Author: Leenie Brown

“I must go.” He did not know where he needed to go or what he needed to do, but he needed to be somewhere that was not here…somewhere where he could feel the anguish in his heart…

[from Charles: To Discover His Purpose]

Published to YouTube by fkwk101 on May 17, 2013.

I had a wonderful few days away in Prince Edward Island with my husband, and I did nearly no work during those times. I did check to make sure my scheduled items were posting and a few small things like that, but otherwise, no work was done. But that does not mean that I do not have some writing news. I do, and I will list that below. My time off, however, does mean that there is no print version of Charles’s story ready to go. I will work on that this week.

Not only is not having the print book ready on release day is a bummer to me because I like to have things done on time, but it is also the cause of some misinformation on the book’s Amazon sales page. And this information is a bit of a pet peeve of mine, and something I am constantly trying to educate people about. 😉 (Do not blindly trust Amazon’s page counts on books.) Let me tell you why.

The sales page lists the book as only 170 pages. However, my pdf of the book, which still has some formatting issues that must be addressed, currently has the book at 290 pages for everything including front matter and back matter, which includes a sample chapter of another book. The story itself stops on page 258 of the pdf. Even with that number shrinking a bit when the formatting issue is resolved, the number of pages in the book will still be more than 170!  Word count wise, the story comes in at just over 46,000 words. That’s a long one for me. 🙂 In fact, it’s about 10,000 words or more longer than novellas, and actually puts the book in novel territory.

But no matter the length, I’m delighted that soon this lovely novel will be available to be read by one and all. Charles is an awesome character, and he and Evelyn make one terrific couple. You really need to read it. After all, it is a Leenie Brown book and as such, the story will not disappoint you. (I hope 😉 )

So, here is my…

Writing News: 

Release day for Charles: To Discover His Purpose is tomorrow! *so excited*

And I have a blog post about the book tomorrow on Austen Authors which will include a giveaway.

I have started two new stories.

One will be a short story that I am dictating. I have not used Dragon Dictation before so this story is my first learning experience as I get used to speaking my story into existence instead of typing.

The second will be a Dash of Darcy story, and I am giving you the first 900+ words of the story below in an excerpt. This is the story I mentioned last week which features Mr. Collins once again in a different way. In fact, his name isn’t Mr. Collins in this story.

Other than those things, I am hoping to start Mary’s story this week. Hoping, not promising. 🙂 And in non-writing news, my house is in the process of being painted, I am getting last details ready before school starts next week, and my eldest son has started a new job so my car is not always at my disposal so things have to be planned a bit more carefully.

And now for…

AN EXCERPT FROM Assessing Mr. Darcy:

Elizabeth Bennet leaned against one of the oak trees that grew on the hill near the edge of Longbourn’s property. Taking out her spyglass, she settled in to watch. Overhead the brilliant reds, yellows, and oranges were still mixed with a few traces of green, and normally at this time of year, she would sit beneath one or another of these trees and attempt to paint their splendor. The feat usually ended with her applying paint to the leaves and pressing them on her paper. Her desire to capture beauty far outshone her ability. Her future home would not be filled with her own creations. Instead, she would have to rely on purchased paintings or perhaps, she could convince her younger sister Kitty to produce a few pieces. Kitty was the most artistic of her four sisters.

Today, however, observing the leaves above was but a peripheral pleasure. Today, she had far more interesting things at which to peer.  Netherfield had been let at last! The grand home with its park that abutted this very edge of Longbourn’s property was to welcome a young unmarried gentleman and his sisters. One sister, she had been told by her uncle was similar in age to her. It would be a pleasure to have another lady in the neighbourhood. She smiled. Especially a lady with a wealthy brother in want of a wife.

“What are you doing?”

Elizabeth jumped, nearly dropping her spyglass. “Why must you insist on startling me, William?”

William Bennet smirked. “Because it is so delightful to see you jump.”

“It is because I can do sums better than you.” Had Elizabeth’s hair not been secured under her bonnet, it would have flipped quite satisfactorily as she turned her head.

“Yes, well, you inherited your father’s keen mind, and I am stuck with my father’s dull one.” He stood next to her on her left and leaned against the tree trunk.

Elizabeth lifted the spyglass and looked toward Netherfield as her heart pricked her. Finally, after no more than two minutes of silence, she turned to him. “You have had Papa to guide you, and you have done well. I should not have been so cruel as to point out something with which you struggle. But you do vex me at times. I do not appreciate having the working of my heart tested on such a regular basis simply because you are light of foot.”

He shrugged. “And I should not startle you, but we both know that I will continue to tease, and you will continue to retaliate with the one thing you do better than me.”

Elizabeth’s brows rose. “One thing?”

He laughed. “The one thing I will allow that you do better than me.” 

“I dance better than you.”

“Very well. I will admit that you do two things better than me, but I will not admit to anything further. A brother must feel at least marginally superior to his younger sister.” 

Elizabeth allowed it to be. He was not her brother by birth. He had been born William Collins, a distant cousin to her father.  However, even at birth, he had been far more important to her family than some cousin. It did not matter that her father and his father had not spoken to one another in years. William Collins was the heir to Longbourn since her father had never produced a son. 

It had been years, fifteen to be precise, since William had arrived with his few bags and his poor manners and lack of learning on Longbourn’s steps. His father had died and since there was no nearer relation and since he was the heir to Mr. Bennet’s estate, the child had been delivered with all his worldly possessions to them, to be their son and brother.

He had been ten, and after six months of living with them, he had asked if he too could be a Bennet. Her father had willingly obliged, excessively pleased to have someone bear his name who would not be giving that name away before a parson in a marriage ceremony.

There was a carriage approaching Netherfield. Elizabeth focused her glass to look as closely at it as she could. She could not see much detail, but the equipage did appear to be very fine, almost regal.

“A carriage,” she said, handing the spyglass to William.

William adjusted the glass for his use and whistled. “This Bingley fellow is not shallow in the pockets, is he?”

“I dare say he is not,” Elizabeth agreed. “Give the glass back when they have stopped. I want to see how the grooms and driver tend to their passengers.”

William laughed. “You do not. You wish to see if Mr. Bingley is as handsome as he is rumoured to be.” He looked through the glass once more. “There is a second carriage.” He handed the glass to her. “You will want to see this one.”

“Why?” she asked, positioning herself to be able to look at the second carriage.

“You will know when you see it.”

“Oh, my!” She looked at William. “Does Mr. Bingley have two carriages, one that is lovely and another that could carry the Prince Regent?”

William shook his head. “I would venture a guess that he has not come alone.”

“A friend?”

“That would be my assumption. A very wealthy guest.”

“Do you suppose it is a gentleman?”

William laughed. “Yes. A single gentleman is not going to bring some fancy lady with him.”

“Why not?” Elizabeth made a face at her brother. “He has sisters. It could be a friend of theirs.” She scowled at the look of disbelief on William’s face. It was his way of questioning her ability to reason things, and she hated it. Not because it was a hideous face or anything like that, but because he never used that expression except when she had not thought things through properly. She despised being wrong.

~*~*~

KOBO    AMAZON     NOOK     IBOOKS     MAILING LIST    PATREON    SOCIETY6