of blades and thorns

the official blog of author grace a. johnson

Grace A. Johnson

Aug 31, 2020
3 min

Name of the Week: Crimson

So, I think we can all agree that, yeah, Crimson is a name. Only, it's not a person name; it's a color name. Specifically, a very red color name. (Believe it or not, it's been in use as a given name since sometime in the 1800s...so maybe Crimson wasn't likely to have been named Crimson in the 1600s, but at least it was a name at some point.) I think we can all also agree that Crimson was aptly named. With 50% Scottish blood coursing through her veins, this girl is redheaded,

7 views0 comments

Grace A. Johnson

Aug 28, 2020
9 min

Meet the Character--Keaton Edward James Clarke

So, maybe this is in honor of this week's Name of the Week...or maybe it's in honor of my upcoming release (no date set yet, unfortunately 😥), Bound and Determined, which features Keaton Clarke as its hero and one of the four (yes, there's four) main characters. Since, of course, Bound and Determined is only halfway finished--and that's not counting editing, cover designing, formatting, publishing, marketing, et cetera, et cetera--I'll skimp on the spoilers. (No, not really.

21 views2 comments

Grace A. Johnson

Aug 24, 2020
3 min

Name of the Week: Keaton

Ah, Keaton. The man, ofttimes thoughtful and serious, seldom smiling or jovial, that we all have begun to wonder about. In the wake of his out-of-character performance in Prisoner at Heart, a great deal of us (I mean, y'all) have probably been thinking, not unlike Xavier, "What is going on with this character? I saw such great things for him in the future, and now I'm not so sure." Well...I can't spoil anything yet, but rest assured that Keaton isn't always a, and I paraphras

6 views0 comments

Grace A. Johnson

Aug 17, 2020
2 min

Name of the Week: Elliot

So, last week I scheduled my name of the week post for 8 AM instead of 8 PM, so we'll be doing this every morning from now on, all right? There are times when a name is just there. Before the story, before the plot, sometimes before even the character himself. You don't need to scour the internet or naming guides. You don't need to debate over the usage or origin or meaning. It's already perfect. Elliot is one of them. I've mentioned before that Elliot was part of "The Lady P

4 views0 comments

Grace A. Johnson

Aug 15, 2020
6 min

Bound and Determined Sneak Peek #2!

Well, I am ashamed to admit that whilst every other author in the entire world has been churning out books left and right during quarantine and social distancing and all that mumbo-jumbo, I've been...nothing. It took me a week to write Chapter 10 of Bound and Determined at the end of April, and I've only made it eleven more chapters since then. Yeah. I'm behind. It only took me six months to write 90,000 words while I was also in my first semester of college last year, but as

25 views0 comments

Review: The Land Beneath Us by Sarah Sundin

Grace A. Johnson

Aug 14, 2020
3 min

Review: The Land Beneath Us by Sarah Sundin

So...I don't read WWII fiction religiously. To be honest, I wouldn't say I read it at all. Of course, I've picked up several WWII romances along and along--I finished Amanda Barratt's My Dearest Dietrich not too long ago--and have found that anything by Bodie and Brock Thoene is definitely a must-read after enjoying the first three books in their Zion Covenant series. But I haven't sat down and made lists of all my favorite WWII novels and authors or filled my Amazon cart wit

4 views0 comments

Grace A. Johnson

Aug 14, 2020
1 min

Sneak Peek!

The sneak peek is here!!! Happy day! Today, August 14th, starts the serial one-page sneak peek of A Portrait of Loyalty on Roseanna M. White's newsletter. Don't forget to sign up NOW (here's the link: https://bit.ly/39FY4WM) and take advantage of the special pre-order price on Amazon, Christian Book, or Roseanna's online store, where all copies are SIGNED! The special price is only available 'til Sept. 4th, four days before the release! About the Book Zivon Marin was one of R

4 views0 comments

Grace A. Johnson

Aug 10, 2020
3 min

Name of the Week: Xavier

Welcome back to my Name of the Week! Now, considering last week's post, this one's a no-brainer. Xavier Bennet is the hero of my debut novel, Held Captive, starring alongside the tempestuous female pirate captain, Rina Blackstone. My naming process for him is surprisingly easy to recount. Unlike Rina, his name hasn't undergone any serious changes at all. His middle name, Collin, has flip-flopped between Colin (one L, totally different origin) and Collin, which I finally settl

6 views0 comments

Grace A. Johnson

Aug 4, 2020
5 min

Review: True to You by Becky Wade

*Warnings* #1 This is a long review, so pull up a chair and grab a bowl of popcorn. You'll be here awhile. #2 When I read a review, I want substantial information. So I will not skimp on the details. Which will mean some spoilers, so watch out. So...I don't read a lot of contemporary romances. I went through a phase a few years ago where I did, and it ended on some pretty sour notes. So, now I try to distance myself. (Distancing in my dictionary means the most of my modern re

7 views0 comments

Grace A. Johnson

Aug 4, 2020
3 min

A Portrait of Loyalty

Anyone who follows what I read and what I've posted, then y'all know that I ADORE Roseanna M. White's novels. I can still remember when I first saw her The Reluctant Duchess on the shelf of Books-A-Million and thinking, "Hey, that looks interesting." A couple days later, I'd put a hold on it and the other two books in the series at the library and within a month, I was a Roseanna fan. Well, her newest series, The Codebreakers, is about to come to an end next month with the re

