Today is the second Sunday of Advent. Whether we live in peace or in times of chaos, uncertainty and danger, we need someone to trust, to love, and to trust to love us. We light our second candle tonight in that trust, knowing that Love awaits.

[Excerpt from OUTLANDER, Chapter 15, REVELATIONS OF THE BRIDAL CHAMBER. Copyright © by Diana Gabaldon.]

“Are you all right?” he whispered. His fingers brushed my wet cheek.

“Yes. I’m sorry to wake you. I had a nightmare. What on earth—” I started to ask what it was that had made him spring so abruptly to the alert.

A large warm hand ran down my bare arm, interrupting my question. “No wonder; you’re frozen.” The hand urged me under the pile of quilts and into the warm space recently vacated.

“My fault,” he murmured. “I’ve taken all the quilts. I’m afraid I’m no accustomed yet to share a bed.” He wrapped the quilts comfortably around us and lay back beside me. A moment later, he reached again to touch my face. “Is it me?” he asked quietly. “Can ye not bear me?”

I gave a short hiccupping laugh, not quite a sob. “No, it isn’t you.” I reached out in the dark, groping for a hand to press reassuringly. My fingers met a tangle of quilts and warm flesh, but at last I found the hand I had been seeking. We lay side by side, looking up at the low beamed ceiling.

“What if I said I couldn’t bear you?” I asked suddenly. “What on earth could you do?” The bed creaked as he shrugged.

“Tell Dougal you wanted an annulment on grounds of nonconsummation, I suppose.” This time I laughed outright.

“Nonconsummation! With all those witnesses?” The room was growing light enough to see the smile on the face turned toward me.

“Aye well, witnesses or no, it’s only you and me that can say for sure, isn’t it? And I’d rather be embarrassed than wed to someone that hated me.” I turned toward him.

“I don’t hate you.”

“I don’t hate you, either. And there’s many good marriages have started wi’ less than that.” Gently, he turned me away from him and fitted himself to my back so we lay nested together. His hand cupped my breast, not in invitation or demand, but because it seemed to belong there.

“Don’t be afraid,” he whispered into my hair. “There’s the two of us now.” I felt warm, soothed, and safe for the first time in many days. It was only as I drifted into sleep under the first rays of daylight that I remembered the knife above my head, and wondered again, what threat would make a man sleep armed and watchful in his bridal chamber?

“The First Sunday of Advent – 2020” is a related blog entry and WRITTEN IN MY OWN HEART’S BLOOD excerpt that I posted on November 29, 2020.

This blog entry was also posted on my my official Facebook page on December 6, 2020, the Second Sunday of Advent.

Image of Advent candles by Diana Gabaldon © 2020.

Posted on December 06, 2020 5:15 AM 8 Comments

Today is the First Sunday of Advent. Advent is a four-week space in time, during which we draw aside from the world in preparation for the light of Christmas.

A time to be still and listen to our hearts.

[Excerpt from WRITTEN IN MY OWN HEART’S BLOOD, Copyright © 2014 by Diana Gabaldon.]

“Are ye all right, Sassenach? Is it bad, then?”

“No,” I said, and wiped my eyes hastily on a corner of the sheet. “No—it—it’s fine. I just&,dash;oh, Jamie, I love you!” I did give way to tears, then, snuffling and blubbering like an idiot.

“I’m sorry,” I said, trying to get hold of myself. “I’m all right, there’s nothing wrong, it’s just—”

“Aye, I ken fine what it’s just,” he said, and, setting the candle and pot on the floor, lay down on the bed beside me, balancing precariously on the edge.

“Ye’re hurt, a nighean,” he said softly, smoothing my hair off my wet cheeks. “And fevered and starved and worn to a shadow. There’s no much of ye left, is there, poor wee thing?”

I shook my head and clung to him. “There’s not much of you left, either,” I managed to say, mumbling wetly into the front of his shirt.

He made a small amused noise and rubbed my back, very gently. “Enough, Sassenach,” he said. “I’m enough. For now.”

I sighed and fumbled under the pillow for a hankie to blow my nose.

“Better?” he asked, sitting up.

“Yes. Don’t go, though.” I put a hand on his leg, hard and warm under my hand. “Can you lie with me a minute? I’m awfully cold.” I was, though I realized from the damp and salt on his skin that the room was quite hot. But loss of so much blood had left me chilled and gasping; I couldn’t get through a sentence without stopping to breathe, and my arms were permanently goose-pimpled.

