Weekend Writing Warriors 3/30/14: Don't let a lil ol' demon scare you!

Hello again, peeps! It’s that day of the week again, #8sunday, where the Weekend Writing Warriors get together and post 8 sentences from a work in progress or something already published. If it’s cold in your part of the world, get a steaming mug of your favorite brew and curl up on the sofa with a good blog hop. If it’s warm in your part of the world, send me some, pleeeeez!

Collected excerpts for this story are here. Last week, Devorah had a near miss with an ugly demon. The following day, who should come knocking at her door to find out how she’s feeling, but Kazimir. That close encounter with the demon has Devorah about to back off from agreeing to join Kaz’s group of Crossers. Kaz tries to talk her out of walking away. He speaks first here.

“Devorah, I can teach you some things that will help you be stronger. I told you I’d do everything I could to help you, and I meant it. A lot of knowledge is barred until you pass initiation but there are things you can learn. Think of me as the Dark side’s Yoda.” 

I tried not to laugh but I did. “Just don’t start talking backwards, because I’ve got enough to handle figuring out what Adrael says.” 

“And he’s improved over the years. Will you try it?” 

Those sincere brown eyes might be the death of me.

As a reminder, this story is still in Draft One, tentatively titled Night Shift. It will probably go through several versions by the time I consider it “done” but the basic ideas and character personalities will stay. I’m having a lot of fun with this one, I hope you’re enjoying these excerpts J

Weekend Writing Warriors 3/23/14

Hello again, fellow blog hoppers and anyone else who wanders in. I’m posting from my WIP tentatively titled Night Shift, which is still in Draft One. You can read previous excerpts here. I’m picking up directly from last week’s post, in which Devorah found herself face to face with a demon out in the woods, grateful that the angel Adrael has appeared to protectively wrap his arms around her. The first speaker here is the demon Thaumiel.

“Who dares deny me?” The voice in my head echoed and seemed to fill me right to my feet.

Adrael answered, “My companions and I deny you, as servants of the Light. Go back to the Night, you have no claim on this soul.”

A white glow spread from behind us and the demon snatched its hand back; the fire at its back climbed higher. “I remember you, angel—we will meet again.” The demon shot upward in a shower of fire and sparks.

Despite something pale and soft that covered me, I started coughing as the smell of burning evergreen filled my nostrils and throat; unable to get any clean air into my lungs, I passed out.

Hope that bit of suspense grabbed you! If not, well, this is only Draft One, plenty of time to improve J Be sure to hop back to WeWriWa to find a story you’ll love; or several, I certainly have! Thanks so much for dropping in. I enjoy having company J

Weekend Writing Warriors 3/16/14

Sunday Sunday, so good to me . . . Why? Because that’s the day when I get to curl up on the couch with a whole bunch of fabulous story excerpts! How? Through WeWriWa, of course! (I’ll admit that with all this horrid winter weather, I’ve been California dreaming, too.)

Collected excerpts for this story are here.

Last week, we left Devorah face to face with a demon made of blackness and eyes of fire, reaching toward her. To make up for the times I ran to 9 or 10 sentences, today I’ve got 7 :-)

Arms locked around me from behind, the long sleeves sky blue. “I deny you.” Adrael’s voice was barely above a whisper yet clear as a bell.

I shrank against him. The dark hand paused but did not pull back. The eyes flared and turned deep red. I wanted to look away — tried to — but couldn’t. 

As a reminder, this story is still in Draft One, tentatively titled Night Shift. It will probably go through several versions by the time I consider it “done” but the basic ideas and character personalities will stay. I’m having a lot of fun with this one, I hope you’re enjoying these excerpts :-D

Weekend Writing Warriors 3/9/14

Hello again, peeps! It’s that day of the week again, #8sunday, where the Weekend Writing Warriors get together and post 8 sentences from a work in progress or something already published. If it’s cold in your part of the world, get a steaming mug of your favorite brew and curl up on the sofa with a good blog hop.

I’m skipping ahead with my WIP, working title Night Shift. Devorah has agreed to join Kazimir as a Crosser, one of those special humans who work to regain the balance of power between Light and Dark, good and evil. Crossers are Servants of the Light who work undercover as demons, thus treading a very fine line every day. Collected excerpts for this story are here.

