Joyce DiPastena's Blog, page 14

Loving Lucianna has a Pinterest board!

Pinterest and I have a hot and cold relationship, but last night our relationship bloomed warm again and I created a Pinterest board for my upcoming medieval romance, Loving Lucianna (based on the character of Lucianna from Illuminations of the Heart). I pinned some pictures that represented some of the research I did along the way as I wrote a romance for Lucianna and Sir Balduin. Here are just a few examples of my pins:


Medieval embroidery needles. Lucianna is extremely proud of her embroidery skills. As a child, she first learned to embroider by using bone needles,  later graduating to bronze, and for a very brief time, she had the thrilling opportunity of using silver needles for her work. Here's an example of a bone needle from the Viking age. (http://sagamuseum.is)







The color in this picture is called Vermilion. It was a red pigment that could be mined from cinnabar or produced by heating mercury with sulphur. In Loving Lucianna, Siri uses a vermilion paint to illuminate a psaltery as a wedding gift for Lucianna's approaching wedding to Sir Balduin.





Lucianna was raised as a young girl in a convent in medieval Venice. Sometimes they made her work in the herb garden and one day she pricked her finger on the thorn of a barberry (barbury) bush. When she became angry at the bush for pricking her fingers, which made it difficult to do her embroidery, the nuns scolded her for blaspheming, for the barberry bush was also known as the Holy Thorn and was considered a holy plant. (http://www.onlyfoods.net)


If you enjoyed these pictures and would like to see more, check out my "Loving Lucianna" board on Pinterest!

Christmas in July Blog Hop Giveaway: Winner

Congratulations to Miki, winner of the Christmas in July Blog Hop Giveaway here on JDP NEWS! Miki has won a copy of my sweet medieval Christmas story, A Candlelight Courting.

Christmas in July Giveaway Hop

Welcome to the Christmas in July Giveaway Hop, sponsored by I Am a Reader Not a Writer and Laurie Here.

Here at JDP NEWS I'm giving away winner's choice of an e-book OR paperback copy of my short medieval Christmas romance,  A Candlelight Courting



Here's the book summary:

When Burthred comes courting on Christmas Eve, Meg rejects his advances. She has her heart set on becoming a nun and insists that he call her Christina, the spiritual name she has chosen for herself. She tries to make him swear on her box of holy relics that he will not pursue her, but he carefully words his oath to allow him to stay in her candlelit chamber and try to change her mind.
What Meg does not confess is that her reliquary box holds a secret.

Burthred needs a wife, and no one will satisfy him except Meg. He swore on his father’s deathbed that he would marry her. But Burthred has a secret, too. When they come together before the Yule fire, their shared revelations will either join their hearts together or tear them apart.
This giveaway is open to International entries, as long as The Book Depository mails to your country. Please check here for a list of countries they mail to: The Book Depository

Enter via the Rafflecopter form below. The winner will be selected on August 1. (Possibly August 2 as I'll be flying home from a vacation on August 1.) If the Rafflecopter form doesn't show up, click on the link that says "a Rafflecopter giveaway" and it should take you to the signup form.

a Rafflecopter giveaway


My Rafflecopter form disappears whenever I add the blog hop link, so I'm linking you back to I Am a Reader, Not a Writer for the list of more great blog hop giveaways to enter!

Freedom to Read Giveaway Hop: winner

Congratulations to Lisa V, winner of the Freedom to Read Giveaway Hop here at JDP NEWS! Lisa has won a copy of my sweet medieval romance, Illuminations of the Heart. 

Freedom to Read Giveaway Hop

Welcome to the Freedom to Read Giveaway Hop, sponsored by Bookhounds and I Am a Reader Not a Writer.

Here at JDP NEWS I'm giving away winner's choice of an e-book OR paperback copy of my medieval romance, Illuminations of the Heart . (International winners e-book only)



Here's the book summary:

Siri de Calendri was trained in the art of illumination in her brother’s workshop in 12th century Venice, but when her brother dies his will sends her far from home. Siri travels to the faraway county of Poitou in France, where she enters the guardianship of her brother’s friend, Triston de Brielle. Once settled, she hopes to find employment in an illuminator’s shop— until Triston unexpectedly snatches her heart away with a kiss.
Triston is a man of quiet honor and courage, but the guilt he carries for the death of his wife, Clothilde, has left him numb and hesitant to love again. Worse yet, Siri bears an uncanny resemblance to his lost love. Or does she? Her merry laughter and twinkling eyes are very different from his late wife's shy smiles and quiet ways. Yet when he gazes into Siri's face, all he sees is Clothilde.

