Word of the Week – Quarantine

Word of the Week – Quarantine

by | Mar 16, 2020 | Word of the Week

No, I’m not being morbid. ? But this was one of the trending words on Etymonline, and I found its etymology fascinating!
So quarantine entered English around 1660 with its somewhat-familiar meaning: “the length of time a ship suspected of carrying disease was kept in isolation.” Okay…so what is that amount of time? Forty days–the word is, in fact, from the Latin quaranta, meaning “forty.” This was how long ships were expected to wait before entering a port during the days of the plague, to make sure no latent cases were aboard.
Within a decade, it had been extended to mean “any period of forced isolation.”
But before that, the word was in English already with some very different meanings! In the 1400s, it was used still to mean a 40-day period, but it was the period of mourning for a widow in which she still had the right to live in her husband’s house before the property went to the heir (keeping in mind that women couldn’t own property at the time). And it was also the word used to refer to Jesus’ 40-day fast! Who knew?
Christian Fiction Scavenger Hunt Stop #3

Christian Fiction Scavenger Hunt Stop #3

by | Mar 12, 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 3/12 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, 3/15 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 Roseanna M. White, author of historical fiction and hostess of the Tea Party Book Club, managing editor for WhiteFire, cover designer, and homeschooling mom. And because all that wasn’t enough to do, I’m also launching Bookish Tees and Totes, where you can get fun book-themed merch. A sample of which is part of my individual giveaway, so keep on reading for more info on that! 😉 
I’m super excited about my latest release, book 2 in The Codebreakers series about England’s intelligence division during the First World War. If you’re new to the series, don’t worry! On Wings of Devotion can be read as a stand-alone. Here’s the official blurb:
https://www.roseannamwhite.com/books/codebreakers-series/on-wings-of-devotion/

Against Every Warning,
She’s Drawn Ever Closer
to the Man Known as “Black Heart”


All of England thinks Major Phillip Camden a monster–a man who
deliberately caused the deaths of his squadron. But he would have
preferred to die that day with his men rather than be recruited to the
Admiralty’s codebreaking division. The threats he receives daily are no
great surprise and, in his opinion, well deserved.

As nurse Arabelle Denler observes the so-dubbed “Black Heart,” she
sees something far different: a hurting man desperate for mercy. And
when their families and paths twist together unexpectedly, she realizes
she has a role to play in his healing–and some of her own to do as well.


With Camden’s court-martial looming, an old acquaintance shows up,
intent on using him in a plot that sends the codebreakers of Room 40
into a frenzy. With their fragile hopes for the future in the cross
hairs, Arabelle and Camden must hold on to hope–and to each other–if
they want to survive.

Something not exactly pointed out in the summary about Arabelle seems to be the very thing that most resonates with readers.
My heroine is not beautiful.
In fact, the first time the hero meets her, his scene begins with She wasn’t pretty. When my husband read that line before I turned it in to my editors, he snorted and said, “Seriously? That’s his first thought? In a romance?”
Yep. Arabelle Denler is what one might call plain. She’s tall–I don’t mention her height in the story, but I imagine her at 6 feet, in honor of my favorite boss of all times, Patricia, who literally towered over short little me. Someone in the story calls her gangly. And while people might look at her and think the word “kind,” no one ever thinks “pretty.”

And I love writing a character like this. Because, first of all, it’s something most people can relate to. Sure, I know some super-model-gorgeous people…but most of us aren’t. Most of us just learn how to work with the features God has given us and to appreciate them. Most of us can look nice when we put some effort into it, but we can also scare ourselves when we look in the mirror on a bad day. 😉 But most of us also have people who love us and call us beautiful.
That’s what I wanted for Arabelle Denler. I wanted a heroine who might not attract many men at first glance. Because then, as Camden gets to know her, he can notice how her eyes are really the most amazing shade of green-gold…and that single dimple in one cheek is just enchanting…and she’s all long, lean lines…and how somehow she’s beautiful. Or as he puts it, “How could she be so beautiful when she wasn’t even pretty?”
That’s the miracle of the lens of love, right? As we get to know people–whether they’re family, friends, or potential romances–we stop seeing how they look as a whole and just see them. We see features that we come to cherish. 
We see the heart that shines through them. And that, above all, is what makes Arabelle beautiful. And, in turn, what makes her a heroine most of us can relate to.
So to celebrate Arabelle, Camden, and On Wings of Devotion, I’m offering a special giveaway! It’s open to both US and International, but the prizes will vary slightly depending on who wins. 😉 If you’re international, you’ll receive a copy of the book via Book Depository. If you have a US mailing address, you’re eligible for a signed copy of the book PLUS a Bookish Tees and Totes tote bag in your choice of available designs. (You can view them all in detail at www.BookishTeesandTotes.com or, if you’re a big Etsy shopper, at my shop there.)


Here’s the Stop #3 Basics:
If you’re interested, you can order On Wings of Devotion on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Christian Book, SIGNED from my store, or at your local bookstore! 
Clue to Write Down: or raining

Word of the Week – Mesmerize

Word of the Week – Mesmerize

by | Mar 9, 2020 | Word of the Week

When one looks up the etymology of mesmerize, one will find that it dates from 1819, when it was coined with the meaning of “to put into a hypnotic state.” What Etymonline doesn’t mention is that this comes directly from the name of the physician who developed the practice, Franz Mesmer.

