Theresa Van Spankeren's Blog, page 5
January 20, 2020
Tuesday Teaser
Today I am posting another scene from one of my W.I.P. the Lane story. It has been a fun adventure so far, and I can't wait until I find the end. Until then, enjoy! All rights reserved.
When I stumbled into the house, my wife Caitlin rushed to my side. “Lane, what happened to you?”
“I was attacked. A man possessed of wolves bit my neck. I fought him off. I think I killed him.”
Caitlin frantically pressed rags against my neck. “A man from the village?”
“No, no. I never saw him before,” I replied. “But he ripped into my neck like he had the teeth of dogs! We should notify Chief O’Malley as soon as the sun rises.”
Caitlin lifted the rags and looked confused. “Lane, there’s barely a scratch on your neck. He barely touched you and you. . .”
I looked into her green eyes and said, “I swear to you that the wound was much larger. I cannot explain what sorcery has caused the wound to become so small, but if I hadn’t killed him, I would surely be dead.”
“I don’t know why, but I believe you. Did anyone see you fighting this man?” I shook my head and she continued, “And if you notified Chief O’Malley of this, how could you explain killing this man when there isn’t a wound to be found on you? He would accuse you of murder, Lane. No, we shall burn your clothes and say nothing.”
* * *
I squinted against the painful sunlight as I worked our meager crop of cabbage and oats. It had been two days since the strange attack, and I think I had contracted some sort of sickness from the man. The sun was almost too bright for my eyes. I felt almost unbearably hot and tired anytime I went outside during the day. My appetite suffered as well. Although I felt hungry, I left most of the food untouched. Yesterday was bad, but today it was twice as bad as there were no clouds. As the sun rose to the highest spot in the sky under a blue sky, I staggered toward the house.
“Da!” my two-year-old son squealed from the grass as I approached. Caitlin appeared a second later, holding a pail of cow’s milk. Alarm flashed through her green eyes as I stumbled and fell a few feet from the house.
For a few moments, everything was a blur of white and green. I felt my wife’s thin, but strong arms around me. The sound of her heartbeat roared in my ears. How could her heartbeat drown out the sound of everything else – the cows and chickens mooing and clucking, the wind, even my own heartbeat?
“Rory needs you. I am all right. You need to get Rory into the house,” I mumbled.
“I already carried him inside. You are not all right, Lane. You are sick. I will help you inside to bed,” Caitlin replied. I had not the strength to argue with her. In a short while, I fell asleep in bed, with several blankets piled on top of me.
When I stumbled into the house, my wife Caitlin rushed to my side. “Lane, what happened to you?”
“I was attacked. A man possessed of wolves bit my neck. I fought him off. I think I killed him.”
Caitlin frantically pressed rags against my neck. “A man from the village?”
“No, no. I never saw him before,” I replied. “But he ripped into my neck like he had the teeth of dogs! We should notify Chief O’Malley as soon as the sun rises.”
Caitlin lifted the rags and looked confused. “Lane, there’s barely a scratch on your neck. He barely touched you and you. . .”
I looked into her green eyes and said, “I swear to you that the wound was much larger. I cannot explain what sorcery has caused the wound to become so small, but if I hadn’t killed him, I would surely be dead.”
“I don’t know why, but I believe you. Did anyone see you fighting this man?” I shook my head and she continued, “And if you notified Chief O’Malley of this, how could you explain killing this man when there isn’t a wound to be found on you? He would accuse you of murder, Lane. No, we shall burn your clothes and say nothing.”
* * *
I squinted against the painful sunlight as I worked our meager crop of cabbage and oats. It had been two days since the strange attack, and I think I had contracted some sort of sickness from the man. The sun was almost too bright for my eyes. I felt almost unbearably hot and tired anytime I went outside during the day. My appetite suffered as well. Although I felt hungry, I left most of the food untouched. Yesterday was bad, but today it was twice as bad as there were no clouds. As the sun rose to the highest spot in the sky under a blue sky, I staggered toward the house.
“Da!” my two-year-old son squealed from the grass as I approached. Caitlin appeared a second later, holding a pail of cow’s milk. Alarm flashed through her green eyes as I stumbled and fell a few feet from the house.
For a few moments, everything was a blur of white and green. I felt my wife’s thin, but strong arms around me. The sound of her heartbeat roared in my ears. How could her heartbeat drown out the sound of everything else – the cows and chickens mooing and clucking, the wind, even my own heartbeat?
“Rory needs you. I am all right. You need to get Rory into the house,” I mumbled.
