Hail and Farewell Six Sentences

For over a year now, I've been joining the ever-growing numbers of writers posting six sentences every Sunday linked at Sara Brookes' Six Sentence Sunday. I have got to know some really wonderful writers in the process, but last Sunday for the first time the higher math of pruning my snippet failed me and I had my link disconnected for breaking the Six Sentence Barrier. I probably wouldn't have noticed that if someone had not pointed it out to me, but it made me realize that this effort, which may seem rather small to those of you blessed with abundant energy, was hard on my carpal-tunnel-damaged hands.

It also brought home how this exercise is taking some of my limited energy away from my fiction writing. In short, I don't have enough “spoons" to keep up with the six Sunday pace. If you are not familiar with the spoon theory, a good explanation is here spoon theory.

If you're in writing for the long haul or in life for the long haul, this theory can prove useful.

So this will be my last Six Sunday post. I've gained a lot from this experience, not the least of which is the habit of posting something on this blog every weekend. So if you're interested in seeing what I post here outside of the six Sunday framework feel free to follow or check in-- I always announce my posts on Twitter and Facebook and more friends are always welcome.

So here's my last snippet, as the dominoes continue to fall in Large Target. Jo has parked outside the kidnappers’ hideout when someone knocks at the window of her car.

"Admiral Rhymer, you scared the hell out of me. Get in the backseat and hunch down, they may be looking for you."

He started to scramble in and paused with one leg on the sidewalk. "How do you know who I am?"

"I threw a drink on you at a party."

"I'm sorry, you'll have to be more specific."

To those checking in from Six Sunday--write on!

Six Sentence Sunday: When Fools Rush in...

From Large Target, Jo has found the kidnappers’ hideout. Now what?

I drove a few blocks and parked on a side street. I wasn't sure what to do next. Getting killed seemed like the next logical step. The lack of sleep was catching up to me. I took a deep breath and then someone tapped on the glass. I looked up and nearly hit my head on the mirror flinching backward.

A florid face with bristly white hair and a weeks' growth of beard appeared crouching outside my window.

Dozens of other writers share sentences on Sundays. For a good time in many genres check them out at Six Sunday. If you are a writer who wants to share a snippet of your own work, the simple instructions are on the site. It's free and fun and you can meet some great people!

Celebrating a Week 52 of Six Sentence Sundays with Something Completely Different

A year ago I joined the writers at Six Sentence Sunday and started sharing six sentences from some of my novels on Sunday. Today, I'm sharing a snippet from a nonfiction ebook for writers (which just happens to be on sale at Smashwords for $1.50 during Read An Ebook Week of March 4-10. Here are six sentences from Mistake No. 10 of The 33 Worst Mistakes Writers Make About Courtroom Law:

One mistake that drives lawyers and paralegals crazy is the story where a lawyer who practices in one area of law is asked by a friend to take on a criminal defense case, because the friend wants to be defended by “someone who believes in me.”

This is nonsense because law is almost as specialized as medicine. Having a trusted lawyer friend defend you in criminal court is like having your friendly neighborhood pediatrician do your brain surgery. Trusting someone doesn’t make him or her competent in every area of the law.

Believing in the client is no substitute for knowing what you’re doing. Criminal law practices in particular are not all in the reference books, so a lawyer who has no experience would have to spend a lot of time on the phone talking to lawyers who did know that branch of the law.

This week I counted links to 170 writers sharing snippets, so for a good time feel free to join the party at Six Sunday,

Six Sentence Sunday week 51 - What salted peanuts and six sentences have in common...

Wow, it’s been nearly a year that Six Sentence Sundays have inhabited my weekends! I've met many fine writers and learned a lot about different genres. These little snippets are highly addictive!

This weekend from Large Target, Jo is at the home of the missing admiral’s daughter when she finds out that the admiral’s daughter-in-law has turned down the kidnappers' demands, claiming that they don't have a million dollars or any way to raise it. His children agree that they don't.

"Colleen told them to call back tomorrow and put the admiral on the line, so we'd better figure out how much we can offer," Ivor said.

"Would the admiral's money be enough?" I asked.

Amy turned to me and asked, "Why don't you ask Mrs. Madrone?"

"How did you know I worked for Mrs. Madrone?"

She laughed a little wildly, then put her hand over her mouth."You just told me, Jo."

Dozens of other writers share sentences on Sundays--for good time in many genres check them out at Six Sunday.

Six sentence Sunday week 50 - sometimes it's hard to be a kidnapper

From Large Target, Jo is at the home of the missing admiral’s daughter when her husband, Ivor, reports that the kidnappers have called Colleen, the admiral’s daughter-in-law, with detailed demands about the million dollar ransom.

