Joyce DiPastena's Blog, page 22

Tuesday Teaser

Tuesday Teaser is a weekly bookish meme (rhymes with “cream"), hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:Grab your current readOpen to a random pageShare at least two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that pageBE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR lists if they like your teasers!
I'm adapting the rules slightly. I'll be quoting some random lines from the last chapter I read before I post a teaser. I'm a slow reader, so you may get multiple teasers per book from me. Here's my second teaser from  Farewell, My Denmark , by Tina Peterson Scott.
"It is you." I sat up. "It's been you all along. The hunger aboard ship is at your hand." I kept my voice low, and pretended to be brave.
(From  Farewell, My Denmark , p 226)
If you'd like to share a teaser from a book you're currently reading, I'd love you to do so in the comment section. And you don't even have to share it on a Tuesday! Be sure to include the title, author, and page number in case others would like to check out the book you're reading.

Summary Sunday

Robert and Gunthar's relationship continued to evolve in this week's writing of The Lady and the Minstrel. While they are still with King John's troops in France, Friday's writing session slipped back home to England again to see what Marguerite is up to now. Here is a new sampling. 
Monday: Unconsciousness would have been welcome, but also humiliating.
Tuesday: If he failed her, if necessity required him to drag her from town to town, performing for pennies and sometimes no more than a crust of bread—how long would her love for him last then?
Wednesday: He would have flared up in offense if any other man had asked him that. He would have flared at Gunthar, if the earl had asked it a week ago.
Thursday: Did he think Robert’s father’s words as heretical as Simon Beckford had? How could a man of Gunthar’s birth think anything else?
Friday: Lady Leah had refused to allow him all the way into the castle’s hall, exclaiming that he should dirty the rushes, as though the mud from Ned’s fields that crusted his shoes was somehow more filthy than the muck Marguerite’s father stomped in when he came in from the kennels.
And as a bonus, I got a new cover for my short-short e-story, An Epiphany Gift for Robin , this week. In case you've read Epiphany and weren't aware (and most readers aren't), Robin, the little boy in the story, grows up to become my hero, Robert/Rob, in The Lady and the Minstrel. :-)

Tuesday Teaser

Tuesday Teaser is a weekly bookish meme (rhymes with “cream"), hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. (I’ve borrowed it from LDS Women’s Book Review.) Anyone can play along! Just do the following:
Grab your current readOpen to a random pageShare at least two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that pageBE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR lists if they like your teasers!
I'm adapting the rules slightly. I'll be quoting some random lines from the last chapter I read before I post a teaser. I'm a slow reader, so you may get multiple teasers per book from me. Here's a teaser from  Farewell, My Denmark , by Tina Peterson Scott.
There, under the bow was the largest creature I had ever seen. A massive, grey-colored whale had lodged itself under the ship and had lifted us at least a meter into the air rendering us unable to continue our voyage.
(From Farewell, My Denmark , p 194)
If you'd like to share a teaser from a book you're currently reading, I'd love you to do so in the comment section. And you don't even have to share it on a Tuesday! Be sure to include the title, author, and page number in case others would like to check out the book you're reading.

What Am I Reading Now?

It's been awhile since I shared my "read" with you. I really have been reading all this time! I do read
slowly, and my writing has to take precedence over reading, but if you want to know what's been on my reading list this year, scroll down the right margin and you'll find my "What Did I Read in 2013?" list.

My current read is Farewell, My Denmark , by Tina Peterson Scott. I'm enjoying it because it's a different take than usual on the LDS Pioneer story! Here's the back cover copy:


A failed engagement sets seventeen-year-old Catherine Erichsen on a faith-building journey of self discovery as she follows her parents and other Mormon Saints on the 1863 immigration from Denmark to America. When precious heirlooms start disappearing aboard the John J. Boyd, Catherine nearly loses her life at the hand of thieving sailors and fears she won’t live long enough to fulfill the desires of her heart.
Stop by on Tuesday and I'll share a Tuesday Teaser with you!

Summary Sunday

This week I was back with my hero, Robert, in Poitou. He's in all sorts of trouble! I'll have to keep writing to help him find a way out of it.

Here is a sampling of new sentences from The Lady and the Minstrel.


Monday: Robert tried to tell himself it could have been worse.
Tuesday: Robert longed to rise and pace the little space there was, but he’d learned from a sword twice pointed at his chest that the guard preferred he stay where he was.
Wednesday: Gunthar straightened. “Your father was the villein that Lord Simon hanged?
Thursday: “Strode could strangle you in your cell, and the king would not blink so long as he could wring an extravagant fine from Strode to fill his coffers.”
Friday: “Maybe that shrewish wife o’ mine will appreciate me then, when I put a fine gown on that back that only bends to me when I beat it.”

