Debby Meltzer Quick's Blog, page 4
January 27, 2023
Cover Reveal is Here!
Here it is at long last! The cover of my upcoming book, “May I Have Your Attention Please.”
I am hoping to release this book into the wild by the end of March or early April. I will post a link to the Amazon location as soon as it becomes available.
I thought I might drop a little excerpt here just to keep you entertained until the book release. Please enjoy!
“What do you think of the Great Gatsby so far?” Sally asked, glancing at the novel as she set it down next to her tray.
“It starts off a bit slow,” James admitted. “I’ve never been much of a reader, so I hope it picks up the pace soon.”
“That’s one thing I’ve always been,” Sally responded. “A reader. I have always loved to read fiction. I get in the zone and sometimes hours go by before I know it. Like on Saturday night. I read before bed, and next thing I knew it was almost two am!”
“That’s exactly what it’s like for me when I play my guitar,” James said. “In the zone is a good way to describe it. When I learn a new song, or a new chord, I stay on it for a long time, until I get it just right. My parents know not to knock on my door when they hear me playing in my room.”
“I can’t wait to hear you play,” Sally said. “I wish I could play an instrument. I tried to play the flute when I was younger, but I never practiced. I wanted to, but I couldn’t seem to figure out how to get started. I’d be watching tv, and get anxious that I wasn’t practicing, but I still wouldn’t do it. My mom finally told me that if I didn’t get with it, she’d stop paying for lessons, so that’s pretty much what happened.”
“I was like that with karate in third grade,” James disclosed. “My friends were all doing it. I liked the idea of doing it, but at each class, it was obvious to the teacher I hadn’t practiced since the last class. He told me practice was a discipline I had to develop, but in the end I decided not to. It was too hard for me to stay focused.”
“It’s so weird we both do that,” Sally said, shaking her head. “Some things we can totally focus on for hours without anything stopping us, and others, we can’t even get started on. I wonder what that’s all about?”
Here again are the links to my Facebook page, Debby Meltzer Quick Author, and TikTok, @dbmquick. Please follow me on these pages. And please explore my page here at debbymeltzerquickauthor.com.
Thanks for coming to my release party!
January 22, 2023
Cover Reveal is Near!
Here it is, my first teaser for my upcoming book, “May I Have Your Attention Please,” which will hopefully be available for sale in late March or early April. It all depends on when it gets back to me from the copy editor, and how many corrections need to be made! Then I have to fumble through the formatting for both e-book and paperback and hope it all turns out the way I want it! But at least, by the end of next week, you will all know what to look for as far as a cover when you are searching for my book on Amazon. Soon.
So not a long post today. I am busy writing away on book 6 in the series, and I also completed a 5035-word side story for book 5. It was fun! Now, I am concentrating on making videos for TikTok and posts on my face book author page, to promote the cover reveal. My designer made some nice graphics for me, and I look forward to sharing them. I am also spending an ungodly amount of time on TikTok and Facebook following people, so they follow me back. I am close to 500 followers on Facebook, which is hard to do, because Facebook puts restrictions on you when you try to follow pages too quickly. They think you’re a bot. I mean, it’s great that they check for these things, unless it’s happening to you. I get logged off of my page at least 20 times per day lately. Find followers, Facebook tells you. But don’t do it too fast, even though we didn’t tell you this before you started! TikTok limits how many people you can follow, but you can come back shortly after and follow more. I’m at about 2200 followers on TikTok. Please be one of them! Oh, also, I was restricted from Instagram, and I have no idea why, except for not using it for months. I had to send them a selfie of me holding a paper with numbers on it to prove I was actually me. Ugh, I hardly ever post anything on there anyway, but I thought it might be fun to put my cover reveal teasers there. Not so fun after all!
Here again are the links to my Facebook page, Debby Meltzer Quick Author, and TikTok, @dbmquick. Please follow me on these pages. And please explore my page here at debbymeltzerquickauthor.com.
Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog. I hope you come back next week!
