by Roseanna White | Nov 7, 2012 | Remember When Wednesdays, Uncategorized
I’ve got a little cushion of time before I need to start work in earnest on my third Culper Ring book–and need to take another week or so before diving into edits on Whispers from the Shadows–so I thought I’d enjoy using my writing time to revisit the biblical world. =)
Though neither Jewel of Persia nor A Stray Drop of Blood are exactly new anymore, I still get a lot of reader feedback about them, and I’ve heard quite a few times that my readers are waiting for another biblical fiction from me. Well, I’ve got some ideas!
Of the four or five jotted down in my Ideas folder, I decided to dedicate some time to the one most fully developed in my little ol’ brain. Want a sneak peek? Eh? What was that? Well, okay then. A quick look at what I’m playing with. 😉
The idea started, as my bib-fic ideas often do, with a sermon my dad preached. Actually, in this case, with two. He did a sermon on Melchizedek which I found oh-so-interesting, but it didn’t make any ideas really pop in terms of story. But then a couple weeks later he preached on one of Jesus’s parables. And that got the juices rolling. What if, I thought, the story were true? What if it were set in Old Testament days? What if (a light goes off) it were in the times of Melchizedek? Oo! Oo! Oo!
And LOL–I’ve never written anything that takes place quite that early in the Old Testament, and let me just tell you, I’m already learning, only 10 pages in, that it’s a whole different world than Persia or Jerusalem of Jesus’s day. Oh, the research I have to do! But I’m having fun. And my hubby is rubbing his hands together at the thought of another biblical for WhiteFire someday. 😉
I’m still debating titles and would love some feedback! My heroine, Aziza, is Egyptian, from the house of Pharaoh. My hero is the son of Melchizedek, who most OT scholars believe to be Shem, son of Noah (which is so interesting in and of itself!). And thus far (again, only 10 pages in here), I can tell you that a song is very important to the story–it seems Aziza hears a mysterious melody half the time, calling her away from Egypt. Symbolic, of course, of the Lord calling her. So. My title ideas thus far.
Leading the votes…
The Song of Midnight
Midnight Song
I really like these, but WhiteFire will have Veiled at Midnight by Christine Lindsay in the next year or so, so I want to have some other options in case they end up sounding too similar. So…
The Princess of Salem (bleh)
The Pharaoh’s Sister
Daughter of Egypt
Egypt’s Daughter
Song of the Night
Song of the Sands
Song of the Stars
Any other brilliance? Well, to inspire you, I’ll share the cover I created to inspire me. 😉 Whenever I finish this baby, she shall look like so. Well, the title will obviously read whatever I decide. But you know. The design will be this, LOL. Isn’t it fun? I had a blast going all Ancient Egypt on it. 😉
_-_Whisperings_of_Love_(1889).jpg/340px-William-Adolphe_Bouguereau_(1825-1905)_-_Whisperings_of_Love_(1889).jpg)
by Roseanna White | Nov 1, 2012 | Thoughtful Thursdays, Uncategorized
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| Whisperings of Love by William-Adolphe Bouguereau, 1889 |
8 And above all things have fervent love for one another,
for “love will cover a multitude of sins.”
~I Peter 4:8
I just read these words in my daily reading time and they struck quite a chord. Perhaps because I’d been pondering that exact thing just yesterday in regards to my kids.
Don’t you just love those things in life that have no clear “this way” or “that way”? That have, in fact, so many varying opinions on which way you should do a thing that you usually just shake your head and go with your gut? Raising kids is definitely one of those things. And in this society where all adult problems are blamed on whether mommy did this when you were little or dad did that…yeah, it can be stressful.
And I confess it. I yell more than I should. I get frustrated. My kids usually have to repeat something four times before I actually get up from my computer to help them with it (hence why they now just stand at my elbow going, “Mommy, I need a drink. Mommy. Mommy. Hey, Mommy, will you get me a drink please?” The magic word always gets my attention, LOL). There are things I wish I did differently, things I no doubt get wrong.
