Excerpt: A Quick Death

a quick death Excerpt

DEATH DIDN’T COME TODAY. Night had fallen, and the lure of sleep tugged on me. I dragged myself to my feet and dumped the now cold tea.

Maybe tomorrow, I told myself as I brushed my teeth.

I ignored the little voice that whispered it wasn’t normal to wish for Death. I understood that, but normal was boring. Normal didn’t take you on adventures around the world.

Normal didn’t introduce you to Death.

I remembered the first time we met. It had been an autumn day in New Zealand. I was waiting for the tour to start. I was finally seeing where The Hobbit had been filmed. My excitement was palatable. An older man collapsed and the medics were called. Their attempts to revive him were fruitless. That was when I saw Death.

No one else seemed aware of him. I watched him weave through the crowd. He was reaching for the body when our eyes met. Confusion flitted across his pale face. Later that night, I saw him again. He didn’t understand why I saw him. It wasn’t my time.

When, I asked.

He shrugged. One day. Then he was gone. I have been waiting for him ever since.

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About Patricia Josephine

Patricia Josephine is a writer of Urban Fantasy and Sci-Fi Romance books. She actually never set out to become a writer, and in fact, she was more interested in art and band in high school and college. Her dreams were of becoming an artist like Picasso. On a whim, she wrote down a story bouncing in her head for fun. That was the start of her writing journey, and she hasn’t regretted a moment. When she’s not writing, she’s watching Doctor Who or reading about serial killers. She’s an avid knitter. One can never have too much yarn. She writes Young Adult Paranormal, Science Fiction, and Fantasy under the name Patricia Lynne.

Patricia lives with her husband in Michigan, hopes one day to have what will resemble a small petting zoo, and has a fondness for dying her hair the colors of the rainbow.

Find Patricia Josephine

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IWSG 94: The So-So Delicate Writing Balance

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This post was written for the Insecure Writer’s Support Group where we share our encouragement or insecurities on the first Wednesday of the month, to join the group or find out more click here.

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co-hosts

Kim Elliott | Melissa Maygrove | Chemist Ken | Lee Lowery | Nancy Gideon

OPTIONAL IWSG DAY QUESTION:

It’s the best of times; it’s the worst of times. What are your writer highs (the good times)? And what are your writer lows (the crappy times)?

First and most importantly:

Let The Fourth Be With You! Star Wars Fans.

Back to the post:

The times—good or bad—of my life differ greatly from my writing life.

The Good Writing Times

I’ve lived with depression since the beginning of this century. Worked my way through the spectrum from profound to occasional waves. The quote below captures my life today.

“… when the rain comes, it rains, but it doesn’t stay. It doesn’t stay long enough to immerse me and drown me anymore.” Jim Carrey on NME

Deep depression led to hours, and hours of writing, so good writing times.

Shorts were published. As was a novel until the publisher bit it.

The Crappy Writing Times:

My crappy writing times came in waves between depression and feeling okay. This bumping back and forth left me empty. No source material, I’m guessing. I could manage a short story when the mood hit, and the stars aligned. Like lightning strikes, I never knew when or where.

I learned to hang on to those strikes and stretch them out into writing a short. 3k when I was lucky.

These shorts gave me hope, and my everyday life was good—mostly.

The So-So Delicate Writing Times

My life is manageable now. My writing life—so-so. I’m out of practice. *sigh*

But I meet most of my daily goals and—like I wrote in last month’s post—I’m writing every day. Getting my long project done. I hit the halfway point just the other day.

Very excited about that.

I’ve finally found that so-so delicate balance I’ve been fighting for.

Now, a question for you

It’s nothing personal.  🙂

How do you hang on to your balance between writing and everyday life?

