The Saturday Broadsheet, with all my writing life updates, is now available at the link at the bottom of this short post. In this issue of the Broadsheet you will find:
Info about what is and is not posting on my blog — which you probably already know. 🙂
My progress on my writing and publishing projects.
This image of a church in New Zealand in a field was purchased from DepositPhotos.
My new series, Hatfield Falls, written under the pen name Annilee Nelson, will not be set in New Zealand, but it will revolve around a church. That’s one reason why I picked this image for today’s post. Another reason I chose this image is that it reminds me of a church you might see here in Nova Scotia with trees all around and wildflowers growing nearby. I am setting this new series in a fictional Nova Scotia town called Hatfield Falls.
The family which is at the center of the series (at least to start) is closely tied to the church in Hatfield Falls since Mark Bennett, the father, is the pastor of that church. He is married to Amy who is a major Jane Austen fan and has named her six children after Austen characters. (I’m not going to tell you all of their names just yet, I think I’ll leave that for you to discover in the first book.)
This series will be a Christian romance series that adheres to the sweet classification I have written out in the article “Short and Sweet? What does that mean?” which can be found in the blog menu.
My faith has never been too far from my Leenie books. It’s there but often indirectly. In my Annilee books, it will be included directly just as part of the lives of the characters.
Now, here are the opening paragraphs from Hatfield Falls, Book 1, as they currently appear in the first draft of the story.
“It is a truth universally acknowledged –”
“Mother! It’s a cookie.” Will Bennett rubbed the sore spot
between his eyes. His mother often made that part of his head hurt when she got
into one of her moods, such as she was in today. “Even Edmund would tell you that
that line is an excellent specimen for studying sarcasm. Therefore, if you say
that it is a truth universally acknowledged that a man with a cup of tea is in
want of a cookie, does that not mean that a man in possession of a cup of tea
is actually NOT looking for a cookie at all?”
He looked at his younger brother, Edmund, who nodded his
agreement – not that their mother saw him do it. A verbal response would have
been more effective.
“Fitzwilliam.” His mother used her scolding a toddler voice
and wiggled the plate she held in front of him.
Why did she take such pleasure in tormenting him? Was not the eldest son supposed to be the most beloved? Not in the Bennett family – or at least, not in his mother’s eyes. That favoured position was held by Edmund who adored many of the same things their mother did – most notably, Pride and Prejudice and all things Jane Austen.
Will closed his eyes and sighed as he shook his head. “My
name is not Fitzwilliam, Mother. It is William. Just William. No Fitz.”
His mother, Amy Bennett, a diminutive woman whose size
belied her ability to be moved on a point if she did not wish to be moved,
rolled her eyes and shot a displeased look at his father. “That is only because
your father would not allow it.”
“Yes, I know, and that is why he is my favourite parent.”
So, what do you think? I hope it’s a fun start to what will be a fun series. 🙂 I have not yet finished the manuscript for this first book, but it’s well underway and slated to be published sometime in the autumn.
For now, you can always keep up with any Annilee updates on FB here or find Annilee on MeWe here. For those who prefer mailing lists, I’ll share a way to keep up with her that way in the next Saturday Broadsheet. 🙂 This is all very new and completely under construction. 🙂
Click to find all of Leenie’s books at your favourite retailer.
I thought this song title was appropriate since I just wanted you to know about a major shift in my writing life.
I think it was back in 2019…
I had spent a weekend reading (and not sleeping as much as I should have due to books 🙂 )
and I was getting ready on a tired Monday morning to “go to work” (meaning walk the few feet from my bedroom to my living room “office” and start putting in my six or so hours of work time),
that I was listening to some country music and one of my favourite groups, the Hunter Brothers, popped up in the playlist. I can’t tell you what song of theirs I was listening to but I can tell you that it was one of their songs when…
Sketches and Secrets of Summer is in the final days of being prepared for publication, which is slated for August 20. It should be on preorder soon. I’ll post here on the blog when it is available. Now, how about a little teaser of an excerpt from the book that hints at why the word secrets is in the title. 😉
Aaron’s hands were clasped behind his back as he walked at a sedate pace towards where Miss Bennet and Miss Darcy were seated. He glanced warily at Stuart.
“Just say it.” Stuart knew that look. Aaron was thinking something that he thought needed to be said but was something which might make Stuart angry.
“A wife might make your job easier.”
“I am sure you are correct, which is why Broderick should have left the girls to you.”
“I have no wife.”
“No, but you also have no aversion to taking one.”
Aaron huffed. “Are you going to allow Sarah to steal all your happiness?”
“It was not Sarah who did the stealing.”
“Yes, it was.” Aaron took hold of Stuart’s arm and stopped him. “Broderick was not without fault, but the greatest share of the blame must fall to the schemer who played brother against brother to gain all she wanted.”
Today’s our last week of songs with Summer in the title, so I thought this title seemed appropriate. 😀
Also, the lyrics “Hello, Summer. Goodbye to my heart” are fitting for Mary and Stuart’s story as you can sort of tell from the excerpt below.
These few lines come during a conversation that Mary and Stuart are having during an outing with his nieces. Poor Mary has most certainly lost her heart by this point in the story.
Would you like to see the cover for Stuart and Mary’s story? Then, come back on Wednesday to see it and read one last excerpt.
