by Roseanna White | Apr 7, 2011 | Thoughtful Thursdays, Uncategorized
There I was, innocently putting Rowyn into the car at the library. Minding my own business, moving a bag out of the way so he could climb over to his seat. Doing it that way avoid him entering on the street-side.
Then, from out of nowhere, came a voice. My mother’s voice to be precise. I couldn’t tell you what she said–probably something along the lines of, “Bye! See you later!”
Acting on my carefully-hewn instinct, I swung my head around to find the source of the shout and became immediately aware of Xoe skipping up the sidewalk to give NanNan one more hug. Which my oh-so-sharp brain recognized as fine.
A fraction of a second before said brain was overwhelmed with, “Ouch! Darn it, what did I do now?!”
There was metal where it should not have been–at my mouth. Oh-so-sharp brain registered car door.
What in the world was my car door doing at my mouth??
Apparently when I turned my head, I, in my half-on-the-sidewalk/half-on-the-street stance, was at the perfect height for a door sandwich. Lovely.
Pain burst through my awareness, yes. The taste of blood stained my tongue. But more, as I reclaimed my mouth from that vicious door, was the accusation.
Great job, Roseanna. How’d you manage THAT? What if you knocked your teeth loose? Worse, what if you knocked your bridge loose? You obviously cut something. What? Was the door itself in your mouth? Why didn’t you pay attention to whether it was a through-the-lip or if you were smiling or something and it actually hit your gum?
Oh, golly, how are you going to explain to a doctor that you need a tetanus shot because of a cut on your GUM?
Meanwhile, Mom is running up demanding to know what happened, certain, from the look on my face, that I’m about to be sick.
No, no, I assure her. No nausea. Just overwhelmed at my own amazing klutziness.
Can she get me a drink of water to wash my mouth out?
Well now, that would be fine. Though when I swish and spit, the water isn’t tinged red or anything. No fountain of blood to be worth exclamation. The worry on Mom’s face fades to general concern as she inspects my war wound for me and says it looks okay. Asks if my teeth are okay.
I assure her they are, buckle the whining-in-worry Xoe into the car, and get behind the wheel. Naturally, I check the mirror. I can feel my lip swelling up already.
Except it doesn’t look swollen. And the bleeding’s already stopped, just looks a little red. And still tastes a little funny. And it doesn’t really hurt, just feels where there’s usually nothing to be felt.
All that for that?
Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t want it to be worse. But as I drove home, mentally composing my excuse for any police officer who happened to pull me over for going 47 in a 40 (I do this every single time I drive, LOL, though I’ve never been pulled over) it occurs to me that my excuse of “My lip’s swelling, my gum’s throbbing–no, not in pain, just throbbing–and I need some ice!” would only earn me an arched brow and perhaps a fine for lying. Sheesh. All that drama, and no visible proof!
So when I got home (without getting pulled over, I’d like to add), I grabbed an ice cube to hold to my not-swollen-though-it-felt-like-it lip, largely to elicit sympathy from my husband–who was on the phone and didn’t notice until I’d already chucked the ice cube. (Though he gave me ample sympathy afterward, when I told him of the vicious door attack.) I sent a whiny email to my best friend, and otherwise forgot about it.
Until later that night, when I was viciously attacked in the same spot by a toothbrush . . . đ
by Roseanna White | Apr 6, 2011 | Uncategorized
Should have posted this yesterday and got distracted by my 500th post. But I’m delighted to bring you a glance into Finally a Bride by Vickie McDonough, in the form of a fun introduction to the heroine of the book.
Vickie’s offering a copy of the book to one lucky winner, so leave a comment below with an email address for a chance to win!
~*~
Hello, Jacqueline Hamilton Davis, and thank you so much for talking with me today! To begin, could you just tell us a little bit about yourself?
First off, call me Jack. My ma hates that nickname, but Jacqueline is too big of a mouthful, and I never liked it. Iâve live my whole live in a small Texas town called Lookout. The first half of my life was hard. My ma was trying to raise me the best she knew how, but I didnât make things easy for her. I hated school. Hated dresses, and just wanted to fish with my two friends, Ricky and Jimmy. Then Luke came back to town. I knew right away there was something between him and ma because she got all jittery, like she had fleas in her drawers, and she got cranky when he came around. I reckon you could say they worked out their differences, because theyâve been married a long while now and have given me some siblings. And donât get me started on them.
