Take a Look, It's in a Book

Time again for Weekend Writing Warriors and Snippet Sunday!

We're closing in on the last few excerpts I'll be sharing from my YA paranormal thriller After Me. (You can catch up on the earlier excerpts here.) Lots has happened since last week's snippet. Jada made a new friend on the school bus, a mousy little bookworm named Annalee, and Jada is surprised to find out how much she wants Annalee to like her. Annalee talks her into going to the school library (a place Jada has never been in until then) at lunchtime and gets her to check out To Kill a Mockingbird. In chemistry class the next period, Jada's plan is to pretend to read after their quiz in hopes that it will make an impression on Lew Stanton, the nerdy guy she's crushing on who can't stand her. But she gets two big surprises: the story grabs her and won't let go, and she has suddenly become a speed reader—another "super zombie power" she doesn't quite understand. Here's the exchange that takes place when Lew asks Jada about the book.

Ben May Main Branch, Mobile Public Library My beautiful home library!

“Hey, the bell rang,” Lew said, "didn’t you hear it?”

I looked around and realized everyone was leaving the room, then I said, “Oh, guess I got distracted by this crazy book. That little Scout chick is a trip.”

He narrowed his eyes and said, “What part are you on?”

“They just found out the hole in the tree is filled with cement.” I stood up and dropped the book into my backpack. “Pretty lousy thing to do if you ask me.”

A slow transformation took place on his face, and I knew he hadn’t believed I was really reading it until then. He was looking at me as though he were seeing me for the first time, and my knees actually got weak when he smiled at me.

And to think it was all because I finally went into a library.

Yep, libraries are magical places for sure. ;-) Next week Jada again gets to use her one zombie power so far that's not quite so nerdy. Can't wait? You can buy After Me here. And please do also check out the other Snippet Sunday folks and the Weekend Writing Warriors. Something for everyone among these talented writers!


~Stay true to yourself and your dreams will come true!

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You're the Peanut Butter to My Jelly

Time again for Weekend Writing Warriors and Snippet Sunday!

Here's another snippet from my YA paranormal thriller After Me. (You can catch up on the earlier excerpts here.) As promised, this scene shows Jada meeting her new bestie Annalee, who is nothing like any of the friends she had before her untimely demise.

When I got on the school bus the next morning, the guy I'd tossed across the yard the day before stuck his foot out in the aisle in front of me and said, “Better watch your back, bitch.”

I smiled at him and said, “How’d you get that lump on your head, Tree Boy? Unless you want some foot pain to go along with that headache, you better move that smelly cross trainer outta my way.”

One of his hands wandered up to the back of his head and he muttered something about how I’d be getting mine, but he took his foot out of the aisle and didn’t meet any of the curious looks from the people around him.

“Yeah, I thought so,” I said before walking away and sitting in the first empty seat I came to. I was still snickering to myself when I noticed the girl across the aisle—a mousy little thing wearing clothes that had to have been through at least two previous owners—looking at me curiously. I opened my mouth to ask her what the hell she was looking at, then I changed my mind and smiled at her instead, and she looked startled for a second before smiling back at me.

I tilted my head in Tree Boy’s direction and said, “Hope that guy’s not a friend of yours.”

“Dougie? No way,” she said, frowning at the back of his head, then she leaned toward me and whispered, “You should’ve stomped on his foot.”

Next week we'll see how Jada's new friendship with Annalee affects that crush she has on Lew Stanton. Can't wait? You can buy After Me here. And please do also check out the other Snippet Sunday folks and the Weekend Writing Warriors. Something for everyone among these talented writers!


~Stay true to yourself and your dreams will come true!

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Dang, I Was Hoping For X-Ray Vision!

Time again for Weekend Writing Warriors and Snippet Sunday!

My two-week vacation across the USA was fabulous, but it's great to be back home so I can read and comment on all the other WWW and SS blogs I've grown addicted to! Here's another snippet from my YA paranormal thriller After Me. (You can catch up on the earlier excerpts here.) Last week Jada found out from Flo about the addendum to her termination agreement that's making her ga-ga over Lew Stanton, math whiz and the captain of the school's chess team. Here's how she discovers another one of her "super zombie powers." Well, maybe not so super.

