K.C. Sprayberry's Blog, page 127
June 26, 2017
Not The 80s
The times they are a changing…
Bob Dylan made this phrase a household name during the turbulent sixties. It’s even more important now, in the twenty-first century, in the publishing world. Change began slowly in the nineties when most of the large publishers no longer wanted to see submissions directly from the author. Instead, they wanted these submissions vetted first by an agent. There were still a few publishers taking “over the transom” submissions, but authors were in competition with hundreds of others for very few spots.
At the same time, the glorious publishing days of the eighties where an author could expect a large advance, being featured on national talk shows, and having a book tour nationwide were ending. Publishers were tightening their belts and expecting authors to be more proactive in promoting their books. The author no longer could sit back and let a team of professionals handle advertising. They were expected to write their next book andpromote the one that was just published.
Then the century changed and the publishing world with it. With the internet becoming more available to the ordinary person, small online publishers were popping up everywhere. Even better, those who wanted to be authors discovered they could publish their books themselves and not have to worry about a middleperson.
Then there are the authors whose vision is still in the eighties. They expected to be wooed by a publisher, told their work is glorious and will bring fame not only to themselves but also to their publishing company. They expect the editing process of their book to take at least a year, because that’s how long it could take during that glorious era. Cover art had to first be rendered as a painting and then had photos taken of it, which the author would review and send his approval or suggestions for changes. During this time, the author would also have their time consumed attending literary events, perhaps museum openings, or appear on talk shows. They would soon have an image of the cover art to bolster the excitement of becoming the next best selling author. Once the book released, they would bask in the adulation of long lines awaiting her wit and humor as she signed books for the public. Photographers from newspapers would chronicle the event.
That sounds like absolute heaven to an author. Doesn’t it?
Hate to drive a pin into your balloon of glory, but those days are not only long gone they will never again exist.
In today’s publishing world, you, the author, must stump your book in online venues such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or any of a dozen lesser known sites. You have to be up and witty twenty-fours a day, seven days a week. There is no time for the classic “new author with a book coming out soon” adulation received in the eighties. Most find there is little time for anything but concentrating on their day job, their latest release, their next book, and how to balance a budget.
That is the reality of being an author in the twenty-first century. We are one in a crowd of many. There are glass walls we will constant run into. The determined author shatters those glass walls and trudges up to the next one, prepared to do what is necessary to be a success. We don’t wait for the readers to come to us—we go to the readers. We authors are determined and ruthless when it comes to ensuring our books will be seen by thousands daily and we will be thankful for the sales we receive.
Give up the dreams of an eighties style of promotion returning. Those days are gone forever. It’s time to hit the madness of the twenty-first century running and stay ahead of the pack closing in behind you.
About the K.C. Sprayberry
Born and raised in Southern California’s Los Angeles basin, K.C. Sprayberry spent years traveling the United States and Europe while in the Air Force before settling in northwest Georgia. A new empty nester with her husband of more than twenty years, she spends her days figuring out new ways to torment her characters and coming up with innovative tales from the South and beyond.
She’s a multi-genre author who comes up with ideas from the strangest sources. Those who know her best will tell you that nothing is safe or sacred when she is observing real life. In fact, she considers any situation she witnesses as fair game when plotting a new story.
Find out more about my books at these social media sites:
Website
Goodreads
Amazon Author Page
Google +
Manic Readers
AUTHORSdb
Readers Gazette
Authors Den
June 25, 2017
Looking Forward
Welcome to Sunday Blog Share. Today, we’re talking about trust and learning how to refresh troubled relationships.
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Keri and Shane learned how to overcome adversity after their father took her and some of her younger siblings cross-country. His non-custodial parental abduction, and the terror she survived had an impact on not just Keri, but also her twin. Can they move on from the past and create a better future with their closest friends?
Almost two months have passed since the nightmare of non-custodial abduction that Keri and Shane endured. She still suffers from nightmares and a deep-seated fear of repeating the experience. He can’t help trying to make her life easier, better in the hopes that she’ll relax.
