After the Crash

Tuesday Teaser 12/9/12: Wolf’s Prize

Oops! Really late again! Here’s a snip from Quill and Ellie’s book.

     Paint nodded with satisfaction and patted Ellie’s arm. “Good girl.”

     Rage roared through Quill. “Don’t touch my mate,” he snarled through clenched teeth.

     Paint raised his hands. “Fine. Geez, you’re as bad as Snake.”

     Ellie watched Paint retreat before lifting wide eyes to Quill. “Am I?” she asked quietly.

     Quill took deep breaths to control his wolf. “Are you what?”

     “Your mate?”

     “Yeah.” That came out too roughly. Quill cleared his throat and gentled his voice. “Yes, you are.”

Eddie’s Prize News

I filled out and returned the Cover Art Request Form last night for Eddie’s Prize. It will be several weeks to a couple of months before I get anything back. I’m looking forward to what my artist will come up with! I’m also working on polishing the blurb. Sometimes I think writing a blurb is harder than writing the book! Here is what I have so far:

     Lisa Anton was a world-famous fashion model before her plane crashed in a post-apocalyptic future where women are precious and rare, and technology is only a memory. She’s offered as a prize in a Bride Fight for the best fighter to take home. As the wife of a man she barely knows, one as handsome as any model she ever worked with in the past, Lisa believes she may have a chance at true love. Not only gorgeous and passionate in bed, her new husband also seems to care for her.

      From the moment he saw the blond beauty, Eddie Madison was determined to make her his wife. Beating a dozen other men in the Bride Fight was child’s play for him. Learning to be a husband is a bit trickier. She wants his complete trust, but Eddie has spent his entire life guarding a secret that could destroy their happiness. Is protecting his secret more important than winning his bride’s love?

This morning when I woke up I had an email from the Managing Editor at LSB letting me know that Eddie’s Prize was scheduled for release on March 18, 2013. That’s only a little over 3 months away!

I am working away on Wolf’s Prize. It seems Quill has lost his shyness and most of his sweetness. Living in Sin City for 5 years will do that to a guy, I guess. And though Ellie is still quiet, she is a tigress where her son’s safety is concerned. Quill’s wolf adores her. I’m having fun writing this one. Stay tuned for more news.

Tuesday Truth: Spinning is Cheap Therapy

When I say spinning I mean wool. Or silk. Or any other fiber. Not cycles. For me, cycling is an asthma attack waiting to happen. I’ll stick to my leisurely strolls on the treadmill.

No, I mean spinning fluffy fleece into beautiful thread and yarn. After a crappy day it helps me relax. There’s a certain rhythm to treadling to turn the wheel and feeding the roving through the oriface onto the bobbin. It’s soothing. It’s also a great time for me to plot out a story or a scene, and talk to my characters. Quill insists that living for five years in a house full of working girls has almost completely cured him of his shyness. Ellie needs a strong man to defend her now, and he, by golly, is that man. Ellie thinks he needs to back off a little. Yes, she needs him and the other wolves to help her get her son back, but she knows how to cook a meal over a fire, and doesn’t need his help to do it, thank you. If a spark leaps out and leaves a small burn on her hand she can handle it. Well … maybe he could kiss it better if he insists.

Here is a pic of my wheel. It is a castle style wheel from Kromski. her name is Zoya. I have commissioned a handmade saxony style wheel from a lovely gentleman in Wisconsin and I hope to have it by the end of February. He says it will get done when it gets done. Here is what I am currently spinning, a beautiful sparkly wool/silk blend in teals.

Tuesday Teaser: Eddie’s Prize

Here you go: a little snippet from Eddie’s Prize. This is a scene that takes place the night before the Bride Fights.

 

      It was after midnight when Eddie crept on bare feet to the room Lisa and Carla had been given. His parents were finally in bed. They had stayed up late discussing the applicants for the Bride Fight, deciding who would be allowed to enter, but had banned him from joining the conversation.

      The furious whispers coming from the women’s room fell silent when he tapped softly. After a moment, Carla voice said, “Who is it?”

      “It’s me. Eddie. Can I come in? I want to talk to you.”

      After a moment the door opened and Carla stepped back to let him in. She was dressed for bed, her still-damp brown hair in a braid down her back. Eddie looked past her to where Lisa sat hunched on the side of the bed, her blond hair glorious in the dim glow of the lamp, her pale face miserable. Her fingers pleated a corner of the sheet with jerky movements. Eddie wanted to hug her and tell her everything would be okay. Instead he put his hands in his jeans’ pockets and tried to smile.

      “What do you want?” Carla asked rudely.

      “Sh! Not so loud,” Eddie whispered. “Let’s not wake up my parents.”

      “Are you supposed to be here?” Carla asked.

