Christian Fiction Scavenger Hunt – Stop #8

by Roseanna White | Oct 14, 2020 | Giveaways and Contests, Scavenger Hunt

Welcome to the Christian Fiction Scavenger Hunt!

If you’ve just discovered the hunt, be sure to start at Stop #1, and collect the clues through all the stops, in order, so you can enter to win one of our top 5 grand prizes!

The hunt BEGINS on 10/15 at noon MST with Stop #1 at LisaTawnBergren.com.
Hunt through our loop using Chrome or Firefox as your browser (not Explorer).
There is NO RUSH to complete the hunt—you have all weekend (until Sunday, 10/18 at midnight MST)! So take your time, reading the unique posts along the way; our hope is that you discover new authors/new books and learn new things about them.
Submit your entry for the grand prizes by collecting the CLUE on each author’s scavenger hunt post and submitting your answer in the Rafflecopter form at the final stop, back on Lisa’s site. Many authors are offering additional prizes along the way!

I’m so glad you’re joining us! I’m Roseanna M. White, writer of historical romance that always seems to include spies or war or mayhem of some sort…which is ironic, because my life is ridiculously ordinary. (Well, if you discount the fact that I have all these stories in my head. Which, if one can trust my 12-year-old son, you should definitely discount.) Most of my books are set in Edwardian/World War 1 England, but I also have a few American-set stories and some biblical fiction too. I hope you take a minute to look around and even check out my book-themed T-shirts, tote bags, and tea parties!

But today let’s focus on my latest release, A Portrait of Loyalty.

Set in 1918, this final book in the Codebreakers series (it can be read alone, don’t worry!) has a heroine who’s a photographer working for Intelligence and a crytographer hero who just escaped to England from Russia during the Bolshevik Revolution…though of course, his enemies aren’t about to let one of their Intelligence’s highest ranking officers leave without a fuss. We’ve got war, betrayal, questions about propaganda, the purpose of art, the Spanish flu, the biggest aerial raid of the war, and of course a love story all packed in these pages! (Click on the book cover to see the actual description here on my website.)

As I did my research for this series, I knew I wanted to write a book about the photographers that did so much work for the Admiralty during the war, especially when I learned that a fake photograph played a huge part in the end of the war. But how, I wondered, did these photographers even do what they did?

How You Photoshopped a Picture Before Photoshop

I’m a book cover designer and graphic artist in my (ahem) spare time, so I do a lot of photo-manipulation…but I do it all digitally. I’ve always wondered how people did the same work before the advent of computers, and when they even started doing it.

The answer: they’ve been doing it since the dawn of photography! Some of the earliest examples we have of photographs include touch-ups, cut-outs, or inserts. And some of the most famous ones too. (Like quite a few of Abraham Lincoln.) But how?

For small changes–blotting out a figure they didn’t want in there, smoothing out flaws, that sort of thing–the retoucher would go in with a paintbrush and simply match the shades of the surrounding items (keeping in mind these were in black and white) to make items disappear or change. But this took skill, especially if you were trying to work on a person–to remove scars or freckles or otherwise “airbrush” a figure. Too heavy a hand, and the people would start to look fake. (Leading to an outcry in the photography community against any retouching at all.)

Complete self-instructing library of practical photography via Archive.org // Public Domain

But then there were the more extreme examples, when an artist was called upon to combine images to create a new one. When I’m doing this work in Photoshop, I always select what I want from one image, cut it out, paste it on a new layer. Well, go figure, that’s exactly what they did then too! They would literally cut one image out of a print and paste it onto another photograph, then reshoot it and develop it as a single image.

Of course, a skilled eye could detect this work–it left small edges, or evidence of where the two layers met. Sometimes there would be a shadow between the old and new or you could see where the paper had bubbled from the glue. But the best artists left little evidence of their work…and of course, my heroine is the best of the best. 😉

A retouching desk. Image credit: Finishing the Negative via Google Books. // Public Domain

Here’s the Stop #8 Basics:
If you’re interested, you can order A Portrait of Loyalty on Amazon,
Barnes & Noble, ChristianBook or get a signed copy from my store here!

