Section Sunday!

Welcome back for another installment of Section Sunday!

This weekend I'm bringing you another snippet from my Scottish contemporary romance, Silent Surrender. I LOVE this story and hope you will too. Today I'm editing the manuscript and then submitting it to my publisher, Decadent Publishing. (Hopefully they'll love it too!)

Here's the background you need to fully appreciate this scene. Meggie went to Dublin for St. Patrick's Day with her friend and ended up meeting Quinn. She and he had an amazing fling over the few days she was there, and she intended to leave what happened in Dublin, in Dublin. But on the day of this scene, Quinn has arrived in her Scottish Highland village.

Be sure to let me know what you think! Enjoy Meggie and Quinn's reunion!


    Meggie dished out drinks to the patrons of her family's pub, Cuan MacDougall. Fueled with confidence, she waited for Quinn to walk through the door. He would at some point. Their pub was a highpoint in the village. They offered drinks and football matches on five screens.

Her plan was simple. She'd be casual, respectful, but that was it. She'd not encourage him. And who was to say he'd come for her? Maybe he was here for something else and he didn't even remember her.

A niggling pain twinged behind her temples. Och, that would be even worse since she hadn't been able to get him out of her mind in the last eight months.

She poured another drink for a waiting patron. “I'll just go about my business, do me job and not worry about it,” she whispered.

“Meg, you're talking to yourself again.” Ewan retrieved two bottled beers from the cooler next to her. Leave it to her brother to point out her failings.

“Aye, and if you don't mind I'd like to finish the conversation.”

The bell on the pub door jingled and a blast of cold air whooshed through the room.

“Hiya,” Ewan greeted the new visitor.

“Busy place you've got here.”

Meggie's veins strung tight as a bow at the sound of the Irish accent. Her heart rate tripped. Her hands stilled. Be calm. With a casual lift of her head, she caught his eyes as he slid onto the stool directly in front of her. His scent wrapped around her and ignited shivers through her spine. Already, and he hadn't even said anything directly to her yet.

Without looking at him, she delivered the beer to the patron two stools down and returned to him. Just a few more seconds, then she'd gather her nerves and meet his gaze for more than a few seconds. But the extra time did nothing. When she stood in front of him, all her breath whooshed out of her mouth. His dark green eyes sparkled and that sexy grin shoved her right back into that hotel bed they shared oh so many months ago. After swallowing the lump in her throat, she managed a poor excuse for a greeting. “Hiya.”

Och, ignoring him? Staying casual? It would not be as easy as she'd thought.

Update!

Hi, hi! It's only been a few days, but I'm already excited about the blog changes I've got going on. I've got a few people signed up for Talent Tuesdays and I'm looking forward to bringing you another section of my WIP tomorrow!

Now, for the news......

In January, I submitted a partial of 1 of my full-length stories to an epublisher with a good reputation. I sent it to the "slush pile".

This past Thursday, I stumbled upon a twitter pitching party for an epublisher new to me and, on a whim, decided to pitch 1 of my full-length stories.

Yesterday morning, I woke up to find a request for the partial of my story from a senior editor directly from that twitter pitching party.

Last night, I received a request from the epublisher I contacted in January. They thought my query was intriguing and they've requested the full manuscript.

Today, I'm pushing myself to finish up the short story, Silent Surrender, I've been trying to submit to Decadent Publishing for going on 3 months. I'm sooooooo close! I've got 13 pages of revisions, a final edit round, a final read through and then I'll be able to hit submit!

Once I submit that story, I'll be switching gears to write the rough draft of my next Honor Guard story for Decadent Publishing while I'm "technically" on spring break.

Okay, that's it for now! Have a good weekend. Check in tomorrow to read my "Section Sunday" post and then come back Monday to find out how I made out with my submission!

Non-Fiction Friday!

Welcome to Non-Fiction Friday!

 

No, I'm not talking about a non-fiction book, although I might in later weeks! No, today (and every Friday) I'm sharing something about my real world. And so.....

Here's the backstory:
Many of you know that I've had a rocky couple of years. For those of you who don't know (or don't remember), I quit my teaching job in June 2010 because it was sucking the life out of me. I left without another job to go to except for substitute teaching. I struggled quite a bit, but I've learned A LOT in the time since. In the end, I think I still would've quit but I would've planned better.

Fast-forward almost 3 years and here we are. In January of this year I started a new full-time job as a writing tutor for a charter school. I'm an hourly employee with benefits and a decent paycheck. I get to leave work at work and spend the time outside doing what I love- working on my writing career.

My Non-Fiction Friday post is actually this:
It's amazing how much my confidence level has increased since I now have the same place to go every morning. I'm making new friends at my job, and I'm LOVING working with the kids to help them become better writers. I'm finding myself smiling and comfortable most days. My day job has done that for me and I figured it would, but I'd forgotten how good it could feel to belong to one "community" and to make a difference. It's amazing to be...needed, respected and treated like the intelligent person I am.

Because I have these feelings with the day job, I then take those same feelings to my part-time job as well. Then I also bring them home to work on my books or promo or the online class I'm teaching. It's a pleasant cycle and I never want it to stop. I could and WANT TO get used to these feelings because I deserve them.  

Way Back Wednesday!

Welcome to Way Back Wednesday! This is the day of the week where I share a story form my past that's related to writing. Every Wednesday I'll be sharing something so make plans to come back! This week's story features Kathleen Givens:

 

The first time I met Kathleen Givens was at the Dreamin' in Dallas Conference many years ago. I was mostly reading Scottish historicals at the time, had read a few of hers and LOVED them all. I was also writing my own Scottish contemporary suspense (my very first suspense, which became part of my first book, Her Highland Champion). At the time of the conference, she was my favorite author and I was still pretty new to the writing world.

 

She laughed when I bowed down to her and told her I loved her writing. We chatted then and each time we ran into each other for the rest of the conference. It was the first time I really understood that famous authors were still people too.

After the conference, I continued to read her books. I also promoted her and her work as much as I could as I continued to learn more about the industry and what I wanted my part in it to be.

 

Sadly, Kathleen passed away rather suddenly in 2010. I'm sure her family and friends still miss her. I know I do, but I will always be thankful for her kindness to one giggly fan with wide eyes and a dream to follow in her footsteps.

Saving The Blog!

Hello, hello! I realize I haven't been blogging much over the last few weeks and I want to talk to you about that. I always wondered why writer friends stopped blogging or blogged less once they were published. I think I've finally figured out why. There is too much to do!

 

So, I started thinking about ditching my blog. I mean, I'm already part of 2 other blogs. No one would blame me, right? But then I got to thinking about why I started blogging. It became like a virtual journal for me. Even when hardly anyone read it, I still blogged because it felt good to me and helped me deal with events in my writing (or non- writing) life.

Then I thought about trying to pull someone else in to this blog, to take away part of the pressure to keep up writing. But I really don't think I want to share. (I'm selfish that way. :P)

SO.... I came up with some new ideas:

Beginning tomorrow, I will have 3 or 4 definite posts each week. You'll be able to count on those.

Section Sunday-- This will be a snippet of my current WIP or a new book I have coming out. It'll take the place of my participation in Six Sentence Sunday.

Talent Tuesday-- This may not happen every Tuesday, but I'll definitely do it once in a while. It will be where I spotlight someone else with a talent. (If any of you reading this are interested in being spotlighted for any type of talent, send me an email and I'll get you signed up! alexa@alexabourne.com)

Way-Back Wednesday-- On this day I'll share a story of me meeting writers or going to conferences or writing as a kid. The idea is that it has to be in my past and it should relate to my writing life.

Non-Fiction Friday-- This day I'll give you information about my real world, something that's happening that influences my writing.

Then the other days I can add more blog posts if I have something else to share (like a new contract, a new cover, a new class, or a new “You Know You're a Suspense Writer When....”). Or I can leave those days blank if I don't. But at least we all know there will be something posted a few days a week. I may stick to these ideas or revise them. I'll just see how it works. What do you think?

Kid in a Candy Shop

Find out how I reacted when I got my hands on my very first print book! Read all about it here.

Section Sunday

Hello! Welcome to "Section Sunday"! Each Sunday I will post a section of one of my works for you to read and comment on (if you choose).

Today's "Section" is part of my current Work-In-Progress, Silent Surrender. This is a short story romance set in the Highlands of Scotland (modern day). The heroine is a secondary character from my very first book, Her Highland Champion, and the hero is a football coach originally from just outside of Dublin, Ireland. I'm hoping to submit this to my publisher within the next couple of days.

As this section opens, they are playing football with a few kids on the school field. Of course, Meggie and Quinn are on opposite teams, which makes it even more fun! Be sure to let me know what you think! (And please remember this is still part of a rough draft, so don't be too hard on me!)

He closed the distance between them. Meggie pushed against his rock-hard abs and tangled with his feet. He tugged on her ponytail, slid his foot between hers and sent the ball to his teammates.

Meggie yelped. Her arms flailed to her sides. Her feet remained tangled with Quinn's and she lost her balance.

Quinn circled her waist and twisted her so his body took the brunt of the impact with the dirt-packed earth. She rolled to the side, still cradled in the crook of his arm and with the pressure of his delicious body over every inch of hers. “Are you all right?” He propped himself up and brushed her hair away from her face.

“Aye. Thank you for taking the fall for us.”

“You're down here with me, aren't you?”

“But you protected me. Thank you, my Irish knight.”

“My pleasure, my lady.”

Yes, she was his lady and she decided she rather liked it.

He leaned down and claimed her mouth.

“Is she hurt?” one of the lads yelled. The ground trembled beneath their feet.

“Aye, ye daft fool. He's giving her mouth-to-mouth,” yelled another.