Introducing the Cover of CatT

Hi, everyone!

I am so excited, because today I am introducing the cover of Christmas at the Tittletons!  Oh, yes, that day has finally arrived.  I don't know if you were exactly waiting with baited breath for it, but I am certainly feeling a sense of accomplishment over here.

The day that the book itself will be released is still a little iffy, because the proofs have not yet arrived in the mail, but hopefully it will be out by the end of next month.

And now, here is the cover:

Yes, I am Joan Bassington-French.  That is my pen name.

And also, I am officially going to work on the sequel to Christmas at the Tittletons, which will feature Jessamine Warbling as narrator again.  The sequel is going to be called The Fey Castle and will have a whole new cast of characters as well as a few old ones.  Here is a snippet about one of the new characters, Mehitable Churnell:

I suppose the first thing one notices about Miss Churnell is that she is very angular.  She sticks out at corners, and has dark hair and wears dark clothes.  This does not at all set off her complexion, which is a rather sour yellow.  Thus she always manages to look like a shriveled lemon in mourning, even though she is not more than thirty.  She is forever occupied in the profession of finding a husband.  For someone that looks as she does it could be a lifetime profession.

~ The Fey Castle

Thanks for reading, and God bless,

Christmas in July

You haven't heard about it in a while, but I have been working on CatT lately.  Now that the text of Alicia is finished, I have turned my attention to my murder mystery.

I have been busy editing Christmas at the Tittletons and preparing it for publication.  I have already designed the cover, which was an exciting milestone!

Jessamine Warbling

Now that I am mostly finished with CatT except for a final proof and getting a little more feedback from some friends *AHEM* hint, hint, Kiri and Beth, I plan on continuing work on Ira Bournton.  I have gotten into the historical mystery mood again.  So, it looks like Ira, Muriel Irene, and Jonas are going to be resurrected for the rest of the summer, at least.  If I do any more posting, you will probably hear a good deal about the Gaskey family and life in Boston.

Of course, I am considering a sequel to CatT, narrated by my own dear Jessamine Warbling.  After all, I practically set the stage for a sequel at the end of CatT.  So now I will have to follow her to Scotland.  What do you think?  Would you rather have Victorian Scotland or 1870s New England?

Thanks for reading and God bless,

Never nap before bedtime!

Well, last evening I was reading and I fell asleep.  I rarely do that!  Anywho, I slept for an hour and a half, and one of my brothers had to wake me for family devotions.  I was all groggy for that, and after devotions, we read aloud letters from our delightful CBCs!

When I was ready to go to bed, though, I could not fall asleep!  I lay awake for hours, listening to the sounds of night and fantasizing about living in Rindavae (Alicia's world).  That is what you get for taking a nap only a few hours before you are supposed to be sleeping.

Alicia is in the very first stages of editing.  Of course all of my family members are clamoring to read it, which is a bit embarrassing for me, because all I can think of are the numerous mistakes that flood its pages.  Thankfully Mama is a quality assurance manager for an MT company, which is basically a professional spellchecker, so she will help proofread for mistakes.

Meanwhile, while I am editing Alicia, I cannot completely cut out other writing, so I am working on a supplementary volume for another story.  This supplementary volume is in the form of a personal journal, although when I write the story the character keeping the journal, one Loren D'Nore, will be only a secondary character.  However, this journal will provide many necessary background details for the story which I think I am going to call The Wraiths of Torte.  It has been four years in the planning, m'dears.

And in between all of that writing, we have been making blueberry jam and plum cake and blueberry muffins and other such summery delicacies over here!  There is nothing like homemade jam spread out on a fresh piece of homemade bread!  Besides which, we have been canning green beans from our garden.  You should see how many beans we are already harvesting this early in the season!  Hidden Orchards is doing quite well, I must say!

Thanks for reading, and God Bless,

Sweet Victory!

Oh, yes, that is what I call finishing the text for Alicia!  Just a few minutes ago I typed finis and ended at 116,681 words, which is a lot of words!  I am so excited!  Here is a collage which I made up for the characters in the story to help along with the celebration.  Perhaps I am the only one celebrating this.  I know that I did not finish the story in June like I had hoped to, but I became very busy, and then I was distracted earlier this month when a certain slew of CBCs came over and stayed for a week!

Anywho, the story is finished, and I am very happy!  Oh, yes, I am very happy!  So is Alicia.  Her hand hurts from all the writing she has been doing.  They do not have any shortcuts in Valewin.  She had to write her whole story down with a pen.

Perhaps you would like some snippets!

“I feel so useless right now,” moaned Calla.  “The attack was so quick, and I did not even have time to think!”

            “Where were you when Elori Tajisscra came?” asked Rachelle.

            “I heard a commotion in the courtyard, so I came to see what it was, and when I saw that wretched creature, I ran back to my chamber and hid.  Only after one of the servants came and told me what had happened did I leave.  Of course, I suppose that running and hiding is cowardly, but I could not think of anything else to do.”

            Rachelle nodded grimly.  “Against Elori I think no one could do anything.”

            I was not feeling nearly as generous toward Calla as Rachelle seemed to be.  Of course, Calla probably did the sensible thing, but I had always cherished a hope that Calla would always come in my moments of mortal danger if she could.  Instead, I found that she cared more for her safety than her friend’s lives.  I was disgusted.

~ Alicia

Birinin beamed gloriously.  Elstav smiled as drily as one can possibly smile.  “Thank you, Eseth Deladel.  I am certain that you will be of good service to Alfieri.  He is the hero.”

            “I do not mean to lead!” cried Alfieri.

            “Ah, but that is your responsibility!” cried Elstav.  “Birinin and I are at your side unconditionally as long as you remain true, but you will make the ultimate decisions.  You have seen the leader of the opposing side.  Do you think that you can defeat him?  He thinks that you can.”

            “He is so powerful!” exclaimed Alfieri.

            “Indeed, he is a very powerful creature, but so are you,” answered Birinin.  “The Good Master made you very powerful indeed, although you cannot use Lucor.  You see, you have the three gifts that the Good Master gave Mortals.  Tajisscra can never taste your kind of power, which is so much better than Lucor.  Even we Cheol Ruvin can never know the fullness of love or loyalty or courage as you can.  Mortals are the most privileged, you see.  You have the true power, and you must learn to use it.”

~ Alicia

Thanks for reading!