Clue to Write Down:
you

Link to Stop #9, the Next Stop on the Loop:
Robin Lee Hatcher’s site!

Giveaway!

I’m giving away a signed copy of my book PLUS your choice of a Bookish Tote bag from my store to one US winner ~ or a copy of my book sent from Book Depository to an international winner!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Word of the Week – Greg (That’s Right, Greg)

by Roseanna White | Oct 12, 2020 | Word of the Week

Did you know that greg is Latin for “flock or herd”? Yeah, neither did I. 😉 But that then makes sense when we look at some of the words that have greg as their root:

Congregate – to come together as a group
Segregate – to separate from a group

And then the one that got my attention – gregarious. I wouldn’t have thought that one so closely related, I admit. Until we consider that it means “someone who enjoys being with a group of people, the company of others.”

So there we have it. And now you can start calling that Greg you know “flock” or “herd” and see what he says. 😉

Word of the Week – Decimate

by Roseanna White | Oct 4, 2020 | Word of the Week

So let’s look at the word decimate. We all know what it means–“to utterly destroy.” Right?

Well, as it turns out, yes–but. There’s always a “but,” right? LOL. Decimate actually has a much more precise meaning that I was completely unaware of.

If we look at the root of the word, we see dec in there, which is Latin for “ten.” And decimus is “one-tenth.” So decimate, which is a verb form of “one-tenth,” actually gives us a little history lesson. If a Roman legion mutinied or showed cowardice, they could be decimated as a punishment. Which is to say, one out of every ten soldiers would be executed. (!!!) Originally, then, decimate meant that an army would be reduced in strength by 10%. But over the years, the word began to be applied more loosely to any big loss.

Word of the Week – Myriad and Million

by Roseanna White | Sep 28, 2020 | Word of the Week

When we think about numbers, we don’t often consider that once upon a time, they didn’t go very high. But in fact, in ancient days, there weren’t words for anything greater than “ten thousand.” In the Ancient Greek and Roman eras, this was the largest number known, and myriad was the world used for it.

It was in fact because this was the largest named number that myriad also came to mean “countless, innumerable, vast amount.”

So what about million? It literally means “great thousand” and didn’t come along in any language until the 13th century. Even once it had taken on a more precise meaning, it was used only by mathematicians up into the 16th century!

Roseanna for Writers, Coming Soon!

by Roseanna White | Sep 24, 2020 | Announcements, Cover Designs

I hear from a lot of you who are also writers … but I know that doesn’t apply to all or even most of my readers. My goal is always to serve all of you as best as I can, and in the past, my “serving other writers” goals have been met by teaching at conferences and doing guest articles on sites like the amazing Go Teen Writers.

And I’m still doing those. (Well. You know. COVID + Conferences = Eventually) But I also wanted a way to share about my love of the craft and industry of writing without relying on events. So I’m thrilled to announce a new part of my website that will be coming soon, just for writers!

I’ll also be starting a newsletter ONLY for writers, so I won’t bore you readers who aren’t writers with it, but writers who want access to my material but not my weekly newsletter can just receive that. Sign up here!

What will my “For Writers” section include? So glad you asked. 😉

Classes, Services, and Articles!

CLASSES:

There will be a series of video classes available for purchase, starting at around $15. Here’s my current list of classes I’m recording, divided into three man categories:

YOU, the Writer (Fiction or Non-Fiction)

“Choose Your Own Writing Adventure”

As writers, we don’t just decide what kind of stories we write; we decide what kind of stories our writing-life will tell. How do we react to edits? Critiques? Reviews? What face do we show the world? These questions are just as important as “what genre do you write?” and should be given just as much attention.

