by Roseanna White | Feb 29, 2012 | Remember When Wednesdays, Uncategorized
Well, I finally did it–I got to The End in my 1861-set manuscript. Yay! It took longer than I thought it would–and ended up longer than it should have in word count, LOL, but it’s finished. Not counting edits, revisions, cuts, chops, rewrites, what have you. 😉
So before I dive back into the 18th century, I wanted to linger a bit on the truly awesome styling of the mid to late 19th century. Because seriously, I love a good hoop skirt. Don’t you? I’ve put together a
board on Pinterest for my favorite finds, many of which were repinned from the board of my friend Rachel Wilder, who’s an expert on 19th century fashion. She has, in fact, a blog geared toward answering reader/writer questions on fashion, which I highly recommend you check out.
Now for some fun. =) Let’s start with one of the most important articles of Victorian clothing–the corset. Though they get a bad rap in modern times because of how they were used to reform the figure, but the boning and stays provided the structure needed to pull off these gowns–you can’t have a period dress without one. (Though we certainly don’t have to reduce our waists to 17 inches with them!)
Then, of course, we need a hoop.
And now to pick what to wear. How about a day dress?
And don’t forget your accessories! A perfect parasol for instance . . .
And a lovely bonne.
But don’t stay out too long this afternoon. You’ll have to dress for the evening, you know!
And of course, a lady goes nowhere without her fan–it’s an essential tool for social interaction. =)
Lovely, isn’t it all? And before we object to how hot they’d be, let me assure you that those who do reenacting say that you get so accustomed to it that you aren’t drenched in sweat while in them–you’re freezing when you take them off. 😉
Hope everyone enjoyed the brief tour through 1860s fashion!
by Roseanna White | Feb 27, 2012 | Uncategorized
Given that I’m a little behind on selecting my second winner for the Great ANNAPOLIS Giveaway, I figured I’d better spend my blog time doing that this morning. 😉
I want to thank you all for following me around the blogosphere and making the release of Love Finds You in Annapolis, Maryland so fun! I loved seeing the pictures you guys sent, reading your comments, and hearing about your creative ways of spreading the word.
And now, drum roll please.
Dddrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
And the second and final winner of the Great Annapolis Giveaway, including doll, mug, hot cocoa, journal, quill, and book is. . .
Ddddddrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
Apple Blossom!
Yay, congrats, Apple Blossom! She won this by pure devotion to the cause, LOL, commenting on absolutely everything she could. Sending you an email now. =)
by Roseanna White | Feb 24, 2012 | Uncategorized
I just learned that Jewel of Persia is a finalist in the 2012 About.com Friendship Readers’ Choice Awards!
What is this, you ask? Well, to be eligible, your book has to have friendship as a central theme. I entered Jewel of Persia because, as anyone who’s read it knows, the friendship between Kasia and Esther is what paves the way for the events we all know from the book of the Bible. But honestly, I’d totally forgotten I’d entered, LOL.
I LOVE that this is a reader’s choice award–it means that you have a voice! If you read and enjoyed Jewel of Persia, I would be totally honored if you would visit the voting site at About.com between now and March 21 and cast your vote. It’s here: http://friendship.about.com/b/2012/02/22/vote-2012-fiction-book-about-friendship.htm
And just FYI, this award comes with bragging rights only, no big, sparkly prize. 😉
by Roseanna White | Feb 23, 2012 | Thoughtful Thursdays, Uncategorized
I tried to think of a blog post for today, I really did. But you see, every time I turned my mind over to pondering, it defaulted to pondering the last three chapters of my work-in-progress. I’m mere days away from finishing it and in a total book haze. So my apologies. No inspiration for you here. 😉
I’m also a bit overdue on drawing the second and final winner of my Great
Annapolis Giveaway–rest assured I haven’t forgotten, just haven’t taken the hour necessary to tally up all those entries and do the drawing. That’s scheduled for right after I finish my manuscript, so hopefully SOON.