      That made Eddie smile. “Of course not. I’m going to be fighting tomorrow. If the other men knew I was here they’d think I was taking unfair advantage.”

      Carla’s glare could have parted his hair. “You’re fighting tomorrow? In this stupid Bride Fight thing?”

      “Sh!” said Eddie again. “Yes, for Lisa.” Did that sound rude? “You’re very pretty too,” Eddie hurried to say. “But—”

      Carla cut him off with the first real smile he’d seen from her. “That’s okay. I hope no one shows up to fight for me.”

      Eddie remembered the dozens of men who had passed through his father’s office that evening, especially Taye Wolfe, who had stood with arms folded grimly over his chest for the entire visiting hour, glaring at each and every admiring comment made about Carla.

      Eddie didn’t say anything. He looked over at Lisa. She had crumpled the sheet in one fist and was gazing at him pitifully. She reminded him of a half-drowned kitten. The prettiest, sweetest half-drowned kitten he could imagine.

 

A Good Weekend

     I love four day weekends. But you know, I’m not sure four days off is enough. I am SO JEALOUS of my friend Jessica, who took Monday and Tuesday off too.

     On Thursday morning I baked a blueberry pie before going and spending 8 hours at my mom’s house. On Wednesday we broke the record for the high temperature. It got up to 59F! Thursday started out pretty nice, but by the time I left my mom’s house at 5:30 pm I could barely see the road because of blowing snow. Gotta love North Dakota weather. You know what they say: if you don’t like the weather, wait a minute. It’ll change.

     On Friday I cleaned my sewing/craft/guest bedroom. Wow, did I have a lot of stuff. I still have a lot of stuff, but at least now I can find it! That was a lot of work, and I haven’t touched the closet yet. But for now this is good enough. When my brother comes to stay for Christmas he’ll be able to walk to the bed instead of crawling over stuff.

     This morning I did a little Christmas shopping. Normally I wouldnt be caught dead shopping the weekend after Thanksgiving. With all due respect for those who consider Black Friday a sporting event that they have taken the gold in, I hate shopping. But I managed to pick up a couple of things for the Toys For Tots and other charity giving. My family is really tough, tho. No spoilers here, in case they are reading.

     This afternoon I signed the contract for Eddie’s Prize. Don’t have any further info yet, like a release date, but that will come in a month or two. I would estimate (purely a guess here) that it will be available sometime around the end of March or beginning of April. It depends on how many revisions and editing passes it requires, and what the publisher’s schedule allows.

     Tomorrow I expect to be a quiet, lazy day. I have church, then a couple of loads of laundry, followed by some reading for my critique group and then knitting with the gals. I have to get going on that afghan that I’m giving away in a few months to celebrate the release of Eddie’s Prize.  In the evening I’ll go back to working on Wolf’s Prize. Hey, a question. Jelly is about 19 in this book, and has completed his vision quest and received his adult name. I was going to call him Spotted Wolf, but then what would his nickname be? Spot is cute, and leads to great opportunities for humor, but … yeah. So then I thought of Stone Wolf. What do you think? Oh, by the way, in Wolf’s Prize he meets the girl who his wolf chooses for his mate.

     Thanks for reading!

 

 

 

The Next Big Thing-Eddie’s Prize

I was tagged by my friend Suzanna Medeiros, author of historical romance, to participate in The Next Big Thing series. Last week she posted about her current Work in Progress, Loving the Marquess. You can follow this link to read her post.

 

The Next Big Thing is a blog hop of sorts wherein a writer is given the opportunity to answer ten questions about their current work in progress or a work that is already published. They then tag some more people, who will post about their respective WIPs the following week and pass this invitation on to other writers to keep The Next Big Thing going. I have asked Tina Holland and Mary Jean Adams from my local crit group, and Karlene Clark from a neighboring city (only 70 miles away is neighboring in North Dakota!), to join The Next Big Thing and make posts next week. Be sure to check them out next Wednesday!

 

Ready to find out more of what I’m working on right now? Here we go!

10 Questions:

What is the working title of your book?

Eddie’s Prize

 

Where did the idea come from for the book?

My head. I have 6-7 hours a day to zone out while doing boring repetitive work on the computer at the day job.

 

What genre does your book fall under?

Paranormal Romance is the broad genre, but it is also post-apocalyptic, time travel and futuristic.

 

Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie?

Eddie, the hero, is easy. I imagine Travis Fimmell as Eddie. Lisa is slender, blond, and beautiful, which could be any number of actresses. I don’t know who this lady is, but she’s a dead ringer for Lisa.

  

 

What is a one sentence synopsis of your book?

Transported to a post-apocalyptic future where women are scarce, Lisa finds herself married to a gorgeous stranger.

 

Will your book be self published or represented by an agency?

The other books in the series are published by Liquid Silver Books.

