Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Jeanna Ellsworth Interview + Giveaway!!


Today I am interviewing Jeanna Ellsworth, author of Mr. Darcy's Promise. I hope you enjoy learning more about Jeanna, her inspiration for Mr. Darcy's Promise, and what she has in store for readers. Don't forget to enter the giveaway below for a chance to win an ebook copy of Mr. Darcy's Promise!

Briefly tell us a little about yourself. If you could sum up yourself in three words, what would they be and why?

I am a mother of three daughters who have been true inspirations to me. I enjoy all sorts of things. I love feeling motivated and inspired no matter what the source. I suppose I am passionate. I would say I am deeply personal, deeply honest, and deeply spiritual. Really . . . I’m just deep. I write from these sources of my personality. I love getting to know people on a personal level. I am somewhat like Mr. Darcy where I lack the ability to have superficial conversations; I would much rather discuss what is really going on in your life. When I ask how you are doing, it isn’t “How are ya?” It is truly asking about your hopes, dreams, and fears. I think this is why I feel so fulfilled as a nurse in my Neurological ICU position because there is no way you cannot get to know a patient or family member on a personal basis when you are supplying their basic needs or helping them through a crisis. I am deeply honest and my kids know very well that they will get in far more trouble if they lie to me than any stupid choice they make. I have been known to overshare a bit because of this honesty. I also have found that my spiritual beliefs are so ingrained in every facet of my life, yes, even my writing. I have been more confident in sharing and intertwining these beliefs in my writing as well.

OK, so you are a mother, a nurse, have a menagerie of chickens and rabbits, an author, blogger, and I’m sure I am forgetting something. How do you do it? When do you sleep? J

Ha Ha. All true! However I am not defined by my titles or hobbies.  I grew up with a strong work ethic. I am the 8th of 13 children and so we had to learn the value of work and helping around the house. As adults, my sisters and brothers and I laugh about how disappointed we were when it was a snow day. Why? Because that is when my mother or father would whip out the “projects” like wallpapering the house, painting the house, or shampooing the carpets. Even today, I find myself ecstatic when my day opens up for some reason and I have hours to fill with a project I had been putting off. I’m not afraid of hard work, but with the move, publishing my book, and the remodel etc. on my new house, I found that my normal vocabulary which is 100% free of swear words, found a new four letter word: BUSY! I got very tired of saying I was busy! Trust me, my kids will tell you how grouchy I get if I do not get my 8 hours of sleep. It may seem like I stay up all night writing or doing things, but I do make sleep a priority.

What was your inspiration for this book?

Mr. Darcy’s Promise is a book about a forced marriage because Darcy is accused of compromising Elizabeth. On the day of her marriage she is very distraught and he makes her an honorable promise, one that he feels shows his love and devotion. What was my inspiration to write this as I did? Elizabeth felt she was in a loveless marriage and she was quite disappointed that she couldn’t marry for love, but learns to accept her supposed fate and in fact works very hard to erect a certain level of companionship; for if she couldn’t have love in her marriage, at least she could have companionship with her spouse. That was my motivation. I had been divorced for two years and never understood why I did not even have companionship in my relationship with my husband as it seemed others had in their marriage. So writing about Elizabeth and Darcy developing not only companionship but a deep emotional foundation for their relationship was somewhat healing and renewed my faith in marriage in general. It was 2 months after I wrote the book that I began dating again. So with risk of oversharing, I wrote the book to heal my heart, of which, it did. I would very much like to find my Fitzwilliam Darcy now, a mindset that I admit feels new and foreign still– and a little scary too!

Have you always been a lover of P&P?

Believe it or not, no! I’m kind of a late bloomer! In fact, I can’t say I fell in love with Pride and Prejudice (as in the kind of obsessive-compulsive-crazy for the next fix- kind of love) until January 2012! I’m just a newbie! In fact, my weakness in my writing is that I do not have the entire book memorized, as I assume most JAFF writers do.

Any words of advice for aspiring authors?

Honestly? If you feel the need to write – just start! Write down a plot outline, see if it has the potential to keep your own interest. Does it have a conflict, an ability to pull at the readers emotional heart strings? If so – then try writing the first chapter! One thing I would also suggest is to not have just good friends or family members give you feedback unless they can be very honest, but look for a beta or editor from the very beginning that you can send chapters to in order to get good feedback. I have learned a lot as I went through the editing process and learned even more as I used fellow authors to give me feedback.

Do you have anything in the works right now? I see from your website, www.HeyLadyPublications.com, that you have written two other P&P variations. When will we see them published? How is your muse now?

I do have two other books, Pride and Persistence, and To Refine Like Silver. Neither are sequels or related to Mr. Darcy’s Promise and each is totally different. If interested, you can read the first chapter of each on my website WWW.HeyLadyPublications.com. Pride and Persistence is light and funny and the plan is to start the editing and cover design in October for a March publication. Yippee! To Refine Like Silver is a lovely story of Elizabeth helping Darcy and Georgiana find peace with their trials and so could easily be described as deeply spiritual and uplifting. I personally think it is my best work but because there is such a strong spiritual subplot, I fear it will receive the most varied of reviews. We will work on publishing it after Pride and Persistence. How is my muse? I just finished chapter 4 of my fourth book, Hope for Mr. Darcy, and I pour even more of myself into this book than any of the other three, which is really saying something.

