by Sarah | May 14, 2013 | Books, Holiday, Hump Day Hook, Writing
Another Hump Day Hook!
Today I’m posting a little bit from my holiday story. Santa, Maybe was written for a submission call, but I ended up falling in love with Alan and Ivy. I even fell in love with the town they were to the point that I’ve decided to turn it into a series, with about 5 more planned at this point, all set around a holiday in this little town.
After many years without seeing each other, Alan and Ivy are going on a date:
One eyebrow quirked and she teased him with another smile. “It’s nothing you haven’t seen before.”
“Those are new.” He purposely looked back at her chest. “Motherhood did you good in many ways, Ivy.”
“Pig.”
“Oink.”
*~*
Hump Day Hook asks authors to post one paragraph of one of their stories, whether a WIP, one contracted, or already published. Please visit and comment on the participants – you might just stumble on the next great read for your library! To see more participants, click on the HDH banner below:
by Sarah | May 13, 2013 | Books, Holiday, Tuesday Tales, Writing
The prompt this week is the picture to the left.
For the second week in a row I’m changing stories. This one is one of my new contemporary romance series’. The first one, Santa, Maybe, may or may not have a contract…and I wrote it as a stand-alone short story for a submission call, but I loved the town so much, I now have about 6 other stories plotted, all around holidays.
This particular short is as yet unnamed, but is to be set around Independence Day. This blurb won’t be the start of the story, but a chapter or two in…
Remember, this is a meme with many contributing authors, so make sure to click the link at the bottom of the image to take you to see more!
Anyhow, as always this is un-edited mostly, so forgive any errors. :
Amanda could hardly stand it. From where she sat at a table outside a small corner restaurant, the view was—eerie. A row of businesses lined up like old fashioned America, flags flying proudly.
A few people littered the streets, each greeting one-another by name.
By name? Who’d heard of that? Who lived like that? What town was really that small.
It was too good to be true. This whole damn thing was, not to mention that sexy mechanic that kept glancing her way. Clay’s clichéd good-ol’-boy attitude coupled with that southern accent was just too much.
When she thought he wouldn’t catch her, she’d take the opportunity to admire his long legs wrapped up tight in his Wranglers. The strong arms that his t-shirt revealed made her want to curl up in them and hear him tell her she was safe now. She’d almost believe it if he said in his cheesy, stupid accent.
He was probably just like Tony, anyway. If he wasn’t, then he was too good for her.
The wink Clay threw her way made her realize she’d been staring again. Heat flooded her cheeks and she turned deliberately away to take in the town again.
Lake Point.
Pffft. She hadn’t wanted to stop here, certainly had no intentions to stay long. According to Clay’s assessment of the crap car she’d managed to buy, she was quite stuck. It took her days of nursing the clunker along halfway across country.
It had to give up outside of what she could only deduce was Pleasantville.
Was that it? Had she ended up in an old TV show?
If only. Her luck couldn’t be that good. It never had been before.
*~*
Hope you enjoyed it! Click on the Tuesday Tales badge to see more excellent entries!!
*~*
by Sarah | Apr 12, 2013 | Books, Challenge, Holiday, Sweet Saturday Samples, Writing
I thought another meme was in order to give my blog some life on the weekends. Thankfully fellow SCP author, Jean Joachim pointed out this new meme to show of samples of our stories.
Sweet Saturday Samples are samples of any story, published, unpublished, whatever you like. Any genre is welcome of any heat level – but the samples themselves are all rated PG-13, so yes, all samples are safe for innocent (or not) eyes.
I know this week I already did a sample of Santa, Maybe with my Hump Day Hook, but I wanted to show a more cheerful sample of the story. Again, this is an unedited WIP that I’m writing for a submission call. I hope you enjoy it. And don’t forget to check out Sweet Saturday Samples for more samples!
She sighed and placed another kiss to the top of his head. “You’ll never guess who found me online last year.”
The change in subject relaxed his tight hold on her and the tension drained from his shoulders. “Who would that be?”
“Dolf.”
“No way.” That proved enough to reenergize him and he propped himself up on his elbow to face her. “Not the Dolf Biermann from 4G.”
“Yes. The very same.” Out of the sadness of a few minutes ago, they both started to grin. Her cheeks grew tight from her smile. “The one that used to play the accordion every night at 3:30AM on the dot.”
He started to chuckle. “And there was no soundproofing in that place. My God, do you remember that apartment?”
Laughter burst from its seams and she nodded fiercely. “Are you kidding? It was our first home! Not that I’d call it an apartment. It was a postage stamp.”
“And we barely scraped by on rent.” He nestled into the covers, his hand slipping along her stomach in a familiar and comfortable gesture. “You worked your ass off.”
“You had school.”
“And you had work and lessons. I still don’t know how you did it. Or how you managed to cook anything on that—well, I can’t call it a stove.”
“It was a glorified hot plate.” Tears started to form, her laughter grew so strong. “And that landlord. He was such a peeping tom. I swear he bore holes in the walls to look in on his tenants.”
“He was so creepy.” Alan shook his head. “I hope that guy doesn’t still run a building. He’s probably figured out how to install those small cameras all over the place.”
She shuddered. “Ugh. I wouldn’t doubt it. Creepy doesn’t begin to cover him.”
“Sad that I miss that place sometimes.”
“Looking back is always easier. It was a wonderful time in our lives.”
by Sarah | Apr 9, 2013 | Books, Holiday, Hump Day Hook, Writing
Another Hump Day Hook!
And this week it’s time for something new and completely different!
One of the WIP’s I’ve been working on in the background is a story for a holiday submission call. It’s tentatively called Santa, Maybe although I’ve also had the quirky suggestion of Holiday Peace (which both fits the story and matches the fact that I keep calling it my “holiday piece”. :D). I wish I could settle on a name, but it’s just not happening.
If this book is contracted and published, all proceeds will go to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. 🙂
Anyhow, here’s one paragraph from this WIP…just one…don’t hate me:
“No. No more wishes.” She had to get a grip on herself or she’d fall back into the trap. Sniffling against the tears, she pulled back and swiped at them. Her fingers pressed to the bridge of her nose to try to settle them down. “This has to be the last time we walk away from each other. There’s nothing else left to wish for.”
*~*~*
Hump Day Hook asks authors to post one paragraph of one of their stories, whether a WIP, one contracted, or already published. Please visit and comment on the participants – you might just stumble on the next great read for your library! To see more participants, click on the HDH banner below:
Another Hump Day Hook!