But you know what? At the end of the day, my kids are happy. They’re secure. They understand the values I’m trying to instill, and they know they can stretch their wings and grow in our house. At the end of the day, they know they’re loved. And that, I think, is the most important thing I can give them–because love covers a multitude of sins.
Which is true of any other relationship too, isn’t it? Which may be more profound–because it’s easy to love our kids. It’s easy to love our spouses, our siblings, our parents (sometimes, LOL–easy for me to, because I have awesome ones). But what about the acquaintances? The strangers? The people we don’t like? Our outright enemies?
Loving them isn’t always so easy. Not just when we really don’t like them, but even when we just barely know someone. It’s hard to be moved by a story you’ve never heard. Hard to pray for people you’ve never met. But sometimes that’s exactly what the Lord calls us to do. In this section of I Peter, he says we must be serious and watchful in our prayer. We must love one another, being generous and hospitable with out homes, but most of all with our gifts. We must, always, minister.
A reminder I need. Though I know there are so many out there suffering, I might forget that. I might ignore it. I might whisper a prayer now and then but otherwise go on with my life. The Lord, though, calls me to something more here. He calls me to pray, He calls me to give, He calls me to stretch myself out and share what gifts He has given me with others.
He calls me to love.
And if I do that, the rest will follow. If I do that, then the things I fail at will be covered.
I will never be the perfect daughter, sister, wife, or mother, the best teacher or writer or friend. I will never react as I should all the time. I will never always have the perfect response to life’s trials. But I will love. And that will be my covering.
~*~
Good luck to everyone participating in NaNoWriMo! I just wrote 65K in October, finishing up my manuscript as I was, so will not be joining y’all this year. 😉
by Roseanna White | Oct 31, 2012 | Remember When Wednesdays, Uncategorized
One thing that I have found to be super fun in my current series-in-progress is my epilogue. Ring of Secrets was set during the Revolution, with Winter and Bennet as heroine and hero. But my epilogue jumps 31 years to 1811, when war with England threatens again. That’s where I establish that the historical spies which call themselves the Culper Ring may just have taken up the mantle again in the War of 1812, when the man who had once been their leader sat in Congress. (I mean, hello! Right?)
As everyone no doubt knows by now, last Thursday I wrapped up
Whispers from the Shadows, book 2 in the Culper Ring Series. And as I drew near to The End, I began rubbing my hands together, realizing I got to do the same thing again–write an epilogue that jumped through time to introduce the next book, as yet unnamed.
I’m not sure if I can adequately explain how or why this is so much fun for me, LOL. But I think it has to do with the fact that while I’m writing one book, I’m already plotting out the next. I already have an idea of who my new characters will be, what sets them apart, what makes their story tick. Yet in this case, I’m introducing it from the point of view of my existing characters. At the end of
Ring of Secrets, they’re talking about their kids and how their son, Thad, has brought them this news that makes them sure war is on the horizon again.
Whispers from the Shadows takes place another three years after this epilogue, so it was like a little snatched moment–chronologically part of neither story, yet also part of both. It’s the trade-off of the baton.
My epilogue for Whispers jumps even more than that of RoS. Forty-six years later, when South Carolina secedes from the Union that Thad and his family have fought their whole lives to protect…but what to do in this one? How to introduce my next Culper? See, since this isn’t really part of either story, I hadn’t already had it planned out. Nothing hinged on it. Yet it must hit just the right note to provide both closure to one tale and introduction to the next. It must intrigue, it must charm, yet it must also show the happily-ever-after.
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Emma Stone, my model for Marietta
photo by Georges Biard, 2011 |
So in this one, I decided to use as a setting the wedding of my heroine from book 3, Marietta. By the time the next book opens, she’ll be widowed and on the brink of coming out of mourning, the Civil War raging. She’s the granddaughter of Thad, his favorite because she’s so unlike the rest of the family–with such potential, yet refusing to embrace it. She’s the difficult one, the one who probably turned her parents’ hair gray. Book 3 will begin with him forcing her eyes open to what she brought into their family, and the book will be largely about her struggle to change, to learn to trust herself and her God, in an extremely high-pressure situation in which not only her life is on the line, but the life of the President.