Keri & Shane fought back in Lost & Scared. Can they now look forward to a New Futureon the most romantic night of the year?
The craziness that was the lives of my family is still long from over, but I’m trying to forget all that tonight. Today is Saturday. The date is February 14, the most romantic day of the year, and I’m more than ready to celebrate with my bestie and our boyfriends. Specifically, my bestie will show up at my house with my guy, to meet her guy and me for a romantic dinner. Oh, did I mention how her guy just happens to be my twin?
“Hey.” Shane darts in the back door, a dozen grocery bags dangling from one hand. “Smells fabulous. What is it?”
“A surprise.” My hands shake as I slice into the strawberries that I’ve picked out of the basket I got at the fruit market this morning. “If this part works.”
“Hey.” He covers both my hands with one of his. “It’ll work, little sis. Don’t push yourself so hard.”
He’s still very overprotective of not just me but of Kenny, Jimmy, and Stacy. We still have nightmares from the four-month long captivity we went through when El Creepo took us from our family. It’s only been a little under two months since we came home. Mom is the only person who agrees with my idea for tonight. She took the four younger kids to her parents for a night of fun while Shane and I prepare a meal that cements the relationships we feel we can finally move forward with, without the worry that our dad will mess things up.
“I’ll be okay.” My voice says that but my hands still shake at the worst possible moment. “Maybe.”
“Let me do those.” He takes the knife from my hand and begins the delicate task of creating fans from the berries. “Dipping these in chocolate?”
“Yeah.” I point at a small pot of chocolate on a back burner of our new stovetop. “They’ll go on the dessert once they’re cool.”
About the K.C. Sprayberry
Born and raised in Southern California’s Los Angeles basin, K.C. Sprayberry spent years traveling the United States and Europe while in the Air Force before settling in northwest Georgia. A new empty nester with her husband of more than twenty years, she spends her days figuring out new ways to torment her characters and coming up with innovative tales from the South and beyond.
She’s a multi-genre author who comes up with ideas from the strangest sources. Those who know her best will tell you that nothing is safe or sacred when she is observing real life. In fact, she considers any situation she witnesses as fair game when plotting a new story.
Find out more about my books at these social media sites:
Website
Goodreads
Amazon Author Page
Google +
Manic Readers
AUTHORSdb
Readers Gazette
Authors Den
June 20, 2017
An Angel Sang Tonight
Welcome to Tuesday Blog Share. Today, we’re concentrating on diverse relationships.
You see, Cupid doesn’t care where his arrow strikes when he notices a couple with related interests. The color of their skin, their belief system, even the difference in their families’ incomes has no bearing on how the heart feels.
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Christmas was almost here.
Caryn O’Brien and Johnson Angel lost the music in their lives when circumstances tore them away from each other. Together, they were a talented team, but separate, all they had were empty spaces in their souls. It didn’t help that the gulf between them was being forced open even wider by the bigotry and anger that surrounded them.
They had no way of knowing that those very things, which drove them apart, would also bring them together.
Caryn O’Brien stood in front of the choir, at the front of her church. On Christmas Eve she would celebrate her twenty-third birthday the same way she had done it since she was seven—by singing a solo of the one holiday song that meant so much to her.
She bowed her head forward, letting her copper colored hair conceal her face. It was better this way, so no one could see her excruciating pain. The source of said pain wasn’t visible. How does one show that their heart has shattered? How does a person get over the worst betrayal of their life? No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t bring her voice to the level of intensity required to make this song memorable.
I’ve loved Silent Night since the first time I heard it. Why can’t I sing it right now?
The organ player wasn’t getting the beat right. Her pathetic attempt to put everything in her heart into the music was failing miserably. All the classes she’d taken since fourth grade to improve her voice and make her into a singer had been nothing but a waste of time and money.
I’m lost without Johnson. He’s the reason I have always sounded so good.
About the K.C. Sprayberry
Born and raised in Southern California’s Los Angeles basin, K.C. Sprayberry spent years traveling the United States and Europe while in the Air Force before settling in northwest Georgia. A new empty nester with her husband of more than twenty years, she spends her days figuring out new ways to torment her characters and coming up with innovative tales from the South and beyond.
