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What Are You Listening To?

I’ve been flying through my TBR lately, and that’s largely due to a renewed interest in audio books. (That renewed interest was largely due to the discovery that David Tennant has read a number of books…) I have an account with Audible.com which gives me two audio books of my choice a month. Audible is an Amazon company, which has a side benefit I’ll get to at the end.

Thanks to the David Tennant connection, I’m currently enjoying the How to Train Your Dragon series by Cressida Cowell. I’ve wanted to read these books for a long time, but it’s hard for me to find time to read things that don’t fall within any of the genres I write. The audio books are short (under 3 hours), which makes them perfect for driving to and from work.

My roommate and I listen to Doctor Who audio books while on road trips. (Yes, again narrated by Tennant, but we’re both Whovians as well.) Again, these are short enough to finish on the way down to my parents’ and back, and there’s plenty of action in the story to keep us entertained on the drive.

At work, I listen to books I already know. That way, if I’m interrupted by the phone or a question from a coworker, it doesn’t matter if I lose a few seconds of the audio. I listened to North and South for the #NSJaneites group read, and right now I’m listening to Pride & Prejudice. (Look for a review of this recording next month for the 200th Anniversary reading challenge.)

And that leaves me with one more category: I like to have books I’ve never read in my audio queue as well. Ones a little longer than the 3-4 hour read in the car variety maybe, and preferably either YA or middle-grade fantasy. If you listen to audio books and can recommend some to me, I’d be ever so grateful.

Now for the added benefit: Did you know that with Audible, if you own both the audio and the Kindle version of a book, you can flip between them with Whispersync? (I blogged about this on Indie Jane back in February.) I took advantage of this again in March with The Iron King. I snagged the audio ages ago when browsing Audible and finally listened to a portion of it on a road trip. However, I didn’t finish and I needed to get to the end quickly, so I bought the Kindle version, picked up where I’d left off, and finished the book that night. (For obvious reasons, Whispersync only works with unabridged audio editions. )

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What’s Your Dread Pirate Roberts?

A few weeks ago, after a bad day, I tweeted that I was going to bed and wouldn’t everything look better in the morning? My friend replied back with, “Unless it’s like the Dread Pirate Roberts and will most likely kill you.”

Well. That wasn’t exactly the encouragement I was looking for. Then I thought about it and realized that Roberts is really all talk, no action. Look at this quote from The Princess Bride:

Finally, Roberts decided something. He said, “All right, Westley, I’ve never had a valet. You can try it for tonight. I’ll most likely kill you in the morning.” Three years he said that. “Good night, Westley. Good work. Sleep well. I’ll most likely kill you in the morning.

From http://www.imsdb.com/scripts/Princess-Bride,-The.html

Three years?? What kind of pirate threatens to kill someone every day for three years, then ends up taking them on as an apprentice instead? Not a very good one, that’s what.

That got me to thinking, aren’t most of the things we panic over like that? They come up to us and whisper in our ears, “Good night. Good work. I’ll most likely kill you in the morning,” and then they never do. Yet we let them continue to talk to us like that without ever calling their bluff.

I for one am done. You notice I haven’t even told you what had freaked me out so badly–that’s because I refuse to give it voice. It’s only lying to me, after all. Why should I give it a chance to sneak back into my headspace when I’ve got it bound and gagged and locked in the closet?

Do you have a Dread Pirates Roberts in your life? It’s time to stop letting their daily threats rule our lives and get on with following our dreams.

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May On My Bookshelf and Challenge Updates

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April was a fantastic reading month for me. In addition to the books I mentioned in this post, I also read Doctor Who: The Resurrection Casket, At Fault by Jennifer Becton, Doctor Who: I Am A Dalek, Kat, Incorrigible by Stephanie Burgis and A Weekend With Mr. Darcy by Victoria Connelly. The last is one more done for the TBR pile challenge, which gives me a total of two. Yes, I’m a bit behind.

With that in mind, the very next book on my list is another TBR pile challenge book: Betsy-Tacy. I have also acquired the audio version of The Heroine’s Bookshelf by Erin Blakemore, which should hasten my completion of it.

On the “Books I Own” side, I am determined to read Insurgent this month. I’ve had it on my Kindle/iPad for a year now; it’s time I actually read the book. I also plan to finish The Seventh Blessing and read The Iron Daughter.

In light of my recent successes, I’ve increased my goal from 50 books read this year to 60. That means keeping on pace with 5 books a month, hence five selections. Let’s see how I do… and how well I stick to my choices.

