Joyce DiPastena's Blog, page 17

Indie Author Resources Blog Fest

Author JordanMcCollum has put together this rockin' blog fest to showcase some of the behind the scenes talent that help Indie authors "put it all together" and make our books shine: editors, proofreaders, cover designers, interior designers, e-book formatters. Today I and many other authors want to show our behind-the-scenes support team a little love by highlighting them on our websites or blogs. In that spirit, I want to show my love and give a shoutout to my amazing cover designer, Regency romance author Jaimey Grant and her cover design website, An Author's Art. Here are the covers she has designed for my books so far.





(As you see, she does full print covers/front + back, too!)

Check out more of her work at An Author's Art.
Want to see who else is receiving love today? Visit  http://JordanMcCollum.com/indie-resources/

Summary Sunday

I was worried about some of the new plotting elements I added this week to help me bring about the ending of The Lady and the Minstrel, but they seem to be working. I can see the end in sight now, barring any unexpected roadblocks. Here are some new sentences from my writing sessions this week.

Monday: Simon traced her other hand while her mind raced with questions, then slid parchment and chalk back in his pouch and bowed to her.
Tuesday: She looked so soft and sweet and small except for her radiant gaze. Gunthar guessed it was that which had drawn Robert to her, this fiery pluck that her flowerlike features belied.
Wednesday: Robert shuddered, but reminded himself that it little mattered what they did with his head once he was dead.
Thursday: Robert did not try to evade the assault again, but flung himself full forward and slammed the “spirit” to the floor.

Friday: Everything had changed. The dungeon door stood open.

Summary Sunday

I got to analyzing The Lady and the Minstrel today and I realized that on an alphabet continuum, with Z being the denouement, I just finished up W and am heading into X next week! I've been wrestling with a bit of a plot block for X, but I think I figured it out (with the help of some amazing friends on Facebook). We'll see if it works on Monday when I start working on the scene, or if I'll have to go back to the brainstorming drawing board.

In the meantime, here are some new sentences that I wrote for The Lady and the Minstrel this week.

Monday: “They have evidence of my treason,” Robert said. “Go to the king. Tell him—tell him—” I confess.
Tuesday: Robert did not realize he had pointed a finger at Gunthar’s breast until he heard Gunthar splutter a protest.
Wednesday: Robert looked back at Gunthar, still frowning, still severe. Robert’s anger seeped away, leaving an aching wave in its place. How could he hurt like this for the loss of any man’s favor?
Thursday: (Gunthar to Robert) “I am not inclined to heed the advice of a man who held so little faith in me that I had to discover the truth of the woman he loved by seeing my own ring on her finger.”

Friday: Robert would have to make his threat sound serious enough to win a more final punishment than perpetual imprisonment, but he had no doubt he could lose his temper sufficiently to blurt out an overabundance of condemning words.

Summary Sunday

Welcome back to Summary Sunday! I'm finally back to working on The Lady and the Minstrel and inching Rob closer to escaping from the dungeon. :-) Here are some sentences from my sessions this week. Saturday's sentence is from a rewrite of Friday's scene and comes before Friday's sentence chronologically, so I'm switching the two days around below.
Monday: Marguerite broke off, dismayed by a ferocity she had never seen in Robert’s eyes before.
Tuesday: (all day New Year’s Eve headache :-( )
Wednesday: “Oath?” Could Robert feel her guilty flush warming her face beneath his touch?
Thursday: That rent in his strength that had never so much as wavered before benumbed her with alarm and held her in silent confusion as Robert placed her hand in Sir Warin’s.
Saturday: The darkness had felt stygian at first while Robert had lain on the meager pallet they had given him, absorbing the pulsing burn left by the lash, and hating and hating Kit Beckford.
Friday: Robert's mind vaulted into an unexpected tumble as he rose, for the man before him should have been far away in York, safe from Strode’s trap and dusting his hands of all association with the minstrel who had betrayed his trust along with the king.

Cover reveal: Illuminations of the Heart

Look what Santa brought me! A shiny new cover, via An Author's Art, for Illuminations of the Heart!


What do you think? Doesn't it go nicely with the cover of Loyalty's Web?

Stay tuned! Updated e-version of Illuminations of the Heart coming in 2014!

Sweet memory #10 from The Lady and the Minstrel

My hero, Rob, is locked in the dungeon and I’m not going to have time to write him out before Christmas. I'm granting him 10 sweet memories from earlier chapters of The Lady and the Minstrel while he waits for me to get back to his story.

Here's memory #10, from Chapter 41 (remember, I haven't revised and cut yet!)


Robert paused, then cupped her hand in both of his and raised it to press a kiss into her palm.
“I have never felt so still as I have these three days, sitting here with you. I understand now what I never comprehended on the manor, how my father bore the discontent I felt simmering in him when I was a boy. Being with her—my mother—quieted his soul. I shall ever be grateful to you, Mae, that for these too-brief days, you have quieted mine. And I shall love you always.”I hope you’ve enjoyed Rob’s memories! Hopefully tomorrow I will be able to return to my work on the story. Watch for some new Summary Sunday sentences on Sunday!

Sweet memory #9 from The Lady and the Minstrel

My hero, Rob, is locked in the dungeon and I’m not going to have time to write him out before Christmas. I'm granting him 10 sweet memories from earlier chapters of The Lady and the Minstrel while he waits for me to get back to his story.


