A Beggar’s Bargain

Let’s all welcome Jan Sikes today. She has a new story to share with us. Jan is one of my Story Empire partners, a great author, and a good friend. Check out her newest, and don’t forget to use those sharing buttons. I know Jan has done it for most of you.

***

Thank you for generously offering to turn your blog over to me today, Craig. I deeply appreciate the opportunity to talk about my new book, A Beggar’s Bargain.

Anyone who knows me knows how important music is in my life. And I am drawn to unusual musical instruments. So, for this story, I gave my female protagonist a thumb piano to play. I don’t know if any of you have ever seen this instrument, but I comes in varying shapes and sizes. It is also known as a Kalimba and is believed to have originated in Africa thousands of years ago.

Here’s a short excerpt that shows Layken Martin’s surprise when he hears her playing.

The strains of a haunting melody drifted through the open front door, followed by a mournful harmonica.

He stepped out onto the porch.

Sara Beth sat on the porch swing, Cuddles at her side. On her lap, she held an odd-looking small wooden box with an array of metal keys on which she tapped out the melody.

Uncle Seymour sat on an overturned box, blowing on a harp.

Layken stood for a long minute in wonder. He’d never thought to ask Sara Beth if she played an instrument. And that reminded him about her fascination with the radio when she’d first stepped foot in his house.

As soon as he got the crop planted and watered in, he vowed to check it out and see if it still worked.

They stopped playing, and Layken clapped. “I had no idea you both played music.”

“Me and this old harp have been friends many a year.” Uncle Seymour tapped it against his pants leg.

“What is that you’re playing, Sara Beth?”

She cast a shy glance in his direction. “A thumb piano. My mother taught me to play.”

“Well, I’ll be. Never saw one of those before. It sounded awful pretty. Will you do another?”

***

Several years ago, my late husband and I owned a small music store, and I came home from work one day to find that he’d traded something for a thumb piano. I had more fun trying to play it. What about you? Have you ever seen this instrument? Let’s talk!

Book Blurb:

A shocking proposal that changes everything.

Desperate to honor his father’s dying wish, Layken Martin vows to do whatever it takes to save the family farm.

Once the Army discharges him following World War II, Layken returns to Missouri to find his legacy in shambles and in jeopardy. A foreclosure notice from the bank doubles the threat. He appeals to the local banker for more time—a chance to rebuild, plant, and harvest crops and time to heal far away from the noise of bombs and gunfire.

Only the banker firmly denies his request. Now what?

Then, the banker makes an alternative proposition—marry his unwanted daughter, Sara Beth, in exchange for a two-year extension. Out of options, money, and time, Layken agrees to the bargain.

Now, he has two years to make a living off the land while he shares his life with a stranger.

If he fails at either, he’ll lose it all.

UNIVERSAL PURCHASE LINK:

https://books2read.com/u/3nqqEo

BOOK TRAILER LINK: https://youtu.be/G6vMqD4SuQ4?si=aZG6RCZbFlhJfuxB

 

AUTHOR’S SOCIAL MEDIA:

UNIVERSAL LINK: https://linktr.ee/Rijanjks

OR INDIVIDUALLY

http://www.jansikes.com

https://www.twitter.com/jansikes3

http://www.facebook.com/AuthorJanSikesBooks

https://www.bookbub.com/profile/jan-sikes

http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00CS9K8DK (Author Page)

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7095856.Jan_Sikes

Date night

I spent a big chunk of my day working on fiction. No new words, but things like covers, edits, and first passes over my work.

This was filled with frequent breaks, which I find helpful when making an editing pass. If I get into the tale, I tend to just read instead of taking care of business.

I used the breaks to write a couple of things for Story Empire. I scheduled one, and am holding on to the other. Since I only appear there monthly, there is no rush and I could decide to add a few things to the holdback.

Since yesterday was payday, and the bills all went through, Old What’s Her Face and I decided to go out. We went back to Sid’s Garage. We’d gone there once before, and remembered it was amazing.

This is a place with gourmet burgers that have a country flair. I started off with a huge milkshake made with cinnamon whiskey. My wife remembered the appetizers and ordered both the candied bacon and flash fried deviled eggs.

New feature here is a bit of flair. A skinny girl brought out the bacon that hung vertically from a small chain. She fired up a blowtorch at the table and worked the bacon over. Honestly, it was wonderful.

The eggs were wonderful, too. We each ordered a burger. Mine came with more candied bacon and onion rings on top, a bit of onion jelly to round things up with.

I never knew it, but my burger was one of the flair items. It appeared in the form of a small wooden trunk. The server asked if we wanted pictures before she opened it up. My wife did. When she opened the trunk, barbecue smoke went everywhere, and the bun had been branded with the Sid’s Garage logo.

We had a great time, but maybe should stay away for a few months. Otherwise, I could be remembered as the old guy that ate that gigantic hamburger.

We shared an order of garlic Parmesan fries, and those were awesome, too. In fact, Old What’s Her Face brought those home with us.

Tomorrow is all about checking in with Mom, other family things, and I might start reading a new book.

