WeWriWa: And Now for Something Entirely Different . . .

Write what you know, right? But sometimes you get intrigued enough to step outside the comfortable parameters you’ve set for yourself.

Several years ago, having fallen for the series started by my fellow Pocket authors Kresley Cole and Gena Showalter, I was bitten by the exploration bug. I knew paranormal, but attempting a Young Adult series (especially, ewwww, first person!) was way outside my realm. I thought about it, played around with several ideas, thought some more and then drafted three chapters and a synopsis that, after getting a YA reader’s thumbs up, I finally submitted . . . right when the bottom was falling out of the paranormal market. The editors loved it but wouldn’t buy it. So, back to the thumb drive and all but forgotten. Until (there’s always an ‘until’ in publishing!), my former editor at Belle/ImaJinn joined another house, and what was she looking for? YA paranormal!

Fire up that thumb drive!

Here’s an excerpt from the prologue of the first book. What do you think?

They say your life flashes before your eyes. My 3-D hindsight only had time to rewind to back to this morning. As the strange events of the day rolled by, I realized I was watching a supernatural murder mystery unfold. I hadn’t understood then, but now, I could see the awful pattern. My dad’s a detective. He solves crimes by studying unrelated pieces, fitting them together like a gruesome jigsaw puzzle until they formed an ‘Aha!’ picture. 

I didn’t know when I got out of bed this morning that I’d be stepping into one of those spooky movies I hated to watch alone, but I guess when you’re the star of that particular creep show, you’re not in on the need-to-know fact that life as you know it is over. It sneaks up, slowly, stealthily, until you doubt what you hear, what you see, what you believe, until you’re convinced that the world’s gone mad and you’re the only one sane. 

That was the world I stepped into at 6:30 a.m. on this, my last morning as just plain Regina Graham, 17-year-old senior at Rayburn High. 

It started out so simply . . .

Maybe I’ve already got too many irons in the fire: I’m on the second book of my House of Terriot foursome; still promoting a paranormal boxed set; about to start tweaking the final book in my re-released vampire romance series; and, I’m going through the agonizing process of reformatting scans from the first book in the historical Western series I plan to reissue. Isn’t it already hot enough? 

Guess not! Just had to throw in that “H.o.T.” teaser (for “House of Terriot,” snort!).

Happy frantic writing weekend everyone!

Weekend Writing Warriors is a weekly hop for everyone who loves to write! Share an 8 to 10 sentence snippet of your writing on Sunday. Visit other participants on the list and read, critique, and comment on their 8sunday posts.

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