You may already have heard about Sample Sunday, but if you haven’t, it’s a really neat thing that occurs within the Author Community. The basic platform of Sample Sunday, is an author will share a sample of their work on their blog, so you can stop by and get a taste of their writing. They will then also share the information on Twitter to help spread the news.
If you use Twitter, you can use the search #SampleSunday to find these mentions (or click this search link).
http://www.pixelofink.com/introducing-sample-sunday/
I haven’t participated in Sample Sunday before, but now it seems as good a time as any!
If you know me personally, you may know that I observe the Sabbath on Sunday, so I try not to do work on Sunday, including promoting my work. But with the wonders of technology, I can write my post earlier in the week and schedule it for automatic publishing on Sunday.
It looks like Ruby will be ready for publication this Monday, so it seems appropriate to post an excerpt from it:
Ruby turned over again and cuddled closer to Mike. She was cold, almost shivering. They must have been having trouble with the building’s boiler. Mike didn’t seem to notice the temperature. Ruby tried to tuck her feet under his legs to warm them up, but he shifted and moved away in his sleep. Ruby curled up in a ball. There was a noise in the hall outside the apartment, and she strained her ears trying to hear what it was. There were voices, but it was late for anyone to be out. Ruby sat up. It sounded like the voices were right outside the apartment door.
There was a crash. Ruby jumped, and so did Mike, beside her.
“What was that?” he hissed, sitting up and fumbling on the bedside table, knocking things off. There was a blinding light in Ruby’s eyes, she couldn’t open them. She covered her eyes with her hand.
“Get your hands up, Mikey!” a harsh voice screamed. Ruby tried to squint through her fingers to see what was going on. All that she could see was the light pointing at her eyes. She tried to shade her eyes from the light and turned aside to look at Mike. He was frozen, one hand on the nightstand, grasping for a gun that he must have knocked to the floor. He was as white as the sheet on the bed, his eyes wild.
“Mikey, Mikey … didn’t you hear me? I said get your hands up!” the voice screamed.
Mike slowly raised his hands. The light divided in two and one of the lights moved towards them. Mike started to lower his hands.
“Keep’em still,” the voice warned. He approached on Ruby’s side of the bed. Ruby cowered back, trying to avoid him. She could just barely see his outline, his shadow, behind the light. He reached towards her. Ruby tried to avoid his grasp. He wrapped his fingers around her long, blond hair and jerked her towards him. Ruby winced in pain and couldn’t resist.
“This your girlfriend? She’s very cute.”
“Leave her alone,” Mike said shakily.
The hand in her hair jerked again, hard. Ruby choked back a cry. The light that the man was holding went out. Then there was a gun pressing against her temple. Ruby held her breath and tried not to blink her eyes, hoping that she wouldn’t cry.
“How’d you like us to kill her, Mikey?” the voice taunted. “What do you think of that?”
Mike swore quietly.
“Please …”
For more, you’re just going to have to get the book! Watch for it next week!