Iâm a reporter and all around grunt worker at the townâs newspaper, the Lookout Ledger. Itâs my dream to leave this dusty, little town and get a job as a reporter for a big newspaper in Dallas. All I need is to land some scoop on a few big stories, and then Iâm outta this puny town for good.
Whatâs one of your most interesting traits?
Hmm. . .I reckon Ma would say that Iâm fearless. Iâll do just about anything to get my story, and that does get me in some uncomfortable predicaments at times. But whatâs life without some challenges? Did you ever hear the saying that âquiet women never make history?â Well, Iâm not one of those quiet women. Iâve got dreams, and I intend to make history.
Whatâs your favorite indulgence?
Sneaking off to the church or some place else thatâs quiet and spending time writing or reading a good book. I love my sisters and brother, but those little critters are noisy. And sharing a room with two young girls doesnât allow for much aloneâor quietâtime.
What do you fear more than anything else?
Being a failure. Not succeeding in my career as a newspaper reporter and not getting a job in Dallas. Never leaving Lookout.
Whoâs your favorite person in the world (whether theyâre still with you or not), and why?
I donât guess a dog counts. Max, an old yellow dog, was my best friend for a long while, but Iâd have to say itâs now Luke, my stepfather. He became my friend and changed my life, even though he did scold me at times. I hate disappointing him, and I canât imagine what life would have ended up like for Ma and me if God hadnât brought Luke into our lives.
If you could change one part of your past, undo one decision, what would it be?
Just one? A tomboy like me has plenty of things sheâd like to undo. HmmâŚI guess I wish I would have been nicer to the town bully, Butch Laird. He was my nemesis, years ago. After he and his pa moved away from Lookout, I realized how hard a life he had. I wasnât very nice to him, but then he did stink like a pig sty, and he picked fights. Oh, and he even locked me in jail one time. Iâm gettinâ mad just thinkinâ about that. Weâd better move on to the next question before I get spittinâ mad at Butch all over again.
If you could travel anywhere, to any time, where would you go and why?
Iâd like to travel into the future, to a time where women have more rights. Where a female isnât looked down on if she wants to wear pants while pulling weeds in a garden or riding a horse astride. A time when a woman can hold any kind of job sheâd like and get paid a fair wage for doing so.
Whatâs the most surprising thing someone has ever said about you?
The most surprising thing wasnât something someone said, it was something that bully Butch did. He painted some awful words on the walls all over townâwords about me! Embarrassed me so much I was ashamed to show my face in town for monthsâand I lived in town. I went looking for him that day, intending to knock the tar out of him, but that lily-livered chicken-hearted skunk had left town. Luke says God is the one to extract vengeance, but Iâm not sure what Iâd do if I ever saw Butch again. Iâd probably wallop him and just hope God understood.
~*~
About Finally a Bride
Jacqueline Davis, a reporter for the Lookout Ledger, is bent on nabbing her story at any cost. When Noah Jeffers comes to Lookout as temporary pastor, Jack suspects there may be something hidden behind his shepherding ways. Soon though, Jack becomes attracted to the new pastor despite her initial hesitation. But as she uncovers the truth, will the story cost her too much? Will she reveal what sheâs found, or keep it hidden to protect newfound love?
Carly Payton returns to Lookout after years in prison, hoping to build a new life there. But she soon discovers that new beginnings and second chances are not always easy. Garrett Corbett is determined to marryâbut not a jailbird like Carly. When Carly is equally repelled by Garrettâs prank-playing ways, will they see past their dislikes and give each otherâand loveâa second look?
