Sneak Peek into an Author's Mind: Linda Swift

The CONTEST is CLOSED. THE WINNER IS BRIANA NICKOL! CONGRATULATIONS!

Karen: Linda Swift is the guest author today with her journey into publishing her historical romance, Maid of the Midlands. Let's give her a warm welcome. Please feel free to ask questions or say hello. Enjoy!

Matilda's Long Journey by Linda Swift

If Maid of the Midlands hadn't been an historical, it would have become one during its circuitous route to publication. It was my second book accepted by my first digital publisher and scheduled for release in 2009. Unfortunately, before that happened, they sold to another publishing house who required a different cover. It had final edits in 2010 but still was not released so I obtained rights and submitted it elsewhere and it was accepted. Another long wait followed due to the publisher's problems. After several months, I again requested rights and submitted to a third publisher who has released it. And  ironically, I was able to use the first cover which I had bought from an artist with the first publisher who had accepted it. So after four years, four contracts, and four editors it is now an ebook and print.

This seems to be a reflection of the roundabout journey that Mary Queen of Scots took for the twenty years of her captivity in England. And that unfortunate queen has a major role in this book. It is really the love story of Matilda and Jondalar. She was a young lady-in-waiting who was chosen by her mistress to serve the queen when she was sent as a "guest" to Hafton Castle.

And he was a stalwart castle guard who stole her heart. But that wasn't all Jondalar stole in his ambition to get ahead. And although the queen was supposed to be seen and not heard when I placed her in the story, she soon became a dominant character who defied my careful plotting. And much to his later regret, Jondalar was slyly plotting, too and it almost cost him all that he desired.

This book was the outcome of living in England in 1999 and 2000. My husband and I were located in East Yorkshire, in the city of Kingston-upon-Hull. Every day I was exposed to the Yorkshire accent and when I wrote the book, I tried to use that for my dialogue. At first, I had used it quite heavily, and not a single editor objected to it, even though I always asked if they were bothered by it. But with each edit, I omitted just a few more of the odd spellings of words to make it flow better in my own opinion.  I have read many historical books that have totally modern speech including current slang and this bothers me immensely. One of my favorite English authors uses the Yorkshire accent in every book and I enjoy reading it that way. But she is English and I'm sure has every word exactly as it was spoken.  Since I speak "American" and "Southern American" at that, I had some misgiving about trying to recreate the 1573 speech patterns. But I reasoned that even English readers wouldn't be certain exactly how the characters spoke in the sixteenth century. And when an English author friend told me I had recreated the Yorkshire accent well, I felt vindicated.

I am familiar with a map of England. In fact, wherever I am at home, I have my trusty Michelin Atlas of Great Britain and Ireland. The only problem was using the names of towns that didn't exist in that time period. And I had an actual castle in mind and wrote the story using that name and names of the family living there. Research showed that descendants with the family name now lived elsewhere in the country and I wasn't sure they would appreciate having an American write a story about their ancestor's imaginary bastard offspring. So this led me to change the castle's name and location and rename the characters. Then I was faced with trying to sort out the confusing issue of titles, who is called what, and inheritance legalities. I can only hope I got it right.

Meanwhile, as I waited for Maid of the Midlands to become a published book, I was busy writing about the children of Jondalar and Matilda.  I think since this a romance, it is obvious that they did get together in the end so I'm not spoiling the story by telling you this. Mistress of Huntleigh Hall is the title of this sequel. And Alice Wykeham, the heroine is in love with Malcolm Gray but a tragic accident causes her to marry another. This story is set in 1605 and the characters are involved in the Gunpowder Plot to kill King James, son of Mary Queen of Scots. I have never written a sequel to any of my books before but this one demanded to be written. I hope you will read Matilda's ondalar's story and want to know their children's story, too.


Contest: Leave a comment about a challenge you've had in "getting it right" and you'll have a chance to win a digital copy of Maid of Midlands.

MAID OF THE MIDLANDS

Blurb:

When Mary Queen of Scots is sent to Hafton Castle in the Midlands, Matilda becomes her waiting-lady. The comely maid loves Jondalar, a stalwart castle guard who returns her affection but places his greed to succeed above all else. After Matilda nurses the queen through a fever, she rewards the maid with a valuable ruby. Jondalar plots with the young lord of the castle to rid the Crown of the captive queen in return for a promotion in the guard.But when Matilda learns of the guard's  betrayal of the queen she must chose between loyalty and love.

Author: Linda Swift

Website: www.lindaswift.net

Publisher: Publishing by Rebecca J. Vickery  http://rebeccajvickery.com/

Release date: March 9, 2012

Available: E-book and print

Genre: Historical Romance

Rating: Sweet

Page count: 135

Buy link: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=maid+of+the+midlands

Also at Smashwords, Monkeybars, and other distributors

About the Author:

Besides writing, I enjoy reading, ballroom dancing, traveling, visiting Gulf beaches, and keeping in touch with friends far and near.(Much to my husband's regret, cooking does not make the list!)

I have been a nomad all of my life, calling many places home from California to New York to England. I share my life with my husband, a great musician, golfer, power plant consultant, and in-house computer tech.
We now divide our time between homes in Kentucky and Florida, stopping en route in Tennessee to visit our children who live in Tennessee. I am the only member of my family who does not sing or play an instrument, but I like to think I make music with words.Although I am an only child, I have never been lonely because my head has always been filled with imaginary people. I love giving them a chance to tell their stories and I hope it brings you pleasure to read them.