Wordy Wednesday: PROLEGOMENON

PROLEGOMENON - Noun- (Pl. PROLEGOMENA)
A critical or discursive introduction to a book.
A preliminary discussion, especially a formal essay introducing a work of considerable length or complexity.
PROLEGOMENA - Prefatory remarks or observations.
Derivatives: PROLEGOMENOUS - adjective
ORIGIN mid 17th century

PROLEGOMENON is a mouthful. I love it.

PROLEGOMENON sounds a lot like a PROLOGUE to me, in both pronunciation and the definition. They are like cousins. And their other cousin PREFATORY (similar in sound and meaning to PREFACE). A whole family of words. =0)

There wasn’t a sample sentence for this one in my desktop dictionary, so I’ll take a stab at it. The PROLEGOMENON to the tome made the complexity of the discourse more comprehensible.

Though I like this word, I would be hard pressed to use it in one of my novels. I would need a pretentious character who always uses words that no one else does or knows. He/she would likely feel superior to others or have a low self-esteem they are trying to make up for or hide. Now, that gets me thinking. Who could I develop like that, and what story might they fit into? Hmm . . . It makes a brain wonder. =0)

NEW!

THE WIDOW'S PLIGHT ~ A sweet historical romance that will tug at your heart. This is book 1 in the Quilting Circle series.
Washington State, 1893
     When Lily Lexington Bremmer arrives in Kamola with her young son, she’s reluctant to join the social center of her new community, the quilting circle, but the friendly ladies pull her in. She begins piecing a sunshine and shadows quilt because it mirrors her life. She has a secret that lurks in the shadows and hopes it doesn’t come out into the light. Dark places in her past are best forgotten, but her new life is full of sunshine. Will her secrets cast shadows on her bright future?
     Widower Edric Hammond and his father are doing their best to raise his two young daughters. He meets Lily and her son when they arrive in town and helps her find a job and a place to live. Lily resists Edric’s charms at first but finds herself falling in love with this kind, gentle man and his two darling daughters. Lily has stolen his heart with her first warm smile, but he’s cautious about bringing another woman into his girls’ lives due to the harshness of their own mother.
     Can Edric forgive Lily her past to take hold of a promising chance at love?
THE WIDOW'S PLIGHT is now available in ebook and paperback.


COURTING HER SECRET HEART
A Prodigal Daughters story, Book 2

Caught between two worlds…Deborah Miller lives a double life as an Amish woman—and a fashion model! All photography is forbidden in her Plain community, so she must keep her job a secret. But when Amos Burkholder starts helping at her family’s farm, hiding the truth from him is impossible. And soon she must choose between the Englisher world of modeling and the Amish man she’s come to love.

Book 3 in the Prodigal Daughters series due to release January 2019, COURTING HER PRODIGAL HEART#ChristianRomance #HistoricalRomance #Romance

MARY DAVIS is a bestselling, award-winning novelist of over two dozen titles in both historical and contemporary themes. She has five titles releasing in 2018; "Holly & Ivy" in A Bouquet of Brides Collection in January, Courting Her Amish Heart in March, The Widow’s Plight in July, Courting Her Secret Heart September, &“Zola’s Cross-Country Adventure” in MISSAdventure Brides Collection in December. She is a member of ACFW and active in critique groups.

Mary lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband of over thirty-four years and two cats. She has three adult children and two incredibly adorable grandchildren. Find her online at:

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Wordy Wednesday: LIVID

I recently used LIVID in my current WIP (Work In Progress). Even when I know what a word means I’ll look it up to see if it has the right nuance I’m looking for. I needed to know if it conveyed the right shade of anger I was looking for.

LIVID
(adjective)  1. Furiously angry

Yep. That’s what I was looking for.

I also found something I wasn’t looking for and learned something new.

Definition 2. Dark bluish gray in color

LIVID is a color?

We might also call it slate-blue.

If I was going to choose a color to represent LIVID, I’d probably choose red, because we say that someone is red with anger.

My desktop dictionary gives these examples of using LIVID in sentences when LIVID refers to the color rather than the emotion.

If I were reading either of these in a book, my brain would envision angry bruises and see anger on his face, both of which fit perfectly.

I’m going to change my thinking on this, and when I come across LIVID used this second way, I’m going to try to picture the color rather than the emotion. Or both.

NEW!

