Tuesday Teaser

Here's a teaser to tickle your fancy!  Be sure to check out Jennifer Lowery's Teasers as well as my fabulous critique partner April London's Teasers too!

Here's a bit from WIP "Tonia".

     “Martha?” Byron mumbled sleepily as he opened his bedroom door, rubbing his eyes.  Another blood curdling scream came from the guest suite and snapped him out of his drowsy state.  Tonia!

     “Martha!”  He bellowed.

     “I’m coming,” he heard a muffled answer from downstairs as he rushed down the hallway.   

     He burst into the Tonia’s suite, cursing under his breath as he stubbed his toe on a table.  He continued to make his way through the dark sitting room to her bedroom door.  He could hear mournful cries coming from inside.

Once in her bedroom, he pulled the curtains back from the large window to allow moonlight to flood the room.  He turned and saw Tonia twisting fitfully in the large bed.  One of her arms was twisted in the bedding and she was desperately trying to get loose.

     “Shhhhh, little one.”  He pulled the sheet loose from her arm and wiped the beads of sweat from her face with the towel from her beside wash table. 

     “No, no, no!” She began hitting him and kicking the coverlet away.  He sat down on the edge of the bed and gathered her into his large arms.  She struggled fitfully against his hold, but he held her firmly. 

     “Shhhh, It’s alright Tonia.  You are safe.”

     “Stop, please stop!”

     He sat quietly holding her, rocking her back and forth until her body calmed and her breathing returned to normal. 

Martha entered the room several minutes later.  She walked up and touched his shoulder.

     “I’ve got her, Martha.”

I joined the Evernight Publishing Family

This week was very exciting for me.  I applied for a position as an editor at Evernight Publishing.  After a couple of tests and some chatting I was thrilled to be offered the opportunity to work for the popular EPub company.  I am already hard at work on my first MS and loving it.

So there's my little bit of news I had to share.  Now I just find myself on my laptop even more, lol.  I'm either writing, editing, reading, FB stalking, Twittering, or chatting with my girl April London about her fabulous ideas for her books.

I have decided to join her in the early morning rising vigil at 4:30.  I must schedule my day so that I get a little bit of everything done.  I can't spend my whole evening working after getting home from teaching.  My hubby and 22 month old baby girl need lots of attention too!

I'm so excited to enter into this new chapter of my life and I just had to share that.

Thanks for stopping by.  Comments are always welcome.

Tuesday Night Teaser

Sorry this is so late.  My day started with the alarm clock being dead (so I woke up late).  My daughter had thrown all of her clothes around her room and her chest of drawers was completely empty (had to find something to put her in to drop her at the sitter's).  In the kitchen I found no eggs to cook breakfast and once we were both loaded into the car I realized it needed gas.................. Lord have mercy.  It has been a long day.

Here's my teaser.  Please enjoy and check out my partner in crime April London's teaser as well.

She inhaled the smell of musty paper and nearly lost what little breakfast she had eaten.  Her hand flew to her mouth and she took a few shallow breaths to try and calm her stomach.  She felt Lorina’s hand on her back immediately.

“I’m fine, just give me a moment.”

“Tonia you need to sit down right now.  We will look for whatever you want, just tell us.”  Tonia looked up at Lorina and then at Ian.  He was really confused and his brow was narrowed with worry.

“We shouldn’t be out with you.  It is too soon.  I’ll tell Byron we need to go back.”

“No!” Lorina and Tonia spoke at the same time.  He glared at both of them and the folded his arms across his broad chest.

“Tell me what is going on.  Now.”

“I need to find a book of nursery rhymes.”  Tonia spoke slowly, holding Ian’s gaze.  “It’s the perfect gift.”

     “Nursery rhy... Oh my God.  You aren’t...  You are...”  She 


smiled as realization dawned on Ian and he became this big ball 


of enthusiastic energy.

Tuesday Teasers!

Be sure and check out my critique partner, April London, and her Tuesday Teaser too!  It is hot!  Also check out Jennifer's page for even more great teasers!

Here's mine for the week, sorry its up late.  It's from my WIP "Tonia".

She shivered as she ducked into the small gazebo and sank to the wooden floor, dripping and cold.  He had betrayed her trust.  She had asked him not to mention her past to his family and he had practically thrown it in his father’s face. 

