Joseph Rinaldo's Blog, page 5

Smashwords: Smashwords Supports Operation Ebook Drop

Smashwords: Smashwords Supports Operation Ebook Drop: The other day on the Amazon Kindle message boards, Smashwords author Ed Patterson met a U.S. soldier stationed in Iraq who wanted to downlo...

Self-Publishing Ain't For Sissies!

This post appeared originally on DuoLit.

During a period of unemployment in 2004, I did a lot of soul-searching about my career and a lot of reading for pure escapism. It was at this time that I read Nicholas Sparks' Three Weeks With My Brother, and I tried to absorb the fact that he received a million-dollar advance for this book. After I got over the initial shock of that fact, I remember thinking, "Holy cow! He's a good writer, but I know I can do this, too." I've been writing since that day in 2004.


When I finished my first novel, my wife and I spent a great deal of time and money printing off complete manuscripts and mailing them to agents and publishers. This went on for months with no result. We struggled with the disappointment we felt from the countless rejection letters.

As this went on (and on and on), I began working on my second novel. I felt it was much better than the first, and I was very hopeful. We finally realized that it wasn't necessary or practical to mail the entire manuscript to agents and publishers (in fact, most of them don't want it as the initial contact), and we began querying and sending synopses, chapter outlines, and excerpts. Still no result. A few nibbles, but no bites. Again, much disappointment.

In the meantime, I had taken a job in another state, and we moved. I continued writing novels while working full-time, and my wife took over some of the "marketing" aspect of this endeavor. Nine novels later, we had nothing to show for our efforts with traditional agents and publishers but frustration.

Through some chance or perhaps through diligent research (I don't remember which.), we discovered the world of self-publishing and Amazon's self-publishing ebook program. We were so excited to have another venue to explore, and we were sure that if we published the books ourselves, at no cost to us (thank you, Amazon), we would certainly sell books and become rich and famous. How naïve we were!

The one thing we have discovered about self-publishing, apart from the fact that getting the books formatted correctly to upload to Amazon's program is a nightmare, is that ALL the marketing is totally up to the author (and his trusty sidekick/spouse). We were stymied. How does one go about marketing one's own book? What avenues are out there for this purpose?

Again, through trial and costly error, we discovered that advertising in national newspapers and on BookPage was an exercise in futility. We got NO sales from the several ads we placed in print. Likewise ads placed on Facebook and Google and bookmarks printed and passed out at bookstores and book festivals. By this time, we were beginning to make some contacts online with other authors, and we decided that having a website might be a good idea. It's amazing how inept we were in trying to create our own "free" website; it really looked like an amateur had done it, and the results, again, were nil, even though we had a store right on the site.

It was not until we hired a web designer who also re-designed the cover of my first published book, A Spy At Home, that we began to see sales. Just a few at first, of course, but by then we had begun to "work" the social media, created a blog, and tried to figure out just who the market for this book was and to send them announcements about the book's release. We also discovered the value of reviews, we began contacting reviewers both on Amazon and on blog sites, and favorable reviews started coming in. This boosted sales, though they were still modest.

We now have two ebooks for sale on Amazon: A SPY AT HOME and my new release, HAZARDOUS CHOICES.

The benefits from creating a network of contacts (writers, readers, bloggers, reviewers) was so much more than getting good reviews or word-of-mouth advertisement. They supported and encouraged me to pursue this dream of writing and publishing my books.

I am now in my seventh year of writing, revising, editing, marketing, and selling novels. Progress has been slow but steady, and I am proud of the work we've done. I will continue to write and market my books, and one day, I know, we really will become rich and famous! That's the dream, and I know it can come true.