"She turned them down."

"What?" Amy was horrified.

Ivor shook his head and reached out for his beer bottle and upended it, without getting more than the dregs. "Colleen said we don't have the money," he concluded.

I was fascinated and had to ask, "Did Colleen make a counteroffer?"

For more fun in six-sentence snippets, check out the writers at six Sunday.

Six Sentence Sunday Week 49 - a shady demand

From Large Target, Jo Fuller and the missing admiral’s daughter, Amy, find a murder victim at the admiral's cottage. the local police arrive at the cottage and Amy’s husband soon shows up with their daughter. He looks dazed and holds a folded-up cardboard windshield screen of the kind that people put on the dashboard to keep their car seats from heating up in direct sun. Jo says hello:

“This was on the outside of the windshield, under the wipers,” he said. “I folded it up to keep the kid from seeing it but I guess I should give it to the police, what do you think?"

I looked and did a double take, staring at the spray-painted, stenciled letters on the accordion-folded cardboard over the printed cartoon sun:

$1 MILL FOR ADMIRAL 7 FILES & TAPE / DO NOT CALL POLICE / RAISE $ WAIT

A policeman reading over my shoulder whistled in amazement, "Hey, Gordy, lookit this." Too late not to tell the police.

For the full buffet of six-sentence samples, check out the dozens of writers at Six Sunday.

Six Sentence Sunday Week 46 - one cottage complete with murder victim...

From Large Target, Josephine and Amy, the admiral’s daughter, go looking for him after Amy receives a suspicious phone call. The cottage where the admiral was staying is filled with an acrid smell and a foot is sticking out of the open bathroom door:

Looking around the door, I saw a man sprawled face down on the floor in a Hawaiian shirt with one outstretched hand that seemed to be reaching for a small plastic funnel-like apparatus on the floor next to him. My mind registered that it was an asthma inhaler at the same time that I realized the man was totally still, his stretching hand too stiff for sleep.

Amy gasped and pushed past me to look. "It's not Dad," she said, putting her hand to her mouth. "It's Stewart Meade.

So where was the admiral?

For more fun from dozens of writers in a wide variety of genres, check out the six-sentence snippets at six Sunday.

45th Six Sunday - Ladies and Gentlemen, our murder victim has arrived...

Josephine finally contacts the admiral’s daughter but their interview is interrupted by a strange phone call from the admiral, who seems to be in danger. They drive to the cottage where he was staying:

"Dad!" Amy called, pulling the screen door open and pushing the front door inward, and I followed her in.

There was an acrid smell in the air, unidentifiable but strong enough to make my eyes water. We walked across the cool tile floor of the living room past old-fashioned wicker furniture and bamboo blinds. That burning, choking smell was even stronger.

Something was sticking out of the half-open bathroom door. It was a man's foot, lying still, too still.

The Six Sentence Sunday writers for this weekend numbered 177 last time I checked. Lots of snippets and lots of fun at Six Sunday.

43rd Six Sentence Sunday, starting the new year with a bang...

Welcome back Six Sunday friends. I'm digressing a little from The Falstaff Vampire Files because the second Josephine Fuller book, Large Target just came out and I have to celebrate with suitable fireworks.

After a night of passion that took an unexpected turn toward dawn Josephine and Mulligan have a serious talk over breakfast. They're on Coronado Island near San Diego where automobiles rule, so she tries to lighten the mood with some car talk...

"Come on, I'll walk you to your car," Mulligan said.

As we reached the parking lot at the hotel, I decided to show off the car I was borrowing, Mrs. Madrone's Lexus. "The remote control is hooked into the alarm so it makes the most amazing sound. Listen to this," I said, whipping out the remote as we headed for the Lexus.

I pressed the button and a deafening explosion shattered the car's windows and rocked it on its tires. I jumped back against Mulligan who was already pulling me away from the hot slap of air and spatter of glass.

For a good time check out the dozens of other Six Sunday writers who will be offering up New Year's surprises in six sentence doses at Six Sentence Sunday.

42nd Six Sentence Sunday...You thought you could tell the dangerous ones

Kristin meets a mysterious huge old man in a shed. Common sense tells her to run, and yet...here are six sentences from The Falstaff Vampire Files.

You thought you could tell the dangerous ones, but you could make a fatal mistake. I knew a psychiatric nurse who guessed wrong--the patient had always been so quiet--right up until he nearly fractured her spine.

