Teaser Tuesday

This past week has surprisingly allowed me to get some writing done.  Anemone now has 7 chapters, and is just over 6k words.  Still have a long way to go, but the inspiration is sticking around!  Here is a snippet from chapter 7.

It didn’t take any extra-sensory perception to feel the awkwardness between these two. A history nestled somewhere inside the way they looked at each other… the way they spoke in broken sentences, communicating as little as possible. Even the body language—Brady practically smashed against the passenger door, and Natalie driving with only her left hand, leaning her upper body weight onto the center console with her right elbow. She liked him… yet she apparently made his skin crawl. Or maybe she made him nervous. Who had broken up with who? Or had they not quite gotten together yet? My curiosity, and some other twisty feeling in my gut, demanded that I know right away.

Taking full advantage of my invisibility to Natalie, I positioned myself into the middle of the backseat and leaned forward until my face was almost between them. I could tell Brady saw me out of the corner of his eye, but he quickly corrected any reaction.
 He cleared his throat, probably hinting at me to sit back down behind him, but some inner force was rooting me on like I was a player in a game…. Like I was winning.

Teaser Tuesday Returns! - The Writing Fairy Lives!

First of all, I have to say what a GREAT day Monday was.  Let's face it, Mondays usually stink to the max.  Back to the grind after the weekend that was too short... getting up early... cubicles and doughnut temptations. It's like hitting a brick wall sometimes.  

But this Monday... things in life finally started feeling like they were falling into place.  Like I'm finally figuring how to handle eveything together.  Not only am I now completely obsessed with photoshop 

(visit http://www.kristinraephotography.blogspot.com/ for more from this session!  I'd love to hear what y'all think about them!)

and sort of feel like I may actually go somewhere with photography (I have a wedding to shoot this weekend, and possibly a children's tea party on Monday!), and I'm finally getting back into exercising (did a Hip Hop cardio class last night... I am SORE but WOW it was FUN!!), but also the Writing Fairy came to pay me a visit yesterday. 

I've got to say, I thought she's been mad at me about something, refusing to bless me with inspiration.  But yesterday folks, she smacked me over the head with that wand and I actually wrote!  Not only did I write but the conflict of my Anemone WIP actually made itself known to me... FINALLY!  I've known since the beginning how I wanted the story to end, and various snippets from throughout, but it lacked CONFLICT... where's the drama?  It needed MORE!  I'm very excited about what was revealed to me yesterday, and I hope to have some things for my critique groups soon!  In the meantime... here is a snippet from Anemone.

-----

I gave in to the whirling confusion in my head, buckled over, and curled up into a ball in the grass. Silky tears again clouded my vision and I squeezed my eyelids tight in effort to blink them away, but it only seemed to make it worse.

This was more than short-term memory loss.

A light brush across my shoulder told me that Brady must have swallowed back his temptation to leave. Part of me didn’t want anyone to see me in such a pitiful state, but a bigger part of me knew that I needed him. Because he wasn't just the only person I’d talked to all day, he was the only person I could remember talking to—ever.

Teaser Tuesday

From my YA WIP, "Anemone"

I stepped off the bus into the warm sunshine and waved goodbye to the guys as they walked toward their street. The bench caught my eye, almost glowing with its emptiness. I slung my messenger bag over my shoulder and turned to head home.

As the roar of the bus faded behind me, I heard a hesitant voice.

“Brady?”

I turned again and saw Reagan sitting in the same spot as this morning, wearing the same clothes. Her eyes looked worried.

“Where did you come from?” I asked.

“Here. You walked right past me.”

I raised an eyebrow and laughed. “Okay. Where are the cameras?”

“This isn’t a joke, Brady,” she said in a raised voice. There was that anxious vibe again, emanating off of her like steam.

I sat next to her with a mock stern look. “Because if I’m going to end up on some reality show, I feel like I should comb my hair or something.” That made her smile. “There it is.” I smiled back.

Teaser Tuesday - Title Revealed!

For today's teaser, I'm going to share the first few lines (subject to change, of course...) of my young adult WIP, and the TITLE!!

Are you ready?

The title is...

"Anemone"

This is pretty much how I envision the cover to look! This is not my photo, but I do plan on doing a photo shoot with some anemones soon!

Now for a snippet... enjoy!


"Brady was completely normal--nothing otherworldly about him. That wasn't the problem.

The problem was me. Only... I didn't know exactly what the problem was. I didn't seem to know or remember much about anything."

Teaser Tuesday

***removed for revisions. thanks for reading!

Meeting Elizabeth Gilbert!

And yes! I DID get to meet her!

Lastnight's Elizabeth Gilbert reading event was incredible! What a story she has... what a platform. There were around 800 people in attendance, and even some men! She laughed and said, "There are men here! How did that happen? Are you sure you're at the right event?" Then she went on to tell us about an experience early on in her published career. She was doing a reading at a bookstore, and one person came. Here's basically what she said: "And it wasn't even really that he came... he was already there. He was the creepy guy that's ALWAYS in the bookstore, in the back by the human sexuality section. He saw 40 empty chairs and he sat in the back row. Not knowing any better, I read to him. He raised his hand. 'Yes? You in the back?' 'Can you speak up?' I thought, can you MOVE UP?! Should we go to a bar instead?!"

One thing in particular stuck out to the writers in the crowd. She stressed for us not to let an idea sit for too long, or it will leave the room. The idea will go visit another writer and say, "Will you write me? Because that one over there just isn't getting to it." And before you know it, someone else has written your idea. It's not that you'll forget about it completely, but the essence of it just drifts off... you waited too long. Interesting thought. Gilbert is working on something right now, but after this tour, she wants the summer off, and will start writing in October. She keeps trying to pacify her idea by writing notes when she gets a chance saying, "See! I'm working on you! Don't leave!"

Gilbert has quite a sense of humor, is a great speaker, and such a gifted writer. She read the first chapter from her new book Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace with Marriage. I'm excited to keep reading. It sounds interesting.

Teaser Tuesday and Still Loving Ghosts part 2!

2010 Goal Tracking:

Writing progress: nothing to report
Weight progress: Cardio: 46 minutes; 526 calories GONE!
Bible in a year progress: Genesis 27-29, Psalm 11

As promised, here is the second half of chapter 1 from Still Loving Ghosts. Again, it hasn't been edited too much, so I can't promise there aren't any mistakes. And sorry about the formatting - I really wish it kept my paragraph indents. If anyone knows how to do this, please let me know!
If you missed the first half (I should say third, because this is about 2/3 of it here), it's in last week's Teaser Tuesday. You can't have one without the other. ;-) It is a bit lengthy, so start it when you have about 5 minutes to finish it. Enjoy!

*Removed for editing

Teaser Tuesday - And Title Revealed!

2010 Goal Tracking:

Writing progress: 5 chapters of new project mostly written

Weight progress: Got a personal trainer today - scheduled 3 sessions

Bible in a year progress: Genesis 10-11, Psalm 5

Thanks to Kristi for the goal tracking idea! It's a great daily reminder of priorities.

Well, another Teaser Tuesday is upon us! I've decided to reveal the (working) title and first section of my current work in progress. It's not gorgeously edited, and the formatting in this blog is a nightmare, so be gracious! And it's set in a fictional town, so don't get out a map. LOL. Let me know what you think! Drum roll please!!!!!

STILL LOVING GHOSTS

*Removed for editing