I. AM. STOKED.
Today was a good day. An exceptional day. A red letter day.
Funny. I don't write that, or think that, often. Huh. In fact, it's a rarity. Here's one. And another.
This writing gig can get hard at times. Especially as an indie. Indie authors do EVerything. From idea to finished product to publishing and promoting.
But once in a new moon, the veil parts a little, and a way opens. A way to. A way through. A way there and back again.
Today was such a new moon.
Over my four-day Labor Day weekend that culminates today, I hit the motherlode. No. I can't tell you what it is. You'll want to savor those twists and turns down the road. But what I can tell you is that I have most of the rest of the storyline for Awen Tide. And rebels, this is a doozy!
Did I tell you I'm stoked?
I can also tell you that, unrelated to that brilliant stroke of genius (thank you, dear Muse), today I wrote the first chapter for a new character—one I hope to write into her own spin-off series. Assuming we all love her, that is. And, yes, I have been noodling a Paranormal Women's Fiction series and this character, Elise Hester, is PERFECT for the starring role.
I present to you, Elise's first lightly-edited lines. Can you get a sense of her in this brief excerpt? Do you like her? Hate her? Think she needs some work? Hehehe, that's a loaded question, rebels. All my characters are deeply flawed. That's why we love them so much...
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Elise Hester turned up the volume on her headphones, determined to blot out the annoying Sergeant's tirade. But, even glass walls and an unreliable witness couldn't compete with Banner's abusive language. Tapping on the glass, she glared and pointed at her sensitive ears. Banner flicked an offensive finger and turned his back.
The pressure inside her approached DEFCON One. Elise smashed her headphones against her ears to blot out Banner and the other ever-present voices. When that didn't work, she ripped them off and let go a long, silent screech followed by a string of swear words that propelled her from her chair.
She'd been confined to this loony bin too long.
Sliding her headphones into a case and the case into her large, pleather purse, Elise paused to inhale and exhale and did it two more times. Then, checking her plastered-on smile in the mirrored doorframe, Elise burst from the office and paused, snorting at the irony of being confined to the coveted corner office.
Like an office with a view could make up for being benched in one's prime.
Hell, the Alien Intelligence Agency was Elise's life. Had been for the last forty years. They had recruited Elise straight out of druid school, then whisked her to Europe at seventeen. Now, she was more agent than druid.
But Elise would go crazy if she didn't get back in the field soon. Or at least stateside. And, according to HQ, that wasn't happening. Not anytime soon.
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Well, what do you think?
I hope your weekend was as wonder-filled as mine. Here's to continuing blessings from the heavens above and below.
Y'all keep reading, and I'll keep writing
That Rebel, Olivia J. Herrell, writing as O. J. Barré
O. J.'s Awen Prequel novelette, The Druids of Marduk, Part I, is available in ebook on Amazon or by signing up for her newsletter. The second, The Druids of Marduk, Part II: UnderEarth, an ebook novella, is available on Amazon. Part III: AboveEarth, is scheduled for a 2022 release.
3 comments:
The nest of intrigue Elise begins her uptake character in is breathtaking! I hope she wears heels sometimes for alien eyes! So facinated!
Thank you, Jerry! I'm having fun writing her. She is advancing in years and rarely wears heels, but I'll see if I can coax her into a pair.
Happy Thursday, Olivia
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