Too Much To Do

My daughter is making a slow recovery, but I am still taking two of her children to school and collecting one of them at one o'clock, cooking main meals for them and going to her house in the evenings to help out. This means that writing my new novel, Monday's Child, as well as many 'writerly' activities are taking a proverbial back seat. Deep, deep sigh.

Collector's Copy

I took my daughter's younger children to pre-school and primary school and, later in the morning visited a friend after arranging the three children's evening meal. Next I indulged myself by trawling through the charity shops in one of which I found a collector's copy of I Will Repay  by Baroness Orczy, Author of The Scarlet Pimpernel published. My copy of I Will Repay was published in 1906 - 107 years ago.

Fiction I Read Recently.

I re-read three novels, Jane Eyre, The Scarlet Pimpernel and Gone With the Wind. Although I was aware of the bygone styles of writing while reading and Margaret Mitchell's questionable views on slavery, which are incorporated in her novel, the powerful stories swept me away.

I have also read The Last Runaway by Tracy Chevalier, which gripped me from the first page to the last. In complete contrast, I read Banishment, a light-hearted Regency Romance with twists in the tale by M. C. Beaton, author of Agatha Raisin, and liked it enough to begin reading Intrigue, the second in the series. The heroine of each novel is one of six sisters. If the second novel is as an enjoyable bedtime read as the first, I also hope to read Deception, Folly Romance and Homecoming.

Day Off

I took a day off from writing to sort my house out now that the kitchen has been redecorated. I'm pleased with everything other than the woodwork. The painter hasn't rubbed the old paint down properly and he did not fill in chips etc., in the wood. I've contacted his boss and have to wait and see what the response is. Tomorrow I shall try to make up lost writing time but as I'm still doing the school run, cooking and helping out my daughter in other ways don't know if I'll succeed.

Busy Day Ahead

I know my day will be very busy, so I woke at 6 a.m. posted an e-mail to The Romantic Novelist's Association  on line group, checked my e-mails and wrote 2,000 words of Monday's Child from the viewpoint of an important character in the sub-plot. I hope it will  amuse my readers.

It's nearly time to have breakfast, do one or two mundane chores and then get ready to take my 9 year-old grandson to play in a football match. Afterward, I am taking my daughter's three children and my second eldest son out to lunch.

My daughter was still in an awful state yesterday evening. I hope she will be a little better today, but will go round the corner to her house at tea time to help her and sit with the children until they go to bed.

It's really hard to see a person one loves suffer so much.

Daughter's Ill Health and my Novel.

I'm not superwoman so I am tired this evening. This morning I woke even earlier than usual and wrote 2,000 words of Monday's Child. Next I revised an earlier chapter before checking my e-mails.

I emptied another carton of kitchen paraphernalia and put it on the shelves in my new kitchen cupboards. By then it was time to take my daughter's older son to his gymnastics lesson. He is on the London South East team and is practising for a competition. Her younger son, who is nine, and I had a quick lunch and then returned his books to the library. He wanted to know about Shakespeare so he was delighted to find an informative book about the bard, his plays and poetry. At the moment he is learning about World War I at school and is a keen football player so he chose some books about these subjects.

After I took him home, I put my feet up for an hour and then cooked the evening meal for my daughter and the three children.

She is really suffering - asthma attacks, dreadful migraines and to make matters worse, as I mentioned yesterday  she has either dislocated her shoulder or the cartilage is swollen and wrapped around something. Deep, deep sigh, the anti-inflammatory medication which she should not have been prescribed have upset her entire system and I fear she is becoming dehydrated because she can't keep anything down.

I'm now tapping away on the laptop having put the four year old to bed and will stay at my daughter's house until it is time for the boys to go to sleep. By then, I'll be glad of my own comfortable bed.

