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Six-Sentence Sunday--Follow the fun! You can navigate to other six-sentence authors from the SSS website. Better yet, follow and join the fun with your own six sentences!
Set up: This snippet is taken from my WIP. It's book two in the Shapeling Trilogy that tells Fawn's story. Fawn is a character introduced in Book One. With a name like Fawn Woods, how could I not tell her story. In this scene, Wade Spencer is transporting his new housekeeper and caretaker for his child to his ranch. He had expected the agency to send a matronly type. Fawn looks anything but matronly. Wade spit out the words, "I thought you probably wouldn't have the stamina to care for Zoe and run a household. You're kinda…small." He felt his face turn pink. He'd wanted to say, You're gorgeous, so what the hell are you doing in a cow town instead of posing before a Hollywood camera? She replied, "So size matters?" Wade almost drove the truck off the road. He jerked the wheel back and glanced in the rear view mirror at a rising dust cloud. He sneaked a glance at the woman; was she being facetious? Thank you reading my snippet. "Big Hug" of appreciation!
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 Set up: Roth Beowolf is transporting Rainey Childress to Egypt for her protection. She's not happy about it!
Roth moved his gaze from staring at emptiness outside the porthole of the jet, to Rainey seated across from him. She'd tilted her seat back and her head lolled to one side. Her deep breathing evidenced her exhaustion. He studied her face. In sleep, she looked young, innocent, and vulnerable; unlike the hellcat that had fought him earlier. He sighed and looked back out the porthole. The black night called to his animal instincts. To distract the desire of his body to shapeshift, he thought about their destination in Egypt. Located two hundred miles southwest of Cairo, the town of Bawiti in the oasis of Bahariya, made him quirk a smile. He remembered a previous assignment as a camel with a Bedouin tribe. He had been sent to make sure a young man named Tahnoon Kahlifa arrived for his nuptials. The Thirteen co-Princes believed the marriage of Tahnoon to a girl he had been espoused to since childhood, would prove favorable to the human condition. However, the young man didn’t want to marry, and when he’d attempted to turn his camel around, Roth had steadfastly stayed on the path. The tenacity of the camel had unnerved the young bridegroom so much so that he’d decided his marriage was the will of Allah. Later, Roth had learned from the co-Princes that the marriage had turned out well. He glanced at Rainey again, and then allowed himself to drift into sleep. A bank in the plane's direction roused him. He opened his eyes to a lovely pink glow rising in the eastern sky—and Rainey shooting arrows at him with her eyes. "Good morning to you, too, Sunshine." She looked away and stood. When she started to step into the aisle, he moved his leg to block her exit. She looked back at him and said acidly, "Do you think I’m going to commandeer the plane? I’m going to the bathroom." He moved his leg back. "I just wanted to hear your sweet voice," he chuckled. Rainey jerked past him and stalked down the aisle. The pilot spoke over the speaker. "We’ll begin our descent in fifteen minutes." Six-Sentence Sunday--Follow the fun! You can navigate to other six-sentence authors from the SSS website. Better yet, follow and join the fun with your own six sentences!
This week's snippet is a continuation of the Shapeling Trilogy: Roth: Book One: Protector, released on July 4, 2011. Roth and Rainey always seem to be at odds...well, almost always. Her fingers roamed through his shoulder length hair. He wanted more and drew his mouth from her's, moving to her neck, and lower. She sighed and echoed his desire, "More." Roth stopped his exploration and jerked upright. He cursed a shapeling profanity, "Miyu wiod hereio!" Turning on his heel, he stormed back to the house. Thank you reading my snippet. "Big Hug" of appreciation!  Excerpt:
Roth could feel Rainey’s head lolling against his back. Her hands had gone slack and he held both of them in one of his against his stomach to keep her upright on the camel. He’d actually felt bad about springing their caravan travel on her. However, she'd left him no other option. If he’d told her beforehand, he would have had a spitfire on his hands. Roth smiled. For all her primness in dress, she was definitely a fiery woman. When his thoughts turned to the implications of that, he quickly suppressed them. He would not allow free reign to his imagination with her tightly tucked against his body. They had been traveling for about two hours. Although hot, it was not dangerously so because of the spring season. Tahnoon halted his camel and their caravan began dismounting. When Roth’s camel bowed to the ground, the movement jarred Rainey awake. "Wh-what’s happening?" She clutched his waist again. "We’re stopping to drink and rest." He dismounted and reached to lift her. She didn't fight him. "Ouch," she said. He held her arms to steady her. She glared at him and jerked away. Her action sent her unstable body pitching backward. He caught her by the waist before she landed on her rear in the hot sand. The veil covering her face slipped and one eye peeked through. Reaching for the burqa, she jerked it off and said, "It’s hot as a frying pan out here!" She pushed his hands away from her waist and reached to lift the dress over her head. "Don’t," Roth warned, and grabbed her hands to stop her. "The dress is protection. And even though you’re wearing street clothes underneath, it would be vulgar to remove it in the midst of these men. I’ll give you some water to drink and bathe your face. Then put the burqa back on."  Excerpt from Chapter Three
As the magnitude of the moment solidified in their hearts, a hush fell over the Fairies-on-Assignment. Jazmine had never felt as proud as she did at that moment. Her dream of visiting the human realm and carrying out an assignment from Boss-at-the-Top had finally been realized. The only thing left to do was succeed. “I can do this,” she whispered. One by one, the Fairies-on-Assignment entered the raspberry portal. Jazmine was the last to enter. Turning for a last look at Teacher-Fairy, he winked at her. She nodded and flew into the unknown. Thank you for visiting Sample Sunday! To read more about this sweet romance, go to the books page. Six-Sentence Sunday--Follow the fun! You can navigate to other six-sentence authors from the SSS website. Better yet, join the fun with your own six sentences!
