Big Thanks to Tudors Weekly!

You know that Tudor family-- Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn, Bloody Mary...oh, and...The Virgin Queen, Elizabeth I...Lady Jane Grey Dudley (some may know her as Helena Bonham Carter in a movie a loooong time ago)?

Well, I had the honor of guest posting on Tudors Weekly, about my favorite protagonist--a fabulous resource about everything Tudor!

Check it out, and thank you Tudors Weekly!

Creating Conspiracy: The Underside of A Timeline

Have you ever wondered what would happen if one life was spared along history's timeline? 

I asked myself this question during my typical daydreaming session as I glanced out my kitchen window on a misty autumn day. I dared to believe that a story might be told, without disturbing the facts, but weaving a conspiracy beneath the visible records that we learn in history class.

And for me, my heart and mind immediately went to the part of history that I love most--to a girl in the tower, a traitor queen, a pawn in a losing faction of Tudor England. 

The Nine Days' Queen has gone down in history as a woman who died for her faith. 

For those of you who know little of this woman--let me briefly explain the historical facts: Lady Jane Grey was a Tudor relative and known as a zealous, intellectual reformer. In 1553, the Protestant king was on his deathbed and next in line was his Catholic sister, Mary I. In an effort to to keep the British throne Protestant, the Lord President of the King's Council and Jane's parents forced Jane to take the throne-- a treasonous decision. Mary would not be slighted, and she reclaimed the throne after a mere nine days. 

Although the Queen offered Jane reprieve for her treason by giving her a chance to convert to Catholicism, Jane refused due to her fervent faith--or so the history books state.

What if Jane's death wasn't really hers at all?

I continued down this interrogation as I continued to daydream.

Would anything in history shift because of Jane's conversion to Catholicism? Besides her name disappearing from Fox's Book of Martyrs, what else would change?

But history would hinge more on the simple conversion and life lived out by a traitor cousin to the throne. The pivotal plot point would be wrapped up in a different question, Why?

Why would someone like Jane convert at all?

WHY would a zealous Protestant young teen like Lady Jane Grey Dudley, choose to betray her faith and convert to Catholicism under the pressure of the woman now known as Bloody Mary? Knowing the high stakes during the Protestant Reformation, and the devotion Jane Grey had to her beliefs, something huge would have to make her waver at Mary's offer. Why would this happen?

This is the question that launched in my mind a new story bursting to be told. And it's one that hardly shifts the current timeline, but flips over the recorded Tudor history as if it were a tapestry, revealing a web of threads, knots, and snags yet to be discovered--and an underground legacy that reaches well beyond the Tudor bloodline.

If Lady Jane didn't die so young, what unexpected legacy might she have left to us that changes nothing in the history books of today--but MUST happen for history to remain the same?

It is exciting to have written this story and see it unfold. I am currently seeking publication so you might know the rest of the story. Until then, join me here for Fictitious Friday on October 2nd, to get a snippet more of intrigue in this upside down timeline of Tudor England

**Fictitious Fridays are a chance to enter a Giveaway for a Starbucks card, as well as a novel about Lady Jane by Susan Meissner, Lady In Waiting. Stop by!**

Passing up the G Rating: Mama Drama Monday

My boys insisted that they wanted to see the film Boy In The Striped Pajamas on Friday night. Only the two oldest were up, and we were going to watch a "big person" movie together. I warned them what the movie might have in it, that it was about Nazis and concentration camps and hate. And that it would probably be very, very sad. Even though I told them, they wanted to watch it anyway, and I let them. 

During the movie about an eight year old boy who finds out the horror inflicted by his Nazi father as he stumbles into it, I heard my sons ask,

"Who would do that?" and "Why would they think that?" and "How did people let them?"

If you have seen it, you know there weren't many graphic scenes...a lot implied though. And my boys know how to read implications. At one point, they even questioned if it was a horror film because they just didn't understand the Nazi mentality and the sheer brokenness of the victims. The hatred displayed by the Nazis in the movie stirred an agonizing pain in all of us--over seventy years after they held any power.