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August is TBR Catch-up Month!

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Last weekend, I tweeted this picture of my ever-growing TBR pile. Keep in mind that’s just the library books, not the books I own either in paper format or on my Kindle. I have 270 books on my to-read list on GoodReads, and a large number of them I really want to read NOW. A twitter conversation grew out of that picture, and I said (somewhat off-handedly) that I plan to spend my first month after quitting my day job doing nothing but reading.

Well, it may have been a casual comment, but doesn’t it sound like a good idea? A month-long readathon, where everyone chooses how many books they want to read and cheers each other on… what’s not to like about that?

So this is your save the date card. At the first of June, I’ll have some pretty buttons for you to use and a Mr. Linky post so you can officially sign up. For now, if you’re like me and you’re staring at your TBR in dismay, console yourself with the notion that it’ll be brought under control come August.

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The Best-laid Plans…

At the beginning of April, I had this plan. I’d finish edits on Against His Will in the first weekend, then I’d move on to writing Winter. I set myself a goal in Camp NaNoWriMo to write 30,000 words this month–that’s only 1K a day, which is going very easy for me when I’m in draft mode.

Then everything sort of fell apart around me. I did manage to finish Against His Will on time, but only because I got sick and had more time to work than I would have otherwise. Getting sick though meant that writing Winter didn’t start until mid-week… and we all know how that first attempt turned out.

But with help, I found a plot. (w00t!) I started working that weekend and got 6,000 words down, which didn’t quite catch me up but put me less behind.

Then I got sick again, and that basically scuttled all hope of reaching my goal. I’m writing this on Sunday night with 10K under my belt. I’m going to aim for 20K by Tuesday evening, which is the official end of Camp.

Luckily for me, I’d planned to finish the draft in May anyway. I won’t have notes on Against His Will until mid-month, so with a bit of luck (and an improved immune system), I should be able to knock out the first draft before I have to change gears.

I’m learning the writing life is like this. You can plan out what you’ll be writing for the next five years, but there will always be little things that make you adjust your schedule. It’s hard for me to be flexible when I feel guilty for not getting more done, but as I’ve been reminded, being sick is actually a valid excuse.

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Jane Odiwe: The Surprise Plot + GIVEAWAY!

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Today I’ve traded places with Jane Odiwe, a fellow author and Janeite friend. We’re both sharing moments from our most recent novel that took us–the authors–by surprise. I hope you enjoy her post about Searching for Captain Wentworth, and then come over to her blog and see what surprised me in Loving Miss Darcy.

Jane has also offered a paperback copy of Searching for Captain Wentworth to international readers. To enter, just answer her question at the end of the post. Giveaway ends next Monday night at midnight, and I’ll announce the winner no later than Thursday, May 2. 

Thank you, Nancy, for hosting me on your blog today – I’m thrilled to be here!

Like you, when I’m writing I find keeping one’s characters in check and “on the plot in hand” is sometimes an impossible one, especially when they have strong personalities. More than any other of my novels, Searching for Captain Wentworth proved to be a case in point.

My favourite novel is Persuasion and I’d always wanted to write a book with this wonderfully emotional story as its inspiration. Whilst in Bath, I kept wondering about Jane Austen’s inspiration for her novel. Biographies usually say that Jane Austen was unhappy in Bath, though the evidence for this I feel is rather slim, based on a couple of remarks made in letters and the initial feelings of her heroine Anne, who associated the city with the passing of her mother. Yet, two of her novels have her heroines falling in love in Bath, and so, whatever Jane Austen might have felt on leaving, after she’d experienced the death of her father and her family’s financial decline, I came to the conclusion that Bath was probably a place of good memories as well as the disappointing.

Jane Austen’s hero, Captain Wentworth, is a naval officer and so were two of her brothers. It occurred to me that her brother Charles would have been a young lieutenant at the time Jane and her family was living in Sydney Place in Bath and that’s what set me thinking. Perhaps the story she wrote was inspired by events she witnessed in part. Everything I read about Charles Austen made me convinced that his sister had used him as a model for her Captain Wentworth. And then I thought how wonderful it would be to go back in time and “meet” the Austen family through the eyes of a modern heroine, Sophie. I’m sure you can see what’s coming – Sophie travels back in time and is drawn to the dashing sailor, Charles Austen. This was the crux of my novel and with another hero vying for her affections in the present day; I thought I’d got the story pretty sewn up.