One of those weeks

I started my week fairly productively. On Wednesday, I had to attend an all day presentation, and felt like crap. I skipped breakfast, and only had a handful of nuts mid-day and managed to get through it.

That night is when the chills and aches started. They were joined by a headache. I spent the next few days as close to the toilet as possible to put it delicately.

Today came with some improvement, but the bathroom is still my best friend.

I gave writing a try this morning, but didn’t accomplish much. They can’t all be great days, I suppose.

I’m kind of regretting passing up the annual flu shot. There is no respiratory component to this, and I have no proof it is the flu, but it seems pretty familiar.

I enjoy the dive into my own worlds, but it wasn’t very productive. I might give it a shot tomorrow, depending on what else the day brings me.

If you’re writing, I wish you all the productivity I can send. I didn’t use mine and you’re welcome to it.

Let’s all welcome Mae Clair

Mae is one of my oldest author friends, and she always writes a great story. Let’s all make her feel welcome, and if you can’t pre-order her newest, make sure to use those sharing buttons. Welcome, Mae.

Hi, Craig! Thank you so much for hosting me on your blog today. I’m delighted to be here, sharing my upcoming release The Keeping Place, a dual timeline mystery which is now available for pre-order! Most readers know me as someone who loves weaving urban legends and threads of the supernatural into my stories. The Keeping Place took an entirely different turn.

Well… there is a small thread that does involve an old town legend and a ghost, but nothing that takes center stage as in my other books. This one is about relationships, and what happens to an estranged mother/daughter when the remains of the youngest daughter are discovered ten years after she disappeared. It’s more of a “quiet” mystery than what I usually write.

In the excerpt below, Nicole Seabrooke returns to her hometown of Hornwood, PA. She’s been estranged from her mother, Glory Larkin, for ten years. A former B-movie actress, Glory now owns a restaurant in Hornwood that has been in her family for generations. This is Nicole’s first glimpse of the restaurant after ten years away:

EXCERPT:

Main Street still looked the part of proverbial small-town U.S.A., with benches shaded by leafy elms, and baskets of pink and yellow petunias hanging from curved streetlamps. Even when Nicole was a kid, the town council ensured there were sufficient funds to present that storybook image. Tourists expected a welcome mat when they arrived in search of Hornwood’s leading lady.

Glory Larkin brought money to the town. From the looks of the splashy new sign on her restaurant—gold serif beside a full body silhouette rendered in black—she still did.

Nicole recognized the silhouette immediately. The shot had been lifted from the best-known scene in Fifth Street Sundown—Glory turned in profile, clutching a cat, her flirty above-the-knee skirt caught by a breeze. In the movie, she’d watched Bryce Keller’s character drive away, a pivotal cliffhanger moment leaving the audience hinged on whether her tough-cop lover would ever return.

Nicole popped the door on her Ford Fiesta and stepped outside.

Ten full years since she’d stood on this street. Since she’d spoken a word to her mother, Chelsea, or Vin. She couldn’t be sure any of her old friends still lived in Hornwood, even if she found the courage to look them up. Many people moved on, settling in Bottleneck or one of the larger towns like New Station or Codswell. Others clung to their small-town foundation. Vin always made it clear his roots were in Hornwood, much as his parents had been.

She once thought she’d loved him. Back in the days when dating was a Friday night movie with a tub of buttered popcorn at the Big Five Theater in Bottleneck. If his life had gone according to plan, she’d find him at City Hall in the police department. Instead, she chose to face a bigger hurdle and crossed the street to Glory’s Place.

Like diving into a pool of cold water, Nicole hesitated only a second before thrusting inside.

The scent of the place struck first—simmering spices, floor polish, the flowery peach blossoms of her mother’s signature scent. The hostess stand was currently empty, but several tables and booths were occupied by noonday diners. Old photos lined the walls, some dating back to when Nicole’s grandparents owned Larkin’s Restaurant. As a child, she’d once asked her mother why she’d changed the name since the business had been in her family for generations.

It’s different now, honey. My name draws people.

Nicole’s gaze swept behind the bar where publicity stills from Fifth Street Sundown were given center stage. Her mom had them produced in black and white because she thought they looked more glamorous.

Like Old Hollywood. The gilded age.

Most prominent of all was the shot of a misty-eyed Glory clutching a cat as her lover drove away.

“Be right with you.”

Nicole immediately recognized Phyllis Maren’s raspy voice. The woman breezed past carrying a tray of beverages. At the last second, she wrenched to a halt, her mouth dropping as her gaze locked on Nicole.

“By all the saints and Lettie Boone’s ghost!” The tray slipped from her hands, plastic glasses, soda, and ice splattering at her feet. She didn’t so much as flinch. “Nicole Seabrooke, is that you?”

Nicole looked from the mess to the woman who had been like a second mother. Speechless, she nodded. A second later, Phyllis swept her into her arms, blubbering on her shoulder.

“Hey, what about this mess?” someone called.

“It can wait five minutes.” Phyllis fished a tissue from her pocket and blew her nose. “Don’t you know who this is? Glory Larkin’s precious girl has come home!”

