by Roseanna White | Aug 14, 2013 | Remember When Wednesdays, Uncategorized
As I was taking my walk the other morning, I was thinking about my next biblical and my heroine, Zipporah. Zipporah is going to be interesting to write. She’s scarred (physically, I mean), but still confident. Not in the beauty she knows she doesn’t have, but in who she is. She’s outspoken with enemies, yet often hesitant with friends. Friendly and witty, but too different to be totally understood. Respected, but sometimes in a don’t-get-too-close way.
She has quite a story to tell. =) And as I was thinking through one of the moments I have planned for late in the book, I realized she needs a catalyst for really flying off the handle. My original jotted notes was that this villain would insult her looks, but she’s so used to that by now, I don’t think it would have any great effect after all.
But then a dog barked at the house I was walking past, and I had to pause to say, “Good morning, Tipsy.” (Her owner pauses every day as he drives by to say, “Tipsy’s out. Say hello.” So I do, LOL.) Another neighborhood dog answered. Squirrels jumped up the tree at my side, and birds twittered overhead. That’s when it came to me.
A pet! Zipporah needs a pet! Some poor creature she rescues, perhaps with an injury of its own that she can relate to.
So…now to decide on what kind. =) She’s on a villa outside Rome, so I have to make sure it’s an animal that would have been there. Still, Rome was a bit of a hub (ahem), so the options should be pretty wide.
Thoughts? What kind of pet should my biblical heroine have?
And yes, that’s all I’m talking about today. 😉 It’s my birthday, and I’m off to enjoy a day of pampering. Which reminds me–last day to place your orders for my online Mary Kay party!!
www.MaryKay.com/TerriHarr and put “Roseanna White Hostess” in the memo box at checkout.
by Roseanna White | Aug 12, 2013 | Word of the Week
I have frequently been accused of optimism. I confess: it’s a malady of mine. Why, after all, should I look at the dark side, when the bright side is right there? I just can’t do it. And so, my critique partners nicknamed me RO. It’s short for Roseanna-Optimist. I claimed once that Optimism was my middle name, and they argued that it was surely my first–at the least, it must be hyphenated, LOL.
So happy words have a permanent place in my vocabulary, and apparently they occasionally sneak into my writing even when they shouldn’t. 😉 I was reading through a proposal the other day and caught myself having used “upbeat” in a story that takes place in 1910. This stood out to me on the re-read like a sore thumb, so I looked it up.
Sure enough, upbeat as “with a positive mood” didn’t join our language until 1947. It had existed since the mid 1800s in its technical sense–the beat of a measure of music where the conductor’s baton is raised. Why did it take on optimistic tones? According to the experts, simply because it sounds happy. =) (That’s my kind of reasoning!)
And speaking of happy things, this is the week of my birthday, so don’t forget that I’m hosting an online Mary Kay party that ends on the day itself, 8/14 (Wednesday). If you’re a fan of MK, do hop on over to http://www.marykay.com/terriharr and put “Roseanna White Hostess” into the memo box when you check out. Mucho appreciated!
by Roseanna White | Aug 8, 2013 | Thoughtful Thursdays, Uncategorized
I’ll be honest–the week turned pretty crappy on me. I had a couple nasty-bad days there.
My first response? Wallow. Only, it’s hard to wallow with kids and a hubby who need me on my game, with a gazillion books still needing sent out and edits pending on the WhiteFire book releasing in one short week.
Maybe, were it just me in my cave, I’d wallow. But it’s not me–or not the me I can be right now anyway. I know everyone deals with disappointments in their own way. My best friend cries, my sister works out, I know some who opt for retail therapy.
I don’t really do any of that. It’s hard for me to get outside my head, but my head says I need to stay strong. Handle disappointments with grace. Easy? No. But I say a prayer, suck it up, and…well…get on with it. But it’s difficult sometimes. So I try to tweak my mindset. For me, that means getting out of the jammies and ponytail and showing the world I’m okay. I put on my favorite outfit, fix my hair, and even break out the makeup bag. This is a rarity, LOL. And maybe to some, it seems strange to go all-out just to sit at home in front of my computer. But when I look bad, I feel bad. When I take the effort to look better, I start to feel better. Call it vanity–maybe it is. But it’s also me taking control of something and making an effort to change my attitude.
Which leads me right into my party. =)
On August 14th, next Wednesday, I’m turning 31. So when a friend of mine from one of my writing groups asked me if I’d host an online Mary Kay party, I thought, “Oh, fun! It’ll lead straight into my birthday!!” This was before the week turned sour. 😉 But you know, I think it’s just what I need. A reason to look beyond blips on the screen and focus on something else.
I really want to support Terri Harr, one of my most dedicated readers and a friend to boot, as she’s launching this new enterprise. And she’s even promised a few goodies for giveaways down the line, if the party goes well!