Hazardous Choices - New Book Journal listing

Come check out the listing on the New Book Journal web site for my ebook Hazardous Choices! The URL is:
http://newbookjournal.com/2011/11/hazardous-choices-by-joseph-rinaldo/

Guest Post By Denise Keene on the Top 5 Qualities of Excellent Special Education Teachers

Denise Keene has been a special education teacher for 15 years and likes to write articles about various edication-related topics. She also owns the site http://www.mastersinspecialeducation.org/. I am pleased to host her guest post today because my daughter, who has Down syndrome, was fortunate enough to have had a number of outstanding special education and "regular" classroom teachers. Take it away, Denise!
*****

The Top Five Qualities of Special Education Teachers


As with any career, it is best to choose a job that will suit your personality and interests. Special education is a career that requires very specific qualities. Here are the top five:

1. Acceptance and understanding are the most important qualities a special education teacher can possess. You will be interacting with many different students who have many different types of disabilities and disorders. For this reason, you must be very open and accepting to their challenges and individual personalities. One student may be very quiet and yet very stubborn while another may be very loud and yet very diligent. There is a lot of unpredictability in a special education classroom, and a good teacher will learn to accept this and work around it.

2. A good temperament is a necessity when teaching special education. Children with disabilities need a mentor who is direct and firm yet calm and compassionate. It can be very difficult to stay calm when a student with special needs experiences an emotional or physical crisis. It can be even more difficult to stay calm when a student with a disability becomes outwardly defiant, but a good special education teacher knows you must remain kind and composed in order to show the child that you care and are there to help them.

3. Organization is imperative when teaching in a special education classroom. You will be using different teaching methods and tools for each disorder and disability. There may be times when each student will be working on different tasks and subjects; this goes back to the unpredictability of the classroom. A student with autism may refuse to work on a particular task which will require you to veer from your lesson plan and find another task to keep them busy. If you are well-organized and prepared, classroom interruptions like this won't cause you to skip a beat.

4. The ability to learn and practice new teaching techniques is another key quality for a special education teacher. Research and technology is constantly producing new methods for learning. Staying on top of these new techniques will allow you to give your students the best education available.

5. Positivity is another trait that is needed. Children with special needs are always aware of their teacher's mood and attitude. If a student feels that you are not positive about his or her ability to learn, their confidence will be affected, and they may be tempted to give up trying. A special education teacher must always remain confident and patient when teaching their students.

There are so many wonderful children out there who deserve special teachers. If you possess these traits, consider a career in special education and begin changing lives for the better today!
*****

I echo Denise's words, and I urge you to consider special education as a career. There may be no more rewarding work than helping students with special needs learn.

First Review for my new Amazon release, HAZARDOUS CHOICES!

My first review for HAZARDOUS CHOICES, and it's a great one!

Modern Shakespearean Tragedy, October 31, 2011


By Pandorasecho "echo"

This review is from: HAZARDOUS CHOICES (Kindle Edition)

If you don't like violence, or if you live for happy endings, this is not the book for you. However, It rings of some of the great Shakespearean tragedies in a very modern setting and involved me in caring for characters who were obviously busily living up to the title of the novel. There is a family with a young, down syndrome boy who struggles to communicate but has mastered the social skills of caring and making friends. There are a football team and the coaches involved in learning how to come together after a losing year, contrasted with the street gang trying simply to survive in a world where no choice is anything but hazardous. There is young love, and parental love and teenage rebellion and angst and gang hatred, all interwoven smoothly to keep you hoping for that elusive happy ending for the characters you care about.

If you love an emotional rollercoaster, and college football, if you have ever wanted to see a believable character with down syndrome, if you wonder about the hazard's of gang life, then I strongly recommend Hazardous Choices.

New Four-Star Review for A SPY AT HOME!

A spy story with heart, October 27, 2011


By Stephen England - This review is from: A SPY AT HOME (Kindle Edition)

A Spy at Home is the type of spy thriller you seldom see. If you're looking for your next Jack Bauer fix, you should probably look elsewhere. There are no car chases, no frenzied shootouts.

On second thought, pull up a chair and download the book--you won't regret it. In this, his first foray into the spy genre, Joseph Rinaldo has crafted a tale full of realism and pathos. This is the story of Garrison Stonebrook, a retired field officer from the Central Intelligence Agency. It's the story of his wife and handicapped son.

Rinaldo tells things the way they are, stripping away the glitz and glamour of spy fiction to reveal the heartache of separation, the personal sacrifices undergone by the members of the intelligence community.

It's the type of story that will send you on-line to look up the characters' names, just to see if they might be real.