When Mesmer developed hypnosis, he originally called it “animal magnetism.” But one of his pupils decided it would be more fun to name it after the inventor (discoverer?) so, called it mesmerize. By the 1860s, however, hypnotize had become the preferred word (from the Greek hypnotikos, “inclined to sleep”) for the procedure. At that point, mesmerize shifted slightly to mean “to enthrall or fascinate.”

Coming this weekend is the Spring 2020 Christian Fiction Scavenger Hunt! Mark your calendars!

Thoughtful About . . . Spiritual Fullness

Thoughtful About . . . Spiritual Fullness

by | Mar 5, 2020 | Thoughtful Thursdays

We’ve recently decided to read some of the writings of the early church fathers–things that aren’t included in our Bible because they weren’t written by an apostle, but which are still very early. We began with I Clement, written somewhere around 90 AD, from the church of Rome to the church of Corinth, which had gone through a huge upheaval. 

Clement takes a full two chapters to talk about all the Corinthian church had been doing right. They’d been earning the rightful praise of the other churches with their devotion, their giving, their piety, their love. But then…
But then…
Chapter three launches with this:

Every
kind of honour and happiness was bestowed upon you, and then was fulfilled that
which is written, “My beloved ate and drink, and was enlarged and became
fat, and kicked.” Hence flowed emulation and envy, strife and sedition,
persecution and disorder, war and captivity.

We all agreed from the start that the writer probably wasn’t just talking about a physical thing here, right? I mean, sure, the Corinthians were a wealthy people and were known for their appetites for all things corporeal–anything that brought bodily pleasure, including food. But we didn’t think it could be just that. No, this kind of falling away–this kind of WAR within a church–had to have its root in spiritual things. Spiritual conflict. Spiritual problems.

What, though, would it mean to be spiritually fat?

My husband and I were talking about this on our way home from church. Our bodies get fat from eating too much…of the wrong thing. So what is the equivalent for our souls? It isn’t just having too much of the virtuous, right? You can love above and beyond, and it’s not going to damage you. You can be as gentle, good, faithful, peaceful, as you ever could manage, and it’s not going to lead to envy and strive and sedition.

No, this sort of fat is talking about something different. It’s talking about spiritual muscles going flabby with complacency. It’s talking about being full of thoughts of self instead of thoughts of others. It’s talking about getting to that point where you’re so comfortable in where you are that you forget to stretch toward something higher.

That’s when we start comparing ourselves to others. That’s when we start wanting what they have. That’s when we start bickering and fighting among ourselves. That’s when chaos sneaks in. That’s when our churches dissolve into civil war.

But as we were talking about this spiritual fatness, we were also talking through what the alternative would be: spiritual fullness.

I’ll never forget a lesson my French teacher taught us in high school–that when you’ve had enough to eat in France, you don’t ever want to say the equivalent of “I’m full.” That, in fact, means “I’m pregnant.” LOL. Which popped into my mind as I was considering this spiritual fullness.

Because isn’t that a perfect example? Pregnancy isn’t fatness, because it isn’t just your body storing up what it doesn’t in fact need. It’s new life. It’s creation. It’s your body becoming literally full with someone else.

And that is what our spirits should be experiencing. They should be FULL, but not fat. Full of good things. Full of life. Full of fruit. Full of Him. 

This fullness is the state of health. Not scraggly and thin and weak–just like our physical eyes recognize that in someone’s body as unhealthy, so too do our spiritual eyes recognize the same state in our brothers’ and sisters’ souls. But not spiritually fat and engorged and enlarged either–because that means we’re resting on our laurels, growing lazy and complacent, no longer working our spiritual muscles.

We need to strive for that balance. When we are well fed by the Vine, producing good fruit, full of Him, but never content to remain just where we are. Striving always to reach a little farther, stretch a little more, run our race with full commitment.

What do you see when you look at the Church today? Are we spiritually starved…spiritually full…or spiritually fat?

Word of the Week – Just Kidding!

Word of the Week – Just Kidding!

by | Mar 2, 2020 | Word of the Week

Originally published November 2011
I like the word “kid.” I use it with my children (do you know how hard it was for me to write that sentence without using the word “kid”? LOL), I use it for jests. It’s a standard part of my vocabulary. But I’ll never forget the substitute teacher in high school who said something about how his children were not young goats,
so thank you not to use that word. And one of my critique partners recently caught me using it in the joking sense well before it would have been.
It seemed time to look it up. ?
“Kid” entered English with the
meaning of “a young goat” round about 1200. It began being applied to
children in 1590, though it was still slang at that point. It was
accepted usage, however, by 1840 . . . and had in fact been a word used
to describe skillful young thieves for 30 years before that. (One I
didn’t know!)
The meaning of “playful tease”
is from 1839 (which proves that it was a well-accepted slang by then)
and comes from the idea of “making a kid of, treating as a child.”
Though those thieving youngsters used it to mean “coax, wheedle, hoax.”
So there you have it–a brief explanation of why we now kid our kids. ?

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