A Word Please

Author Maria Savva has tagged me in this blogging event. And all this time I thought she was my friend! Actually, I won’t blame her too much. I do enjoy these. With this one, I get to show off my work-in-progress. Maybe this will also give me a nudge to hurry up and finish writing it.

Maria’s blog post for this event is here: www.goodreads.com/author_blog_posts/3105007-i-ve-been-tagged-u-got-the-look

These are my instructions:

The Look is a writing prompt, a game, another tagging event. This is how U Got “The Look” works: you take your current manuscript, search for the word “look”, and post the surrounding paragraphs. Lastly, you tag 5 blogging authors who you think will be a good choice for the game.

Easy, right? Not quite. I always make things harder than they seem. I opened my Word file and searched for the word ‘look’. The word happens to be in my first sentence. I thought, No, I can’t go with the first paragraph. So I went further in, found another pargraph. Then I thought, That one gives too much away already. I can’t share that today. I searched some more. Wasn’t happy with any of what I found. Then I realized I was making this far more work than it needed to be. You see, the real problem wasn’t figuring out which part to share. The problem is having to share any of it. I’m only about halfway through the first draft. I’ve never shared part of such a rough piece of work. The thought of it sends me into anxiety mode.  Stop whining, right? I put on my big girl panties and went back to the beginning. Here you are, the opening of Killing Instinct:

***

Sean Riley looked down at the woman he’d been hired to kill. Even before he’d partnered with Michael Sykora and tamed his deadly skills, he’d disliked killing women. Back then, he’d probably have turned down this job. Not that he’d have altered the outcome. Someone else always stood next in line, wanting the money and willing to kill for it.

Even sleeping, with her jet black hair scattered across the pillow and a drop of drool slipping from the corner of her mouth, her beauty took his breath away. This woman whose name was Maria Milan should be dead by now. Jake, the man who’d paid for her murder, wanted her to die slowly. To suffer. Jake had specified the use of a knife, keeping the plunges slow and only deep enough to shatter her nervous system. Keep her alive until the last possible moment.

***

Now, as I fight off the urge to delete all that and hide under my covers, I get to tag 5 friends who will curse me:

Stacy Juba
Marty Beaudet
Jennifer Lane
Sylvia Massara
Lana Voynich

There. I’ve passed the baton to the next 5 in line. Bare your souls, my friends. We’re waiting!

Thanks for reading.

literature blog

Tags: assassins, beyond salvation, Blog Tagging Events, Blogging Events, hit men, indie authors, Jennifer Lane, Killing Instinct, Lana Voynich, Marty Beaudet, Michael Sykora, no justice, Stacy Juba, Suspense Authors, suspense series, Suspense Writing, Sylvia Massara, U Got "The Look"