“Aye. Dinna move; I’ll go round.” He came round the bed and edged carefully in behind me. It was a narrow bed, barely wide enough to hold us closely pressed together.

I exhaled gingerly and relaxed against him in slow motion, reveling in the feel of his warmth and the solid comfort of his body.


“Elephants,” I said, drawing the shallowest possible breath compatible with speaking. “When a female elephant is dying, sometimes a male will try to mate with her.”

There was a marked silence behind me, and then a big hand came round and rested assessingly on my forehead.

“Either ye’re fevered again, Sassenach,” he said in my ear, “or ye have verra perverse fancies. Ye dinna really want me to—”

“No,” I said hastily. “Not right this minute, no. And I’m not dying, either. The thought just came to me.”

He made an amused Scottish noise and, lifting the hair off my neck, kissed my nape.

“Since ye’re no dying,” he said, “maybe that will do for the moment?”

I took his hand and placed it on my breast. Slowly I grew warmer, and my chilly feet, pressed against his shins, relaxed. The window now was filled with stars, hazy with the moistness of the summer night, and I suddenly missed the cool, clear, black-velvet nights of the mountains, the stars blazing huge, close enough to touch from the highest ridge.

“Jamie?” I whispered. “Can we go home? Please?”

“Aye,” he said softly. He held my hand and the silence filled the room like moonlight, both of us wondering where home might be.

This blog entry was also posted on my my official Facebook page on November 29, 2020, the first Sunday of Advent.

Image of Advent candles by Diana Gabaldon © 2020.

Posted on November 29, 2020 4:57 AM 5 Comments

September 29th, 2020 from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. (Eastern Time or EDT in the U.S.A.) — is the first Virtual Trust for Scotland/USA Gala! (i.e., it’s the first time they’ve had to do it virtually—it happens every year, normally in New York, but physically.) It’s a fundraiser to help support Scotland’s natural and cultural heritage, and includes a live auction.

They’ve asked me to share the link with you all (below), and note that while the usual donation asked is $150 (which will, among other things, sponsor a puffin), you can go ahead and register without donating. The website for the event is:

https://ntsusa.org/about-us/celebration-gala/

You do need to sign up before the event on the website. If you don’t want to donate, click the box that says “No, thanks” when it asks for a credit card number.

   -Diana

From The Scotland Treasures Website

From the National Trust for Scotland Foundation USA website:

Each April, The National Trust for Scotland Foundation USA’s A Celebration of Scotland’s Treasures gala raises thousands of dollars to support the conservation of Scotland’s natural and cultural heritage. Because we were unable to gather in New York this spring – our milestone 20th anniversary year – due to the coronavirus pandemic, we missed the opportunity to raise vital funds on behalf of the National Trust for Scotland.

Proceeds from A (Virtual) Celebration of Scotland’s Treasures will support the international campaign to Save Our Scotland. This year, the Trust is expected to lose over $35 million in earned income from the closure of our historic sites due to the coronavirus pandemic. Together, we can ensure the future of the Trust and its irreplaceable natural and cultural treasures.

If you choose to add a comment to this blog post, please stay on the topic discussed here. And keep in mind that all comments that are approved in moderation will be posted publicly on the web. Thanks!

Posted on September 29, 2020 12:21 AM 4 Comments

GoFundMe Campaign for Paxton Gate PDX Employees

Here is a small, offbeat request from the front lines.

At right, this is Eldest Daughter, Laura Watkins, OR Nurse—whom you may know better as the author of TALES FOR GULLIBLE CHILDREN on my Methadone List, who said:

“Hey Mom, you’re probably being deluged with requests to donate to laid-off workers’ funds right now, but if you could maybe tweet this one, it would really help the furloughed crew at Paxton Gate PDX, which is that super cool natural history shop we went to the last time you were in town:

https://www.gofundme.com/f/paxton-gate-portland-employee-relief-fund

“It’s a small thing, but it’s important because it’s a magic place, and we need to know there still is magic in the world right now, and keep a place for it to happen.”

So here it is. Laura’s right that there are a LOT of very worthwhile donation requests (and I answer the ones I can), so I thought I’d put up her request.