~*~
About Vickie
Vickie McDonough is an award-winning author of 23 books and novellas. Her books have won the Inspirational Reader’s Choice Contest, Texas Gold, the ACFW Noble Theme contest, and she has been a multi-year finalist in ACFWâs BOTY/Carol Awards. She was voted Third Favorite Author in the Heartsong Presents Annual Readers Contest in 2009. Vickie is the author of the fun and feisty Texas Boardinghouse Brides series from Barbour Publishing. Watch for her new book this October. Long Trail Home from Moody Publishing, is book 3 in Texas Trails: A Morgan Family series, in which she partners with Susan Page Davis and Darlene Franklin to write a 6-book series that spans 50 years of the Morgan family. The first three books release this fall. Also, next year brings the release of another new series from Guidepost Books, Whispers on the Prairie, set in 1870s Kansas. Vickie hopes readers will find her stories An Adventure into Romance.
Vickie and her husband live in Oklahoma. She is a wife of thirty-five years, mother of four grown sons and grandma to a feisty four-year-old girl. When sheâs not writing, Vickie enjoys reading, gardening, watching movies, and traveling. To learn more about Vickieâs books, visit her website: www.vickiemcdonough.com
~*~
Thanks so much for visiting, Vickie, and giving us that fun insight into Jack. She sounds like a lot of fun. =) Readers, be sure and check out Vickie’s site at www.vickiemcdonough.com. You can purchase Finally a Bride at Amazon and ChristianBook.
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 4/14/11. Winner will have two weeks to claim prize.
by Roseanna White | Apr 5, 2011 | Uncategorized
Wow, time flies! I was more than a little surprised to look at my dashboard not long ago and realize I was fast closing in on 500 posts. And naturally, a mile-marker like that calls for a celebration!
So in honor of my 500th post, I’m offering, for 24 hours only, a FREE download of Jewel of Persia!
To claim your free download, all you have to do is go to eBookIt and use coupon code “500thPost” (no quotes in code–and it’s case sensitive, so be sure you capitalize the P). You can then select your preferred digital format and enjoy!
[Update–the free download has expired, but I’m excited to report that 47 of you took advantage of the offer! I hope you all enjoy the book! The giveaway of the paperbacks is still going, so I’m going to leave this post up for an extra day for coverage. =) ]
Not a digital reader? Well, leave a comment below, and I’ll draw one lucky winner of a paperback of either Jewel of Persia when I get my copies in about a month or A Stray Drop of Blood now.
The free download is, again, for one day only, so the code will be inactive at 7 a.m. EST on Wednesday, 6 April 2011.
The drawing for one of the paperbacks, however, will last for a week, so you have until 13 April to enter for that one. To enter, just leave a comment below with an email address where I can reach you if you win. =)
About Jewel of Persia
How can she love the king of kings without forsaking her Lord of lords?
Kasia grew up in a poor Jewish home with more siblings than luxuries. But when a chance encounter forces her to the palace of Xerxes, she becomes a concubine to the richest man in the world. She alone, of all Xerxes’ wives, loves the man beneath the crown. She alone, of all his wives, holds the heart of the king of kings.
Traveling with Xerxes through Europe as he mounts a war against Greece, Kasia knows enemies surround her, but theyâre not the Spartans or Athenians. The threat lies with those close to the king who hate her people. She determines to put her trust in Jehovahâeven if it costs her her marriage.
Years of prayers are answered when Kasia’s childhood friend arrives at the palace after the war, but even as she determines to see Esther crowned in place of the bloodthirsty former queen, she knows the true battle is far from over. How far will her enemies go to see her undone?
Combining the biblical account of Esther with Herodotus’s Histories, Jewel of Persia is the story of a love that nearly destroys an empire . . . and the friendship that saves a nation.
About A Stray Drop of Blood
Beautiful is a dangerous thing to be when one is unprotected.
For seven years, Abigail has been a slave in the Visibullis house. With a Hebrew mistress and a Roman master, she has always been more family than servant . . . until their son returns to Jerusalem after his years in Rome. Within a few months Jason has taken her to his bed and turned her world upside down. Maybe, given time, she can come to love him as he says he loves her. But how does she open her heart to the man who ruined her?
Israel’s unrest finds a home in her bosom, but their rebellion tears apart her world. Death descends with Barabbas’s sword, and Abigail is determined to be there when the criminal is punished. But when she ventures to the trial, Barabbas is not the one the crowd calls to crucify. Instead, it is the teacher her master and Jason had begun to follow, the man from Nazareth that some call the Son of God . . .
