Tuesday Teaser – Pier Cove

Good Tuesday morning! It’s time for a Tuesday Teaser. Pier Cove is coming soon, so, here’s a little teaser of what’s inside the covers.

Marley turned as the bell over the door jingled happily. The man coming in wasn’t unfamiliar to her. She’d met him once or twice at the Marina when she ate dinner. He was a nice looking man, in possibly his mid thirties. The corners of his eyes had what she called, ‘sun wrinkles’ which told her that he spent a lot of time in the sun. She smiled as he walked up to the counter as though he had a purpose other than just browsing. If Marley remembered correctly, it was the first time he’d been in the store since she opened it.
“Good morning. Can I help you, uh…” Marley hated it when she forgot someones name.
“Liam, Liam Masterson, owner of the Marina. We met at the restaurant.” Liam said with a friendly smile.
“Oh, yes, Liam. Sorry. I’m horrible with names.” Marley said with a giggle. “SO, Liam, what can I help you with?”
“Well, Mr. Searcy came into the restaurant a few minutes ago and said you’d put out an old ship’s wheel. I’d love to take at look at it.”
“Sure. I just found it this past weekend. I couldn’t believe nobody hadn’t already snatched it up.” Marley said as she walked around the end of the counter and led him to the section of the store that held mariner type items. “Here it is.”
Liam stepped up to the shelf and took a good look at it. “May I pick it up?”
“Be my guest.” Marley said happily. “It’s the original patina also. I think it’s in good shape for it’s approximate age.”
“I’m thinking it is possibly early to mid 1900’s.” Liam said as he continued to look at the wheel.
Marley tilted her head in surprise. “You know your antiques.” She was impressed.
“Just when it comes to things of the sea.” Liam laughed at her surprised look. “What? I’m a anything to do with the sea fanatic.”
“I love the sea.” Marley said, then she remembered what the two older men had said earlier. “And on that note, is it true there’s a missing treasure just out from the harbor?”
Liam lifted his eyes from the wheel to stare at her. “Rumor has it that the treasure was never found. I’m skeptical at best. Why? Do you dive too?”
“Yes, several items in this store were found on my dives.” Marley pointed at a picture on the wall of her holding up several gold coins she found while diving off the coast of Georgia. “So, if someone was wanting to dive over the wreckage, who would they see about that? Is it forbidden or protected?”
“They’d come see me. I take out divers all the time. Sometimes I dive too. It’s according to my mood when I go out.” Liam crossed his arms across his chest, looking at the woman standing in front of him. “Are you dive certified?”
“Have been for years?” Marley said, standing a little straighter as she saw the doubt in his eyes. “I know what I’m doing, so don’t be afraid of that.”
“So, would you take me out to the wreckage?”
“I don’t think it’s a good idea. That wreckage is unstable and besides that, as I said, I’m skeptical. My best guess is that the treasure is a myth started by someone years ago to make people come to the harbor.”
“I’ve dived many old wrecks that were unstable. I’m more than capable to be cautious. Would you think about it?” Marley saw that pushing this man wouldn’t get her anywhere.
“I’ll think about it. As I said, the wreck is unstable and shouldn’t be explored. Leave well enough alone and if there is a treasure, which I highly doubt there is, just leave it be.” Liam picked the ships wheel back up. “But I’ll make a decision on this now. Sold.” He grinned as he followed her to the counter. She was a nice looking woman, but he had a bad feeling about taking her to the old wreckage.
“You made a good choice. This was a great find.” Marley said as she entered his purchase in her sales system.
“I know just where I’ll hang it too. There’s a spot just to the right of my kitchen window where it will look good.” Liam gave Marley his credit card and looked around while she swiped the car. “I’m glad someone revitalized this store. I remember when it was a bait shop, but that was when I was a small boy. It’s been a general store, craft store and one person put a fine art store in here, but that didn’t last too long.”
“It’s a great location. I lucked up by getting it and the apartment upstairs solved my housing issue.” Marley said, then she handed him the slip to sign.
Liam signed the slip, then looked back up at the woman behind the counter. “You seem too young to be into antiques.”
“You’d be surprised.” Marley placed his receipt in the slot on the cash drawer.
“Most likely. I’ll give it some thought about taking you to dive the wreck. But please, do some research before you do. I just think it will be a waste of your time. Not to mention the instability of the wreckage. It’s dangerous and I’d hate for you to get hurt.”
“I’ll do some research. As you said, it could be a waste of time.” Marley said, mainly to placate this man that seem determined not to let her dive the wreck. And as he said, it could be a waste of time, but she’d still look into it. If there was a chance that the treasure existed, she planned on checking it out. This could be the find of a lifetime.
“Glad you’re sensible.” Liam said with a satisfied smile. “I’m going to hang this now. Will you be coming by the restaurant later?”
Marley shrugged, “We’ll see. Maybe.”
“If you do, I’ll take you to see this on the wall.” Liam said as he put his card up and picked up his purchase. “And tonight is chowder night? You don’t want to miss it.”
“I’ll make an effort to come then.” Marley nodded as he walked out the door. She watched him walk past the front windows. He was such a nice looking man. A thrill went down her spine as she thought about seeing him again. There was something about Liam that pulled her in.
As she continued to work that day, she decided to ask Liam to take her diving somewhere other than the wreck. Maybe if he saw that she was an experienced diver, then he’d take her to the wreck. With that decision made, she went up to her apartment to freshen up before she walked to the Marina for dinner.
It was already bustling with people when she arrived. The hostess seated her near a window overlooking the marina. She ordered the chowder and a small caesar salad. As she waited for her food, she saw Liam come into the dining room. He took her breath away as he smiled at one of the people at the front table. His blue eyes seemed to twinkle, which was so cliche’, but it was true. His presence made everyone smile. She noticed several people wave at him and acknowledge him. He was well liked here in Wishful Harbor.
When Liam looked her way, he smiled at her, then started walking in her direction. “I’m glad you decided to come for chowder night. You won’t be disappointed. It’s my great grandmothers recipe.” Liam said as he gestured at the opposite seat. Marly nodded her approval, so he sat down.
“I love the view of the harbor. It’s so peaceful.” Marly looked out across the harbor and sighed.
Liam watched her face, unable to speak for a moment. She had the kind of beauty that wasn’t over the top, it was just simple and nice. “I agree. The sunset is amazing from here. Sometime you’ll have to go with me for a sunset ride across the harbor.”