She’s a multi-genre author who comes up with ideas from the strangest sources. Those who know her best will tell you that nothing is safe or sacred when she is observing real life. In fact, she considers any situation she witnesses as fair game when plotting a new story.
Find out more about my books at these social media sites:
Website
Goodreads
Amazon Author Page
Google +
Manic Readers
AUTHORSdb
Reader's Gazette
Authors Den
That Summer Day Vol. 1
A day where the sun seems to shine forever, spring gives way to summer and everyone is celebrating with picnics, playing on the beach, and just having fun. Stories about this day are yours from eight very talented authors.
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Fun in the sun turns into a nightmare after a murder.
A summer reunion ignites romance.
City vs Country: which one will prevail?
Goldilocks and Baby Bear like you’ve never seen them before
A promise leaves them wondering about the future.
Summer Solstice on a distant planet provides adventure, romance, and mystery for two, star-crossed lovers.
Can a stranger save her?
The fate of the world lies with a conflicted angel
The longest day of the year. Fun in the sun. Renewing friendships. Continuing traditions. Adventures of all sorts. K.A. Meng, Debbie De Louise, Stephy Smith, Justin Herzog, K.C. Sprayberry, Candace Sams, Margaret Scott, and Alex Pilalis bring you stories to entertain on this very special day.
And a very special story…
In a split second, the future Keaghan Graham dreamt of shattered into a million pieces, along with the remnants of his broken heart.
He escapes in search of an end to the inconceivable pain he feels after an unimaginable loss.
Will a chance meeting with a triad of Magical beings give his life purpose again?
He learns that nothing happens, simply by chance.
Get The Cusp of Magic on Amazon!
Every twist in fate will reveal his destiny in the exact preordained moment in time it was meant to.
They are preparing Keaghan to become one of the twelve warriors of the Zodiac Illuminaries of Ravenokh.
Will he rise to the challenge and accept the call of the universe?
Enlightenment awaits just beyond the Cusp of Magic.
June 19, 2017
The Guidelines
You’re about to submit to a publisher, whether directly to the submissions manager or through an automated system, such as Submittable. In your quest to prepare the absolute best submission, since everyone knows you need to send your book to many publishers at a time, you have spent most of your time reading numerous blogs about how to prepare your book for submissions. Most of the last few months have been spent preparing a synopsis that will make everyone weep, your first three chapters are so great that you’re assured a contract immediately, your cover letter is professional, and your marketing plan, if it’s needed, will bring nods of approval.
Guess you’re ready to send off those submissions, following directions that lean heavily in the direction of “No matter what the publisher’s website says, you must first and always submit a query of 3-5 chapters, a detailed synopsis, and a cover letter. Occasionally, a publisher will ask you to also submit a marketing plan, to show them how you plan to promote your book.”
With all this sage advice in hand from what you assume are industry professionals, you then make a list of the publishers will best represent your book to the public. To be certain you aren’t about to be scammed by a publisher pretending to be traditional rather than vanity, you’ve checked those websites that present this information.
The day arrives when you determine you’ve done everything correctly. You sit in front of your computer, with a checklist of publisher’s names and begin your foray into the world of submitting your book. You might frown when you see these publishers are mostly asking for the full manuscript, but you shake your head and decide this can’t be right. Their guidelines must not be up to date, because all of the experts you’ve read say that you should only be submitting a query, not a full manuscript. Confident once again, you begin the process of emailing your submissions to each publisher on your list. Once this is complete, you sit back and release a deep breath. Surely, you’ll soon have multiple offers to read your full book, but first you need to finish editing the other chapters.
Before you can close your email, so you can prepare your book for what you are sure will be a lottery to publish it, you’re astonished to see that not one, not two, but half a dozen publishers or more have already responded to your query. Your thoughts at this point are probably—So fast? I must have really wowed them !—but once you open the first email, your hopes are crushed under the words you’re reading…
XYZ Publishing does not accept queries. We thank you for your interest and wish you the best of luck elsewhere.
