I had the first installment complete and published on Amazon Kindle. But after the second installment was written, and after going to a writer's conference and speaking directly with Chip McGregor (of McGregor Literary Agency), I started working on a revision. And instead of having two installments completed, I now have one... which is over 75,000 words. I have been working on it 15-20 minutes at a time on my lunch hour (lunch 30-minute break), but I worked all day yesterday on it. I can really tell the first part is almost perfected (because I have edited so many times). The second part still needs some polishing, but I plan on submitting to a publisher again.
In light of that, I'm going to add a little excerpt from the book right here.
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“Hello?”
“Um, hello… Is this Annie Phillips?” The male voice on the
other end asked.
“May I ask who’s calling please?”
“Well,
this is Ben Marshall. I’m looking for Annie Phillips, the sister of one of my
employees.”
“Who is your employee?”
“My employee’s name is Piper Phillips, and she left this
number to call in case of an emergency, Ma’am. If you aren’t Annie Phillips,
I’m sorry for bothering you.”
“No, Mr. Marshall. I am
Annie Phillips.”
“Ms. Phillips, I’m calling about your sister.”
“What happened? And, call me Annie, please, but is Piper
okay?”
“Ms. Phillips, um, Annie, that’s why I’m calling. Piper has
had some, let’s say, struggles, lately, and she gave me explicit instructions
to call only you if I hadn’t heard from her for a period of time… and that time
has passed. I’m sorry that I really don’t know what else to say. All I can tell
you is that she hasn’t been at work all week, and I haven’t heard from her,
either, and that is what’s concerning
to me.”
“Well, why didn’t you call me before today, Mr. Marshall?”
“Annie,
please call me Ben. I am only following Piper’s instructions, and I’m sorry,
but she had specific requests.”
“Okay… Mr., Ben… Okay… Alright, Ben, are you telling me
that my sister is…missing?”
“Well, yes, Annie, I am telling you that I believe
that Piper is missing. I don’t know that for sure, but I haven’t heard from her
for a week, and it appears her cell has been disconnected.”
“Ben, I’m going to have to call you back. Please give me your
number… Is this your cell phone number, or is it a work number?”
“This is my work number I’m calling from, but I will give
you both numbers.”
Annie thanked him for his call, told him she would call him
back in a few minutes, and they hung up.
Think! Think!
She didn’t even know where to begin.
Just then, the doorbell pierced the silence, Chuckles
barked excitedly, and Annie walked slowly to the door. Trying to compose
herself, she unlocked the door and opened it to see Spiderman and couple of
ballerinas.
“Trick or treat!” They screeched.
Annie
attempted to smile and mindlessly threw some candy in their bags. After the
kids ran back to their parents, she closed and locked both doors. She went back
into the kitchen and leaned on the cabinet.
What happened to Piper? What should I
do? My cell phone! Where is it?
Chuckles had followed her and now lay by her
feet.
She grabbed her purse, found her cell phone, and dialed
Patty’s number as fast as she could. When her sister said “hello,” Annie couldn’t
utter any words before the sobs started coming from deep inside.
“Pip? What is it? Pip, you’re scaring me.”
“Okay… Okay…”
She explained the story Ben Marshall conveyed to her when
he called, and then she asked what they were going to do. Of course, Patty,
too, was at a loss. Obviously, someone was going to have to make the trip to
Boston and search for Piper.
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And that's all for now...
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