So you are hereby invited to my online Mary Kay party, beginning today and extending through next Wednesday, my birthday. Obviously, I want you to buy lots, ’cause then I get free stuff, LOL. But I also just want to hang out here on the blog, chat about some simple things like mascara and lipstick, and support my friend in the process.
Here’s how it works–really simple.
1. Go to http://www.marykay.com/terriharr and browse through the catalogue.
2. Add whatever you please to your cart.
3. When you check out, put “Roseanna White Hostess” in the memo box
4. Voila! Your order will be sent straight to you!
5. Share with a friend. Cuz, you know, the more the merrier at this party. Since I don’t have to clean my house for it or anything. 😉
My question for you today:
What’s your default when you’re feeling down?
or
What item of makeup can you not live without?
by Roseanna White | Aug 7, 2013 | 17th-19th Centuries, Remember When Wednesdays
Since I’m still in the first week of Whispers from the Shadows officially being out, I thought I’d share today a repost of something I wrote for www.RegencyReflections.com–about the War of 1812, but from the British perspective. — And stay tuned!! Tomorrow I’m announcing a week-long party for you Mary Kay fans to help a friend kick off her new business and lead into my birthday. =) For now…enjoy some tall ships!
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The Chasseur, one of the most famous privateers of the War of 1812
This Baltimore captain harassed the British merchant fleet in their own waters. |
You know, it’s really kind of funny. When reading the Regency-set novels I so love, I often find references to the on-going war with France and the audacity of Napoleon. Only rarely, however, do we see the British perspective of another war going on at the same time, one with the upstart Colonists that had declared their independence a generation before. Even America often forgets their War of 1812, and in Europe…well, it tends to dim in comparison to the Napoleonic Wars. It’s become overlooked by both sides.
But oh, how interesting it is!
In 1811, England had been fighting France for long enough that the escalating troubles with America were little more than a nuisance at first. They sent men and ships, but for the first two years of the war, their focus remained set upon France. In North America, they were concerned largely with protecting their Canadian assets, using raids along the Chesapeake to distract American forces from their invasion northward. After Napoleon surrendered, however, everyone–both British and American–new exactly what it meant.
It was time for the fighting to get serious in America.
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| Privateers engaged in battle during the War of 1812
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Not only were those in the Admiralty tired of fooling around with the upstarts, but the citizenry were beginning to fuss about the audacity the Americans demonstrated in this second fight, even sending privateers to harass the British in their own waters! They demanded that the Americans’ cities be burned and her people crushed for their impudence. Ready, I daresay, for a breath of peace, more men and ships were sent from Europe to Bermuda and then, finally, to either the Chesapeake or Canada.
But the men were weary. After months and years of suffering in the war with Napoleon, followed by months idle on the ships across the Atlantic, their hearts weren’t in it. More, the humid mid-Atlantic summer–one of the hottest recorded–caused heat-stroke left and right. More men were felled by vicious storms and intense heat for the first few months than by the sword or shells.
For many, this second war with America was but a P.S. to the first. The Revolution went wrong, they were sure, because of bad leadership decisions. Their men–the fathers of those now in charge–were killed or injured because of this. So it was their duty to put it to rights, especially when America persisted in ignoring the laws of citizenship and rights-upon-the-seas that England had held to for centuries.
It was, for many of those involved, a war no one wanted to fight. It was an afterthought to some and forgotten by many more since. A war based on little more than affronted prides.
But like any other, it was also a war with heroes and bravery and determination. And as such, it deserves to be remembered. Especially now, during its two-hundredth anniversary.
My question to you today:
Which war’s history always interested you
the most in your school days?
by Roseanna White | Aug 5, 2013 | Word of the Week
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Edgar Degas – Ballet at the Paris Opéra
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I have a little ballerina in my family…and also a Fancy Nancy fan. So when she got her hands on Fancy Nancy: Too Many Tutus, you may be able to imagine the results–she had to go through her entire closet and pick out every dress, shirt, and skirt with a tutu in it, and schedule her entire week’s clothing choices accordingly.
It’s a funny word though, and one I’ve often wondered about but never looked up. So here I am, looking it up. =)
Tutu comes from the French word, which is no big surprise, as most ballet terminology does. What I had no clue about is that it’s a variation of cucu…which is baby talk! Who knew, right? Cucu is “intantile repetitiveness” of cul, which means “bottom or backside.”
And I’m sure my daughter won’t give a hoot, LOL. But a bit of fun trivia to begin your week. =)
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| Xoe (on the right) with her best-ballet-friend |
Roseanna M. White is a bestselling, Christy Award winning author who has long claimed that words are the air she breathes. Having successfully launched two homeschool grads, she now spends her time writing fiction, 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, as well as a fantasy series and contemporary mysteries and romances. Spies and war and mayhem always seem to find their way into her books…to offset her real life, which is blessedly ordinary.