SO...WHO AM I?

Hi!

I’m Arianna Eastland, a native New Englander who, at a young age, developed a fascination for the Native-American culture and history in the Northeast. This not only led me to read everything I could find on the subject, it also inspired me, years later, to begin penning historical romance novels featuring Native-American heroes.

I must confess that my writing habits are somewhat unconventional. When I sit down to write, I never have a particular plot in mind and never write a preliminary outline. I just let the story and emotions unfold and flow as I go along. Also, I never know how the book is going to end until I actually write the final page.

And I have trouble writing if the room is too quiet. There either has to be music playing or the TV has to be on, or I can’t seem to concentrate.

Believe me, writing books that are set back in the 1600s has its challenges – first and foremost, deciphering the language that was used back then. Not only did many of the words we use today mean something entirely different in those days, there also were far fewer of them in existence.

I don't use the “thees” and “thous” of that period in my books because I think they would detract from the flow of the dialogue. I mean, I still can remember reading Shakespeare in high-school English classes and struggling to figure out what the heck the characters were talking about! 

But I do try to make certain my characters aren't speaking words that weren’t even created yet. I wouldn’t, for example, have a Pilgrim in the 1650s saying things like “egotistical” or “rambunctious” because the first time those words were used wasn’t until well over a hundred years later. 

Or can you just picture two Pilgrim guys greeting each other with something like, "Hey, Josiah! How's it hangin'? Gimme five!"

It does bother me, however, that I have to refer to the heroes in my books as either Indians or savages, but that was what the colonists called them in the 17th century...and I can’t undo history.

The Native-American words and phrases I've used in my novels thus far also were a challenge to research. I found only one Algonquin dictionary in existence and it was a rare antique, an expensive collector's item. Luckily, because it was published back in the 1800s, it became public domain, and some kind soul actually printed the entire dictionary online for everyone to use. The only problem was the man who originally wrote the dictionary didn't list the words in alphabetical order...he grouped them by random categories....also not in alphabetical order. So the aforementioned "kind soul" later created a search engine to use with the dictionary (thank goodness).

I know I never could offer a reading of my books to the public because, to be honest, I wouldn’t be able to pronounce some of the words. For example, the Algonquin word for snoring is chigualakwsowogan. And kbahodwigamigw means "jail."

My first novel, Too Far to Whisper, which has been in the top 20 on Amazon in the Native-American literature category for over six months now, took me years to write. I kept putting it away and going back to it until I finally just gave up on it for about 10 years. Then, in 2012, I talked myself into finishing it. After that, the sequels were much less of a struggle to write and took only months, not years, to complete. 

Oh, by the way, the e-book version of my first novel, Too Far to Whisper, is permanently free on Amazon, Apple Books, Smashwords and Barnes & Noble, so if you'd like to read it, you have nothing to lose by downloading it.

Not long ago, I took a DNA test to find out more about my ancestry and was surprised to learn that my great-great grandmother, who was from the Province of Quebec, was a full-blooded Abenaki. No one in my family ever had mentioned it to me before…but I do think it explains a lot!

When I take a break from writing, I enjoy walking on the many wooded trails in my area, going to local plays and concerts, playing board games and spending quality time with my friends.

I will post updates on this blog from time to time, whether they are just random thoughts or news about upcoming projects or book releases. Basically, I'll just let anyone who might be interested know what I’m doing!

I can be contacted at: ariannaeastland2@aol.com.