IWSG 93: Cracked Through My Block

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This post was written for the Insecure Writer’s Support Group where we share our encouragement or insecurities on the first Wednesday of the month, to join the group or find out more click here.

~~~oOo~~~

co-hosts

Joylene Nowell Butler | Jemima Pett | Patricia Josephine | Louise – Fundy Blue | Kim Lajevardi

OPTIONAL IWSG DAY QUESTION:

Have any of your books been made into audio books? If so, what is the main challenge in producing an audiobook?

Nope. Not yet anyway. And I can’t wait to read your posts to learn more about this.

I do have news though

I’m writing again.

I’ve been stuck for over two years on this great project. I love the world and characters so much, but all couldn’t get it moving again. Inspiration would hit.

But not on the project, so I’d write a short. Then my impersonator syndrome would run rampant.

“Nope, you’ll never write another novel. Just shorts no one will ever read. Nevah!”

I felt doomed.

But I wouldn’t give up. During one of my many attempts to right this horrible wrong, I found a discord channel with some wonderful young writers. They listened and offered some really insightful advice that cracked my writer’s block.

Next thing I know, I’m back at something I really love and feeling pretty good.

I feel very fortunate. Thanks so much “Writing Room”.

Question for you:

Where do you go when you’re stuck?

My Research sources on audiobooks:

• https://gladreaders.com/why-are-audiobooks-so-expensive/?utm_source=blogaudiobookstore&utm_medium=blogpost&utm_campaign=CostAvg
• https://audiobookstore.com/blog/the-real-cost-of-audiobooks
• https://scribemedia.com/book-royalties
• https://literaryagentmarkgottlieb.com/blog/are-royalties-fair-a-publisher-weighs-in

IWSG 92: Should What Happened Off-Stage Stay Off-Stage?

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This post was written for the Insecure Writer’s Support Group where we share our encouragement or insecurities on the first Wednesday of the month, to join the group or find out more click here.

~~~oOo~~~

co-hosts

Janet Alcorn | Pat Garcia | Natalie Aguirre | Shannon Lawrence

OPTIONAL IWSG DAY QUESTION:

Have you ever been conflicted about writing a story or adding a scene to a story? How did you decide to write it or not?

I’m going to answer: how did I decide to write a scene or not

When I started writing, I discovered yWriter5, a free desktop app, for—you guessed it—writers. It was all new to me and the app taught me about scene-sequel method through headings, etc. Another golden tidbit was the option to exclude a scene.

I didn’t think anything of it way back when.

But this month’s question got me thinking. Do all scenes have to be included, and if a writer leaves them out, is it always because they are unnecessary?

I think not. Sometimes they can be left out, so the characters can do what everyone else does—gossip.

Picture this, a breakup scene in the middle of a restaurant. None of the story’s cast was there. But someone was, and spread a fair share of it with a few friends. Who told a few more friends and so on…

What if a  cast member is tapped into the local grapevine and shares what they learn with the rest of the main characters. That kind of gossip could create chaos.

Not all scenes are meant to be included. Some good ones can fuel the characters from off-stage and lead the cast down blind alleys, fuel emotion, and basically mess with their minds.

Now, I call that fun.

My Question to You

Ever do this? How do you mess with your characters?

For those not sure if they should delete a scene, here are some links that may help:

• https://gointothestory.blcklst.com/reader-question-how-can-you-tell-if-a-scene-is-necessary-or-unnecessary-2f5ec5807343
• https://www.southwestwriters.com/trimming-the-fat-aka-expendable-scenes-in-your-novel/
• https://jamigold.com/2014/05/when-should-we-skip-a-scene/

IWSG 91: Inspired By My Roots

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This post was written for the Insecure Writer’s Support Group where we share our encouragement or insecurities on the first Wednesday of the month, to join the group or find out more click here.

~~~oOo~~~

co-hosts

Joylene Nowell Butler | Jacqui Murray | Sandra Cox | Lee Lowery

OPTIONAL IWSG DAY QUESTION:

February 2 question – Is there someone who supported or influenced you that perhaps isn’t around anymore? Anyone you miss?

 I’m really looking forward to the posts this month. I have a feeling there will be more than a few posts about the makers/writers of creative works.

The person that inspired me, not that she knew it, was my grandmother. Some knew her as Elsie. Many others as Elizabeth Sookochoff. She’s been gone almost thirty years and will always be Baba to me.

But I feel her impact every day.

Her skill set, cooking, raising children and love of animals, came from growing up in a doukhobor commune outside Buchanan, Saskatchewan, Canada. They knew farming and living off the land.

She brought that skill set with her when her family moved across country on a wagon. Very Little House on the Prairie if Baba played Mrs. Ingalls. They settled in Grand Forks where I grew up.

She couldn’t read a word then, but she knew the best butter was churned in June, that fresh food meant buy it from a local farmer, or grow it yourself. And, and this one still kills me, cooking on a wood stove was the only way to make borsch, and the rest of her Russian delicacies.

She’d warm up her food on the electric stove like we use a microwave.

So adorable.

She was stronger than anyone I’ve ever known. Baba held on to her traditions and heritage all her life and when I lost her, I lost more than the support of a wonderful woman. I lost that heritage she held dear because she was my only link to my roots.

Baba inspires me every day, and not just with writing.

My Question to You

How do the people you love reflect in your writing?