Best Dauntless Deals

The release of Dauntless is still about six months away, but for those of you who like to plan ahead...I thought I'd share the best pre-order deals.

For print, try CBD at only $7.99. Click here.

For ebook, the current winner is amazon also at $7.99. Click here.

And if you haven't checked out my new Valiant Hearts website yet, be sure to do that!!! http://valiantheartsseries.blogspot.com/p/series.html

My Blog has a Blog

At our house we always say, "This is my dog Scruffy, and this is Scruffy's dog Bella." Well, now I kind of feel like my blog has a blog. I just launched a new blog for my young adult Valiant Hearts series. I don't plan to advertise it much at this point, since book one will not be released for close to a year, but you, my faithful readers, are welcome to visit it and give feedback. My plan is to continue improving it as I get more official graphics for the series.

 I'm still debating whether I should change the look of my current website and blog as the time draws closer. I'm also wondering if I should update my "Dance with Passion" tagline, since the new series has little to do with dance. The passion will still apply, but my new heroines are much more likely to fight with passion than merely dance around with it. LOL. Any thoughts would be appreciated. One friend suggested, "Empowering Your Passions." Does anyone like that one?

Anyway, here is the link to the new blog. Maybe it will give you some ideas. http://valiantheartsseries.blogspot.com/p/series.html

Next on the Horizon - The Awesome, the Funny, and the Bittersweet

This weekend on facebook I shared this totally awesome news.

I've been sitting on this announcement since before Christmas, but I just signed a three-book deal with Bethany House Publishers. For those of you who don't really know what that means, it's pretty much a lifetime dream come true. Bethany is one of the largest and best respected publishers of Christian fiction, and a three book deal is HUGE. Even better, the books will release one every six months, so I'll be a busy author too.

This is for my medieval adventure/romance series that I've previewed a few times on this blog. The series is Valiant Hearts and book one is Dauntless. It's geared toward teens, although I'm sure adults will enjoy it too, as is so often the case these days (Go Katniss!) The general idea of the series is that it depicts strong medieval female characters in traditionally male roles. For this first book, Lady Merry Ellison finds herself on the wrong side of the law during the reign of the evil King John and takes on a Robin Hood sort of role. These pictures are of Keira Knightley in Princess of Thieves, but they'll give you the idea of the story.

The funny part of this whole journey is that my first novel was set in the medieval period, but I was told there was no market for medieval fiction in Christian publishing. I love this time period, and I was so sad about that. Of course, I published it with a small press then took on the challenge of finding a more marketable niche, trying my hand at contemporary women's fiction and American set historical romance. But I don't find it surprising that for my first big publishing deal, I've come back to my first love. It took a few subtle shifts to find my market. As I mentioned, the series is geared toward teens and the New Adult market. Really, older teens and twenty somethings were the people I had in my mind as an audience all along, but the term "New Adult" didn't exist in 2006 when I wrote Dance of the Dandelion. The bigger shift is that this series has lots of action, adventure, and suspense.

Now for the bittersweet. Because I will be on a busy schedule of a book every six months with this new series, I am going to have to shelve my contemporary Deep Within series indefinitely. If this is terribly upsetting to anyone, please contact me personally by email. As for me, this was a hard decision to make, but now that I've adjusted to the idea, I'm relieved. It frees me to look forward to Valiant Hearts with excitement and joy, rather than feeling stressed about my writing schedule.

Dauntless will release sometime next spring. I'm sure I'll be back with plenty of news about the series along the way, but for a sneak peek, check out my Pinterest page here.

Medieval Acrobats???

Historical research is tough. Even tougher than finding the right information sometimes, is knowing the right questions to ask. For example, in my first medieval novel I assumed they would have cards and coffee. But when I actually thought to check on those issues, I found out my setting was 50 years too early for either of them to have made their way to England. On the coffee issue, I just changed the drink. On the cards issue, I had a crusader bring them back from the Holy Land.

I mentioned before that my latest medieval creation has a fun acrobatic twist. I can't tell you how many times I've read about medieval "acrobats" in historical text books. So, I never thought to ask if the word acrobat actually existed at the time. But right before sending out my final version of Dauntless Love, my daughter's skepticism about the acrobats prompted me to do a little more last minute research. And...I found out the word "acrobat" actually did not exist in English at that time. They would have been called "tumblers" or possibly "aerialists" if they worked off the ground. When used in military training, acrobatics would have been referred to as "agility skills." Mind you, since they spoke Middle English in 1217, I'm fairly lenient with myself on using words from as late as the 1600s when the language stabilized. But "acrobat" wasn't around until the 1800s. 

In my last minute research I also found this cool video of medieval "tumblers." If they claim to be "acrobats," don't you believe them!

Just for Fun - An Acrobatic Twist

Little known fact, in addition to dance, I also love gymnastics and acrobatics. Since Dauntless Love, the novel I am just finishing up, takes place in the medieval period, I thought it would be fun to add an acrobatic twist.

I pretty much hung up my personal acrobatic hat a few years back, but all three of my children are incredible acrobats. Just for fun, here is my farewell acrobatic performance. I'm guessing this was around 2008. My two kids are the ones doing the fancy tricks. Gymnastics fans, notice the lovely back flip by my son at about 2:16. :) My youngest was still too little for choreography at the time, but he is following right in their footsteps.

Everything About You from danzingfool on GodTube.

Writing Inspiration from the BBC

I need to be writing this week. I'm close to finishing up my new YA manuscript, Dauntless Love, with a Robin Hood type heroine. And when I'm really stuck on this project, the best inspiration comes from watching the BBC's new Robin Hood on Netflix. Not only is it an opportunity to immerse myself in the right time and place, but it includes several strong female characters. Their Marian is a thief and crusader for justice in her own right, called The Night Watchman. At first I thought much of this show was historically inaccurate, but the more I study the time, I discover it is accurate in surprising ways, including its use of these strong, battle-worthy women. So here's a peek into Marian's world, which has provided me with so much inspiration.