Each of those other emails say pretty much the same thing. As you peruse these declinations, you are starting to understand one thing…
You should have read and believed the guidelines first. If you were very lucky, one or maybe two of those submissions managers or editors in chief might have glanced at your query and decided they wanted to see more, but more than likely, you are now realizing you will have to submit to your second list of publishers, those you thought might make a good fit for your book but weren’t as exciting as they first list.
You’ve also figured out something else. The bloggers whose advice you took so proudly weren’t associated with any of the publishers you wanted to accept your book. Their advice that publishers really want a query no matter what their guidelines said was in fact misinformation.
I’m sure at this point you’re wondering what you can do next. Protocol advises in this situation to move on and accept that you made a mistake. Instead of focusing on bloggers before you submit your book, read the guidelines. Make notes that certain publishers might still ask for a query, but that most today want the full manuscript.
About the K.C. Sprayberry
Born and raised in Southern California’s Los Angeles basin, K.C. Sprayberry spent years traveling the United States and Europe while in the Air Force before settling in northwest Georgia. A new empty nester with her husband of more than twenty years, she spends her days figuring out new ways to torment her characters and coming up with innovative tales from the South and beyond.
She’s a multi-genre author who comes up with ideas from the strangest sources. Those who know her best will tell you that nothing is safe or sacred when she is observing real life. In fact, she considers any situation she witnesses as fair game when plotting a new story.
Find out more about my books at these social media sites:
Website
Goodreads
Amazon Author Page
Google +
Manic Readers
AUTHROSdb
Reader's Gazette
Authors Den
June 18, 2017
Faith In Times of Trouble
Welcome to Sunday Blog Share! Today, we’re talking about teens maintaining their faith in times of trouble.
Melinda is a normal teen during the turbulent sixties. She’s falling in love, her family has more than their share of troubles, and she’d love nothing more than to be accepted for who she is. One thing she hangs onto tightly is her beliefs—from church to friends to family, her life is structured in the comfort she’s always found in believing in Christ.
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Will Melinda discover her inner strength?
Melinda grew up in a staunchly Catholic family. At sixteen, she’s in the throes of first love when her family falls apart. Dad takes off with his secretary, abandoning the family he professed to love. Mom has trouble processing what’s happening to her home.
Melinda is a daddy’s girl, the tomboy but also pretty enough to be sought after by a guy she adores. In the blink of an eye, she feels as if she’s losing the strong faith she believed her family had and her prayers aren’t being answered.
Set against the backdrop of the turbulent sixties, Bright Shining delves into the life of a teen with two possible choices—remain with what she’s always known in her faith or be caught up in the drugs and criminal underworld that has consumed so many teens. Will she make the right choice?
Rough hands shook me awake. I rubbed my eyes and sat up. The first thing I noticed was that I was outside and it was very dark.
“We have to go, Melinda,” Tony said. “Hurry. It’s late. We’re going to be in so much trouble.”I scrambled to my feet and attempted to brush the grass stains off my pretty mini-skirt. Glancing around, I noticed that no one else was in Library Park. We were alone. I had vague memories of others being here, a party of some sort, but the details were clouded.
“What happened?” I asked.
“We fell asleep.” He pulled me to my feet. “It’s past eleven. The others are already gone.”
My first thought at that point was that in 1965, good girls didn’t fall asleep with the guy they were dating in a park on a Friday night. My second thought was that I had to get home—now!Once I was on my feet, my head throbbed and my stomach rolled. I couldn’t believe it. I was going to be sick. This was not happening on my first real date.
“Ugh.” I held my head. “What happened? Did we eat some bad food?”
“Come on, Melinda.” Tony grabbed my hand and pulled me over to his Corvair. “We are in so much trouble. My parents will ground me forever.” He glanced at me. “If your dad doesn’t kill me first.”
About the K.C. Sprayberry
Born and raised in Southern California’s Los Angeles basin, K.C. Sprayberry spent years traveling the United States and Europe while in the Air Force before settling in northwest Georgia. A new empty nester with her husband of more than twenty years, she spends her days figuring out new ways to torment her characters and coming up with innovative tales from the South and beyond.