For the time being, Perky's in cryogenics whether she likes it or not. This week, we get another peek at Roth. Ahhhh, I'm in love. From: Shapeling Trilogy Book One: Roth: Protector Roth glanced at the glow in the eastern sky. Soon the edge of the sun would appear. He smiled and walked the short distance to the Cave of Thirteen. At the exact moment the sun made its appearance, he stepped inside the cave lit by fire torches. Reverently, he approached the Thirteen and knelt, speaking the Prayer of Respect, "May the embers of truth always glow." "Rise, Roth," commanded the Prominent Prince. Thank you reading my snippet. It is VERY much appreciated!  Set up: Psychic Mariel Dorian is pondering the voice she keeps hearing in her mind.
After Mrs. Johnson left, I went to the kitchen to prepare dinner, still pondering the vision and impression that had distracted me earlier. In less than two weeks, the same soul had contacted me five times. In my mind's eye, I envisioned the vague outline of a man. He appeared neither old nor young, nor had he transitioned to the other side. He remained in this dimension, crying out; or rather, his soul was crying out to me for help. That concerned me. Rarely, did the soul of a living person call for help separate from its body. My grandmother said she had encountered the phenomena only once. For me, this was a first. People came and asked me for help while still in their bodies. Apparently, this soul had partially detached from its physicality. I couldn't imagine where to begin looking for the owner of this confused soul, but one thing remained certain, its cry was becoming stronger. Available at: Amazon Barnes & Noble Smashwords Omnilit Amazon UK Six-Sentence Sunday--Follow the fun! You can navigate to other six-sentence authors from the SSS website. Better yet, join the fun with your own six sentences.
Instead of continuing Perky's interrogation of Wells Ashby, here's a snippet from my just released ebook and soon to be available paperback: Shapeling Trilogy Book One: Roth: Protector Set up: Roth Beowolf is about to receive an important mission from his elders. Roth soared high again, intent on reaching the Cave of Thirteen before sunrise. He arrived in record time. Gently landing and pulling his wings closed, he lowered his head and prayed to the Source, repeating the Prayer of Secrecy he had been taught as a child by his Guide. Before the last word in the prayer had been uttered, he no longer had wings or talons; he now stood tall on two feet, his raven hair long and whipped by the wind. Pale blue eyes that observed everything looked upward in a gesture of respect for the Source. Wearing only white linen breeches, he flexed and stretched his lean muscular form, feeling the rush that always accompanied a shapeshift. A hearty thank you for reading my contribution! I look forward to Six-Sentence Sunday every week and appreciate your comments! Although I have two publishers that I like, I have a "do-it-yourself" personality. Thus, my venture into self-publishing.
Approximately one week ago, I self-published the first book in my Shapeling Trilogy. To my pleasant surprise, I started selling ebooks immediately at Amazon and Amazon UK, and I thought I would share my experience. Keep in mind, however, I am not an expert, and it has taken months of investigation and preparation to get to the place where I could self-publish. For those of you thinking about going this route, here are some considerations.
For this blog, I will share how I accomplished the paperback part of number 1. Please check back for the ebook part of number 1 and the other numbers. Through trial and error, I discovered I like having my writing displayed at the "get-go" in a 5x8 book format. My word processing program is Microsoft Office Word 2003. First, I create the book template by setting the top and bottom margins at .75, the inside and outside margins at .5, and the gutter at .35. I choose portrait orientation, mirror margins, and apply that to the whole document. Also, in set-up under the paper tab, I change the paper size to 5x8. Next, I insert page numbering beginning on the first page, but suppress the number so it doesn't show until page 2. You may prefer starting your numbering at the beginning of your first chapter. I've had problems with that, which is the reason I start with the first page. At first I worried that this was bad etiquette, but have since seen many books done this way. You now have a document to begin typing your masterpiece into. Also, it looks like a book from the beginning, which I like. Here is how I order my pages: the first page is blank, the second page is the copyright page with necessary info (disclaimer, ISBN number, etc.). The third page is for dedication and words to your readers, the fourth page is blank, the fifth page begins chapter one. I use normal formatting for the body with Times New Roman 12. I have experimented with the chapter headings. "Heading Two" is nice. Also, you want to keep your font characters for your chapters no larger than size 14. Whenever you come to the end of a chapter, insert a page break. Do not press the enter key multiple times to reach the next page (bad...bad). This is the template we will use to create the paperback by converting it to a .pdf file later. Also, we will extract the words and create another template for the ebook. Ebook templates look nothing like paperback templates. I hope this information is useful. If you're a self-publishing guru, I welcome comments and tips. Set up for this scene: Spoiled heiress and scientist, Rainey Childress, is having a sleepless night.
Rainey punched her pillow yet again. She wanted to sleep, needed to sleep because of the workday ahead of her. She opened her eyes and sat up. Damn bodyguard. What was his name? Ross… Ron… Rat… Roth. Wolf… Beowolf. What the hell kind of name is that? She walked to her window and pulled the drapes aside. Shifting clouds played with an almost full moon. Eerie shadows waltzed across the grounds of her father’s estate. Unexpectedly, the clouds cleared and the moon shone brilliant. Rainey gasped when a huge bird swooped from the sky and soared past her window, its magnificent wings agilely directing its body. She watched the creature until it disappeared in the direction of the woods. I wish I could fly with you. |
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