by Roseanna White | Feb 22, 2011 | Uncategorized
After week upon week of telling you about what books I’m reading, it occurs to me that I’d like to know what you’re reading too! (And, well, my eyes suffered considerably from a nasty cold/flu thing I had last week, and I couldn’t read without pain, so I have nothing else to talk about, LOL.)
So who are your favorite authors? Favorite books in a genre? What new release are you chewing your nails waiting for?
I’m really looking forward to Julie Klassen’s Girl in the Gatehouse. Also really looking forward to MaryLu Tyndall’s Surrender the Night.
How about you?
Oh, and as a reminder, I’m the featured author over at
ACFW this week! There’s no giveaway, but it was a fun interview, and it’s pretty awesome to see my face on the homepage of this great organization! (Yes, I achieved it by filling out a form and making it into their first-come, first-serve system. What of it? LOL)
by Roseanna White | Feb 21, 2011 | Word of the Week
Okay, so this week’s word isn’t so much a simple word as the explanation of a name. And maybe I’m the only nerd in the world to get excited about realizing the reason for this one, but just in case . . .
Remember in Disney’s Cinderella, when the alert her that a new mouse has been caught, and she picks out some clothes and goes to free him from the trap? She says something like, “Now for a name. I know! Octavius. But for short, we’ll call you Gus.”
I watched Cinderella so often as a child that I had it memorized. This name never made sense to me but . . . well, whatever.
Then as a Freshman in high school, we were studying ancient history and got to the unit about Ancient Rome. When my teacher, Mr. Harvey, said, “Then there was Octavius, who was called Augustus when he became emperor,” I actually went, “Oh!”
The whole class looked at me, probably wondering what the silly smart girl was thinking now. Mr. Harvey was the indulgent sort, so he asked me what got me so excited. I explained, “In Cinderella! She names the mouse Octavius, but then calls him Gus. I always wondered how Gus was short for Octavius–but it’s not! It’s short for Augustus!”
My classmates all got quite a kick out of that, and Mr. Harvey expressed his appreciation for Disney’s joke that no kid would ever get–and said he was impressed I remembered that, LOL.
Is this earth-shattering? No. But if you’re like me, you like to find the explanation behind those little details that never made sense, and just in case you haven’t watched Cinderella since studying Roman history . . . š
by Roseanna White | Feb 18, 2011 | Uncategorized
Today I’m thrilled to bring you a special guest. Yeah, it’s sort of Laurie Alice Eakes, a friend of mine from an awesome historical loop–but she comes today in the form of her latest heart-throb hero, Dominick Cherett. Get to know him below, and then you’ll find some info on Laurie Alice and where to find her wonderful historical romantic suspense, Lady in the Mist. (Click to read my review)
~*~
Hello, Dominick, and thank you so much for talking with me today! To begin, could you just tell us a little bit about yourself?
I try not to tell anyone too much about myself. That Iām English is impossible to disguise once I open my mouth, which doesnāt go over all that well here in America. They resent us from the last war and are trying to pick a new fight with us, or perhaps itās the other way around. See, I talk about politics and get away with saying little about me.
How did you get involved in your profession? Do you find it difficult? Rewarding?
Itās tiresome. Iād scarcely call it a profession, though my fatherās butler would disagree with me. He thinks himself as important as the Lord Chancellor. For my part, the uniform is uncomfortable and the hair powder! I feel like a fool. But the worst part is the menial nature of it. I was raised to be served, not serve. So perhaps this is good for me. Pride, after all, hasnāt gotten me anywhere good. That would be the reward. And then I did get to meet Tabitha. Anything I go through is worth that most important part of my life.
Whatās your favorite indulgence?
Spending my free time, what little I can spare or steal, in Tabithaās company. She might say annoying her, but I donāt think she truly means it. I make her smile, even laugh, and that. . . Well, as you can see, Iām a bit besotted.
Where do you live? Did you grow up there?
I live in Virginia, right along the Atlantic. I certainly did not grow up there. Compared to the organized green fields of Dorset, England, this is untamed and uncivilized, which rather suits me.
Do you like to read? If so, who’s your favorite author or book?
I definitely like to read. Master Shakespeare holds considerable entertainment for me, and so does Mr. Tobias Smolett. I used to read my Bible, but now it rather hurts from those points Iād rather not be poking at me right now.
If you could travel anywhere, to any time, where would you go and why?
Iād definitely go back about three years in my life and stop the events of destruction I set in motion then. But then Iād have to figure out another way to get me back here to Virginia and the lady I met on a misty beach.
~*~
You’re in love, right? š Well then, you’ll want to check out Lady in the Mist on Amazon or CrossPurposes.
About Lady in the Mist
By virtue of her profession as a midwife, Tabitha Eckles is the keeper of many secrets: the names of fathers of illegitimate children, the level of love and harmony within many a marriage, and now the identity of a man who may have caused his wife’s death. Dominick Cherrett is a man with his own secret to keep: namely, what he, a British nobleman, is doing on American soil working as a bondsman in the home of Mayor Kendall, a Southern gentleman with his eye on a higher office.
By chance one morning before the dawn has broken, Tabitha and Dominick cross paths on a misty beachhead, leading them on a twisted path through kidnappings, death threats, public disgrace, and . . . love? Can Tabitha trust Dominick? What might he be hiding? And can either of them find true love in a world that seems set against them?
