A Day in the Oh-So-Glamorous Life of Roseanna

My days, when I'm writing, begin at about 5:30. I have in the past set the alarm for this lovely, dark hour, but lately my cat has been playing the role of alarm clock and revving her engine right in my ear at that time every morning--even on weekends. Sometimes at 4:30. But I digress. ;-)

I'm a morning person, so I don't stumble out of bed, I bounce. (Don't hate me, LOL. I start stumbling at about 9 p.m.) I tiptoe down the stairs, praying with every creaking step that my also-morning-person five-year-old son doesn't wake up. As I pass through the darkened living room, sweeping my foot out lest I step on said engine-revving cat or her sister, I nab my laptop from the end table that doubles as my desk. A few more steps and I'm in the kitchen, squinting against the sudden light. I put Mr. Laptop down on the counter and instruct Mr. Coffee to dispense his life-giving brew. Then I pull over a stool and get to work.

My actual desk, before I got the flag, set up for the creation of
Love Finds You in Annapolis, Maryland (Summerside, 2011)

I have a desk. Really, I do. It's in the former-nursery that's now our family school room, and it's lovely. Antique (a.k.a well worn), with my Jane Austen action figure perched happily on top, and a Betsy Ross flag hanging right above me. But the wi-fi signal is terrible, so I rarely use it when writing. Which means my home school binder has taken up residence there, and that sucker is HUGE! Where would I put the laptop anyway?? ;-) Later in the day, after the kids are up, the computer will therefore move to the aforementioned end table in the living room. And by the end of the day, the kiddos will have amassed a pile of toys on my few inches of space there, LOL.

My little boy usually wakes up at a 6, which begins the scavenger hunt of my day. Breakfast for him, drink for him, toy for him, second breakfast for him...then his sister will usually fumble her way down the stairs, and we get to repeat the process. When I remember, I exercise at 7:30. When I look down at my clock and realize it's already 8:24, I say "Shucks. No time..." Shower, and then the school day begins.

I have a vague awareness of the fact that other writers count on those school hours for work. As a home school mom, it's the other way around for me. I count on the morning hours, our breaks, and sometimes the evenings for making progress on those word-count goals. I've gotten pretty good at getting writing done in five minute chunks. It sometimes makes me cranky, LOL, but I manage.

My end table desk...absent the laptop solely for the purpose
of taking a picture when I signed the contract for Ring of Secrets.

But writer/teacher/mommy aren't my only hats, and usually at some point in the day, I'm slipping into my editor's role. I'm an acquisitions editor and designer for WhiteFire Publishing, which means emails, designing covers and promo material, reading submissions, chatting with the other editors, and, oh, editing. 

The awesome thing about this arrangement is that everything's right here, and I can bounce back and forth between the things needing my attention, be they kids, cats, husband, authors, or my editors. The drawback, of course, is that everything's right here, and I can't ever focus on just one thing, LOL. But I love my jobs--all of them. To the point where I don't say things like, "I need some time off!" I say, instead, "I need some time to work!" Evidenced by the fact that my five-year-old has taken to saying, "Pretty pretty please with work on top?" ;-)

I'm pretty constantly wondering what new task will prove too much...but thus far, I'm doing pretty well just giving it all to God, begging my mom and mom-in-law to babysit every now and then, and hanging on for dear life. 

Glamorous? No. But oh, how blessed I am to be doing what I love!

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Editor's Note: Roseanna is giving away a free copy of her new release, Ring of Secrets. Stop by tomorrow to enter. In addition, everyone who participates tomorrow will be entered in a bigger drawing (to be held on March 30) she's conducting for lots of exciting prizes valued at a total of $150. Don't miss it!

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Did You Know? ~ History of the Sewing Machine

Last week I introduced the history of the sewing machine by sharing some of my own sewing history. I could continue my personal sewing story with tales from the quilting class I took yesterday where I felt totally incompetent as I tried free motion quilting for the first time. But I’ll leave that story for another time—after I’ve had some time to develop my skill.

Instead I’ll blog about my promised topic: the sewing machine patent wars.

In1834 the first somewhat successful sewing machine was invented by Walter Hunt. Poor Walter was a brilliant inventor, but a very poor business man. He didn’t pursue a patent for his machine for fear of putting seamstresses out of business. That kindness lost him a fortune. (Walter Hunt also invented the safety pin and sold the invention for the equivalent of $10,000 today. W.R. Grace & Co. acquired the safety pin patent in 1849 and made millions from sales.)

The next sewing machine inventor, Elias Howe, Jr., had a bit more business acumen than Walter Hunt. In May of 1846, Elias was awarded a patent for a lock-stitch machine using two threads, a shuttle, and a curved needle with a point at the bottom end. Suspicion was rife that he took ideas from Walter Hunt’s invention, but that was never proven. 

Elias tried to sell his machine in Europe, but to no avail. His patent machine never worked well. In fact, it was only after a lot of modification that it stitched at all. When he returned to America, he discovered several companies making sewing machines using ideas that were similar to his. That made him angry, and he began taking people to court.