She’s a multi-genre author who comes up with ideas from the strangest sources. Those who know her best will tell you that nothing is safe or sacred when she is observing real life. In fact, she considers any situation she witnesses as fair game when plotting a new story.
Find out more about my books at these social media sites:
Website
Goodreads
Amazon Author Page
Google +
Manic Readers
AUTHORSdb
Reader's Gazette
Authors Den
June 14, 2017
Growing as an Author
For many years, you call yourself a writer. That is what you do, write from dusk to dawn, and continue writing through a new day. Oh, there are bouts of submitting your work in the hopes of discovering publication, but most of the time you are the writer.
One day, who’s to say when it will happen, you receive an email that opens your slitted eyes. Your hands shake as you read the most beautiful words in the universe… please find enclosed a contract for your book. Many things happen in a matter of seconds. You’re dancing for joy, screaming at the top of your lungs, commenting “it’s about time,” and ready to affix your signature so that you can return that contract before someone changes their mind.
Before you sign, you need to stop and understand the implications of what you are about to do…
You have just changed from a writer to a fledgling author. As a fledgling, you have much to learn. You are about to enter a fast paced world where frenetic appears slow. Sure, it’s easy to say “I’ll get to setting up those social media accounts and working them, as soon as my book is published.” but this is a sooner rather than later situation as you soon discover. You’ll want to celebrate so you rush to sign and return the contract, without noticing how much you have to accomplish before your book is published.
After slogging through your editing phase, where your thoughts seem to center on wondering if your editor is related to Quasimodo, you are now biting your nails in excitement. Your book will soon be published, but one little thing keeps you from fully enjoying that moment. Or maybe it’s many voices keeping you mired inn reality.
You, the fledgling author, have of course joined your publisher’s author group on Facebook. Yeah… yeah… you’re getting around to making a fan page, setting up your Twitter feed, and creating your blog. Those are things you do after you’re published. Maybe you’ll get around to all of that as soon as your second book is ready to be published. After all, you’re going to be concentrating on setting up appearances, interviews, and maybe getting on a talk show.
That is what real authors do. Right? After all, you’ve seen real authors doing this for years.
So, there are some sales for your first book. A lot of pretty nice reviews too. Instead of setting up your social media accounts, you’re busily finishing your second book. Once you submit, you look at those pesky social media sites you have been putting off setting up. Ah, they can wait for another day. It’s not like anyone will actually buy one of your books because of what you say or do on them. You are now an Author and as such, you’re far too busy to be bothered with promotion.
You receive a second contract offer and sign immediately. You already know the ropes, so you push through them as quickly as possible. Must return to the third book as fast as possible becomes your mantra. When asked about your social media accounts, about branding your name, you put off everyone with a “Soon. I’ll deal with that soon.”
Your second book releases but no one buys it. It languishes, even though it’s far better than your first, and you can’t figure out why. Despite offers to join groups that utilize social media to promote books, you refuse everyone. Can’t they see you’re writing your next book? Why won’t they let you get it done?
Once you finally finish your third book, one that will set the world on fire, you offer it to your publisher. To your astonishment, a contract is refused. Undaunted, you offer this book to many other publishers, bragging about your other two books. No offers are forthcoming. You don’t understand why no one is giving you an opportunity to publish this fabulous book that is far better than the other two.
What you have done is ignore an important part of being an author in the twenty-first century. You expected your books to sell because they were great. Not once did you consider that other authors would get sales because they spend a good part of each day promoting their novels on social media in addition to booking into events to sell their product. The excuses to do that kind of promotion soon fell by the wayside as you focused solely on producing more books. You never branded your name, nor did you garner interest in your work.
Social media is the way today’s authors become known. They don’t just promote their books, they gather fans by being available, by connecting with people. It’s a whole new world of promotion and you, as an author, must be part of it or you will perish under the heavy weight of never becoming known.