Since the transdead weren’t immune to accumulated grime, I still had to shower and wash my hair like everyone else, so I got my pajamas and went into the bathroom. While I was standing under the pulsating stream from the massaging showerhead, I realized I missed little things like how good it felt for a hot shower to pound away the tension in sore muscles. I could feel the water hitting me, but I couldn’t tell if it was hot or cold. Apparently, the neurons and synapses of the transdead didn’t continue to transmit the way they did in the living.

Wait, what?

How the crap did I know anything about neurons or synapses? And not only that, I realized I suddenly understood how the whole nervous system operated. Great, my transformation into nerd girl obviously involved more than just crushing on chess players. I was turning into some kind of freaking brainiac myself. The super zombie strength was cool, but this had to be the lamest superpower ever.

Next week Jada meets the new best friend that Flo warned her about in the e-mail. Big surprise—she's nothing like the friends Jada had in her previous life. Can't wait? You can buy After Me here. And please do also check out the other Snippet Sunday folks and the Weekend Writing Warriors. Something for everyone among these talented writers!


~Stay true to yourself and your dreams will come true!

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You've Got Mail

Time again for Weekend Writing Warriors and Snippet Sunday!

Happy Sunday, snippeteers! I'm on my way back home from vacation, but here's the snippet I scheduled before I left from my YA paranormal thriller After Me. (You can catch up on the earlier excerpts here. Last week, Jada found out that she has "super zombie strength." She thinks that's pretty sweet, but it doesn't explain the weird attraction she feels for Lew Stanton—computer whiz and crazy math watch wearer. According to the Transdead Trustee guidelines, she's not supposed to be feeling any emotions. She e-mails Flo, her Afterlife Advisor, as soon as she gets home (with the subject line: What the hell?) and this is the response she gets. I didn't count the addresses or signature as sentences so this may put me over the limit. So sue me. ;-)

FROM: florence@blueyonder.net
TO: dead_girls_do_it_better@gmail.com
SUBJECT: RE: What the [redacted]?

Dear Miss Gayle:

Apparently, an addendum to your termination agreement was inadvertently left out of your paperwork, and the new objectives were just uploaded today. In addition to your prime directive of finding the man who killed you, you must also learn to handle normal human emotions, since you did not experience them while you were alive. This explains your feelings for the young man you mentioned. Don’t be surprised if you also feel a strong desire to befriend another girl your own age. These things are not negotiable. So, in the vernacular of yourself and your peers, you need to “deal.”

Don’t forget to change your e-mail address to something more appropriate.

Regards,
Florence

Next week Jada discovers another one of her "super zombie powers." Can't wait? You can buy After Me here. And please do also check out the other Snippet Sunday folks and the Weekend Writing Warriors. Something for everyone among these talented writers!


~Stay true to yourself and your dreams will come true!

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A Particular Set of Skills

Time again for Weekend Writing Warriors and Snippet Sunday!

Happy Day-Before-Independence Day! I'm on the road with my family, but I scheduled my snippet posts for the next two weeks before I left. Here's another one from my YA paranormal thriller After Me. (You can catch up on the earlier excerpts here.) This week's scene takes place after a jerk named Matt Winston has spread the word at school that "Gwen" used to live on the streets. A guy on the school bus decides to harass Jada about it when they both get off and she discovers her newly acquired "particular set of skills."

He looked me up and down and laughed. “Just trying to make up my mind how much to offer you.”

I put my hands on my hips and said, “Give it up, jerkwad. You wouldn’t have enough if you robbed Bill Gates and won the Nigerian lottery.”

His face lost its smirk, and his hand shot out to grab my wrist as he said, “Don’t get uppity with me, you little tramp!”

Maybe it was because it was the same thing BOSSMAN had called me on the night I died, but his words echoed in my head as though they were being broadcast from a loud speaker. It suddenly seemed like I was looking through some kind of red film or at a TV with the tint turned completely to red. I snatched my arm free and pushed him in the middle of his chest with both my hands, and he went flying backward at least ten feet to thud against a sycamore tree in the yard behind him.

I stared at my hands in amazement and said, “Sweet. Super zombie strength.”

Wonder what other cool things she can do? Stay tuned to find out. And next week you'll get to see what Flo has to say about all of this. Can't wait? You can buy After Me here. And please do also check out the other Snippet Sunday folks and the Weekend Writing Warriors. Something for everyone among these talented writers!


~Stay true to yourself and your dreams will come true!

See all my books at my Web site
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