Awesome Excerpt Thursday! - My Unconditional Valentine by Denise N. Wheatley

Even the most perfectly laid holiday plans sometimes go awry…

Entertainment industry “it” couple Sasha Williams and Drake Lancaster, who were first introduced in “A Naughty Jolly Christmas,” are still going strong. Sasha’s impeccable publicist skills have kept Drake on the A-list, helping him land the lead role in a major Valentine’s Day movie. When filming wraps, the twosome plan on heading to Cabo San Lucas, inviting both their families along to meet for the first time.

But plans go astray when Drake reverts back to his bad boy ways during filming and gets into a huge altercation with the director. He’s booted from the movie and replaced by Mitch Morrison, a hot young actor who’s recently taken Hollywood by storm.

While Drake struggles to repair his image, Mitch hires Sasha to help manage his burgeoning career. The move infuriates Drake, but Sasha insists it’s a great business opportunity. She doesn’t realize Drake’s threatened by Mitch’s good looks, charismatic personality and rising star.

The stress of it all puts a strain on the couple’s relationship, especially when Mitch admits to Sasha that he’s developed feelings for her and she realizes the sentiments may be mutual. With the pressures of Sasha and Drake’s rocky union continuing to mount, the anticipation of their families meeting, and Sasha’s elusive affections towards Mitch, the couple can’t help but wonder whether their once booming relationship is about to crash. In the end, they must figure out whether their love is strong enough to withstand these issues and carry them through this Valentine’s Day.

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Excerpt:

Sasha sped along the Pacific Coast Highway with her car top down and music blaring. The crisp ocean wind whipped through her hair while the setting sun warmed her skin. She readjusted her sunglasses and leaned back, relishing the moment. Sasha was happier than she’d been in quite some time. Life was good. As a matter of fact, life was great thanks to today, because everything had suddenly taken a turn for the better.

After she’d knocked her presentation out of the park that morning, Sasha received a text from Drake letting her know he had gotten the part. She’d screamed so loudly that Lori came tearing into her office, thinking something had happened to her. Drake then informed her he’d made dinner reservations at Hinata Sushi, the most exclusive restaurant in Malibu, and afterwards they’d check into the royal suite at The Malibu Oceanside, where they would spend the rest of the evening indulging in dessert and one another.

Sasha had something in store for Drake as well. That afternoon, she’d solidified plans for their Cabo vacation after deciding she would rather spend the evening reconnecting with him than coordinating the trip. She made some executive decisions on her own and created an elaborate agenda confirming the exact travel dates, resort location, and list of activities. Sasha sent the agenda to both sets of parents, and just as she’d expected, they got lost in the fancy presentation and agreed to everything.

She stopped at a red light and grabbed her phone, activating the voice-to-text feature then sending Drake a message asking whether he wanted to drive out to Malibu or arrange car service. She hadn’t heard from him since early that after noon, which was strange after they’d been communicating nonstop all morning. Sasha assumed he had gotten caught up in the whirlwind of preparing for his shoot and figured they’d hash things out when she got home.

She turned down her block and approached her house, expecting to see Drake’s car parked outside. When she didn’t, Sasha pulled into the driveway and tried calling him. She got his voicemail.

“Hey, babe, it’s me. Tell your film director Lee that he’s going to have you all to himself in Ontario soon enough and you need to take a break from your meeting to call your girl. But anyway, I just got home. Getting ready to freshen up and pack for our night. I’m so looking forward to this. Love you.”

Sasha disconnected the call and practically floated inside the house. She set her tote down on the couch, then walked over to the closet to grab her suitcase. On the way there, she saw a printout lying on the bar. She picked it up and squint-ed while trying to make out exactly what she was looking at. Upon further inspection, Sasha realized it was a dark, grainy photo of her and Mitch, sitting in the booth at the Diamond VIP Bar. Her stomach dropped to her knees. She trembled all over as beads of sweat formed along her hairline. Sasha held her breath, then read the blurb underneath the photo.

Our sly sleuths here at Gotcha! strike again, this time catching powerhouse publicist Sasha Williams cozying up to A-list actor Mitch Morrison. Sasha, who’s known for mixing business with pleasure, is also Mitch’s new publicist. So does this mean it’s a wrap for her and Drake Lancaster? Apparently so, making it Drake’s second humiliating termination in recent weeks after he got booted from King Gary Rosen’s latest blockbuster production, On Bended Knee. What’s worse is that Mitch was hired to re-place Drake on the film. Ouch! Will Sasha and Mitch make it down the aisle? Will Z-listed Drake go back to waiting tables? Stay tuned, as we here at Gotcha! work to getcha all the latest scoop!

