Summary Sunday

It's been a long time since I shared a Summary Sunday! Summary Sunday is where I share one new sentence from each day of my writing week with you. It's a way to give you a flavor of what I'm currently working on, but more importantly, it's a way to hold myself accountable for actually writing something during the week so I'll have some sentences to share with you!


These sentences are from my never-ending draft of Acelet's story. (Yes, I know I said I was taking a break to work on The Lady and the Minstrel, but now I'm taking a break from The Lady and the Minstrel to work on Acelet's story again.)


Tuesday: Acelet bowed, torn between excitement to hear his name coupled with that very personification of all his dearest held knightly ideals, the great William Marshal, concern for the soaring expectations he knew such praise would raise in his beloved’s breast, and a fervid hope that Aigar would never recognize himself as the inspiration for the giant that Acelet was composing in his head.


Thursday: So impressed had the duke been with Acelet’s gift of speed and accuracy that he had made Acelet one of his own squires, set him to training with Aigar, and vowed to knight him along with forty other of his vassals’ sons before another fortnight expired. 


Friday: A muttered curse at last drew Acelet’s attention, for it matched exactly the sort of blasphemous invective he expected the duke to loose upon his head.


Saturday: Acelet would have thought she and Sir Raimon disliked one another with a passion, had he seen either of them betray so much as a hint of heat in their natures.


(Remember, these are from a draft, so cut my sentence lengths a little slack, okay?)

Sweet Saturday Samples

Thank you to the Sweet Saturday Samples blog for sponsoring this great new idea of spotlighting clean fiction excerpts from authors every Saturday! All you have to do is visit the Sweet Saturday Samples blog each week to find a list of participating blogs. From there you can click from link to link to read a wide variety of clean excerpts from romance to mysteries to fantasy to, well, pretty much anything else writers would like to share while keeping it clean.

Here is my first Sweet Saturday excerpt. These are the opening lines of my sweet medieval romance, Loyalty's Web. I hope you enjoy it!

"It is a lie!"

            

The young lady struck his hand away.

            

He caught his breath at the transformation anger worked upon her. He had thought her drab but curious a moment ago, decked out in what he imagined must be some squire's cast off clothes. Although her hose-clad legs were nicely turned, the too large, knee-length tunic completely swallowed up any hint of womanly curves. He might well have taken her for a tall, lanky youth, had it not been for her pale gold braid. Even tumbled over her shoulder as it was, its thick, feathery end brushed against her hip.

            

Now tiny flecks of fire set her silvery eyes ablaze. The way her cheeks glowed, he thought the whole of her might burst into flames. A calm, critical survey confirmed a sad lack of her sister's bewitching charms. But drab this young lady most certainly was not.  

Loyalty's Web is a PG rated medieval romance. You can read more about Loyalty's Web by clicking here.

Now hop back over to Sweet Saturday Samples to find more sweet samples to read!

Available in both print and Kindle versions

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 read
• Open to a random page
• Share at least two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

BE 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. Here's a teaser from Lydia:

The breath caught in her chest as she waited for his first word to alert her that he had arrived at her side, but a strong, direct address never came. Rather, he leaned in very close and offered only a softly spoken "thank you" that was as palpable as if his lips had lingered upon her ear.

From Lydia, by Wanda Luce, PFD, 22% done

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.

How do you say that name?

Here’s something nifty I just figured out how to do! People are always asking me how to pronounce the names of characters in my books. (What do you mean? Rousillon? What’s hard about that? ;-) )

Well guess what? I’ve found out that Google Translate is good for more than just translating a word from another language into French, and vice versa. You can actually type a proper NAME in and get both the English and French pronunciations. I tried it with a few of my characters and it’s pretty cool!

Well, I would say that, being the author, now wouldn’t I? But if you’ve ever wondered how to pronounce any of my characters’ names, here’s your chance to find out. Click on this link to Google Translate. (Hmm. Be careful. If you type in the words “googletranslate.com”, something else comes up that my virus software blocks. Apparently you have to type the words backwards, http:translate.google.com to get to the right site. So be careful!)

Okay, once you’re on Google Translate, set the “From” box to “French.” After all, my characters are French, so that’s the language they would be speaking. (Happily, I translated their story into modern English to pass it on to you. ;-) ) You can set the “To” box to English if you want, but I must worn you that some of the names will come out terribly mispronounced in English. (Like Clothilde. Even in English, the “th” would make a “t” sound, but the English translator doesn’t appear to know that.)