About the K.C. Sprayberry
Born and raised in Southern California’s Los Angeles basin, K.C. Sprayberry spent years traveling the United States and Europe while in the Air Force before settling in northwest Georgia. A new empty nester with her husband of more than twenty years, she spends her days figuring out new ways to torment her characters and coming up with innovative tales from the South and beyond.
She’s a multi-genre author who comes up with ideas from the strangest sources. Those who know her best will tell you that nothing is safe or sacred when she is observing real life. In fact, she considers any situation she witnesses as fair game when plotting a new story.
Find out more about my books at these social media sites:
Website
Goodreads
Amazon Author Page
Google +
Manic Readers
AUTHORSdb
Readers Gazette
Authors Den
June 13, 2017
Two Hearts One Soul
Welcome to Tuesday Blog Share. Today, we’re concentrating on books related to romance for those over fifty.
Romance is for the young and young at heart. How often have you heard that? How many romance books center on young love and forget all about those over fifty, as if getting gray hair and approaching the change of life saps the yearning for romance from our souls and replaces it with a drudging acceptance of approaching old age. What hidebound rule says that authors can’t produce short stories and novels about the older generation falling in love, or renewing a romance that soured many years ago?
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Can love be rekindled after a lifetime?
Mel dashes Joe’s hopes for marriage when she decides to pursue a career. Thirty years later, retired and without close family, she reunites with her first love.
Joe Stockton chided himself for picking this moment. Both he and the woman he loved, Mel Hoffman, had just come off a twelve-hour shift, preparing the F-16 jet fighter aircraft at Hahn Air Base in Germany for flight. Both were dog tired, ready for a hot cup of coffee and a tasty meal, and then to drop into bed until they had to report for duty again, about twelve hours from now.
Ah, quit being a coward. You love her. She loves you. Haven’t both of us said that many times since we got here?
About the K.C. Sprayberry
Born and raised in Southern California’s Los Angeles basin, K.C. Sprayberry spent years traveling the United States and Europe while in the Air Force before settling in northwest Georgia. A new empty nester with her husband of more than twenty years, she spends her days figuring out new ways to torment her characters and coming up with innovative tales from the South and beyond.
She’s a multi-genre author who comes up with ideas from the strangest sources. Those who know her best will tell you that nothing is safe or sacred when she is observing real life. In fact, she considers any situation she witnesses as fair game when plotting a new story.
Find out more about my books at these social media sites:
Website
Goodreads
Amazon Author Page
Google +
Manic Readers
AUTHORSdb
Reader's Gazette
Authors Den
June 12, 2017
Preparing for Submission
One of the most important things an author can do when they’ve finished their book is to self-edit before anyone else sees it. During this self-editing, one should always pay attention not only to plot and sentence structure, but also spelling. Keep an eye out for those pesky homophones and words you might have spelled wrong.
Why is this important? You are an author, the master of words. It does not make a good impression on a submissions manager if you send them a first draft. It’s unprofessional at a level that will soon earn you a reputation for not putting your best work forward.
As an author, you have one chance to make a good impression with a publisher. Sending a less than professional manuscript to one, even if you’ve already been published by this company, will make the submissions manager or editor in chief wonder if you’re growing as an author or if you will be willing to do what it takes to market your book. Only you, the author, is capable of keeping this situation from happening.
Your first job once you complete a book is to let it rest for at least a week. During that time, you can plan your next book, decide on how you’ll approach the promotion for your resting book, or take a trip somewhere to clear your mind. Whatever it takes, so that you approach your freshly minted novel ready to change from creative mode to editing mode.
Once you reopen your masterpiece, you should be thinking about how your beta readers suggested that things be changed. Or you should be focusing on what your critique group told you was wrong. Attack those points first, taking your time to read for continuity. You should also be making sure you didn’t change a character’s name at some point. Once you’ve done all this, you need to take the step of doing a spelling and grammar check, to clear up those things you missed in the first look through.
Ah, now you’re ready to submit. Right?
Wrong!