Despite the ongoing court battles, Elias’ lockstitch mechanism continued to be adopted by others who were developing innovations of their own. Isaac Singer, a name most of us recognize, invented an up-and-down motion mechanism instead of one that went side-to-side. His was the first truly successful sewing machine, and it went into mass production in the 1850's. Along with the up and down motion, Singer's machine used a foot treadle. All previous machines used a hand crank.

But Elias Howe wasn't giving up. He sued Isaac Singer for patent infringement and won in 1854. If Walter Hunt had patented his invention, Elias Howe would have lost his case and Isaac Singer would have won. Since he lost, Isaac Singer had to pay Elias Howe patent royalties.

Between 1854 and 1867 Howe earned close to two million dollars from his invention. During the Civil War, he donated a portion of his wealth to equip an infantry regiment for the Union Army as well as serving in the regiment as a private.

There's more to the sewing machine story, and I'll cover some of that next week. But in the meantime, can you imagine what these men would have thought if they could see the machines we use today?

 

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A Writer's Notion by Roseanna White

A Writer's Notions

by Roseanna M. White

I don't know about you, but I tend to make assumptions. Not just about people, but about the ways things are...and the way things were. For a historical writer, that can be dangerous, LOL.

Back in the day when writing was just fun, when it was my way of winding down and expressing pent-up emotions, I didn't always bother researching like I should. And that's okay, since it was just for me. But one of the reasons I sometimes let that slide was because I would find things that contradicted my assumptions...which changed my story...and I had no clue what to do with that.

Once I determined to write for publication, though, that laziness had to go. And when I found contradictory information, I had to learn how to integrate it into my plot. Sometimes it's a simple matter of tweaking this or that. It changes things, yes, but nothing huge. Other times, though...other times it affects the whole premise.

I ran into this in the early days of Ring of Secrets. When I got the first niggle of an idea to base a book around the historical Culper Ring, America's first spy ring and the most trusted intelligencers of George Washington during the Revolution, I had these ideas. And honestly, my first scratches of research bore it out. That they were low-tech action heroes. James Bond with earlier gadgets. Jason Bourne during the Revolution. I rubbed my hands together and though "Oo, this is going to be fun!"

Then I got down to the serious research. As in, reading books instead of 200-word articles online. And as this portion of research is for me, it frankly involved some disappointment. Because I read actual documentation of the Culper Ring, you know what I found? That these weren't super spies. They weren't even trained. They had no history with espionage, their codes were flawed, they had nothing to do with the biggest event of the Revolution--Benedict Arnold's capture--even though those websites had led me to believe they had, and all the things they did help with were fairly small to my way of thinking, and spread out over a year. That doesn't exactly qualify as high-action for a romantic suspense.

So as I read my primary research book, Washington's Spies by Alexander Rose, my mind had to churn through my whole premise again. Did I want to write this book in a new way? Did I want to let go of my assumptions? Could I write the book under the banner of the facts, or should I forget the historical basis and make up my own spy ring?

There was some waffling in my mind. Because at first, I really didn't like reality, LOL. But I have this deal I make with myself when writing historicals: facts are sacred, motivations are up for grabs. I never, ever let myself change actual history, the events recorded by observers. (Okay, so I might fudge the phase of the moon now and then, but I beg forgiveness for that, LOL.) But I do let myself alter why people did the things they did, figuring that historians are only guessing about the reasons anyway. Even when people record their motivations, are they always honest? Who knows. So I can do with those what I will. But here? Could I work within those parameters here?

I kept reading, and the more I read, the more I got a grasp on what would become my absolute favorite part of Ring of Secrets. The very thing that made me moan and groan became my new, better premise. Because I realized that I didn't need super-spies in my book. I needed people. Normal, everyday people who were doing something extraordinary. And that is what the Culper Ring turned out to be. They were sickly farmers, they were nervous shopkeepers, they were over-confident sailors and soldiers with absolutely no grasp on how to accomplish this task assigned to them. They were creative and inventive and determined...and terrified. 

And that, with this book as with many other I've written, turned out to be the most amazing thing. Because my assumptions tend to simplify things. My vision starts out so narrow. But when I embrace the facts and let go of my notions, I discover what God's vision had been at the time. And needless to say, His is so much richer. So much fuller. So much better than my imaginings. 

It's my prayer that Ring of Secrets can show readers just a portion of what the real, original Culper Ring accomplished during the Revolution. That they were people just like us who stepped up, who fell to their knees, who put aside their fears...and who changed history forever.

~*~

Roseanna M. White pens her novels under the Betsy Ross flag hanging above her desk, with her Jane Austen action figure watching over her. When she isn’t writing fiction, she’s editing it for WhiteFire Publishing or reviewing it for the Christian Review of Books, both of which she co-founded with her husband. 

www.roseannawhite.com | www.facebook.com/roseanna.white | www.twitter.com/roseannamwhite

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Come back on Friday when Roseanna teams up with The Borrowed Book to give away a copy of her latest release!