My first non-fiction title!

This week I published my first non-fiction title: Name Your Medieval Character: Medieval Christian Names (12th-13th Centuries) . 


Here's a description:
Medieval author Joyce DiPastena is always on the lookout for authentic medieval names for her characters. Internet searches are helpful, but occasionally they can lead a writer astray. Accurate lists can be found on the internet, but it can take a deal of searching and double-checking of sources. In Name Your Medieval Character: Medieval Christian Names (12th-13th Centuries) , DiPastena has done much of this work for you. Name Your Medieval Character is a compilation of her 30-plus years of research into medieval Christian names. Every name and name variation in this book was borne by a living, breathing medieval man or woman.

Name Your Medieval Character  includes over 800 female names (including variations) and over 1500 male names (including variations). This book will prove a treasure trove for historical fiction writers, fantasy writers, gamers, or anyone who just enjoys names!
************
I hope some of you will find Name Your Medieval Character  helpful and enjoyable. It is available in e-book format on and Smashwords for just .99 cents! Print version coming soon.

Summary Sunday

For the last several weeks, my hero, Robert, has been with King John's armies in France, getting into all kinds of unintended trouble. On Wednesday this week, I flashed back to England to find out what my heroine, Marguerite, has been up to while her beloved is gone. You'll find samplings from both of their POVs below from The Lady and the Minstrel.
Monday: “I assure you, your head in a noose should not please me at all.”
Tuesday: He gripped Robert, not shrinkingly, as a noble repelled by a churl, but hard and bracing, the way William might have sought to fortify him, or he William. The world had indeed turned upside-down.
Wednesday: Marguerite sailed over the ice, the wind whipping her hair into tangles she knew she would spend half the night combing out again, but the ecstasy was worth it.
Thursday: “I did not tell you that because I wished to make merry.” Celebrate one’s birth day? How absurd the countess must think her.
Friday: To her surprise, the countess put her arms around her, embracing Marguerite as she had never been embraced by her mother, or even her grandfather.
Saturday: What if instead of seeking reassurance of Robert’s safety from her husband, the countess wrote to warn the earl that perhaps it would be best if the minstrel found some other noble household to serve—in Poitou!

Let's play a little game...

Gunthar just said to my hero, Robert:

"I once suffered a similar blow to the side of my head and fancy I have a fair idea of the way your skull must be throbbing just now.”

If you read Loyalty's Web , do you remember what he's referring to? Email me the answer at jdipastena@yahoo.com. I'll toss all your names into a hat (or random.org ;-) ) and draw a winner to receive a free print copy of A Candlelight Courting .

Deadline August 12, midnight PST. 18 years or older. Open to International entries. Winner announced August 13, 2013.

Summary Sunday

Here is a smattering of new sentences from The Lady and the Minstrel during my 2nd week of limited writing time while visiting my sister:

Monday: Robert heard the thin sneer beneath Gunthar’s words and knew he had already been judged.
Tuesday: “If you think I have summoned you here to deal with a fool, you have dangerously misjudged me, sirrah.”
Wednesday: For one irrational moment, he had thought Gunthar might be different.
Thursday: Robert had not had the opportunity of seeing his parents grow old together, but if they had, he imagined them, despite their humble circumstances, very much like the Earl and Countess of Gunthar in their aged contentment in each other’s company.
Friday: He knew full well Gunthar had not called him “insolent” without reason.

Summary Sunday

As I mentioned last week, I am currently paying a visit to my sister and didn't think I'd have much time to write while I was here. And it's true, I haven't had "much time." But I decided no matter how tired I was from a fun-filled day, I should be able to squeeze out at least 100 new words a day while I'm here. I know it doesn't sound like much, but even 100 words a day advances the story bit by bit, which means I'll be that much further along when I get home than I would have been if I hadn't written 100 words a day. :-) So far, I've surpassed that goal each night, sometimes by just a little, sometimes by a considerable amount. Here is a sampling of what I've added so far to The Lady and the Minstrel during my vacation.


Monday: (cleaning/packing day)
Tuesday: (traveling day)
Wednesday: Two blurry, bloody rocks lay near him. He reached out a shaking hand. Nay, one rock only. Pain hazed and doubled his vision.
Thursday: Even with his blurred vision, he could see the trees thinning, and then they parted altogether to allow him a foggy image of men and horses milling about beneath the walls of Sir Triston’s castle.
Friday: “Saints, man, where have you been?”
Saturday: Perhaps it was pride, but this was one part of the night’s story he did not wish to confess to Gunthar.