by Roseanna White | Feb 12, 2013 | Uncategorized
I’m doing a rare Tuesday post today to talk about a truly amazing book. Yes, it’s a WhiteFire book, so you might think I’m biased. But hold that thought. 😉
Last year, our other acquisitions editor, Dina, sent me a first chapter to look over. It was for a book she was considering, and she wanted to get my take on the tone. I could see why she’d want that–just looking at the summary, it’s a book that could be too dark. That could be too heavy. That could be too…hard. Not hard to read, but hard to take. And while WhiteFire tackles subjects others won’t, we’re not a big fan of dark-for-the-sake-of-dark.
But Paint Chips…even in that first chapter, it was different. It spoke of sad things, but there was hope even in those first pages. Light. I liked that, so I gave a thumb’s up and went about my business. Dina kept reading…and then David read…and then we had a committee meeting. They both voted yes, and I still hadn’t read it, but I liked what I’d heard, so I voted yes too. For reference, that was the first book WhiteFire bought that I hadn’t read most-if-not-all-of. But hey, that’s what a committee’s for.
We welcomed Susie enthusiastically to the family, and I laughed when I realized upon typing the contract that she was a Facebook friend I interacted with almost daily. Duh, LOL. But that made me even happier to welcome her to the family! 😉 I got to work right away on her cover, sending her the above as a test-run. After all, I’d never read this book, I didn’t think I’d really be able to grasp it just from her questionnaire…but she quickly replied with “That’s it! That’s my cover!!”
Over the next couple of months, Dina worked her magic with her edits (Dina is a master of plot and scene structure, gotta say–and she does freelance work with that now, so if you’re a writer and need some help in that area,
check her out!!), Susie worked
her magic in incorporating them, and the manuscript came to me, ready for line edits.
Imagine Roseanna sitting at her desk, glued to her laptop as Hurricane Sandy went through, muttering phrases like, “If we lose power, I still have five hours of battery. I might be able to finish this on five hours of battery…” I just couldn’t put it down. I didn’t want to stop reading this story, because if I did, I’d leave one or both of the characters in a tough spot…and I couldn’t do that to poor Dot or Cora. I couldn’t. Besides, I wanted to keep laughing. And crying! I actually cried reading this book, and those of you who know me know that I don’t cry over stories. Not books, not TV, not movies…I cry, like, once a year. Maybe twice. It’s not my thing, so if this did it–that should be proof right there that you had better go buy it! 😉
Paint Chips is a book about family. About the ravages of a broken one and the healing touch of a mended one. It’s a story about the power of redemption…a power that shines the brightest into the darkest crevices. It’s a story that broke my heart. And then put it back together. Because it shows the ugly parts of our world. Human trafficking, abuse, the hard streets. But it shows even more starkly the beauty. What love can do. What faith can change.
When I finished reading this book, my first thought was, “Wow. I’m so glad this is ours! I want to publish this!!” (A good thought, yes, since it was only two months from release at that point, LOL.) So…seriously. This book is an experience you don’t want to miss. It’ll change you. Change how you look at the world, at those who love you unconditionally, at the Father who sees so much more than we do. Read it. You’ll see.
Here’s the back cover blurb, to give you an idea of, you know…what it’s actually about. 😉
What lies beneath the layers of hurt?
Though haunted by her troubled
past, Dot has found a safe haven. She has a fierce protector and a
colorful collection of friends…but sometimes she wonders if her life
will ever be normal again. Though college and romance await her,
embracing them requires a new kind of strength–one she isn’t sure she
has.
Emerging from years of confusion, Cora struggles to latch
hold of the sanity she needs to return to the real world. She yearns to
find a place of peace…but first she must deal with the ghosts of her
past.
Can this mother and daughter overcome abuse, betrayal,
abandonment, and the horrors of sexual trafficking, and make it back
into each others arms?
Facing the past is never easy. But as they chip away the layers, they might just find something beautiful beneath the mess.
And if you haven’t watched Susie’s book trailer yet, WATCH IT!! Seriously awesome–live action, and the best book trailer I’ve ever seen. (We’re not comparing it to mine because, well, that’s like saying “Which baby is cuter? Yours or your sister’s? Uh….LOL)
Now for the giveaway!