“I already carried him inside. You are not all right, Lane. You are sick. I will help you inside to bed,” Caitlin replied. I had not the strength to argue with her. In a short while, I fell asleep in bed, with several blankets piled on top of me.
December 2, 2019
Thank You
As the holiday season swings into full gear, I wish everyone a blessed Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa! Try to remember to take a breath, and enjoy the sights and company around you.
I want to take a moment to thank everyone who helped me on this arduous task of overhauling Lost Soul. It took many months, but it is finally complete and live on Amazon.
To my editor, Tricia, who had the not-so-envious task of telling me "this part isn't working, let's try this instead..." I thank you for your honesty without completely breaking my heart. To my friends and family, especially those at the Writing Factory, I appreciate your support and kind words when everything just seemed to get to be too much.
In celebration of the release of the new edition, the Kindle edition will be Free Dec 5 through Dec 9th. It is always free for KU subscribers. I hope you pick up a copy and fall in love with the story all over again!
I want to take a moment to thank everyone who helped me on this arduous task of overhauling Lost Soul. It took many months, but it is finally complete and live on Amazon.
To my editor, Tricia, who had the not-so-envious task of telling me "this part isn't working, let's try this instead..." I thank you for your honesty without completely breaking my heart. To my friends and family, especially those at the Writing Factory, I appreciate your support and kind words when everything just seemed to get to be too much.
In celebration of the release of the new edition, the Kindle edition will be Free Dec 5 through Dec 9th. It is always free for KU subscribers. I hope you pick up a copy and fall in love with the story all over again!
November 3, 2019
Halloween and things
Halloween has come and gone! We had some interesting weather - 3.5 inches of snow and rescheduling of trick-or-treating in my town. It looked more like Christmas . (In fact we're joking we might have more snow on Halloween this year than Christmas - stay tuned!)
I apologize for not updating the blog and being behind on re-releasing book 1. For those who don't know, I am currently planning my wedding and that has taken up a lot of my time. I am only three chapters away from having Lost Soul revised and edited. I am planning to have it out in time for the holiday season.
Stay tuned for more details!
I apologize for not updating the blog and being behind on re-releasing book 1. For those who don't know, I am currently planning my wedding and that has taken up a lot of my time. I am only three chapters away from having Lost Soul revised and edited. I am planning to have it out in time for the holiday season.
Stay tuned for more details!
May 30, 2019
News
I apologize for not updating my blog in a few months. I have been crazy busy holding down two jobs, among other things.
I have been working on my writing projects, although they are at a snail's pace. Steady work has been done on the
re-release of Lost Soul. I hope to have that out by late Summer.
I have complete the rough draft to the novella that follows book 3. It is currently stewing before I look at it again to start the 2nd draft. The project regarding my side character, Lane, is coming along. I am partway through a rough draft and hope to continue working on it soon.
I have been working on my writing projects, although they are at a snail's pace. Steady work has been done on the
re-release of Lost Soul. I hope to have that out by late Summer.
I have complete the rough draft to the novella that follows book 3. It is currently stewing before I look at it again to start the 2nd draft. The project regarding my side character, Lane, is coming along. I am partway through a rough draft and hope to continue working on it soon.
February 11, 2019
Sneak Peek of my W.I.P.
I have been working on a couple projects over the last few months. Both projects are in the beginning stages, but I wanted to share the first page of one of the W.I.P. with you. This is a story that runs parallel to the third book and is from Lane's perspective. All rights are reserved.
I have spent decades traveling distant lands, among them Egypt and Turkey. Although each of the countries I lived in had amazing sights, I did not go there for the culture. I observed customs and traditions, but learned only what I needed to survive before moving to the next place. I was simply a shadow in the night, fueling rumors of blood-drinking demons wherever I went.
The rumors are all true. I am a monster. A vampire. Some vampires have knowledge of how to feed without killing. Most seem to know how to create another vampire. I know none of that. I killed my creator, accidently being turned in the process. Shortly after, I found a group of vampires who took me in, but they were all young and knew nothing either.
I still don’t understand why, but my friends were murdered by a group of vampires loyal to the king of our kind, Valentino. I killed a couple of our attackers before they captured me and brought me to him. Valentino sentenced me to death for killing his followers. I escaped by hypnotizing the vampires guarding me.
I am an outcast, feared and hated by humans and vampires alike. Apparently, no other vampire can hypnotize others of our kind. I have never met a vampire who can hide their presence as well as I can. I think that scares Valentino.
