by Roseanna White | Aug 4, 2011 | Thoughtful Thursdays, Uncategorized
I have a family of drivers. My husband goes for drives to clear his head. My sister was one of those kids who begged her way behind the wheel on our farm vehicles as soon as she could see over it. My mother-in-law has a list of dream-cars. My dad is the proud owner of a truck, an SUV (okay, this one’s my mom’s), a Harley, and a four-wheeler. All these folks will jockey for a chance to drive whatever new vehicle joins the family. They love it.
Me? I’d rather being in the passenger’s seat, or on the back of the four-wheeler. At the end of the boat (not that we have a boat, but when we’ve been on others’) staring into the wake. Feeling the wind on my face but able to look off into nowhere for my enjoyment. Watching the scenery go by. Ignoring the traffic.
I drive–when I must. I love the freedom of being able to, don’t get me wrong. I appreciate and am thankful for my car, so much so that every car in my family gets a name. Our car now is Xander, our Jeep is Bartok. I’ve also had a Sparky and a Snowball. And yeah, I have a list of dream-cars too. But when we go out as a family, there’s never any question of who will drive. The keys go to David. The daydreaming goes to me.
The other night I hopped on the back of my dad’s four-wheeler to go over to the farm, and said, “Wow, this is my first ride on this.” I used to ride on my neighbor’s all the time, but I’d forgotten how much I enjoyed it.
Dad replied, “It’s really easy. Look–drive, reverse. Gas, brake.”
Me: “Mmm hmmm. . . ” Ah, wind in my face! And look how green the fields are, stretching out until they meet the river, the mountains rising up . . . What a beautiful place I grew up in. What an amazing world God has crafted.
On the way back, Dad asked, “Wanna drive?”
Now, if you asked my 3-year-old this, he would probably say yes, LOL. But me, I just climbed on the back again and said, “Nope.”
And I spent the two-minute ride back trying to figure out why. It’s not that I dislike driving, per se. I certainly am not afraid to try it, I know it would be easy. And I can understand why folks get a thrill out of being in control of the motor that’s taking them from here to there.
But more important to me is seeing what I can see while going someplace. Having the freedom to ignore the musts of gas and break and traffic, of potholes and bumps, and focus on the ifs.
I think it comes down to being a dreamer. I’d rather experience from the backseat and try to imagine what the driver’s feeling than actually do the driving–because then I’m too busy doing to absorb. I’d rather sit on the sidelines and watch the game than play, because I can both see the moves and the expressions on the faces, I can learn the rules and create a story around them.
Obviously there are exceptions to this, things I’d rather do than watch. But I sometimes find it funny when everyone keeps pushing me to try something, and I just have to smile and say, “No, really. I don’t want to. I like it here.” I do wonder, occasionally, if this is a failing of mine . . . but you know, so far I don’t think I’ve really missed out by staying in the passenger’s seat most of the time.
I still go all the places the driver does . . . but I see a lot more along the way. =)
by Roseanna White | Aug 3, 2011 | Remember When Wednesdays, Uncategorized
I admit it–I have shopping on the brain. For the first time in six months, I’m actually going shopping. As in, look around, not just go in for one thing in particular. With my mom and mom-in-law. And my kids. All morning. Can’t wait. =)
So the other day when I was reading through my current work-in-progress and came across a fun factoid about 18th century shopping, it jumped out at me. And I thought, “Hey, I’ve yet to tell them about vendues!”
Ever hear of these? I hadn’t, until reading Washington’s Spies by Alexander Rose. One of the historical figures he talks about (and who also appears in my book) apprenticed in a store called Templeton & Stewart in the City of New York. T&S had two divisions–an upscale one in the fashionable district of the city, and then a vendue across from the city’s red light district, Holy Ground.
I would have scratched my head upon reading that, had Mr. Rose not gone on to explain what this “vendue” thing was, LOL. Apparently it’s much like a discount store today. When there was either overstock or damaged goods in a regular store, they would send it to a vendue, where the goods were either auctioned off or marked down.
Apparently there was some grumbling when Templeton & Stewart opened a vendue, from owners of other retailers. But they were soon happy to see that it didn’t detract from their clientele–that two different sets of people shopped in these two different kinds of stores.
I just loved learning that this whole idea is so well established. In my hometown we have a discount store that always got overstock and damaged stuff–once upon a time this meant most things had marks or holes, but if you looked hard you could find overstock. These days it’s mostly overstock, and awesome overstock at that. Which would be why I’m heading that way in an hour. So have a great day, folks! Off I go! 😉
by Roseanna White | Aug 2, 2011 | Uncategorized
I’ve had this for a month and a half already, but I didn’t want to share publicly until Summerside had it up. And since I and Annapolis am officially on
Summerside’s website (woo hoooooooooo!), I can now share my beautiful cover for
Love Finds You in Annapolis, Maryland!
Isn’t it beautiful?? I love the colors in the sky . . . and the model is just stunning (though fun fact–I had to go back into the story and change Lark’s hair color to match the cover. She was originally a dark blond/light brown, LOL). And I asked if I got to keep that amazing dress, but gee, they just laughed at me. 😉 The building you see in the background is the State House, which plays a pretty critical role in the story.
