Thursday, May 23, 2013

Just A Touch Excerpt!

As promised I am providing an excerpt from Just A Touch.  Hope you enjoy!

  I watch Arianna head towards her car, keys in hand and I stand. I begin heading back towards my house to get in my car and follow her. I keep an eye on her to make sure she reaches her car safely, but stop when she pauses. I scan the area, worrying that I may have missed something.

  About the time I see the man running towards her from the opposite side of the house Arianna is already turning to face him. I bolt out of the trees and scream “ARIANNA!” as loud as I can.


  I watch the events unfold in slow motion as I run across the yard to reach her. She gets hit in the head with what looks like some sort of pipe and crumples to the ground. My steps freeze and my heart feels like it is being ripped from my chest.


  In the split second I’m frozen in place the attacker notices me and starts to advance. I immediately go into defense mode. Guardians are trained fighters so he shouldn’t be much trouble for me, even though I haven’t quite finished all of my training yet.


  The attacker is big and intimidating. He has a scar on his right arm that is just visible underneath his shirt sleeve. I meet his eyes as he advances towards me. They are hard eyes full of hate and determination and I know he isn’t going down without a fight.


  As he swings the pipe towards my head I duck and aim a swinging kick into his legs trying to knock him off balance. He spins away from me and I barely graze his leg. He lunges at me once more and I dodge to the left, bringing my fist into direct contact with his jaw and spinning so I am now between him and Arianna’s limp form. This causes him to lose his concentration for a split second and I aim a kick directly into his midsection causing him to double over, but he recovers quickly.


  As the fight progresses I hear movement behind me. Thinking it is Arianna waking up I keep my attention focused on the threat in front of me, allowing his accomplice to sneak up behind me unnoticed.
 

  By the time I sense his presence it’s too late and I duck just enough to keep whatever it is he’s swinging at me from coming into direct contact with my temple, but the impact is enough to bring me to my knees.
 

  As the world sways from the impact the original attacker kicks me in the stomach and brings his pipe down on the back of my head.  As my body falls to the ground I think, I’m so sorry Arianna, I failed you. And then everything goes black.

Thursday, May 16, 2013

To Publish or Not to Publish...

To publish or not to publish, that is the question.  So I've thought a lot about this, and I've talked to others who have actually read my book about whether or not I should pursue publishing.  Then there is the question of whether I should self publish or attempt to go the traditional way and submit my manuscript to a publisher.  So many questions and so many options.

I have officially come to the conclusion that yes I am going to publish my book.  Phew one hurdle out of the way, now the big question.  Which way do I want to try and publish it?  There are a few traditional publishers taking unsolicited manuscripts so I could always go that way or I could just publish it myself since I didn't really write it to make money, I wrote it for people to enjoy.

So, if you haven't figured it out yet I'm going to pursue self publishing.  I have a novel, a title, now I just need a cover.  I have some ideas but nothing is concrete yet so that is my next step.  Once I have the cover I'll be ready to go.  Yay!

I'll keep you all updated about the cover process and how things are progressing.  I'm not making any time commitments for when it will be available but I'll let you know when I know. :)  In my next post I may post an excerpt just for fun if you're interested.

Happy Reading!

With One Touch Title Change!

So, it has come to my attention that With One Touch, while a perfectly decent title just doesn't quite fit what I'm going for with the book.  So here is the new title reveal for my book.  Just A Touch.  I know, very similar to what it was before but with an added twinge of mystery and double meaning.

I sent my book out to a select group of test readers and one came back saying that With One Touch just didn't seem to fit with the book.  So I sat back and took a good look at what I wanted the title to convey.  Guess what, she was right.  I have already figured out the title for the second book and it conveys a double meaning to the story.  Who the story is about as well as what is happening whereas With One Touch just didn't do that.  Just A Touch, however, does that a little better.

So ta da, Just A Touch it is. :)