Music Monday – Page 12

Music Monday: The Dance (Doug Hammer)

“I saw you dancing.”

Grace pasted a smile on her lips. She had been doing her best to not meet up with her mother, for doing so would inevitably lead to having to speak with her sister. And, she was not wrong, for Felicity was at her mother’s side, looking all eagerness.

“He was very nice looking and exceptionally light on his feet,” said Mrs. Love.

“Oh, indeed!” Felicity cried. “He might be one of the best dancers here.”

“Even better than Mr. Ramsey?” Grace asked. Her sister should be thinking only of Mr. Ramsey, but, of course, she was not.

“Yes, I do believe so, though I would not for all the world tell him so,” her sister replied.

“What was his name?” her mother asked eagerly.

“Mr. Norman,” Grace replied. “He is a physician.”

Her mother gasped and blinked. “A physician? He has no estate?”

A wicked thought captured Grace’s imagination. “None of which I know, but he has a home here in Bath. Some rooms somewhere. I really do not know where. There is still so much to learn about Bath.”

[from Her Secret Beau, Touches of Austen Book 3]

The Dance by Doug Hammer, Provided to YouTube by CDBaby on July 2, 2105.

I chose this song from my Music to Write By playlist because of the title and because of the playful tone. Tomorrow’s story begins with the clip above in which dancing is mentioned and where a dance all of Grace’s own making begins. 🙂 The question is — will the dance go as planned or will some stumbling and tripping happen along the way causing some ungraceful moments or worse, a catastrophe?

I’m also going to share a scene from a previously published book below. In this scene, there is also a game or dance set to begin, but first, let me update you on the progress of my current writing projects. Continue reading Music Monday: The Dance (Doug Hammer)

Music Monday: A Good Man (Emerson Drive)

Tomorrow, in our Sweet Tuesday story, we will be meeting the hero of our story. Here is how chapter 2 begins…

“I do not see why Grace had to come with us.”

Walter Blakesley peeked over his morning paper to see the source of the comment. She was a fair-looking young lady with a pleasing figure and a dignified carriage. Not his sort. Such an air of grandeur was more likely than not accompanied by fits of temper when the chit did not get her way. He turned his attention back to the news from last night’s soirees.

“And leave her at home?”

Walter chuckled. The mother sounded shocked, but he reckoned that an opinionated young woman spouting her opinions should not come as a surprise to the young lady’s mother. He held his paper in place as if he were reading it but turned his attention to what he was certain was going to be an interesting conversation between mother and daughter as they strolled past where he sat in the garden.

“She has enough gowns for the number of soirees she will be attending. There is no need for her to follow us around from shop to shop.”

“I do not believe we are in a shop.”

He peeked around his paper so he could match a face with the voice of the young lady, most likely the aforementioned Grace, who had just spoken.

[from Her Secret Bea, Touches of Austen Book 3]

Published to Youtube by Katie Douglas on December 23, 2009.

I have heard this song by one of my favourite groups on the radio several times lately, and I thought it would make a perfect Father’s Day song. 🙂 So today’s song choice is for all those good men out there, whether real or imaginary. I am including the imaginary fellas here since I know that for my heroes, as well as many supporting characters, the ideas in this song hold true — maybe not at the beginning of a story, but most certainly by the end of a story. Therefore, it also seemed fitting to share this video today since tomorrow we are going to meet the hero of Her Secret Beau. Continue reading Music Monday: A Good Man (Emerson Drive)

The Audio/Visual Connection to Writing

In this quote, Voltaire linked writing and painting.

I tend to not only think of writing as painting word pictures but also as something possessing musical qualities. I listen to the rhythm and tone of what I write as much as I do the images I paint. I want my words to flow smoothly where they should and have a staccato rhythm where it is needed.

Both visual and audio arts can stir the emotions and resonate deeply with the person experiencing the art. I hope that my writing can do that — if not now, then, maybe one day as I continue to improve.

But how do the visual and audio arts inspire my writing? If you follow my Music Monday posts or my Wordless Wednesday ones, you probably have a good idea that both music and art spark my creativity.

Tomorrow, in our LLS Society Papers video, Rose Fairbanks and I will be discussing this very topic and likely sharing a few examples of the link between the inspiration and final product.