January 16, 2023
C’mon and Zoom Zoom
The news was not good for us Gen X kids this week. We lost Lisa Marie Presley, Jeff Beck, and Adam Rich. Lisa Marie and Adam were both the same age at me. So was Ken Block, who I have never heard of, but also died this week. Does that make me feel old? No, they both died very young. It’s tragic. And bad things happen in threes. Usually.
What makes me feel old is that Adam Rich was the youngest child in my childhood favorite television series, “Eight is Enough” from 1977 through 1981. He played Nicholas Bradford, the adorable but bratty and lovable imp with seven older siblings who were always getting into mischief one way or another every Wednesday night starting when I was in fourth grade. No, what makes me feel old is that fact that in my mind, Nicholas Bradford is still 12 years old, and always will be. But he was not. Adam Rich was 54 years old, and “Eight is Enough” was on TV FORTY-TWO YEARS AGO! How can that even be, when I’m clearly not a day over 31? When I was in fifth grade, my friend and I would watch the show religiously every week, practically taking notes to compare the next day so we could then reenact the scenes we loved the most, with the characters we admired and loved the most, on the playground during recess. Yes, it’s pretty corny to look back at, but 42 years have gone by since those lunchtime games, and she’s still the first person I thought of when I heard that Adam Rich had passed away. Safe passage, Adam.
It’s also hard because I am deep into writing my series, “McKinney High Class of 1986,” and my brain has been firmly planted in that era for hours each day since November 2021. I think in the 80s now, I think about what the kids would be doing, and saying to each other, what they would be wearing, what music they would listen to, and of course, what shows they would be watching on TV. Well, if we were talking about fourth grade, I can tell you it was “Eight is Enough.” But what else captivated our time and attention back then? What did TV have to offer in the days just prior to and during the music video era, when we turned our attention to MTV, VH1, and “Friday Night Videos?”
Looking back at it now, I cringe to think about what we watched back then. I’m going to share a list of the shows I was enamored with back then, and a little bit about them, and then I’m gonna wonder what it was that made us watch. Remember, this was an era when to change the channel, we actually had to get off our butts from our cozy chairs and couches and actually approach the television sets to turn a dial. So we had to be committed to what we were going to watch for the next hour if we didn’t want to be bothered to get up again. So let’s take a look:
Miami Vice: Wow. I used to love that show so much! I couldn’t wait to see what kind of adventure Crockett and Tubbs would have that week, and what cool outfits they would be sporting, what color blazer over what color tee shirt. Basically, they were lovable and macho cops, in mild Miami, hitting the hard streets to eradicate crime and lock up the bad guys. And they had a wicked good soundtrack. Glenn Frye actually guest starred in one episode, “Smuggler’s Blues,” which featured his hit song of the same name. And Phil Collins was in “Phil the Shill,” featuring his song, “Life is a Rat Race.” Those guys were way awesome. Still are (RIP Glenn). Okay, confession: I used to go to watch Miami Vice at my high school with the boys in the dorm (I didn’t live in the dorms), and I felt so cool, hanging out with the guys, watching the coolest show on TV at the time. Well, then they watched “Damien, Omen 3” and that was totally uncool, and I can still see the guy pulling back the hair to reveal the “666” on the kid’s head…but I digress. Miami Vice: Cool in the 80s. Misogynistic, campy, and horrible in retrospect. But good memories, nonetheless.Murder She Wrote: I don’t have much to say about this show that I watched, which had about 10 other variations of older, professional type people who somehow got themselves sucked into murder mysteries they had to solve, week after week. There were doctors, writers, lawyers, ex-wives of millionaires, actually millionaires with nothing better to do, and many others. The interesting thing is it took about 40 years for viewers to finally figure out the big twist. The question was: why did these people always seem to be in the wrong place at the wrong time when these murders happened in the first place? Well, the answer is actually pretty obvious: IT WAS BECAUSE THEY WERE THE REAL MURDERERS! Couldn’t anyone see it back then?? Were we that oblivious to the truth? They framed all those innocent people at the end of each show! They were actually serial