of blades and thorns

the official blog of author grace a. johnson

Ask Ann-Marguerite™: What is Showing and Telling?

Grace A. Johnson

Dec 30, 2020
6 min

Ask Ann-Marguerite™: What is Showing and Telling?

The last week has been so busy, I have yet to catch my breath. Noël came and went so quickly, leaving behind messes to clean and things to do and many, many naps to take. My heads still spins when I think about it. More so, my head spins when I think of all I have yet to do! I have an appointment with Monsieur Calvin, the editor of the local newsprint, tomorrow afternoon, which I have pushed back as far as I could. I am meeting with a writer friend of mine who is in town for

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Grace A. Johnson

Dec 28, 2020
3 min

Name of the Week: Jessica

Jessica is the most complicated name I've posted about so far. For one, I simply could not find a picture relating to the definition of her name, so I just settled for this one. It's pretty, at least. For two, it has a very interesting background that, in some respects, would make it an odd name for my character, Jessica Bennet (née Arlington). Of course, I have a very good reason for my Stuart-era lady to have been named such. Simply put, her mother had an obsession with Sha

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Grace A. Johnson

Dec 26, 2020
2 min

Announcement!

First things first, this had better be the last time you come here. Wait. What? All right, let me back up. My website (novelist056.wixsite.com/graceajohnson...yeah, that long one) will be closed for maintenance until--hopefully--the first Monday in January. I have a couple posts coming out on the 28th and the 30th of this month, but other than that, everything else (like my Theories of Man post) will be pushed back to sometime in January. Until then, I'll be updated and addin

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Short Story Saturday: The Gift of Her Heart

Grace A. Johnson

Dec 26, 2020
11 min

Short Story Saturday: The Gift of Her Heart

I am so excited about sharing the first scene from The Gift of Her Heart today! I know it's not technically a short story, but it will (hopefully) get y'all wanting to read my latest release. Just a few days ago, the giveaway for The Gift of Her Heart ended, so if you're still sore than you haven't won, then look no further! You get a sneak peek right here! Chapter 1 Port Royal, Jamaica Christmas Eve, 1683 This was not going entirely as planned. An audible gulp hitched Chloe

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Grace A. Johnson

Dec 24, 2020
1 min

It's Time to Announce the Winners!

It is my honor and my duty to announce the winners of my The Gift of Her Heart giveaway! But before I do so, I want to thank all of you who entered, shared on social media, and helped get the news out there!!! Even if you didn't win, I hope you'll join me on Saturday for a glimpse into The Gift of Her Heart on my blog! Now, without further ado, the winners! Libby Lisa Sophia Jan Linda If that's your name, check your inbox, because your prize should be there!! I'll be followin

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Ask Ann-Marguerite™: How Do I Know Which Genre to Write?

Grace A. Johnson

Dec 23, 2020
8 min

Ask Ann-Marguerite™: How Do I Know Which Genre to Write?

The café was quiet all month long. Once snow begins to fall and rain to pour, it usually is. It may seem strange to some, what with all the tourists around Noël, but business has always slowed down for Rousseau’s. Part of the reason is because it is a tiny little café sequestered away on the second floor of a vieux apartment building. I live in the room above, across from Madame Abreo and her family and Monsieur Rousseau, whose daughter moved in with him after his wife’s deat

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Grace A. Johnson

Dec 22, 2020
1 min

It's The Most Wonderful Time...

...Of the giving season! Guys, the giveaway ends in mere hours!!! Due to a discrepancy in time (on my part, of course), The Gift of Her Heart giveaway ends in less than twelve hours! I'll be announcing the winners on my blog on Christmas Eve, but if you win, I'll send you an email on the 23rd containing your prize!! Now, with such little time left before the window closes, I want to give everyone another chance to enter, enter, ENTER! The rules and widget (aka, place where yo

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Grace A. Johnson

Dec 21, 2020
2 min

Name of the Week: Santa Claus

Y'all know I had to do it. It's Christmastime, anyway, and you can't go wrong with a little festivity, now can you? But Santa Claus is more than just a name selection--there's a nice long backstory I can launch into and many different name variations I can share. In this misguided Western World we live in, most everyone has begun to associate the name Santa Claus with the white-bearded fat man, right? Well, just like said fat man wasn't always the man we envision, the name Sa

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Short Story Saturday: A Christmas to Remember

Grace A. Johnson

Dec 19, 2020
11 min

Short Story Saturday: A Christmas to Remember

This Saturday's short story is one that I wrote for Held Captive, what you could call a "missing" scene that almost made it in to either HC or Prisoner at Heart as an extra--Rina's first Christmas with her new family. It was on Christmas Day that she and her father bonded over their struggles with unforgiveness and that Rina made a move that will go on to impact the outcome of Prisoner at Heart. (Note: If you haven't read Held Captive yet, there will be spoilers!) So, without

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Ask Ann-Marguerite™: How Do I Hone My Craft?

Grace A. Johnson

Dec 16, 2020
4 min

Ask Ann-Marguerite™: How Do I Hone My Craft?

