E.D. Martin's Blog, page 39
August 3, 2014
Weekend Writing Warriors 8/3/14 #WeWriWa
I’m continuing my novella from last month, “Dark Paradise,” about the relationship between good girl Celly and bad boy Duke. In this excerpt, they’ve both been dragged to the fair by their friends.
“So,” says Duke, “I suppose you’ll want to go on rides now? Should I buy you a soda? Maybe win you some stupid prize at one of the games?”
She looks around for Mona, for Alice, for any of her friends who could tell her what she should say, but everyone has disappeared, leaving her alone with this stranger. “Why would you do that?”
He looks at her like she asked him if the sky is clue. “That’s what the guy is supposed to do on a date.”
She’s going to kill Mona.
Play along with the Weekend Writing Warriors at http://wewriwa.com.
July 27, 2014
Weekend Writing Warriors 7/27/14 #WeWriMa
This week’s snippet is from from a WIP novella, Dark Paradise. Set in the early 60′s, it’s about the relationship between two teens, good girl Celly and reformed bad boy Duke.
Last week, Celly’s friend Mona came over to try to convince her to go to the county fair. This excerpt picks up where that one left off.
An hour and a half later, Mona and Celly are at the fairground gates. Celly hugs her arms around herself, trying to blend into the wrought iron fence separating them from paying customers, while Mona hops up and down, arms flailing, trying to flag down friends.
Alice joins them with her boyfriend George. Her skirt is a good six inches above her knees, her blouse low enough to show cleavage. She looks stunning in comparison to Celly’s plain slacks.
Alice and Mona hug and kiss each other’s cheeks. Alice chirps about her difficulties in leaving the house, until “Celly’s here too.” Mona jerks her thumb in Celly’s direction.
Alice pauses, nods at Celly, and then goes back to her story; Celly wishes she could melt through the fence.
Post a link to your eight sentences blog entry, or join the fun at the Weekend Writing Warriors website.
And make sure to get a copy of my latest short story, “Not My Thing,” free at Smashwords, Barnes and Noble, and Amazon.
July 20, 2014
Weekend Writing Warriors 7/20/14 #WeWriMa
This week’s snippet is from from a WIP novella, Dark Paradise. Set in the early 60′s, it’s about the relationship between two teens, good girl Celly and reformed bad boy Duke.
Last week, Celly’s friend Mona came over to try to convince her to go to the county fair. This excerpt picks up where that one left off.
Everything is always so easy for Mona. How can Celly explain that she doesn’t want to go, another stupid night that everyone pretends is important with all the flirting and Ferris wheel rides and forgotten tears, only Celly is pretty convinced no one else is pretending, that the annual county fair really is all that matters. It sets a tone for life that terrifies her.
“Hank’s gonna be there.” Hank is a recent graduate from their high school, and Mona’s been angling for him all summer. “He said he was looking forward to me being there. You gotta go too, Cel; I can’t meet up with him alone.” Drama creeps into her voice.
Post a link to your eight sentences blog entry, or join the fun at the Weekend Writing Warriors website.
And make sure to get a copy of my latest short story, “Not My Thing,” free at Smashwords, Barnes and Noble, and Amazon.
July 13, 2014
Weekend Writing Warriors 7/13/14 #WeWriMa
Ah, summer: fireworks, hot lazy days by a body of water, grilling burgers, gorging yourself on homemade peach ice cream…. Hard to believe it’s already half over! For the rest of July, I’ll be pulling from a WIP novella, Dark Paradise. Set in the early 60′s, it’s about the relationship between two teens, good girl Celly and reformed bad boy Duke.
Celly ignores the knock on the front door, but her little brother Tommy does not.
“Where’s Celly?” she hears Mona ask, even though her friend knows exactly where she is, where she always is.
She doesn’t hear his response because Mona is pushing into her tiny bedroom, just a twin mattress on the floor and a desk she dragged home from in front of a neighbor’s house and some crates full of clothes. Her whole life could fit into the backseat of a car, and she sometimes dreams of that, of throwing all her stuff back there and taking off, to New York or L.A. or Mars, but she doesn’t have a car.