Book Spotlight: The Moses Quilt

About the Book

"The Moses Quilt is a contemporary novel that bridges racial and generational divides. With a realistic and compassionate look into a twenty-first-century dilemma, multiple award-winning author Kathi Macias introduces readers to a confused and apprehensive young woman, Mazie Hartford. Facing major decisions about the love of her life and her future, she must also wrestle with a nagging question about her family's past. She finds the answer to her questions in a most unexpected way—her great-grandmother's Moses quilt. As her great-grandmother begins to explain how each patch represents a story of courage and freedom, Mazie must decide if she has the courage and freedom to overcome her own personal fears and prejudices."

Book Trailer

About the Author

"Kathi Macias is a multi-award winning writer who has authored nearly 40 books and ghostwritten several others. A former newspaper columnist and string reporter, Kathi has taught creative and business writing in various venues and has been a guest on many radio and television programs. Kathi is a popular speaker at churches, women’s clubs and retreats, and writers’ conferences. She won the 2008 Member of the Year award from AWSA (Advanced Writers and Speakers Association) and was the 2011 Author of the Year from BooksandAuthors.net. Her novel set in China, Red Ink, was named Golden Scrolls 2011 Novel of the Year and was also a Carol Award Finalist; her October 2012 release, Unexpected Christmas Hero, was named 2012 Book of the Year by BookandAuthors.net. Kathi “Easy Writer” Macias lives in Homeland, CA, with her husband. You can find Kathi at www.kathimacias.com."

Want More?

• You can buy the book now at Amazon.com, Barnesandnoble.com, or Christianbook.com!

•  Check out all of the other stops on "The Moses Quilt Virtual Book Tour" by clicking the image below:

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Sunday Devotional: The Former Days

“I suppose I shouldn’t look back,” my friend said, reminiscing about skiing with her husband in the early years of her marriage—something that, years later, seems a foolish indulgence. Ministry, family, financial pressures all combine to make her older, her outlook wiser and more realistic ...

Or is it?

I thought about her words for a moment. “Why not? I asked. “Be glad you have those memories to look back on.”

Am I suggesting she waste valuable time mooning over a past that she can’t bring back? Absolutely not. There’s a balance to be struck, after all. “Do not say, ‘Why were the former days better than these?’” Solomon admonishes in Ecclesiastes. We do ourselves no favors to be so mired in the past we can’t function in the present.

On the other hand, our past and our memories of it are exactly that—ours. They’re part of the fabric of who we are, another element in the tapestry that God promises He will work together for our good.

I wonder if it isn’t time for us to stop feeling guilty about where our pasts have led us.

If it was sin, then call it so—lay it before God and move on. But the blessings we enjoyed? Wouldn’t it be better to do as the recent worship song says, take every blessing He's poured out and offer it in praise?

And not only for past blessings, but present ones.

“When you have eaten and are full, then you shall bless the LORD your God for the good land which He has given you. Beware that you do not forget the LORD your God....lest—when you have eaten and are full, and have built beautiful houses and dwell in them; and when your herds and flocks multiply, and your silver and your gold are multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied; when your heart is lifted up....then you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gained me this wealth.’ And you shall remember the LORD your God, for it is He who gives you power to get wealth ...” (Deuteronomy 7:10-14, 17-18)

The last thing any of us wants is to be in a place down the road where we are asking ourselves, Why were the former days better...? I don’t believe in a prosperity gospel or in formulas that guarantee desired outcomes of our Christian life. But could it be that it’s the practice of reveling in God who is blessing us, and not just in the blessings themselves, that keeps us in the place of blessing? Or that God brings us to those places of dryness to make us lift our heads and remember that all blessings are from His hand, whether past or present?

“Naked I came from my mother’s womb,
And naked shall I return there.
The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away;
Blessed be the name of the LORD.
...Shall we indeed accept good from God,
and shall we not accept adversity?”
In all this Job did not sin with his lips. (Job 1:21, 2:10)

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Winners!!

Happy Saturday, BB fans! Thanks to everyone who participated in our "puzzling" Friday giveaway! Keep all those facebook and Twitter notifications, coming!

This week's winner is Wendy Newcomb - The Lesson by Susan Woods Fisher! 

Congratulations, Wendy! Thank you all so much for stopping by The Borrowed Book!

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Weekly Drawing

It's Fun Friday at The Borrowed Book!

To enter:

Leave the time it took you to complete the puzzle in the comments section as well as your email address for notifying you if you've won. Winners will be drawn from ALL of the times, so the person with the fastest time may not be the actual winner, but by leaving your time, you double your chances.

Want another entry? Tweet your puzzle time and mention The Borrowed Book, get another entry. RETWEET our Tweet, get two entries!

Post your puzzle time on BB's Facebook wall and...you guessed it...get another entry!

Post it on your OWN Facebook wall and you could get as many as FIVE entries.

It's all a way to spread the word about the great giveaways on BB. So c'mon! Help us spread the word, and have a little fun at the same time. :-)

This week's puzzle feature is brought to you by Susan Woods Fisher and her newest release, The Lesson.

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