killers!!!! Okay, okay, I’m alright now. All is well. “Murder She Wrote,” “Diagnosis: Murder,” “Matlock,” and “Hart to Hart:” Good back then, and since many of the repeats are still shown in syndication today, still good today, if you can get past the whole SERIAL KILLER thing.The Love Boat and Fantasy Island: I put these two together because they were inseparable. They were on every Saturday night for, like, my whole childhood through college. When I was a teenager, I babysat for my cousins every Saturday night; I had a raging social life as you can see. After I put the kids to bed, the only option to keep me occupied until the parents came home was these two shows. And God forbid they came home before the dramatic conclusion of that night’s Fantasy Island! So, Love Boat: Basically, go on a cruise to meet your soul mate, and a few days later, you leave the ship announcing your engagement. Or go on with your horrible spouse, and rekindle the romance, and have a renewal of vows. Or maybe you go on the cruise to have a wedding at sea, but learn that your fiancé is a turd, and fall in love with his best friend, or brother, and in the end, the wedding is cancelled, but no one cares, because you found true love. And then there is the lovable crew of misfits who run the place under the strong guidance of Captain Stubing (Murray from the Mary Tyler Moore show). If you are really lucky, you will disembark from the ship and catch a plane right to Fantasy Island to have your biggest wish come true. But maybe, watch out what you wish for… Mr. Roarke, your host. And you get to watch his witty rapport with Tattoo, his, what? Assistant? Mr. Roarke always freaked me out. Who the hell was that guy? Some people think he was some kind of angel, but I’m pretty sure he’s, well, the other thing. But on one episode, he actually did battle with Roddy McDowall (the guy from Planet of the Apes) as the devil. Hmm. I don’t think so. Okay, prognosis: Loved the shows in the 80s, don’t know how I would have lived without them every week. Maybe I would have read a book, who knows. Now? Yikes. Yeah, no. I have seen the repeats. No thank you. Uh uh. And recently I saw a remake of Fantasy Island. People. Please. Leave well enough alone. We had to live in the 80s. The kids today don’t deserve the torture! And what was with adding a kid to the cast of Love Boat? Jumping the shark? Vicky Stubing (the captain’s “illegitimate” daughter whose mother died, who he never knew about, and who stowed away on his ship and became part of his crew, intending to add cuteness (?) to the show?). No Vicky ruined the show. And does anyone remember Typhoid Julie?Sitcoms that weOkay, so that was sort of fun, going back down memory lane. Man, TV was really different back then. Thank goodness for music videos. Back then: awesome. Now: today’s kids: “what the heck is a music video? What’s a VJ? Isn’t that a female body part??? Wait-TVs had dials? What’s vertical hold?”
One last note: I will be starting the cover reveal for my upcoming book, “May I Have Your Attention Please,” starting next week on my Facebook page, Debby Meltzer Quick Author, and on TikTok, @dbmquick. Please follow me on these pages. And please explore my page here at debbymeltzerquickauthor.com.
As always, thanks for reading to the end! Have a great week!
January 8, 2023
What’s in a Name?
Seventeen years ago, I had to name a child. I mean, I guess I could have NOT named the child, but that would have led to much mayhem and confusion. I poured over baby naming books, asked friends, looked at surveys of popular names, and asked my family. I finally came up with a name for a girl and a name for a boy (I didn’t have a reveal of gender, and I’m glad I didn’t because I am not a fan. Our kids tell us their gender when they are ready). I told my mother what I wanted to name my child if it was a boy. Her reply? “…Oh.” Now it’s funny, but back then it was frustrating. You can find a reason to not name your child any name. They could be teased, or there could end up being a mass murderer with the same name. Imagine what it must have been like for Adolph Smith back in the 1940s. So how did I end up naming my child the name I chose? Well, I spent one night in desperation two weeks before my due date looking at every name in a book with 500 names. I tried each one on in my head, looked at their meanings, and thought if I would want to call my child that name when I was angry at them (along with the requisite middle name, which had already been chosen-both of my grandmothers had the same first name. No brainer). Finally, I found a name that I didn’t have any problems with, and it just happened to be the name of someone I really cared about in the past, and I had my name.