Thank you so much for this chance to discuss me, Mr. Darcy’s Promise, and my writing! I hope you all get a chance to enter to win a copy of Mr. Darcy’s Promise!

Thank you so much for joining me, Jeanna! It was a pleasure having you on Leatherbound Reviews. I wish you much success with Mr. Darcy’s Promise.

***GIVEAWAY TIME***

Jeanna Ellsworth is giving away ONE (1) ebook copy of Mr. Darcy's Promise to one lucky commenter. To enter, leave a comment for Jeanna. Please provide your email address. No email address, no can win. I need to know how to contact you. :) As always, tweet for extra entries. 
Stop by on Thursday for Leatherbound Reviews' review of Mr. Darcy's Promise and more chances to enter!
Winner will be announced Tuesday, September 10!

Connect with Jeanna Ellsworth
Read It Now!
Kindle 


24 comments:

  1. Enjoyed the interview - I agree I can't stand it when someone lies to me - it is a loss of trust.
    PS Here's hoping I win a copy of your book

    meikleblog at gmail dot com

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    1. Thanks so much! I agree that honesty is the best policy! I tend to over share with my interviews but it is always fun to see what makes an author who they are. It helps to see what might have inspired them! Good luck in the drawing!
      Jeanna

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  2. I love the interview and getting to know more of you, Jeanna. Congrats on the successful publication of Mr. Darcy's Promise and wish you much success with your future books.

    evangelineace2020(at)yahoo(dot)com

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    1. It was a fun interview! Jakki is great. I am still shocked that it has been so successful! I can't wait to start the editing process of Pride and Persistence! Let alone the energy I feel from writing again!
      Jeanna

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  3. Tweeted https://twitter.com/Vesper1931/status/375272730876071936

    meikleblog at gmail dot com

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  4. I like exploring the premise that Darcy and Lizzy had to marry and am curious about the nature of his promise to her. It was fun meeting the author and learning more about the background of the book.

    Thanks for the giveaway opportunity.
    sophiarose1816 at gmail dot com

    Tweeted: https://twitter.com/sophiarose1816/status/375308108752355329

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  5. The promise is not made until chapter 4 so you will just have to read to find out! It is made with all the good intentions Darcy has but as the story unfolds, Elizabeth begins to detest it a great deal! Thanks for commenting, good luck!

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  6. Jeanna, you do the best blog posts - I always feel like I know you so much more. How about telling us how you've introduced your new beau to Jane Austen?

    ~ junewilliams7 {at} yahoo {dot} com

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    1. Ha Ha! Now that is a story to tell! His name is Wilder, and my daughters have nicknamed him Fitzwilder because our relationship has been touched with a little pride and a little prejudice....we even met at a dance, but he did dance with me and didn't say I was not handsome enough to tempt him. We even had a Hunsford type blow out where I dragged his butt to the door and told him he had no chance....yet, I am now dating him. Interesting story. He keeps asking me if my fourth book will be about him. Nope. He is pretty romantic, and he has made my heart flutter a few times, but i would feel like I'm plagiarizing if I wrote what he tells me. So all imagination for my books!

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  7. Great interview. I have already read Mr Darcy's Promise and enjoyed it. I would love a chance at winning a copy of my own. Thank you for the giveaway!
    cherringtonmb at sbcglobal dot net

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    1. I'm so glad you enjoyed it! I hope you do get a copy of your own! I know I posted it on Meryton.com when I first wrote it but it is so much better now. Good luck with the giveaway!
      Jeanna

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  8. 5th - tweeted - https://twitter.com/Vesper1931/status/375644259128320000


    meikleblog at gmail dot com

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  9. Hi, Jeanna!

    Really enjoyed reading your interview, it's so warmly written! I really liked this bit, it was wonderful:
    When I ask how you are doing, it isn’t “How are ya?” It is truly asking about your hopes, dreams, and fears.

    The premise of your book is very exciting, one of my favourite books begins with a forced engagement, and by the looks of it seems like I found another favourite :)
    Lots of inspirations for your new stories and all the best!

    joana[underscore]sw[at]yahoo[dot]co[dot]uk

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  10. I always enjoy reading your interviews and blog tour posts, Jeanna. I'm usually an over-sharer too so I don't mind. To have written 3 books just since 2012 is pretty darn amazing! I look forward to reading them.

    monicaperry00 at gmail dot com

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  11. I tweeted: https://mobile.twitter.com/jaffobsession/status/375784543942242304?p=v

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  12. would love to read Mr Darcy's Promise!!
    thank you for the oppportunity!!!!

    cyn209 at juno dot com

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  13. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  14. 6th September - tweeted - https://twitter.com/Vesper1931/status/375987399269957632

    forgot email - meikleblog at gmail dot com

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  15. Thank you all for your comments on Jeana's interview! :) I am glad each of you sounds as excited as I am about this novel. I will e looking forward to hearing more f Jeanna's upcoming pieces as well.
    I wish each of you the best of luck in the giveaway! =) Without you wonderful participants, I would have nothing to blog. Thank you! :)

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  16. https://twitter.com/Vesper1931/status/376344066612400128

    meikleblog at gmail dot com

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  17. tweeted - https://twitter.com/Vesper1931/status/376722226675855362

    meikleblog at gmail dot com

    ReplyDelete
  18. tweeted - https://twitter.com/Vesper1931/status/377093082954489856

    meikleblog at gmail dot com

    ReplyDelete