by Roseanna White | Aug 29, 2012 | Remember When Wednesdays, Uncategorized
Yesterday I had the joy of chatting with my editor at Harvest House. I’d asked her a few questions about my plans for Whispers from the Shadows, to make sure my intent of throwing the romance formula out the window would go over okay. 😉 And while we were talking, she shared a bit of fun that I have to pass on.
Anybody watch USA’s show White Collar? It’s one of those I’ve always thought looked really good, but we just didn’t have time for another show to get addicted to, LOL. Well, apparently a couple Harvest House folks watch it, my editor included, and they got very excited when last week’s episode (from August 21, 2012) dealt with nothing other than the Culper Ring!
I’ve yet to track down the episode online so I can watch it (though that is on my to-do list this week for sure! Finally, an excuse to watch the show!! LOL), but I’m told the premise was that a professor lost his tenure at a college when he was laughed out of academia for stating outright that the Culper Ring is still operating today.
Squeeee!!!!!
Anyone want to take a guess on the premise of my entire series? That (that’s right) the Culper Ring didn’t end with the Revolution like history books say it did. That the members took up the mantle again when the need again arose.
Ring of Secrets is based on the documented escapades of this most-trusted spy ring of George Washington, but its sequels will delve into the what-ifs. What if the War of 1812 came to an end because of intelligence the Culpers gathered? What if they found themselves pitted against the Knights of the Golden Circle during the Civil War?
What if these untrained intelligencers perfected their craft over the years, perfected their codes and their inks and their methods until they could operate indefinitely without detection?
Ooo, fun, fun, fun. Especially when it shows up in other popular outlets, like White Collar and Brad Meltzer’s Decoded. Or ever when the places I wrote about suddenly appear on the news, like several recent stories about Oyster Bay on the Long Island Sound.
White Collar viewers got a sneak peek at my world last week as the characters talked about my characters–Robert Townsend, known as Samuel Culper Jr., and George Washington, a.k.a. 711. They got to see the places the Culpers operated and speculate on whether they’re still around.
And I get to sit back and grin and thank the fine folks at USA for priming the audience for me. Coming soon, folks! Coming soon!!
by Roseanna White | Aug 27, 2012 | Word of the Week
This is a short one, but surprising. I always thought of wow as a modern word. So when I looked it up, I was shocked to see that it’s from 1510!
Wow is a Scottish interjection, one of those that arise from a natural sound we make when surprised by something. Much like whoa, ow, ouch, huh, and the like.
It became a verb in more modern days, though–we only started wowing people in the 1920s, originating in America. 😉
But in my defense, it’s a word that waxed and waned in popularity. It apparently took on new life in the early 1900s after being not so in use prior, and then had another surge in the 1960s. Which has carried through to now.
And of course, had led to one of my four-year-old’s favorite sayings: Wowwy-zowwy-coppa-bowwy! (Or however one would spell that…)
by Roseanna White | Aug 23, 2012 | Thoughtful Thursdays, Uncategorized
I had a nice, insightful post planned for today. Filled with brilliance (ahem) and thought and pondering a scripture that jumped out at me. I was just beginning to delve into the contemplation required for it when an adorable little face appeared beside mine. Grinning. And chanting, “School, school, school.”
Yeah, see, we decided we’d start the same day my niece did–today. But I kinda forgot to take into account that on the first day of school, I don’t have to lasso my darling girl to her chair at 9 like I do later in the year–she’s begging to begin at 6:30.
So . . . yeah. That’s what my morning has been. =) Getting Xoe back into math and handwriting, introducing her new spelling book. And going over letters and numbers with Rowyn. Pulling out her reader and trying to figure out what in the world this diamond-diagram thing is they have in the copywork section of my curriculum. Convincing Rowyn that his reading lesson can wait just a minute while I read Xoe her spelling words. Needless to say, blogging has slipped just a bit this morning, LOL.