I wrote my novel and was feeling quite happy with it but for someone who would not leave me alone – Jane Austen herself. Every time my heroine had a conversation with her, she kept dropping hints about her own story as if to say, ‘What about me? I want my share of the novel. It’s all very well to go making up stories about my brother, but I have one too.’

At the same time I was writing my novel, I met the owner of the Rice portrait of Jane Austen. I was invited to see the painting in Paris, and Anne Rice (the wife of Henry Rice who was descended from Edward Austen’s family line) related so many wonderful family stories that it got me thinking again. Jane’s years in Bath are a bit of a mystery, but we know she was inspired enough by the city to write both Northanger Abbey and Persuasion. Anyone who has read the former knows that Catherine Morland is the daughter of a clergyman and comes from a large family like Jane herself. The opening of the book describes Catherine and her habits and it’s impossible not to wonder if much of this is autobiographical. Catherine goes to Bath with Mr and Mrs Allen and that’s where she meets Henry Tilney. She is seventeen, a very young girl. What do we know about Jane Austen at 17? Not too much. Apart from knowing that she went to boarding school for a while between the ages of 10 and 11, 1785-86, we have little information before her letters begin, apart from the fact that we know she visited her Great Uncle Francis in Sevenoaks in 1788 and that he may have commissioned her portrait.

Could Jane have met someone when she was 17 – a very special someone? Might they have been separated at a later stage like Anne and Frederick? Perhaps they met again years after and their romance was re-kindled. Even though I had no evidence that any of this had happened, so many pieces of Jane’s novels seemed to be offering clues and it was fun to piece together a story of what might have happened using her novels and letters as inspiration.

Of course, we will never know the absolute truth, (unless someone unearths a missing diary) but I feel very strongly that Jane wanted us to know in Persuasion that she knew what it is to have loved and lost.

Here is an excerpt from Searching for Captain Wentworth – I hope you enjoy it! My heroine Sophie has gone back in time and is taking a walk in Sydney Gardens in Bath.

Several times I took a wrong turn at a hermit’s cottage or where a wooden pavilion signalled the end of a path and had to double back, but I soon found myself in the middle. There was Merlin’s swing, a huge wheel rising high in the air for those brave enough to try it, but there was no one suspended above the Labyrinth today to laugh at those who’d lost their way. A moss-covered grotto with a wooden sign declared an alternate way out through an underground passage. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to go that way. It looked dark and gloomy so I turned back on myself, and following a butterfly that flew into my field of vision I entered another part of the Labyrinth.

The butterfly almost seemed to be waiting for me to catch it up. As I ran to keep it in view, I watched the beautiful creature dancing in the sunlight, its fragile wings hovering above the ground before soaring to the top of the hedge to alight on a leaf. Brown velvet wings fluttered to make a display of its white lace, and it was then I realized that we were not alone. I heard a whispered exchange, hushed voices that held such nostalgic sounds of recognition, I instantly felt I was intruding. Before I’d taken many more steps I knew that I’d stumbled upon a lover’s meeting and though I really didn’t want to spy, I found myself unable to stop staring.

Concealed within a bower of arched trees, with blossoms tumbling in white curtains like confetti to the ground, a handsome fair-haired gentleman sat holding the hand of his girl who was hidden from my view.

‘I have never been inconstant,’ he said. ‘Your heart must understand the truth of all I say. Tell me not that such precious feelings will diminish, that you will cease to love me. I love none but you. Accuse me of self-interest, I cannot deny it. I am guilty of being selfish, I know, but the happiest hours of my life have been those spent with you. Do not blame me for wishing to snatch a few more.’

‘I do not blame you, but with everything settled as we know it to be, as things can only be resolved, we will do more harm than good if we do not accept what is beyond our control.’

‘If I were a knave, I would plead with you to change your mind.’

‘And we both know there lies a path to unhappiness and folly. This encounter is insanity itself, I cannot think how you persuaded me to meet you today.’

‘Yet, you came.’

Silence descended. Oblivious to everything around them, I saw two heads bend towards the other and the young man plant a tender kiss upon his lover’s hand. I was rooted to the spot, even though I knew I should leave. If I moved they would hear or see me and know that I’d found them out. That they had no wish to be discovered was painfully obvious. Although the young man seemed to be less furtive, I sensed their anxiety as I caught a glimpse of the girl leaning forward to whisper in his ear. Dressed in a blue gown, which fluttered back in the breeze, I saw her bonnet strings were untied.