Heartily recommended.

The Trick or Treat Blog Adventure Is Here!

Here are the simple rules:


Listed below are several blogs by authors

covering a wide range of genres.

Bookmark JLB Creatives Blog so you can

return to grab new blogs to Trick or Treat to.

Trick or Treat to as many of the

blogs as you'd like between Oct. 28-31, 2011.

The authors/bloggers have devised contests for you to enter to win their special prizes.

Simply follow the rules:

1) Become a follower of the author's blog.

2) Each blog host has devised their

own unique contest,

3) Follow their rules and you'll be entered!

Author's and their blogs are listed in no certain order.

Please excuse the wacky spacing and random

"highlighting" effect - technology...gotta love it!

Listings include the following:

1) Author Name

2) Blog Name

3) Blog Address

4) Contest Instructions

5) Prize(s) Offered





~ ~ ~
1) Karen S. Elliott (Contest on 10/31 only)

2) Karen S. Elliott's blog

3) http://www.karenselliott.wordpress.com

4) Leave a comment on Karen's blog on 10/31 and be automatically entered to win a free 3,000 word proofread, edit, and critique.

5) One free 3,000 word proofread, edit, and critique.

*****

1)Tammie Clarke Gibbs

2)Daydreaming with Author Tammie Clarke Gibbs

3) http://authortammieclarkegibbs.blogsp...

4) 5)Follow Tammie's Blog and Leave a comment letting her know you're following 10/31/11 and be automatically entered to win one of 5 Free ISLAND OF SECRET ebooks. Everyone who comments and signs up for her Newsletter on her website http://www.tammieclarkegibbs.com will receive a free surprise gift.

*****

1) Lorane Leavy (Contest may only be available 10/31)

2) Last Seen Wearing Thin

3) http://loraneleavy.blogspot.com/

4) Follow Lorane's blog and leave a comment 10/31/11

5) One free color collage, 5x7, of L's fav Trick-or-Treaters

*****

1) Kimberly LaRocca

2) Kimberly's Page

3) http://klarocca2010.wordpress.com/

4) Follow the blog and leave a comment on any poem on 10/31/11 along with the words "trick or treat"

5) Five lucky winners will receive a signed copy of the book.

*****

1) Betty Dravis (Contest may only be 10/31)

2) Dames of Dialogue

3) http://tinyurl.com/3njrc9u

4) Leave a comment at bottom of blog to enter the Trick or Treat drawing - no profanity, vulgarity, etc. Posts containing such will be automatically deleted

5) 5 lucky commentors will win a free e-book copy of "1106 Grand Boulevard" (for which I will need your e-mail address)

*****

1) Pandora Poikilos

2) Peace from Pieces

3) http://peacefrompieces.blogspot.com/

4) Follow the blog via Google Follow Connect, email me with the subject "Pandora's Trick or Treat"

5) 1 lucky follower will win a $5 Amazon giftcard.

*****

1) Daniel L Carter

2) The G-6 Chronicles Facebook Fanpage

3) http://www.facebook.com/TheG6Chronicles

4) Like The G-6 Chronicles on Facebook

5) The G-6 Chronicles will be giving away a first edition autographed copy of The Unwanted book 1 of The Unwanted Trilogy. Simply like our page for a chance to win for the month of October. One random fan will be chosen on Halloween Monday October 31st.

*****

1) Carolyn Arnold (Contest may only be 10?31)

2) Carolyn Arnold Author

3) http://sassy3421.blogspot.com/

4) A chance to win an ARC copy of ELEVEN (Kindle version) set to release 11.11.11. TWO COPIES up for grabs!

5) To qualify, entrants must follow my blog, watch the trailer and answer the trivia question about it correctly in their comment.

6) Extra chances to win if specificed tweets are shared.

7) Every comment and link to my blog (on Twitter) will be assigned a number. A random number generator will determine the winners.

*****

1) Dixie Goode

2) Duffy Barkley's "Mom"

3) http://duffybarkley.blogspot.com/

4) Instructions - I will place the names of commenters, who leave a mention of the trick or treat blog adventure, in a hat and one lucky winner will be announced on the blog.