But here? She’s just a pretty redhead he’s watching through the doorway as she twirls around the dance floor in her white silk hoop dress. She’s laughing, being charming. Totally oblivious to all the secrets. Fun, fun, fun.
Of course, since these snippet epilogues jump so much, I always find myself ready to write them and then having to pause to go, “Wait! I have no clue about the research for this. When should this be? What would they be wearing? What day of the week was it??”
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| Page from Godey’s featuring 1860s wedding dresses |
I obviously knew some of it–hoop dresses, whoo! But it’s a fun change to consider. That my characters would have changed over those 30-40 years too, their dress and mannerisms, their interactions with each other. What was once new and exciting is now comfortable and expected. The love that had been an explosion is now a carefully maintained flame.
Yep. Fun.
And now, between books as I am momentarily, I get to brainstorm–one of my most favorite parts of writing. So don’t be surprised if for the next month or so, you get some tidbits from me on other eras! And then, soon enough, I’ll be immersed again in that dreadful War between the States.
by Roseanna White | Oct 25, 2012 | Thoughtful Thursdays, Uncategorized
My little girl just turned 7 on Tuesday, and we had her party on Sunday. Both were pretty awesome days, even if it is a little hard to believe that my baby is SEVEN. How did that happen??? 😉
And so, because today I’m hoping to finish up Whispers from the Shadows so am a bit lacking in time, I thought today I’d just show you some of the highlights from the party. Starting, of course, with what took up my entire morning. The cake.
Xoe is dressing up as Frankie Stein from Monster High for Halloween, and the party was a costume party, so for that too. When I asked her what kind of cake she wanted, she said, “Frankie!” And I said, “Really? Are you sure? You don’t want one, like, shaped like a mask or something…?” LOL. But no. She wanted Frankie, so she got Frankie.
Ever painted plaid onto fondant with colored icing? Yeah, fun. A new experience, that one, LOL. As was carving bolts out of marshmallows… But overall, it was a fun cake, and Xoe was tickled, which is what matters.
Decorations combined my idea of “Let’s decorate with costumes!” with my mom’s “Do you want me to bring some pumpkins?” So the answer was obvious–let’s dress the pumpkins up in costume! I don’t have any pictures, it seems, but I did get some of the pumpkins the kids painted. =)
Everyone had a great time–I mean, what kid doesn’t like dressing up in costume?? So it was a great day. And now my last two chapters are calling, so if you’ll excuse me… 😉
by Roseanna White | Oct 18, 2012 | Thoughtful Thursdays, Uncategorized
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| Par-tay! (Also known as Luncheon of the Boating Party by Renoir, of course) |
Last week in church, in the course of our conversation in class time, one fella said something that struck me as so very true: God doesn’t want to bless us a little–He wants to bless us completely. He doesn’t want to give us some–He wants to give us everything. But we so often can’t accept it. Won’t accept it. Then sit around wondering why we always seem to lack.
Today is my mother-in-law’s birthday, Sunday is my Xoe’s 7th birthday party, Tuesday her actual day. And as I prepare myself for dinners and cake and fondant and present-wrapping, I have to pause and consider the blessing they are to me.
And as one part of my mind considers those dinners and cakes and fondants and presents, there’s that other part of my mind looking at the outline for my work-in-progress and realizing I’m so, so close to the climax. That if I just had a few solid hours, I could get there. Get ‘er done. Wrap it up.
Some days (many days, LOL), those two sides have some friction. They rub against each other, they cause conflict. Some days (most days), I wish I had nice, neat compartments for them. That Family Time would be an uninterrupted chunk, and that Writing Time would have its own. I find myself wishing for something different, and usually when we wish for something different, it takes the tone of wanting more.
