#DailyLines #MOBY #WRITTENinMYownHEARTSBlood #ForThoseWhoMaybeDidntWantToDoIt #ButDidItAnyway #ThoseWhoFightAndThoseWhoLoveThem #HappyVeteransDay He’d come up to the loft and pulled the ladder up behind him, to prevent the children coming up. I was dressing quickly—or trying to—as he told me about Dan Morgan, about Washington and the other Continental generals. About the coming battle. “Sassenach, I _had_ to,” he said again, softly. “I’m that sorry.” “I know,” I said. “I know you did.” My lips were stiff. “I—you—I’m sorry, too.” I was trying to fasten the dozen tiny buttons that closed the bodice of my gown, but my hands shook so badly that I couldn’t even grasp them. I stopped trying and dug my hairbrush out of the bag he’d brought me from the Chestnut Street house. He made a small sound in his throat and took it out of my hand. He threw it onto our makeshift couch and put his arms around me, holding me tight with my face buried in his chest. The cloth of his new uniform smelled of fresh indigo, […]
Tag Archive for ‘WRITTEN IN MY OWN HEART’S BLOOD’ 
WHAT NEXT?
See the note below—this post is from July 6, 2014 and is a bit outdated… I’m about to head back out in a few hours, to do my _last_ US/Canadian book-tour event in Traverse City, MI. But thought I might grab an hour to do a bit of updating before I absquatulate again… First—I’m delighted that so many of you like MOBY!* Thank you so much for all your kind words. As for the next book(s), I have no idea.** I finished writing MOBY on April 15th (having stayed up 36 hours straight to do it), spent the rest of April working 16 hours a day to finish the copyedits and galley proofs, then spent most of May dealing with everything (including stuff associated with the TV show) that was pushed out of the way during the Final Frenzy of MOBY. And on June 7th, all hell broke loose and I’ve essentially been on the road for a solid month, with three brief touchdowns at home (ranging from 12 hours […]
Thar She Blows….!
It’s DONE!!! As my husband says, “Finished” is a relative term to a writer. For me, there’s a sense of completion when I’ve seen the shape of the book; I know what I’m working with. Then there’s the BIG “Finished,” when I’ve done with the writing–the story is All There, and in the publisher’s hands; at this point, there _will_ be a book, even if I get run over by a train. Revisions–usually very minor, and they were _really_ minor in this book–are generally done as I go along. I send my two editors (US and UK) chunks of the manuscript, and they send me their comments, and if there looks like anything that should be tweaked (often there’s not), I do that just as part of the daily writing. So the next major “Finished” is the copy-edits. The copy-editor is the unsung heroine who reads the finished manuscript One. Word. At. A. Time, looking for typos, continuity errors, infelicities (like using the same word three times in the same […]
CANADIAN TOUR DATES FOR WRITTEN IN MY OWN HEART’S BLOOD
CANADIAN TOUR EVENTS/DATES Canadian Flag 2 clipart from Clker.com (Don’t panic; I’ll be posting the US tour dates tomorrow.) Friday June 20 6:30pm TORONTO EVENT Toronto Reference Library, Bram & Bluma Appel Salon 789 Yonge St. This is a free, ticketed event. To reserve your ticket or for more information please visit: www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/programs-and-classes/appel-salon/ Saturday June 21 1:00pm LONDON (ONTARIO) EVENT Chapters, 1037 Wellington Road This is a free event. For more information please visit www.chapters.indigo.ca or phone 519-685-1008 Sunday June 22 1:00pm BARRIE EVENT Chapters, 76 Barrie View Drive This is a free event. For more information please visit www.chapters.indigo.ca or phone 705-735-6735 Monday June 23 7:00pm OTTAWA EVENT 47 Rideau Street This is a free event. For more information please visit www.chapters.indigo.ca or phone 613-241-0073 Thursday June 26 6:00pm CALGARY EVENT Costco 11588 Sarcee Trail NW This is a free event, open to all Costco members. For more information please phone 403-516-3701 Friday June 27 7:30pm VICTORIA EVENT Alix Goolden Performance Hall, 900 Johnson St. Tickets are $10. For […]
Octopus/Octothorpe….there’re eight legs, what else do you want?