THE WIDOW'S PLIGHT ~ A sweet historical romance that will tug at your heart. This is book 1 in the Quilting Circle series.
Washington State, 1893
     When Lily Lexington Bremmer arrives in Kamola with her young son, she’s reluctant to join the social center of her new community, the quilting circle, but the friendly ladies pull her in. She begins piecing a sunshine and shadows quilt because it mirrors her life. She has a secret that lurks in the shadows and hopes it doesn’t come out into the light. Dark places in her past are best forgotten, but her new life is full of sunshine. Will her secrets cast shadows on her bright future?
     Widower Edric Hammond and his father are doing their best to raise his two young daughters. He meets Lily and her son when they arrive in town and helps her find a job and a place to live. Lily resists Edric’s charms at first but finds herself falling in love with this kind, gentle man and his two darling daughters. Lily has stolen his heart with her first warm smile, but he’s cautious about bringing another woman into his girls’ lives due to the harshness of their own mother.
     Can Edric forgive Lily her past to take hold of a promising chance at love?
THE WIDOW'S PLIGHT is now available in ebook and paperback.


COURTING HER SECRET HEART
A Prodigal Daughters story, Book 2

Caught between two worlds…Deborah Miller lives a double life as an Amish woman—and a fashion model! All photography is forbidden in her Plain community, so she must keep her job a secret. But when Amos Burkholder starts helping at her family’s farm, hiding the truth from him is impossible. And soon she must choose between the Englisher world of modeling and the Amish man she’s come to love.

Book 3 in the Prodigal Daughters series due to release January 2019, COURTING HER PRODIGAL HEART#ChristianRomance #HistoricalRomance #Romance

MARY DAVIS is a bestselling, award-winning novelist of over two dozen titles in both historical and contemporary themes. She has five titles releasing in 2018; "Holly & Ivy" in A Bouquet of Brides Collection in January, Courting Her Amish Heart in March, The Widow’s Plight in July, Courting Her Secret Heart September, & “Zola’s Cross-Country Adventure” in MISSAdventure Brides Collection in December. She is a member of ACFW and active in critique groups.

Mary lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband of over thirty-four years and two cats. She has three adult children and two incredibly adorable grandchildren. Find her online at:

Newsletter  Blog   FB  FB Readers Group   Amazon   GoodReads   BookBub

Wordy Wednesday: VAUNT

VAUNT

(verb) - boast about or praise (something), especially excessively
To speak or write about (something) in an strongly positive way; praise or boast about.

(noun) - a boast

Derivatives:
VAUNTER (noun)
VAUNTINGLY (adverb)

Origin: Late middle English: the noun a shortening of AVAUNT.

I just like the way this word sounds and rolls off the tongue.

I do hope I can figure out how to use VAUNT in a story.

NEW!

THE WIDOW'S PLIGHT ~ A sweet historical romance that will tug at your heart. This is book 1 in the Quilting Circle series.
Washington State, 1893
     When Lily Lexington Bremmer arrives in Kamola with her young son, she’s reluctant to join the social center of her new community, the quilting circle, but the friendly ladies pull her in. She begins piecing a sunshine and shadows quilt because it mirrors her life. She has a secret that lurks in the shadows and hopes it doesn’t come out into the light. Dark places in her past are best forgotten, but her new life is full of sunshine. Will her secrets cast shadows on her bright future?
     Widower Edric Hammond and his father are doing their best to raise his two young daughters. He meets Lily and her son when they arrive in town and helps her find a job and a place to live. Lily resists Edric’s charms at first but finds herself falling in love with this kind, gentle man and his two darling daughters. Lily has stolen his heart with her first warm smile, but he’s cautious about bringing another woman into his girls’ lives due to the harshness of their own mother.
     Can Edric forgive Lily her past to take hold of a promising chance at love?
THE WIDOW'S PLIGHT is now available in ebook and paperback.


COURTING HER SECRET HEART
A Prodigal Daughters story, Book 2

Caught between two worlds…Deborah Miller lives a double life as an Amish woman—and a fashion model! All photography is forbidden in her Plain community, so she must keep her job a secret. But when Amos Burkholder starts helping at her family’s farm, hiding the truth from him is impossible. And soon she must choose between the Englisher world of modeling and the Amish man she’s come to love.

Book 3 in the Prodigal Daughters series due to release January 2019, COURTING HER PRODIGAL HEART
#ChristianRomance #HistoricalRomance #Romance

MARY DAVIS is a bestselling, award-winning novelist of over two dozen titles in both historical and contemporary themes. She has five titles releasing in 2018; "Holly & Ivy" in A Bouquet of Brides Collection in January, Courting Her Amish Heart in March, The Widow’s Plight in July, Courting Her Secret Heart September, & “Zola’s Cross-Country Adventure” in MISSAdventure Brides Collection in December. She is a member of ACFW and active in critique groups.