Now it’s time to rest your book again, to let your mind focus on other things, to forget the whole thing. Give this quite a while and when you feel the urge, take another peek. Make sure you’re doing this when you’re not going to be interrupted. Go through and read each word and sentence as though you aren’t the author. Look for sentences that are beautifully crafted but make no sense now that you’re the reader. Rewrite those sentences, break them up into several sentences until they move the plot along, and then repeat this action throughout the book.
Finally, you reach the end. Surely, this must be the final step.
Or is it just another tiny inch forward in ensuring your book is as good as it can be. You’re now questioning yourself, wondering if you’ll ever find all the errors. All good authors go through this and finally realize, after several more readings, they’re unnecessarily adding information, or deleting what you previously thought were great scenes. Now it’s time to stop, to do one last spell check, and send your work out.
About the K.C. Sprayberry
Born and raised in Southern California’s Los Angeles basin, K.C. Sprayberry spent years traveling the United States and Europe while in the Air Force before settling in northwest Georgia. A new empty nester with her husband of more than twenty years, she spends her days figuring out new ways to torment her characters and coming up with innovative tales from the South and beyond.
She’s a multi-genre author who comes up with ideas from the strangest sources. Those who know her best will tell you that nothing is safe or sacred when she is observing real life. In fact, she considers any situation she witnesses as fair game when plotting a new story.
Find out more about my books at these social media sites:
Website
Goodreads
Amazon Author Page
Google +
Manic Readers
AUTHORSdb
Readers Gazette
Authors Den
June 11, 2017
Holidays
Welcome to Sunday Blog Share! Today, we’re talking about holiday stories, the kind of tales often lost in the happiness of the season. Most people don’t like to think that sadness and loss abound during a time of celebration, but for those who have endured this, the feelings are so much stronger because of how everyone else is so happy.
Dawn is a normal teen, falling in love with the guy from up the street, wanting her parents to see the world is changing and she shouldn’t be held to old fashioned standards. Once her dad confides in her, she’s ripped from her normal life into one where she’s having to keep secrets to avoid destroying the winter holidays for her younger siblings forever…
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One more Christmas is all Dawn wants. Is that too much to ask?
With a little more than a week before the holiday, fifteen-year old Dawn and her dad share a heart-wrenching secret about her mom. She’s dying of leukemia, but no one suspected a thing; they all just thought she was tired. All Dawn has to lean on is a prayer—that her mom won’t die before or on this special day, so her five younger siblings don’t have to remember that during the holidays in the future. Will she receive her wish?
Robby Ryan got off the bus ahead of me. Not that I was that far behind him. We had the whole walk home, about a quarter mile on paved sidewalks, and no reason to hurry. He stopped and glanced at me, a sly smile on his face.“Come on, Dawn. Quit being a slowpoke.”We’d had a sort-of-friends relationship all our lives. He lived across the street and a few houses up from me in our little hometown of Monrovia, California. Robby was an older man, all of seventeen. I was fifteen for a couple more months, and that was the worst age to be in 1974. My parents were so old fashioned, saying I couldn’t even think about having a real boyfriend until I was sixteen—in February. “I’m not a slowpoke,” I said to him, grinning. “Why are you rushing anyway? It’s not like we have anything to do except boring old chores.”The illicit feeling of getting away with our budding romance sent a thrill through me. Who was I to argue with hormones? We had an attraction, built on years of each of us trying to outdo the other, a love of similar activities, even if my mom got all bent out of shape when I played football or went hiking in the hills above town. “Any plans for our vacation?” he asked once I reached him.“Plenty, but you know how it is.” I shrugged my shoulders. “Mom will probably decide to scrub the walls or move the furniture and I’ll have to help.”
About the K.C. Sprayberry
Born and raised in Southern California’s Los Angeles basin, K.C. Sprayberry spent years traveling the United States and Europe while in the Air Force before settling in northwest Georgia. A new empty nester with her husband of more than twenty years, she spends her days figuring out new ways to torment her characters and coming up with innovative tales from the South and beyond.
She’s a multi-genre author who comes up with ideas from the strangest sources. Those who know her best will tell you that nothing is safe or sacred when she is observing real life. In fact, she considers any situation she witnesses as fair game when plotting a new story.
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