3 views0 comments

Grace A. Johnson

Aug 3, 2020
3 min

Name of the Week: Rina

So, in all my blog reading (be it authors or otherwise), I've found most bloggers have a signature type of post that comes out on a certain day of the week. Some, with more of an interested in blogging and organized mindset, have every post specifically subjected (would that be the correct usage of subjected?) with a Such-and-Such Saturday at 5 am and a This-and-That Thursday at noon. Now, I have two tied-to-writing-but-not-too-much-to-be-considered-annoying-like-why-won't-th

22 views0 comments

Grace A. Johnson

Aug 2, 2020
9 min

The Journey of Held Captive--Part 3

For the last two Sundays, I've been sharing with y'all the long, drawn-out comedy of errors and cautionary tale I call the journey of Held Captive, my debut novel which released on Amazon in paperback and eBook format on March 23rd, 2019. Today, I finally get to sum it all up--and on my new (and very cheap, as in free) website and blog. Today, I want to tell you all about my crash and burn with tradition publishing, how I got that very fuzzy, should-have-been-super-pretty cov

14 views0 comments

Grace A. Johnson

Aug 2, 2020
8 min

The Journey of Held Captive--Part 2

So, last Sunday I shared the original version of my debut novel, Held Captive, the world it resided in, and a few of the ways that first draft (that was barely five chapters) of "The Lady Pirate" became Held Captive. Today, I want to give you an in-depth look into my writing process--and how/why I came back to Held Captive--a few of the little things I learned along the way, and (time permitting; it takes me forever to write these things, so there will probably be a part thre

13 views0 comments

Grace A. Johnson

Aug 2, 2020
15 min

The Journey of Held Captive

Recently, I had a friend read my debut novel, Held Captive, and tell me what she thought. Long story short, she had a few of what I call eh moments, which was expected because, well, Held Captive is kind of eh. Now, that's not to say it doesn't have some very good points...but I was twelve/thirteen when I wrote it, and all by the seat of my pants, so you can expect a few errors--and I don't mean grammatical ones. Well, when she mentioned those eh moments, my big head popped a

27 views0 comments

Grace A. Johnson

Aug 2, 2020
10 min

Up Close and Personal

*Warnings* #1 This is a really long blog post that began as a bio but ended up becoming a random mash-up of things that make me me, stylized the same way as my book reviews. #2 If you just want the straightforward how-did-you-become-a-writer part, then read until you come to "When I'm not reading and writing..." 'cause that's where it starts to get weird. 'Sup? I'm Grace, but you can call me Gracie. After writing my staid little bio (yeah, I wrote it), I've realized that ther

104 views5 comments

Grace A. Johnson

Aug 2, 2020
5 min

True Independence

Maybe I should have saved this post for this time next month, but I'd forget by then. 😉 Anyway... I was thinking the other day about how I can never do a devotional. I've tried--granted, that's been years ago when I was nine or ten--but my point remains the same. I can't even keep a diary, journal, or monthly planner. (I mean, for all my love of schedules and writing and such, I. just. can't.) I'm good to read my Bible every night, so it's not like I'm a hypocrite or a weeke

6 views0 comments

Grace A. Johnson

Aug 2, 2020
2 min

Guess What!

I'm doing more blogging than usual!!! 😊😁❤❤ Just kidding! Well, I mean, I'm still blogging a wee bit more--this makes my third post this month--but my real good news is everyone's favorite--or at least my favorite--BOOK NEWS! So...I mentioned a few days ago that I was working on a fun Christmas novella. (I always write Christmas stories in the spring and summer. ??? 🤔🤨) Well, after exactly two weeks of off-and-on writing in between my Julie Lessman Kindle sessions, I'm fin

7 views0 comments

Grace A. Johnson

Aug 2, 2020
8 min

"Passion with a Purpose"

Remember what I said a couple weeks ago about writing whilst everyone else is stuck at home? I take it back. I've been writing, yes, and I was definitely working on my next manuscript when I posted that. But...uh...aside from a Christmas short story--I have a weakness for those, apparently--about two of my favorite secondary characters, I haven't been doing much. I just wrote 379 words yesterday in Bound and Determined, which was the first since...well, since I wrote that blo

35 views12 comments

Grace A. Johnson

Aug 2, 2020
4 min

Bound and Determined Sneak Peek!

So...I'm in a "sneaky" mood today. Everyone's stuck at home--either working, finishing up school, or simply being bored. Which means I'm writing. Which means the third novel in the Daughters of the Sevens Seas series, Bound and Determined is on its way. I've made it to Chapter 12 with a total of--approximately--40,200 words. My story is coming to life. My characters are starting to experience some of their greatest hardships. (I'm starting to get overly giddy about this book,

25 views0 comments

Grace A. Johnson

Aug 2, 2020
5 min

An Appeal to Heaven

2nd Chronicles 7, verse 14 states “‘If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.’” Here is the first actual definition of an “appeal to heaven,” which is a phrase that was coined in the late 1600s and was used by General George Washington on what we now call the “pine tree flag” during the American Revolution.

94 views0 comments

Want to get notified every time I post? Enter your email below!

grace a. johnson

of blades and thorns

the official blog of author grace a. johnson

Want to get notified every time I post? Enter your email below!

follow my blog

let's connect

join the list