And yet when this man bowed in such a courtly way all my misgivings melted away and I took his outstretched hand, as he bent over my knuckles to kiss them in that European fashion that always causes consternation in American women. He stayed a safe arm's length away and I relaxed a little.

Despite his hair sticking up on all directions and his track suit pants with the stripe along the side that had clearly slept in, he smelled faintly of pine shavings, newly cut grass, and a faint, not unpleasant, overtone--a mushroom-like smell.

He began to cough again, at length, "Beg pardon--the dust--a quintessence of dust as the poet would have it."


All kinds of action in a wide variety of genres can be found by clicking the links to over 150 other writers' six sentence snippets at Six Sunday

Opps, for those who get automatic feed sorry for the duplicate with this not-so-small addition -Merry Christmas (next Sunday all the Six Sentencers will be taking the day off) and Happy New Year to all!

41st Six Sentence Sunday...who's delusional here?

From The Falstaff Vampire Files, just after dusk, alone in a shed just behind her ex-lover’s house, Kristin sees a huge, old man emerge from a crate. He introduces himself as Sir John Falstaff.

Falstaff did seem appropriate to his age and girth, but he had picked an unusual figure to impersonate, or fixate on--not Napoleon or Elvis--but Shakespeare's Falstaff, a character from literature! Unusual.

No harm in talking to him--he seemed harmless. Had there ever been a journal article on delusions of being a fictional character? A flicker of self-interest ran through me at the thought of a journal article on this subject, and I must have showed it in some way because he leaned toward me.

I tensed up, remembering the months when I worked in a full-fledged mental hospital.

For more fun in six-sentence snippets, check out some (or all!) of the 160 authors at Six Sunday.

40th Six Sunday sentences - Kristin considers the impossible...

From The Falstaff Vampire Files, a skeptical Kristin Marlowe tries to consider what to make of the man who has just risen up at sunset out of a crate in the shed behind her ex-lover's house.

"Sir John--sorry—I didn’t catch your last name?" I had, I just didn’t believe it.

He examined me with eyes that were bloodshot but not yellowed by the jaundice of liver disease, sighed and seemed to come to some kind of decision.

"The Bard dubbed me Falstaff, and many know that name. But most in your fair city call me Sir John. I was born John and won my knighthood on the field of battle."

For more fun from Six Sentence Sunday writers in all kinds of genres, check out this week's snippets at Six Sunday.

38th Six Sentence Sunday - an unlikely predator

Searching the shed behind Hal's house for a stolen item, Kristin finds herself confronting a man who suddenly rears up out of a crate she had thought empty. Large and rumpled with a white beard and drinker's red cheeks and nose, yet the man is eerily poised and confident,

No shaking from alcohol withdrawal as some drinkers have on arising. No, he was totally still, his eyes sharp and piercing as the eyes of a hawk, but with a most unhawk-like twinkle.

Turn and run, I thought, But I stood frozen, not so much terrified as stunned, like a small mammal suddenly confronted with a large snake.

"You can't be a dream. It's dusk and I'm awake," the man said.

For more than 150 snippets from a wide range of genres, check out the talented writers at Six Sunday

35th six sentence Sunday, sometimes it's hard to be a vampire hunter...

Back into the six sentence Sunday habit, from The Falstaff Vampire Files. Psychologist Kristin Marlowe meets a vampire hunter who has never met a real vampire:

I stopped halfway in the middle of sitting in Larry's cozy, burgundy-colored wing chair. "Did you say vampire cults?"

"Wait a minute," I said putting the name and the subject together. “Wasn’t there a Professor Van Helsing in Dracula?"

"That was fiction, but as a kid when I found Abraham Van Helsing in Dracula, I got interested in the culture," Bram said, settling back on the sofa. "Even if it were in my blood to hunt vampires there would be the small problem that really aren't any, so I have to make do."

Meanwhile over at at Six Sentence Sunday Central, upwards of 160 writers are massing for Halloween snippets Six Sunday

34th Six Sunday snippet - enter the vampire hunter

From The Falstaff Vampire Files. Therapist Kristin Marlowe is shocked to discover that the client she mainly thought of as having a vampire fixation has just got engaged to Kristin's own, younger lover, whom the client describes as a wannabe vampire. Kristin goes over to a fellow therapist's place to vent, but his door is opened by a most interesting stranger:

"I'm Abraham Van Helsing," he said over his shoulder, leading the way down the hall. "But please call me Bram. Abe just didn't suit me--Honest Abe Van Helsing sounds like an accordion-playing, used car salesman."

I laughed and felt a little better.

"Did Larry warn you about me? He can't have that that many friends who’re researching vampire cults."

