Joyce DiPastena's Blog, page 24

Thanks to you all, I'm a RONE Award finalist!

Thank you to all of you who took the time to vote for one or all of my 2012 stories, Dangerous Favor, A Candlelight Courting, and/or A Timeless Romance: 2012 Winter Edition (which included my medieval short story, "Caroles on the Green") for a RONE Award sponsored by InD'Tale Magazine! Thanks to you, ALL of my stories passed the "reader preference" phase of the competition and are finalists for a 2012 RONE Award! Dangerous Favor, A Candlelight Courting, and A Timeless Romance each now advance to a panel of professional judges who will determine the best overall book of 2012.

The winner and runners-up will be announced and presented at the 2012 RONE Award Ceremony on August 9th at the Romance Novel Convention in Las Vegas, Nevada. I don't know if I'll be able to attend, but I am thrilled even to be in the running, and I owe it all to you, my dear, faithful, supportive readers.

THANK YOU SO MUCH!

Summary Sunday

My sister has been visiting me this week, plus Saturday was an all-day/all-night headache kind of day (and night), so I only got three days of writing in on The Lady and the Minstrel. On the bright side—I got three days of writing in on The Lady and the Minstrel. J Here is a sampling of what I accomplished his week.
Monday: Even with Lord Christopher nearly on his heels, Robert kissed her one more time, as though he could not get enough of her—or perhaps she merely interpreted his passion thus because she could not get enough of him.
Tuesday: (Late night with my sister, no writing.)
Wednesday: (My sister’s birthday and another late night, no writing)
Thursday: She shook out the skirts of her gown as though the gesture could shake away her nervousness.
Friday: From the confident, satisfied gleam in his eyes whenever they rested on her, she knew he thought he had cowed her at last into submission with his vicious defeat of Sir Warin.
Saturday: (Headache and late night with my sister)

Summary Sunday

My sister flew to Arizona on Friday for a 12 day visit, so Friday was a washout writing-wise, but I got  the other five days in. Here is a new sampling from The Lady and the Minstrel.

Monday: Marguerite joined her in searching through the little carved casket where Marguerite kept her ribbons.
Tuesday: She always suspected he had gone off someplace alone to weep, for he would have thought it weakness to do so before others, even his granddaughter.
Wednesday: “If you thought I did not care, then I did not kiss you soundly enough in the woods.”
Thursday: He asked me if I had a wife and when I said no, he said I was too young and they must look elsewhere, but Lady Helen exclaimed that my song enchanted her—it was a fairy song my mother taught me—and she said I must not heed her stuffy husband and that she would not allow me to say her nay.
Friday: 
Saturday: She wanted to know he was near her, not somewhere lost in throngs of the great city of London.

Summary Sunday

This week, a rival for my heroine’s affections enters the scene. Not each of these sentences relates to  him, but some of them do. And of course, we had to have another tournament, right? I hope you enjoy these new sentences from The Lady and the Minstrel!

Monday: ’Twas the second time Sarah had observed more of Marguerite’s heart than Marguerite had wished her to, but she could make no reply for Sir Warin had rejoined them.
Tuesday: Clever. It was what men called women who knew how to read, and Marguerite knew it was not always meant as a compliment.
Wednesday: Speak, a voice whispered in her mind, but a vying flutter in her breast murmured, Not yet, not yet.
Thursday: She could not take advantage of his chivalry after rejecting his heart so cruelly.
Friday: (Two sentences, for context) Marguerite had earlier watched Lady Lovell draw a yellow ribbon from her hair and tie it to Strode’s lance as a favor. It fluttered its unabashed contempt of Marguerite’s pride for too many chagrining moments as the king uttered his royal blessing—“Fight this day with courage and honor. May God be with you.”—in a humdrum voice that revealed his continued displeasure with his “favorite”, and waved Strode on so that he might bless the next knight and the next.
Saturday: Thankfully, he never spoke to her for if he had, she was quite sure it would have shattered her restraint and set her flailing at him like a madwoman.

Summary Sunday

Sometimes, no matter how much a writer loves a particular line she writes, upon reflection it simply
doesn't belong in the story. Such is the case with this week's Wednesday sentence. By Thursday I had already reluctantly decided that it needed to be snipped out of the story because it didn't quite fit the mood of the scene. But good lines need never go entirely to waste. In my case, they go into a CUTS document, where if I wish to, I can pluck them back out and use them in another story. Such might be the case for Wednesday's sentence someday. :-)

Once more, these are all lines from this week's draft writing of The Lady and the Minstrel.


Monday: She swept her lashes against her cheeks to veil the revulsion she feared she could not conceal in her eyes and prayed Isabelle would interpret it as a sign of flustered awe that Marguerite had won so great a condescension as counsel from the queen.
Tuesday: Marguerite blamed Sarah for putting the idea into her head.
Wednesday: Marguerite did not realize how the gesture made her gawk in surprise until he winked a second time.
Thursday: Marguerite had learned that when the king’s wine-slickened voice garbled his bursts of bravado into “Shalleena, mlors?”, that the meal had reached it’s end, for the king soon thereafter stumbled out of the hall with his arm around a buxom wench, unless he dropped back into his chair and his head pitched snoring onto the tabletop first.
Friday: Strode took another leisurely sip from his cup, then murmured as the king drew breath to reply, “Ah, nay. As I recall, that man who called your actions dishonorable was not me, but the Earl of Gunthar.”
Saturday: Before Marguerite scarcely knew what she was doing, she gave Sir Aldus a bright smile, laid her fingers in his, and was stepping and sliding and skipping alongside him to the vigorous tune of the vielles.

Summary Sunday

This week's writing was evenly divided between my old/new couple reappearing in the story and my
heroine, Marguerite, being thrust into King John's court in London. Here are a few new sentences from The Lady and the Minstrel.


Monday: She knew, as he did, how men who ordinarily scorned learning as the labor of clerks found themselves unexpectedly intimidated when thrust into the presence of her husband’s obsessive collection of leatherbound tomes
Tuesday: “John, Marshal writes, is like a vengeful dog, determined to tear his former lands out of the grasping hand of the King of France like a hound all a-growl to recover a stolen bone.”
Wednesday: “She is a cordwainer’s daughter, which you would know if you had lent his prattle half-an ear instead of glaring him into silence every time he sighed her name.”
Thursday: Marguerite had thought Lady Lovell the most beautiful woman she had ever seen until she had laid eyes on Isabelle of Angoulême.
Friday: It startled Marguerite slightly when Sarah lay a finger to the rose Marguerite had chosen next to stitch, until she realized her friend meant the gesture to misdirect anyone who watched them into thinking they merely discussed Marguerite’s embroidery.
Saturday: “And I think you do not weep only because you are bound to so wicked a man as the earl. My love, I know a broken heart when I see it.”

Summary Sunday

I finished what I'm calling the first 3rd of my story arc this week. This has no reference to the actual number of pages per "3rd" in the final version, so trying to guess how close I am to the end will do you no good. Alas, even I'm not sure exactly how many pages it will take me to tell this story, and the three sections likely will not be divided evenly page-wise. But in my mind, it all basically breaks down like this: (1) Falling in love; (2) Separation; and (3) Reunion and Finis. Monday - Friday below are part of (1) Falling in love. Saturday's sentence is the beginning of (2) Separation. (And yes, it's from a new character's POV, although if you've read Loyalty's Web, the character will be familiar when you meet him again. :-) )
Enjoy!
Monday: “’Twas a jolly Christmas—I do think the lasses of this village have the lightest feet I have met for dancing—but I have stayed overlong and the road calls to me again.”
Tuesday: He wished he could have afforded a better bridal gift for her than the spring green ribbon embroidered down the center with a garland of red roses that he had wheedled from the candlemaker’s daughter for a penny and a song.
Wednesday: She sped down the rutted lane so fast he feared she might take a tumble over the uneven ground.
Thursday: Robert glimpsed the youth over Strode’s shoulder, his sullen face smug with revenge.
Friday: He heard the whiz of Strode’s blade one heartbeat before he ducked beneath its slicing edge so narrowly a lock of Robert’s raven hair landed in the dirt beside his right boot.
Saturday: They had shared more joys than sorrows, but the heartaches they had passed through had been the sort that never fully healed, and though over four years had passed, this last one still struck deep.

DANGEROUS FAVOR is up for a RONE Award!

