Her Own Prison

At last my dear friends, I return to my much neglected blog. Thank you for your patience while I have been rather indisposed of late. I've been sequestered in a prison of my own making and hardly seen the light of day, or so it seems.

My first priority was to finish my manuscript for my novella, Carving a Future (Barbour). This is the first story in the Colonial Courtships anthology featuring the four Ingersoll brothers in Glassenbury, CT, 1752.  Happy am I to say that I completed my task, or it would have been the gallows for me! 

My local writers conference occurred in the midst of this writing, though I had hoped to be done with my manuscript by then, I was not. The conference was a pleasant diversion, but it did require much of my time as I was one of the conference planners. I'll be posting soon on that wonderful day that I shared with two of my favorite authors, Susan Page Davis and Ruth Axtell Morren.

During this time, I've also submitted two synopses to my agent for potential inclusion in a series, and am very hopeful about these! We also communicated about my writing goals.  Did you ever notice how similar the word "goal" and "gaol", the old fashioned way of spelling jail are? There must be something to that, methinks.

At the end of this came the copy edits for my January release, The Shadow Catcher's Daughter (Heartsong Presents), and a request for description for the book cover. Now that is fun!

I am also beginning to write my next novel, A Design for Love, for Abingdon's Quilts of Love series. My story is set in Boston, MA, 1770. And though I keep myself in chains to my writing, it is where I want to be.

I promise, I really have been keeping out of trouble! Although, I've been trying to manage all this amidst headaches and an entrapped nerve in my neck and back.  I'll blame that on the stocks (pictured above at Colonial Williamsburg), they are a tad uncomfortable you know.

And thus is the work of an author, I am finding, not always comfortable, challenging me to my limits, it seems. But it is what I have chosen, and what God has chosen for me. So, lest you think I am complaining, I am not. I am ever so grateful to have the opportunity to enjoy, and endure, this life of mine that has changed and is changing me.

“Stone walls do not a prison make, nor iron bars a cage.”

Sticky Notes: Deadlines

The ultimate inspiration is the deadline. ~ Nolan Bushnell


I'm writing under deadline.  Pray for me.  LOL! No, really!
See you when I come out of my cave.

Friday's Fortune

Today on my occasionally featured Friday's Fortune you'll find some great tips boster your writing and marketing techniques.

Donna Brennan shares Ways to Make Your Writing Stonger.

Mike Hyatt explains How to use Twitter to Sell Your New Book.

Literary Agent Steve Laube found a few useful tools that help check repetitive phrases and words in your writing in his post Every Word Counts.

Blog Haul: New Old Books!

I recently went on a little online shopping spree to obtain some much needed — and desired — research books on the Colonial America.  So here is a "blog haul" of some of my spectacular new finds from eBay.  Old books, but new for me! So please indulge me while I show you my new toys.

"Wear the old coat and buy the new book."
~  Austin Phelps

Home Life in Colonial Days by Alice Morse Earle. Mrs. Earle was an author from the 19th century wrote many books on historical times, especially the colonial period most likely in an effort to preserve the history of the unique culture of the day. I first came across her original books that are non-copyrighted, transcribed and available online (Google Books and elsewhere). This 470 page 1974 reprinting of her 1898 book was only $2. 

What can I say? Aren't they beautiful! These two volumes of Men, Women & Manners in Colonial Times by Sydney George Fisher, published in 1897 at the original price of $1.50 each, are in amazing condition with silver-gilt embossed covers, deckled edges, and tissue covered lithographs. Although I unintentionally purchased Vol. 2 at the cost of $21, I luckily found Vol. 1 for only $1.99 and am now delighted to have this rare set, having obtained it for about $23. 

I wish I could hear authentic language from the colonial period and translate that into my writing, especially the dialect of the area of my setting.  I would like to write in such a fashion, not solely, as it surely would be far too cumbersome to read, but sprinkled judiciously for effect.  But since they did not have devices to make recordings back then I must rely on the language itself, and being a wordsmith I have discovered these tools — glossaries of Colonial English.

Colonial American English by Richard M. Lederer, Jr., published in 1985, is a much sought after tome filled with words and phrases that were used in America from 1608 - 1783. This may be the only books on this topic, this particular period (at least that I could find), and thus some of them went for up to $218.  Since I've long considered trying to obtain this book,  my purchase price of $27.99 was a bargain.

You may wonder why I invested in A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue.  I promise you, the term vulgar denotes unsophisticated rather than, well, raunchy.  This is an edited version (1992) of English Capt. Francis Grose's infamous 1785 collection of common and slang used in the 18th century.  Who knows, I might find some interesting words to use for a lower class or unsavory story character. And all for $2.99.

So there you have it . . . well, almost . . . I do have one book I cannot show you lest I give away my secret plot for a forthcoming series that I'm developing.  I know, I'm so mean.

Have you found any book treasures lately? Ever?