“Why aren’t you ready yet?” Mona asks.
Lying facedown on her bed, Celly doesn’t lift her head as she says, “I’m not going.”
“Of course you are,” Mona says as she tugs on her arm, trying to flip her onto her back or maybe off the bed. “Everyone goes to the fair.”
Post a link to your eight sentences blog entry, or join the fun at the Weekend Writing Warriors website.
And make sure to get a copy of my latest short story, “Not My Thing,” free at Smashwords, Barnes and Noble, and Amazon (where it made it to #1 last weekend on their list of free literary short stories!).
July 6, 2014
Weekend Writing Warriors 7/6/14 #WeWriMa
It’s summer in the Midwest, which means it’s either record flooding or record drought (although last year, we managed to get both). The Mississippi is once again out of its banks and causing havoc, so in honor of that I’m posting from my short story “Of Gods and Floods,” about two kids dealing with flooding near their homes in Cairo, Illinois. I think I’ve posted this before, but it’s fun and appropriate, and probably one of my favorite parts of the story.
“Ritchie,” Granddaddy would say to me every year, “let this be a lesson to you; who created the world?”
“God did, Granddaddy.”
“And who floods it?”
“Well, my teacher said it ain’t nobody’s fault, just the snow melting up in Minnesota with no other place to go.”
“Your teacher’s an idjit.” He paused, sucked on his teeth, then continued, “Mother Nature floods us in Cairo, and you know why?”
Of course I knew why, but I didn’t want to ruin his story, so I said, “No, why?”
“Cuz no matter if’n it be a woman on Earth or a woman in Heaven, she gonna do what she can to make her man look a fool!”
Read the rest of the story in my collection “Us, Together,” just $.99 at Amazon. Then post a link to your eight sentences blog entry, or join the fun at the Weekend Writing Warriors website. And make sure you get a copy of my short story, “Not My Thing.” It’s currently free at Smashwords, Barnes and Noble, and Amazon (where it’s currently in the top 5 for free literary short stories!).
July 1, 2014
Summer 2014 goal review
Every year, I set goals for myself, and every quarter, I review my progress. This review will be very sad, because I currently work full-time, have a part-time internship, and take a couple classes in addition to writing and sleeping and eating when I get a chance.
1. Finish my third novel, tentatively titled On the Other Side, which will be a steampunk political thriller because, well, why not.
Same as in April: this hasn’t happened, and is nowhere close to happening any time soon. And actually, polishing my next novel, A Handful of Wishes, is taking longer than expected, so its release date has been pushed back to next April.
2. Write and submit at least one new short story every month.
I’m currently 2/6 for submissions. And one of those publications closed since I submitted. But on the plus side, I have a huge long list of story ideas that I’m slowly plodding through.
3.Get a short story collection ready for publication (not including The Futility of Loving a Soldier, which will be out this fall from Evolved – hopefully).
I have an idea for a themed anthology, kind of in the vein of Not My Thing, and I’m slowly working on some of them. Again, no time to write.
4. Self-publish at least two long short stories through my publisher.
My publisher, Evolved, released “Not My Thing” in April. It’s free everywhere, and currently #3 on Amazon’s list of literary short stories.
5. Read 100 books.
I haven’t read anything for about a month. According to Goodreads, I’m currently at 33 books – 16 behind.
6. Learn a new language – either Spanish, Tamil, Arabic, or Icelandic – to the point I can carry on a basic conversation in it.
Slowly but surely, I’m conquering Spanish. I’m able to read the Spanish billboards around town (although I think that’s more from knowing French than any Spanish I’ve learned). But I’ll get there!
If you’ve set goals for yourself, how’re they going so far this year?
June 29, 2014
Weekend Writing Warriors 6/29/14 #WeWriMa
For June, I’m pulling from my horror/paranormal universe stories. This week, it’s from a still untitled story about Sara from “Tim and Sara” and Alec from “The Kindness of Strangers.” It takes place before either of those stories.
Paranoid schizophrenic Sara falls under the spell of not-quite-human Alec. In this scene (which takes place right before “Tim and Sara” starts), Sara is trying to process what happened with Alec.