If you’d like to learn more about Paxton Gate PDX, the store, here is their home page:

https://paxtongate.com

Floral Print Road Warrior

My daughter Laura also asked me to send a big Thank You for all of the kind comments of support for her and the other healthcare professionals dealing with the ongoing crisis.

And thank you for the kind efforts of so many of you who are making non-surgical masks for people who need to go out in public. In Laura’s words, “One of my friends hooked me up with one, resulting in a grocery-getting look that I’m calling “Floral Print Road Warrior.” Image at left.

Fashion rules!

Making Masks!

If you sew and would like to make masks, Dr. Jeanne Schneider (a friend of my Webmistress) shared this website below which has free patterns you can use to make masks for yourself and your family, and/or to share with health professionals and others who need them:

https://www.craftpassion.com/face-mask-sewing-pattern/

Happy Sewing!

More Masks

At right, this is actually a contemporary piece—it’s a bronze by an artist named Hib Sabin, and is called “Raven Mask (Large).”

We’ve always called it the Plague Doctor, though, for obvious reasons…

Information in this post also appeared on my official social media accounts.

Posted on April 10, 2020 3:43 AM 32 Comments

“Better To Marry Than Burn”

Now, overall, I liked Ep. 506 (of the STARZ Outlander TV show)—especially Jocasta’s heartbreaking final words with Murtaugh—Maria Doyle Kennedy is fabulous (and Duncan LaCroix was right there with her)! Parade Magazine asked me what I thought of the iconic stable scene, though, and so I told them what I thought.

I know a lot of people found it arousing and enjoyed it, and that’s great—I’m all for people liking the show in all its manifestations <g>, and people being people, they’re going to like different things.

That being so, let’s respect each other’s opinions—and I’d like to hear all of them!

So—what did y’all think of 506? (And have you ever eaten grasshoppers or locusts? I have. Once…)

Read “Outlander Fans Get the Sex Scene They’ve Been Hoping for, but Diana Gabaldon Thinks They Might Not Be Satisfied,” by Paulette Cohn for Parade.com. Published on March 22, 2020.

Passage From the Parade article featuring Episode 506::

“As for Jamie and Claire’s fight—and I suppose you would have to call it makeup sex, though as played, it was more or less a continuation of the fight—this is one of those ‘iconic’ scenes from THE FIERY CROSS,” Gabaldon tells Parade.com exclusively.

“Those are the scenes that book readers particularly value, and spend months hoping will be included in the show. The book fans will be happy that it is included.” However, the more nitpicky fans might be distracted. “I’m afraid it’s one of those situations where they’re so provoked by the omissions and changes that they may forget to be thankful.”

Remember that if your response below (web comment) is approved, it will be posted PUBLICLY online for anyone to see.

Posted on March 23, 2020 3:30 AM 29 Comments

So—premieres are upon us! We all had a wonderful time at the New York Season 5 premiere on February 11th, and will doubtless have a great time tonight in Los Angeles!! [Both premieres were special events planned by STARZ.]

My husband and I had a great time last night in L.A., celebrating our 43rd/48th anniversary (43 years legal, I mean, but we’ve been together for 48 years.)

Meanwhile, here are a couple of clips from the Good Morning America show this week, the first interview with Caitriona and Sam, and the second with Rik and Sophie. Hope you enjoy them—and I’ll let you know tomorrow (February 14) what-all happens at tonight’s premiere! (Look forward to seeing as many of you as possible!)

Above: Interview with Sam and Caitriona on GMA. (Youtube video)

Above: Interview with Ric and Sophie on GMA. (Youtube video)

Outlander Season 5 Debuts On STARZ on February 16!

In Season 5, Jamie Fraser must fight to protect those he loves, as well as the home he has established alongside his wife, Claire Fraser, their family, and the settlers of Fraser’s Ridge.

In the U.S.A., Outlander Season 5 will debut on the STARZ cable network and streaming channel on Sunday, February 16. The first episode is titled, “The Fiery Cross,”, and this season is mostly an adaptation of my book with the same name.

In Canada, Season 5 will also debut on Sunday, February 16, but on the W Network.

Outlander Season 5′s first episode will be available in Australia on Foxtel’s Fox Showcase channel on Monday, February 17th.

In the United Kingdom, the first episode of Season 5 will be available on Monday, February 17th on Amazon Prime (U.K.)