But you know what just hit me? This is the more.
When I was a girl, there were two things I wanted above all: to fall head over heels in love with my Prince Charming and have a family with him, and to write novels. I had no intentions of settling for anything else, and in the clarity of a child’s mind, I never even considered that I may have to do so. And I didn’t. I wrote my books, and I found my love. (Not that I can take credit for that part, mind you. That was all God, bringing me and David together so early in life!)
God has given me my heart’s desires. God, in His love for us, always does. But we have to take them. Accept them. Cherish them. Take care of them. We have to work for them.
Here I sit with my awesome, adorable, crazy-wonderful family—but how easy would it be to lose my focus on what a gift they are and instead complain about how much work they bring me? Here I sit with a growing career, a fabulous agent, an amazing editor, a ton of prospects, and an awesome editing calling with WhiteFire too–but how easy would it be to take a prideful misstep and end up back at square one?
Here I sit with it all–but how often do I complain about being overwhelmed? Short on time, short on energy, short on focus? How many times do we have it all and think we need more–yet neglect or misuse or even just plain not-appreciate what we have?
God wants to give us that crazy-big, over-the-top, filled-to-overflowing blessing. He does. He wants us to be complete, to want for nothing, to be blissfully happy. But He wants us to be all that
in Him. He wants us to take
Joy from the things He gives, not complain when He sends manna that He didn’t also send meat.
We often chant about how God won’t give us more (in terms of challenges or burdens) than we can handle. But you know, that goes for blessings too. He won’t give us more than we can appreciate. He won’t give us more than we can accept from His hands with the right attitude.
So as I go through these last couple weeks of my Busy Month and tackle countless projects, as I dash about, miss some sleep, and occasionally whimper that I need a clone, I’m going to have a new motto.
I have Nothing Less.
Nothing Less than what I need. Nothing Less that what I’ve earned. Nothing Less than what I can handle. Nothing Less than what God has given.
I have Nothing Less than everything. I have Nothing Less than the More I always wanted. I have Nothing Less than a reason to smile, laugh, shout, and be over-the-top, crazy-big, filled-to-overflowing happy.
I have Nothing Less than Him.
by Roseanna White | Oct 16, 2012 | Uncategorized
I am pleased as can be to announce that
Jewel of Persia is the pick for an online book club for the month of November! It’s at
Reading to Know, and everyone is welcome to check it out and join in. =)
So to celebrate, my friend Annette (who is responsible for JoP being the November pick–thanks, Annette!) and I decided to offer a joint giveaway and chat about the book. So
here on my blog, I am giving away TWO (2) digital copies of Jewel of Persia. To be entered, just leave a comment below.
To be entered for the one (1) print version being given away, enter on Annette’s blog, This Simple Home.
Got that? Commenting here = entries ONLY for the digitals, and commenting there gets an entry ONLY for the print. You’re welcome to enter for both, but cannot win both, LOL. We will have a total of 3 separate winners; international entries are eligible only for the digitals. All winners will be drawn on Tuesday, October 23. (My little girl’s birthday, as it happens *grins*.)
Okay, technical stuff is complete. =) Now onto the fun!
As my loyal readers undoubtedly know already (all five of you, LOL), I wrote
Jewel of Persia for a few reasons. First, my agent at the time recommended I follow up my first biblical,
A Stray Drop of Blood, with another of the same genre. So as I was contemplating biblical stories I love, I kept coming back to Esther. Esther has always been my absolute favorite Bible story. But let’s face it–it’s been done. And done again. And done some more. And…
I knew that if I was going to write a novel based on Esther, it would have to be different. Very different from what was already out there. So I got to thinking about my way of writing historicals–namely, to have my heroine be fictional, but interacting with historical figures. Why not do the same here? But who else could it be about?
I was in the shower pondering this, thinking back on the Esther story, when a line from a Vacation Bible School skit about Esther that I’d written sprang to mind–about how if she hadn’t gained the favor of the king after her first night with him, she would have gone to the harem as just another wife.
