Head Banging

Okay, so I’ve been procrastinating. Writing a tight script for this video has turned out to be considerably more of a challenge than I anticipated. For some reason I’m having a really hard time getting it pared down to where it’ll move quickly and carry viewers right along. I’ve trimmed and tweaked and deleted and put back what I deleted, and I’m still not entirely satisfied.

Here’s what I have so far, numbered by sequence.

1. Eastertide 1775

2. British warships blockade Boston’s once-thriving port

3. while the Regulars occupy the city.

4. As conflict builds to a deadly confrontation

5. Elizabeth Howard plays a dangerous game

6. By day she flirts boldly with British officers

7. and by night, as the elusive courier Oriole,

8. she smuggles intelligence and weapons to the patriots

9. But with the arrival of Jonathan Carleton

10. an officer in the Seventeenth Light Dragoons

11. she must fight a war of wits and words

12. as he quickly becomes her most dangerous foe.

13. As the first blood is spilled at Lexington and Concord

14. and Elizabeth is drawn ever closer to the carnage of Bunker Hill

15. Carleton sacrifices his life to save hers

16. Now can she rescue him from the hangman’s noose

17. and her heart from his keeping?

18. The nation’s epic war for independence begins . . .

19. Book cover

20. Credits

I’m fairly happy with the beginning, but segments 9 through 15 are driving me crazy. Obviously I need to convey that information, but it has to be concise and flow naturally. Right now it feels awkward and clunky, and I’ve played with it to the point that I’m no longer objective.

Of course, a huge obstacle to writing this is knowing that I have to find images to illustrate each sequence. I’ve accumulated a number that work fine, including a couple of video clips. But for several of these lines, finding anything that’s even an approximation of what I need is going to be a major task. How do you illustrate fighting a war of wits and words, for pity’s sake? But I love that line. It captures the interaction between Jonathan and Elizabeth in this book perfectly in just a few words, so I don’t want to give it up.

Well, crumbs. I guess I’ll just have to set this project aside for the time being, mull it over, and pray the muse eventually comes up with a stroke of genius.

The good news is that I’ve made good progress on Crucible of War. I’ve gotten my characters across the Delaware with considerable travail, and now I’m adding research notes about the Battle of Trenton directly into the file. Once I have a moment-by-moment narrative of a battle in front of me, scenes develop vividly in my head and spill out on the page. So I’m eager to finish entering the dry narrative so I can use them as a springboard to create some exciting action.

By a fortuitous stroke, the latest issue of the DAR’s magazine, American Spirit, included an article about American prisoners of war during the Revolution that I found quite helpful for the development of my plotline at the end of Crucible and beginning of Valley of the Shadow. Lots of great detail there that will make its way into my story! When the stars all come into alignment like that, it keeps me forging onward.

Speaking of video trailers . . .

If you’ll remember, last year around this time I did a series on the book trailer I created for Wind of the Spirit. You can see the results at the bottom of this page. Well, I had so much fun creating it—never mind the frustrations—that I kept thinking about creating trailers for Daughter of Liberty and Native Son too. And after I posted them on Kindle, the urge became even stronger. As if I don’t have enough to do. But a lady has to have some playtime too, right?

Anyway, what really got me excited about doing a DOL video was a trailer on YouTube about the Scott Brown campaign for Ted Kennedy’s senate seat in Massachusetts back in January. I didn’t stumble across it until shortly after the election, but I thought it was fantastic, and I immediately decided it would make a great “template” for my own purposes.

Here’s the video, “Massachusetts Miracle.” Regardless of your political views, you have to admit that it’s tightly written and compellingly done. I especially like the music, which ties the images together very effectively.



I started working on the trailer a few weeks ago, but then got bogged down. But the “Too Late to Apologize” video stirred the muse into action again. So in my next few posts, I’m going to document the creation of the DOL video to ensure that I get it done! Unfortunately, however, NS is going to have to wait. When you’re as technically challenged as I am, putting one of these together takes a while, and if I’m ever going to get Crucible of War written, I need to limit my playing around!

Too Late to Apologize!

Lori Benton posted this video on her blog, and it is just too fantastic!! I simply had to share. If you haven't already seen it, you'll find it still strangely relevant today....

Book Signing Photos

I thought you might like to see a couple of photos from the book signing at Barnes & Noble on the 6th. The staff at the store were wonderful to us! We had a lot of fun, met a lot of people, and sold some books too.

Since we were on Jen’s side of town, she packed the place out. Here is a photo of her with her pretty books. The second one is of me and Carol Batey. Carol and I shared a table, while Jen sat across the aisle from us. We were right by the door where we could tackle customers as they came into the store.

Well, what do you know!!! While I was waiting for the photos to upload—we’re on satellite, and it’s slow—I wandered over to Lori Benton’s blog to see what she’s been up to, and . . . she has pages!!!! When did that happen?! I quickly clicked back here and noticed a link that says Edit Pages. Aha!!!! I guess while I’ve been buried in the publishing side of this venture of mine, blogger decided to give us the capacity to add pages to our blogs. Now please don’t tell me that’s been available for the last several years! Good gravy—I’m behind the times!

Oh, fun!!! Another excuse to fiddle around with my blogs. Gotta squeeze some play time into my schedule . . . LOL! I’ve created a bio page, and I’ll get some more up asap. Hmmm . . . I need to make a list . . .

Book Signing Alert!

Life has been unusually crazy ever since the first of the year. I keep hoping things will slow down so I can spend more time writing, but so far things have gone in the other direction!

To catch up, Daughter of Liberty and Native Son did go live on Kindle shortly after my last post. I guess I was just too impatient—not that that’s typical of me!

I have another book signing coming up, this one at the Barnes and Noble at The Streets of Indian Lake, 300 Indian Lake Blvd, Hendersonville, Tennessee, on March 6. I’ll be signing copies of Wind of the Spirit from 2 to 4 p.m. with authors Jen Stephens and Carol S. Batey (yes, her name is spelled wrong on the sign!). Jen will sign copies of her new release from Sheaf House, The Heart’s Journey Home, and Carol will sign her release Poise for the Runway of Your Life. I also plan to have copies of Daughter of Liberty and Native Son on hand for readers who aren’t familiar with the series yet.

It’s always enjoyable when you can share a signing with other authors, and I’m looking forward to this event. We may just get a little wild and crazy! If you happen to be in the area, please drop by and join us for a bit of fun!

Series Update. I’m getting to the point where I really need to bear down on finishing the manuscript for Crucible of War. If we’re going to make the fall 2011 pub date, I'll have to have it finished by the end of the year. The battles of Trenton and Princeton are taking up my time right now. Writing battles is always intense, and these battles, which took place between Christmas 1776 and January 3, 1777, were particularly complex. The action starts off with Washington’s famous crossing of the Delaware.

In this volume I’m also going to have to include Saratoga, which was actually a series of battles, pivotal confrontations between the British and Americans that ultimately turned the tide of the war. Native Americans were involved at Saratoga, so Carleton, as White Eagle, is going to bring some members of his Shawnee clan along to join in the fight.

I’d like to get the military developments out of the way so I can focus on the juicy details of Carleton and Elizabeth’s and Andrews and Blue Sky’s lives. Naturally there’s going to be a lot of passion, politics, and peril too as Elizabeth faces off against British General William Howe. There will be more than a few twists along the way. I’ll share additional details on those later.

I’m going to try to be much more faithful about updating this blog in 2010, but then I’ve said that before. Life has a way of hijacking my time, and I suspect you all have the same experience!