Ok that was just a small snippet from Pier Cove. Keep looking for the release date that’s coming soon. This is the fourth book in the Wishful Harbor Series. Each book of the series can be standalone or together. Fall in love with the small seaside town of Wishful Harbor and all of it’s citizens.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

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When editing draws blood…

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Good Monday morning! As writers, we have to make decisions that hurt. When editing our hard work, we have to cut out parts that took hours to type. But it’s necessary to make the manuscript flow. It hurts…

Not long ago, I was working on my manuscript and something felt wrong. But I couldn’t figure it out. The more I wrote into one part, the worse it felt. About three chapters into the bad feeling, I did something that most writers face, I deleted three whole chapters. I really think my fingers bled as I did it.

The fact was, once I deleted the three chapters and started back up writing, it felt right. Although I’d deleted over 6000 hard earned words, my manuscript started to flow again. It was worth the pain and agony of deleting those words.

Sometimes as writers, we do things that don’t make sense. We make mistakes, we correct them, then we move one. But there is one thing for certain, with every red slash of an editors pen, a little piece of us grows stronger. The editors red mark lets us know that the story goes on, even without the deleted words.

So, edit without mercy and write with intention. It’s in a writers blood to continue with the story. Never give up and never surrender even when the red slash of the editors pen rips your heart into pieces.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

P.S. Here’s a link to the book I spoke of above. It hit the top 100 on Amazon in the first three days!

Sweet, Inspirational Romance…

Changing can make all the difference…

Alright, you’ve got the first draft completed and you feel satisfied that it’s just as you want it, then it hits… DOUBT!!!

Have you been there? If you’re a writer, you’ve been there. It’s that nagging feeling that something didn’t work in the story. But, if you dig in, will you find more that’s wrong. If you feel this way now, please follow your gut. Dissect it now or get dissected later!

This is the time to dive in with both feet and take the story apart, chapter by chapter, or plot by plot. Just make sure that you have a beginning, middle and ending. Make sure that each separate part of the story has a rise to the climax, then ease it back down, but each part builds up to the final climax. Give it the time and work it needs to make your doubt go away.

Changing even something small can make all the difference. I’ve gone back into a first draft and only changed a minor plot hole, but it made a huge difference in the flow of the story. But I’ve also gone in and taken out whole chapters, whole chapters! Ouch, that hurts! But, you’ve got to do it.

Our goal as a writer is two fold in my eyes. The first side is getting the story out of your heart and on the paper. The second side is making your reader get excited, cry, laugh, sigh, or simply get lost in the story that you wrote. You want to take them to another world, the world you created. Now, get cracking, that story won’t write itself!

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Take your reader on an unforgettable adventure!