Tag: Pride and Prejudice Variation

Music Monday: Rain, Simply Three

How was your week? Are you ready to begin another? At this very moment on Sunday night when I am writing this, I don’t know that I feel ready for another week to begin. 🙂 Last week was busy, and the one coming up promises to be even busier. However, it is not a horrid busyness at all. It is a good, fulfilling race to the publishing line sort of busyness. I just happen to be tired at the moment. 🙂 So, press play, and while the music (a new addition to my Music to Write By playlist) plays, let me tell you what I accomplished last week and where I am headed this week.

Simply Three. “Simply Three – Rain (Original Song).” YouTube, YouTube, 4 Oct. 2017, youtu.be/KFppTBdCse8.

 

Last week I…

wrote my Austen Authors post for this Tuesday, found or created graphics for it, and made certain it was scheduled.

wrote the book description for One Winter’s Eve, and after getting the proofreading edits back, read the entire book one more time fixing the things that had been marked.

wrote another 1251 words of Confounding Caroline and hit my new goal of writing at least 1250 words per day on three out of the four days scheduled for my current work in progress –> Enticing Miss Darcy.

posted two chapters of Enticing Miss Darcy to Patreon

did a few other odds and end sorts of jobs as required for my business — there are several things that need to be done that are not writing or editing to keep my business running. I wish I could say I got to them all and that I have a great schedule figured out for keeping up with everything and that nothing ever just got ignored because there wasn’t time or due to forgetfulness, but I can’t. 🙂 Things included in this group of duties would be keeping an eye on sales numbers at all vendors, checking on how ads are doing, listening to or reading about professional development sorts of things, finding pictures for book covers, creating book graphics, and so on.

This week, I…

will be uploading files to my vendors and getting the preorder for One Winter’s Eve running while I create the print version and wait to proof it.

will be sending out an email to my mailing list informing them of the preorder and making a limited number of advance reader copies available to them.

will take my turn at Austen Authors on Tuesday. My post is about researching for character development. There will be an excerpt from One Winter’s Eve and a giveaway included. I would be delighted to have you stop by and learn about how I approached working with Caroline Bingley in this upcoming release.

will be posting a Friday’s Feature in which I share an excerpt from a book in my backlist and offer it to you at a lovely sales price! (Kindle Sale 🙂 ) So, be looking for that!

will be posting two more chapters (hopefully) of Enticing Miss Darcy to Patreon. I say hopefully because publishing stuff might get the way of writing time this week — I hope it doesn’t, but it might.

will be doing more of those odds and ends sorts of duties. 🙂

I think that’s it. Like I said, it has been and will be busy, but it is a good, fulfilling busyness that I am so very blessed to “endure.” 🙂

Below is a bit of Enticing Miss Darcy from my writing time on Thursday. This portion has not yet been posted to Patreon, so it is new to one and all. 🙂 It is the beginning of chapter 6.

EXCERPT FROM Enticing Miss Darcy:  Continue reading Music Monday: Rain, Simply Three


Music Monday: Pride and Prejudice – When I See You Smile

Today, I thought I would share one of the videos on my Music Meets Movies playlist since the song seems to go with a particular part of the story excerpt. I am drawing close to the end of my current WIP — or at least the conclusion of the conflict I had wished to resolve — and am now considering if the story ends here or not, as in, there might be a conflict which could arise as I move past this happy for now place in which two of my main characters find themselves.

wantingyounear. “Pride and Prejudice – When I See You Smile.” YouTube, YouTube, 26 Feb. 2007, youtu.be/-B0Po7-3rdE.

That’s about as clear as stagnant pond water, isn’t it? Well, you see, I don’t want to give too much away about my current story, but as you will see in today’s excerpt below, Georgiana is planning to go to Netherfield for Christmas, and Wickham will be there.  There is this niggling in my mind prodding me to explore what might happen in Hertfordshire.  However, I don’t think that doing so in my current story would be appropriate for a couple of reasons: my main characters would almost certainly shift and the initial intent of the story I have been writing has been met so adding another conflict would lend itself to a wandering storyline (something of which I am not fond). So, it appears I will have some serious thinking/plotting/story structure analysis to do this week.

In other story news, I have received Becoming Entangled back from my final editor and have begun the last pass re-read of that story, and now I must decide if my original publication date of November 21 is best or if pushing it out and adding a short preorder might be better for getting everything accomplished without losing my mind from the stress of making sure everything meets the rather exacting standards I strive to uphold at Leenie B Books. (I find myself excessively demanding at times.)  🙂

It seems I have a few decisions to make this week as I edit and write. While I open my calendar and being to ponder these things, I will leave you with this —

AN EXCERPT FROM Two Days before Christmas: Continue reading Music Monday: Pride and Prejudice – When I See You Smile


Music Monday: The Reason, Hoobastank

Today, I have an excerpt from this week’s upcoming release, Unravelling Mr. Darcy (Dash of Darcy #4), as well as a Pride and Prejudice fan video. The lyrics of the song in today’s video fit quite nicely with the premise of my light-hearted novella.  Consider these two things…

BrokenDoll7. “Pride & Prejudice – The Reason.” YouTube, YouTube, 4 Mar. 2008.

The song ends with these lyrics:

I’ve found a reason to show
A side of me you didn’t know
A reason for all that I do
And the reason is you

The description of my upcoming new release says:

What’s a gentleman to do when he has laid his heart before a lady only to have it crushed beneath her dainty slipper? If you’re Fitzwilliam Darcy, there is only one thing to do ─ unravel your tightly wound pride, mend your ways, and convince the lady of your worth.

And what’s a lady to do when she has spoken harshly and knows she has done so unfairly?  If you’re  Elizabeth Bennet, you take a deep breath, swallow your dignity, give him a second chance, and perhaps along the way, discover a gentleman you didn’t know existed.

Can you see the connection?  I’m sure you can, but let me tell you a little bit more about this story anyway.

Unravelling Mr. Darcy begins immediately following the moment in Pride and Prejudice when Darcy says

Forgive me for having taken up so much of your time, and accept my best wishes for your health and happiness.

In the next paragraph, we read that he hastily left the room and the parsonage.

Available for purchase September 21, 2017

Not so in this new version of events.

In this version, he is not leaving quickly but is rather willing himself out of the room and praying for some sort of divine intervention — which he gets.  Elizabeth calls him back and apologizes for her rudeness.

Here I must pause and warn those who are looking for the utmost propriety in a story that they will be sadly disappointed in this tale, for it begins with a rather indelicate discussion about why Elizabeth is feeling ill and why her words were so harsh. 

This apology and the discussion of several topics in the parsonage’s sitting room that follows Elizabeth’s apology lead to Darcy being granted a second chance to win Elizabeth’s heart. To do so, Darcy is amending his ways in grand style. Therefore, prepare yourself to meet a Darcy who, though still noble and honorable, has made a 180-degree turnabout because

He’s found a reason to show
A side of him she didn’t know

Unravelling Mr. Darcy will be hitting the digital shelves beginning this Thursday, September 21, 2017, and a print copy will follow shortly thereafter.

One more little side note in relation to this story: Last week, I mentioned that I wanted to get the sequel to a point where I could include a small sample of it at the back of this book. That has not happened. I have begun what I think will be the sequel telling Anne’s story, but it is not to a place where I can say “Yes, this is definitely how the story will begin.” Therefore, revealing any of her story will wait until I can.  However, Anne’s story, Becoming Entangled, will be available in the late fall, around the time of American Thanksgiving or shortly thereafter as it will depend on my editors’ schedules as much as my ability to get the story written.  