When the credits rolled, my nearly eleven year old baby boy rolled over and cried in his pillow. And the next morning he said, "I can't believe how sad that was."

It's hard to watch your child hurt because of the suffering inflicted on humanity. It makes you question whether introducing the darkness of the human condition will shade their growing up with a gloomy perspective of the world, and chip their hearts into a cynical lens of humanity's capability. 

Seriously, years ago I would have said, "No PG  + movies until they are well into their teens." And besides movies, I would have probably sugar-coated much of what they asked to know, probably even steering their eyes, ears, friendships, schooling...etc...into the perfect mold I thought would give them a full 18 years of innocence.

Ha. YEAH RIIIIIGGGGHHHHTTTT! We all hear time and time again, that our culture is degrading and our kids are losing their innocence faster and faster. And it's true in many ways. And there are things I just don't think my adolescents need to see or hear.

But I didn't think it through. I didn't think about the valuable lessons that just aren't rated G.

I didn't trust that my kids' own humanity would recoil at evil, and compassion might take root in face of tragedy.

Helicopter parent? Yep, a few years ago I was.

But now? As they grow, and learn, and hurt, I just can't risk keeping them in the bubble of happy endings. Unlike the little boy in the movie who was oblivious to the Nazi horror until he stumbled upon it himself, there is a better way to equip my kids for the depravity out there. I can walk the path of knowing beside my kids, and allow the world to be seen--from a distance, in small doses--using its ugliness as an instigator to adjust their moral compasses to truth, love, and compassion.

They might lose some innocence along the way to adulthood, but if they are going to grow into humane adults, then it's worth it...and necessary...for a future generation of protectors of the innocent.

So this mama drama is real stuff...not just silliness...this is the drama I must endure to get to the parenting meat. The very real life junk that must be processed in a very life-changing way. 

My kids' hearts depend on it. 

Flipping History Upside Down: Fictitious Friday

Good Morning!

I am thrilled to start a month of Fictitious Fridays! We will go on a fantastic journey twining together my very own conspiracy about the Nine Days Queen aka Lady Jane Grey...and the ol' bard...good ol' Will...William Shakespeare. Each Friday, these crumbs will give you a taste of my recently written Biographical Historical Fiction novel, Lady Jane Lives.

Here's the first crumb along the path:

Aaaaah, I love mixing it up! Note the old spelling of Queen...yep, felt a little more 16th century-ish today than usual!

Just talking stories makes me want to sip a Starbucks latte while reading a good novel. You? 

I am having a GIVEAWAY!

One day, I'll give away a novel with my own name on the cover, but for now, one lucky winner will get a Starbucks gift card AND a copy of Lady In Waiting by Susan Meissner --the fabulous novel which inspired me to delve into my own fictitious story of the dearly beloved Lady Jane Grey.

How to enter the GIVEAWAY?

1. If you haven't yet, Go LIKE my Author Page here and let me know if you have!

2. Answer the day's question each Friday (see below). 

(Don't worry, to be sure you don't miss a day, 

you can enter your email in the right column

 and receive my blog in your inbox. ---->)

On November 1st, All Saint's Day (hey, Lady Jane was a saint, for sure), I will have a drawing from all the participants and a big winner will be revealed. 

So Today's Question: 

What is the last book you've read? Fiction? Non-Fiction? 

Mine is, The Butterfly and The Violin by Kristy Cambron--BRILLIANT! Currently reading For The Love by Jen Hatmaker --SO GOOD...AND my dear friend's debut novel, When Fall Fades by Amy Leigh Simpson --the world is in for a treat with this one!

How 'bout you?

Let's chat below!

Intrigue Awaits!

Tomorrow, I am kicking off a new segment and GIVEAWAY! Please stop by and participate each
Friday until Nov. 1st. A simple comment will get you in the running for a fun prize!:)

See you tomorrow!