Sample Sunday - Ties That Bind

By
Today's #SampleSunday is taken from Chapter 9 of TIES THAT BIND.  Madison Knight and her partner are at a bar named The Weathered Rose to find out some information on the first victim.

The Weathered Rose was a pub-style bar that dated back to the seventies based on layout alone.  An oak bar lined the one wall, backed by a gold-speckled mirror that showcased alcohol bottles on glass shelves in front of it.  There were two tiers in the bar full of tables and chairs.  At one end of the elevated level, mounted flat-screen televisions broadcasted sporting events while patrons watched with a pitcher of beer and a plate of wings. 
A couple of older men played pool on a table with red cloth and quarter slots.  They both appeared to be in their late sixties and intent on the game they were playing.  The one had a head of white hair and the other had very little on top of his head, but a substantial paunch that pressed against the table when he took a shot.  He didn’t seem to notice and it told Madison he had probably been overweight most of his life and was comfortable with who he was.
A working jukebox pumped music into the cacophony of sounds.  The smell of fresh beer mingled with wings, and garlic bread saturated the place.  An underlying scent of cigarettes scratched at Madison’s sinuses.  Most places had long conformed to the new norm of banning smoking; this must have been one of the last establishments not to.  On quick survey of the room, not many took advantage of the option to light up.  There was limited smoke in the air.
“Who names a bar the Weathered Rose anyway,” Madison said.
“Heck, I don't know.”
She glanced over at Terry who continued to look over the place.  “Although here I am speaking to a man who named his dogs Todd and Bailey.  Sounds like people names to me.” 
“Maddy, what do you know?  If you would just take my advice and get yourself one.  Everyone's different and they have their own personalities.  Some people even give them middle names.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me.  On both counts.  First of all, they've got four legs, they stink, they drink out of the toilet bowl, and you told me they eat their own sh−”
“You can't hold that against them.”
“Oh yes I can.”  She scrunched up her face in disgust.  “And speaking of unsavory, it’s not that high class in here.”
“Yet you tell me I state the obvious.”
She punched his arm.  He pretended to act like it hurt.  “Always the smart ass.” 
He steepled his hands and bent forward but stopped short of a full bow.  “My master has taught me well.”  
______

Comments

Post a Comment

Thank you for taking the time to make a comment.

Popular posts from this blog

When Family Doesn't Support Your Writing

By
If you can empathize with the title of this post, then you're not alone.  So many writers, myself included, can honestly say they have family members who don't support their writing.  Some may go so far as to tell you they don't even want to hear about what you're working on, what you've done, what your goals are.  That hurts. But think about it this way, in some ways is writing any different that an other life decisions your family may not agree with?  I'm sure, if you're like me, you get very defensive when it comes to your writing.  In fact, I'm not going to deny that it places an iron wedge in the relationships.  After all, if your focus in life is your writing, and they ask so what have you been up to ...what are you supposed to do lie, remain quiet, answer another way even though you're so excited about your current WIP you'd tell a stranger?  Ticking clocks are heard in the background while you decide.
Read more

A Big Decision...

By
Image
For those of you who know me, and follow me on Twitter, you may be aware that I’ve been debating whether to pursue publishing traditionally, or take the plunge and self-publish.  With all the “buzz” on the internet, and after great consideration, I have decided to go ahead and self-publish. I had asked myself, does this mean I’m giving up ?  And, the answer is irrevocably no.  Self-publishing used to carry a type of stigma that somehow labelled the work as adhering to a lower standard, but things have changed.  Authors are taking pride in their work like never before, and just because of the increasing ease to self-publishing, they’re not allowing this to affect the quality. In making my decision, I also considered the fact that just because a book is published traditionally it doesn’t mean that it will meet with success.  Many self-published books have received awards, honourable mentions, and have met with even more-than-modest sales.  In fact, there’s ...
Read more

Write What You Love

By
We've all heard the advice, write what you know.  There's been a lot of debate over this piece of advice.  Some see it as valid direction while others argue that there wouldn't be any books if we just wrote what we know.  For example, how many mystery novels are written by real-life detectives?  And, I guess that advice is null when it comes to fantasy genres, and historical fictional works.  No fairy from Neverland wrote a book, and no one from over a hundred years ago can write a book currently.   But, this doesn't mean that we can get sloppy, in fact more work is involved, and this is why writing what we love supersedes all, in my opinion.  How else would we get motivated, and stay motivated to see a novel through to the end? In fact isn't it love for what we’re writing what pushes us through to the conclusion even when we may find the interest in our book weaning, or through the rough middles?  Isn't it the love for what we're writing that f...
Read more