See my Where/How To Watch webpage for more details.

Other providers around the globe will be added when known. Please contact your local cable or streaming provider for more information.

The image above is from episode 1, season 5 of the Outlander TV series. Courtesy of STARZ.

Posted on February 13, 2020 7:55 AM 36 Comments

Note: This blog entry is outdated and from January, 2020! BEES will be published on November 21, 2021 in the U.S.A. and U.K. More information.

Dear All—

Geez. Spend the day in a car driving from California to Arizona, and all Hell breaks loose…

On the Amazon websites (in the U.K. and various other countries!) there is a page purporting to give a release (or publication) date of October 20th, 2020, for GO TELL THE BEES THAT I AM GONE (with a rather gloomy-looking cover) and providing a link for pre-orders—

NO, IT ISN’T TRUE!!! (but I’ve certainly been getting a lot of apologetic email from publishers…)

First off:

  1. NO, the publication date for BEES of October 20th, 2020, (or the 15th, as another Amazon site had it) is NOT CORRECT!

As I told you, the U.S. publisher (who decides the pub date) tells me they aren’t even going to think about a pub date until they have the whole manuscript in hand. (Which they don’t, though it’s only a matter of weeks now…)

  2. While the Amazon page for BEES popped up on amazon.co.uk (Amazon’s website for the U.K.), amazon.fr (Amazon’s website for France) and amazon.de (Amazon’s website for Germany), and probably a few others I don’t know about, all the announcements pertain to the U.K.’s release of what’s called an “English export edition”:

The English (original) version of the book is allowed to be sold in other countries, by the U.K. (or U.S.; I think both Random Houses in the U.S.A. and U.K. get to do export editions, but maybe to different parts of the market—it’s been a long time since I read the small print in the contracts—I do read a contract before signing it, every time, but I don’t normally need to review them). So all of this kerfuffle surrounds the U.K. export edition—not the translation editions into other languages done by the German, French, etc., publishers.

  3. Not only is the pub date not correct (it can’t be, because there isn’t one yet), the cover is not the one that will be on the book. This was an early design, which I didn’t really like.

  4. Apparently, all the erroneous Amazon pages were posted accidentally—and automatically—by what’s being described as “a systems glitch.” You know how it’s possible to set up tweets and Facebook posts ahead of time, so they’ll post automatically at a set time? It works something like that. It’s common for a publishing company to set up a dummy page for a book and add information as available, then when there IS a pub date <ahem>, set the page to go live for pre-orders. You can see that the erroneous page is missing a few things—like the author’s name….

  5. I’m assured that the erroneous pages have all been taken down. So—apologies for the kerfuffle, but I repeat (again…) —

I’LL TELL YOU when the pub date is known. And it’s not been set yet.

Once a publication date is set, it will be immediately posted here on my official web pages, including on my official GO TELL THE BEES THAT I AM GONE webpage, (bookmark it, please) and on my official “home” web page. For those who use social media, of course I’ll post the news on my official accounts there right away, as well.

Thanks!

-Diana

This blog entry was also posted by me on my official Facebook page on January 15, 2020.

Posted on January 15, 2020 4:25 AM 113 Comments

For Those Kind People who keep urging me to “release the book!” (as though I’m keeping the manuscript in a cage in my office)… a Brief Explanation of How Publishing Works (on the purely mechanical side):

Well, as my husband (who has certainly had enough experience by now to Know) says, “To a writer, ‘finished’ is a relative term.” And it truly is. The first ‘finished’ is the most important <g>—when you have the Whole Thing in your hands. No feeling like it! (Though giving birth isn’t far off…)

[NO! I haven’t finished writing it. Dang close, though.]

After that though… I wrote up all the phases of production, some years ago, in a vain effort to explain to the many-headed just why the fact that I’d finished writing the book didn’t mean it would be on their bookshelves the next day/week/month. I won’t do the whole list here (I have work to do tonight), but in essence, the manuscript goes from me to two editors—one in the U.S., one in the U.K.—both of whom have been reading what chunks of the book I’ve finished already (so as to get a jump on things), but who will immediately start reading from the beginning, after which both of them will give me their separate comments and notes (there are always spots where a scene or part of a scene has been accidentally repeated, so that’s where we—because I’m also reading it from the beginning—catch that kind of stuff and resolve it). I’ll have been having my own thoughts as to anything I want to change, so will be messing with the manuscript with all three sets of input in hand.