He lied.
I nod at this. Of course he lied. I’ve been here, in this room, listening to the voice berate me, reassure me, for months now. Not once has he visited, has he called, has he shown any sign I’m still alive.
The voice becomes a shadow, sitting next to me on the padded floor. I used to scream but it just made the voice angry. I don’t like the voice when it’s angry.
Post a link to your eight sentences blog entry, or join the fun at the Weekend Writing Warriors website. And make sure you get a copy of my short story, “Not My Thing.” It’s currently free at Smashwords and Barnes and Noble (Amazon is still dragging their feet with the permafree thing, but you can get a Kindle version at Smashwords).
June 22, 2014
Weekend Writing Warriors 6/22/14 #WeWriMa
This month I’m sharing stories from my paranormal/horror universe. Today I’m continuing with the one from the last couple weeks, with Sara from “Tim and Sara” and Alec from “The Kindness of Strangers.” Schizophrenic Sara has met not-quite-human Alec and fallen in love with him. In this scene, she’s taking him home to meet her twin brother.
Sara sat on the couch next to Alec, staring up at him like a dog at its master. I’d never seen her like this, and I didn’t like it.
“So, Alec, what do you do for a living?”
“He travels,” said Sara.
“I asked him.”
“I travel.”
His voice was low, seductive, mocking me. I could see immediately how this would appeal to someone like my sister, and my dislike for him grew into hate.
Post a link to your eight sentences blog entry, or join the fun at the Weekend Writing Warriors website. And make sure you get a copy of my short story, “Not My Thing.” It’s currently free at Smashwords and Barnes and Noble (Amazon is still dragging their feet with the permafree thing, but you can get a Kindle version at Smashwords).
June 15, 2014
Weekend Writing Warriors 6/15/14 #wewrima
For June, I’m pulling from my horror/paranormal universe stories. This week, it’s from a still untitled story about Sara from “Tim and Sara” and Alec from “The Kindness of Strangers.” It takes place before either of those.
In this scene, Sara is talking to her twin brother Levi, who kind of takes care of her, about her new job.
“Work is going great,” Sara gushed.
“Great for you, or great for a normal person?”
Sara ignored me and continued, “The best thing is that I met a guy and we’re going to have a baby.”
My fork clattered onto my plate; I was used to the crazy stuff she said, but this was out there, even for her. “A baby?”
“That’s the only logical thing when you love someone, and I am nothing if not logical.”
I snorted.
“It’s not my fault you don’t understand logic, Levi.”
Post a link to your eight sentences, or play along at http://www.wewrima.com.
June 8, 2014
Weekend Writing Warriors 6/8/14 #WeWriMa
For June, I’m going to pull from my horror/paranormal universe stories. Eventually there’ll be 17 or 19 or so of them (I prefer prime numbers) that’ll be grouped into a short story collection, Between Light and Dark. Right now I’m at about 5 finished and 10 started. Sara from last week will be in several of the stories, as will Alec who’s in this week’s excerpt from “A Quick Stop.”
Not-quite-human Alec loves driving around the country, causing trouble. Tonight he’s picked up Brianna at a bar in Indiana and is about to drive her home.
Brianna shivered in the cool night air, and Alec wrapped his arm around her, his nails biting into her flesh. She whimpered at the pain, and he licked his lips.
“This way, my dear,” he said as he led her over to a black Corvette, ignoring her slight gasp as she saw what he drove; he was used to that.
Like a gentleman, he opened the door for her, then slammed it shut as soon as she was in. He got in, put the keys in the ignition, and turned to face her.
Brianna fingered the cuts on her arm and asked, “Your eyes…weren’t they black?”
Alec nodded but offered no explanation.
“I don’t think this is safe; I should go.”
Post a link to your eight sentences blog entry, or join the fun at the Weekend Writing Warriors website. And make sure you get a copy of my short story, “Not My Thing.” It’s currently free at Smashwords and Barnes and Noble (Amazon is still dragging their feet with the permafree thing, but you can get a Kindle version at Smashwords).