Behind my Writing Schedule

Every week I plan my 'writerly' activities. However, as I've posted before, real life often intervenes. My daughter's asthma attacks were decreasing. However she was suffering acute pain in her upper arm and shoulder so she saw a doctor at the emergency surgery. He did not know what was wrong and prescribed anti-inflammatory tablets. My daughter's asthma grew much worse. She then found out the medication is unsuitable for people who suffer from asthma. Back to the surgery today, where she saw another doctor. She has either dislocated her shoulder or the cartilage is swollen and wrapped round a muscle. Anyway, she can't drive so I did the school run and took her to hospital for an x ray.
I've made a huge pot of vegetarian Scotch broth for her and her family, but she doesn't feel like eating because she also has the migraine from hell. If it would help I would cry for her.

Plotting Monday's Child

I never plot my novels in advance in detail, but I do know what is going to happen and how the novel will end.

I am now approximately two thirds of the way through my new novel, Monday's Child, the sequel to Sunday's Child. I have a main plot and a sub-plot and was not sure of the sequence of events. This morning, I wrote a 1,000 words and then listed the events and the order in which they will take place - very satisfying!

Fatigue, Stress and The Leisure Centre

Three weeks ago or more, I had what I thought was only a heavy cold. I felt so ill that I went to the doctors, a no no for mere colds. I had a virus and completed a course of anti-biotics. The symptoms have cleared up but I felt so tired that it was an effort to do anything, and having a new kitchen installed and a new release, The Captain and The Countess made me even more tired. So, yesterday, I took most of the day off and went to the health suite. I swam and enjoyed the sauna, steam room and Jacuzzi. I enjoyed it so much that after I lunch out with one of my sons, I shall return to the leisure centre today.

The Future Queen Anne Stuart

Three of my novels set in the reign of Queen Anne have been published and I plan to write another one.

Sometimes, when I mention Queen Anne, people think I refer to Queen Anne Boleyn. In fact, I am referring to Queen Anne Stuart, so I decided to post about the future Queen of England who reigned from 1702 - 1714.

 

The Cinderella Princess

1

At the birth of the future Queen Anne, Sturart on the 6^th February, 1665 neither her uncle, the second King Charles, nor her father, James, and heir, imagined she would become the last of the Stuart monarchs. After all, Charles’ seven bastards proved his virility, and there was every reason to believe he and his queen of three years would have legitimate heirs to the throne. However, in the unlikely event of their not producing one, his brother and sister-in-law, James and Anne, the Duke and Duchess of York, had produced an elder brother and sister for the latest addition to their nursery, Baby Anne.

 

In those days infant mortality was high. The son ‘Cinderella’s’ mother carried when she married only lived for six months. Fortunately, Anne and her older sister, Mary, survived the Great Plague, which broke out in the year of her birth. The little princesses grew up in their nursery but their brother James, another brother and two little sisters died. One can imagine the effects of these deaths on ‘Cinderella’, a small girl with poor health whose weak eyes watered constantly.

 

Doubtless, it was with the best of intentions that with the consent of ‘Cinderella’s’ uncle, the king, her parents sent the four year old to her grandmother, widow of the executed first Charles, who now lived in France.

 

A portrait of the Anne as a small girl painted by an unknown artist at the French Court depicts a  plump, adorable little girl, dressed in brocade and playing with a King Charles spaniel. Yet her eyes, set in an oval face with a mouth shaped in a perfect cupid’s bow, are wary.

Yesterday and Today

No time to blog yesterday. Enjoyed pancakes for breakfast at my daughter's house, then went shopping, which took most of the morning, and the rest of the day galloped away with me.

Lots to do, and the house is still in a mess while the new kitchen is being redecorated and new units are being installed. However, I wrote another 2,000 words of Monday's Child this morning, which is very satisfying.

The Scarlet Pimpernel

I have finished re-reading The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy. I bought an illustrated copy of the 68th edition published in May, 1938. On the cover are gold embossed insignias of the Mary Datchett Girls' School, Camberwell, featuring a lady wearing a wimple and Cloth Workers London featuring their coat of arms, two winged creatures supporting a shield.

The novel was a prize for needlework given to Joan Eastland in July 1938.

I hope Joan enjoyed reading the book.

I first read The Scarlet Pimpernel years ago and, after watching adaptations of Baroness Orczy's famous tale,  had forgotten how the book ended.

The novel is written from the omniscient author's viewpoint and jumped from one person to another without spoiling my enjoyment although the style is so old-fashioned.

However, when I read the following, which I imagine made Joan's heart beat faster, I wondered how modern readers react to it.

"He (Percy Blakeney, The Scarlet Pimpernel) was  but a man madly, blindly, passionately in love, and as soon as her (his wife's) light footstep had died away within the house, he knelt down upon the terrace steps, and in the very madness of his love he kissed one by one the places where her small foot had trodden, and the stone balustrade there, where her tiny hand rested last."

After I read it, I could not help wondering if any man really would kiss the ground his beloved had stepped on.

Guest Blogger

I am a guest at the following blogspots. If you would like to, please visit them and leave a comment.

http://www.katie1carrol.com/blog and http://wendylaharnar.blogspot.com.au2014/02/yy-its-party-time-book-launch.html

The Captain and The Countess

I'm delighted to let all of you know that today my novel, The Captain and The Countess,  has been published. The novel is set in England in the reign of Queen Anne Stuart 1702-1714. You can see the book cover and read the first chapter etc., on line.

 

The novel is available from: MuseItUp Publishing - Amazon - Smashwords - Omnilit - All Romance & Coffeetime Romance.

 

All the best,

Rosemary Morris

Historical Novelist

www.rosemarymorris.co.uk

http://rosemarymorris.blogspot.com

www.rosemarymorris.com/writerinagarret

Recycling Arts Project

I took my grandson aged eight and my granddaughter aged four to an event at the library. It was organised by the local Recycling Arts Project aka Your Ideas Ware house. The items used to create fruit and vegetables were made from stuff thrown out by local industry. The local branch of the national scrapstore network is available for creative reuse in artistic and practical projects.

The children made a leek and a large purple plum, which they chose to take home to show their mother instead of adding them to a painted rural landscape, with a large tree with branches on which fruit could be hung.

The stock at the centre changes regularly. Items available include:foam,strapping, fabric, tiles, cardboard tubes, wadding, acrylic off-cuts etc., as well as cards, papers, foils and the unexpected.

I think its well worth £15 a year for unlimited help yourself supplies for my grandchildren to use creatively.

The centre also runs themed making sessions using materials from the warehouse.

Out of Sorts

I'm out of sorts today. I intended to post another snippet from my new release, The Captain and The Countess, but work started on my new kitchen. From early this morning workmen have been coming and going so I haven't been able to concentrate. All the appliances have been moved, and nearly everything else that is non-essential has been packed in cardboard cartons and moved into the sitting room in which the furniture is covered with dust sheets.

Tomorrow the electrician is coming. There will be no electricity from 8.a.m. until the electrician leaves. Fortunately, I can go to my daughter's house to make cups of tea etc.

I'm told the work won't be completed until the 3rd of March. I'm sure I'll  be delighted with the completed kitchen but I wish it could be finished earlier. Mind you, I feel ungrateful as I should be pleased to be getting a new kitchen instead of being out of sorts.

 

Snippet from The Captain and The Countess, set in England in Queen Anne Stuart’s reign 1702 – 1714. Release date from MuseItUp Publishing 21/02/2014

 

 

Captain Howard and The Countess of Sinclair sat side-by-side opposite Mrs Radcliffe, on the sopha upholstered in crimson damask. 

Although Kate smiled at him, the expression in her large blue eyes remained as cool as it had been when she first entered the salon. “Tomorrow, please join those who visit me daily at my morning levee.”

“I fear my voice would be lost among many, thus casting me into obscurity,” Edward replied much amused.

