Category: WIP (Page 11 of 16)

All Things Scary on Lightning Quick Reads this Month

October 11, 2015 / Katie L. Carroll

I’m switching it up this month for my short story post on the Lightning Quick Reads blog. Instead of another Tales from the Field soccer story, I dredged up and revised an old scary story I had written some years ago. I’m not at all into horror (books or movies), so it’s more of a thriller than anything else.

(For a more comprehensive lists of the many things that freak me out, stay tuned for tomorrow’s Ripples in the Inkwell post about fears.)

Here’s a sneak peek at the new tale:

Guardian Angel by Katie L. Carroll

The strange whooshing sound would have woken Serafina if she had been asleep. But she never slept well when her parents were out for the night. At the age of 16, she was far too old to be scared of the dark, but that didn’t keep her from leaving the TV on in her room all night long, door closed tight against the world.

At first Sera thought the sound was from the TV, which droned on in the background while she read in bed. She had avoided the psychological thriller on her nightstand in favor of a romance novel because she was in the mood for something light, or so she told herself.

She muted the TV and titled her ear toward the bedroom door. “Whoosh…whoosh. Whoosh…whoosh.” It was muted and slow, like it was coming from outside.

I wish Addie had been able to stay over tonight, Sera thought as she played with the silver cross around her neck.

Instead her best friend had ditched her for a date. Understandable—Sera would have done the same if the roles had been reversed—but she could have used the company.

Underarms damp with sweat, she threw off the covers and slipped out of bed, her bare feet sticking loudly with each step on the laminate floor. The door opened in silence, and Sera barely breathed. She clutched the molding and peeked down the hall.

“Whoosh, whoosh. Whoosh, whoosh.” It was louder than before, and coming at a more rapid pace.

Down the other end of the small ranch house, light spilled from the kitchen doorway. Sera’s heart thumped in her chest; she hadn’t left on any lights aside from the one in her room.

Maybe my parents are home early, she wondered…she hoped.

But then she would have heard the groan of the old garage door. Surely they would have come to check on her by now. Or at least the sound of them having a nightcap would be floating down the hallway instead of the “whoosh, whoosh” that continued to grow louder and faster.

An unearthly breeze blew back her hair and tickled the tiny hairs on her arm, raising goose bumps all over her body. Oddly, the cross felt hot against her cold skin…

To see how the story ends, hop on over to Lightning Quick Reads.

The Importance and Unpredictability of Introspective

October 5, 2015 / Katie L. Carroll

Remember how I mentioned last week that I’ve been very introspective in my thinking (it’s totally okay if you don’t remember…I just thought this was a good way to start the post)? Part of that is because I’ve been so busy in my life that I haven’t had the time or energy to be extrospective.

(Okay, totally made up that word…but it totally should be a word…nonintrospective isn’t really right because it implies a lack of thought…I’m more talking about keeping thoughts inside vs. expressing them, hence extrospective…digression over!)

The other part that’s kept me introspective is where I’m at in my creative process, which is revision. I’ve been going through all the great feedback I have from my in-person critique group, my beta readers, and the professional feedback I’ve gotten for my WIP YA thriller (right now titled BLACK BUTTERFLY).

So I’ve been thinking a lot about what the story still needs and what feedback is working and what isn’t resonating with me. It’s a lot of decision-making, and it’s tough on the ego to be working through the criticism, even though it’s all done in a professional, constructive manner. After all, the revision process is all about facing what you wanted to do with a story and haven’t yet accomplished or realizing that what you wanted to do with the story in the first place maybe isn’t the best thing for it…not easy!

Often when I’m working out some tricky thinking in my own head, I turn outward to help sort through the thoughts. But, surprisingly, I’ve turned inward in this case. It’s like I have to hold all those thoughts and feelings close in order to really experience and figure out how to move forward. Expressing them would ruin them before they can turn into whatever it is they need to be, so I continue to hold them close until they’re ready (the whole pregnant and birthing analogy would be apt here, and like pregnancy and child-birthing, it’s exhausting).

