by Roseanna White | Nov 16, 2011 | Remember When Wednesdays, Uncategorized
One of the most intriguing parts of my current work-in-progress is without a doubt the slave culture in that part of Georgia at the time. I’ve already blogged on my experience discovering the rich Gullah-Geechee a few weeks ago here: https://www.roseannamwhite.com/2011/10/remember-when-cultures-collided-in-old.html
But I’ve discovered whole new facets since then. =)
See, one thing I’ve decided to do is show this rich African-American (and I use that term not in the modern sense but rather as a way of showing how the two cultures combined into something new, the Gullah-Geechee culture) by contrasts within the black characters. It’s turning out to be a lot of fun.
First I have Chloe, a young slave who’s a mulatto and the daughter of the master–which the mistress knows but the legitimate children don’t. Chloe spent the first ten or so years of her life on a rice plantation with her mother and her mother’s family.
Now, rice plantations were harsh places, where life expectancy was 5 years in the fields and the infant mortality rate among the slaves was in the nineties. This certainly played a part in the spiritual lives of the slaves and what we today would call their superstitions. In a world where death lurked right around the corner, the underworld was never far away, right?
So Chloe was raised believing spirits came up out the waterways and ghosts haunted the world. Her aunt is a conjurer. It’s what she knew. But when she was moved to the city, Christianity became more real to her, and in a way that forced her to separate out some of the “superstitious” beliefs–though it was rare for them all to be abandoned. Still, compared to the other slaves she’s around, she’d got a way of thinking more like what we know . . . but with a very strong connection to and respect for that other world that whites couldn’t understand.
But then we have Luther, who is a free black born and raised in England. And this is where the fun comes in. =) In England, he was raised with something close to equality, given the chance to be educated and is in fact a minister. He’s lived all his life in a fine (if modest) house, with fine (if modest) clothes. But he ends up in Cuba to try to purchase his wife’s aging grandmother for her and gets trapped in a whole different world. One where everyone’s sneering at him, black and white alike. Blacks because they see him as someone who has forgotten his roots, and whites because he “puts on airs.”
A fun contrast to be sure. Chloe and Luther are my two secondary POV characters, one with her Geechee speech pattern, the other with his British accent, and I’m having a blast incorporating them into the story! Can’t wait to see how they force my plot to shift and change to adapt to them . . . and how I manage to keep them from taking over, LOL. Good thing Delia and Phin are great characters in their own right!
by Roseanna White | Nov 15, 2011 | Uncategorized
Upward. Have you seen the new tabs up the top here? If you glance up at my pages, you’ll notice a couple additions. The first is for the
Great ANNAPOLIS Giveaway. You’ll want to check this out, as it’s such a great giveaway pack that I’m tempted to keep one of them for myself. 😉
Yes, I admit it–I designed the giveaway so that there’s enough stuff in it that you won’t wait to see if you won before buying
LFY Annapolis. 😉 You’ll instead go, “Ooo, look at that journal and quill! And Lark used some just like it? Can’t wait to find out where and how! I’m going to get
Annapolis. If I win this totally awesome giveaway, I can always give that extra copy to my mom for Christmas . . . or better still, keep the signed one, and give my original copy to the church Library!” Yes, I’m just that maniacal. Mwa ha ha ha.
And it’s one of those giveaways where you can rack up the entries with each thing you do. So definitely check out the rules, and visit each stop on
my blog tour–which is that second new tab up top.
Also, please keep scrolling down the page and see my post from yesterday about an amazing
fundraiser for Sandi Rog, who is suffering from cancer.
(For those of you who are shaking your head and saying, “When is she going to talk about books again??” I assure you I did last week, and if you didn’t see that post, it was about a truly awesome biblical you should pre-order, by Mesu Andrews:
Love’s Sacred Song. But at the moment I’m only two chapters into my next book, so . . .)
by Roseanna White | Nov 14, 2011 | Uncategorized
Hear ye, hear ye! Here’s your chance to contribute to a wonderful cause this holiday season–and come away with the work of some of your favorite authors!
One year ago, author and editor Sandi Rog had a big day approaching–the release of her first novel, The Master’s Wall. Set in first-century Rome, this is an epic story of faith and love. But the very day her book released, Sandi’s life shattered–she learned she had a very aggressive cancer, t-cell lymphoma.
The past year has been a huge struggle for Sandi and her family as she underwent chemo, radiation, and bone marrow transfusion. Just when she thought she had this beast beat, she learned that in fact the cancer is still present. So they’re trying a new treatment . . . this one not covered by insurance.
Sandi’s friends, both neighbors and online, have rallied together to try to help the Rog family, and Alison Strobel Morrow has developed a marvelous plan. She’s hosting a raffle fundraiser whose proceeds will go to the Rogs, with a goal of $20,000. The items to be raffled are all donated, and tickets are $5. You can purchase as many as you want and apply as many tickets per prize basket as you like.
The basket you see above has been assembled by the Colonial Quills, many of whom are dear friends of this dear woman–we have put together a complete box of goodies to be raffled off! The raffle will begin on November 25th, and the CQ items include:
And that’s not the only basket I have my hand in! For some great historical fiction plus an amazing gift certificate opportunity, check out this one:
This one includes:
* A Stray Drop t-shirt that reads “One little drop to soil the garment / One little drop to cleanse the soul” (S, M, L, XL available)
* Dance of the Dandelion by Dina Sleiman – Digital AND Print
* Shadowed in Silk by Christine Lindsay – Digital AND Print
* Love Amid the Ashes by Mesu Andrews
by Roseanna White | Nov 11, 2011 | Uncategorized
1 Corinthians 5
1 I can hardly believe the report about the sexual immorality going on among you—something that even pagans don’t do. I am told that a man in your church is living in sin with his stepmother.[a] 2 You are so proud of yourselves, but you should be mourning in sorrow and shame. And you should remove this man from your fellowship. 3 Even though I am not with you in person, I am with you in the Spirit.[b] And as though I were there, I have already passed judgment on this man 4 in the name of the Lord Jesus. You must call a meeting of the church.[c] I will be present with you in spirit, and so will the power of our Lord Jesus. 5 Then you must throw this man out and hand him over to Satan so that his sinful nature will be destroyed[d] and he himself[e] will be saved on the day the Lord[f] returns.