I had not been perplexe before. I cannot afford to be stumped by a simple question. The newspaper editor was clear about our terms when I made the suggestion several weeks ago—if I am to keep up an advice column, I must be prepared to answer any and all questions. Last week’s question, I suppose, was the only exception, as M. Calvin was uncertain how I would be able to answer it. My response went over rather well, and from then the letters flooded in. The one M. Calvin select

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Grace A. Johnson

Dec 14, 2020
1 min

Name of the Week: Kenneth

If y'all joined me the last two Saturdays for my short story, Home for Christmas, then you'll remember my character Kenneth Merritt. I knew it'd be fun to mix it up a little bit this week and share a name from a different work--so here we go! Kenneth was super popular in the mid-1900s, but it's been around long before then. Since the before 9th century, Kenneth's original forms Coinneach and Cináed have been common in Scotland and Ireland. Variants like Kennit are found in Sw

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Short Story Saturday: Home for Christmas Part 2

Grace A. Johnson

Dec 12, 2020
7 min

Short Story Saturday: Home for Christmas Part 2

It's here! Part 2 of Home for Christmas is here! Come and get a taste of Christmas! Find out what happens to Kenneth and Kate in this holiday short story! Kenny? No, it couldn’t be. Kenneth was away...lost somewhere...buried somewhere… If he were alive, he would have been here sooner. Therefore, he couldn’t be standing there in the doorway, alive and...there. But he was. He was. Oh, God, thank You, thank You, thank You! Ragged breath filled her lungs, a lump lodging in her t

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The Writerly Siblings Tag (From the Perspective of One of Seven)

Grace A. Johnson

Dec 10, 2020
17 min

The Writerly Siblings Tag (From the Perspective of One of Seven)

I'll be honest with y'all...I feel no remorse about stealing this tag, as I stole it from someone who had previously stolen it from someone who had legal rights to it. Surely you can't actually steal something that was stolen, can you? Well, either way, as soon as I read my friend R.M. Archer's post, I knew that I just had to do this one myself. I am the oldest of seven kids and we are all very close in age (the farthest is three years and the closest is seventeen months). I

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Ask Ann-Marguerite™: Should I Take Writing Advice?

Grace A. Johnson

Dec 9, 2020
5 min

Ask Ann-Marguerite™: Should I Take Writing Advice?

Monsieur Calvin is not what one would call portly, but neither is he the definition of lean. He is short, stocky, with broad shoulders always hunched and thick arms always folded atop his desk. In my few scant meetings with him, I have never seen him in any other position. He slouches over his letters, newsprint, and drafts, eyeglasses tilted at an angle and smoke puffing from his cigarette. His voice is low, almost menacing, as though modeled after the villainous troll in a

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Me and Music Tag: A Glimpse into My Musical Inclinations

Grace A. Johnson

Dec 8, 2020
6 min

Me and Music Tag: A Glimpse into My Musical Inclinations

Y'all probably can tell that I'm not very integrated, so to speak, into the "blog world." How I happened to be tagged, you ask, well, um, my friend Jenna (@www.jennaterese.com) happened to be gracious enough to tag anyone reading her post, which includes me, so here we go! I love music. I'm listening to some right now. When I read Jenna's Me and Music post, I knew I had to write my own, because I LOVE gushing about my favorite songs. The rules for this tag are simple: Link ba

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Grace A. Johnson

Dec 7, 2020
7 min

Author Interview: Linyang Zhang

Over the last few months, Linyang Zhang has become a great friend! She is budding young author with a sweet personality and a love for God, and, just as I have enjoyed getting to know her, I hope that you will take the time to get to know her as a person and a teenaged indie author! You will remember that this day one month ago was National Indie Author day, and I took the time to support some of my fellow authors and interviewed R. M. Archer. If you haven't yet, you can read

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Grace A. Johnson

Dec 5, 2020
12 min

Short Story Saturday Begins!

Hello, hello, and welcome to the first ever Short Story Saturday installment! I do hope you'll join me as I share one of my Christmas short stories! Of course, these stories are short--only a few thousand words long--so if you're looking for even more holiday cheer, then I suggest you enter my (almost) month-long giveaway for my latest release, The Gift of Her Heart. Enter here! I actually wrote this short story sometime in July of 2018, I believe it was. It was published in

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Grace A. Johnson

Dec 4, 2020
2 min

Available for Preorder...

Ooh...look what's available for preorder right now! Do you need a late Christmas present for yourself? Then I recommend grabbing a preorder copy of Roseanna M. White's upcoming release, Dreams of Savannah! You can snag a copy at Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Christian Book, and Roseanna's online store (copy will be signed by the author)! Also, if you're interested in getting a daily sneak peek of Dreams of Savannah before the release dat, you can sign up for sneak peek. The peeks b

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Ask Ann-Marguerite™: Why Should I Write?

Grace A. Johnson

Dec 2, 2020
4 min

Ask Ann-Marguerite™: Why Should I Write?

To my right, a soft glow streams in through the window, bathing the world in warmth and wonder. Remains of night, each shadow and whisper of wind, entwine with dawn’s joyous twinkling, the break of day a dance upon le journal I hold in my hands. As the novembre breeze sways within the branches of trees, the sunlight catches through the leaves and obscures the ink print before me. I adjust my lunettes and shift in my seat, unfolding the newspaper until it fully blocks the risi

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Grace A. Johnson

Dec 1, 2020
3 min

Name of the Week: Margaret

Well, I've hem-hawed all last week about December's first Name of the Week, and of course I've been hem-hawing about whether or not I should do this particular character's name now or closer to Bound and Determined's 2021 release. As you can probably tell, I've decided to share with y'all the story behind the name Margaret--one of the key characters in Bound and Determined! I'll to keep this short and the spoilers down to maybe one or two. 😉 Margaret is a very interesting na

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