Bros Before Hoes is Easier When Gardening

Time again for Weekend Writing Warriors and Snippet Sunday!

I'm continuing with snippets from my new release, True Blue, the first book in my True Blue Trilogy. (You can catch up on the earlier excerpts here.) Hey, notice that "trilogy" part in the series title? There are indeed three parts to this coming-of-age saga, and the eBooks are now all available! Check out the three gorgeous covers my daughter created for me. I just LOVE them! You can buy one or all of them here, and I'm having a Facebook Launch Party with games and giveaways next Saturday (Oct. 1) from 9-1 Central Time. Come join the fun!

This week's snippet shows another side of Billy Joe, the jokester in the group. He and Wade and Jeana were watching Shane on the afternoon movie together at Wade's house, and Billy Joe witnesses a look Jeana and Wade shared because Wade was trying to hide his tears at the end when Shane left. This part takes place after Billy Joe gets home.

Wade had been his best friend for as long as either of them could remember, but the knot in Billy Joe's stomach made him afraid that was about to change.

Because of Jeana.

Billy Joe had been in love with Jeana since they were four years old and she'd told him he was funnier than Bugs Bunny. She was the smartest girl he’d ever known, but not too smart to like most of the same goofy stuff he liked. She was also the prettiest girl he’d ever seen, but what made her even prettier was that she didn't seem to know it. He loved the way her hazel eyes looked really green if she got mad when he was teasing her—which was all the time—and he loved how she never backed down from an argument, but what he loved the most was her smile and the way he could make her laugh so hard that her eyes almost disappeared.

And he knew Jeana loved him too, but only as a brother. For a while now, he’d been noticing how Wade looked at her when he thought no one was watching, and today he’d seen her looking at Wade the same way. She never looked at him like that, and seeing her look at Wade had felt like somebody punching him in the gut, but the scariest thing was how mad at Wade it had made him feel. What kind of a best friend did that make him?

I think I'll do one or two more snippets from this book before I move on to Book Two. Can't wait? You can buy True Blue 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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Tetanus Shots are Important

Time again for Weekend Writing Warriors and Snippet Sunday!

I'm continuing with snippets from my new release, True Blue, the first book in my True Blue Trilogy. (You can catch up on the earlier excerpts here.) Since the snippets from the last two weeks about what Mickey and Wade are dealing with at home have been so sad, I think we need something much lighter this week. I always try to have a good balance of humor and darker issues in all my books. Here's another scene with Jeana, Wade and Billy Joe in the clubhouse, about to sign the honor contracts that bind the members of the Mystery Masters together and swear them to secrecy. Jeana had originally told the boys they had to sign their names in blood and neither of them liked that idea at all.

“I got a better idea when I was reading this afternoon,” Jeana said. “We'll prick our fingers and press them together to mix our blood, but instead of signing our names with it, we'll put our fingerprints at the bottom of the contract under our signatures.” She pulled a hat pin from where she’d stuck it in the collar of her shirt.

“Geez, what were you reading?” Billy Joe said, “Nancy Drew Tortures the Hardy Boys?”

Wade laughed but stopped when Jeana gave him a look.

“No, it was a book about an Indian boy and his white friend who become blood brothers. I like that better. Plus, it’ll take less blood than signing our names, since both of y’all are weenies.”

“Weenies who don’t wanna pass out from blood loss,” Billy Joe said. “Me and Wade got longer names than you, ya know.”

No, that picture isn't a real book. I don't know who did the Photoshopping, but it cracked me up. Next week we'll get poignant again when we take a peek into Billy Joe's heart and see that he's more than just a jokester. Can't wait? You can buy True Blue 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
Follow me on Twitter
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Close Your Eyes and Go Back to a Simpler Time...

Time again for Weekend Writing Warriors and Snippet Sunday!

Switching to a new book this week! If you missed the previous snippets from my YA paranormal thriller After Me, you can read them here.

This snippet is from True Blue, the first book in my True Blue Trilogy coming out next month. The trilogy follows the four main characters from fourth grade to college, so the first book is middle grade, the second is YA, and the third book is New Adult. Rather unorthodox, I know, but I've always been kinda weird. ;-) Here's the blurb for book one.

It’s 1972 in Chickasaw, Alabama—a time when kids play outside until the streetlights come on and everyone knows it’s time to go home. Jeana, Wade and Billy Joe have lived on West Grant Street all their lives and have always been best friends, but things start to change the summer after the fourth grade. The boys begin to look at Jeana and each other differently, and puberty is getting close to rearing its ugly head. Can the three of them stay friends, or will someone’s heart get broken? And who is that new boy in Chickasaw with the startling blue eyes?

This snippet is from the first chapter and introduces three of the four main characters. They have a secret club called the Mystery Masters, and this scene is from one of their clandestine meetings in their clubhouse—a shed in one of the boys' back yard. They're supposed to be sharing their most personal secrets then pinky swear not to ever reveal them. Warning: I utilized some creative punctuation.

“My most personal secret is that I hate raisins," Wade said, "they make me puke if I try to eat one.”

Jeana shook her head with a sigh and said, “That’s not a secret, and it’s not personal either—it has to be something you don’t want anybody else to know.”

Wade looked up at the ceiling and said, “Well, I don’t have anything else, so let me think about it a minute.”

“Okay, Billy Joe," Jeana said, "you go while he tries to think.”

Billy Joe smiled broadly and said, "My secret is that I can’t swallow pills. My mother has to crush ‘em up and put ‘em in applesauce for me.”

Jeana sighed again and said, “That’s not a secret either because everybody at school has known that ever since you cut your big toe swimming at H&W last year and your mama brought you applesauce with medicine in it at lunchtime every day for a week.”

Billy Joe rolled his eyes and said, “Okay, then what’s your secret, O Supreme Commander?”

Jeana’s chin lifted haughtily as she said, “Mine is that I’m going to marry Captain James T. Kirk someday.”

The two boys looked at each other, then they burst into laughter.

Jeana's kinda bossy, huh? Come back next week to find out why the boys put up with it. 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
Follow me on Twitter
Like my Facebook Fan Page