First of all, y’all should just go buy the book, because at $3.99 for digitals, why not? 😉 (Buy from Amazon…Buy from B&N…Buy from our distributor) But I’ll offer one free digital to a commenter. To make it more interesting, though, to a second winner, I’ll purchase for you your choice of items from Susie’s jewelry store, Inspired Novelties. Half her proceeds are donated to worthy causes (different one each month), and all are inspired by literature–and beautiful! I have several of her pieces, and they’re awesome. =)
To enter, leave a comment below telling me which is your favorite piece from Susie’s shop, and an email where you can be reached. Want an extra entry? Share the giveaway! Tweet it, blog about it, email it to a friend…have at it. =)
Void where prohibited. Entry into the contest is considered
verification of eligibility based on your local laws. Chance of winning
depends on number of entries. Contest ends 2/19/13. Winner will have one
week to claim prize.
by Roseanna White | Feb 11, 2013 | Word of the Week
First, I’d just like to say that it’s my baby boy’s birthday, and he’s FIVE! How did that happen? LOL.
But anyway. On to the word of the week. =) I chose up not because of its literal meaning, of course, which has been in English forever, but because of some of the fun idioms.
Up as “exhilarated, happy” is first attested in 1815. Up-and-coming, “promising,” is from 1848. The phrase on the up-(and-up) joined the party in 1863, though only in American English. Up the river, meaning
“in jail,” was first recorded in 1891, originally in reference to Sing Sing,
which is up the Hudson from New York City. To drive someone up the wall (1951) is from the notion of the behavior of lunatics or caged animals. The insulting retort up yours is attested by the late 19th century, which I found a bit surprising. I’d have thought it more modern that that.
But my primary interest was in the phrase “something must be up” or “what’s up?” which I couldn’t find, LOL. Well, I couldn’t find the etymology of the first. In looking up “what” I found that that one is from 1881, and I’m assuming the “something” way of stating it instead of asking it is from a similar time.
As for what’s up around here…one happy little boy! =) Hope everyone has a great one!
by Roseanna White | Feb 7, 2013 | Thoughtful Thursdays, Uncategorized
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The Little Potato Peeler
by Albert Anker, 1886 |
I want to be like a potato. Aside from the fact that they don’t have hourglass figures, that is. 😉 But every time I reach for one in dinner prep, it hits me anew.
I want to be able to sprout no matter where I am. No matter how unsuitable the “where” is to sprouting. That right there would be enough. If we could put out roots like a potato, then just think how secure we’d be in our lives, wherever we are. Whatever we’re doing.
I want to be long-lasting. No week-away expiration date. I want to be able to still go strong after weeks and months left sitting. Because sometimes there are periods of inaction in life. Of rest. If I were as long-lasting as a potato, those wouldn’t bother me a bit.
I want to be hearty. I want my work to stick to your bones, yes. But more, I want to know that I’m made of sterner stuff than fluff and nonsense. That I’ve got some starch to me. Maybe that gets potatoes a bad rap in this age of dieting, and maybe it gets people bad raps too sometimes. But that’s the stuff that energy is made of.
I want to be a chameleon, handy for any number of oh-so-different goals. Is there anything you can’t do with a potato? Slice them, fry them, boil them, bake them, mash them, make them a base for a soup…for a candy…for a bread. If I could just be half so useful in half so many ways…
I want to be full of good things. Starch aside, potatoes have nothing but goodness. Anything bad has to be put into them. Lord, make me so pure!
I want to be a staple. Cultures rise and fall around potatoes. I don’t profess that kind of hubris, LOL, but I want to be the kind of wife my husband builds his life around. The kind of mom that provides a life of stability and love for my kiddos. The kind of friend that can be depended on for anything. The kind of writer, the kind of editor, the kind of mentor that people come back to over and over.
I want to be a potato. Not that kind that sits on a couch and does nothing, but the kind that can do it all. The kind that’s just fine with waiting and doing nothing when it’s called for. The kind that can then be picked up and put to any number of uses.
Lord, make me a potato. Sometimes I’m not so sure I have what it takes to be one of those lumpy brown legumes. But I pray I do. Help me to live up to their example. Help me to be a potato too.
by Roseanna White | Feb 6, 2013 | 17th-19th Centuries, Remember When Wednesdays
You know what I love most about the Culper Ring? That I set about to learn about them a year and a half ago expecting high adventure, cloak and dagger, James Bond meets Jason Bourne kind of action. But what I found weren’t specially trained super-spies. They were people. Shopkeepers and farmers, fishermen and soldiers.