All that physical and mental busyness leaves less room for other things, mainly blogging, Twitter, Facebook, exercise (though I do a lot of walking with the boys), and even reading. The number of books I’ve read this year is way down from last year and also below my adjusted yearly goal.

I didn’t expect or plan to step back from those things (and haven’t entirely ignored them), but it’s what happened. And I’m allowing myself to be okay with that. Because I’m allowing the other things I’m doing and thinking about that are more important (no offense to my Internet peeps!) to take priority. The unpredictability of life and the creative process are what makes my life and work exciting, and it also fuels my stories.

What exciting or unexpected things have you been doing lately?

Busy Living Life

September 28, 2015 / Katie L. Carroll

As the days get shorter and shorter, I always have this impending sense of urgency to get out and enjoy the sun and fresh air before winter comes. Which means I’ve been busy, busy, busy getting outside with the boys and living life in general.

Plus I’ve been working on planning out my last (I hope) big revision of my YA thriller BLACK BUTTERFLY. I’ve also been really introspective in my thinking and haven’t felt the need to put my thoughts down here or anywhere on the web. I may blog about this next week, but in the meantime, what have you all been up to lately? Here’s what we’ve been up to (in pictures!).

Oh, and I almost forgot, I’ve got a local event coming up in a couple of weeks at the Farmington, CT Library. Details on my homepage.

Updates, Getting Back into the Writing Groove, and a Call for Guest Posts

September 9, 2015 / Katie L. Carroll

First off, my guest blog schedule is pretty wide open for the fall, so I’m definitely looking for guest posts to come my way. If you have a book coming out or an older one you’d like to promote, I’d love to have you on the blog. I prefer a post with some original thoughts (though it could be a post that’s been posted elsewhere) as opposed to something purely promotional.

You don’t have to be published or even a writer to guest post either. I’d love some short, fun posts about anything to do with writing, reading, the creative process, or whatever interesting ideas you might have. Hit me up on my contact page if you’re interested or mention it the comments with an easy way to contact you!

Okay, back to our regularly scheduled post…

So technically it’s still summer (and it certainly feels like summer this week here in CT), but school’s already back in session and the air and earth are starting to get that fall feel and smell to it. That means my non-summer schedule has started and with it comes more writing time. Yay!

Though I certainly have enjoyed all the fun times we’ve been having this summer and all out outside time, I’m definitely looking forward to sinking my teeth back into my writing projects.

In particular I’ve been chomping at the bit to get back to revising my YA thriller. Even with beta reader feedback coming in (and those ever-present doubts are rearing up, making me questions my abilities to pull off what I’m trying to accomplish with this story), I’ve never been so excited about the thought of sending a piece of writing out. So I’m hoping to ride this wave of confidence to the finish line and get to submitting it soon.

After that I don’t have any set plans on what I’ll be working on next. It’s a freeing and exciting feeling. I love the prospect of starting something new (or possibly digging back into something I put away for awhile but may come back to soon). The world is wide open at this point for me.

So how was everyone’s summer? What are your plans for the fall?

Spring 2015 in Pictures and the Final Push to Summer Relaxation

June 23, 2015 / Katie L. Carroll

I’ve got another week and half until I make it through a few final obligations and can begin to relax a little this summer. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining about having so many authory type things to do this year. I’ve had a wonderful first half of the year with book events, school visits, library talks…it’s been inspirational!

…But I really need a break. I finished the draft of Black Butterfly, but I have a few lingering things I need to work on before it can go out to beta readers. And I have some subbing I’d like to do for another project I’ve had in my pocket for awhile. Those things have been put on hold with the author craziness that was this spring. So in the spirit of getting stuff done (and I did check off one very big item on my to-do list just yesterday), here is spring 2015 in pictures. Enjoy!