Hey, guys! Hope eveyone is doing well and surviving the chaos. Sorry for the long absence. After months of suffering from lockdown blues, I've finally emerged from my cave and am back in writing mode. Took long enough, right?
Quarantine has been hell on my creativity. And I'm not the only one. I recently met with a good friend who's in the process of having his debut novel edited. Before the lockdown, he'd been on fire with a new idea for his next book, but admitted that he hadn't written in months. Isolation coupled with social drama had him mentally drained.
Boy, did I relate. My imagination had taken a pretty big hit. Like . . . well, this:
Needless to say, it's taken a lot of mental stamina to get back on track. But I'm revved up and ready to go. I'm doing #1lineWed on Twitter again and posting Facebook teasers. I also have a super exciting new thing cooking for my series. Will drop hints as I get it up and running.
Meanwhile, I'll post my FB teasers here. The most recent are below.
Stay safe and happy,
Cary
9/16/20 Teaser
Seeing me, Reece halted. I let out a thread of intuition and sensed his guard going up. His icy facade fell instantly into place. Leaning into one hip, he folded his arms over his uniformed chest and gave me a hard, insolent glare.
I tried to ignore it as I walked up to him. This wasn’t going to be easy. Besides the fact that I needed his help, I also had to partially mend fences. Much as I hated it, he was my only link to Katja, and she was a channel Acer needed open for the new clinics. I’d have to eat crow, as my dad would have put it. Swallow my pride and endure the foul taste of admitting that I’d been wrong.
Morry would never have done it. She would have held her position. Let the pieces fall where they may and picked them up with intent to form a new strategy. But she had more options here than I did. Hers was a bigger board, with more influential players. Mine was small. Growing, but not fully developed.
I stopped in front of him. Chin up, I raised my eyes to meet his. He didn’t seem to be in a neutral state—his defensive posture told me he was out of sorts. His slight frown didn’t help, either. And he looked tired. He’d been away for days, working at Military Command, and likely hadn’t slept a wink the entire time.
“May I have a word, Command—”
“What is it?” he snapped.
I swallowed. Irritation meant he was grouchy, so I went straight to the point. “I’m worried about something. I’d like to talk it over with you.”
His glare didn’t lesson. “NOW you wish to talk?”
“It’s important.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes, and I need—”
“I couldn't care less about what you need,” he spat.
It took all my willpower not to flinch at the pain his words drove into my heart. Reminding myself that I’d brought it on didn’t soothe it one wee bit. It hurt terribly. I let the pain linger, a stinging payment for the stubbornness that had put me here.
“Just a moment,” I said quietly. “Please.”
9/30/19 Teaser:
“Fenn, I . . .” I trailed off, resisting the urge to raise my voice. Just the thought of being near Reece, struggling to control my temper, not to mention my attraction to him, put me on edge. “I can’t.”
“You can.” Fenn’s voice took on a sudden tone of authority. “And you will. Morry and I have worked long and hard to establish our reputation in this city, and I won’t allow you to bring it to ruin.”
I stared at him. He’d never spoken to me this way before. “I’m not trying to ruin you, Fenn. Honestly. I just need a wee bit of time to get my skills under control.”
“It’s not your skills that concern me.” Fenn pushed out of his chair, skirted the desk with an air of finality, and headed for the mini-room’s wide, doorless entrance. He seemed about to leave, but when he reached the opening, he turned. His expression was solemn, bordering on grim. “You say you’ve never seen the way your eyes look when you’ve reached your limit. But I saw them.”
Rising, I went to him. “And?”
“They weren’t YOUR eyes, Willow. Somehow, they had changed, your pupils dilating to their fullest extent. They were entirely black and full of something I did not care to see or feel.”
My pulse jumped. “Full of what?”
He did turn grim then, his mouth pinching into a thin line before opening to utter one final word. Reeking of distaste, it hung in the air long after he had walked away.
Darkness.
Image Credit: Jade Eye