5) I'm offering - One Paperback set of My Two Novels - but they have to be willing to email me their mailing address, which I will only use to send them the books

*****

1) Deb Hockenberry

2) The Bumpy Road To Children's Publishing

3) http://thebumpyroadtopublishing.blogs...

4) Instructions - I will place the names of commenters in a hat and one lucky winner will be announced on the blog to email me their story,

5) I'm offering - One critique to a childeren's story.

*****

1) Lorhainne Eckhart

2) Illusions

3) http://lorhainneeckhart.blogspot.com/

4) Leave a comment and follow the blog.

5) One lucky commentor to receive 2 eBooks of Lorhainne Eckhart's last two releases, The Choice, and The Captain's Lady

*****

1) C.V. Smith

2) Nettie Parker's Backyard

3) www.nettieparkersbackyard.com

4) email me (nettie.halley@gmail.com) as to why you want to read my book.

Best answer wins!

5) A free copy of my ebook

*****

1) Joseph Rinaldo

2) Read Rinaldo

3) http://wwwjosephmrinaldocom.blogspot....

4) Read the post entitled "What Do Books Mean To You?", leave a comment on the post, and invite one friend to do so as well

5) One free copy of my ebook "Hazardous Choices" to each of the first five commenters

*****

1) Maranda Russell

2) Maranda Russell Author

3) http://marandarussell.com/my-books/

4) Visitors just need to leave a comment on the "My Books" page (the link above goes directly to this page). Would love to hear your thoughts about my book covers/concepts!

5) One winner will be chosen to receive a signed copy of my paperback picture book, "Ode to Icky"! Will need each person who comments to give their email address so I can contact them if they win.

*****
1) John Zunski

2) Musings of a Mountain Dweller

3) http://johnzunski.wordpress.com/

4) Visitors have to correctly 'pronounce' Maistoinna Standing Bear's first name... It will be a multiple choice question.

5) winners receive a free e-copy of Shangri-La Trailer Park.

*****

1) Stephanie Keyes

2) Everyday Fiction In Progress

3) http://stephaniekeyes.blogspot.com/

4) Instructions on what your Trick or Treaters need to do to be entered in a contest or receive your "treat" that you will be responsible for. The first five trick or treaters to visit the site and comment on at least two posts.

5) What you're offering: i.e. a book giveaway, a free bookmark to all who leave a comment, whatever the ONE thing is you want to offer. Winners will receive an ebook copy of The Star Child.

*****

1) Judy Ann Davis

2) A Writer's Revelations

3) http:/www.judyanndavis.blogspot.com

4) Follow the blog and leave a comment on the bottom with contact info. and words, "Trick or Treat."

5) One randomly chosen winner will receive a first edition, signed copy of Red Fox Woman

*****

1) Erik Gustafson (Contest may only be on 10?31)

2) Apparitions of Terror

3) http://eriktiger.wordpress.com/

4) Do a trick (comment) describing the most terrifying thing that has ever happened to you.

5) Get a treat: the three creepiest true stories will win a free ebook copy of "Fall Leaves and the Black Dragon

*****

1) Linn B. Halton - Founder of Love A Happy Ending

2) Love A Happy Ending

3) http://www.loveahappyending.com

4) Visit the site - everyone's a winner!

5) Prize - discover the treasures of 30 elite authors: Some participating right here on this event

*****

1)William G. Bentrim (Contest may only be on 10/31)

2)Azure Dwarf's Horde of SciFi & Fantasy

3) http://azuredwarf.blogspot.com/

4)Click on link to post, fill out name, email address and physical address. Leave out physical if so inclined.

5) One copy of Lory Kaufman's YA novel, The Lens and the Looker.

*****

1) Vickie Adair

2) Storyteller's Blog

3) http://www.vickieadair.com/

4) Leave a comment on the blog to enter the Trick or Treat drawing.

5) 2 lucky commenters will win a free of "Sonnet of a Housewife" signed by the author.

*****

1) Amrita Publishing

2) NiamhClune

3) http://on.fb.me/qs221A

4) Pick your favourite short Halloween story from among those submitted.