Sasha leaned against the wall and slid to the floor. Tears streamed down her face. She looked down at the article again. A note from Drake was scribbled at the bottom.

Of all the guys you could’ve replaced me with, you chose Mitch Morrison? And I had to find out through some trashy blog? I thought we were better than that. Guess I was wrong.

Sasha balled the article up and threw it across the room. Her chest heaved with remorse. She sobbed for several minutes before grabbing her phone and dialing Drake again. The call went straight to voicemail. She hung up and sent him a text, apologizing profusely and asking him to please call her. Right when she hit send, a message came in from Nick.

In a meeting and can’t talk, but I got a call from Drake saying he wants to sign with a new publicist, effective immediately. What’s going on?

Sasha swallowed the bile that was creeping up her throat and struggled to steady her breathing. “This isn’t happening. This isn’t happening,” she said to herself over and over again.

She closed Nick’s message without responding and sent Amanda a text, telling her she had an emergency and asking if she could come over ASAP.

Amanda replied immediately.

I’m on my way.

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Writing Warrior Wednesday! ~ Writers are Athletes

In high school and even in real life we categorize people as either athletic or not athletic. This categorization is usually the result of your physical form or your abilities to play a sport. Personally, the only sport I ever enjoyed playing was volleyball and I wasn’t that great at it. Must admit, I had a killer serve!

So that would leave the rest of us as the non-athletics and more into the brain sciences like writing, math, science, art etc. Obviously, I am using generalizations to illustrate a point here, I know of lots of very athletic people who are mentally brilliant.

Being put in either category athlete or non-athlete comes with some standards. Typically, athletes have problems sitting still for more than ten minutes at a time, while non-athletes can binge-watch five hours of Stranger Things without lifting a muscle (except for the occasional drink or snack). Athletes are constantly hungry and or eating – non-athletes will get so lost in whatever project they are working on and forget to eat until 1 am and then scarf down bowl of cereal just to say they have eaten something.

My point being, both scenarios are misconceptions and absolutely wrong. Writers are just as much athletes as actual athletes and here’s why. The word athlete means - a person who is trained or skilled in exercises, sports, or games requiring physical strength, agility, or stamina.

Professional athletes, while getting paid way too much to play a game – in my humble opinion—work hard to be in top physical form and thus perform at their peak at all times. This means a strict regiment of diet, exercise, vitamins, and sleep. Many will even tell you it is the worst part of the job. However, they realize they need to fuel their bodies to fuel their activity.

So do writers! You require mental strength – discipline, skin of steel, and focus. Mental agility – the ability to keep track of plots, sub plot, characters and flow. Mental stamina – the need to be able to juggle lots of ideas and put them in a cohesive form and / or write when the rest of the world is binge watching TV or sleeping. All of this, not to mention everyday life. Most of us are not full-time writers, we have jobs, families, PTA, volunteering, night school etc.

So like athletes we need to keep our brains and bodies is top form to enable us to do the impossible – write 100,000 words, edit, rewrite, publish, &market.

As I said above, like athletes we need to make sure we are treating our bodies and fueling our minds as much as a physical athlete would. Which means, eating right, taking our vitamins, getting some regular exercise and scheduling time to sleep. We also need to make time for some much-needed fun! Relaxation and appreciate for where we are, what we have accomplished, and all the blessings our lives have to offer.

Being a writer, published or not is hard freaking work! Ignore people who think it is easy, a hobby or even a pastime. “Oh, you are a writer, that is a cake job.” BULLSHIT! It is mentally and physically difficult and you need to acknowledge – I HAVE a DIFFICULT job!

So, take care of yourself. Your brain and your body. Like it or not -- one is directly linked to the other and being conscious of this fact will put you ahead of the game! You are Writing Warriors and deserve to always be at your best to produce fight the good fight! This will also help with warding off negativity, stress and anxiety. A balanced life is a good life.

Could I have put more cliché’s in the post --- probably, but you get the point!

So how do you do it all? We will talk about that soon. For now, go take a walk and eat some vegetables for goodness sake!!

