THE PRINTED WORD

Way back in November I participated in the50k word endeavour known as National Novel Writing Month and won. One of my prizes was a code to get a free proof copy of my book off of Create Space. Well the code expired June 31, and I decided to format my manuscript and send it off. That was June 2. Four days later, the book arrived and may I say that it’s just amazing. While formatting the thing was a pain in the behind, the actual process off uploading the pdf manuscript was quite easy and having the final product in my hands in amazing! Sure somethings could be fixed, already I’ve noticed two mistakes, just from flipping through the pages but other than that I think that’s it’s great and I can now say that I’ve got one of my own books in print. ^_^ So cool. Here’s hoping that Nano offers the same goody for winning this year and that I complete the 50k in a month challenge. ^_^

END OF DAY 2

So it’s the end of day two and I’ve managed to write 5094 words of a murder mystery. My plot is very basic; a homicide detectives, her two trainees, a PI and a Psychic have to figure out why a Jane Doe would steal the identity of the lead detective before the killer figures out which Tessa Hart is supposed to be dead…

Here’s an excerpt from chapter 4

Landon glanced down at the picture and Tessa could tell that he was working over what he was going to say next. It was one of the things that she really hated about questioning suspects. Sometimes they were so scared that they clammed up completely or worse, they lawyer-ed up. On the other hand, however, sometimes the suspects spilled their life story and it was a challenge keeping their nervous babbling under control. For Tessa, she preferred people who just answered her questions directly, without all the misnomers and misinformation that just made her job more difficult. “Well?” she asked again, hoping to pull an answer from the man.

Landon sighed. “His name is Gordon O’Connor.”

Tessa smiled, knowing that she had won this tiny battle in a much bigger war.

“And what floor does he live on?” asked Grant as he pulled out his notebook, ready and willing to write down the address of their potential suspect.

“He lives on the top floor,” Landon answered with another sigh. “But it doesn’t matter, he’s right there.”

Tessa, Grant and Alison all turned in the direction that Landon was pointing. There, coming through the doors of the building was Gordon O’Connor. He was even taller in person and Tessa could not hope but notice that he was infinitely more handsome as well. He had two blondes on each arm, both of whom were dressed as though they were living the high life in some tropical country which was not the reality of the weather that they were coming in from.

“Hey Gord!” Landon called out before Tessa or her two trainee detectives could do anything to stop him. “Some people here to talk to you,”

Tessa watched as Gordon’s eyes went wide with horror and then without so much as a goodbye to the ladies on his arms, he turned and bolted. “Mason, question the girls,” Tessa ordered as she took off after Gordon. “Carr, you’re with me.”

Tessa knew that she had to find Gordon quickly and to her lucky surprise he was already in the arms of a cop, one that she already knew. “Lieutenant Pearson,”

Tessa began with a smile as she walked over to the duo. Pearson had Gordon O’Connor on the cold pavement and was in the process of cuffing him. “What are you doing here? And where’s your partner, Clarkson…”