The young man spoke again. ‘Can we not pretend just for today, that we are as free to love one another as we were all those years ago when we first met?’

‘The past seems so long ago, a time in another world. You and I are both changed in every way,’ she said.

‘But not in essentials, I believe. True, our circumstances have changed and we’ve had to follow another course to the one we should have desired, but our souls will be forever entwined.’

I heard the girl laugh. ‘You are the most amusing gentleman of my acquaintance. Tell me, just how many of the romantic poets are you imbibing these days? Too much poetry can never be safe!’

‘I only speak from my heart and if you examine yours, you will know that I speak the truth. I need no poet’s sonnet to inspire or declare my feelings. You of all people could never accuse me of disguising my intentions.’

‘No, you always were a most forthright fellow!’

Do you remember that first night when we both realized that we loved one another?’

‘How could I forget a warm summer’s eve, a night sky filled with stars and the beauty of the Kentish countryside all around us?’

‘Riding on Queen Mab in the moonlight, we flew like midsummer fairies over the fields and hedgerows.’

‘You stole me away from the house like a wicked bandit.’

He laughed. ‘I do not recall your protest. Indeed, I seem to remember it was you who urged me to share the horse. No doubt, so I should have to hold you against me.’

‘Which you did with no hesitation, sir.’

‘And then we found a spot to your liking.’

‘I have no recollection of being consulted about the stone temple, dark and enclosed.’

‘I took you in my arms and you did not resist.’

‘I did not.’

‘You did not recoil from the kiss I planted.’

‘No.’

‘Is it etched in your mind, as it is in mine? Are you able to recall all that we were to one another? I can bring forth every feeling, every sound and smell of that sweet night. The scent of your skin, the soft caress of your lips, and the sounds of a burbling stream making its way to the river are all married as one.’

There was another silence and it seemed to me that the girl whose few words had been so filled with emotion could not speak many more.

‘Jane, you pledged your heart to me that night.’

‘And it will forever be yours. I shall not break my promise.’

I would love to know your thoughts. Do you think Jane Austen’s Persuasion was written from her own experiences, from her imagination, or perhaps a mixture of the two? Please leave a comment below to be entered into a draw for a giveaway of a signed paperback copy of Searching for Captain Wentworth.

Finally, I would just like to add that if you go to this wonderful resource: http://www.pemberley.com/etext/index.html and put in a search for the word “seventeen” in the “Search all six novels” box, I think you’ll find some of the 13 results most interesting!

 

You can find Jane Odiwe at www.austeneffusions.com, http://www.janeaustensequels.blogspot.co.uk, http://austenauthors.net, http://historicalromanceuk.blogspot.co.uk https://twitter.com/JaneOdiwe https://www.facebook.com/JaneOdiwe

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Making Sense of Retweets

The retweet is one of the most powerful tools on Twitter. It adds your voice to someone else’s words and amplifies their thoughts to a different audience. Used well, it can help a cause catch fire or spread a good joke. Used poorly, it annoys and frustrates.

Before you RT:

Remember, your followers followed you because they are interested in what you have to say, not every single person you follow. Before you RT a tweet, ask yourself if a decent percentage of your followers would be interested in the new thought or information.

One of the most common misuses of the RT is in an ongoing conversation between friends. You and your friends are all talking about something, and so you RT Every. Single. Tweet, just in case there’s someone in the group who doesn’t follow everyone else. Sorry to burst your bubble, but all you’re doing is annoying everyone else who follows you.

I generally RT things that pertain to either Jane Austen or Doctor Who, or travel in England. I know a larger percentage of my followers are interested in at least one of the three, if not all of them. Is there an interest that draws your followers together? RT things that relate to it.

After you’re RT’d

Someone thought your tweet was valuable enough to pass on–yay! Twitter etiquette says that in most circumstances, some sort of thanks is in order. (Not necessarily applicable if it’s a joke or a quip getting passed on, but more expected if it’s a link to an article or tip about something.)

But how do you say thank you?

Of course, a simple thanks is always welcome, but you can put your money where your mouth is and RT a tweet of theirs in return. Be a Twitter-giver, not a taker. Search through their timeline for something that sounds interesting and RT it.

Yes, something interesting. For instance, if someone RTs a tweet about my book being on sale, I’ll scan their timeline for something similar. Again, the RT is a method for passing good information on to my followers. Use it wisely, even when you’re just reciprocating the kindness. My followers are book people; a tweet about a new title will catch their eye. One talking about the sandwich the person had for lunch won’t.