I added to that fear once I realized that feeding off other vampires was viable. Since becoming a vampire, I have mostly fed on criminals and murderers, however, a fair share of innocent humans have died by my hand because I don’t know how to keep them alive. But why should they die when I could feed off other monsters?
Valentino put out an execution order on me. He sent assassin after assassin to kill me, all of which I evaded or killed. Last I heard, he was offering some sort of reward for any vampire who killed me. And many other vampires have tried to claim that price over the years.
Which brings me back to why I have been in such distant lands. I wanted to disappear and Valentino’s reach isn’t as far in those places. I was able to live, relatively unnoticed, for many years. But finally I grew homesick for Ireland, the home I was forced to abandon.
After so long, I had hoped that Valentino and other vampires would have thought I was dead. I made my way back to the Continent to an area I thought would be far away from Valentino’s supporters. I needed time off a ship to feed. Sailors die all the time on ships, but too many disappearances would arouse suspicion I did not want.
I arrived in Rome about three months ago.
I have spent decades traveling distant lands, among them Egypt and Turkey. Although each of the countries I lived in had amazing sights, I did not go there for the culture. I observed customs and traditions, but learned only what I needed to survive before moving to the next place. I was simply a shadow in the night, fueling rumors of blood-drinking demons wherever I went.
The rumors are all true. I am a monster. A vampire. Some vampires have knowledge of how to feed without killing. Most seem to know how to create another vampire. I know none of that. I killed my creator, accidently being turned in the process. Shortly after, I found a group of vampires who took me in, but they were all young and knew nothing either.
I still don’t understand why, but my friends were murdered by a group of vampires loyal to the king of our kind, Valentino. I killed a couple of our attackers before they captured me and brought me to him. Valentino sentenced me to death for killing his followers. I escaped by hypnotizing the vampires guarding me.
I am an outcast, feared and hated by humans and vampires alike. Apparently, no other vampire can hypnotize others of our kind. I have never met a vampire who can hide their presence as well as I can. I think that scares Valentino.
I added to that fear once I realized that feeding off other vampires was viable. Since becoming a vampire, I have mostly fed on criminals and murderers, however, a fair share of innocent humans have died by my hand because I don’t know how to keep them alive. But why should they die when I could feed off other monsters?
Valentino put out an execution order on me. He sent assassin after assassin to kill me, all of which I evaded or killed. Last I heard, he was offering some sort of reward for any vampire who killed me. And many other vampires have tried to claim that price over the years.
Which brings me back to why I have been in such distant lands. I wanted to disappear and Valentino’s reach isn’t as far in those places. I was able to live, relatively unnoticed, for many years. But finally I grew homesick for Ireland, the home I was forced to abandon.
After so long, I had hoped that Valentino and other vampires would have thought I was dead. I made my way back to the Continent to an area I thought would be far away from Valentino’s supporters. I needed time off a ship to feed. Sailors die all the time on ships, but too many disappearances would arouse suspicion I did not want.
I arrived in Rome about three months ago.
January 17, 2019
Upcoming Projects
After a lot of consideration, I have decided to re-release the first book in the series, Lost Soul. I have resources now that I didn't have back then to make the book really shine. To not do so I think would be a disservice to my readers.
After consulting with my patient and wonderful editor, we have come up with a game plan for redoing the book. There's a lot of work to be done to bring it on par with the others in the series, but I believe it is worth it. It will probably be several months before the new edition is ready to roll. I hope the end result will thrill you and I thank you for your patience.
I have also started working on a novella that takes place right after the events of Between Darkness & Light and fans of the newest character introduced in it may be excited to hear that I'm working on a project that shows the events from Lane's perspective.
It promises to be an exciting 2019!
After consulting with my patient and wonderful editor, we have come up with a game plan for redoing the book. There's a lot of work to be done to bring it on par with the others in the series, but I believe it is worth it. It will probably be several months before the new edition is ready to roll. I hope the end result will thrill you and I thank you for your patience.
I have also started working on a novella that takes place right after the events of Between Darkness & Light and fans of the newest character introduced in it may be excited to hear that I'm working on a project that shows the events from Lane's perspective.
It promises to be an exciting 2019!
December 14, 2018
Musings on Ongoing Projects
I've been doing more writing than reading recently. I had intended to read the two books I started within a couple weeks to finish off my Reading Challenge through Goodreads. Instead the writing bug captured me.
I'm puzzling out something in the novella. I am stuck at the moment and have turned my attention to my pet project - being in Lane's head while I wait for my brain to figure out what to do with the novella.