“I don’t take you for one to be ignored, sir. However, I respect your wishes.  Besides those who seek my patronage, there are many gentlemen eager to wait on me. ’Tis more than my porter’s life is worth to deny them entry.” She turned her attention to his godmother and raised a pencilled eyebrow. “Mrs Radcliffe, do you not agree it is pleasant to lie abed in the morning while indulging in conversation with one’s admirers?”

 Frances toyed with her fan. “Receiving one’s admirers does help to pass the time.”

“Come, come, madam, confess you value their advice,” Kate teased.

“Sometimes.” Frances looked at her most favoured admirer, Sir Newton.

Kate turned her attention to Edward. “I have no doubt you would become a cherished member of the group of those who seek my favour.”

 “Countess, life at sea teaches a man to be wary of enemies, not to compete with them. I am not a flirt who is given to haunting ladies’ bedchambers.”

“If I seclude myself with you tomorrow morning, may I have the pleasure of your company?”

“Alone with you in your bedchamber? How improper. Are you always so careless of your reputation?” he asked, with a hint of laughter in his voice. 

Her eyes widened. “I have no reputation to guard, Captain.” She had spoken in a forward manner he was unaccustomed to in polite society.

 “Have you not?” Edward needed a plunge in icy water.

A frozen glimpse of despair deep in her eyes unsettled Edward. Did he imagine it? He could not speak. Why should a lady like the countess despair? 

He recovered his voice. “If it is your custom to take the air in The Mall, I shall be pleased to be your sole escort.”

Kate fidgeted with one of the diamond buckles that fastened her satin covered stays. “Are the battle lines drawn?”

“Don’t confuse battle lines with a mere skirmish at sea.” His voice hinted at the chuckle he restrained.

“There are those who would welcome an invitation to a tête-à-tête with me.”

 He preferred to take the lead in affairs of the heart. “Perhaps I am not one of them,” he teased. “Maybe I would like to be your friend.”

“My friend? Is that all you want of me?”

His eyes widened.

Kate laughed.  “No, I thought not.”

 

* * * *

www.rosemarymorris.co.uk

http://rosemarymorris.blogspot.com

www.facebook.com/writerinagarret

 

 

 

 

Snippet 4 The Captain and The Countess

 

Snippet from The Captain and The Countess, set in England in Queen Anne Stuart’s reign 1702 – 1714. Release date from MuseItUp Publishing 21/02/2014

 

 

Captain Howard and The Countess of Sinclair sat side-by-side opposite Mrs Radcliffe, on the sopha upholstered in crimson damask. 

Although Kate smiled at him, the expression in her large blue eyes remained as cool as it had been when she first entered the salon. “Tomorrow, please join those who visit me daily at my morning levee.”

“I fear my voice would be lost among many, thus casting me into obscurity,” Edward replied much amused.

“I don’t take you for one to be ignored, sir. However, I respect your wishes.  Besides those who seek my patronage, there are many gentlemen eager to wait on me. ’Tis more than my porter’s life is worth to deny them entry.” She turned her attention to his godmother and raised a pencilled eyebrow. “Mrs Radcliffe, do you not agree it is pleasant to lie abed in the morning while indulging in conversation with one’s admirers?”

 Frances toyed with her fan. “Receiving one’s admirers does help to pass the time.”

“Come, come, madam, confess you value their advice,” Kate teased.

“Sometimes.” Frances looked at her most favoured admirer, Sir Newton.

Kate turned her attention to Edward. “I have no doubt you would become a cherished member of the group of those who seek my favour.”

 “Countess, life at sea teaches a man to be wary of enemies, not to compete with them. I am not a flirt who is given to haunting ladies’ bedchambers.”

“If I seclude myself with you tomorrow morning, may I have the pleasure of your company?”

“Alone with you in your bedchamber? How improper. Are you always so careless of your reputation?” he asked, with a hint of laughter in his voice. 

Her eyes widened. “I have no reputation to guard, Captain.” She had spoken in a forward manner he was unaccustomed to in polite society.

 “Have you not?” Edward needed a plunge in icy water.