5) Participants will be contacted via facebook and asked to supply their e-mail address to receive a free download sent by email from CD Touching Angels.

*****

1) Collette Scott

2) Collette Scott - Author

3) http://collettescott.blogspot.com

4) To enter to win a "treat" readers need to leave a comment with their email address and follow my blog.

5) Five lucky commenters will receive a free ebook of Hannah's Blessing from Smashwords or via email.

*****

1) Niamh Clune

2) NiamhCluneWrites

3). http://niamhclunewrites.blogspot.com/ Niamh Clune

4) Add a short story about an inspirational woman you know.

5) Best one, which shall be judged on AC, wins a FREE download of Orange Petals in a Storm

*****

1) Jan & Don Beasley

2) Live Events and Productions

3) http://www.LiveEventsAndProductions.b...

4) Leave a comment to enter the Trick or Treat drawing - no profanity, vulgarity, etc. Posts containing such will be automatically deleted

5) 1 lucky comment will win a free ebook copy of "Production P.A.R.T.Y. - Coordinating a Full Scale Production"

*****

END OF LIST:

Be sure to come back all weekend long

so you can visit as many blogs as you'd like!





~ ~ ~

That wraps it up for this week - it's about the Trick or Treat Blog Adventure!

The best treat you can give back to these authors if you don't

happen to be a winner of their books, is buy one. ;-)

Thanks so much for playing along.

We hope you enjoyed the event.

Scary Guest Post for Halloween by Vivian Rinaldo

IT WAS A DARK AND STORMY NIGHT


There was thunder but no lightning; the air crackled with electricity, making Carolina's hair frizz out around her head. The power had gone out more than an hour ago, and she couldn't find her emergency candles; more than that, she was royally pissed because she was missing "House". Sitting in the dark, she reflected for the millionth time on the fact that she was woefully unprepared for any kind of catastrophe. No weather radio, no flashlight, no candles (not to mention no matches to light them with – and now she remembered why she should have a gas stove instead of electric) no lanterns, no batteries, and about enough food in the fridge and cupboards to last, possibly, until morning, if she was very frugal.

The wind moaned, but she wasn't intimidated; she didn't believe in ghosts. She considered getting in her car and driving around to see how Nashville looked in the dark, but she doubted she could find her keys, either. Besides, all the traffic lights would be out, and she had a nervous feeling that there was a semi out there in the dark somewhere with her name on its grill. A fireplace would have been nice and cozy, maybe would have even given off enough light to read by. She didn't have one of those, either. "Damn," she murmured softly, then laughed at her reluctance to make a loud human sound. "HA, HA!" she shouted….strange how that echoed. She'd have bet the house was more solid than that.

She reached for the telephone, and then scolded herself. "You idiot, the phones will be out, too." Suddenly, she remembered the cell phone, and began groping around in the living room for her purse. A loose safety pin – conveniently open, of course - impaled her just as her fingers closed on the pink Sprint flip phone, and she opened it eagerly. At least she could call someone and talk. The backlight came on, then a beep, the message "Low Battery", and the phone powered down. Dead. "Jeez, what else could go wrong tonight?" she growled.

A touch against her leg, and she jumped several inches backward. Frankie, her enormously fat tiger tabby, rubbed static sparks against her bare calf. "Ow, Frankie! Cut it out! Stupid cat!"

She felt him sit down on her left foot, and she knew he was nonchalantly grooming himself. The urge to boot him across the room welled up in her, but she tamped it down. "You're lucky you are the only friend I have, or you'd be violin strings about now," she muttered, shoving him over and making her way back to the couch. Even with the blinds up and the curtains parted, the room was cave dark. How lucky, she thought, that there's NO moon tonight. That might have made the whole thing bearable, and we can't have that, can we?

Carolina pulled a knitted afghan off the back of the couch and covered her legs; she didn't feel especially cold, but there was something extremely shiverish tonight about being in the dark in the silent house. Finally, she could stand the creaky stillness no longer, and she got up, groped around for her sneakers, and headed toward the front door. Her purse gave up a very small pen light; she tucked a key to the house into her pocket, locked the door behind her, and headed down the sidewalk toward the National Cemetery.

"May as well visit the dead," she muttered to herself. She loved the Cemetery, with its more than 16,000 Union soldiers' headstones, the sad, forgotten graves of the 'unknowns', and the lonesome wail of the L & N as it bisected the grounds. She reveled in the shocked responses of her faraway relatives to whom she revealed that most areas of Tennessee actually stood for the Union Army during the Civil War. For many it was the first time they'd ever thought about Tennessee as anything other than backward, bib-over-alled, cousin-marrying, gun-toting, tobacco-spitting hicks. Very satisfying.

She got to the gates, visible only because the heavy cloud cover parted briefly, and found them closed and locked. "Damn!" In the dimness, she could see but not read a sign that probably explained why. Carolina turned to head back toward home, hesitated, looked around, and then realized that the stone wall surrounding the Cemetery was only about four feet high. She couldn't help giggling to herself over the fact that the gates were wrought iron topped with vicious-looking spikes, but the wall that held them up on either side was so low she could easily jump – well, at least step – over it. "Maybe it's not to keep me out, but to keep them in!" she said softly, then burst into brays of laughter caused at least as much that idea as by the eerie shadows of the willow branches along one side of the wall that swayed gently in the humid breeze.

Carolina tucked the pen light into her pocket, threw one leg up over the rock wall, hoisted herself up and over and landed with a jolt in a sizable hole on the other side. For just a moment, she entertained the horrific thought that she had climbed deliberately but unknowingly into an open grave. "Come on, now, get a grip," she scolded herself. "It is highly unlikely that anyone would dig a grave this close to the outer perimeter of the graveyard." Pulling the pen light back out of her pocket, she pressed the button and looked around her. "Oh, my God, are you a big pansy," she grumbled. "It's just where they dug up an old tree stump. The roots were probably growing under the wall and cracking the stones. Jeez!" Hoisting herself up out of the hole, she brushed off the dirt and leaves that clung to her jeans and headed deeper into the Cemetery.

Humming along with the music the DJ in her head played, she moved slowly between headstones, touching one here, brushing grass off another there, and carefully not stepping directly on the graves themselves. She paused for a moment, considering why. Certainly the dead don't care, and horror movies to the contrary, corpses hardly ever rise up and grasp the legs of the unwitting. She giggled again. "Oh, my girl," she encouraged herself, "you really need to get out more. You're bringing talking to yourself to a whole new level."

A momentary break in the clouds allowed her to see a concrete bench near one of the beautiful old willows, and she headed for it. It pleased her just to sit and think sometimes among people who could neither praise nor criticize. She pulled a much-used tissue out of her pocket and brushed away the crusty remains of pigeon gifts before sitting down. The DJ in her head was now playing some nearly forgotten tune by WHAM!, and it was driving her crazy. She couldn't remember the name of the song, and the same phrase repeated itself in her mind – "I don't want your freedom…" What the hell, she thought, and tried a trick her mother had taught her when she complained about the mental music. Out loud, she sang with great gusto but less than perfect pitch, "Mare-zee doats and dozee doats and liddle lambs eedivee. A kid'll eedivee too, wouldn't you?" Taking a deep breath, she repeated the refrain, and then moved on to the chorus. "If the words sound queer, and funny to your ear, a liddle bit jumbled and jive-ee, sing Mares eat oats, and does eat oats, and little lambs eat ivy. Oh…" She broke off suddenly, aware of another sound that was certainly NOT coming from her. It was a strangely familiar sound, sort of like a train whistle or the lonely cry of a wolf separated from its pack, but she couldn't quite tell what it was. She closed her eyes and focused her attention, listening so hard her ears began to ring with the silence that now fell.

"Humph," she grunted. "Must've imagined it. Must be time to head home; I'm starting to hear things." Looking around her, she doffed an imaginary hat to those she was leaving, and turning to go, she sang out, "WOULDN'T YOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU?" And then, there it was again, just a trace of a sound underneath her own caterwauling. She shut up abruptly, but at the same moment, the other sound stopped, too. "Okay this is just stupid," she groused. "I'm imagining things, it's creepy here, the wind is blowing, it's too dark to see, and I'm in the middle of a graveyard…" There! There it was again.