AN EXCERPT FROM Unravelling Mr. Darcy: 
Continue reading Music Monday: The Reason, Hoobastank


Music Monday: Rescue, Hunter Hayes

Today, I am sharing a video but not just because of the music (which is excellent). Rather, I am sharing it because of what is happening in the background while the music is being played.  You’ll have to watch to see what I am talking about.  (I find it fascinating to watch artists do this sort of thing.)  However, don’t get so caught up in the moment that you forget to keep scrolling after the video is over and miss the writing news and story excerpt I am including.  🙂

hunterhayes. “Hunter Hayes – Rescue (Official Music Video).” YouTube, YouTube, 29 June 2017.

As expected, this week was a slightly lower productivity week for me as I took time out to take a day trip to Fort Anne and Port-Royal National Historic sites (pictured below) with my husband and boys.

But in spite of this full day break from my normal routine and an evening spent out and about with my husband, I did manage to get some work done.

Here’s what I accomplished:

  • I came very close to finishing the first pass edits of Unravelling Mr. Darcy, so that should get sent to my first reader this week.
  • I wrote my post for Austen Authors for this Tuesday, which includes an excerpt of Henry’s story and a giveaway.
  • I bundled And Then Love, The Tenant’s Guest, So Very Unexpected, and At All Costs into a one book Willow Hall Romance collection and have uploaded it to Kindle at a special sales price (USD 3.99).  I will be uploading it to my various other vendors over the course of this week, but the special price is only on the Kindle edition and only available until September 5, 2017.
  • AND I added about 3,000 words to my work in progress — Confounding Caroline, which will become the next Thursday’s Three Hundred story once October gets here and from which I am sharing an excerpt below.

EXCERPT FROM Confounding Caroline:  Continue reading Music Monday: Rescue, Hunter Hayes


Music Monday: Enchanted ~ Period Drama Montage

Today, along with writing news and a writing excerpt, I thought I would share this fan video that YouTube was so kind as to suggest that I needed to view. 🙂 I think it is very well done —

SpellboundStudios. “Enchanted ~ Period Drama Montage.” YouTube. YouTube, 31 July 2012. Web. 22 Apr. 2017.

— and I enjoyed the song, so I added this video to my Music Meets Movies playlist. I’m up to 72 videos on that list now. It’s a great place to take a short break between writing projects. And this was a week full of projects.  Let me list a few of them for you.

  • Tuesday was the official release day for Discovering Mr. Darcy on all retailers. It was a good launch with the book ranking fairly high in some of its categories, and it already has 7 reviews the last time I looked.  Thank you to all who purchased and to those who reviewed as well.
  • The print copy of that book finally came and, after a slight tweak, it was approved and is now available for purchase.
  • Because of the way the epilogue flows from Discovering Mr. Darcy to Not An Heiress, I wanted to have Not an Heiress available for people to preorder when they finished reading Discovering Mr. Darcy.  That meant getting a file transferred into the proper format, writing a book description, filling in all the information required on all my retailers, and setting a date.  As it is booked right now, Not an Heiress will release on June 20, 2017.  This is the first time I have placed a book on preorder before it has entered the final stages of editing, so I will admit to being a bit nervous. However, I believe, I have set aside enough time to complete all the editing that needs to be done before the deadline for the final manuscript upload. In fact, I should have first round edits completed by the end of this week.
  • I mainly focused on With the Colonel’s Help during my writing hours this past week, but I did write a few words that are the beginning of what I am planning to make a short story to go with At All Costs, although I have this sneaking suspicion it could end up being a bit longer than a short story. 🙂  Oh, and At All Costs has been sent to my final editor for reading. That story will be available May 18, 2017 (hopefully 😉 ).

So, as you can see, this was a busy week of varied activities, which meant lots of opportunities to watch Music Meets Movies videos as I transitioned from one activity to another. 🙂

Now, to chose a bit of the writing that I did this last week.  While I managed to add around four thousand words to With the Colonel’s Help, I think I will give you a peek at those first 700+ words from the rough draft of the story about Caroline, which has no title as of yet. Be prepared for a surprising Mr. Hurst in this scene.

EXCERPT FROM Caroline’s Tale:  Continue reading Music Monday: Enchanted ~ Period Drama Montage