by Roseanna White | Oct 13, 2014 | Word of the Week
We’ve all heard of the stars of the Silver Screen…but last week I found myself wondering about the term. Where did it come from? When did it come from? Obviously after movies came about, but when?
A simple answer to find. =) Silver screen was originally in reference to the screens themselves in movie projection houses. They were painted silver to better reflect the light from the projectors. Makes sense, eh? The term is from 1921. And by 1924, it had broadened to mean movies in general.
Movie itself dates from 1912, a shortened form of moving picture, which in turn dates from 1896. Keeping in mind that those first moving pictures were silent, the advent of sound resulted in talkies in 1913 (from talking picture, 1908).
So…seen any good ones lately? 😉
by Roseanna White | Oct 9, 2014 | Thoughtful Thursdays, Uncategorized
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| Autumn…always crazy around here |
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve said or written the words, “Sorry, this month has been crazy.” I think I probably utter/type it at least once a month. Because, let’s face it, life is crazy. It’s always crazy. And though I always think, It’ll get better once I’m done this… the fact remains that once I’m done one thing, it just means another is on the horizon.
Traditionally, October is my crazy month, where I have something going on every weekend. Fall Festival, family reunion, daughter’s birthday, Halloween. This year, September way outdid October’s plans. This year, we were gone for vacation, then for homecoming at our college, then there was ACFW. I’m so, so glad to be home for a while, even if I still have all those normal October things to do.
My point? Well, that every day is crazy. Every week. Every month. And I can either use that as an excuse to put things off and let life overwhelm me…or I can not.
That’s a hard one for me. I admit it. All too often things get pushed to the backburner in my life (like cleaning…or sorting through that stack of mail that I hope doesn’t have any bills I’ve missed…or…) while I focus on the pressing things.
So how do I do better? Honestly, I’m not an expert on this. I don’t have the answers. But this past year, as we moved and settled, as I had to pitch a new series to new publishers, as I worked on my biblical at a snail’s pace, as I edited and designed a book every month for WhiteFire, as I homeschooled both kids for the first time…well, some things shifted for me. Some things that made me realize that I can still have time to cook a decent meal, if I just make myself be creative. I can keep my house from becoming hopeless, if I just force myself to spend one evening a week on it (it’s not great, mind you, but not hopeless). I can write, I can read, I can edit, if I’m willing to budget my time.
There are still days and weeks where I just can’t do any more. I can’t squeeze in one more activity, I can’t go one more place–not if I still want to finish my “have to”s. But at a certain point, I have to stop looking at it as crazy…and just start accepting it as everyday life. And cherish the fact that, though crazy-busy, my family is at least crazy-busy together. We’re not pulled a million different directions everyday. And I love that. I love that we spend so much time together.
It kinda makes me think that all the crazy is worth it. Because we can live in Crazytown together. And really, it’s a pretty fun place to be.
by Roseanna White | Oct 8, 2014 | Remember When Wednesdays
Much of my last week has been consumed by Veiled at Midnight, the next book WhiteFire will put out–and the last one this year, other than my A Soft Breath of Wind. I know I already touched briefly on this in my Word of the Week post, but it bears talking about more. Because oh my goodness. This book…
In the first book in Christine Lindsay’s Twilight of the British Raj series, I was introduced to India, with all its vastness, its crowds, its spices and colors and dizzying politics. I got a taste of the British Raj (rule) and what it meant to the Indians, and I met a villain who kept the characters on their toes. In the second book, I learned more about the struggle between the Sikhs, the Muslims, the Hindus, and the minority of Christians. About the sweeping epidemics and the lingering effects of World War I.
In this book, I saw a nation destroyed by its cry for independence. I saw neighbor turn on neighbor because of their religion, places of peace become fields of battle. The author, in her historical note, says that low estimates of the number of civilians killed in the riots surrounding the Partition that separated India and Pakistan was 20,000. High estimates are close to 1,000,000.
This is not a happy backdrop. It’s tragic, it’s suffocating, and it’s…true.
So why do I love the book? For the same reason I usually love a book. Because somehow there’s hope amidst the tragedy. Somehow there’s the power of love–our love for each other and Christ’s love for us–overcoming, here and there, the power of hate. Somehow the characters find their true identities, their true worth, their true strength, when the streets are flowing red with blood.
That’s one of the themes of the book, actually. Red. Dassah, our Indian heroine, wanted a red sari for her wedding, because red is the color of
Joy. But as violence took over her land, red became associated with blood instead. The color of violence, of death, of tragedy. But then, eventually, another thought occurs. Red is also the color of Another’s blood that was shed, and shed to save us.
I didn’t know much about the Partition before I read Veiled at Midnight, but wow, did I learn a lot–in that organic way that has always been why I love historical fiction. I got to meet some historical figures, and I got to view the riots through many sets of eyes, all with different views but a shared love for India, a shared pain at her suffering.