They were you. They were me.
They didn’t have special training. Heck, the code they developed was amateur at best and could have been cracked in about an hour had it ever been intercepted. But they had the safety of invisible ink…which one of the brothers Jay developed solely for fun before the Revolution began. While in England, no less. He wasn’t some chemist working at a top-secret facility, he was a basement scientist.
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| Haymaking by Winslow Homer, 1864 |
That’s what I love. That these were just people who didn’t believe in embracing limits. Who lived in a time when discovery meant going out and doing instead of sitting and typing in a command in Google. (Not to knock Google–I love me my search engines! LOL). That these folks got up each day, not with a mission from headquarters, but with a down-to-their-bones need to help their country. To serve their brothers. To obey their God.
Sometimes, I look around this world with its this-crisis and that-crisis…with its millions of people who say, “I deserve this”…with its millions more who shrug and say, “Nothing I can do.” I see the dangers, the crime, the hatred, the total lack of understanding between opposing views. And I think, We need the Culpers. We need someone willing to take a few risks to do what needs done.
And then I realize…they’re out there. The people who don’t just go out of their way to do the right thing, but who make it their way. Maybe they don’t know they’re a Culper. Maybe they don’t encode their work and send it to anyone in charge. But they’re there. People who get up every day and say, “Show me what to do today, God. Show me how to help.”
And to whom He replies, “Keep your eyes open. Someone’s going to cross your path soon…”
These are the people–like you, like me–who change lives. And who can, I truly believe, change the world.
Let’s change it with them. Let’s honor them for their quiet labor and start something together. Let’s form a not-so-secret society of do-gooders. Let’s make it our way.
Do you know someone worthy of being a Culper? Tell me their story, and I’ll send them one of these custom-made challenge coins. No, actually, I’ll send them two. One to keep as a token and reminder, and one to pass along to someone they know who fits the bill.
The story of the coin: The path is straight, and it’s narrow. But sometimes, looking at it as it leads toward the city on the hill, we see the undulation of the landscape and think it’s pretty twisty. Pretty difficult. But oh, how beautiful shines that place of rest! There’s only one way to get there, though.
“Nostra via est facere bona” … “Our Way is To Do Good.”
How? Well, that’s where the reverse of the coin comes in. Let’s embrace the spirit of the ash tree–a symbol of sacrifice, sensitivity, and higher awareness.
Let’s be Culpers.
by Roseanna White | Feb 4, 2013 | Word of the Week
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Peasants Brawling by Abraham Diepraam
(A ragtag collection, to be sure) 😉 |
I had the pleasure of going over edits on Whispers from the Shadows last week, and my editor and I got to laugh about some of the not-in-use-yet words that slipped through. =) A few were difficult…I still don’t know what I’m going to replace them with! But this was kinda funny.
I had my British character sneering at the very thought of a ragtag collection of farmers defeating the British (again, ahem) with their pitchforks and shovels. Only, as Kim pointed out, “ragtag” was still a decade away from use. Le sigh. Apparently this phrase in reverse, “tag-rag and bobtail” has been in use since 1650, but not switched around. That didn’t make its appearance (and again, paired with “bobtail”) until 1820.
I would have been left scratching my head over that “bobtail” part, gotta say, if the etymology dictionary didn’t specify that bobtail meant “cur.” Apparently tag and rag was also a popular phrase in the 16-17th centuries.
When we first went over these edits, I had no handy substitution for ragtag. But later that afternoon, if you heard me randomly shout out, “Motley!” that would be why. 😉 When next I spoke with my editor, I happily told her my epiphany, and she made the substitution. And motley has been around since the 14th century, with even its newest meaning of “fool” from 1600.
But in looking up motley to check it, I saw another “rag” entry! Apparently at the same time that ragtag was coming into use, rag-bag made its debut too–though apparently literally, at first. It took on the figurative meaning, however, by 1864.
And now I get to shift my thinking up to that very time period. =) All set, I am, for the world of 1865. Where ragtag is acceptable, if I have an occasion to use it, LOL.
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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.