Born free, made a slave, married out of her bonds, Abigail never knows freedom until she feels the fire of A Stray Drop of Blood from a Jewish carpenter. Disowned by Israel, despised by Rome, desired by all, she never knows love until she receives the smile of a stoic Roman noble.
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 4/13/11. Winner will have two weeks to claim prize.
by Roseanna White | Apr 1, 2011 | Uncategorized
Today I’m happy to welcome Amanda Cabot back to my blog to chat about the third and final installment of the Texas Dreams trilogy, Tomorrow’s Garden. I’ve had the pleasure of reading the first two books in this series and am seriously looking forward to this one!
~*~
About Tomorrow’s Garden
As the seed awaits the spring sunshine, so one young woman hopes for a brighter tomorrow
Harriet Kirk is certain that becoming the new schoolteacher in Ladreville, Texas is just what she needsâa chance to put the past behind her and give her younger siblings a brighter tomorrow. What she didnât count on was the presence of handsome former Texas Ranger Lawrence Woodâor the way he affects her fragile heart. But can Harriet and Lawrence ever truly conquer the past in order to find happiness?
Book 3 in the Texas Dreams series, Tomorrowâs Garden is a powerful story of overcoming the odds and grabbing hold of happiness.
~*~
About Amanda
Amanda Cabot has always been a dreamer, and so itâs no coincidence that her first books for the CBA market are called Texas Dreams. Set in the Hill Country beginning in 1856, these deeply emotional historical romances showcase Godâs love as well as that between a man and a woman. The first in the trilogy, Paper Roses, was a finalist for the Carol Award. Scattered Petals received critical acclaim, and the final Texas Dreams book, Tomorrowâs Garden, has just been released.
A former director of Information Technology, Amanda has written everything from technical books and articles for IT professionals to mysteries for teenagers and romances for all ages. Sheâs delighted to now be a fulltime writer living in Cheyenne, WY with her high school sweetheart/ husband of many years.
~*~
What’s your latest book?
Tomorrowâs Garden, the third and last of the Texas Dreams books, is an April release from Revell. As was true of the other books, it can be enjoyed without having read the previous books, but there are continuing characters from the first two books. Lawrence, the hero of Tomorrowâs Garden, was introduced in Scattered Petals and demanded his own story, never dreaming that Iâd pair him with a spitfire of a schoolmarm.
I’m so looking forward to Lawrence’s story! Were there any surprises in writing it?
Iâm a careful plotter, so you wouldnât expect me to encounter surprises along the way, but there were a couple in Tomorrowâs Garden. The biggest surprise was that Isabelle, who appeared in both Paper Roses and Scattered Petals, became such an important part of this book. She took over a role that I had planned for Sarah, the heroine of Paper Roses, and simply wouldnât let go. What could I do? I let her have her way.
There’s just no reasoning with characters when they dig in, is there? I’m sure this surprise made it turn out beautifully. What was the hardest part to write?
The ending. Not because the ending itself was difficult to write, but because I knew that this would be the last time Iâd be writing about the people of Ladreville. Over the course of the trilogy, theyâd become real to me, and I wanted to discover what happened to them. What changes did the Civil War bring? Did the next generation overcome the hostility that had plagued their parents? The questions were endless, but since Iâm already contracted to write two very different trilogies, I know they wonât be answered anytime soon, and so my relief at finishing the book was tempered with regret that Iâd be leaving Ladreville.
Maybe some time in the future you’ll be able to visit them though. =( Always sad to leave behind old friends. Though I’m eager to see what new stories you have in store too! But back to Tomorrow’s Garden. What do you hope your readers will get out of the story?
Of course I hope theyâll enjoy the romance between Harriet and Lawrence â a mismatched couple if there ever was one â but I also hope that the story of sibling relationships will resonate with them. Harrietâs had responsibility for her five younger siblings for far too young. As for Lawrence ⌠without giving away the plot, letâs just say that his relationship with his sisters has had an enormous influence on his life. Watching the two of them deal with their past as they try to forge a future reminded me of the often turbulent relationships I see in other families.