I promise you that wonderfully insightful post on next Thursday. And tell you it has to do with redemption, but an application of it I’d never considered until I read it earlier this week. And for now, back to school I go!
by Roseanna White | Aug 20, 2012 | Word of the Week
Mean is one of those words that I knew well would have been around forever, but I looked it up to see about some of the particular uses. And as usual, found a few surprises. =)
As a verb, mean has meant “intend, have in mind” even back in the days of Old English. No surprise there. It shares a root with similar words in Dutch and German and various other languages, perhaps from men, which means “think.” But the unexpected part–the question “Know what I mean?” is only from 1834! Of course, that’s as a conversational question, a saying. I daresay the words were uttered as a particular question before that. Know what I mean? 😉
As an adjective, it began life as “low-quality.” Like “a mean hovel” that the poor dude lived in. But it also carried a meaning, rather related, actually, of “shared by all, common, public.” And presumably if something were shared by all, it wasn’t really high in quality, eh? So “inferior, second-rate” was also a natural progression for the word, and came about in the 14th century.
I knew this definition would be the oldest but, when I looked it up, was more interested in when the most common meaning if mean (meaning of mean–ha . . . ha . . . ha . . .) came into play. It acquired the “stingy, nasty” implication in the 1660s, and was then pretty strong. We Americans had to come along to give it a softer side of “disobliging, pettily offensive,” so that didn’t come about until 1839–again, there’s the surprise!
And an interesting note on it too. The inverted sense of “remarkably good,” (think “wow, he plays a mean piano!”) is from 1900, most likely from a simple dropping of a negative, like “he is no mean piano player,” (
mean here being either “inferior” or its
other meaning of “average.”)
Have no mean Monday, all! 😉
by Roseanna White | Aug 16, 2012 | Thoughtful Thursdays, Uncategorized
And I’ve had a pretty fun week. My birthday on Tuesday was a lot of fun, filled with discounted food. 😉 My mom took me out to lunch and my hubby/kids to dinner, and both times, part of the meal was discounted (or free) because of a delay. Which suited me just fine and made it more fun. For dinner, we drove down to Hagerstown, MD, about an hour away, to go to Outback and use my free birthday coffee coupon at Starbucks. (Yes, the nearest Starbucks is an hour away. Gotta love Western Maryland…)
On the drive down, we were going through rain, with the sun behind us, and it resulted in a perpetual rainbow, low-slung and sparkling, right in front of us on the road. It traveled with us about five miles, to the delight of us all. I claimed it was my personal birthday rainbow. 😉 On the way home, the clouds were starting to lift from the mountains and valleys back into the sky, resulting in these gorgeous pillars of mist . . . quite a sight. God spared no imagination painting the landscape for me that evening. =) (Thanks, Lord!)
And also making this week fun is that I’ve bitten the bullet and stopped
talking about starting a local book club and actually
done it. Yay! The Inspired Book Club will meet at my church Library the last Thursday of every month, beginning in September. AND folks were so excited when I started talking about it, that we’ll be chatting on Facebook the last week of each month too. So if you’re too far away to come snack and chat with us, feel free to
join the Facebook group. And if you’re near Cumberland, MD and want to join, just shoot me an email at roseanna [at] roseannawhite [dot] com and I’ll give you directions! Our book for September is Tamera Alexander’s
A Lasting Impression. And to make it even more fun, Tammy has agreed to call in during out meeting so we can ask her questions and get the insider scoop on the book.
And even if you can’t squeeze one more thing into your schedule, let’s just admire my fun little logo. Isn’t it cute? LOL. I made that after organizing the
Christian Review of Books‘s shelves in its new location at my church. (Yay, all those books out of my sitting room!) Oh, and the CRoB is also in desperate need of a local-to-Cumberland-area volunteer to donate an hour or two a week to helping me keep the list updated and get books mailed out to reviewers. If you’re interested, email me at the address above.
Not exactly a life-altering blog post, I know, but it’s been that kind of week more full of news and chocolate cake than epiphanies. 😉 Thanks again, all, for your wonderful birthday wishes!
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.