02/01/15 WeWriWa / #8sunday

This is my first WeWriWa / 8 sentence Sunday. It looks like fun. The excerpt is from ‘The Vista’, my post-apocalyptic sci-fi action-adventure (say that fast three times!).

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

“Why?”

“It wasn’t particularly safe.”

“Specifically?” Wade persisted.

Shan looked to Mac for some sort of support.

“So why didn’t you go in?” Mac asked, being no help at all. “We know how you love driving the big cities.”

“Nomads, Scavengers, giant cockroaches, zombies, tidal wave, radiation, rogue comet . . . “ Wade made her a list to pick from.

“Helluva list there,” Mac pointed out.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

“The Vista’ will be released through Amazon in Feb., 2015. That’s THIS month! You can read other excerpts right here on my blog.

Check out the Weekend Writing Warriors website for more amazing writers.

WiP

The good news is that I’ve gotten 3500+ words down for the prequel to ‘The Vista’. It’s progressing really well. I’m starting to consider a title for it, and I better get ‘cover art’ on that list of things to do. The more detail I get, the more I’m convinced it would have been a bad idea to have this attached to ‘The Vista’. What I hope is that it’s going to give a little insight into various relationships and events of the past that motivate characters.

Also, writing a novella isn’t any less complicated than going for a full length book. It might be more complicated because there is so much less time/space to set everything up. At any rate, I’m having fun with it. Creating worlds and messing with the characters I put in them, that’s what I do!

Teaser Tuesday

Teaser Tuesday with the Scifi Romance Group

This teaser is from my very-soon-to-be-release novel ‘The Vista’, edited a bit for content. It’s a post-apocalyptic action-adventure . . . a little romance, a little mystery, a little family drama. It centers on Team Three, who share a psychic bond with each other. This isn’t always a good thing.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

“Is there going to be trouble between Hunter and Mac?” Wade went ahead and asked her.

“I thought there was trouble between you and Hunter,” Shannon said.

“Not the same sort of trouble. Are you seeing Hunter?” He didn’t like the idea.
She was an adult and she’d made it pretty clear she’d keep company with her choice of men, not his.

“Like you’re seeing Courtney, no,” she scowled. “I’m on heavy rotation with Team One so I’m pretty much living with them.”

“Just curious.”

“Do you think I’d have them fighting over me? I can handle two men the same way you handle half a dozen women.”

“Even if one of those men is Mac?” Wade was curious.

“Especially if one of those men is Mac,” she said. “It doesn’t change anything between him and I.”

Almost There

It’s getting to be countdown time until ‘The Vista’ is released. On Amazon for certain, and other places. There will be a limited print version. It’s like the week before Christmas here, the anticipation is crazy. So, just to tease potential readers a little more, here’s an excerpt.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Excerpt from ‘The Vista’

“It’s my job to see that you both understand this. You can’t discuss it with
anyone, ever. Not girlfriends, not parents. Chris, you can’t talk about it with Kyle. Jason can’t talk about it with Pacifica. That’s the oath you took and it supersedes all others. The only case where you can discuss this outside Team Three would be with Security Command.”

“They know about it? About you?” Chris had no clue what would be offensive to call it and what wouldn’t. Or if he could even say it.

Shan rubbed her eyes. It was another one of those gray areas, and there were so many. “I can say, what we are isn’t an issue with Security Command. We’re in no danger from them having that knowledge.”

“But you are from others? In danger?” Noel asked.

“Before the war, there were specific groups that didn’t think we should be allowed to exist. There’s a good chance some of that sentiment is still around, in one form or another.”

“What does that mean?” Chris asked.

“They wanted us exterminated. Why do you think Wade created The ‘Conda?”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Comments are always welcomed.

Moving Along

A 2,000 word set-up for the action seems like a good place to be. The prequel to ‘The Vista’ is going to roll right along now. Story beginnings seem to be my dragging point. I want it to be perfect, in the first draft. Sometimes I have to remind myself that it’s a first draft and that I can change things up at any point before it’s published.

Cover Progress

A couple sketches of “The Vista’ cover.   These are by Joe Kawano. He’s been awesome in creating a great cover.

 

Updated Blurb

It’s been a few weeks since I looked at this, so I’m taking another shot at it.  This would be what someone at Amazon would read if they were considering buying the book.  Or not.  Ideas & comments are welcomed.  ‘The Vista’ blurb 3.

~~~~~

Team Three – Allen, MacKenzie and Wade are Vista Security’s top officers. Genetically enhanced and connected by a psychic bond they’ve kept secret from even their families, they’re the first generation post WW3. Hidden away in an enclave in the Rocky Mountains, they are also at the forefront of a movement to see what’s left of the outside world.

As they attempt to learn the truth, their very presence makes them targets of a vicious renegade with the means to destroy everything they know. Facing exile or worse, Team Three has only their loyalty to each other and untested abilities to save themselves, their families and their home.

Evolution of ‘The Vista’

When I say ‘it’s been a long time in the making’, I’m not kidding.  The original seed of this story was jotted down 17 years ago.  I was writing what I thought would be my first book.  When I’d hit a spot of writer’s block, I’d switch over to the idea I was messing with that I didn’t think would pan out.

Then my husband got sick.  I was trying to manage a household with 3 kids and him, all on a part-time job.  Writing was forgotten for a while.

Four years ago at Christmastime, I lost my dad.  It wasn’t unexpected, but it made me do a lot of thinking.  My kids are all adults, the hubby is doing as well as he can and I have a little free time.  I dusted off the spiral notebooks full of outlines & ideas.  ‘The Vista’ shouted out louder than the others, and the journey towards finishing a book began again.

The other book is still waiting, along with several more.  It has evolved into a two book story.  I don’t expect the next one, and the next one, and the next one to take quite so long.

So when I see a writer kick out 2 or 3 or 4 books a year, I am jealous.  I want to do that, even if it’s only once.  We shall see how that works for me.  Once ‘The Vista’ is out, I plan on running amok.  You have been warned!

Gettin’ Down to the Wire

All the components of getting this book together are falling in to place.  Well, at least the things I know about.  I’m 75% certain something will pop up that takes me by surprise, but that’s life.

Comment was made by tech editor/SO that the next book should be ‘something fairly obscene’ that I can’t actually say here without spoiling parts of ‘The Vista’, but it was hilarious.  Not realistic, but danged funny.  When I tried to go to sleep  (hello insomnia, my old friend!), there was that title again, hanging like a banner in my brain.

I can’t really fire him, but I can make him wish I could.

Book soon!  Wish me luck.

My Brain on Insomnia

Yes, I need to get up in a handful of hours and do that thing called work.  I have a great boss; if she catches me sleeping at the desk, she’ll probably bring me coffee, she’s awesome like that.

Wide awake.  The closer I get to ‘The Vista’ going online, the more these nagging little trolls kick away at my skull with their steel-toed boots and their evil taunting laughter.

“What if it sucks?”  “What if it’s boring?”  “What if it makes no damned sense to anyone that will bother to read it?”

That’s what the trolls are saying, right now.  And worse things, trust me.

“What if the reviews make you cry and you never want to write again?”

I can’t imagine a life like that.

“What if it’s so pathetic, no one leaves a review?”

Bite me, evil troll.  Even if all these things are true, I wrote a book.  With a little luck, a little sleep, and some coffee, things will look better in the morning.

For now, there are trolls.