August Book Update

Okay, first off, I want to say I LOVE the horse in this week's blog graphic- he reminds me of the horse in the story I ended up writing 14 years ago when I first tried to write Rescue. Second, the first draft of Rescue is finished! If you read last week's post, you already knew that. But not everyone sees every post, so I'll mention it again lol.

I finished Rescue just at the right time. Whenever I finish a story, I like to put it away for a few weeks before I start edits. It just so happens, we are on vacation this week (keep an eye out on Facebook & Instagram for some photos). So I can really spend my 'book break' not thinking about my book. I'll probably be daydreaming about the next story while I'm lounging on the beach.

Once I get back again, the real work will start. I have some big changes in mind for the manuscript, so I need to go over it & make everything still make sense. I'll have to take out scenes that are unnecessary (do I really need two goose attack scenes? Maybe not...but I probably won't take them out lol), and add some new ones in to fill in plot holes. I learned a lot about the characters while I was writing, so I'll have new details to put in about them. Once I get all the big-picture editing done, I'll be moving on to the line-by-line polishing to make each paragraph & sentence as good as it can be. Finally, I'll be proofreading. Once that's all done, it might be ready for someone else's eyes.

As usual, here is an excerpt- the complete chapter three. It's the first draft, so will certainly be subject to major changes. I hope you enjoy!

Chapter Three

Paige pulled herself up from the dash of her sister’s truck as it bounced to a stop. She looked out the window at all of the animals and people milling around, and tried not to vomit at the combination of the bright light and the sudden onslaught of feelings and images from what seemed like every animal in the area. Jess had already stopped at the office just inside the gate to register as a bidder, and she’d pulled up closer to the barns to park.

“Why am I here instead of Mom?” she asked.

Jess lit another smoke and took a drag. “She had other shit to do today.”

“Does she know I’m here with you?”

Jess shrugged and blew smoke rings out the window. “Doesn’t matter. Also, the last few horses we brought home ended up having some major issues. Like, we couldn’t do anything with them and one of them even had be be euthanized. So, I was hoping maybe you’d be able to do a little check up on the prospects for us before we buy them?”

Paige winced as another wave of nausea hit her. She spotted a pair of mules being unloaded from a trailer near one of the barns. She squinched her eyes shut, wishing she’d remembered to grab her sunglasses. Although they wouldn’t do her much good with the migraine that was settling in.

“I don’t know how much help I’ll be. I’ve got a massive migraine and I can hear the thoughts of every animal in the yard here. Mom’s an animal communicator too. How did she miss it?”

Jess stubbed out the cigarette and rolled her eyes at Paige.

“You know goddamn well she’s no animal communicator- you’re the one who outed her in the first place.”

“I didn’t mean to- I was twelve. I had no idea she was only pretending. But it’s not like anyone believes that I can talk to animals, so…”

“Yeah, I caught that on Captain Dumbass’ note,” Jess spat. “Anyway, I believe in your ability. When we were growing up and you beat me at every horse event, it was fucking annoying. But now, I’m gonna exploit your gift to save some horses. Okay?”

Paige felt she’d spun around in circles for five minutes. “I’d be happy to re-gift this to you, you know?”

Jess climbed out of the truck. “Come on, sis. Let’s go look for horses to save. Looks like the horses are starting to go through already.”

Paige clambered out of the pickup to try to keep up with her sister. Jess power-walked to the horse barn, dodging people leading goats and sheep and cattle. Paige stumbled along, feeling groggy and clumsy from her migraine and all of the thoughts and feelings that weren’t hers. She stopped for a moment to try and collect herself and block the chatter, but her migraine flared even sharper.

“C’mon, Paige!” Jess called.

Paige opened her eyes to see Jess waiting at the doorway of the barn, motioning for her to follow. Paige put her hand up.

“You go on in. I need a minute.”

Jess threw up her hands and disappeared into the barn. Paige sighed. She knew Jess wasn’t trying to be a jerk on purpose. She was just extremely passionate about saving horses from terrible fates and rehoming them to happy homes. Normally, Paige would be happy to help, but today was not the day. She had more on her mind than saving horses. And Jess was a fabulous horsewoman, so there was no real reason she needed Paige with her.

Paige closed her eyes again and pressed her fingers against her forehead, willing the pain to leave her alone, at least for now. She was sure she looked like a total weirdo, and could hear peoples’ annoyed huffs as they brushed by her. But she was afraid she’d vomit if she opened her eyes to move somewhere out of the way.

Someone-well, actually a large goat- finally did ram into her and nearly knock her over.