Now it’s seventeen and a half years later, and my child hates their name. Oh well. Best intentions, right?
What other things do we have to name? Pets, businesses, a tune, a price, etc. Some people name their cars, and others, their genitalia. Bomber planes and rocket ships. Ocean liners, trains. Lots of modes of transportation, and most likely they are women’s names. My favorite is Enola Gay. It always stuck with me, even thought that plane was a vehicle for an atomic bomb. It was probably also the name of some pilot’s sweetheart or daughter.
What does naming things have to do with writing, you may ask? No, you probably already know the answer. Authors have to name tons of things, and I often get asked how I come up with names. There are titles, chapters, characters, fictional agencies and school, towns, businesses. And in my universe, the characters’ hometown is Eastboro, Massachusetts, a fictional place eerily similar, and next door, to my actual hometown, so I had to make up everything. I will start with how I came up with the name Eastboro. I have to credit my brother, Jonathan (which is his name, don’t call him Jon) for coming up with this one. He figured out that Massachusetts has a Northboro, a Southboro, and a Westboro, but no Eastboro. So now there is an Eastboro, and it lives in my series of books. Now I will talk about Titles, Chapters, and Characters (including names of places) and how I came up with them.
Titles: I have written 5 books and I am in the process of writing the 6th. They are all part of the same series. They are love stories, but not just loves stories, so it’s hard to express everything they are in one small title. But so far, just like most things, my books have told me their names. The most recent one, #6, was more elusive, because I had to add some dimension to my universe, and I had to get to know the characters in a different context. So now I will tell you my titles, all except for one, because it’s too revealing of the ongoing story. Book 1: May I Have Your Attention Please, so called because the main characters would like to get each other’s attention, both in the past and the present. And also, because they have difficulty with attention.Book 2: I Just Can’t Say I Love You. Pretty literal. And also a line stolen from the book.Book 3: Absolutely and Totally Smitten. Obviously contains love, and lots of it. Unexpected love. And big, overwhelming love.Book 4: The Stories That Must Be Told. This is my most dramatic book, that deals with some real-life problems, and some very special people who help each other. And there are lots of stories to be told. They must be told.Book 5: Not revealing this name, because it includes the name of the MC, and I don’t want you all to know who I’m focusing on. You’ll see why when you read my books.Book 6: Secrets, Big and Small. This is my work in progress (WIP) and I had a really hard time with this one. I knew it should include secrets. There are some in the book. Some are big, some are small (I feel compelled to add an LOL here).Names of Characters: Naming characters has a lot in common with naming children. In a way, the characters are your children. Sometimes, I name them after people I know. Sometimes, I name them and then delete them and name them again. One of the reasons I didn’t want to go with traditional publishing, is that I didn’t want anyone to tell me I had to change the name of my characters. Sally: I do have a cousin Sally, but that’s not where this came from. I was looking for a name that would be appropriate for the 1980s, but not the name of anyone I knew back then. It fit the criteria, and soon, Sally was her name. No question. And then someone reminded me that it was also the name of someone from another part of my past, and maybe I might want to change it. But it was too late. It was her name, and she didn’t want to change it. She wouldn’t answer to anything else.James: I wanted a good, basic male name, that could have a popular nickname, but could also be used as a full name. I wanted him to have the possibility of a cute pet name from Sally. And it really works. Every time I see the name James anywhere now, I have a feeling of warmth. It’s a good, strong name.Darlene, Kim, Traci, Carl, Chris, Pete, Michelle: The group of friends started out as a generic support cast, but all of them eventually get a part as an MC. But these are all names that were popular when I was growing up. Michelle started as a tribute to a junior high friend of mine (whose name isn’t Michelle by the way) and then she morphed into her own person. But the red hair and glasses come from my