Tag Archives: Reunion

A short WIPpet for Wednesday

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Hi all.  My contribution to this week’s WIPpet Wednesday is going to be short as I’m currently in the middle of preparing for an interview for a work placement tomorrow.

So I’m back to my old mean self and I’m only sharing with you 2 sentences from chapter 2 of my current WIP Reunion of the Heart. We’re going back and forth in the novel; here Anna has just arrived at her old school for the reunion:

Anna stumbled a little as she walked; she didn’t wear heels very often.  As they approached the school buildings, memories of being a pupil here flooded back to her.

So that’s it for me for this week.  Hopefully I’ll be able to share something longer next week.  And if you would like to take part in WIPpet Wednesday, just post on your blog a piece of your writing relating in some way to the date.  Then add your details here.

Thank you K. L. Schwengel for hosting. 🙂

Flashback

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Welcome to a very wet and windy WIPpet Wednesday.  Well it is here in the UK anyway! 😦  Or at least the sun is shining now but it’s been horrible all day until now.  Anyway for this week’s WIPpet Wednesday I thought I’d share with you one of the many  flashbacks that my MC Anna has in Reunion of the Heart.  For the 12th February I’m sharing 12 lines from chapter 2.

In the present, Anna is at her school reunion and she and best friend Melissa have just been reunited with their school friends Lizzie and Rachel who they haven’t seen since school.

In this excerpt, in the flashback, you can catch a glimpse of why they fell out at school and hadn’t made up until now, many years later. I’m not going to say too much more than that.  So without further ado, here’s my contribution to this week’s WIPpet Wednesday:

‘What the hell do you think you’re playing at?’ Melissa had demanded of Lizzie, marching up to where she was sitting eating her lunch at the edge of the school playing fields and tapping her on the shoulder.  Anna was trailing in her wake.

‘I’m sorry, but when did you become the boss of my life?’ Lizzie had replied.  ‘Oh yeah, that’s right, you’re not!’

‘You know what Matt’s like, you know he’s a nasty bastard who’s given our friend hell and yet you still choose to start seeing him.’

‘It’s my life; I can do what I want!’  Lizzie retorted.  ‘And anyway, when are you ever going to let Anna speak for herself?  There she is, cowering behind you…’

‘I’m not cowering,’ Anna said in a quiet voice.  ‘But Melissa’s right, I do have a problem with you dating Matt.  He’s made my life miserable for five years of secondary school.’ 

And if you aren’t taking part but would like to, just post on your blog whatever you’re working on with your writing and add it here, where all the other wonderful WIPpets for this week can be found too.

Thanks goes to the most gracious hostess of them all K. L. Schwengel.

Meeting her new agent

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Hello and welcome to my contribution to this week’s WIPpet Wednesday.

Thank you so much to all of you who gave me suggestions for the title of my novel.  In case you didn’t catch my earlier post, some weeks ago I did an Amazon search for Reunion just to double check that there wasn’t too similar a book with the same title. Unfortunately there was so I needed to come up with another title.

I was  stumped but Xina Marie Uhl and Kate Frost separately came up with the title Reunion of the Heart.  I really like it.  Seeing as it’s a romance I think it’s a great title as I want to ground it in the romance genre if that makes sense.  I needed a title that people who were wanting to read in that genre would be able to find and recognise it as being a romance.

So a big thank you to Xina Marie and Kate!

Back to the main event.  Continuing my spate of generosity in terms of length of excerpts I share, here’s two paragraphs from chapter five of my novel for the 5th February.  I’m hopping about a bit with my excerpts.  This one is a bit further on from last week’s.  My MC Anna, who’s an author, has just walked in to her new agent’s office.

She glanced surreptitiously around her.  It was the same office his predecessor Geoffrey had used but it was a lot different now.  It looked a little as though World War Three had hit it.  There were half emptied boxes on the floor with their contents spewing out.  The books on the shelves which lined three walls of the room were arranged haphazardly, some standing vertically, others lying horizontally in piles waiting to be arranged properly. And Peter’s desk.  That was a work of art in itself – a work in disorderliness.  Anna couldn’t even see the desk through all of the papers and books that covered it.  She smothered a smile as he rooted around his desk trying to find something.

‘Ah ha.  Here we are,’ he said brandishing the piece of paper in his hand like a sword.  ‘Before we start I should reassure you that I’ve read all your books and thoroughly enjoyed them.’  Anna felt her face flush with pleasure.  Peter went on, ‘These are some of the notes that Geoffrey gave me which relate to you and to how things are with your work.  But in all honesty, I’d rather hear from you.  What stage are you at with your current work in progress?’

Hope you enjoyed that. 🙂 If you don’t already take part in WIPpet Wednesday and would like to, simply post on your blog an excerpt of whatever you’ve written lately which relates to the date.  Then add your details here.

Thank you K. L. Schwengel for hosting.

Something for WIPpet Wednesday

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Wednesday

Is it just me or does WIPpet Wednesday come around faster and faster? Lol. Anyway I’m being kind again this week.  I’m sharing a whole 30 lines from chapter 4 of my current WIP, which is tentatively titled Reunion, though I’m working to change it.  One idea I had was ‘Reunion’s Meeting’.  Any thoughts?

OK, on with the main event.  I would have shared 29 lines (for the 29th January) but the excerpt makes more sense with the extra line.  This week’s WIPpet takes place a while before last week’s just to confuse you.  Anna is out jogging when she sees someone she’d much rather not…

Feeling unnerved she turned around.  When she saw who it was she had an unpleasant surprise. 

‘Will!  What on earth are you doing here?’ she demanded before she could help herself, pulling out her earphones.  She’d barely looked him in the eye at the reunion; now she saw him as if for the first time.  He was tall, taller than she remembered, with dark eyes and short hair that curled gently around his temples.  He would have been attractive, but his expression was conceited and smug.

‘I live here,’ he said in a matter-of-fact tone.  ‘Well not here in this park,’ he added jokily, seeming to register her dumb-struck face.

‘You mean you live here, in Warston?’ Anna was unable to hide her incredulity.  This was all she needed.

‘Yes, as I just said.’  He had an odd expression on his face, somewhere between a self-satisfied smile and a genuinely interested look.  ‘Warston is a big city, Anna,’ he went on.  ‘It’s not that surprising that we’ve never bumped into each other before.’

‘No thank goodness we never have,’ Anna blurted out unable to stop herself.  She knew she shouldn’t be rude, but this was Will.  After the way he’d treated her he didn’t deserve to be spoken to politely.

‘Well it’s nice to know that I’m still in your good books.’

Anna was surprised that underneath his sarcastic tone he sounded hurt.  But she mentally shrugged off this thought.  Will had put her through hell during her school years and the scars were still there.  His hurt feelings weren’t worth worrying about.

‘Well I didn’t expect to see you here,’ she said, hearing her voice sound abrupt and cold. ‘But I doubt we’ll meet again.  Like you say, Warston’s a big city.’ She turned to jog back down the hill.

‘Good luck then.  You must have a lot of work to do on your novel.  See you around.’

WIPpet Wednesday is open to anyone who has a piece of writing they’d like to share.  If you want to join in, just post a bit of your writing that relates in some way to the date.  Then add your name here.  Thanks goes to K. L. Schwengel for hosting. 🙂

Wow what a wonderful WIPpet Wednesday!

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Argument

OK so last week I promised you a longer excerpt from Reunion this week.  Using my clever WIPpet maths, I’ve come up with 4 paragraphs from chapter 14: 2+2=4 (amazing that, I can do maths!!) and obviously chapter 14 for the year. 🙂

I have something to tell you that made me frown.  I’ve told ReGi already… I did some searching on Amazon just to check and there’s another book out there called Reunion with a plot that’s not completely dissimilar to mine. 😦  ReGi was kindly trying to help me come up with another title.  My husband reckons it doesn’t matter too much if I have a subtitle with it.

But… aargh!  I kind of get the feeling that if I don’t change the title and the plot stays the same (that’s one thing I’m not changing for love or money!!) then I could land myself in some hot water.  *Sigh*  It’s so difficult coming up with brand new inspiring titles.  I need help!!  Any more suggestions??

All right then, on with today’s WIPpet.  This scene takes place just after Anna has had a row with her now-boyfriend Peter.  These are turbulent times for her…

Waving goodbye to Peter as he made his way to the platform to catch the train back to London, Anna felt relief wash over her.  Relief quickly replaced by guilt.  She shouldn’t feel relieved that he was going – he was her boyfriend for goodness sake – but she was.  Turning away from his disappearing form, she began to make her way out of the station.  The cold dry weather they’d been experiencing had turned to cold wet weather and it was beginning to rain.  Anna pulled her hood up and dashed to her car.

She used the journey home to brood over Peter’s visit and how it had made her feel.  Remembering their love making, her face grew hot.  There was certainly nothing wrong in that department.  But why oh why had he felt it necessary to try to bestow expensive trinkets on her?  And more importantly, why should it matter to her if he did? 

As these thoughts were whirling around her head, Anna was startled by a horn blasting at her.  Shocked, she realised she’d been drifting into the opposite lane on the road.  Get a grip, Anna, she told herself.  Forget about Peter and concentrate on driving if you want to make it home.  She banished the troubling thoughts from her head and focused her attention on getting home safely.

When she reached the safety of her driveway, Anna turned the engine off and sat there for a moment in silence, staring blankly at her garage door.  I could have been killed, she thought.  This obsessing about Peter could have cost me my life.  Slowly, she got out of the car and leaned against it for a moment as if for support, ignoring the cold of its metal shell. 

Thanks as always for having a look at my work, all comments gratefully received!  Anyone can take part in WIPpet Wednesday.  All you’ve got to do is share a bit of your work that relates in some way to the date. Then add your details to this.  Be sure to take a look at what the other WIPpeteers are sharing.  Thank you, thank you, thank you K. L. Schwengel for hosting! 🙂

How I write

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Writing

Just a quick post to update you a little on how I’m getting on with writing every day this month.

Not bad so far. I’ve written properly, working on my WIP Reunion, most days. The days I don’t have given me the opportunity to start planning my next story – which to me counts as work on my writing.

That’s been really nice, to get back to planning which I always enjoy. But doing work every day on my writing has made me compare how I’m doing now writing/working on writing every day with my usual ‘method’ of working on it most days but not every single day.

The highest word count I’ve managed in one day, writing this way, is about 600 which for me isn’t bad. However a few times before this month, when I wasn’t working on my WIP every day, I could do well over 1000.

So the question I’m pondering is this: is it better to write every day and do less each time, but have the total add up to quite a lot, or is it better to write a bit more sporadically but write in heftier chunks?

I’d love to hear your thoughts! 🙂

A WIPpet for Wednesday

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OK, so not the most fantastic of titles but it’s the best I could do. I hope this WIPpet finds you well and getting into the swing of 2014.

For this week’s WIPpet Wednesday I thought I’d share with you 15 words from chapter 1 of my current WIP Reunion. Like many of my fellow WIPpeteers, I’m finding it hard to… well find parts to share that don’t give away half the plot.

So this week I’m keeping it short but sweet. This line is further on in the same chapter from last week’s excerpt. Anna is thinking about the people she might see at the school reunion.

It would be good to see Lizzie and Rachel again, but they wouldn’t necessarily go.

I will try and be less stingy with the excerpt next week! Looking forward to reading yours.

Wanna join in the WIPpet Wednesday fun? No problem – just share an excerpt from your current WIP on your blog. Make sure it relates to the date somehow. Then go here to add your details to the list. And you’re off!

Thank you K. L. Schwengel for hosting! 🙂