What to do with people who over RT

We all follow people whose constant RTs drive us nuts. Did you know Twitter will let you block a person’s retweets? On either the website or the official Twitter app, you can click/tap on the little person icon on their profile page. This generates a drop-down menu that includes the option Block Retweets. Clear the noise out of your feed without getting rid of their original content.

And if you follow the pointers I gave here, hopefully people won’t have to do the same to you.

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Spring Sale on Austenesque Novels!

Spring Sale

One of the things I love about being an indie author is the ability to partner with other indies and create sales at the drop of a hat. This week, I’ve partnered with two authors I highly respect: Jessica Grey and Jennifer Becton.

Charlotte Collins by Jennifer Becton is available for $.99 on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Kobo.

Attempting Elizabeth by Jessica Grey is available for $.99 on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Kobo.

And my own Loving Miss Darcy is available for $.99 on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Kobo

Three great books, one great sale. The sale won’t last long, so get them now!

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Unexpected Roadblocks

A few months ago, some friends and I decided to do a genre challenge in April. We all have genres we feel most comfortable writing in, and we wanted to stretch ourselves.

Fantasy was the genre chosen for me, and after floundering a bit, I settled on the idea of doing the YA fantasy adaptation of The Winter’s Tale. You might have seen the blog posts. The idea of turning the play I love into something new and different excited me.

Well, thanks to my crazy hectic editing schedule, I didn’t have time to work on an outline. For some people, this might not be a big deal, but I am not a pantser. Every time I’ve tried to write without an outline, I’ve crashed and burned. That in mind, I sat down last night to figure out the two main aspects of plot: why are the characters doing this, and what happens next?

Um. What? Uhhhh…

^ That was me, for five hours. I tried a couple variations of the opening premise, and none of them provided the very basics. I could come up with a villain’s motivation to curse the main characters, but if he had motivation, I couldn’t see what could happen next. His motivation eliminated solutions. Or I could skip the part about a villain and have the characters do something next, but how would they know what to do?

Five hours of those thoughts. It killed me. I loved this idea, the opening premise for a book, but somehow in the two months of thinking about it, I’d never realized I had nothing more than that. Without the conflict and character motivation, I had no plot. And that put me back at square one.

Unless I have a magical revelation in the next few hours, tomorrow night I’ll be opening up my pirate novels to begin the process of rewriting them. I have to admit, I’m disappointed. I do love these stories, but they aren’t what I wanted to work on now. I love fantasy. I loved the idea of writing fantasy. But before I can, I need a viable plot. Lacking that, I’ll focus on a story I know I can work with.

ETA: Thanks to a little help from a Twitter friend, Melissa, I think I found the plot to this book. Still, the roller coaster ride to get to this point has wiped me out, so I’m going to veg out with Doctor Who tonight and start on the book tomorrow night.

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Books: The Best Weapons in the World

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I missed posting this month’s On My Bookshelf last week. I started to write one up, then I realized I’ve done a lot of reading lately that I haven’t shared with you. You saw my review of My Dear Sophy by Kimberly Truesdale. I finally finished a book for the TBR pile challenge: The Iron King by Julie Kagawa, and that set me off on a YA/MG fantasy spree: For Darkness Shows the Stars by Diana Peterfreund, Princess of the Midnight Ball  by Jessica Day George, and The Princess Curse by Merrie Haskell.

Also, earlier in the month I read (and loved) both Spellcaster by Claudia Gray and The False Prince by Jennifer Nielsen. The fantasy streak is partly because I’m starting work on Winter. With that in mind, I’ve loaded my TBR list on GoodReads with several more YA fantasy novels. In particular, I want to read The Seventh Blessing by Melissa Buell and Throne of Glass by Sarah Maas.

But the very next thing I’m reading is NOT YA fantasy. I’ve been waiting to read At Fault by Jennifer Becton for a month. I had to finish my edits first, but since I accomplished that on Sunday night (YAY!!!), I’m finally ready to dig into this book.

At Fault is book 3 in the Southern Fraud series. These books follow Julia Jackson and Mark Vincent, investigators with the Georgia Department of Insurance. (I never figured insurance investigation to be such a dangerous occupation.) Absolute Liability and Death Benefits are two of my favorite mysteries, so I’m dying to read their next adventure.

What are you reading/have you been reading, friends? Anything good? Any fantasy books you think I should add to my list?