friend. Last names: Sally Bachman, James Newell. Sally is Jewish. I wanted her to have a name that reflected that. And I am a big fan of classic rock. Bachman Turner Overdrive. And Sally (and I) share a birthday with Tim Bachman. Newell is kind of generic. It was a name I saw written down somewhere when I was trying to choose a name, and I just loved it for James. And it also hides half of his ancestry, which will be revealed not too long into the book. Other character last names (Gorman, Cooper, Bishop, Feinman, Walsh, Drake) are all names that would be common in a place like Massachusetts. I also used the last name Wells, after a very dear friend who died of cancer early in the COVID era. She will live on forever in my writing. I used a lot of Irish and Italian names in my stories because there are a lot of Irish and Italian people where I’m from. And many of them came from Google searches. Businesses, streets, school: These were really fun. I had to do a lot of research, because I didn’t want to use real people or businesses in my names, but I wanted the places to have a back story. Everyone who lives near the lake in Eastboro has some connection to Aries Corps. This is constant through all 6 books, but to be honest, we never find out what it is that Aries Corps does, or why it is named what it is. It’s not after the God of War or the zodiac sign. I think it’s named after its founder, and that may lead to some story sometime. The mall is called the Main Street Mall. The popular Italian restaurant is called Luigis because, well, the Mario Brothers. The two high schools in town are McKinney and Murphy. Both were famous Eastboro people. DeMarco Elementary and Randall Junior High. Both made up people. Abraham Lincoln Elementary. I think you might have a vague idea where that comes from. Street names: I just use street names I’ve seen before or make them up. Twin Bridges Park in Eastboro: Anyone who is from my hometown will know how I got that name after reading the book.Chapter Titles: I love to name my chapters rather than just use numbers. In “May I Have Your Attention Please,” I use a gimmick. It was so fun. So far, readers have enjoyed it. For my other books, I have just come up with a word or phrase that I like that fits the topic. I have to say, for some reason, I’m really good at naming chapters.There’s a bit of insight into my process. I hope you found it interesting. I hope you are curious enough about book 5 since I wouldn’t tell you the name, that you read the first four so you can get to it! But, 6 is pretty cool, too. 4 is still my favorite, but the first 3 are my babies, so…read them all! And probably in order.
I hope that whatever your name is, you are having a wonderful week and enjoying the vivid dreams that this time of year brings us all. Stay warm and dry!
December 31, 2022
Field of Dreams vs. My Book
I didn’t know what to blog about today. I knew I wanted to write stuff about writing and about my upcoming book, but, you know, sometimes the muse just doesn’t hit you. Then I was talking to my brother on the phone earlier (those of us that grew up in the 70s and 80s still “talk” on the phone sometimes) and I was telling him how I thought that “Field of Dreams” should be considered a Christmas movie. He asked why. Well, I don’t know. I guess it’s just because it’s my favorite all time movie, and it’s awesome. I think the only reason that “Die Hard” is a Christmas movie is because it takes place during Christmas. Well, a lot of people think that Christmas is magic, and “Field of Dreams” contains a lot of magic. Ergo, Christmas movie. Actually, why I really wanted it to be a Christmas movie is because we have MLB on our cable (yeah, some of us who grew up in the 70s and 80s still have cable. We remember what it was like before cable existed) and they were playing repeats of past World Series games. I was hoping that on Christmas day they would be playing “Field of Dreams.” I mean, “Dad, do you want to have a catch?” makes me sob so much more than “Look, Daddy. Teacher says, every time a bell rings, an angel gets his wings.” Okay, that line is touching too, but it doesn’t make me ugly cry like the final scene between Kevin Costner and Dwier Brown (the ghost dad). So “Field of Dreams” wins.
So, the reason I’m writing about this now is because I told my brother that I didn’t have any ideas for my blog today, and in his infinite wisdom, he challenged me to find a way to compare my book to the movie “Field of Dreams.” Challange accepted! Except, I have no idea what I’m going to say next. My book and “Field of Dreams” have very, very little in common.