With stirring writing that puts readers directly into the story, Lady in the Mist expertly explores themes of identity, misperception, and love’s discovery.
About Laurie Alice Eakes
Award-winning author Laurie Alice Eakes does not remember a time when books did not play a part in her life; thus, no one was surprised when she decided to be a writer. Her first hardcover was an October, 2006 Regency historical from Avalon Books and won the National Readers Choice Award for Best Regency, as well as being a finalist for Best First Book. She was also a finalist for the ACFW 2010 Carol award in the short historical category. After selling her first book in the inspirational market, she also wrote articles and essays for Christian publications. A brief hiatus in publishing climaxed with her selling thirteen books in thirteen months, to publishers such as Barbour, Avalon, and Baker/Revell.
A graduate of the Seton Hill University Master of Arts Degree in Writing Popular Fiction, And a Bachelor of Arts graduate in English and French from Asbury College, she is an experienced speaker and writing teacher, and has made presentations at local and national RWA conferences, as well as local universities and libraries.
Until recently, she lived in Northern Virginia, then her husbandās law career took them and their dogs and cats, to southern Texas, where she writes full-time and enjoys the beach whenever possible.
by Roseanna White | Feb 17, 2011 | Thoughtful Thursdays, Uncategorized
So, we’re sick. The kids and I came down with a rather nasty cold/flu thing on Saturday p.m., and we’re still wiped from it. Xoe has barely budged from the couch for the last five days, and both the wee ones are coughing to beat the band.
Naturally, things take a different turn in me. Rather than it going into the deep cough they’ve got going on, mine moves into nasal congestion and a killer sore throat. Then–then–the eyes.
Rowyn had this on Monday evening. Eyes got all puffy and goopy, enough that I thought, “If they’re still like this in the morning, I’m taking him to the doctor.” But by morning, the eyes were better. And Rowyn’s mostly better now in general, back to playing and singing and whatnot. Yesterday about noon, though, the eye-thing hit me. Can I just say that this isn’t fun? I can’t focus on much because they keep weeping, plus it just hurts.
To make matters worse, I’m supposed to be baking a “Max & Ruby” cake for the kids’ birthday party on Saturday, and I couldn’t exactly drive to the store yesterday to get the stuff I need. I woke up stressed near to tears. Then, within minutes of whining to all my online buddies about it, asking for prayers, I could feel the swelling start to go down (weird feeling, that). So I think it’ll resolve itself in the next few hours. Phew, and praise the Lord!
All that said, I gotta also say this–though there’s never a fun time to be sick, this is actually the best possible time for this to have struck. I shudder to think what I would have done had it hit a week or two earlier, when I was trying to finish up a manuscript an editor requested. Yikes!
So while the kids might not get the extravagant cake my mind’s eye had wanted to fiddle with, I imagine I’ll come up with something. And though I’m not feeling great, I no longer have the urge to break into tears over it. And through it all, I’m determined to stay focused on how great God is for holding this off until now!
by Roseanna White | Feb 16, 2011 | Remember When Wednesdays, Uncategorized
One of the best parts about writing my Annapolis story was the necessity to include one of my favorite historical landmarks from the town: the Liberty Tree.
Liberty Trees sprang up all over the country in the years before the Revolution as meeting places for the Sons of Liberty. Annapolis chose a huge Tulip Poplar to serve the role, the very one that Joseph Pilmoor had stood under when delivering the first Methodist sermon in Maryland. This is where the Annapolis chapter of the Sons of Liberty planned out the Annapolis Tea Party and the sinking of the Peggy Stewart.
The Liberty Trees were such a symbol to the patriots that they were marked for destruction by the British. Whenever they entered a city with a Liberty Tree, they chopped or burned it to the ground. But Annapolis was never under British control, and so those Redcoats never got near our Liberty Tree. At the end of the Revolution, it was the last one still standing.
But the British werenāt the only enemy to this tree. At one point it was struck by lightning and caught fireāand was saved by the quick-acting Annapolitans. But then disease struck. It was being eaten away from the inside out. Enter a couple of mischievous school boys, who thought it would be a good idea to set off fire crackers in a hole in the trunk. I can only imagine the trouble they got in for that one! But as it happens, it was a good idea. The blast killed the fungus and saved the tree.
The Annapolis Liberty Tree stood on the lawn of Bladenās Folly, an abandoned governorās mansion that was then turned into the primary building of St. Johnās Collegeāwhere I went to school. =) When I visited St. Johnās as a junior scouting out colleges, I got to see the Liberty Tree, to put my hand on it and marvel at the history of this place (I was always a history geek, LOL).
My senior year of high school, a hurricane so injured the tree that it was deemed a safety risk, and they had to take it down. I just about cried when my English teacher brought in the newspaper that morning, where the Liberty Treeās death was front page news.
So by the time I entered St. Johnās as a Freshman, the Liberty Tree existed only in its clone across the green from it, in memories, and in some high-priced instruments and chairs. I was a tour guide for the school, so I was always keenly aware of its absence. And as I walked up to get my diploma at graduation, I did it knowing that six years earlier, it would have been under the shade of the Liberty Treeās limbs.
Call me silly, but I loved being able to incorporate this piece of history into my book, to give it special significance to my characters. Because in so many ways, that old tree represented an entire nation, and the ideals that made us rise up and fight for freedom. And it was honor to give it life again.
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, sheās 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 booksā¦to offset her real life, which is blessedly ordinary.