It is an interesting thing. I don't normally work on two projects at once, especially set in the same world. It is also curious that the novella - told from Julia's perspective like all the other books - is being written by hand the way all the previous books' first drafts have been. However, Lane's project has been coming along on a Word document. Maybe it's because some of the information is already at my fingertips from the 3rd book that makes it easier for his project to be electronically done.
That's not to say that the Lane project is a simple retelling of book 3 from his pov. There are parts of it in there, but there's scenes and events that weren't part of book 3. I wanted to get into Lane's head for other purposes and its taken a life of its own. Maybe that means I've succeeded?
Are readers interested enough to read what Lane thought of things in book 3? Maybe, maybe not. Is the project helpful for me moving forward with future projects? Oh hell yeah. What is the endgame here? I have no idea. Lane and Julia are at the helms of their respective projects and I'm just along for the ride.
I'm puzzling out something in the novella. I am stuck at the moment and have turned my attention to my pet project - being in Lane's head while I wait for my brain to figure out what to do with the novella.
It is an interesting thing. I don't normally work on two projects at once, especially set in the same world. It is also curious that the novella - told from Julia's perspective like all the other books - is being written by hand the way all the previous books' first drafts have been. However, Lane's project has been coming along on a Word document. Maybe it's because some of the information is already at my fingertips from the 3rd book that makes it easier for his project to be electronically done.
That's not to say that the Lane project is a simple retelling of book 3 from his pov. There are parts of it in there, but there's scenes and events that weren't part of book 3. I wanted to get into Lane's head for other purposes and its taken a life of its own. Maybe that means I've succeeded?
Are readers interested enough to read what Lane thought of things in book 3? Maybe, maybe not. Is the project helpful for me moving forward with future projects? Oh hell yeah. What is the endgame here? I have no idea. Lane and Julia are at the helms of their respective projects and I'm just along for the ride.
November 20, 2018
Thanksgiving
I know there's been many affected by the wildfires and other sad events that are not in the holiday spirit this year. Many have lost everything, and that may include loved ones. Others may be struggling to put food on the table.
We may not be able to help everyone, but we can make small differences in our communities and band together to help those in dire need elsewhere. Remember sometimes its the local charities that need more help.
After the immediate crisis, the Red Cross and other national relief agencies pack up and move on to the next disaster. It doesn't mean those people are in any less need - it's just that their needs have changed. They need long term shelter, help rebuilding, employment, etc. Often those tasks fall onto smaller local charities. Don't forget them in this season of giving.
Wishing everyone a safe and happy Thanksgiving this year.
We may not be able to help everyone, but we can make small differences in our communities and band together to help those in dire need elsewhere. Remember sometimes its the local charities that need more help.
After the immediate crisis, the Red Cross and other national relief agencies pack up and move on to the next disaster. It doesn't mean those people are in any less need - it's just that their needs have changed. They need long term shelter, help rebuilding, employment, etc. Often those tasks fall onto smaller local charities. Don't forget them in this season of giving.
Wishing everyone a safe and happy Thanksgiving this year.
October 11, 2018
Musings of a Reading Author
Reading is an amazing activity. In mere minutes, you are whisked away to a magical land, solving a mystery, or traveling with a group of mischievous creatures.
Only through books can you experience characters and their worlds so vividly: their anguish, their happiness, their victories and their defeats.The lushness of a deep forest, the elegance of a ball, the creepiness of a moonless night.
I have been so amused, I have laughed non-stop. I have felt such sorrow that I have cried for hours. I have been so unnerved I've snapped a book shut in the middle of the night because it was too scary to continue.
As a reader I love being transported to all of these places. As an author, I hope to send my readers to these places.
Only through books can you experience characters and their worlds so vividly: their anguish, their happiness, their victories and their defeats.The lushness of a deep forest, the elegance of a ball, the creepiness of a moonless night.
I have been so amused, I have laughed non-stop. I have felt such sorrow that I have cried for hours. I have been so unnerved I've snapped a book shut in the middle of the night because it was too scary to continue.
As a reader I love being transported to all of these places. As an author, I hope to send my readers to these places.
September 26, 2018
Release Day!
Hello all! Exciting news today! "Between Darkness & Light" will be officially released Oct 1st!
It's been a long journey and I am grateful all the help and support I received, as well as the patience of my fans. I can't thank you all enough.
I will have the links up as soon as they are available through Amazon!
It's been a long journey and I am grateful all the help and support I received, as well as the patience of my fans. I can't thank you all enough.
I will have the links up as soon as they are available through Amazon!