“Write Deeply, Read Deeply, Live Deeply”

Want to write stories of depth? First we have to learn how to read stories in ways that pluck the truths from the pages…and most importantly, we need to learn how to examine our lives daily in way that pulls us deeper into our hearts and souls.

“The Intuitive Writer”
The class for people who never get much from classes! Some people work well with writing “systems”…and some of us DON’T. That’s because there are two types of minds: the logical and the intuitive. Every class on the planet seems to aim at the logical methods … but this one is for those who create “from the gut.”

“No Tears in the Writer”

Every writer has probably heard the saying, “No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader.” Well this non-cryer is calling bull on that theory. We don’t all cry when penning a story…but that doesn’t we can still grab the readers by the heart with these methods.

“How to Do It All”

One of the questions I’m asked most often is “How do you do it all? Writing, editing, designing, homeschooling?” Your “all” no doubt looks different from mine, but we all need to learn how to juggle the demands of a writing life…and stay sane in the process.

Marketing and Publishing (Fiction or Non-Fiction)

“Spirit-Led Marketing”

Many of view marketing as a monster determined to steal the joy from the writing life. But this session will teach you to focus instead on turning marketing into service that feeds your soul.

“~~Two~~ Four Roads Diverged”

You’ve written a book, but now what do you do with it? Shoot for a big publisher? Small press? Vanity or coop press? Self-publishing? Let’s examine the pros and cons of each so you know which path is the one for you and your goals.

“What Are You Looking At?”

This fun-filled look at the cover design process not only chats about the theories on what makes a great cover, but looks at covers that work and don’t and why.

“Editor’s Pet”

From query to your umpteenth project, how to get an editor’s attention and keep it (in the right way) until you’ve made yourself a house favorite.

“Honoring the Inspiration”

Editing isn’t just fixing commas and deleting weasel words. It’s creativity too, and it helps turn our stories into the best books they can be. Here’s how to make sure your edits are doing all you want them to … without stealing your joy or compromising your inspiraiton.

The Writing Craft (Mostly Fiction)

“Fiction Rules and When to Break Them”

Great for beginners and intermediate writers, this class examines “The Rules” of modern fiction, why we should learn them, and when we get to chuck them out the window for the sake of our art.

“Fiction with a Purpose”
Let’s examine the pitfalls and strengths of issue-driven fiction and how to make an “issue” book work for you.

“You’re History!”

How to do the research for historical fiction and integrate it seamlessly into your novel in a way that brings the past to life without overloading the modern reader.

“Soul Deep Characters”

How to write characters that leap off the page and straight into the heart of the reader by asking yourself questions in ways you haven’t before and evaluating your characters’ spirits.

“More Than An Idea” (Fiction or Non-Fiction)

We all have ideas that might be great books—but the inspiration is only step 1. This class takes you through turning that idea into a workable project, through hard work and even some emotional and spiritual growth.

Each class purchase will include access to a monthly live Q&A video chat, where any participant can ask questions about the classes they took specifically or writing in general. I’m filming and editing these fifteen classes now, but I will add more as time goes by. So if you’re super excited and want to soak up ALL the workshops, you’ll also have the option of purchasing a lifetime subscription to my courses, which will include every class I ever post ~ these 15 and beyond!

SERVICES:

Design – As many of you know, I’m not just a writer, I’m also an editor and a book designer. The “services” portion of the new segment will deal mainly with what I’ve long been offering at Roseanna White Designs, just handily linked here too for a one-stop shop. 😉 And if you need advice on the actual step-by-step process of getting your book for sale, there were will be a few select coaching timeslots available too.

Marketing Intensives – My husband and I are working on a marketing intensive specifically geared toward writers. One we’ve been using with my own work and our publishing company, so in addition to philosophy, this comes with the benefit of our hands-on experience!

ARTICLES:

I’ve already written many writing-craft articles and have bookmarked many more by some amazing authors! I’ll be curating some of these just to give you a free resource and a handy place to find my favorites in one spot.