She turned slowly and headed back toward the gates, using the pen light sparingly – its faint flicker told her the battery was nearly exhausted – to avoid running over the head stones that now loomed like a grisly obstacle course in front of her. And now she longed for the DJ in her head to play something happy – loud, too – but he obstinately refused to accommodate her. There was a deep quiet inside her, a quiet that rang with intensity. Her feet felt suddenly heavy, and a tiny squirm of panic began to grow. Where the hell was the wall? Where were the gates? How had she gotten so turned around? All she could see as she pivoted slowly on her heels was a vast ocean of stones. "Oh, for God's sake, get a grip on yourself, Carolina Parmenter. You know the way out of here; you've been here before and there is nothing – abso-freaking-lutely nothing scary about a field full of dead people. It's just a weird crop that Farmer God planted over the last hundred and forty-three or so years. Just dust and hair and a gold filling or two to show for His work." She shrugged the tension out of her shoulders and tried to get her bearings. "If the moon would peek out just for a second until I could figure out where I got turned around!"

It was the sound again. Low, but there. It drove her crazy that she couldn't identify it; she was certain she'd heard it before…but where…how…when. She just couldn't place it. Carolina pressed the button of the pen light again, but the beam was now so weak that it didn't even illuminate her own feet beneath her. She shoved it back in her pocket, and a trembling laugh seeped out of her mouth as she imagined herself back at home, putting the pen light in the junk drawer that also held dead batteries, pens that had run out of ink, scotch tape rolls that were stuck to themselves, and pencils with no erasers. What a treasure trove, she thought. I should bring all that crap here and bury it along with all the useless junk in this place.

The wind kicked up a bit, the clouds parted briefly, and she could see the gates no more than 150 yards to her left. Baffled, she started toward them, but the wind died down again, the clouds massed together, and she had a frightening feeling of being disoriented in space. The distance between her feet and her head was so vast that she could no longer tell she was moving. For just a second, she considered the idea that she might be having a seizure, experiencing a psychotic break, or maybe suffering a mini-stroke.

She stopped where she was, squatted down, wrapped her arms around her bent legs, and rested her chin on her knees, closing her eyes. Rocking gently back and forth, she murmured, "It's okay now. It's going to be okay now. It's okay. Just calm down. Nothing's wrong, nobody's hurt, you're not lost, the world isn't coming to an end." The wind stopped blowing suddenly, and she could hear a train off in the distance, faint but clearly recognizable – and in no way the same sound as what she had heard before in the graveyard. She knew that, not sure how she knew, but certain she was right. The ground beneath her seemed to ripple slightly, and she tumbled over, releasing her knees and thrusting her hands beneath her to catch herself. It was a slow-motion collapse, but once she was down, she realized how horribly tired she really was. At once frightened and exhausted, she opened her eyes and, on hands and knees, began to crawl toward the gates. She could still see them, but she didn't seem to be getting any nearer. It was like walking on a treadmill – she could feel the earth beneath her moving under her hands and knees, but she was getting nowhere.

Carolina was frightened, truly frightened, and now she began to weep softly; the dj in her head began to mock her – no longer satisfied to play music that would drive her mad, he had become at once her judge and her tormenter, her critic and her disappointed parent. His words were barbs, rusty but still sharp, piercing her heart and forcing her breath out in sobs.

* * * * *

"And the incredible irony of it all is this: she loved cemeteries; she talked about how sweetly romantic the headstones could be, how grim, how hopeful the epitaphs. She died right here, folks, scared literally to death." Voices murmured in shivery delight, and leaves crackled beneath the feet of the Ghostly Tour participants.

Trick-or-Treat Blog Adventure!

My "Made It Moment" on Suspense Your Disbelief

Read what Jenny Milchman has to say about me and my ebook, A SPY AT HOME, on Suspense Your Disbelief's Made It Moment at:
http://www.facebook.com/l/vAQBNfby3/www.jennymilchman.com/blog/?p=1898