Well, I guess one thing they do have in common is that they both feature characters. Yeah, characters! “Field of Dreams” features Ray Kinsella and wife Annie as main characters, along with Terence Mann and Dr. Archibald “Moonlight” Graham. They were all very engaging, and you just grew to like them so much. And we can’t forget “Shoeless” Joe Jackson, and the amazing John Kinsella, everyone’s favorite ghost dad.
“May I Have Your Attention Please” also has characters. They are James Newell and Sally Bachman. They are the main characters, or the MCs. They are sixteen-year-old kids starting their junior year in high school. They have no idea what is about to happen to them, and how it’s going to change their lives forever. They have a vast supporting cast. They are part of a group of friends that grow closer as the year moves on. There’s Chris, the original bad boy leader, who has been in charge of his posse since second grade. Chris has a cousin, Carl, and he seems like a bit of a tag-along, but there is definitely something brewing inside of him. He and Chris have a huge family of cousins, many of whom will be mentioned in this book and those that come after. Pete is another friend, but he had to go to the other high school in town. He still plays a big part in supporting his friend James. Then there are the girls. Kim is a bit bossy and abrupt, but very pretty. Darlene is Kim’s shadow and biggest supporter. Traci is nice, and caring, and a really good listener. She also has a secret talent that will be revealed in later books. And Michelle is the nice little red headed girl that won’t put up with any of your crap. And she’s Sally’s best friend. And of course, these are sixteen-year-old kids. There are parents, siblings, and teachers. But, you know, this book isn’t so much about them. But they matter.
What else? Oh, yeah. They both have story lines! Yeah, that’s a big thing in common. “Field of Dreams” tells the story of Ray and Annie and their farm, and Ray having weird visions about plowing under his corn and building a baseball field. Weird, right? But as the movie progresses, it starts to make so much sense why this is happening. We WANT it to happen, and we cheer for it to happen. There are obstacles on the way, roadblocks (it is a road trip after all) and people who don’t believe in the dream. And guess what? There is a happy and touching ending.
“May I Have Your Attention Please” also has a story line. We are introduced to James and Sally, two really good kids who just can’t quite seem to pull it all together at home or in school, but they have dreams. And they want to dream them together. They have obstacles along the way, people who may not want them to realize their dreams, and situations that might be a little bit too complex for teens to have to deal with. But maybe, just maybe, their dreams are strong enough to see them through. That would really lead to a happy ending, wouldn’t it?
Other things these stories have in common:
FOD takes place in Iowa but has a scene at Fenway Park in Boston. MIHYAP also mentions Fenway Park, and the story takes place in Massachusetts. I don’t think there’s anything about Iowa in the book.FOD had a character named Joe. MIHYAP has a character named Joey. A minor character, but a character, nonetheless.FOD takes place mainly at a farm with a crop of corn. I’m not sure, but there is a chance that either James or Sally eats corn at some point in story. But I could be wrong.FOD takes place in the 1980s. So does MIHYAP.Ray Kinsella is a huge baseball fan. So is Sally Bachman. FOD has a bitchy, opinionated protagonist at the school. So does MIHYAP.Okay, I think that might be enough comparisons for now. This isn’t the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, although I think Kevin Bacon would have done well in FOD or MIHYAP when it gets made into a movie or miniseries. When I was a kid, he could have played the part of James Newell. But by now, I think most likely he would play the part of Nonno Angelo Romano, James’s Italian grandfather. Sorry, Kevin. We’ve all aged a lot since the 80s.
So, the next time you think of “Field of Dreams,” think about me and my little (108,000 word) book, “May I Have Your Attention Please” from the series “McKinney High Class of 1986” to hopefully be released in March, or maybe April of 2023, and then go to Amazon and buy it!
Thanks for making it to the end of my blog entry!
December 24, 2022
Book Teaser
How much information does an author give away before the book comes out?