Mary lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband of over thirty-four years and two cats. She has three adult children and two incredibly adorable grandchildren. Find her online at:

Newsletter  Blog   FB  FB Readers Group   Amazon   GoodReads   BookBub

Wordy Wednesday: CHICANERY

CHICANERY

(noun)-the use of trickery to achieve a political, financial, or legal purpose.

Origin: late 16th century, French

To me, this definition sort of contradicts itself. “Trickery” and “legal” don’t seem like they should go together. “Trickery” may not necessarily be illegal, but it’s generally not right.

I recently had the opportunity to use CHICANERY in a novel I’m working on, The Daughter's Predicament, book 2 in my Quilting Circle series (due to release May 2019). One character is talking to another about an omission of a major bit of information that another character has a right to know before following through with an agreement—a wedding.
"And Mr. Mallory is fine with all this chicanery?"

CHICANERY led me to SOPHISTRY because it was in the definition in the picture. SOPHISTRY (noun) use of FALLACIOUS argument, especially with the intention of deceiving; a FALLACIOUS argument.

So naturally, SOPHISTRY led me to FALLACIOUS (adjective) based on a mistaken belief.

These would all be fun words to use, in either everyday conversation or in a story. Fill it with all sorts of CHICANERY, SOPHISTRY, and FALLACIOUSNESS. How fun would that be? Loads & loads!

I love it when one fun word leads to another. And in this case, another.

NEW!

THE WIDOW'S PLIGHT ~ A sweet historical romance that will tug at your heart. This is book 1 in the Quilting Circle series.
Washington State, 1893
     When Lily Lexington Bremmer arrives in Kamola with her young son, she’s reluctant to join the social center of her new community, the quilting circle, but the friendly ladies pull her in. She begins piecing a sunshine and shadows quilt because it mirrors her life. She has a secret that lurks in the shadows and hopes it doesn’t come out into the light. Dark places in her past are best forgotten, but her new life is full of sunshine. Will her secrets cast shadows on her bright future?
     Widower Edric Hammond and his father are doing their best to raise his two young daughters. He meets Lily and her son when they arrive in town and helps her find a job and a place to live. Lily resists Edric’s charms at first but finds herself falling in love with this kind, gentle man and his two darling daughters. Lily has stolen his heart with her first warm smile, but he’s cautious about bringing another woman into his girls’ lives due to the harshness of their own mother.
     Can Edric forgive Lily her past to take hold of a promising chance at love?
THE WIDOW'S PLIGHT is now available in ebook and paperback.

#ChristianRomance #HistoricalRomance #Romance

MARY DAVIS is a bestselling, award-winning novelist of over two dozen titles in both historical and contemporary themes. She has five titles releasing in 2018; "Holly & Ivy" in A Bouquet of Brides Collection in January, Courting Her Amish Heart in March, The Widow’s Plight in July, Courting Her Secret Heart September, & “Zola’s Cross-Country Adventure” in MISSAdventure Brides Collection in December. She is a member of ACFW and active in critique groups.

Mary lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband of over thirty-three years and two cats. She has three adult children and one incredibly adorable grandchild. Find her online at:

Newsletter  Blog   FB  FB Readers Group   Amazon   GoodReads   BookBub

Wordy Wednesday: SKULLDUGGERY

Noun - Underhanded or unscrupulous behavior; trickery

Origin unknown

First known use 1856. I would have thought the first known use would have gone back a lot farther than that. At least back to the 1500s.

Synonyms:
artifice, chicane, chicanery, gamesmanship, hanky-panky, jugglery, legerdemain, subterfuge, trickery, wile, shenanigans

I just like the way this word rolls off the tongue, SKULLDUGGERY. And I want to put an "ARGH, Matey" after it. I mean SKULLDUGGERY and pirates go together.

I found a children's chapter book called SKULLDUGGERY ISLAND from Poptropica in a series for ages 5-8. It looks cute. I might have to check it out from my library just for fun.

I'll try to stay away from any SKULLDUGGERY, but I might toy with a shenanigan or two. =0)

NEW!

THE WIDOW'S PLIGHT ~ A sweet historical romance that will tug at your heart. This is book 1 in the Quilting Circle series.
Washington State, 1893
     When Lily Lexington Bremmer arrives in Kamola with her young son, she’s reluctant to join the social center of her new community, the quilting circle, but the friendly ladies pull her in. She begins piecing a sunshine and shadows quilt because it mirrors her life. She has a secret that lurks in the shadows and hopes it doesn’t come out into the light. Dark places in her past are best forgotten, but her new life is full of sunshine. Will her secrets cast shadows on her bright future?
     Widower Edric Hammond and his father are doing their best to raise his two young daughters. He meets Lily and her son when they arrive in town and helps her find a job and a place to live. Lily resists Edric’s charms at first but finds herself falling in love with this kind, gentle man and his two darling daughters. Lily has stolen his heart with her first warm smile, but he’s cautious about bringing another woman into his girls’ lives due to the harshness of their own mother.
     Can Edric forgive Lily her past to take hold of a promising chance at love?
THE WIDOW'S PLIGHT is now available in ebook and paperback.

