woo-hoo!

Done…done…done!

Just finished up the very last word on Beautiful Girl, a contemp romance that I’ve got contracted with Samhain Publishing, due to release sometime in January, I believe. What’s really cool is that this is the…hmmmmm….third (well technically 4th) book I’ve worked on during the infamous 70 days of sweat challenge.  It’s almost 50K, one was right at 30k, one was 35k, and then there’s this short story that I haven’t told anybody about because I’m still waiting to see what is going to happen with it.  AND I’m almost done with The Missing. Well past half way on that one, I think.  It’s at 65K, I think, and I’m aiming between 90-100k, although it could go over.

Beautifil Girl is contemp, no paranormal, just straight contemp.  A touch of suspense, but the focus of the story is on the hero and the heroine.  It’s really the heroine’s story, though.  Del went thru hell and now she’s trying to find her way back and that’s what this story is about.

Here’s a sneak peek, a very brief peek–I’m going to go have a glass of wine in celebration.

 Coming home was both heaven and hell.  Delilah Prescott pulled her beat up Corolla off the two lane highway, right in of the welcome sign.  Welcome to Prescott, Tennessee—Small Town, Big Heart.  Located in the mostly rural county of Pike near the Tennessee/Kentucky border, the small town’s main claim to fame was that Daniel Boone had spent some time in the general area. 

It was a nice little town, though. Just about everybody knew the other and even strangers were made to feel welcome.  Lots of strangers, especially on weekends and in the summer.  Lake Cumberland was a popular vacation spot during the hot months of July and August and Prescott had become something of an antique mecca. Small shops lined Main Street and from what she could tell, some of the retail prosperity had spread out past that area.She saw what looked like a for real steakhouse.  Not just the diner or Lula’s Café.  A real restaurant, complete with neon sign. 

She wondered what else had changed in the past twelve years.  Besides her, of course.“God.”  Del closed her eyes and prayed she had the strength to do this.  Divine intervention was the only thing that had given her the strength to come down here and judging from the watery state of her knees, she was going to need a lot more divine help to keep from jumping back in the car and leaving as fast as she could.

She couldn’t keep running.  She was tired of it.