Summer Lovin’ – Be Back Soon…

On By Stephanie IngramIn Family and Fun4 Comments

As much as I love to participate in Six Sentence Sunday and share snippets of my latest and greatest, this week I must pass. Summer days will soon be a distant memory so we’re making the most of them while we still can. Imagine me in this moment sitting around a campfire, maybe enjoying a pizza mountain pie, and looking out at all the trees around me. Hopefully I’m having fun and hopefully the family isn’t making me too crazy. I’ll be back to regular posting soon, including those fun six sentence snippets on Sundays. After all, the start of school is just around the corner.

Until then… Happy Summer!

 

Six Sentence Sunday #9 – Who Do you Trust?

On By Stephanie IngramIn Six Sentence Sunday, Writing3 Comments

Happy Six Sentence Sunday! In my weeks of participating in the fun, I’ve enjoyed introducing everyone to my three favorite characters from Ghosts Don’t Wear Silk Stockings. We have beautiful Brianna who wants nothing more than to find love but gets caught between drop-dead gorgeous Dan who just might be as evil as he is good with his hands, and the temperamental spirit Greer that insists she needs to dump Dan now for reasons that he’s reluctant to explain. But there is another player as well, who is no less important to Brianna’s life than Dan and Greer. Ex-boyfriend Jake proves early on in the story that he’s going to be a problem that won’t go away. We join him with Brianna in today’s six pulled from chapter three…

**

“Let’s be rational about this, Jake,” she said slowly, afraid to provoke him. She closed her eyes tightly to try to stop the flow of tears but it didn’t help. He grabbed her by the hair and pressed his face against hers. She tried to shove him away but it was no use. She yielded to his kiss until he finally broke the embrace, keeping hold of her with one hand and watching her with wild eyes.

“You know you want to be with me,” he almost whispered to her.

**

Jake is bad news but fear not, Brianna knows how to handle him.

I hope you’ll take some time to discover other fun six sentences from the long list of talented participants. Discover them HERE.

Want to read Ghosts Don’t Wear Silk Stockings? Add it to your Goodreads list today and be ready for the big release!

Jake will be waiting for you next week. 😉

The True Beginning of the End…

On By Stephanie IngramIn Uncategorized7 Comments

Today I finished the manuscript. I know, you’ve heard this all before, right? Today I love it. Tomorrow I hate it, scrap it, and start all over again.

And we’re standing on this precipice with nothing much to save

But the deep blue screams of falling dreams with our next move

Heaven hide your eyes

Heaven’s eyes will never dry…

These lyrics keep popping into my head as I write the last words to this story. They come from a song called The Promise by a band called Arcadia, which most of you have probably never heard of. This song had significance to a younger version of me (like waaaay back in the early 90’s??)  and it’s just a tad ironic that they make a reappearance now. If you’re interested, you can find the song on YouTube HERE. I used to listen to this on record, long before any such thing as YouTube existed and at the time, I was pretty certain this particular album had magical properties… a conversation for another blog post, perhaps?

I finished the story that took so long to tell. This should be a happy occasion worthy of hugs and celebrations, not moody dark music that makes us feel as though we’re ready to plunge into some unknown fate, right? So, what gives?

Perhaps it’s the uncertainty that keeps tugging at me? I want to believe in my story. I want to believe in my ability to be a writer and yet I keep coming back full circle to doubt both. Perhaps it’s because I’ve started out to follow a path and I’ve lost my way and now I’m struggling to get back on course.

Perhaps I just have a funny way of celebrating?

At any rate, put away the champagne for now. August brings a lot of hard work and plenty of ups and downs of its own. After all, it’s time for me to rewind back to chapter one and comb through all thirty chapters to make sure that what I wrote actually makes sense. (It’s easy for me to forget something I planted in the early chapters and never resolved by the end.)

I’m also attempting something just a bit terrifying, which is probably the real reason behind the moody song. Once I’ve gone over my story and made sure it’s as perfect as I can make it, I’ve decided to write a synopsis and send a query. I have one publisher in mind (thanks to DuoTrope), I’ve printed out their submission requirements, and I wonder if we might be a perfect fit for one another? A literary match made in heaven? Our own version of happily ever after? I’ve never queried before. I’ve never set myself up for the possibility of rejection. This is a first… and I’m scared…

Fingers crossed? Let’s take the plunge …

Six Sentence Sunday #8 (More Ghosts!)

On By Stephanie IngramIn Six Sentence Sunday, Writing4 Comments

I can’t believe we’re into the last Sunday in July already. Where did the summer go? Needless to say, I’m still very much wrapped up in the rewriting of my WIP, Ghosts Don’t Wear Silk Stockings, and getting ready for a month-long editing process in August where I will break the story down chapter by chapter and make sure all the pieces are in the right place. After that is said and done, it’s clean-up time. I’ll comb through the manuscript several more times before it’s suitable for human eyes, or ghost eyes even.

But wait … that doesn’t stop me from sharing my little snippets during our Six Sentence Sunday fun day! I love participating and I love reading what other creative authors share on their own blogs. Want to check them out with me? Make sure you click HERE to visit the official Six Sunday website with a list of all participants.

Last week I posted the first six sentences of the novel. Today I jump forward a smidgeon and present you with a brief interaction between Brianna and Greer. Now that Dan has proposed, Greer is determined to make Brianna understand the danger she faces by marrying him…

***

“I’m trying to understand,” she said hoping to ease the tension between them.

“And don’t even think about children,” he said practically choking on the word, “You probably wouldn’t survive having one of his kind.”

“One of his kind,” she repeated with a sigh, imaging a smaller version of the Greek god that slept by her side. She decided she could do worse as long as their children took after their father in looks. It was not an entirely unappealing thought.

***

Ah the dilemma she faces… she is finally presented with the perfect man who wants her as much as she wants him but now she’s being told she can’t go through with it. What’s a girl to do?

Hope you’ll stop back next week for more…

 

Six Sentence Sunday #7 (Ghosts, chap 1)

On By Stephanie IngramIn Six Sentence Sunday, Writing6 Comments

Happy Six Sentence Sunday! If you’ve visited my blog before, you’ve already had a tempting taste of my soon-to-be-released novel titled Ghosts Don’t Wear Silk Stockings. If you’re new to the blog, then you don’t have to feel left behind because today I’m rewinding all the way back to the beginning to pluck my six sentences from the first chapter.

As a matter of fact, these are indeed the first six sentences of the entire novel! I’ve chosen these six in light of the fact that I will be sharing my first chapter in August as a special sneak peek at the novel before the release. Hopefully these six will intrigue you enough to return. (Make sure you click the LIKE button to the right to connect with me on my Facebook author page.)

Like my six? Then I highly recommend visiting the official Six Sentence Sunday website and checking out the other participants as well.

***

Dan Parker was six feet three inches and his own brand of delicious evil. Brianna Halloway had fallen for the wrong guy before. She’d been mixed up with married men, tangled in deceptive webs of womanizers and she’d even come across a few men that didn’t know the proper way to treat a lady. But never in all her years had she come across anything supernatural. Dan was a first in that department.

He lit a cigarette and gave her a sultry stare.

***

Ooohh Dan…