 

How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

Way, WAY too long. I had trouble with this one because I wasn’t sure where to start it. Should I skip for the first several months, since they had been covered in the previous books? No, I decided, then readers might not understand Lisa’s feelings. I started it, deleted, and started again half a dozen times. It’s at the publisher right now, for them to review and decide if they like it as is or if changes need to be made.

 

What other books would you compare this story to within your genre.

I feel a little uncomfortable comparing my writing to anyone else. If they are way better than me (and they probably are, since I’m still pretty new at writing for an audience), then I feel presumptuous. If they are even newer than I am at professional writing, then I feel like I’m being condescending. So I guess I’ll just skip this question.

 

Who or What inspired you to write this book?

A girl I work with is named Lisa Hill. We were (and still are!) so stressed out at work that as a joke, I began writing crazy love stories to perk us up.  It just sort of took off. I had no plans to get them published, but Lisa and others nagged me– No, not nagged. They encouraged me to submit the first one. I did, not expecting it to be accepted. Now this is book 4 in the series.

 

What else about your book might interest the reader?

If you like stories where women are considered precious becauSe of their rarity, you might like this series. If you’ve read the other books in the series, you might like to see how previous characters are doing.

 

Mini Excerpt:

      A couple of men came out onto the wide covered porch. The wagon stopped about ten yards from them. One of the men, big-bellied with brown hair and a grizzled, graying beard, came down the steps to stand a few yards away from the wagon.

      One of the Odessa guards stepped forward to shake the man’s hand. “Mayor Madison,” he said loudly, and then lowered his voice to speak further.

      Lisa exchanged a half-laughing, half-horrified look with Carla. Mayor? He looked like a beer-bellied, aging hippy with a hangover. Carla stood up and swung herself over the side of the wagon, landing on the dirt driveway with easy grace. Lisa doubted she could do that even if her feet hadn’t been killing her.

      The second man flowed down the steps with the lithe grace of a cat and when the sun hit him Lisa caught her breath. His hair was golden, a halo of waves around his face. His face was elegant, sun-kissed to a creamy golden tan, perfect in each clear-cut feature. As a model, Lisa had worked with many handsome men, but none of them could top this one. Such beautiful blue-green eyes with dark lush lashes shouldn’t belong to a man. That wide, gracefully curving, kissable mouth made Lisa wonder what he would taste like. He could almost be called pretty, except that his jaw was hard, his chin square and his shoulders broad.

Tuesday Teaser 11/13/12: Wolf’s Prize

Here is a little snip from Book 5.  A man named Jeremy has been sent to Taye to tell him that his little cousin Ellie needs help. Enjoy!

 

         
        The Wolfe compound was large and well guarded by a solid stone wall eight feet high. It looked to Jeremy like Mrs. Overdahl hadn’t exaggerated her cousin’s wealth. Only a man of means could hold a place like this. Jeremy presented himself at the gate and waited for the small reinforced window in the gate to open to ask his business.
            The face in the small window was cold with suspicion. “Who are you and what do you want?”
            “I’m Jeremy Potter, here on business from Mrs. Overdahl, Mr. Wolfe’s cousin. I have an urgent message from her.”
            The gate was opened instantly and two very large dogs pressed against him, herding him into the compound. His horse came with him, snorting uneasily. A cluster of half-naked Native American men stood watching him. One of them looked him over.
            “Give me all your weapons.”
            Jeremy silently handed over his pistol and his knife, and waved a hand at the rifle in the saddle scabbard. “That’s all.”
            The guy nodded. “Snake, Blaze, take him in to see the Chief. Paint, look after his horse.”
            Two men flanked Jeremy like guards. When he got into a large room with a big fireplace he understood why he was being treated like a possible threat. Beside the fireplace sat a hugely pregnant woman with long brown hair. Standing protectively beside her on one side was a fiercely scowling man, and on the other side a three-year-old boy scowled just as fiercely. From the looks of their faces, they were obviously father and son. Several men lounged around the room, bodies appearing relaxed, but eyes keenly watchful. Their stares made Jeremy want to squirm. He turned his attention back to the man beside the woman.
        “Mr. Wolfe?”Jeremy asked.
        The man gave one sharp jerk of his head.
        “I’m Jeremy Potter. I work for the Ryan Thomas Trading Company.” There Jeremy stalled briefly. “Your cousin, Mrs. Overdahl, sent me with a message for you.”
        “Oh, thank goodness!” said the woman. “We haven’t heard from Ellie in ages. How is she?”
       When Jeremy hesitated, the weight of the eyes on him grew heavier. “She’s well,” he said carefully. “But she needs your help.”
        Taye Wolfe leaned forward, dark eyes hard under lowered brows. “What do you mean?”
        Jeremy swallowed. “Her husband has died, and she has been sold to the Trading Company to be taken to Ellsworth. The men there are having a Bride Fight in a week or so …”
        A snarl jerked Jeremy’s head around. He saw nothing but men with angry faces. No longer lounging in relaxed sprawls, they looked ready to spring. Most of the men were clearly Native American, but one of them had curly brown hair rather than straight black hair. He was on his feet, practically shaking. With rage? Jeremy was certain it was rage that clenched his fists and jaw. Jeremy hesitated before turning his back on the man.
        Taye Wolfe’s set, angry face wasn’t any less scary. A bead of sweat rolled down the back of Jeremy’s neck.
         “Where is my cousin?” Wolfe rasped.

