Hi folks, as you may recall from my last post, we are trying
to decide the title of my next book. The manuscript is ready; all we need now
it the final title and a cover. Last time I posted an excerpt that leads to Hunter as the title; today I will post
another that hints at the second option, Offspring.
We’ve already met the hunter, now I will introduce the offspring. Here’s a look
at one of the characters. Guess which one she is.
Tracy sighed as she lowered her eyes. Dammit, why did it
always have to be this way, this guy was cute and attentive. Why the hell
couldn’t she just shut it off and enjoy the date. She couldn’t though. Shut it
off. It was always there. Ever since she was a child she’d been able to see it.
Fighting herself all the way, Tracy allowed her eyes to shift then linger for a
moment on an attractive young man at the next table. Her date’s smile never
faded, not at all, but she saw the shift as slight as it was.
All her instincts were screaming now, and Tracy spent the
rest of the dinner being as attentive to her date as possible, trying to sooth
him without appearing to sooth him. At
length, the dinner ended and he drove her home, obviously hoping for an
invitation in. He wasn't going to get
one. He walked her to the door, then put his arms around her and leaned in for
a kiss. Tracy placed her hands firmly on his chest, then kissed his cheek and
stepped back. “Thanks for a lovely
evening,” she smiled softly.
“Uh, yeah, sure. Can
I call you?” She could see him clearly now, the tightly controlled anger and
disappointment were dancing in the air all around him.
“Sure,” she replied, as she stepped back through the door
and closed it firmly, snapping the locks into place. She watched through the
peep hole as he stalked back to his car and drove away, the tires squealing
their protest at the sudden acceleration.
“Another winner?” came an old woman’s voice from the
darkened living room.
“Did you see him, Gran?” Tracy sighed deeply as she walked
slowly into the room and sank into a chair. Her grandmother’s energy surrounded
her, soothed her, and Tracy sighed again as she let her tenseness slip away.
“Didn’t have to see him, honey, I could feel him from here.
That was close.”
“Where are all the good ones, Gran?”
“Darned if I know,” chuckled the old woman, the skin around
her eyes crinkling with mirth, “or I’d be there myself.”
Tracy giggled as she polished her glasses then replaced them
on her face. “So, what about that guy in the car?”
“Is he still watching you, Tracy? Dammit anyway, I like this house, I like this
town, and I’m getting too old for all this running. I was really hoping to stay
this time.” The old woman’s energy drew back, gathering about her protectively.
Tracy shivered as that warmth withdrew. Ah well, keep your
defenses up, that’s what had kept them free for so long. “I know Gran, I know.
Can you get a read on this guy? He hasn’t made any moves at all, but I’ve seen
him way too often in the past few days. He’s making me a bit crazy.”
“Oh? Why?”
“He looks good, you know, when I look him over, he shines
okay. I know he doesn’t want to hurt me, possess me, or anything else, but I
just can’t get a clear read on him. Can you take a look for me?”
“Show me, honey.” With a soft groan of protest, the old
woman rose heavily from her chair and made her way toward the window. She
peered out the window at the parked car down the block for a long moment. “Government.”
As always, feedback is welcome and respectfully requested. I
really do want you folks to weigh in on this one.
So, feedback from the first excerpt; first I caught flack
from my editor for posting a pre-edit excerpt. Sigh, my bad. (Hangs head and
goes to the penalty box. Two minutes in the box, feeling great shame.) I also
got a lot of really good feedback, and trust me folks, your suggestions will be
incorporated into the final version.
The ROW80 Goals
1.
Finish the first draft of my current project and
get it off to my editor. CM Crawford is
a great editor and has very reasonable rates. Heck, she’ll even work for Amazon
gift cards. The girl loves to barter. You can find her page here:
Done! Success!
2.
Get the next project over 15K words
Done! Success!
3.
If Ms. Crawford gets the first project back to
me in time, finish the second draft during this round. If not then I will finish
and hopefully publish it during the last round.
We’re almost there!
So, one thing you
can do to help is to go to my Amazon author page and hit the *like* button on
the upper right side. Here’s the link. http://www.amazon.com/Prudence-MacLeod/e/B0079XOY8U
If you have an
author page drop your link into a comment and I’ll go *like* it for you. Thanks
for stopping by, and thanks for the feedback. Good luck!
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment