Once Upon A Word: RAFF'S CHRISTMAS MIRACLE BY Teresa K. Cypher @Tere...

Once Upon A Word: RAFF'S CHRISTMAS MIRACLE BY Teresa K. Cypher @Tere...: Let's give Teresa K. Cypher a warm welcome! KAREN: Why don't you tell the readers a little bit about yourself. TERESA: I...

Weekend Writing Warriors November 20, 2016

Hello fellow Warriors (and Snippeteers)! :-)

Weekend Writing Warriors is a weekly bloghop.  Each week, participants sign up HERE at wewriwa.com, then post 8 to 10 sentences of their work, published or unpublished, on their own blog to go live before 9:00 AM Sunday EST. (We check signups to remove links when we don't find a wewriwa post-- to save our participants from clicking on empty links--so please have it live by 9:00 Sunday morning--eastern USA)  Then we visit each other and read, comment, critique, encourage--all those things that do a solitary writer's heart good. Snippet Sunday group from facebook--not us, but many of our participants do both, can be found  HERE.               

This week, I'm posting another snippet from Christmas romance a short story that was included in an anthology from Victory Tales Press: Let it Snow. I'll be excerpting from it for several weeks. 

The set up:”  Raff, the MC, is doing a bit of reflecting about the farm he lives on--giving the reader a glimpse into his character. In this part of the story, the reader already knows that for the most part, Raff's grandparents raised him.

His grandma had left it to him. She wrote it in her will that it had always been his grandfather's fondest wish, that Raff would live on the farm and maybe even work the land.

He smiled at the thought. Him? A farmer? It may have been in his genes, but he'd only barely taken it to heart. Though that was sort of sad, the mere fact that the proverbial apple can fall far from the tree was also sometimes a blessing. Considering his own parents, that had been the case. The alcoholism that consumed their lives had not become his destiny.

  What works and what doesn't? Even though this one is done, I'm grateful for every bit of feedback you share. It might help the next one. :-)

The blurb

Raff, retired and alone, befriends Mandy-a single mother of two who lives down the road from him. The young woman reminds him of Angie, His high-school sweetheart and the only girl her ever loved. He and Angie had planned to spend their lives together, but many years before, on the Christmas they announced they were getting married, her father whisked her away to find a good man, the "right" man.

Three months before Christmas, when the rat-infested mobile home Mandy rents, burns to the ground, he offers to let them stay with him in his big, old farmhouse.

Their short stay turns into a longer one, and Raff discovers that he likes having children in the house, and he likes Mandy's company. She's alone in the world, and he wants to help her and the kids get back on their feet.

As the holidays approach, while Mandy searches for her birth mother and then has to choose whether to meet her or not, Raff is forced to face his memories of the Christmas long ago when Angie broke it off with one phone call, and then she moved away.

Is there still room in his heart for the one true miracle of Christmas… the miracle of love?

Let it Snow is available on Smashwords and on Amazon.

Weekend Writing Warriors November 13, 2016

Hello fellow Warriors (and Snippeteers)! :-)

Weekend Writing Warriors is a weekly bloghop.  Each week, participants sign up HERE at wewriwa.com, then post 8 to 10 sentences of their work, published or unpublished, on their own blog to go live before 9:00 AM Sunday EST. (We check signups to remove links when we don't find a wewriwa post-- to save our participants from clicking on empty links--so please have it live by 9:00 Sunday morning--eastern USA)  Then we visit each other and read, comment, critique, encourage--all those things that do a solitary writer's heart good. Snippet Sunday group from facebook--not us, but many of our participants do both, can be found  HERE.               

This week, I'm changing gears. I have a romance short story coming out in a Victory Tales Press Christmas anthology: Let it Snow. I'll be excerpting from it for several weeks. 

The set up:”  Raff, the MC, took in a young, single mother after her home burned. He's been alone for years. It's the end of Thanksgiving day--which has turned out to be a wonderful day for him--that brought back a flood of memories.   Their guests are leaving. "Angie" is his one true love from decades earlier.    

After hot cocoa and decorating the mantel with holly branches and berries, there was a round of hugging and thanking and wishing each other well. Everyone went home, leaving Raff and his little tribe snug in the old farmhouse. 

He lay in bed that night, thinking of how his life had changed. The wave of regret came to visit, like ghosts of unsaid vows and unborn children, reminding him he'd made mistakes. He listened to the wind whistle around the tall stone chimney, and rattle the old windows. Angie, where are you...

  What works and what doesn't? Even though this one is done, I'm grateful for every bit of feedback you share. It might help the next one. :-)

The blurb

Raff, retired and alone, befriends Mandy-a single mother of two who lives down the road from him. The young woman reminds him of Angie, His high-school sweetheart and the only girl her ever loved. He and Angie had planned to spend their lives together, but many years before, on the Christmas they announced they were getting married, her father whisked her away to find a good man, the "right" man.

Three months before Christmas, when the rat-infested mobile home Mandy rents, burns to the ground, he offers to let them stay with him in his big, old farmhouse.

Their short stay turns into a longer one, and Raff discovers that he likes having children in the house, and he likes Mandy's company. She's alone in the world, and he wants to help her and the kids get back on their feet.

As the holidays approach, while Mandy searches for her birth mother and then has to choose whether to meet her or not, Raff is forced to face his memories of the Christmas long ago when Angie broke it off with one phone call, and then she moved away.

Is there still room in his heart for the one true miracle of Christmas… the miracle of love?

Let it Snow will be available soon on Smashwords and on Amazon.

Weekend Writing Warriors November 6, 2016

Hello fellow Warriors (and Snippeteers)! :-) NOOOOOvember! The month of Nanos and Turkeys--and sometimes--first snowfalls.  I hope all of you Nanowrimos are doing great! I, for one, am hopelessly behind.

Weekend Writing Warriors is a weekly bloghop.  Each week, participants sign up HERE at wewriwa.com, then post 8 to 10 sentences of their work, published or unpublished, on their own blog to go live before 9:00 AM Sunday EST. (We check signups and remove links when we don't find a wewriwa post-- to save our participants from clicking on empty links--so please have it live by 9:00 Sunday morning--eastern USA)  Then we visit each other and read, comment, critique, encourage--all those things that do a solitary writer's heart good. Snippet Sunday group from facebook--not us, but many of our participants do both, can be found  HERE.               

This week's snippet: We're back to our main character,  Lily.  After Earth's invasion, she was captured by the wasp-like alien (Bulrager) slavers. She caught the attention of one of their military leaders who has forced her to go with him to another place in the ship. She's just realized that she is at a fighting ring.  Last week's snippet ended with this: "A Bulrager lowered a ladder and blue-black shoved her in front of him then pointed at the bottom rungs. “Climb.”         

We continue from there...

It really stuck in her craw to do as she was told, but she kept her mouth shut and she climbed. Maybe she’d be spared and she’d live to fight another day. Or even better, to escape if she saw an opportunity.

When she took her seat next to the Bulrager commander, she shuddered at her elevated view of the floor. Stains mottled the rusted metal with an even darker brown color. Blood. She felt sick. So this must be how they pass the long days between capturing slaves, and unloading them somewhere out in the hinterlands of space to sell to the highest bidder.   

 That's it for this week. What works and what doesn't? I'm grateful for every bit of feedback you share.

Weekend Writing Warriors October 30, 2016

Hello fellow Warriors (and Snippeteers)! :-)

Weekend Writing Warriors is a weekly bloghop.  Each week, participants sign up HERE at wewriwa.com, then post 8 to 10 sentences of their work, published or unpublished, on their own blog to go live before 9:00 AM Sunday EST. (We check signups and remove links when we don't find a wewriwa post-- to save our participants from clicking on empty links--so please have it live by 9:00 Sunday morning--eastern USA)  Then we visit each other and read, comment, critique, encourage--all those things that do a solitary writer's heart good. Snippet Sunday group from facebook--not us, but many of our participants do both, can be found  HERE.               

This week's snippet: We're back to our main character,  Lily.  After Earth's invasion, she was captured by the wasp-like alien (Bulrager) slavers. She caught the attention of one of their military leaders who has forced her to go with him to another place in the ship. She's just realized that she is at a fighting ring.  Last week's snippet ended with this: "Trying to will away her fear was useless; it was here to stay."

We continue from there...

"Like so many times in the last couple of months when she’d been outnumbered or cornered, she told herself, “It’s not a good day to die.” Really, though, what day was? Her thoughts went to Ben and the girls—and the only way she’d ever get to see them again. If it took everything she had, she needed to come out of this with at least a shred of life left in her.

She watched the Bulrager guards bring in four men. There was no way they were from Earth--not the way their jaws jutted out even farther than their noses. But just like humans, they were small compared to the monsters waiting in the ring.

Dev Areen grabbed her hair and pulled her to the wall. A Bulrager lowered a ladder and blue-black shoved her in front of him then pointed at the bottom rungs. “Climb.”        

 That's it for this week. What works and what doesn't? I'm grateful for every bit of feedback you share.

Weekend Writing Warriors October 23, 2016

 

Hello fellow Warriors (and Snippeteers)! :-)  It's good to be back. I've been awfully busy, life things. Have a few busy weeks coming up, too. But this week I''m happy to be back and to have the time to peruse all of your wonderful snippets!

Weekend Writing Warriors is a weekly bloghop.  Each week, participants sign up HERE at wewriwa.com, then post 8 to 10 sentences of their work, published or unpublished, on their own blog to go live before 9:00 AM Sunday EST. (We check signups and remove links when we don't find a wewriwa post-- to save our participants from clicking on empty links--so please have it live by 9:00 Sunday morning--eastern USA)  Then we visit each other and read, comment, critique, encourage--all those things that do a solitary writer's heart good. Snippet Sunday group from facebook--not us, but many of our participants do both, can be found  HERE.               

This week's snippet: We're back to our main character,  Lily.  After Earth's invasion, she was captured by the wasp-like alien (Bulrager) slavers. She caught the attention of one of their military leaders who has forced her to go with him to another place in the ship. She's just about to realize that she is at a fighting ring.  Last week's snippet ended with this: " Bulragers climbed makeshift ladders and ropes to reach seats perched on top of its rust-stained sides."

We continue from there...

" One of the aliens leaped to grasp the top of the wall then swung sideways to hook his leg on the upper edge. He hoisted himself up then another alien clapped him on the back. They sat next to each other, teeth clacking in their sick laughter.

 Jesus H Christ. Dev Areen’s words came back to her, actually one very specific word. “Entertainment.” This was a fight ring. She looked at hairy, and then at flabby, both giants among humans, even among the Bulragers. Trying to will away her fear was useless; it was here to stay."

        

 That's it for this week. What works and what doesn't? I'm grateful for every bit of feedback you share.

Weekend Writing Warriors October 2, 2016

 

Hello fellow Warriors (and Snippeteers)! :-)  Happy October. Hard to believe! :-)

Weekend Writing Warriors is a weekly bloghop.  Each week, participants sign up HERE at wewriwa.com, then post 8 to 10 sentences of their work, published or unpublished, on their own blog to go live before 9:00 AM Sunday EST. (We check signups and remove links when we don't find a wewriwa post-- to save our participants from clicking on empty links--so please have it live by 9:00 Sunday morning--eastern USA) Then we visit each other and read, comment, critique, encourage--all those things that do a solitary writer's heart good. Snippet Sunday group from facebook--not us, but many of our participants do both, can be found  HERE.               

This week's snippet: We're back to our main character,  Lily, and her dog Jobe, in a holding cell on an alien ship. The alien who abducted her has just begun recruiting prisoners by promising them extra food, better food. Lily did not volunteer, but then the alien pointed at her and told her to come with them. She asked another abductee (from Earth) to hold her dog so he doesn't follow. Last week's snippet ended with this: "This alien bastard has promised to kill him, and if I don’t come back, please take care of Jobe."

We continue from there...

He grabbed Jobe’s collar and gave her a quick nod, fear showing in his eyes as he glanced Dev Areen’s way. Her pup’s whining went straight to her heart when she headed the Bulrager’s direction. Hush, Jobe. Please dear God, don’t let that sicko notice him.

         With every dread-filled step, her mind spun, concocting a way to get out of this. But all her thinking was in vain; she followed like an animal being led to slaughter.  

After a half dozen hallways and as many turns,  they finally stopped. Nothing distinguished the door they stood in front of from the others they'd passed, but when it opened, beyond was nothing like the holding cell she'd just left. Easily twice the size, the center was surrounded by a metal wall she guessed to be seven or eight feet high. Bulragers climbed makeshift ladders and ropes to reach seats perched on top of its rust-stained sides.

Is she in a fighting ring??? That's it for this week. What works and what doesn't? I'm grateful for every bit of feedback you share.