A frozen glimpse of despair deep in her eyes unsettled Edward. Did he imagine it? He could not speak. Why should a lady like the countess despair? 

He recovered his voice. “If it is your custom to take the air in The Mall, I shall be pleased to be your sole escort.”

Kate fidgeted with one of the diamond buckles that fastened her satin covered stays. “Are the battle lines drawn?”

“Don’t confuse battle lines with a mere skirmish at sea.” His voice hinted at the chuckle he restrained.

“There are those who would welcome an invitation to a tête-à-tête with me.”

 He preferred to take the lead in affairs of the heart. “Perhaps I am not one of them,” he teased. “Maybe I would like to be your friend.”

“My friend? Is that all you want of me?”

His eyes widened.

Kate laughed.  “No, I thought not.”

 

* * * *

www.rosemarymorris.co.uk

http://rosemarymorris.blogspot.com

www.facebook.com/writerinagarret

 

 

 

 

Snippet No.3 The Captain and The Countess

The Captain and The Countess set in England in Queen Anne Stuart's reign - 1702-1714. Publisher MuseItUp Publishing. Publication date 21/02/2014

 

Kate smoothed the gleaming folds of her turquoise blue silk gown. The lady knew how to dress to make the utmost of her natural beauty. Her gown and petticoat, not to mention sleeves and under-sleeves, as well as her bodice and stays, relied for effect on simple design and fine fabrics. He approved of her ensemble, the elegance of which did not depend on either a riot of colours or a multitude of bows and other trimmings. Later, he would sketch her from memory.

Kate inclined her head to his godmother. “Will you not warn your godson I am unsound, wild, and a bad influence on the young?”

Edward gazed into Kate’s eyes.  Before his demise, had her husband banished her to a manor deep in the country? If it was true, why did he do so?

Kate’s eyebrows slanted down at the inner corners. She stared back at him.  He laughed, raised her hands to his lips and kissed each in turn. “I look forward to furthering my acquaintance with you.”

“High-handed.” Kate gurgled with laughter. “Captain, please release me.”

What did he care if she were some ten years his elder? He wanted to get to know her better. Edward bowed. “Your slightest wish is my command.”

 

www.rosemarymorris.co.uk

http://rosemarymorris.blogspot.com

www.facebook.com/writerinagarret

 

 

Snippet from The Captain and The Countess

Only a week until my novel The Captain and The Countess, set in England in Queen Anne Stuart's reign, is released.

Captain Howard advanced toward the countess, conscious of the sound of his footsteps on the wooden floor, the muted noise of coaches and drays through the closed windows and, from the fireplace, the crackle of burning logs which relieved the chill of early spring.

The buzz of conversation resumed. Her ladyship scrutinised him. Did she approve of his appearance? A smile curved her heart-shaped mouth. He repressed his amusement. Edward suspected the widow’s rosy lips owed more to artifice than nature.

“How do you do, sir,” she said when he stood before her. “I think we have not met previously. Her eyes assessed him dispassionately. My name is Sinclair, Katherine Sinclair. I dislike formality. You may call me Kate.”

“Captain Howard at your service, Countess.” Shocked but amused by boldness more suited to a tavern wench than a great lady, Edward paid homage with a low bow before he spoke again. “Despite your permission, I am not presumptuous enough to call you Kate, yet I shall say that had we already met, I would remember you.”

“You are gallant, sir, but you are young to have achieved so high a rank in Her Majesty’s navy.”

“An unexpected promotion earned in battle which the navy did not subsequently commute.”

“You are to be congratulated on what, I can only assume, were acts of bravery.”“Thank you, Countess.”

The depths of her ladyship’s sapphire cross and earrings blazed, matching his sudden fierce desire.

Kate, some four inches shorter than Edward, looked up at him.

He leaned forward. The customary greeting of a kiss on her lips lingered longer than etiquette dictated. Her eyes widened....

 

Publisher. MuseItUp Publishing