Exciting Blog Hop!

Authors Answer Questions about Their Works in Progress

 

          Linda Glaz, my agent with Hartline Literary Agency, invited her clients to participate in a “Blog Hop” that features authors answering questions about their Works in Progress (WIP).

My WIP is a third in a trilogy about Lilyan and Nicholas Xanthakos, the main characters in my Revolutionary War romantic suspense, The Chamomile, released in November 2011, and which won the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance Okra Pick award as a top novel for the season.  Linda Glaz is representing the sequel entitled Laurel.

 

Title: The title of my WIP is Cassia.  Cassia is the name of the slave Lilyan rescues and, when Cassia dies in childbirth, Lilyan names her daughter Cassia. Cassia was known as the poor man’s cinnamon. In Exodus 30:23-4, Moses is ordered to use both sweet cinnamon and cassia together with myrrh and sweet calamus to produce a holy oil to anoint the Ark of the Covenant. Cassia is also part of consecrated incense offered on the specialized incense altar in the time when the Tabernacle was located in the First and Second Jerusalem Temples. Psalm 45:8 mentions the garments of the king that smell of myrrh, aloes, and cassia. It is believed that when Christ returns, his robes will carry the aroma of cassia.

Where did the idea come from? The idea came from the many fabulous reviews for The Chamomile and my many readers who asked for more about Lilyan and Nicholas.  I love them too, and want to keep them in my life a while longer.

Genre: Inspirational historical suspense.

What actors would play your characters in a movie version?  I envision Sarah Bolger as Lilyan and Henry Cavill as Nicholas.  They both had leading roles in the TV series The Tudors. Mr. Cavill played Charles Brandon, and Ms. Bolger played Lady Mary Tudor.

 

Short Synopsis: I don’t have it all worked out yet, but  Lilyan and Nicholas, now successful vintners in the Blue Ridge Mountains, take their three children on a sailing trip to Roanoke Island, NC, to pick up root cuttings that have been shipped from the Mediterranean.  About halfway between Charleston, SC, and the Outerbanks of NC, they run across a slave ship dumping the dead into the ocean.  They save one of the slaves, a female who is still alive and near the delivery of her child.  The slave has smallpox, so the captain of the ship puts the Xanthakos family on an island in the Outerbanks. They are attacked by pirates and all sorts of exciting things begin to happen. 

 

Agency Representation? Linda Glaz of Hartline Literary Agency, is representing, Laurel, the sequel to The Chamomile.

 

How long did it take to write that first draft? I’m only four chapters in.

 

What other books in this genre compare?  Similar books would be The Restitution by MaryLu Tyndall and Loves Reckoning by Laura Franz.

 

Any others in this genre? As I mentioned, The Chamomile was released in November 2011.

 

Anything to add?  I am having great fun researching pirates in the Outerbanks and all the shipwrecks near Diamond Shoals, called the “Graveyard of the Atlantic.”  My husband and I visited a maritime museum in the area that was so fascinating I spent HOURS combing through books and maps until Rick finally fell asleep in a chair. Argh!

 

If you’re interested in other authors’ WIPs, follow this “Hop” by visiting Amy Magaw’s blog next Wednesday, December 12.

Amy Magaw - - http://vcpbooks.blogspot.com

Also, if you want to read about other Works in Progress, please visit these blogs.
 

Tamera Kraft - http://tameralynnkraft.com

Lisa Lickel - http://www.lisalickel.com

Davalynn Spencer - http://www.davalynnspencer.blogspot.com

Karen Wingate - http://karenwingate.com/blog

Karen Prough - http://karencampbellprough.com/blog

Gail Kittleson – http://gailkittleson.blogspot.com

Linda Maran - http://lindamaran.blogspot.com

Linda Glaz - http://lindaglaz.blogspot.com