In the meantime, I hope everyone’s having a great week! If you haven’t already, scroll to yesterday’s post to have some fun with Shakespearean insults, and otherwise say a prayer that these last few scenes go smoothly for me, will you? Tricky balance to strike with this book–but hey, if I don’t get it right, that’s what revisions are for. 😉
Happy Thursday!
by Roseanna White | Feb 22, 2012 | Remember When Wednesdays, Uncategorized
It happens to me all the time. (No, not that Shakespeare insults me . . .;-) I’m barreling full-steam through a heated scene on-page, when, wham. I come against a blinking cursor and don’t know what to type. Because one of my characters is insulting the other–and my vocabulary fails me.
Why? Because our favorite insults today don’t fly in a historical context. I can’t have Delia call Phin a jerk. He’s scowl and say, “I’m not tugging on you. What are you talking about?” He can’t call her a snob (see Monday’s post, wink, wink), or she’d say, “Whatever do you mean? I’m not pretending to my gentility, I was born to it, as you well know, you . . . you . . .”
Yeah. Back to square one. So I’m compiling a list of historical insults, and boy is it fun! From scalawag to rogue to jackanapes, from slimy toad to delightful imp, I’m trying to make sure I have all the fun ones–and the truly low-down ones–on my list. Without getting vulgar, of course.
by Roseanna White | Feb 16, 2012 | Thoughtful Thursdays, Uncategorized
I should probably have saved this topic for two weeks from now, when, if all goes well, I’ll reach the end of my manuscript. But I’d probably forget by then, so . . . 😉
I’m an optimist. I can find hope in anything. That’s probably why I love stories of romance–you just can’t beat a happily ever after. And, frankly, if a book doesn’t have one, chances are I’m not that crazy about it. Not to say I don’t approve of other endings, think they’re perfect–but rare is the book that makes it onto my favorites shelf with a less-than-blissful ending. It’s happened. But it takes one heck of an author.
And it’s also why so much of the Old Testament leaves me with an aching heart, especially reading the books about the kings of Israel and Judah. Going through all those chronicles with my daughter, she asks constantly as she’s trying to keep the names straight, “So which king was he? Did he love God?”
And so often my answer has to be, “No.” Or worse still, “He did when he was young, but then he caught up in his money and his glory and worshiped Baal. He forgot about God.”
Xoe, bless her sweet spirit, will always look up at me with those big blue eyes of her and ask, “But how could he forget God? God saved him!”
She’s so right. At six, she understands the simplicity of it and doesn’t see the complication. At six, she sees only the “happily” and not the “ever after.” And I wish, oh how I wish, I could toss a “The End” into some of those stories halfway through. Stop it where it’s still happy. Ignore the depressing epilogue.
But I can’t, because I have to teach my kids that getting to that one big moment isn’t enough in life. It doesn’t stop when we reach one goal, do one great thing for the Lord. We don’t have just one volume, with one climax. One neat resolution. No, we have to press ever onward. Because “the end” doesn’t come until the end.
I shake my head at the critics at romance who mock our beloved happily-ever-after because of these very reasons. And my head-shaking is valid. Because, hello, who wants to read a gazillion-page novel that tracks a person from birth to death? No thanks. I want my novels to entertain and inspire. And those stories, those endings, serve to get me from big moment to big moment in life. They help me remember what can happen. Over and again. Time after time. Volume after volume.
But so often, I think we pray for the short term. Just one good thing, Lord. Just send me one good thing. But as I reread those Old Testament stories, they’re making me look farther. Pray for good lives for my loved ones, not good turns. Good ends, with middles that lead them there. I’m praying, now, for endurance and fortitude.
Blessings come, and I praise the Lord for them. Crises come, and I pray to the Lord through them. But between climaxes, between resolutions, what am I doing? That, I think, is where those kings of old fell away. When they grew complacent. When they forgot who sent the rain, who delivered the army, who pulled away His protection and let the enemy come.
There are mountains in our life, in our faith. There are valleys.
But there are also plains. And the only way to trek across them without ending up in the land of Baal is to keep our eyes forever on the pillar of fire and smoke.
I love a good ending. But you only ever reach one in life when you realize it’s a looooong journey to get there.
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. 