6 Your boasting about this is terrible. Don’t you realize that this sin is like a little yeast that spreads through the whole batch of dough? 7 Get rid of the old “yeast” by removing this wicked person from among you. Then you will be like a fresh batch of dough made without yeast, which is what you really are. Christ, our Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed for us.[g] 8 So let us celebrate the festival, not with the old bread[h] of wickedness and evil, but with the new bread[i] of sincerity and truth.
9 When I wrote to you before, I told you not to associate with people who indulge in sexual sin. 10 But I wasn’t talking about unbelievers who indulge in sexual sin, or are greedy, or cheat people, or worship idols. You would have to leave this world to avoid people like that. 11 I meant that you are not to associate with anyone who claims to be a believer[j] yet indulges in sexual sin, or is greedy, or worships idols, or is abusive, or is a drunkard, or cheats people. Don’t even eat with such people.
12 It isn’t my responsibility to judge outsiders, but it certainly is your responsibility to judge those inside the church who are sinning. 13 God will judge those on the outside; but as the Scriptures say, “You must remove the evil person from among you.”
~*~
Today’s chapter above is brought to us by the New Living Translation … and ought to hit home for society today.
Do we ignore this chapter? It seems like too many Christians do. I don’t know about you, but I’ve had friends aplenty in the church who fell prey to sexual sin. It’s one of those things that can sometimes still shock us, but which in general we’ve become desensitized to.
That makes me so, so sad.
I understand sexual temptation. I understand passion. As anyone who has read my books can attest to, I believe that passion is a necessary and beautiful part of life. But I also believe it can be destructive if we let it rule us when we ought to keep it bridled.
Paul doesn’t sugarcoat the issue here–he calls it out more strongly than I’ve ever noted him calling out anything else. In other parts, he invites us to admonish our brothers and sister who are sinning, to challenge them to stop and confess their sins. Then, if they don’t cease their bad behavior, to cast them out. But he doesn’t give them a second chance here, does he? He says, “Throw them out and hand them over to Satan.”
Yikes. Though I mean, a guy with his stepmother … and they were boasting about it??
This is a tough issue, one that’s made all the more confusing to modern readers by changes in marriage customs over the centuries. Things are formal now that didn’t used to be, and lax that were once formal. But one thing remains unchanged:
God calls us to something holy and beautiful. And all too often, we throw it away.
I’d really like to get a conversation going on this oh-so-important topic. What are your thoughts?
by Roseanna White | Nov 10, 2011 | Thoughtful Thursdays, Uncategorized
I’ve realized something over the last two weeks: I can’t do it all.
I know, right? SHOCKER. Call the local news! Roseanna White cannot do everything! 😉 But seriously, this was a big deal for me. This realization that I have finally reached my saturation point, that I have taken on all I can handle and maybe a little bit more.
That something’s got to give, and it’s going to have to be my stubborn determination to keep all those balls in the air.
I’ve had these days and weeks before, the ones where I feel totally overwhelmed and ready to snap. But usually, those have been from self-imposed deadlines (which I take just as seriously as outside-imposed ones, but still), from self-determined tasks.
Not so right now. Now I have obligations to others, people depending on me for things only I can do. I’d be happy to delegate–really, I would be. But can someone else write my books for me?
Um, no.
Can someone else do my editing?
Um, not really, no–not some parts of it.
Can someone else pack up all the books, manage all the lists? If we hire someone, but at the moment, I’m it.
Can someone else teach my kids?
Well, actually…
See, my husband and I decided back when we were in high school that we were going to homeschool. We knew that was what we were supposed to do to guarantee that our kids got the education we really want them to have. And I love knowing exactly what they’re taught, exactly how they’re doing. I love being able to answer their questions.
I love it–but I’m afraid that with all that’s on my plate right now, I’m not giving it the attention it needs. And I’ve had to entertain the notion this past week that at a certain point, what’s best for my kids’ education might not be me.
Ouch.
It’s hard for someone who has always been confident in her ability to do whatever she set her mind on to admit that maybe she’s let things slip too far. Maybe she’s hurting more than she’s helping. Maybe the messy house has degraded into a certifiable disaster zone, maybe the good intentions aren’t enough, maybe some things would be better off if she got her hand out of them.
But that’s where I am. And you know, realizing that is . . . freeing. All of a sudden I know that some things are going to change. And I know that it’s going to take time and work to change them. But I can hear the Lord whispering in my ear, “I ask you to do your tasks, daughter–not everyone else’s. Do them, do them well. And then let go.”
Sometimes trying to keep up is just a matter of pride, not a matter of doing what you actually should. I think that’s where I’ve been lately. But it’s finally to the point where I want to let some things go. Where the blessings in one realm are going to help me balance out the need in another. Thank you, Lord, for letting it work that way!
I don’t think change is ever easy, but you know–sometimes staying the same is even harder. There comes a time when we can’t keep up with the race we’ve entered. It doesn’t mean we should give up . . . just that we should take a different course.
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.