The set-up for this scene is a bit involved so I’ll try to simplify it. Kazimir wants Devorah’s help to capture one of the demons by luring him to a gathering where several religious leaders will be present, including Devorah. Kaz knows the demon won’t be able to resist making a grab for a bunch of souls like that. Devorah is called to a meeting at the synagogue and is surprised to find all of those leaders there; she makes an excuse to leave because she knows the demon might be drawn to the group, and Kaz isn’t ready to spring the trap.

Outside, she’s surprised that a storm has rolled in, complete with lightning and great crashes of thunder. This bit picks up as she comes out of the synagogue into the parking lot.

This is all Draft 1 so far. Some of the plot will be changed but the basic ideas will stay. I’ve tweaked this part to flow a bit better though there is some creative sentence structure to keep to the guidelines. The final sentence is the 9th and was not in the original scene, though I think it adds some drama. What do you think?

Another lightning flash showed dark clouds spiraling together right over the parking lot. My jaw dropped and I ran for the woods across the parking lot. As I reached the canopy, lightning hit the evergreens in front of me with a loud crack, sending flames shooting higher than I expected for living trees.

A tall shadow formed in front of the fire, so dark I couldn’t see through it. My blood ran cold and I froze where I stood: eyes made of fire stared at me. The pure sense of evil flowing out from the demon almost choked me. Enormous black wings unfolded behind and above it, not reflecting the fire at all. A black hand, outlined in fire, reached toward me.

Devorah Moore, rumbled a voice in my head, your soul is mine.

Thanks for coming by! It’s always lovely to see you. Don’t forget to hop back to the WeWriWa homepage for more excerpts from fabulous writers. And if you have any spare sunshine, please, please send it my way! I’m going to lose my mind shortly if we don’t see that glorious yellow orb!

Not a good day in Buffalo

You know, I always sit down on Saturday and look over my chapters, deciding what I want to post for Weekend Writing Warriors (8sunday). Just before I did that today, however, I heard that my hockey team the Buffalo Sabres lost Director of Hockey Operations Pat Lafontaine (he resigned). You've heard the idea that bad things come in threes? Yesterday the Sabres traded revered goalie Ryan Miller and captain Steve Ott. Now with Patty also gone, my heart's just not in anything tonight.

If you're not much of a sports fan this won't mean much to you, but my town is hardcore hockey. (Football is a big deal too, but I've never been interested in football) We get behind our team full throttle. Home games are either sold out or close to, even though the Sabres have been in last place all season.

Ryan's been here for 12 years; we've seen him grow from a young guy full of promise who spoke his mind without shame, to a married man considered by most people in hockey to be one of the top 5 best goalies in the world. He's backed two USA Olympic teams. He does a lot of charity work locally. To say the fans adore him is an understatement.

Steve came to the Sabres in 2012 as an "enforcer." The Sabres back then were pretty weak as far as hitting and hard checking. Steve was somebody the organization hoped would change that. Some people accused him of taking cheap shots; I don't think I saw any of that with him, though he did hit hard and often. It's hockey, that is part of the game. Steve quickly earned the respect of his team mates and was awarded the coveted C for "captain." He also got involved in local charities. To help our local zoo, he and the Sabres sold Ott's Otters. This Facebook page shows the cute little thing. He helped bring some respect to the Sabres and helped them realize they should stand up for themselves in the face of other guys' cheap shots. And the Sabres were on the receiving end of several cheap shots, one resulting in Ryan's concussion.

Since Ryan and Steve were both approaching free agency, on one hand it's no surprise they got traded. Rumors have been out there since last summer. Still, reality bites. In his farewell press conference, Ryan was so emotional he had a hard time answering media questions.

There's no explanation yet why Patty Lafontaine resigned. When he came on board at the long-overdue firing of GM Darcy Regier, all signs seemed to point to Pat settling back in town for a while. When fans heard that not only was thorn-in-our-sides Darcy gone but that Pat was back, bringing Ted Nolan with him, the whole town took a Mardi Gras atmosphere. This was what we'd been waiting for, for years! People who actually know and love Buffalo, know hockey, know what they're doing.

We aren't 100% surprised to hear that Ryan and Steve are gone, but Pat, we really thought you'd thrown your lot in with us. From the fan comments I'm seeing around the internet, I'm not the only fan who feels let down and even kind of betrayed. I don't blame Pat. If he felt he had to resign, I'm positive he had good reason. It's just that we're tired of waiting and rebuilding and shuffling and hoping. We had a bit of progress and now everything is up in the air, yet again.

I'm not even a player who has to deal with this, and I'm tired of it. St. Louis, you have Steve and Ryan, is there room for me?