For more fun in six sentence snippets check out the 160+ writers at Six Sunday, where the cover to The Falstaff Vampire Files still occupies part of the right hand frame--yay!

33rd Six Sentence Sunday...From The Falstaff Vampire Files - a little hope at the end of the day

From The Falstaff Vasmpire Files, therapist Kristin Marlowe's day goes off the rails when her client's vampire-obsessed fiance is revealed as Kristin's own younger lover. After this bombshell, she must listen to a married client whine for an hour about how he can't find "no strings attached" romantic love in the personals. Kristin walks over to a fellow therapist's house to vent and a stranger answers the door.

This man was not handsome, but commanding with unruly gray streaked dark hair cut short but starting to curl already. Startlingly black eyebrows framed penetrating green eyes with sparks of hazel. What really caught my attention was the mischievous quirk of his mouth as if he were just about to tell a great secret. I liked and trusted him instinctively without knowing why.

Of course, I’d been wrong before--witness my reaction to Hal. But something about this man drew a pang of attraction from me that was welcome in that it dulled the pain of Hal’s betrayal.

For six sentence snippets in many different genres, check out the talented writers at Six Sentence Sunday...you might happen to notice The Falstaff Vampire Files cover in the left-hand frame of that page--an appreciative "thanks and YAY!" to Sara Brookes for this opportunity!

32nd Six Sentence Sunday - When therapist and client have way too much in common

From The Falstaff Vampire Files, Kristin has discovered that her client's fiancé is her own lover.

I wouldn’t say anything till I confirmed it with Hal, but my gut told me Mina’s fiancé was my Hal. She had shyly showed me the exotic, blue diamond engagement ring Hal had found for her in some Eastern European capital and as I leaned forward to look, I noted that I had been touching the antique amethyst necklace Hal had brought back for me from his last trip. I dropped my hand as if the stones had turned red-hot. Dammit, Hal!

Now my hands were shaking and I wondered if I could make it through the next hour, the next client, who of course chose that day to be a quarter hour early.

Luther Kemper was the absolute worst client to follow Mina's announcement.

To find all kinds of action in six-sentence doses click the links to other writers' six sentence snippets at Six Sunday.

31st Six Sentence Sunday...when therapy goes terribly wrong...

From The Falstaff Vampire Files, therapist Kristin's client, Mina, explains that she's just got engaged to a man who wants to become a vampire, though she doesn't understand why:

"I'm not sure if he wants power, or if he just wants to be immortal--he's an older man--he's thirty-five."

I sat back just a little, partly to keep from smiling, remembering my own twenties when thirty-five had seemed impossibly old to me, while now, in my late forties, it seems impossibly young. Scratch that, I happened to be dating--well, sleeping with--a thirty-five-year-old man, so I couldn’t call it impossibly young.

"His name is Henry Roy," Mina said, happy to say his name.

It became very hard to breathe in my office at that moment because Henry Roy was the name of my own thirty-five-year-old lover, though everyone called him Hal.

"Everyone calls him Hal," Mina said.

For more fun in six-sentence doses check out Six Sentence Sunday where at last count 186 writers are sharing snippets in a wide array of genres.

30th week of six sentence Sunday - Vampires & Therapy

The Bookbuzzr widget provides a sample of the first chapter of The Falstaff Vampire Files, including an encounter with the Thing in the Shed. So I'm using today's 6 sentences to introduce therapist Kristin's relationship with her client, Mina:

For several months my client, Wilhelmina--Mina--has come in twice a week to talk about her fears of being stalked by vampires who wanted to make her undead. I don't believe in vampires, but something was scaring the hell out of Mina and her terror came along with her into my consulting room with a presence strong enough to make my own throat tense up. So I wasn’t prepared when Mina started off the session with a shy smile and announced, “I’m engaged!”

I smiled back and almost said, "Congratulations," but stopped myself and retreated into my therapist role and said, "Tell me about it."

She lowered her voice, "He wants to become one of them."

To sample a generous assortment of six sentence snippets from authors in a wide range of genres, check out Six Sunday

29th Six Sentence Sunday, how badly does she want her stolen property back?

Kris Marlowe ventures further into the creepy old house in The Falstaff Vampire Files.

"The corridor on the left leads to the back door," Hal had told me on my first visit. "I keep my coffin in a shed out there--did I tell you I was a vampire?"

Strange how I forgot those words until I stood on the red stone floor again and started up the chilly staircase, also red stone.

A scrabbling sound nearby made me freeze in my tracks. I stopped to listen. The house seemed to shudder like a ship in the wind.

More six sentence snippets from over 160 writers writing in all kinds of genres at http://sixsunday.com/