#ChristianRomance #HistoricalRomance #Romance

MARY DAVIS is a bestselling, award-winning novelist of over two dozen titles in both historical and contemporary themes. She has five titles releasing in 2018; "Holly & Ivy" in A Bouquet of Brides Collection in January, Courting Her Amish Heart in March, The Widow’s Plight in July, Courting Her Secret Heart September, & “Zola’s Cross-Country Adventure” in MISSAdventure Brides Collection in December. She is a member of ACFW and active in critique groups.

Mary lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband of over thirty-three years and two cats. She has three adult children and one incredibly adorable grandchild. Find her online at:

Newsletter  Blog   FB  FB Readers Group   Amazon   GoodReads   BookBub

Wordy Wednesday: BEWHISKERED

BEWHISKERED

Adjective ~ having hair or whiskers growing on the face

BEWHISKERED is a fun word for someone like me who writes historical novels and stories. I could easily use it in my fiction. Someone who writes contemporary stories would need to have just the right character to wield a word like this. It isn’t one that can be carelessly bandied about lest it feel awkward and out of place.

Our dog Bishop was BEWHISKERED.

Today is a two-for-one special, because right below BEWHISKERED was BEWIGGED.

Adjective ~ (of a person) wearing a wig

I don’t know about using BEWIGGED. It sounds awkward, and if I used it, it might seem like I’m trying too hard. So much easier and cleaner to say that someone wore a wig. But just the right character could use BEWIGGED. I’ll have to think on what kind that would be.

NEW!

THE WIDOW'S PLIGHT ~ A sweet historical romance that will tug at your heart. This is book 1 in the Quilting Circle series.
Washington State, 1893
     When Lily Lexington Bremmer arrives in Kamola with her young son, she’s reluctant to join the social center of her new community, the quilting circle, but the friendly ladies pull her in. She begins piecing a sunshine and shadows quilt because it mirrors her life. She has a secret that lurks in the shadows and hopes it doesn’t come out into the light. Dark places in her past are best forgotten, but her new life is full of sunshine. Will her secrets cast shadows on her bright future?
     Widower Edric Hammond and his father are doing their best to raise his two young daughters. He meets Lily and her son when they arrive in town and helps her find a job and a place to live. Lily resists Edric’s charms at first but finds herself falling in love with this kind, gentle man and his two darling daughters. Lily has stolen his heart with her first warm smile, but he’s cautious about bringing another woman into his girls’ lives due to the harshness of their own mother.
     Can Edric forgive Lily her past to take hold of a promising chance at love?
THE WIDOW'S PLIGHT is now available in ebook and paperback.

#ChristianRomance #HistoricalRomance #Romance

MARY DAVIS is a bestselling, award-winning novelist of over two dozen titles in both historical and contemporary themes. She has five titles releasing in 2018; "Holly & Ivy" in A Bouquet of Brides Collection in January, Courting Her Amish Heart in March, The Widow’s Plight in July, Courting Her Secret Heart September, & “Zola’s Cross-Country Adventure” in MISSAdventure Brides Collection in December. She is a member of ACFW and active in critique groups.

Mary lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband of over thirty-three years and two cats. She has three adult children and one incredibly adorable grandchild. Find her online at:

Newsletter  Blog   FB  FB Readers Group   Amazon   GoodReads   BookBub

Wordy Wednesday: PICAROON

PICAROON

Noun (archaic) - a rogue or scoundrel; a pirate, a pirate ship, to act as a pirate.

Origin: 17th century from Spanish.

This is not what I imaged this word to mean, but it’s a fun word nonetheless. I’m not sure what the definition might be. I just liked the sound of it and wanted to learn a little about it.

PICAROON appealed to me because it reminded me of a nickname we called my oldest son when he was little.

Ben-A-Roon
The Roon

How we got from his actual name (Benjamin) to something with “ROON” on the end of it, I can’t remember, but I'm sure it made sense at the time. Well, as much sense as anything like that can make.

We do this with most all names and especially our pets’ names. I like to joke that we only name our pets so we have something to deviate from.

Whether a pirate, a rogue, or my son, "ROON" can make most any word fun.