EW.com (ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY’s electronic edition) reveals the official cover for MOBY (aka WRITTEN IN MY OWN HEART’S BLOOD), shown above. Here’s the link to their piece, which has a few questions and answers (such as they are [cough]). Image at left: From the 1600s, Sir Isaac Newton’s stylized version of the abbreviation “lb,” which was short for the word “libra” in the Roman weight libra pondo, the origin of the octothorpe (#). While I originally wanted an octopus on the cover—both because I really like octopuses and because of the symbolism (there are eight major characters whose stories I’m telling through this book—and it is the eighth book, after all), there were certain technical issues that made that difficult. My husband—never a big fan of the octopus concept—asked whether I could think laterally; surely there were other ways to get an “8” onto the cover. So I thought. And almost at once, the word “octothorpe” sprang to mind. I’ve always liked the word, and it certainly was appropriate (you may […]
AN EASTER EGG
You have Barbara Schnell, my delightful and talented German translator, to thank for this: she asked whether I was going to post an Easter excerpt, in the style of our Advent Candles (which were her idea, too). Those of you who are German speakers will find the German translation of this (and a number of other things) on the German version of the website at http://www.dgabaldon.de/ (or simply click on the German flag icon at the top left of the home page here). Do be warned: There is a Major Spoiler (not that it will help you in the slightest [g]) in this. AN EASTER EGG Copyright 2013 Diana Gabaldon #fromMOBY #MAJORSpoiler #NotThatItWillHelpYouAny… Roger hauled his way laboriously toward the summit of the mountain pass, muttering under his breath (as he had been doing for the last several miles), “_If you had seen this road before it was made, You would lift up your hands and bless General Wade_.” The Irish General Wade had spent twelve years building barracks, bridges […]
A Second Advent Candle
Happy Second Sunday of Advent! This particular excerpt is one that some of you may recognize; it was published as an “extra” in THE SCOTTISH PRISONER. I wanted to use it here, though, because of the spiritual theme of reconciliation and forgiveness, which seemed very appropriate to the season. (Last Sunday, we had an excerpt dealing with mourning and contemplation. Next Sunday is Gaudete Sunday—“Rejoicing” Sunday [g]—and we’ll have an excerpt dealing with joyful anticipation.) A Blessed Christmas (or Chanukah/Winter Solstice/Kwanzaa, etc.) season to all of you, and I hope you enjoy this. William had left the house like a thunderclap, and the place looked as though it had been struck by lightning. I certainly felt like the survivor of a massive electrical storm; hairs and nerve endings all standing up straight on end, waving in agitation. Jenny Murray had entered the house on the heels of William’s departure, and while the sight of her was a lesser shock than any of the others so far, it still left me […]
WRITTEN IN MY OWN HEART’S BLOOD
A couple of publishers asked me this week to write a brief bit of catalog copy for them, describing MOBY–so I did. For those of you wondering What to Expect from the eighth book in the OUTLANDER series: WRITTEN IN MY OWN HEART’S BLOOD is the eighth novel in the world-famous OUTLANDER series. In June of 1778, the world turns upside-down. The British army withdraws from Philadelphia, George Washington prepares to move from Valley Forge in pursuit, and Jamie Fraser comes back from the dead to discover that his best friend has married Jamie’s wife. The ninth Earl of Ellesmere discovers to his horror that he is in fact the illegitimate son of the newly-resurrected Jamie Fraser (a rebel _and_ a Scottish criminal!) and Jamie’s nephew Ian Murray discovers that his new-found cousin has an eye for Ian’s Quaker betrothed. Meanwhile, Claire Fraser deals with an asthmatic duke, Benedict Arnold, and the fear that one of her husbands may have murdered the other. And in the 20th century, Jamie and […]