So, yeah, happy sigh. I’m really excited to finally get to share this gorgeous cover with you all, and add it to my sidebar here. You can pre-order it already, you know. 😉 And we’re officially four months out from its release! Wowzers!!
And that’s my exciting book news for the week. Thanks for indulging me. =)
by Roseanna White | Aug 1, 2011 | Word of the Week
I grew up in West Virginia. My house was on a hill above a farm, the Potomac River surrounding it on three sides–which means Maryland on three sides, for all you folks who aren’t intimately acquainted with mid-Atlantic geography. 😉 For the most part, people from my school, my town, had a pretty standard American accent and sound grammar. But we had our share of country accents around, too.
So I heard a lot of ain’t over the years. And because I was apparently born with the grammar gene, acutely aware of what I did not want to sound like, and because my teachers taught me ain’t was incorrect, I never used it. Well, except when making a point. Or trying to sound a certain way. But then it was a purposeful use of what I deemed something incorrect, so . . . 😉
But ain’t was used a lot back in ye olden days, so in my current work in progress, I had a few characters use it. Then I thought I’d better look it up to make sure it was in fact a contraction in use at the time. And I was pretty surprised with what I found.
Namely, that ain’t began as a correct contraction for “am not” back in 1706. So it was perfectly fine to say “I ain’t going.” Use of it abounded, and all was well for a century or so.
Then people started using it for “are not” and “is not” . . . which was wrong. “You ain’t what you seem” just didn’t fly. This mis-use apparently started in London as part of the cockney accent, which Charles Dickens picked up on and immortalized. All of a sudden it’s a mistake the English-speaking world over. One used so very mistakenly, and in ways that it’s pretty hard to say “No, no, that one’s wrong but this one’s right,” that it was banned from correct grammar altogether.
A rather funny life of a word, isn’t it? I still ain’t likely to use it much, even knowing its etymology and correct usage now–but you can bet if I do, I ain’t going to use it the wrong way. 😉
by Roseanna White | Jul 29, 2011 | Uncategorized
I know I’ve talked about this in a couple ways before, but I can’t really dive into the new Friday format without including it. =)
Today I’d like to talk a bit about
Stephanie Morrill and, in turn, Shellie Neumeier, who go above and beyond to make the life of writing understandable and accessible to teens who dream of being a part of it.
I’ll be focusing mainly on Stephanie solely because I know her better, given that she’s my best friend. =) Stephanie (much like me) has been writing books since she was a teenager. Rather than attend college, she made the decision to work for her father’s company out of high school so she would have more time to focus on her writing. She began learning about the industry, the business. Attending writers conferences, seeking agents, learning how to pitch and sell.
It ain’t easy–not for anyone.
But Stephanie, after years of hard work, landed a three-book deal with Revell for a young adult series. Why young adult? Because that’s where her passion lies. And as she got feedback from her readers, she detected a common thread. Many of them would email her saying, “I’m a writer too–do you have any advice for me?” After getting these emails for a while, Stephanie came up with the idea for
Go Teen Writers.
I’ve mentioned before how much I love this site. It’s a fabulous meeting place for young writers, a place for them to ask their questions about writing and get informed, considered answers. It’s a place of encouragement and support. It’s a place that gives hope that maybe these dreams aren’t so far out there.
Having been beside Stephanie throughout her journey (metaphorically speaking–we live 1,000 miles apart. And only since we met in 2007 . . .), I can tell you that for a while she felt like blogging took from her without giving anything back. But once she hit upon
Go Teen Writers, there was a definite change. Because all of a sudden she knew she wasn’t just writing a blog to say, “Hey, pay attention to me!” She was writing a blog to help others. To make a difference. To give.
As a former teen writer, I can’t tell you enough how awesome I find this–and how I wish it had been around ten years ago!
Today’s a good day for me to talk about the teen-writers ministry, because the
NextGen Online Writers Conference begins on Monday (which
I blogged about a little while ago). Shellie Neumeier is the genius behind this fun opportunity for young writers, and Stephanie has joined forces with her to bring some fabulous writers together to offer their expertise. And I’m not just saying that because I’m a contributor. 😉
If you know teens who are often at their computer or hunched over a notebook, scribbling their ideas onto the page, then you can’t do better than to direct them to
Go Teen Writers and the
NextGen Writers Conference. Because you’re never too young to have a dream–or to chase after it.
I invite everyone to (a) leave a message of encouragement for Stephanie and Shellie and their amazing work with teens and (b) check out these sites and direct young writers their way. If you leave a comment on today’s post (or
last Friday’s, or any other Friday’s coming up in August), you’ll be entered to win a fabulous selection of books that will soon be making their appearance in my sidebar. 😉 Please be sure you’re a follower! And for an extra entry, follow Stephanie’s blog.
Roseanna M. White is a bestselling, Christy Award winning author who has long claimed that words are the air she breathes. When not writing fiction, she’s homeschooling her two kids, editing, 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. Spies and war and mayhem always seem to find their way into her books…to offset her real life, which is blessedly ordinary.