#WeWriWa - NUMBERS NEVER LIE: We Need to Talk

Welcome to Weekend Writing Warriors where authors share an 8 - 10 sentence snippet. Be sure to visit the other authors. You can find them here. 

Thanks for all your comments on last week's snippet. I'm sharing a work-in-progress, a romantic suspense about a woman who doesn't believe her accountant brother's car crash was an accident. I had a brainstorm this week and came up with a better title. Numbers Never Lie. 

Suggestions are very welcome on the blurb as well as the snippet. Please excuse the rogue commas.

Today's snippet is from the end of Chapter One. After visiting his sister in the middle of the day, Jack returned to the plant where he was doing an audit. The client was his partner's, but since Ben had been hospitalized after a motorcycle accident, Jack had taken on the job. It's late at night and fog had come in off Lake Michigan.

Even before he pushed open the heavy glass door, Jack saw that the janitors were right; not only was the light at the end of the parking lot out, the one at this end barely penetrated the fog. He clicked on the flashlight on his cell phone, but it only shone a foot or so in front of him.

Hearing a soft skitter near the dumpster, his first thought was rats, and he shuddered then clicked his remote—from ten feet away, his head- and taillights barely penetrated the mist.

Weary beyond belief, he dragged himself to his car, he needed to return to the plant tomorrow—make that later today since it was after twelve-thirty—to do more digging in the company’s files. He couldn’t believe what he’d discovered so far; this went way beyond anything he imagined, the implications—

“Jack?”

Startled by the familiar voice, he dropped his keys, and his phone slipped out of his fingers and skidded away. When he peered in direction of the sound, a figure stepped away from the dumpster’s hulking shape.
            “Jack, we need to talk.”

Jack had one thought. Thank God, I stopped at Maggie’s.

[end of Chapter One]

Here's the tentative blurb:

A shocking secret brings danger to Jack Sinclair and his sister Maggie. 

As kids, they were the fearless threesome. As adults, Jack's an accountant; Drew, a lawyer; Maggie, a teacher and camping troop leader. Returning from a weekend camping trip, Maggie receives horrifying news. She refuses to believe her brother’s fatal car crash was an accident. If the police won’t investigate, she’ll do it herself. Convincing Drew Campbell to help is her only recourse.

Drew Campbell was too busy to return his best friend’s phone call. Too busy to attend a camping meeting important to his teen daughter. Too busy to stay in touch with Jack. Logic and reason indicate Jack’s accident was just that--an accident caused by fatigue and fog. Prodded by guilt, he’ll help Maggie even if he thinks she’s wrong.

A break-in at Jack’s condo convinces Maggie she’s right. Then her home is searched. What did Jack leave behind?

Be sure to check out the other WeWriWa authors. 

Two of my books are on sale at Smashwords. Today (Saturday) is the last day.

The Pilot (first book in the Outer Rim series) and The Case of the Bygone Brother (first Alex O'Hara PI mystery) are 50% off. 

#WeWriWa - The Camping Trip

Welcome to Weekend Writing Warriors where authors share an 8 - 10 sentence snippet. Be sure to visit the other authors. You can find them here. 

Thanks for all your comments on last week's snippet. I'm sharing a work-in-progress, tentatively titled Unpredictable Nature, a romantic suspense about a woman who doesn't believe her brother's car crash was an accident. 

Suggestions are very welcome on the blurb as well as the snippet. Please excuse the rogue commas.

Today's snippet is still from the first chapter. Maggie's brother Jack stopped by unexpectedly in the middle of the day. During lunch, she tries to discover why, but he changes the subject to the camping equipment he saw in the garage.

“So, who’s helping you with the camping trip this weekend?” Jack popped a couple of grapes in his mouth.

“Ellen’s dad,” Maggie said.

“Drew Campbell?" Jack laughed—almost braying, "The guy whose idea of casual is loosening his tie?”

She tapped her short, no-nonsense fingernails on the table, “I’m so glad I could provide entertainment with lunch, by the way, I loaned him your sleeping bag and backpack,” She worked hard not to smirk.

“My equipment? You loaned out my camping equipment?”

“He’s your friend, I didn’t think you’d mind.”

“Oh, God, I wish I could be there to watch,” Jack laughed so hard tears formed, “Drew Campbell wimped out of Cub Scouts.”

photo credit: Joshua Gresham on Unsplash

Tentative blurb:

A shocking secret brings danger to Jack Sinclair and his sister Maggie. 

As kids, they were the fearless threesome. As adults, Jack's an accountant; Drew, a lawyer; Maggie, a teacher and camping troop leader. Returning from a weekend camping trip, Maggie receives horrifying news. She refuses to believe her brother’s fatal car crash was an accident. If the police won’t investigate, she’ll do it herself. Convincing Drew Campbell to help is her only recourse.

Drew Campbell was too busy to return his best friend’s phone call. Too busy to attend a camping meeting important to his teen daughter. Too busy to stay in touch with Jack. Logic and reason indicate Jack’s accident was just that--an accident caused by fatigue and fog. Prodded by guilt, he’ll help Maggie even if he thinks she’s wrong.

A break-in at Jack’s condo convinces Maggie she’s right. Then her home is searched. What did Jack hide?

Be sure to check out the other WeWriWa authors. 

This weekend, you can find SciFi & Fantasy novels for 99c at http://pattyjansen.com/promo/3-4-march-2017-99c-promo/
My book Switched is under science fiction romance.

#WeWriWa - Jack Leaves Nothing to Chance

Welcome to Weekend Writing Warriors where authors share an 8 - 10 sentence snippet. Be sure to visit the other authors. You can find them here. 

Thanks for all your comments on last week's snippet. I'm sharing a work-in-progress, tentatively titled Unpredictable Nature, a romantic suspense about a woman who doesn't believe her brother's car crash was an accident. 

Suggestions are very welcome. Please excuse the rogue commas.

Today's snippet picks up right after last week's, which ended with “Can’t I visit my kid sister?”
         

Maggie put her hands on her hips and gave him the look that could quell a roomful of high school seniors full of themselves for being on the brink of adulthood and sophomores who were just full of themselves. “When you thought I wasn’t going to be home? Try again, Ace.”

Jack cuffed her around the neck. “Okay, you got me--I wanted to try out a new CD on your system.”

She ducked out from under his arm, then hip bumped him, “The truth comes out.”

His combination Christmas and birthday gift to her a couple of years ago was a sophisticated sound system. After he set it up, he’d left detailed—printed, no less—instructions for its use. That was Jack, always covering the bases--heaven forbid, he leave anything to chance, even his sister’s CD player.

Be sure to check out the other WeWriWa authors. 

Monday Morning Musing: Character Sketch - Jack

For the past three weeks, I've been sharing bits and pieces of my work-in-progress, a romantic suspense tentatively titled Unpredictable Nature. It started with sharing a snippet on Weekend Writing Warriors (WeWriWa). Then on Mondays, I shared a little about the main characters. Last Monday was Drew's turn. Now, it's Jack's, Drew's best friend and Maggie's brother.

With his younger sister, Maggie, Jack Sinclair grew up in a typical Midwestern subdivision. At age 8, Jack and his family relocated to a Grand Rapids (Michigan) suburb because of their father’s job. The first kid Jack met was Drew Campbell who knocked his block off, just to get the point across that he was in charge of the neighborhood. That’s how their lifelong friendship began. The two boys were inseparable, except for camping and Boy Scouts. Whereas Drew bailed out of Cub Scouts after a disastrous first campout, Jack earned every badge and became an Eagle Scout. Of course, he did. Jack always finished what he started.

Jack and Drew were college roommates and only after graduation did they go their separate ways—Drew as a lawyer and Jack, an accountant. Five years ago, Jack left a big accounting firm and with his friend Ben Voorheis formed a partnership. They each had their own clients. But when Ben’s motorcycle accident sidelined him, Jack took over.

Numbers never lie. They were black and white, no in-between. That suited Jack perfectly. He liked when things made sense. Which made his audit of his partner’s client disturbing. Certain things didn’t make sense. If what he feared was true, he and Ben were in big trouble.

Here are a few snippets from Maggie’s point of view that give you a glimpse into Jack’s personality:

His combination Christmas and birthday gift to her a couple of years ago was a sophisticated sound system. After he set it up, he’d left detailed—printed, no less—instructions for its use. That was Jack. Always covering the bases. Heaven forbid, he leave anything to chance. Even his sister’s CD player.

***

She looked around Jack’s perfectly neat living room. She always complained that he’d taken minimalism to new heights. Nothing, not even dust, marred the surface of the lamp table. No knickknacks, no forgotten glass or coffee cup. Magazines neatly stacked on the coffee table. The yellow National Geographic provided a splash of color next to copies of The CPA Journal.

All perfectly normal, perfectly Jack.

***

As she turned to leave, she saw that the pantry door wasn’t firmly shut. Nothing inside appeared to be disturbed. Everything looked the way it always did, cans and jars lined up perfectly straight, an inch from the edge of each shelf. Categorized. Vegetables with vegetables, pasta sauce next to alfredo sauce. She didn’t bother to check the spices. They’d be in alphabetical order. Her OCD brother wouldn’t have it any other way.

Are you intrigued? I hope so. As you can see from the progress meter on the right of this blog, I’m over 2/3 finished with Unpredictable Nature. Come back next Sunday for another snippet from the first chapter. Next Monday, I’ll share a little about Jack’s business partner, Ben. Have a great week.

#IWSG – Progress & Winter Blahs

It's the 1st Wednesday of February. Happy Insecure Writers Support Group Day. IWSG is the brainchild of Ninja Captain Alex J. Cavanaugh.

Purpose: To share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds! Thanks, Alex, for starting this group and keeping it going. And thanks to this month's awesome hosts:  Stephen Tremp, Pat Garcia, Angela Wooldridge, Victoria Marie Lees, and Madeline Mora-Summonte!

 

Progress & Winter Blahs

For the past three weeks, I’ve felt blah. Not sick, thank goodness. I shouldn't complain because so many people have had it much worse. Flu is taking its toll this winter. So far, the flu hasn't hit our family. Hubs had a cold and his cough has hung on. One of the 3-month old twins had pneumonia (maybe—the radiologist said no; baby doc said yes) but he’s doing better with antibiotics. Antibiotics for his brother (eye infection). Even Toddler Girl didn’t escape. She had a bad cold. Oldest granddaughter broke her foot doing what she loves, dancing. 

Everyone is better now. But I still feel blah, no other symptoms. Tired all the time. Don’t feel like writing or doing anything other than binge-watching Netflix. I wish I could escape the relentless cold and snow. But there's no going to Arizona, as we’ve done for the past three years. Our son and his family are here now. I guess I’ll just suck it up. And work on my works-in-progress.

Last month, my goal was to write a minimum of 475 words per day. From Jan. 1 – 15, I wrote 15,520 words. From the 16th through yesterday, I wrote 3,570. Quite a difference, right? No wonder I feel down. But . . . for this post, I figured out how many words per day I wrote. Holy cow! I averaged 530. That perked me up. Despite a few days when I didn’t write on my WIP at all, I’m not as far behind as I thought.

Many people disagree with keeping track of word count. That quality takes precedence over quantity. I agree with quality being better. For me, word count signifies progress. It’s concrete evidence that I’m working.

Optional Question: What do you love about the genre you write in most often?

Although I write cozy mysteries, science fiction romance, and romantic suspense, they all have one thing in common. A mystery. I like keeping the reader guessing about the bad guy/gal and how they did it. Whether it’s murder or espionage, revenge or a con game. I enjoy leaving clues and red herrings, adding unexpected twists. If I’ve done my job right, the reader is surprised when all is revealed.

I’m eager to read what other writers say they love about their genre.

Click here to find others on the Insecure Writers Support Group Blog Hop. Or go to IWSG on Facebook to see who’s blogging today.