Just . . . another . . . wife. Hmm. That was it! One of the other wives! And so Kasia was born, and her story as Esther’s best friend and Xerxes’ favorite before Esther joined the harem churned its way to life in my brain. Then in a whirlwind two days, I pounded out the first five chapters. And I knew I was in love–but needed to refresh myself on some research.
One of my favorite things about
Jewel of Persia is that it allowed me to join together two awesome things–the book of Esther from the Bible, and one of the Greek histories that I had to read in college but never dreamed I’d put to use afterward,
Histories by Herodotus. Herodotus details the Greco-Persian war as waged by Xerxes, who most scholars agree is same king known as Ahaseurus in the Bible. I wasn’t entirely convinced they were one and the same going in, but as I did my research, it really started to make sense. The timelines clicked together perfectly, and so did the personalities described in both Esther and
Histories. Both kings even had this habit of offering cities to those who pleased him, “up to half my kingdom.” Perfect!
Jewel of Persia is by no means a simple story, nor is it the Esther story you think you know. For any who haven’t read it yet, I’ll warn you of that up front–Esther is an important character, she is a lovable character, she is an upright and inspiring character. But she is not the
main character, and most of the negative reviews I’ve gotten have been from people who didn’t want an Esther story where Esther wasn’t in the spotlight. Which I can respect. But that’s just not what this book is. So be forewarned. 😉
And because JoP has
so much history woven in, I have put together a
Companion Guide to detail where fact ends and fiction begins, delve more into the cultural tidbits, the histories of the factual characters, and as an excuse to post more of the awesome pictures of the cover model in costume. 😉
I was going to list the blog entries where I talk about this stuff too, but it occurs to me that they’re almost identical to the Companion Guide, so I’ll save us all some time. 😉 And instead, share some of the reader feedback that has made many a day for me.
Thank you so much for writing “Jewel of
Persia”! My women’s Bible study group just finished Beth Moore’s study
on Esther and I found your book such a wonderful companion read. The
ties to historical events added even more depth to the Biblical account,
especially as to how events may have lead to Esther’s rise to the
palace – in such a time as this. The ending was true to what we learned
during our in-depth study and I am finding it hard to concentrate on
real life around me now!
Hi Roseanna,
I just wanted to tell you how much your books have blessed me. I
just discovered you as an author and I think these are among the best
books I have ever read! (and I read a lot) I just wish there were more
of them. I read A Stray Drop of Blood and the Jewel of Persia, and now I
am telling all of my friends and family about these books and you as an
author. I cannot wait to go buy your newest book. Thank you so much
for listening to the voice of the Lord as He obviously inspires your
writing. You are a blessing, thank you!!
Greetings Roseanna!! I just finished
reading A Stray Drop of Blood and I have to tell you that I loved it so
much that I was sad when it was over! I so enjoyed being transported
back in time for that wonderful story. It almost felt as if the
characters were a part of my life for the 3 days it took me to read it! I
am now halfway through Jewel of Persia and completely loving it as
well!! Blessings to you and your God-given talent for writing. I told
all of my friends about your extraordinary fiction! PLEASE WRITE MORE
BOOKS!!!
So remember, leave a comment HERE to be entered to win a digital, at
This Simple Home to be entered to win a print, and check out
Reading to Know in November to join in the discussion!
Void where prohibited. Entry into the contest is considered
verification of eligibility based on your local laws. Chance of winning
depends on number of entries. Contest ends 10/23/12. Winner will have one
week to claim prize.
The Princess of Salem (bleh)_-_Whisperings_of_Love_(1889).jpg/340px-William-Adolphe_Bouguereau_(1825-1905)_-_Whisperings_of_Love_(1889).jpg)
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. 
verification of eligibility based on your local laws. Chance of winning
depends on number of entries. Contest ends 10/23/12. Winner will have one
week to claim prize.