“Sorry,” the person leading it said, not sounding sorry at all. “You were right in the way and this guy don’t steer too well.”

Paige rolled her eyes behind her eyelids that she still had squeezed shut. “Don’t worry about it,” she mumbled. “And don’t worry, I’m just fine.”

The person made a disgusted noise and was gone.

“Hey, it’s you again. Are you okay? You feeling the effect of your crash today?” a semi-familiar voice said.

Color-changing hazel eyes (yes, they’re hazel now. Don’t forget to go back to chapter one and change it. Paige spends time trying to decide if Jake’s eyes are green, brown, or gold, and he thinks she’s staring at his scar) and a scarred face flashed through her mind. When she was able to pry her eyes open, Jake was standing there, holding a wide-eyed, emaciated chestnut mare. The mare was so filthy and skinny Paige’s jaw dropped. Before Paige could ask about the horse, she felt a wave of absolute terror and despair come from her.

The mare reared up, jerking Jake backwards. He managed to hang onto the horse, but she suddenly charged ahead, dragging Jake after her. He struggled to get her under control, trying to keep her from running over the other people or animals in the area. The mare snorted and rose on her hind legs again, narrowly missing Jake’s arm.

Paige put all of her focus on the mare. She had no idea how she was able to put aside the pain from her migraine to do it. Maybe her brain knew how important it was for the moment. She forced herself to feel perfectly calm and peaceful, and pushed the feeling out to the mare. At the same time, she imagined the mare calming down and walking quietly.

The mare hauled on the lead one last time, and yanked free of Jake’s hands. Paige thought she heard him curse as the rope dragged through her hands, and she winced imagining the burn. The mare trotted to Paige and dropped her head, pressing it into her chest. Paige gently took the lead line, and kept breathing calmly, trying to help the mare share the feeling. The mare huffed softly, and the terror and desperation began to lessen.

“Yesterday you were a deer whisperer, and today you’re a horse whisperer, huh?”

Jake stalked up to them, looking furious. When he reached them, the terror flared again, and even with Paige pushing every bit of calm she muster out to the mare, it didn’t do any good. Jake’s scarred face was bright red and twisted in anger. A crowd of people had stopped what they were doing to see how the scene played out, and Paige caught a glance of Jess stalking over from the barn.

Jake snatched the lead from Paige’s hand. “Thanks,” he said shortly. “I’ve got to get her to the ring.”

He jerked on the lead, and the mare pranced after him. Paige wanted to run after him and tear a strip off him for letting the poor mare be in that condition, but her feet seemed to have grown roots and she couldn’t move. All she could door was stare at the mare. Before they went into the barn, the mare glanced back at Paige.

Help me.

The words jolted Paige so hard she collapsed to the ground. Jess practically flew the last few steps to her, and the audience gasped and pressed closer.

“I’m fine. I just need some space…”

Paige could hardly see, the migraine was so painful now.

“You heard her!” Jess snapped, her voice sounding miles away. “Back it up, people. She’s all right. She’s not feeling well today. I’ve got it under control.”

Paige heard footsteps moving away, and she sensed a bigger space around her. Then Jess’ arm was around her shoulder, tugging at her to help her up. As she struggled to her feet, Paige opened her eyes and saw Jake and the mare standing there, Jake’s eyes wide. Paige scowled at him, and he turned away.

“I have to get that mare,” she croaked.

Jess looked in the direction of the barn and made a face.

“I think that horse is a little too much for the rescue. It’s gonna take way more work than we can manage. And she’s in pretty poor shape-“

“Not for the rescue. For me. I have to buy her.”

The mare’s help me ran through her head again. It was the first time a horse had ever communicated in actual words. And it was the first time an animal had actually ever pleaded for her help.

Paige could tell by the tone of Jess’ “Oh” that her sister wasn’t on board. “Well, you’ll have to go get registered to bid. But you’ll have to hurry- there aren’t a lot of horses today, and they’re already going through them. And the kill buyers are here today, so if you don’t get her in the ring, you’re gonna way over pay out back in the pens to save her from them.” (research a little on how this works, okay? And then explain briefly how it works)

Paige nodded and did her best to push the migraine aside so she could focus on her trek back to the office. A starving, neglected half-wild horse was about the last thing Paige needed right now. Especially now. But she couldn’t bear to let a horse go when it actually asked her for help.

That's it for this week! I hope you're having a good summer so far, and are having plenty of chances to get some reading in! For next week's post, I may try a bonus scene from someone else's point of view. Who's POV would you like to see? Jake? Jess? Stephen? Let me know here, or on my FB or IG page!