Six Sentence Sunday, August 19

Taps fingers . . . I might have some very good news to share soon, Six Sunday-ers! Can't spill the beans yet, though, so in the meantime . . .
Here's a little dialogue from my contemporary WIP set in Playa Del Carmen. I'm tentatively calling it Love to Love You. The heroine, Ally, and her best friend are visiting the Mayan ruins at Chichen Itza. Her friend in particular is interested in the giant natural well that was once used for human sacrifices:

"The guidebook says that when the well was dredged years ago, they found bones of hundreds of men, women, and children in the water, along with pottery, copper, bells . . . all things that were used in their religious ceremonies."

"And I thought having to sit through a full mass every Sunday when I was a kid was a pain," Ally said.

"We had it easy."

"I don’t know about that. Remember Father Lopez? His penances were basically the South Chicago equivalent of a human sacrifice."

This well and its grisly history is for real, BTW. Here it is:

 

For more (probably less gruesome) Six Sentence Sunday goodness, go here.

Six Sentence Sunday, Aug 12

Welcome, Six Sentence Sunday-ers! This is another tidbit from my WIP, a vacation fling story set in Playa Del Carmen. This comes from the very beginning of the story, when my heroine, Ally, is trying to escape the cloud of gloom hanging over her. Ally has cared for her ailing grandmother for years, and the elderly woman died six months ago. This trip is supposed to be Ally's reintroduction to the larger world, but it's not going so well. Ally and her friend are sunbathing by the pool at their hotel:

Flamingos and scarlet macaws dipped their heads to drink at the nearby fountain, and the occasional slow-moving iguana wandered between the chaise lounges. One approached and fixed Ally with its unblinking stare, so she offered it the maraschino cherry from her drink. Testing it with a cautious swipe of its tongue, it deemed her offering acceptable and retreated under a nearby table to devour its prize.

This was paradise. She ought to drink her cocktail and savor the beauty of the place.

She couldn't.

For more Six Sentence Sunday, go here.

Six Sentence Sunday, August 5

Glad to be back--I missed Six Sentence Sunday last week due to vacation. This is another tidbit from my Playa Del Carmen-set WIP, which I retooled and am now happier with. It's a conversation between my workaholic hero Andrew and his best friend Ben:

"Why can't you be a normal human being?" Ben asked, shaking his head. "You know, work eight or nine hours, hit the bar on the way home, go out with a girl once in a while?"
"I go out with girls," Andrew said.
"You meet pretty girls and bang them. That's not the same as going out with them."
"Jesus, what are you now, my mom?"

You can check out more great Six Sunday-ness here.

Six Sentence Sunday, July 22

This is a continuation of my story set in Playa Del Carmen, Mexico. The heroine, Ally, is trying to work up the nerve to go talk to two good-looking guys at a cabana bar. Her traveling companion is her best friend, an attractive model who has a boyfriend back home. Ally wants her friend to approach the guys with her, but her friend wants no part of it and has urged Ally to approach the guys on her own. Ally's just a tad insecure for that:

When her beautiful friend accompanied her, few guys looked twice at Ally.
On the upside, if she went over there to chat these guys up by herself, she would have their undivided attention.
On the downside, if she went over there to chat these guys up by herself, she would have their undivided attention.
She wasn't fat, she knew that much. She just wasn't skinny. Her doctor had once described her as a "strong, solid woman," which made her feel like a cross between a dairy maid from a Thomas Hardy novel and a roller derby chick.

For more snippets, go here.

Six Sentence Sunday, July 15

Here's a tidbit from something new I'm working on, a contemporary set in Playa Del Carmen, Mexico, at a destination wedding. It's giving me fits, so who knows what will become of this one. Here's a bit of dialogue I  like, though. The bride is trying to fix Ally, the maid of honor, our heroine, up with the best man, but she's more interested in Andrew, another member of the wedding party. Andrew knows about the fix-up and can tell she's tepid about it, so he asks her what she thinks of the best man:

"I just met him, obviously, but he seems nice," Ally said.

"Oh, come on."

"What?"

"You don't describe a guy you're interested in as 'nice.' 'Nice' is the lady at the flu clinic when you're a kid. She lies and tells you the shot won't hurt a bit, and then gives you a sucker after you scream your head off."

For more Six Sentence Sunday, go here.

Six Sentence Sunday, June 17

Some very good news: I sold BY HOOK OR BY CROOK! Yay-uh! My comic contemporary romance with gangsters will be published by The Wild Rose Press. The contract is signed but I don't have a release date or any other info. In celebration, here's a snippet from that book. My h/h, Joe and Ivy, are in a remote cabin, on the run from gangsters, when they hear an ominous noise outside and realize they may not be alone:

Joe disappeared into the bedroom. A minute later, he came out, tucking a handgun into the back waistband of his jeans.
"You have a gun?" Ivy was shocked. "Why did you bring a gun just to help find my sister?"
"It comes in handy in case I need to shoot somebody," he said, his expression grim.

For more Six Sentence Sunday, go here.

Lucky Seven

I've been tagged for Lucky Seven by Donna Cummings. Thanks, Donna! In keeping with the Lucky Seven meme, here are seven sentences from my current WIP, a comic New Year's Eve-themed story. Our heroine, Kayla, is stranded on a snowy rural road at night, on New Year's Eve, after a car accident caused by a raccoon and a poorly timed text message. (Don't ask. Long story.) She's freezing and late for a party with Dr. Dunne, her boss, and her coworker Carolyn, when a car appears on the isolated road:

She’d just decided to give up her dignity and call Dr. Dunne to plead for rescue when the sound of an engine caught her attention. She turned to see headlights cutting through the darkness. She didn’t know whether to rejoice or panic. She was desperate to get out of this weather, but getting into a car with a stranger was a dumb idea.

On the other hand, dying of hypothermia because she’d seen one too many PSAs about Stranger Danger as a kid struck her as even dumber. She nervously gripped the cell phone in her purse. If the driver looked like a pervert, she’d text Carolyn really fast.

Here are the other authors I'm tagging for Lucky Seven:

Emma Lai
Sandra Sookoo
Sharon Buchbinder
Amy Lillard
Emily Tippetts
Kelli Scott
Debra Kayn