Then Triston's past returns to threaten them both. Trapped between the rivalry of the king's sons on the one hand and a neighbor out for vengeance on the other, Triston realizes it would be safer to send Siri away. Siri is determined not to be cast off and not to live in another woman’s shadow. She has illuminated many a priceless book with pen and paint, but can her own vibrant spirit illuminate the darkness in Triston’s soul and make his heart beat for her alone?
Enter via the Rafflecopter form below. The winner will be selected on July 10. (If the Rafflecopter form doesn't show up, click on the link that says "a Rafflecopter giveaway" and it should take you to the signup form.)

a Rafflecopter giveaway


For reasons I have yet to fathom, my Rafflecopter form disappears whenever I add the blog hop link, so I'm linking you back to I Am a Reader, Not a Writer for the list of more great blog hop giveaways to enter!

Midsummer's Eve Blog Hop Giveaway: Winner

Congratulations to Amanda P, winner of the Midsummer's Eve Blog Hop Giveaway here on JDP NEWS! Amanda has won a copy of my medieval romance, Loyalty's Web. Thank you to all who entered!

Illuminations of the Heart is back in print!

Illuminations of the Heart is finally available once more in print, as well as e-book, format. Copies are available now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble,  and will soon be available at other online book stores, like The Book Depository (free shipping world wide). Jaimey Grant of An Author's Art has made me a beautiful cover for the print edition.


Isn't it lovely? :-)
Illuminations of the Heart can now be ordered from your local bookstores, too!

Summary Sunday

And I've reached the end of Lucianna's story! I had a great deal of fun writing the epilogue and hope you will enjoy it, too, when you finally get to read it. But that will be awhile yet. I'm putting this draft to bed, so to speak, and will now let it rest while I begin work on my third round of revisions on The Lady and the Minstrel. When those are done (which may take awhile, since L&M is a novel and Lucianna's story is only a novella), I'll begin a second draft of Lucianna's story. Now that I know "the full story" as well as the ending, I have some fun ideas for how to flesh it out a bit. :-)

So here is a final sampling of new sentences from my first draft of Lucianna's story. Hmmm. I think it's time to start working on a real title for it now!

Monday: Every action, every word, every expression that had made her love him, ruined now by the memory of this day that could never be wiped from her mind and heart because she would always know he had not wiped it from his.
Tuesday: Sir Balduin rarely swore in her presence but the muffled word, though indistinct, bore such a blasphemous hint that it startled her into glancing at him.
Wednesday: He repeated her name, a warm caress of confidence now on his lips.
Thursday: There was a time when Lucianna’s rebukes had intimidated Perrin, but he had grown regrettably impervious to them as his precociousness had coaxed a maternal affection in her and softened the force, if not the frequency, of her chastisements.

Friday: Sir Balduin’s shoulders half-lifted in a shrug. He caught Lucianna’s glare and swiftly resumed his normal posture.

Midsummer's Eve Giveaway Hop

Welcome to the Midsummer's Eve Giveaway Hop, sponsored by I Am a Reader Not a Writer.

Here at JDP NEWS I'm giving away winner's choice of an e-book OR paperback copy of my medieval romance,  Loyalty's Web .


This giveaway is open to international, as well as USA, entries as long as Book Depository mails to your country. If you do not know if they mail to your country, please check the link below:
BookDepository free delivery
Enter via the Rafflecopter form below. The winner will be selected on July 1. (If the Rafflecopter form doesn't show up, click on the link that says "a Rafflecopter giveaway" and it should take you to the signup form.)

a Rafflecopter giveaway


For reasons I have yet to fathom, my Rafflecopter form disappears whenever I add the blog hop link, so I'm linking you back to I Am a Reader, Not a Writer for the list of more great blog hop giveaways to enter!

Summary Sunday

Exciting news! I'm almost finished with my first draft of Lucianna's story! I'm hoping to finish it up this next week. Then I'm going to let it sit while I do another round of revisions on The Lady and the Minstrel. As close as I am to the end, I was hoping to be even further along with Lucianna's story before I posted some new sentences, but Friday turned out to be another very-bad-awful-sick-day that was a total blowout for writing. Hopefully there won't be another repeat of my very-bad-awful-sick-day again for a very long time (or even better, never!) and I really am hoping to finish the story this week!

Here is a sampling of what I did accomplish this week, before that very-bad-awful . . . well, you know what I mean. ;-)

Monday: Sir Balduin did not answer. Too many curses hovered on his tongue to be certain one of them might not slip out at any delay that Triston caused him.
Tuesday: Sir Balduin’s blood had begun a familiar pumping, reminding him of the days before his injury when he had ridden into battle at the sides of the masters of Vere.
Wednesday: He broke off, his voice shaking with emotion. For it had all become clear to Sir Balduin in his chamber when Lucianna had told her story, sealed on his heart when she had said, “Non più. No more.

Thursday: Again and again Lucianna had kept her gaze on Siri because she had known herself safe in the young woman’s love. It nearly cleft Sir Balduin’s heart in two that she had not felt herself safe in his.