Tuesday, July 15, 2014

WIPpet Wednesday: "Angel"

Happy Wednesday! How's everybody doing? I've been having a fun week swimming with the boys in leech-infected water, running away from retreating in a calm and confident manner from mama black bears at the park,  and re-reading The Grapes of Wrath, which I have to admit I love even more the second time around.

Draft1 is still coming along. I feel like I've been on this last section now for weeks (which I have). I'm hoping for just a few more really productive sessions to get it totally finished, because then I get to move on to getting Slave Again published! *fingers crossed*

In honor 7/17, here are 17 sentences from Draft1. (Yeah, I've really got to work some more on that title...)


***

Bars rattled. Boots stomped to the distance. Gentle steps, soft as the spring breeze, tiptoed toward him. A hallucination, but a beautiful one. She sat down near him and cradled his head in her lap. He tried to lift his finger, but it was too heavy. He pried his eyes open. An angel?

“I’m sorry to hear you’ve been sick.” The voice was beautiful as a ray of heavenly glory, but there was something about it that still tied him to this earth. He swallowed once. He had to focus.

She adjusted the flashlight in her hand, and in that split second, everything was clear. He saw her face, watched the surprise replace the serene smile, then the horror chase away the shock. She gasped and whispered his name. She leaned down over him, her tears splashing onto his face, reviving him, awakening his spirit that had been so ready to rest, reminding him for the first time in weeks just how badly he wanted to live.

Oh, sweet and merciful Jesus, he wanted to live.

***

Blog Love: Huge thanks to K L Schwengel for hosting the WIPpet Wednesday blog hop, where authors post snippets from the current Works In Progress.

Tuesday, July 8, 2014

WIPpet Wednesday: "Pyongyang Tigers"

Happy WIPpet Wednesday! Here's a huge shout-out to Kate Sparkes, whose new released Bound is not only a great book -- it's also killing the charts! If you haven't read it, now is the time to ask yourself why not. (Yeah - you know you want to click here and see it yourself!) And here's 7 paragraphs from the 9th page of part two of Draft1 in honor of 7/9. I'll get back to newsier WIPpets when I'm done with this heavy-duty drafting. Hope everyone's doing great!

***

“I still don’t know what Moses was thinking.” Mr. Kim’s volume had steadily increased since Hannah returned to her room and shut the door. She did what she could to keep from eavesdropping and even tried to force herself to sleep, but the fine hairs on the back of her neck stood on end. “She can’t even be twenty years old. Next thing you know, he’ll expect me to send my own daughter across the border.”

“He has a reason for everything he does.” Kwan’s voice was steady, and Hannah longed to let its confidence absorb into her own soul.

Mr. Kim laughed mirthlessly. “He has reasons, all right.”

“His situation is … precarious.” Kwan spoke with reverence. “He’s constantly in danger.”

Mr. Kim grunted. “So am I. But you don’t see me plucking little girls out of nursery school and throwing them to the Pyongyang tigers.” Hannah wished she could ignore their conversation, but even though her head was heavy with fever and her body trembled with chills underneath So-Young’s blanket, her mind tuned in to every syllable.

“She came from Onsong,” Kwan stated calmly. “She obviously endured a lot. She must have proven herself to someone there, gotten Moses’ attention somehow. They say he has connections within …”

“I don’t need to be told about his connections,” Mr. Kim interrupted.

***

It's a little more vague than what I like to usually post, but maybe once I start on edits it will be smoother. Hope you're all having a great week!

Blog Love: Huge thanks to K L Schwengel for hosting the WIPpet Wednesday blog hop, where authors post snippets from the current Works In Progress.

Here's the link to Kate's book if you want to check it out.