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 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 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 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 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!

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I hope some of you will find Name Your Medieval Character helpful and enjoyable. It is available in e-book format on Kindle and Smashwords for just .99 cents! Print version coming soon.