been far more interested in making paper-bag Indian
vests and coloring my cornucopia than in some of the finer details of
the Pilgrims’ journey. Of course, that was before I became a history
nerd, so it’s only to be expected that now, as I’m reading those old
stories to my kids in our homeschool curriculum, they’re the ones
coloring happily away while I pause in my reading to go, “Wow, I never
knew that! Just think of it…”
Read the Full Article
by Roseanna White | Oct 20, 2014 | Word of the Week
Today’s word comes to us by me literally clicking on a random letter at www.EtymOnline.com and then a random page within said letter and scrolling down until something caught my eye. 😉 The lucky word was perk.
The first meaning of perk in English came from Old North French and meant “to make oneself trim or sharp.” From the late 1300s, this word was inspired by preening birds–the French word it’s taken from means “perch.”
By the 1520s, it had expanded to mean “to raise oneself briskly.” Interestingly, the term perk up didn’t follow for another 140 years (language changed so much more slowly back then!)
The verb that we use for how we make our coffee is actually a shortened, altered form of percolate, which is completely unrelated, and came around in 1934.
The noun form, as in “a highlight or bonus” is from 1869, another shortened, altered form–this time of perquisite, a mid-15th century word from Latin that means “profit, thing gained.” Yeah, I had no clue about that one!
by Roseanna White | Oct 16, 2014 | Thoughtful Thursdays, Uncategorized
When I was a kid, I had big dreams. And this idea that writers lived on mansion on hilltops. I thought that surely, surely fame and fortune awaited me down that road. That I’d be a household name. That people would squeal with excitement when they met me. That I’d be able to dive into my vault of gold like Scrooge McDuck.
Yeah, so…um, no. LOL. That’s not the life of a writer–at least, not many of us. But that’s okay. Because the more I travel this road, the more I know it isn’t about those old dreams. It’s about the stories God puts in my heart.
For a lot of writers, writing is a career. They love it, but it comes down to the bottom line. I get that…but that’s not me. To me, despite those childhood dreams, writing isn’t about what I get from it. It’s about what I can give with it. Writing is my calling. Writing is my ministry. Writing is the way I share about faith, about God, about how He guides through our lives. About how love lifts us above the dark places–though those dark places will always come.
Tonight I have a book signing at my local Library, so my thoughts this morning were on the subject. And I’ve also been hearing back from my beta readers for
A Soft Breath of Wind, so that makes me think about it even more. I guess as a kid, I would have imagined that praise for my books would have made me smile like a movie star, utter a gracious
thank you so much! and go about my day knowing I’d done that, I’d done what I set out to do.
Instead, every time I get an email or message from one of these early readers with words like your best yet and this opened my eyes to faith on a whole new level, there’s no euphoria. There’s no glow of accomplishment. There’s something better. There’s that deep-down, bone-level gratitude to God for helping me write what He wanted me to. For putting down a story I wasn’t sure would be what my core readers want and finding that it’s what they need. For realizing He had things in mind for my words I didn’t know.
That’s what writing has become for me. And while it might not be enough for Scrooge McDuck, I gotta say, it’s why I keep doing this. It’s why I get up at 5:30 every morning, though I don’t often get to bed until 11. It’s why I bake cookies to take to the Library with me, though my day is already full. It’s why I sacrifice that time when I could be outside or reading or otherwise at play, to squeeze a few more paragraphs onto the page.
I’ve said it before, I’m sure. I write because it’s who I am. It’s what I’m called to do. If no one ever read it, I’d still write. If I never earned a penny, I’d still write. Because God teaches me so much through each story.
Yesterday marked the T-one month date for the release of
A Soft Breath of Wind. And as the countdown to release begins, I’m covering this book with prayer. It goes places no other book of mine has ever gone. It digs to places I didn’t know it would plumb. It asks questions I’d never thought to wonder about until Zipporah and Benjamin and Samuel brought them up.
And that means it’s probably going to offend some people–those types of books always do. So I’m also praying that it doesn’t get into the hands of anyone to whom it would be a stumbling block. I’m fine with people not liking my book, with them taking issue with it, if it’s an issue God wants them to take. But I’m not okay with people asking questions that makes them waver in their faith or go places in their minds they don’t need to go (I’ve had a few of those reviews over the years too). So if you’ve a mind to say a prayer over this book and its releasing, please include that–that it make it into the hands of those who need it and stays out of the hands of those who don’t.
I’d also appreciate a prayer for my event tonight. I love doing Library signings–so much fun to chat with folks who love books! So here’s hoping it goes well and I meet some new people to chat with. =)
by Roseanna White | Oct 15, 2014 | 20th Century, Remember When Wednesdays
Historical writers always need to know marriage laws for their particular setting. Well, maybe not always, but it comes up a lot. 😉 And they vary a lot from state to state, even county to county. Thankfully, in this digital age, many states have their archives online (woo hoo!), which makes it possible, if not simple, for us writerly folks to figure out what we need to know.
A couple years ago I was researching a book that I’ve yet to write–it was a sequel to a book I’ve never sold–and part of it hinged on Maryland marriage laws in the 1920s. I found the Maryland archives online, and a friend’s lawyer husband thought it would be great fun to find the correct document for me (truly awesome friend, LOL). He pointed me to the exact place I needed, and voila! I discovered that in the 1920s, you were supposed to get a marriage license, but there was no waiting period. And what’s more, if you did not get a license but were married by a minister, the marriage was legal, but there was a fine involved. If, on the other hand, you had license but no minister, the marriage wasn’t considered legal. How interesting is that?
Another common misconception that pops up far too often in fiction, however, is the annulment. Or at least the threat of an annulment. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve read books about marriages of convenience (read: unconsummated) where this is brought up. Because, obviously, if a marriage isn’t consummated, it isn’t a real marriage, and it can be wiped off the books, right? I always thought so. Until this same friend-married-to-a-lawyer pointed out that, nope, this is just something writers get wrong a lot.
Huh. Who knew? So what, then, are the laws about annulment?
Well, for starters, a bit of clarification on what it even is. While a divorce says a legal marriage has ended, annulment certifies that the marriage wasn’t legal to begin with and, for all intents and purposes, didn’t ever exist. It wipes it away entirely. Now, there are occasions where folks like the Catholic church will annul a marriage if, say, it took place outside the Church, wasn’t performed by a priest, one of the couple wasn’t Catholic, etc. (Though oddly, any children conceived in such a nullified union are still considered legitimate. Wrap you mind around that one…)
But in general, there are only a few very specific occasions when an annulment would be granted.
1. One of the people was already married.
2. One of them was underage, without court or parental approval–though this must be brought to the attention of the court within 60 days, or it’s no longer a valid cause.
3. One of them was under the influence of a drug or alcohol and unaware of what they were doing–again, you only have 60 days to claim this one.
4. Mentally incompetant
5. One of them was threatened or forced into the marriage
6. One of them agreed to be married based on fraudulent claims or actions of the other. (I’m a millionaire, baby!)
7. Physically and incurably impotent–unless the other spouse knew about it beforehand. (See, even this is very, very specific.)
8. Marriage was prohibited by law because of something like age, race, blood relationship, proxy marriage, etc. Varies state to state.
So you see, there are causes…but not the one we usually read about. Interesting, eh?
Now off I go to force a couple to the alter, LOL. And no annulment talk here!
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.