NEW!

THE WIDOW'S PLIGHT ~ A sweet historical romance that will tug at your heart. This is book 1 in the Quilting Circle series.
Washington State, 1893
     When Lily Lexington Bremmer arrives in Kamola with her young son, she’s reluctant to join the social center of her new community, the quilting circle, but the friendly ladies pull her in. She begins piecing a sunshine and shadows quilt because it mirrors her life. She has a secret that lurks in the shadows and hopes it doesn’t come out into the light. Dark places in her past are best forgotten, but her new life is full of sunshine. Will her secrets cast shadows on her bright future?
     Widower Edric Hammond and his father are doing their best to raise his two young daughters. He meets Lily and her son when they arrive in town and helps her find a job and a place to live. Lily resists Edric’s charms at first but finds herself falling in love with this kind, gentle man and his two darling daughters. Lily has stolen his heart with her first warm smile, but he’s cautious about bringing another woman into his girls’ lives due to the harshness of their own mother.
     Can Edric forgive Lily her past to take hold of a promising chance at love?
THE WIDOW'S PLIGHT is now available in ebook and paperback.

#ChristianRomance #HistoricalRomance #Romance

MARY DAVIS is a bestselling, award-winning novelist of over two dozen titles in both historical and contemporary themes. She has five titles releasing in 2018; "Holly & Ivy" in A Bouquet of Brides Collection in January, Courting Her Amish Heart in March, The Widow’s Plight in July, Courting Her Secret Heart September, & “Zola’s Cross-Country Adventure” in MISSAdventure Brides Collection in December. She is a member of ACFW and active in critique groups.

Mary lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband of over thirty-three years and two cats. She has three adult children and one incredibly adorable grandchild. Find her online at:

Newsletter  Blog   FB  FB Readers Group   Amazon   GoodReads   BookBub

Wordy Wednesday: SHILLY-SHALLY

Verb [no object] SHILLY-SHALLIES, SHILLY-SHALLYING, SHILLY-SHALLIED — fail to act resolutely or decisively
Don’t SHILLY-SHALLY over the matter. Just make a decision.

Noun — Indecisive behavior
His behavior was SHILLY-SHALLY.

Derivatives — SHILLY-SHALLYER

Origin in the mid-18th century: originally as SHILL I, SHALL I. A reduplication of SHALL I?

Here are a few synonyms: dither (this is a fun one), vacillate, hem and haw, dilly dally.

This is a fun word and very unique. I wonder if there be a way I can work it into a story.

Perhaps I can sneak it into the current novel I’m writing, The Daughter’s Predicament, book 2 in the Quilting Circle series.

Even though Isabelle’s parents wanted her to marry Mr. Mallory—a man she didn’t love and barely knew—she SHILLY-SHALLIED over the decision.

Me thinks I might just do it.

=0)

NEW!

THE WIDOW'S PLIGHT ~ A sweet historical romance that will tug at your heart. This is book 1 in the Quilting Circle series.
Washington State, 1893
     When Lily Lexington Bremmer arrives in Kamola with her young son, she’s reluctant to join the social center of her new community, the quilting circle, but the friendly ladies pull her in. She begins piecing a sunshine and shadows quilt because it mirrors her life. She has a secret that lurks in the shadows and hopes it doesn’t come out into the light. Dark places in her past are best forgotten, but her new life is full of sunshine. Will her secrets cast shadows on her bright future?
     Widower Edric Hammond and his father are doing their best to raise his two young daughters. He meets Lily and her son when they arrive in town and helps her find a job and a place to live. Lily resists Edric’s charms at first but finds herself falling in love with this kind, gentle man and his two darling daughters. Lily has stolen his heart with her first warm smile, but he’s cautious about bringing another woman into his girls’ lives due to the harshness of their own mother.
     Can Edric forgive Lily her past to take hold of a promising chance at love?
THE WIDOW'S PLIGHT is now available in ebook and paperback.

#ChristianRomance #HistoricalRomance #Romance

MARY DAVIS is a bestselling, award-winning novelist of over two dozen titles in both historical and contemporary themes. She has five titles releasing in 2018; "Holly & Ivy" in A Bouquet of Brides Collection in January, Courting Her Amish Heart in March, The Widow’s Plight in July, Courting Her Secret Heart September, & “Zola’s Cross-Country Adventure” in MISSAdventure Brides Collection in December. She is a member of ACFW and active in critique groups.

Mary lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband of over thirty-three years and two cats. She has three adult children and one incredibly adorable grandchild. Find her online at:

Newsletter  Blog   FB  FB Readers Group   Amazon   GoodReads   BookBub