A liar.  A charlatan.  That’s what Byron’s father and grandfather thought of her.  They thought she was somebody Byron shouldn’t have married.  Why, because she didn’t know her own name?  That was all she was guilty of.  What if he convinced Byron that he had made a mistake?  That she was a mistake.  Maybe she should never have come... Byron perhaps would have been better off without her problems.

Sobs shook her body.  Her tears poured down her cheeks and the rain began to pound, as if matching her misery with its own outbursts.  The wind became stronger and whipped the rain into sheets that blew straight through the gazebo.  The light drizzle had quickly become a frightening storm.  Within a few seconds she was soaked to the bone.  Thunder echoed through the sky and Tonia realized she couldn’t hear her own sobs anymore over the sound of her teeth chattering together.

She crawled to the entrance of the gazebo.

“Byron.” Her voice came out as a hoarse whisper.  Too cold.  She crawled back behind the gazebo furniture, taking refuge from as much of the rain as possible.  Stupid girl, no one even knows where you are.

Love is in the air

So, I'm the oldest sibling of four. I have two brothers and then a sister at the end of the line.  The younger brother right below me just got married, Dec 16th to be exact.  Beautiful wedding, great girl, I look forward to getting to know her better.  Then my second brother pops the question on New Year's Eve to his girlfriend.  Crazy right.  It's so strange to think of my little brothers getting married and eventually having families of their own.  It's surreal.  Cool, but surreal.  I don't feel like I'm old enough for that to happen, LOL, I guess I was wrong.  My seventeen year old sister better wait a few more years though or we will be having some words.  Of course I'm probably not the only one who would go after her.  She doesn't have a boyfriend yet, so I think we are probably safe.  My second brother and his fiance are planning a May wedding.  Two weddings in six months!  My family is growing exponentially.   It's exciting!  I love them both and wish them both only the best.  I look forward to spending time with both of their special ladies.

It's the small things that make life worthwhile

      Today when I got home from picking up my daughter from her babysitter, she proceeded to get her bouncy ball and chase it around the living room kicking it.  I'd never seen her kick a ball before.  It was so much fun to watch her discover the joy of doing something new.  My little Snickerdoodle is 21 months old and growing up so fast.  She signed "more" for the first time today too.  It was a big day in the Shannan house and I just had to share with you my "proud mommy" moment.
      Snickerdoodle is mine and my husbands' first child.  She was a miracle baby, arriving after two long years of trying to get pregnant.  I know we probably spoil her, but how could you not give the child you've wanted for so long everything possible.
      Small things in life.  Kicking a ball.  Signing a word.  Giving a hug.
 
      I have had a hard time working since becoming a mom.  I want to stay home with Snickerdoodle and be a full time mom and a writer.  Money is an obstacle for that dream right now and so I am still teaching.  I have always loved teaching, but I realized I had developed a bit of a grudge against my job and it was stealing my joy.
      Since school has been back in session I have made it a priority to look at my students with new eyes.  I tell myself every day that they are all babies who need to be loved and not to treat them like mini-adults. I have amazed myself with the change in their behavior in class and even my own behavior.  We are all having such a good time in music class now that I am usually running late to get them back to homeroom instead of standing in the hall ready and waiting several minutes before its time to go.
      I have found my joy again and so have my students.  It was such a small thing that I did -change my own thought process.  I didn't change the kids, I changed myself.

~Krystal Shannan

Tuesday Teasers

A teaser from a WIP I was browsing through the other day.  It doesn't have a name yet, but I really liked this scene and thought you might too.

“I never asked for it to be your duty!  Never!  I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself.”

“Yes, that’s why you have big black bruises on both of your thighs,” Erick quipped.

“No, that’s why I’m still alive!”

“Why would you be trying to get back in the castle?”  He shook his head with obvious confusion.

Dei looked down at the stone ledge they were standing on.  She could feel the bruises on her legs through the wet dress.  They were swollen and hard to the touch of her hands.  More than those, she was in constant pain from the salt water penetrating the wounds on her back.  She was cold and barefoot, having left her boots in the upper cave.  Her feet were scratched from climbing and pulling them both out of the water and up onto the ledge and he was mad about a couple of bruises!  He didn’t know the half of what her drenched dress was hiding from view. 

“What’s another beating, when you have had as many as I have.”

~Hope you like it~ Be sure and check Jennifer's site with hers and lots of other great teasers.