Next, copy and paste any of the character names below into the French box. When you do, a “Listen” box will appear below. (If it doesn’t, go ahead and set the “To” column to English to make the “Listen” boxes come up.) Now click on the “Listen” box below the French column to hear the French pronunciation for each name.

Cool, huh?

For Siriol (Siri) de Calendri and Lucianna Fabio, you can set the French or English column to Italian, if you’d like to hear their names pronounced in their native tongue.

You can also split up the names and insert just the first or last name into the boxes, if you’d like to hear them separately. (Sometimes the translator speaks so fast, the names all run together, so it helps to split them up.)

Given some of the errors in the English translations, I can’t vouch for how universally accurate the French pronunciations will be, but they’ll give you a good idea.

In the end, of course, feel free to pronounce the names any way that make the characters come alive to you. I admit that even I sometimes have my own pronunciations in my head for some of my characters. Just call it author’s license. J

But for a bit of fun, here are some of the characters from Loyalty’s Web and Illuminations of the Heart (in no particular order). Copy, paste, and click away.

Heléne de Laurant

Hugh de Bury

Clothilde de Merval

Triston de Brielle

Etienne de Brielle (another bad English pronunciation)

Therri de Laurant

Aumary de Laurant

Gwenllian de Laurant (you can set this one to translate her first name into a Welsh pronunciation, too, but it’s a man’s voice and sounds odd)

Audiart

Osanne

Garoux de Rousillon

Challons

Siriol (Siri) de Calendri

Lucianna Fabio

Raynor de Molinet

Fauke de Vaumâle

Acelet de Cary

Perrin

(Sir) Balduin

Simon Geraud

Ceridwen (French to Welsh)

Eluned (French to Welsh)

Did I leave anyone out? Probably. But by now, you know how it works, so go ahead and fill in the blanks on your own.

What Am I Reading Now?

I finished reading Counting the Cost a few days ago. I wouldn't quite call it a romance, at least not if by romance you are looking for that nice, neat, happily-ever-after ending. It is, however, an excellently written historical novel, set in Depression-era New Mexico. If you'd like to read a window on the history of that era, you will want to check it out.


Next up on my reading list is Lydia, debut novel of Regency romance author Wanda Luce. As I've mentioned before, I love Regency romances, so as soon as I heard that my publisher had published one, I volunteered to be part of Wanda's blog tour. That probably won't take place until August, but I'm getting a jump on the book. Here's the back cover blurb:

At six and twenty, the impoverished Lydia Hathaway has endured bleak years of heartbreak, longing for a love that never came. Her deceased father's foolhardiness has left her family bankrupt, and Lydia is eventually left no alternative but to take a position as the companion and governess to Susan Ashcroft of Danbury Park in Surrey. During the first days at her post, Lydia pines bitterly for a life she believes forever lost. Anxious for peace, she rambles one morning across the muddy wilds of the Ashcroft estate where she has a most unimaginable encounter with the notorious Lord Connor Denton. As their paths continue to cross, Lydia falls ever deeper in love with the charming rogue while battling against his growing assault on her heart. In spite of his forward attentions, she considers his behavior toward her as nothing less than idle flirtation. And why should she think otherwise? As the wealthy son of an earl, Lord Denton may choose from among the most beautiful women of England's first circles--none to which Lydia claims inclusion. In spite of her indignation over Lord Denton's rakish maneuvering, she anguishes beneath the reality that he is forever beyond her reach. Tormented in a relentless battle to suppress a love she cannot overcome, Lydia resolves to leave the Ashcrofts and Danbury Park forever. After all, she is nothing to Denton--isn't she?


I'll be interviewing Wanda soon on this blog. (Because I love interviewing historical authors!) And as always, stop by on Tuesday to read a Tuesday Teaser from Lydia.

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 read
• Open to a random page
• Share at least two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

BE 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. Here's my second teaser from Counting the Cost:

Heck was up and gone Saturday morning before Ruth awoke. He left coffee made and sitting on the pilot light as he did every morning, but it earned him no gratitude from his wife. Not only had he neglected to even mention her birthday, but he had slept while she tossed and turned and wept and seethed.

From Counting the Cost, by Liz Adair, page 298

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.