The live stream will begin at 3 PM Eastern, but the video of the discussion can be viewed after that as well.

Books and links mentioned in the show:

Rose’s Links

Once Upon a December

Mr. Darcy’s Miracle at Longbourn

How Darcy Saved Christmas

The Maid of Inverness

Mr. Darcy’s Bluestocking Bride

A Sense of Obligation

Leenie’s Links

My news-related links:

A Scandal in Springtime

Mailing List Sign Up Form

Darcy and…

Books Currently in KU

And my discussion-related links:

Finally Mrs. Darcy

Music Monday: Five Long Years (Colin James)

Pinterest Book Boards

Mary: To Protect Her Heart

Have a great weekend! Thanks for joining us!

*Longbourn Literary Society (LLS) is a Facebook group founded by three friends, who share a love of writing and Jane Austen for the purpose of promoting those loves and our work.

~*~*~

You can find Rose and Zoe’s websites at these links:

ROSE FAIRBANKS ZOE BURTON

Music Monday: Mayapple Road (Thad Fiscella)

“More, Mama! More!”

Thomas Prescott heard the small child’s squeal of delight before he rounded the bend in the path and saw her, a small bundle of excitement, dancing with her hands in the air attempting to catch the white petals falling from the apple tree above.

Thomas stopped where he was. He would eventually have to continue on his way, but he did not wish to disturb the child’s fun just yet. He would let her twirl and giggle for a few moments longer before intruding on her play.

“More, Mama!” the child pleaded when the shower of petals slowed.

“One last shake,” the lady, who must be the child’s mother, said from her perch on a bench beneath the apple tree. “But we must save some flowers so that we can make apple pies for Christmas.” Rising up on her toes, she grasped a branch and gave it a gentle shake. The flurry of white petals caused by the action was met with clapping hands, bouncing curls, and happy laughter.

[From Apple Blossoms, an original sweet Regency romance short story, and the Sweet Tuesdays story for the next four weeks]

Provided to YouTube by CDBaby, October 19, 2015.

The excerpt above is how the new Sweet Tuesdays story, Apple Blossoms, begins — with Mr. Prescott, a bachelor, meeting his new neighbours, Miss Abigail Watson and her mother the widow Watson. This short story will be shared in four parts, starting tomorrow.

Apple Blossoms is a short story of about six thousand words. It has a complete story arc (beginning, middle, end sort of thing). It has characters that are developed, and the main character does grow (learns something new to him). There is a desire that the main character has, as well as obstacles (of his own creation) to overcome. In other words, it is a complete story.

However, because of the short length, the plot of a short story has to be kept tight so there are no side plots, and the number of characters is limited as is the time frame and the number of problems. It should be a sweet little tidbit which will (hopefully) leave you with a smile and a sigh. I hope you will join me for this story starting tomorrow.

Apple Blossoms will be one of the stories eventually included in my next Nature’s Fury and Delights collection whenever I get the rest of the stories written. 😀 I have really fallen down on that goal for this year. I have an inspirational image selected for the next story for the collection, but that is as far as I have gotten with that project. There have just been so many other things needing attention.

Let me tell you about some of those other things which have claimed my time this past week: Continue reading Music Monday: Mayapple Road (Thad Fiscella)

Music Monday: I Will Never Stop Trying (Emma and Knightley)

“Diana,” he called to his sister before he followed the Uptons into the library.

She turned toward him.

“I’m sorry.”

She stood looking expectantly at him.

“For making a mess of things.”

She smiled at him.

“You will tell Victoria that?

[from His Darling Friend, A Touches of Austen Novella, and the current Sweet Tuesdays story]

Published to YouTube by xxnumber27xx on February 10, 2013.

Tomorrow’s chapter of His Darling Friend is the final chapter. The book will be going on pre-order tomorrow, and so, ahead of that, I have password protected most of the chapter posts so that Amazon will hopefully not flag the story as being available elsewhere and refuse to list it until the story is removed. The password for all protected chapters of His Darling Friend is ROGER2019.

In other writing news: Continue reading Music Monday: I Will Never Stop Trying (Emma and Knightley)