Tuesday Teaser: Eddie’s Prize

This is from when Lisa is coming into Kearney for the first time. She and Carla are in a horse-drawn wagon a day after the plane crash.

 

Carla leaned toward Lisa. “Are you okay?” she asked with compassion. “Are you thinking about the little boy?”

Lisa nodded jerkily. Unlike some children she had encountered on planes, the four-year-old redhead sitting in the seat in front of her had been a perfect angel, quietly coloring and playing giggling peek-a-boo games with his mother. When the plane had finally come to its metallic screeching stop on the prairie, the mother was dead and the little boy so badly hurt that he could only cry almost soundlessly. Lisa had picked him up and numbly carried him out of the plane, allowing Carla to help her down to the ground, but never letting the boy go. She had hummed to him while he bled and cried and finally died. Lisa didn’t know what his last name had been. His mother had called him Alexander. All she had left of him was his blood on her clothes and the memory of his half-smile when he looked up at her right before he died.

That memory was too precious and too painful to linger on at this moment. There were other people counting on her and Carla now, those too hurt to go for help themselves, who needed doctors so they could live. The mayor of Kearney, Nebraska would get the crash survivors the help they needed. Even the crazy men from Odessa had done what they could to help by bringing them here. For the two hundredth time, Lisa forced her thoughts away from the crash to focus on the here and now.

 She stared past the driver’s shoulder. “Is this an actual town? It looks as dilapidated as some of the abandoned houses we passed on our walk.”

 Buildings looked like they had been half torn down and their windows taken away. There was a familiar fast food restaurant to their right, looking like it had been out of business for fifty years, abandoned for the elements to fade and wear away.

“The recession must have hit this area hard,” Carla suggested doubtfully.

 Further in, roads became smoother, and it looked like efforts had been made to clean things up. They rolled past walls that separated whole blocks. The road went from dirt to something like cobblestones. The wagon seat bounced like a car with bad shocks. Even Carla, tough as she was, looked a little green. Lisa was afraid her lunch was going to escape. Soon they began seeing people, all men, come out of buildings and take notice of them.

“Women!” shouted one, pointing at the wagon.

Rough Draft of Eddie’s Prize is Done!

Yes, this evening at 8:25 I wrote two of my very favorite words: The End.

I have been working on Eddie’s Prize since last October. It is 104,058 words long right now. But starting sunday I’ll be doing massive revisions, so it will probably be somewhere around 80,000-90,000 words when I submit it. But I’m not even going to begin revisions until Sunday night. Tomorrow I’m going to clean. I have done nothing in the way of cleaning for over a week, and even before that I barely did more than the dishes. All my free time went to writing. My apartment is in a terrible state! So I need to clean the kitchen (excavate the kitchen, is more like it) and the living room at the least. The bathroom is on the list, too. My bedroom … Well, that’s just me, so it can wait. Because I don’t want to spend all my time cleaning, ya know. I also have The Hunger Games dvd to watch. I’m working on a Dr. Who scarf too, as well as Lisa’s After the Crash afghan. And I plan to put my newsletter together, now that I finally have something concrete to say about Eddie’s Prize.

So Congrats to me on typing The End! More updates are coming.

Eddie’s Prize Teaser

Today I wrote my heart out and completed Chapter 23 of Eddie’s Prize. I really like how the end is coming together. Only one more chapter and I can type “The End” of the rough draft. It’s possible that I will actually finish tomorrow as planned. However, tomorrow is a very busy day (sunday school, church, church annual meeting, knitting with the gals, etc) so I don’t want to absolutely count on it. Still, I’m pretty darned happy. To celebrate, here is a teaser from the chapter I wrote tonight:

          Eddie returned to his cold, empty house and pondered Bree’s words. He wanted his wife back. He missed the look of happy pride on her face when he complimented the supper she’d prepared. Every supper she put in front of him had told him she loved him, just as much as the words she murmured to him in bed had. His world was crumbling about him. Without her arms to hold it together, it would shatter.

          Alone, between cold sheets on the bed he’d made love to his wife in, he gave in to tears. He needed Lisa. He needed her love even more than he needed his mother’s approval.