My sweet medieval romance, DANGEROUS FAVOR, is up for a RONE Award, awarded to small or indie published books that earned a 4 star or higher review by InD'Tale Magazine! The first round of judging is done by readers, so if you have read DANGEROUS FAVOR and enjoyed it, I would appreciate your vote! Click on the link below, then scroll down to "Best Historical: Up Through Medieval". Thank you! (voting for my category ends May 3rd.)

http://indtale.com/rone-awards/2012/week-2

Summary Sunday

This week was full of revelations to my heroine about my hero, along with a proposal she’s long been hoping for. Alas, this is not the end of the story, so next week will bring “complications.” :-)
Monday: “Then you have not told me everything—have you?”
Tuesday: “I said there were easier places to hide bells from her than underneath that heavy old chest and after we all stood guessing for awhile what else it might be, I remembered the silver and I said it.”
Wednesday: “I knew it was true when his face went so red, but he slapped me and called me a hysterical boy and said if I ever spoke such slander again I would regret it, despite my youth.”
Thursday: “Lord Simon said a knight can be turned for silver or ambition, but he knew my father coveted freedom for his family above everything else and promised him enough silver to achieve it for my mother and brother and sister and himself if my father returned him safe to England.”
Friday: Oh, she should not have said that, for Robert promptly disappeared again, soundless as a cat this time.
Saturday: His midnight eyes bore into hers with an implacable honesty. “Marguerite, if you marry me—I do not easily give up what I have claimed as mine. If you marry me, there will be no going back.”

Interview & Giveaway with Tina Scott

Welcome to the second week of the blog tour for Tina Scott's soon-to-be-released debut historical novel, Farewell, My Denmark! I am delighted to host an interview with Tina here at JDP NEWS this week.  Tina is also giving away a copy of her novel (June publication date), along with a $10 Target gift card. For a chance to win, leave a comment on this interview. For additional chances to win, Tweet or Facebook this giveaway and leave a comment here, letting Tina know you've Facebooked or Tweeted. Tina will be checking out the comments and will select a winner at 5 PM PST on Friday (April 19). BE SURE TO INCLUDE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS SO TINA CAN CONTACT YOU IF YOU WIN! (An international winner will receive an e-book only. Sorry.)


JDP: Welcome, Tina! Please tell us a little about your historical novel.
Tina: I’d love to.
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 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.
JDP: Farewell, My Denmark is set in 1863. Is there a particular reason you chose that year?
Tina: This is the year that one set of my ancestors emigrated from Denmark aboard the John J. Boyd.
JDP: So there’s a link to your own family history. That’s exciting! What did you find most fascinating about this time period? 
Tina: It was a time of transition for modern technology. Bicycles had been invented, but chances that a farm girl would have seen one were slim. They traveled by train part of the way, but many of the immigrants, I’m sure, had never seen a train before they stepped aboard, and so many of their experiences were different and exciting.
JDP: I’m always interested in how authors research their historical novels. Could you tell us a little about how you researched the historical background for Farewell, My Denmark?
Tina: I got my information from a variety of sources. My family history gave me the idea for the story. I found other immigrants’ histories in the Mormon Immigration Indexto broaden my perspective on their experience, I resourced a few books, and the Church History Museum in Salt Lake City, Utah, and I went to Denmark where I visited the Den Fynske Landsby, or Funen Village. It is here that they’ve brought antique homes and buildings from various regions of Denmark and turned it into an open air museum, and give snippets of their peasant history.
JDP: Oh, wow, can you see me turning green? That’s envy, because I would LOVE to visit this “village,” and I’m not even Danish. Can you share with us your top three favorite research books or other resources?
Tina: Going there in person trumps anything else. *grin*
JDP: Indeed it would! Are there any historical figures from the era who particularly intrigue you?
Tina: I would have to say Hans Christian Andersen. I grew up hearing his stories and loving them. And, when I was young, Danny Kaye starred in a movie about HCA, which I watched with delight.
JDP: Oh, that was a favorite movie of my dad’s and mine, too! Absolutely loved it! In fact, one of the songs from it has a link to my current WIP. (How’s that for a coincidence?) What inspired you to write Farewell, My Denmark?
Tina: There are so many well written stories about the American pioneers, but I hadn’t encountered any on the Danish pioneers. I feel that their stories are unique and interesting, and deserve to be told.
JDP: I agree. (In full disclosure, I read an early version of Farewell, My Denmark and am currently reading a second book of Tina’s, also set in Denmark, and I confess, I have thoroughly enjoyed exploring this “less told” aspect of LDS history.)  Are you working on any new projects? (Well, I kinda gave that away now, didn’t I. LOL!)
Tina: *Laughs* I forgive you. Yes, I’m in the middle of writing a story about Catherine’s sister who ends up staying in Denmark.
JDP: Where can readers obtain copies of Farewell, My Denmark?
Tina: Farewell, My Denmark will be available in June on Amazon, Kindle, and Smashwords.
JDP: Thank you for joining us today, Tina.
Now remember, for a chance to win a copy of Farewell, My Denmark along with a $10 Target gift certificate, leave a comment on this interview. Tweet and/or Facebook for additional entries before 5 PM EST, Friday April 19. REMEMBER TO INCLUDE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS.