Monday, April 11, 2011

Monday's Mentionables: A Blog Post and a Finished Story!

Happy Monday!

If you didn't have a chance to stop by my guest blog over at The Long and the Short of It over the weekend, please do! I'm blogging about first lines and how important they are.

Finished my novella "Tequila Sunrise" over the weekend - 23K words. I really liked the way it turned out; my only concern is that it's tough to develop a whole story in a short word count and not feel as though it's either rushed or under-developed. Since I'm used to writing longer works, this was definitely a different challenge. My beta readers will let me know the verdict, I'm sure!

Just for kicks, the final lines of my story...enjoy :)

“Of course I’m sure.” Amy smoothed Lou’s hair and nudged her out the door. “We’re going to that show with the singing dolphins. Then the ice cream bar at ten. You’ve been attached to Trina all day. You don’t need to spend the night with her too.”

Long, dangly earrings brushed Lou’s neck. “But what if – ”

“Get out of here. Go meet your guy.”

Your guy. She wasn’t sure Toby was, not yet or maybe not forever, but she damn well was going to make the most of seeing him again. Almost without touching the ground, she made her way to The Grotto, one of two adult-only bars on the ship. Dim light made her squint and lose her bearings as soon as she walked in.

“Table?” the waitress asked.

“I’ll sit at the bar, thanks.” She found a stool at one end and studied the enormous aquarium of fish behind the bottles and glasses.

“What can I get you?” The bartender, a cute Spanish guy with an even cuter accent, tossed a cocktail napkin in front of her.

“Tequila sunrise.” The voice came from behind her, before she could speak. The arm slipped around her waist a moment later. “Hope that’s still what you drink.”

“Ah, yeah. That’s still my favorite.” She leaned into him, loving the solidness of his chest against her shoulder. I could spend forever right here.

“Good,” he said into her ear. His breath feathered the skin just below her lobe, and she shivered. All the way to her toes. “Because sunrises in general are still my favorite. And I have it on good authority that tomorrow's is supposed to be gorgeous."

She turned and cocked one brow. “Hope you have someone to watch it with, then.”

His lips touched her temple, then her cheek. Then her mouth. At his next words she fell all over again. “I hope so too.”

2 comments:

Janet Lane Walters said...

That was quick, the finish. Novellas are harder since they are written closer to the incident and the character development has to be done in very short bits. That's the next project on my agenda though/

Allie Boniface said...

I know, it's a challenge!