What’s your favorite genre to write? To read?
Romance, in both cases. I love happy endings, and so I gravitate toward books that promise me one. To me, thereâs nothing more satisfying than watching two apparently mismatched people surmount obstacles along the path to true love, and when you add a faith element ⌠well, thatâs the perfect story for me.
I so agree. =) Now, onto fun. If someone were to give you $5,000 to spend on anything you wanted, what would you buy? (No saving or gifts to charities allowed!)
Books, books and more books. Not just ordinary books, either. Iâd buy those wonderful (but expensive) picture books that some people call coffee table books. I find photographs, whether of exotic places or ordinary people going about their ordinary lives, fascinating. Theyâve also provided inspiration for my own books. Itâs true that a picture is worth many words.
Oo, good one! I think I’d also have to add “shelves to store those books, books, and more books”! Mine are bursting, LOL. What is the most rewarding part of writing for you?
Hearing from readers. I know itâs a clichĂŠ, but readers are the reason I write, and when a reader takes the time to tell me that sheâs enjoyed my story, it makes all the hard work worthwhile. I was particularly touched by several readersâ response to Scattered Petals. I literally had tears in my eyes when they told me that Priscillaâs story had helped them heal. Those notes were more precious to me than almost anything I can imagine.
Oh, I can imagine! Readers really are the heart of publication. Let’s look to the future now. What are you writing right now?
Even though I have two other books already in the pipeline and scheduled for publication in 2012, Iâm working on my 2013 release. This is the second of the Westward Winds books and is titled Waiting for Spring. Whatâs particularly fun about this book is that itâs set in Cheyenne, which is where I now live. Not only is research easy, with both an excellent county Library and the state library and archives close by, but itâs wonderful to be able to walk along the same streets that my hero and heroine did. Of course, the city has changed dramatically since 1886, but thatâs part of the fun.
Roseanna, thanks so much for inviting me to be part of your blog. Iâve enjoyed our time together.
Thanks for visiting, Amanda! Readers, you can find her book at Amazon and be sure to check out her website at www.amandacabot.com.
by Roseanna White | Mar 31, 2011 | Thoughtful Thursdays, Uncategorized
This might sound like a strange blog post for someone who’s still jigging along one of life’s mountaintops, right? And in a way it is. But it’s something that’s come to mind from various sources this last week, so let’s see where it goes . . .
Two of my good friends have cancer–you may remember me mentioning that months ago. Both have been undergoing treatment and seeing results.
Both have just had setbacks.
I find it a little strange that though their stories are very different, Mary and Sandi seem to be coming up against things at nearly identical times. For Mary, whose cancer is in her leg, this latest setback is a broken femur, which has put her in incredible pain. For Sandi, who’s trying to get rid of a tumor and cancer in the bone marrow so she can get a bone marrow transplant, the setback was news that the tumor had stopped responding to chemo and had grown.
Not cool. And I can only the imagine the fear when you go into the hospital wondering, “What now? What’s wrong this time?” It stinks. It hurts. Because you’re already fighting so much, so hard, that to be told something isn’t working or went wrong . . . it could be devastating.
On a lesser scale, I’ve experienced this with my daughter lately. She has always, always, always shown her stress through sleep patterns–and interruptions of them. These past couple weeks, she has been a total monster when we put her to bed, and I had thought we were over that, so it was doubly frustrating. Then after a few nights of improvement, when she started to show signs of a fit again, I nearly banged my head into the wall. And why? She was still way better than she’d been.
But we want forward progress. Always, in everything, we want to stride forward. I think it’s probably part of our genetic makeup as humans, so it’s no big surprise when those setbacks bring us down. Make us question. Lead to a little hair-pulling. We don’t want to go back. Not to bad behavior, not to sad times, and certainly not to worse health.
I think (and this is pure speculation) that faith is probably lost more through the mountain of little things, those “minor” setbacks, than through the big disasters of life. The big things we know we have to handle with faith and grace. So we gather all our courage, all our strength, all our will, and say, “Let’s do this, Lord!” We’re certain He’s with us, even through the awful.