Here's memory #9. Okay, so this isn’t a very charitable memory for the Christmas season, but Rob really, really enjoyed hitting Kit in this scene. To him, it was a very “sweet memory.” :-) From Chapter 38. (Don’t freak out at the chapter numbers. I’m going to do some cutting in revisions. Really!)

Robert heard the scream of swords scraping free of their scabbards, but all he saw was Kit’s face blurring in a red haze. Robert sprang from a coil he had not realized he had drawn his body into. His fist smashed into Kit’s mouth, then lest Kit’s shuffling feet recover his balance, Robert shoved his shoulder into Kit’s chest to topple him clean over. Robert followed him down to the floor, vaulting both their bodies into a roll. Strode’s guards would not dare strike so long as he kept close enough to Kit to risk their swords hitting the wrong man.

Robert got off another few satisfying punches before the threat from the guards forced him to allow Kit to pivot Robert onto his back.

Sweet memory #8 from The Lady and the Minstrel

My hero, Rob, is locked in the dungeon and I’m not going to have time to write him out before Christmas. I'm granting him 10 sweet memories from earlier chapters of The Lady and the Minstrel while he waits for me to get back to his story.

Here's memory #8. It's another one with Gunthar, because (1) many of Robert’s happy memories with Marguerite are in Marguerite’s POV, (2) good novels are full of conflict and tension, so it’s easier to come up with conflict scenes than it is with “happy” scenes (until we get to “The End”, of course!), and (3) this is a romantic historical, not a romance, which means these scenes with Gunthar are as integral to the plot as the ones between Rob and Marguerite. This is a snippet from a scene where the relationship between Rob and Gunthar has become more comfortable and bantering. From Chapter 30:

“I was not going to snap at you,” Gunthar murmured. “My ears are still ringing too loudly with John’s oaths to leave me with the enthusiasm to summon one myself.”

“I did not think it, sir,” Robert said, resuming his seat on the other side of the desk. “You have not snapped for a fortnight.” Until yesterday.

“And you have exercised an unnatural restraint by not retorting the way you used to.” Until yesterday, lay the unspoken echo between them. “Aye, I say unnatural. If you were not born with a hot rejoinder on your tongue, then I have lost my last wit to judge a man.”

Robert laughed. “My father had a hot temper, though he never turned it on his family. My mother always said I was too much like him.”

“We all of us are, alas. Too much like our parents until someone comes along to steady us a bit. I hope your lass will do that for you, as mine did for me.”

Robert picked up the pen again and resumed his transcription. ’Twas not the first time Gunthar had tried to lure him into talking of Marguerite. As always, Robert dodged. “Tell me the rest, sir. I can finish this while I listen.”

Sweet memory #7 from The Lady and the Minstrel

My hero, Rob, is locked in the dungeon and I’m not going to have time to write him out before Christmas. I'm granting him 10 sweet memories from earlier chapters of The Lady and the Minstrel while he waits for me to get back to his story.


Here is memory #7. This memory isn’t “sweet” to Rob as much as it’s important. What happened between him and Gunthar at this moment changed his life as much as the day he met Marguerite. From Chapter 22:

Robert felt himself unnerved by Gunthar’s touch. He gripped Robert, not shrinkingly, as a noble repelled by a churl, but hard and bracing, the way William might have sought to fortify Robert, or Robert, William. The world had indeed turned upside-down.

Robert stared into Gunthar’s eyes, searching for deceit, but saw only a quiet, almost urgent plea. The barrier between blurred further. He asked one last question, simple and direct. “How?”

Gunthar’s strong mouth tightened, then went slightly awry. “I do not know. But whatever course I decide upon, it will take time. You must give me that time.”

No prevarication, no smooth guarantees. It was that—an honest answer that promised nothing while promising everything—that urged Robert across the gulf of doubt and won the slow nod of his head.

“Your word, then, that you will stay with my guards?” Gunthar said. “Give me that, and I will see to it that you are not bound.”

And that—an exchange of faith for faith—pushed Robert the rest of the way into a wild gamble on Gunthar’s integrity. He spread his hands, knowing he might be walking off a precipice he could never return from, but he heard himself consent anyway. “Very well, my lord. You have my word.”

Sweet memory #6 from The Lady and the Minstrel

My hero, Rob, is locked in the dungeon and I’m not going to have time to write him out before Christmas. I'm granting him 10 sweet memories from earlier chapters of The Lady and the Minstrel while he waits for me to get back to his story.

Here's memory #6. This is how Rob celebrated Christmas in 1213. (And we can all be grateful this Christmas that we aren’t medieval serfs!) From Chapter 9:
 Robert had spent yesterday’s holy morn attending mass with the other villagers, then stole off to the glade where he had hoped, though not truly expected, that he might find Marguerite. He had known it unlikely that she would be allowed to slip away unnoticed on Christmas Day, and had indeed found the glade empty. To prevent another interrogation from William, whose suspicions had steadily grown as Robert’s absences each day had lengthened, Robert snared a hare and brought it back to the cottage. William had been too grateful for the bracing nourishment it had offered for Lucy’s cold to remind his friend of the dangers of poaching. After they had roasted the hare and dined, Robert built up the fire with some wood he had stolen from the forest along with the hare. That had stretched the limits of William’s tolerance. Though Robert understood William’s fear, it made him impatient all the same. Why waste a woodpenny, he said to William’s chiding, when God could not possibly want some men to freeze only because other men laid greedy claim to what Nature surely intended a benefit to all? Lucy’s alarmed face at their quarrel had finally quieted both their tongues, as it always did. Robert had shifted the conversation to divert her with reminiscences of past Christmases shared with her husband on Beck Manor.