This is an interesting question. Obviously, an author doesn’t want to give away too much about the plot. No secrets, no twists. But it’s still important to market your book. How do you market your book? There are only so many ways you can tell people that you have a book coming out. You know who else has a book coming out? Pretty much everyone. There is a lot of competition. And not everyone is like me. I have pretty much bought every book that I ever found even mildly interesting, and I have a huge “to be read” pile. It starts on the floor and is up to my neck. But that doesn’t stop me from buying more, much to the chagrin of my spouse and my bookcase.
So now you know I have a book coming out. So, what sets my book apart from the millions of others, and what will make you choose to read my next book after you read my first? Well, you have to like it. You have to not only like the way I write, but also the story I present. Is it captivating? Are the main characters likable? Are the antagonists just the worst, or maybe even someone you can sympathize or empathize with? Is the story interesting? Is there conflict, and does it resolve in a way that is satisfactory? You are not going to learn any of this by looking at my TikTok videos (although you can still visit them at dbmquick or follow me on Facebook at Debby Meltzer Quick, Author). You need to see a sample, or several samples of my writing. That is one reason I write a blog, so you can see my writing style. But blogs are not stories. They are snippets into my mind at the moment I am writing them.
So, I have decided to give you a taste of my book. A very small taste. A nibble, if you will. It shows a bit of the state of mind of one of my protagonists, without giving too much away.
So, with no more ado, I give you a little piece of chapter one. Setting: McKinney High School in Eastboro, Massachusetts, first day of school, junior year, 1984. James, Chris, and Carl are standing by the water fountain before the first bell (although they would call it a bubbler). They are dressed in jeans, and tee and baseball shirts, two of them in brand new wicked cool black leather vests. And here’s what happens next:
The boys were checking their schedules to see which classes they were in together, when Sally Bachman came in through the door. James coincidentally looked up at exactly that moment. It was a moment that years later he would later remember happening in slow motion. He didn’t recognize her at first. She was at least two inches taller than she had been when he last saw her at Randall Junior High, and definitely much curvier. Her straight brown hair fell above her shoulders and was softly layered around her face. She wore a button-down pink shirt with ruffled short sleeves, tight blue jeans, and white sneakers with pink stripes. She had her eye makeup done in a way that flattered her pale blue eyes and long lashes. She looked around with wide eyes and seemed unsure of what to do for a moment. She hadn’t been a student at McKinney Sophomore year, and James remembered she had gone to private school after ninth grade.
She caught his eye and smiled, making all of her nervous energy seem to melt away, replaced by relief. “Hey, Jamie!” she said walking toward him. “How are you?” She didn’t wait for an answer as she checked out her surroundings. “I’m so glad to see you! It’s my first day here and I have absolutely no idea where to go. Can you tell me where the office is? I’m supposed to check in there when I get here.”
James smiled back, amused at remembering how talkative she could get. “Hey, Sally,” he said, pointing in the correct direction. “Yeah, it’s just down the hall past the lockers, to the right.”
“Thanks Jamie,” she said, and she touched his elbow lightly. “Maybe I’ll see you later.”
“Yeah, see you later,” James responded, watching her as she walked away toward the office.
James glanced back at his friends, who were both looking at him oddly. “What?” he said to them, shrugging.
“Hey Jay-mie,” said Chris mockingly. “Hey, man, pick your jaw up off the floor!”
“Was that Sally Bachman?” Carl asked. “Wow, she’s grown up a lot. Like really,” he gestured toward his chest area. “She must have been a late bloomer!”
James glowered at his friends to hide his embarrassment. “Shut up, you dufuses,” he told them. “Look, Chris, there’s Rhonda.” Carl and Chris became distracted by Chris’s girlfriend and her friends coming through the door, and James quickly turned again toward the main office to try to catch another glimpse of Sally walking away.
Spoiler alert: She likes him, too. But you’ll have to get the book when it comes out to learn about how things go for these two amorous teens, and to find out about their adventures.
I hope you liked the very short, very benign section of “May I Have Your Attention Please” that I have shared with you. I may share more later, I don’t know. If you like what you see, remember to buy the book when it comes out. And then buy a few more for your friends!
Have a wonderful holiday week, everyone!