At right, I am at home in my yard, working, in 2015.

When that’s done, the book is ‘finished,’ again—that is, it’s ready to go to the copy-editor. This is a wonderful person (at least I hope she’s still in business and available to do it for me again; she’s done the last three or four books for me, plus several Lord John ones) whose thankless task is to read the manuscript One. Word. At. A. Time, and catch any difficulties along the way: typographical errors, inconsistencies (in names, ages, times, whatever—and there will be a number of them, owing to the size of the book and the way I write), incongruities (there’s still a page in OUTLANDER—which was copy-edited by a, um, person of somewhat lesser talent, let us charitably say—where a maid brings in the tea-cups but carries out the brandy glasses at the end of the scene. Fortunately no one has ever noticed this), logical holes (she checks the distances between actual places and will let me know if it’s really possible to get from point A to point B in three days or whatever), timeline issues (did the Siege of Savannah happen before or after the Siege of Charleston (only it was still being called “Charles Town” at that point, so we need to change all the “Charleston’s”), and imposes ‘house style’ (meaning that Penguin Random House has its own conventions regarding things like whether numbers are given in digital form or spelled out, whether we do or do not use Oxford commas, etc.) throughout. She’s usually doing this under hideous time-constraints and I sent her a bottle of Really Fine Whisky last time.

But then, I have to read the copy-edited version and ‘reply’ to it, i.e., there will be a number of marginal questions or comments that I need to answer and either address or dismiss. This is ungodly labor (and also being done under a major time-constrant), but Very Necessary.

THEN the manuscript goes back and is corrected according to my last-minute corrections and insertions (I almost always realize that two or three vital bits are missing, and hastily write those scenes and insert them with the copy-edit correx), and comes back to me (AGAIN!) as galley proofs. These are, as you doubtless know, the pages of the book, printed just as it will (we hope) appear on the shelf, but on loose, unbound sheets. This is where we catch disjunctions in the formatting (very rare, but they do happen), any (we hope) minor nits that everybody has so far missed (and there is no book in existence that goes to press without errors, believe me), misspellings of the Gaelic (compositors can not get a grasp on Gaelic words, no matter how carefully I print them, if they’re inserted as corrections or additions. This is not helped by the fact that I don’t speak Gaelic and don’t always know if something is misspelled), and any truly last-minute insertions (there’s a clause in my contract that says if I change more than 10% of the text during the galley phase, I have to pay for the extra type-setting. This contingency is Remote).

I’m not mentioning any of the book design or the messing-about-with-the-cover issues, because I mostly just have to give an opinion on those, not actually do the work. But it all takes time.

Let it be noted that we did ALL of the above within five weeks, for each of the last two books. This drove everyone to the verge of insanity (and was terribly expensive), and we Really Don’t Want to Do That Again (any of us!), which is why you aren’t getting a pub date until the manuscript is by-God Finished.

[NO, it isn’t finished yet. Don’t worry—I’ll tell you when it is!]

And thank you to Grace Carroll for the lovely bee photo!

Related Information: In August, 2013, I created a flow chart of what happens to a book after I write it and it goes to my publisher, titled “What ‘Finished’ Means To An Author.”

This blog was also posted on my official Facebook page on January 5, 2020.

Posted on January 05, 2020 5:40 AM 77 Comments

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

Hope everyone had a lovely day, whether celebrating Christmas, Chanukah, or astonishingly wintry weather.

For those of you celebrating with gifts as well as food—what is/was your favorite Christmas present/dish? (Respond below by adding a web comment, if you wish.)

Mine was the Onion Goggles my son gave me, which made making enchiladas SO much more enjoyable! (Yes, I am indeed cooking in my pajamas.)

Season 5 Credits!

And a modest gift below from Starz: The new opening credits sequence for Season Five, which premieres on February 16, 2020!

Click here to view the Starz video of Outlander (Season 5) credits above directly on Youtube, or if your device isn’t showing the video properly.

(Note that I’m not sure if this STARZ video will play in all countries.)

Remember if you submit a comment to my website, they are moderated, and when approved they are viewable by the public! <g>

Posted on December 25, 2019 6:19 PM 37 Comments