Best-selling author MaryLu Tyndall had the right of it when she said, “Rarely do I find a book that touches my soul in such a deep place.” This one’s going to stick with me for a long, long time.
by Roseanna White | Oct 7, 2014 | Word of the Week
Good grief, I’ve been forgetting to blog left and right! Let’s hope it’s just that my last few weeks have been crazy, and now my brain will settle back into normal patterns. 😉 We can hope…
In my last pass of the fantabulous Veiled at Midnight, I came across a character saying something about their gene pool. So naturally, I paused to look it up. This is a historical, but a post-WWII one, so I knew it was probably close.
And indeed, it was very close.
Gene is from the German
gen, a word coined in 1905 by Danish scientist Wilhelm Ludvig Johannsen. He took it from the Greek
genea, meaning “generation; race.” They had earlier been called
pangenes. So the word
gene definitely would have been around by 1947.
Gene pool, however, didn’t make its debut until 1950. Pretty close, but I was gonna guess that the backwater of India wouldn’t have that one yet, so I made a quick substitution. 😉
Now back to work I go on getting Veiled at Midnight ready to go live! Some unforeseen events delayed this release, but we’re finally ready to get it up and out there! Yay!
by Roseanna White | Oct 1, 2014 | Remember When Wednesdays, Uncategorized
I had the pleasure of going to the ACFW conference in St. Louis last week as an editor for WhiteFire Publishing. That means that I spent my day sitting behind a table…
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My spot – I got rather comfy there. =) Kim, my editor from Harvest House,
was beside me, Jeane Wynn the PR queen behind me, and a couple agents
rounding out the room. |
…listening to stories. Not a bad way to spend a day. =) There are agents and editors out there who really don’t enjoy these appointments, and I understand that. They like to focus on the manuscript first. But I have to say, I had a blast meeting the authors and listening to them tell me about their stories.
I also have to confess that of all the pitches I heard, the ones that sounded like rehearsed pitches were the least engaging for me, even if they were interesting. What I, personally, enjoyed was just listening to people talk about their ideas!
I heard a lot of historical pitches and noted a few themes that kept coming up. Quite a few were based on family history, which is always fun.
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Me with one of my critique partners, the young and lovely
Amanda Barratt. Amanda just received 2 contracts for novellas
with Barbour!! Super proud of her–she’s only 18! |
Quite a few pitches, both historical and contemporary, began with “escaping an abusive relationship…” I found that interesting. WhiteFire has published a few stories that had a character doing just that. And frankly, my current work-in-process touches on it too. But I’m talking quite a percentage of the stories I heard that dealt with this, and I’m not sure what that says. Maybe that they were all pitching it to me because WhiteFire isn’t afraid to go there? Maybe that everyone wants characters who find their strength…and they do that to escape such a situation?
Maybe that the world has gone so far down hill that a devastatingly high percentage of people have had to face these issues at one time or another, and it’s what God keeps laying on writers’ hearts for their sakes?
I thought I would miss the genre dinner on Thursday night (had a meeting), but I did in fact manage to sneak in. I hadn’t brought my fabulous Edwardian garb to wear, thinking I wouldn’t make it to the dinner, but I enjoyed seeing the other costumes. Including this one that my young-and-talented critique partner donned. Keep an eye out for two novella series coming from Barbour in the next year–they’re going to have two of her stories in them! As I have details, I’ll share them. This young woman is only 18, but she’s already been working hard to get published for four or five years, attending conferences with her family when she was too young to be allowed to come alone. Anyway, dinner was almost over and saw this costume walking from the room. I thought, “That has to be Amanda!” so went darting out after her. And sure enough, it was. =)
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| In the bookstore |
I also had the amazing blessing of talking with some of the established historical writers that I so love reading. I got to hug Julie Klassen–whose books were right beside mine in the bookstore. (No, mine aren’t regency, they were just at the edge of the Historical Romance category.) I really loved that. Come for Julie, then look over at Roseanna. 😉 At dinner on Friday with the Baker Group crew, I sat between Mary Conneally and Jen Turano, so that was a hoot. And on the way back to the airport on Sunday, I got to sit beside Jody Hedlund, who’d just won the Carol the night before for A Noble Groom. She’s such a sweetheart!
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St. Louis courthouse–juxtaposed so funnily between a bunch
of modern architecture. This was the view from the room
I took appointments in. |
So, yeah. I was present at every meal, which is a bit unusual for editors. That means I answered a lot of questions of “What do you write?” with “Historical romance and biblical” and then the follow-up questions of “Do you have appointments?” with “Actually, I’m taking them. I’m here as an editor.” That was a lot of fun too.
More thoughtful thoughts on it all tomorrow!
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.