I love to hear your feedback! Leave a comment and let me know what you think and if the post was helpful! If you want more information, or assistance shoot me an email at writesromine@gmail.com or ping me on Twitter @AmyJRomine.

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Teaser Tuesday - New Sneak of Finders!

My current work in progress is entitled Finders.

A reality ghost hunting team uncovers a mass grave, a hungry demon, and a demonologist with a secret...

~

Jagged stone piled on top of one another created a patchwork of brown and gray hues. Smooth to the touch the hundreds of years of water must've had an effect. Following the stones upward she saw a break in the pattern. Claire estimated about four feet across and perhaps two inches high. 

"Damn right I am getting whatever I want," Claire tried in vain to dry her hands, cursing the extra ten pounds from her water-logged clothes. "A hot Venti Toffee Nut-Latte double shot," she started, grasping the cold slick plastic cord within her hands. "A scalding shower with, warm soft terry cloth towels, heated slippers and another hot coffee."

Claire briefly thanked her trainer, Jorge for making her develop her upper body strength. Using the cord, along with jutting rocks as foot holds Claire started up the well. Ignoring the swinging flashlights creation of odd shapes and reflections off the water, Claire focused upward on the light and sound from above.

The trek was slow going but she seemed to be half way there, judging from the size of the opening at the top.

Hot shower, hot coffee, you can do this...

Looking up she saw something falling toward her in the darkness. She yelped when it hit, hugging the wall. Something grabbed her shoulders throwing her back. Her head it the wall hard. She never knew what people meant by seeing stars until that moment. Losing her grip, she released the cord plummeting back down into the cold water. The shock of the icy water hit again, she kicked to return to the surface. Feeling something wrap around her ankle she focused on her feet seeing a skull like face. Her adrenaline soared, she kicked and struggled to free her ankle. She managed to break free, breaching the surface, gasping for air. 

***

A few more moments of deafening silence went by, and Luke looked to Grant. Pip growled at the darkness, showing his teeth. The sound of shifting a stone, followed by a scream got their attention. "Claire are you okay?" The sound of a splash echoed off the stone walls, and Luke looked back into the well.  The flashlight swung freely as if there were no weight attached, the light dancing off the water. "Claire?"

The water broke, and Luke heard gasping, struggling. Grant and Craig called out to her again, while Pip barked wildly. "Grant, Craig, anchor me."

Both men grabbed hold of the cabling. Slick and cold within his hands, he heard splashing and gasping again, spurring his movements to reach the bottom.  Releasing his grip, Luke slid into the darkness, the dim light leading the way. "Claire?"

He heard her gasp again. Her head broke through the water. She seemed to be struggling to stay afloat. "Hang on, Claire, I'm almost there." He watched the water break again and then there was silence. "Claire?" When he got no response, Luke released his hold and let himself slide into the water below. Cold, the water enveloped him quickly, his muscles screaming from the shock. The water seemed to be deep, his feet not touching the bottom. Grasping the flashlight, he struggled to untie it, Confusion and worry searing his brain.

There's not that much room down here, where is she?

Not seeing any sign of Claire, he took a breath and submerged himself.  Using the flashlight, he searched the water. Shocked to see the depth of the well he found her several feet below him, long brown hair billowing around her struggling face. Luke swam to her, wrapping his arm around her waist to pull her up. Claire shook her head pointing down, and Luke saw something wrapped around her leg. Luke adjusted, tugging and pulling on what seemed to be a weed until it released its hold on her leg. Cresting the water, he gasped for air, as did she, "you okay?" Luke asked holding her tight against him. Her body cold he knew the answer. She nodded weakly.

"Claire, Luke, can you hear us?" Grant called, while Pip barked. "Yeah, we're here," Luke called back, looking to Claire. "You think you can hang on to me?" Shivering and teeth chattering, she nodded, her bright blue eyes focused and alert. "Okay let's get out of here."

Luke started his climb up the well, commanding his muscles to stay engaged. Only a few more feet and they would be out. A loud rumbled followed by the screeching of metal got his attention. "Luke!" Claire's voice, and the alarm in her eyes focused his mind. The water was rising exponentially. Luke quickened his pace. Metal. Luke stopped dead, seeing a flurry of activity above them. A metal grate had positioned itself at the top of the well trapping them. Water rising, no way out. They were in trouble.  "Grant, get us the hell out of here!"

~

That's it, that is all you get! :)
Hope you enjoyed your teaser of my upcoming release Finders!


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