But when a few steps forward only send us slipping back, that’s when it’s so easy to ask, “I already gave it my all, Lord! Why this? Why more? Why?”
I don’t know about you, but I don’t often get answers to that question.
Yesterday I read Psalm 46, which is probably best known for verse 10: Be still, and know that I am God. For perhaps the first time, I paid attention to the context of that yesterday. The whole psalm is about how God is always there, God is our refuge. Is trouble thundering around you? He’s there. Is there a place of beauty and gladness? He’s there. See, look–wars come to an end. Bows and spears are broken. Chariots are burned. All those things with which we fight, where we might think our victory lies . . . He destroys them. Why?
Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth!
The Lord of Hosts is with us;
The God of Jacob is our refuge.
Yesterday, those words said to me, “Stop fighting. Stop thinking you have to. When trouble comes, don’t grab your weapon. I am the one who casts those mountains into the sea, and I am the one who tells the battles the halt. I am ruler of this rockface that comes crashing down, and why would you not trust me? Did I not make a refuge for you from the very same rock?”
We question, and questioning can be good. But when the storms around us are louder than our praise, when the nations are raging and our shelter is moved, when forward slips into backward, sometimes we have to remember this from verse 6:
He uttered His voice, the earth melted.
With a single murmur from the Lord, all can change. Our part is to be still, to give it all to him. To trust. It’s not easy when we’re facing setbacks. But the God of the flood is also the God of the trickling leak.
We put our hands into His when trouble first strikes. Let’s be sure we only grip it the harder when the setbacks come.
by Roseanna White | Mar 30, 2011 | Remember When Wednesdays, Uncategorized
I find the idea of mediums totally bizarre. I mean, people who talk to the dead? Who can summon them up? Um . . . weird. And unbelievable. As in, the kind of thing that makes most of us roll our eyes and go “Riiiiiiight.” Right? Surely anyone claiming to be a medium is really just a charlatan. A fake. A phony.
So why does God order us not to go to them?To be “defiled by them” as He puts it? Hmm. Why, for instance, in I Samuel 28, does Saul first toss all the mediums out of the land, then seek one out? Do you remember that part of Saul’s story? It’s crazy. Samuel has just died, but Saul needs his advice. So what does he do? He goes to one of the mediums that Samuel himself had instructed Saul to cast out and has her call up Saul so he can ask him a question.
The really crazy thing? It works. It’s right there in the Bible. So obviously this isn’t just a hoax (all the time, anyway). Which begs the question of what it is. And since God tells us very clearly not to do it, not to go to the people who do, and not to have anything to do with it, that makes it pretty clear–this stuff is possible, but it’s not of the Lord. Which means it’s of His enemy.
Let’s fast-forward a couple thousand years to Victorian England and America. As you may remember from my intro post on Spiritualism a couple weeks ago, it became rather suddenly fashionable to be into the afterlife and looking for a bridge between it and this life. Enter mediums. There were a few very famous, very notable ones reported to do everything from summon a hand to touch someone to a dead relative to give a few words to call up full-bodied apparitions (like the one in I Samuel). We have no way of knowing today which of these mediums was faking and which weren’t. And even in the day when it was happening, folks had a hard time deciding, sometimes, what was real and what was hoax.
There seemed to be a few main categories of how people reacted. There were those willing to believe anything, and who tried to tap into personal abilities to do this stuff too (housewives and servants were apparently especially predisposed to this–perhaps because it brought a little excitement into their lives?), there were those who were willing to entertain the notion and keep an open mind about it. And there were those who thought it all a bunch of nonsense. Those, at least, are the reactions I’ve seen recorded.
But where, I wonder, were those who believed it could and did happen, but took the Biblical stand and cried out against it because it could and did happen, but was wrong? Well, that’s where my fictional heroine comes in, if ever I settle down to write this novel. =) She’s not going to take too kindly to folks parading out their young children and using them as mediums, no sirree. Why? Because it’s real–and because it’s real, it’s dangerous. Oh, if only everyone would listen to her . . . đ
Happy Wednesday everyone!
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, sheâs 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 booksâŚto offset her real life, which is blessedly ordinary.