++++

As in most dual timeline mysteries, The Keeping Place delivers a mystery in the present as well as the past. I hope the blurb will tempt you further:

BLURB:
In the town of Hornwood, the past is always present . . .

Nicole Seabrooke has been wracked with guilt since the night of her younger sister’s disappearance ten years ago. Her mother, Glory, tasked her with watching over Janie. Instead, Nicole dragged her to a high school party, then failed to keep an eye on her. Police believed she drowned, but her body was never found.

A decade later, her remains are discovered.

Nicole returns to Hornwood when new evidence indicates Janie’s death may have been a homicide. With the help of Detective Vin McCain, her high school boyfriend, Nicole begins to piece together what took place the night her sister disappeared—a task that further complicates her relationship with Glory and places Nicole in the crosshairs of a killer. One who will do whatever it takes to keep the truth about Janie’s death from being revealed.

Even if it means killing again.

++++

Thanks again for hosting me today, Craig. I appreciate the opportunity to share The Keeping Place with your readers. I’ve held onto this novel for two years, uncertain how I wanted to publish it. As an author, I naturally like every book I’ve written, but The Keeping Place is my personal favorite—perhaps because it’s so different in tone from my other mysteries.

I still utilize dual timelines, but rather than having centuries between them, my timelines are separated by a mere ten years.

It’s my sincere hope readers will enjoy the story.

RELEASE DATE IS MARCH 5TH

PRE-ORDER FROM AMAZON

Connect with Mae Clair at BOOKBUB and the following haunts:

Amazon| BookBub| Newsletter Sign-Up
Website | Blog| Twitter/X | Goodreads| 

 

Chapter issues… Again

Today wound up being a great day. I started with about five pages on my current chapter. I’ve always been pretty good about keeping them in the neighborhood of ten pages.

For some reason, about the time my chapter felt like it had wrapped, I’d hit sixteen pages. I know there are no hard and fast rules, but I don’t want someone to feel like they have to stop mid-chapter to do something else.

I reread everything I had and watched for a breaking point. Wound up making a lot of corrections as I did it.

It didn’t make for a perfect ten pages, but doesn’t have to. I just don’t want to go sixteen or more for one chapter. I added the break and kept about five pages as the start of a new chapter. It works this way, and I’m glad I didn’t put too much into making everything perfect.

Word count feels really good. I have more I want to say in the story, but my old brain needs a break.

I also need to work on something for Story Empire. My next post is scheduled for Monday, so I’m good there. I have what feels like a good idea and want to rough out something while it’s all fresh in my mind. If it doesn’t post until my April slot, I can live with that.

I might get a little more time this afternoon, and while Sundays aren’t great days for writing, I can usually manage something.

Old What’s Her Face and I are talking about date night tonight. We get paid three times this month and can probably swing a decent night out.

Writing is wonderful, but sometimes we have to step out into the real world. Honestly, I’m looking forward to going out.

What are you guys doing this weekend? Are you sequestered in the writing cabin, or are you up to something more social?

Two day weekends are for the birds

I should have updated yesterday, but I’m here now. It was a good writing day, but the word count was off.

I was at one of those places where a bunch of things have to come together so I can advance the plot. There were a lot of things, and I had to refer to notes more than once to do it, but I got what I needed out of it.

I started today by checking in with Mom. We talked for about an hour or so, then Old What’s Her Face and I had breakfast. Sundays are never my best days, but I can usually get something accomplished.

Actually, the pixels flew today. I never tracked any word counts, but it feels pretty good.

I don’t want to stop, but have to. I left my story at an exciting place, and that’s always a good thing to do. If I had another day, I know I could really move this one ahead.

Now that we’re back to full weeks, with the end of the holidays, this is how it’s going to be for a while. I don’t like it, but have to accept it.

We watched Dune last night. I went to the first version back in the 80s or so and thought it was lousy, and a lame attempt to compete with Star Wars at the time.

This new movie was pretty good. It could have benefited from a good edit and losing about 30 minutes, but it wasn’t bad. Since there is a new one coming out, we both figured it was time.

Have we been so inundated with bad material that my perspective is off? That idea coursed through my mind, but we both enjoyed it, and I respect my wife’s perspective.

Did you do anything fun this weekend? I enjoy writing, but between paydays writing is about all I can afford. Good thing I enjoy it so much.

Great writing weekend

I had great fun working on plot points, paying off plants that occurred in earlier chapters, and all that jazz. However, it’s time to put things away for another week.

Sundays are never great for this, but I had Friday, Saturday, and Monday. I believe I added around 20,000 new words. Most of them are mangled and misspelled, but they’re available to be repaired.

Honestly, I hate to stop, but I have to. I’m back to work tomorrow, and don’t have any more holiday weekends to look forward to. I know I will have to use leave somewhere between here and Memorial Day just for my own sanity. I will use this time to make the pixels fly.

I’ll go with my 40 hours per week for now. Let the leave time accrue for a while, but there will come a time to burn some of it.

It must be Spring in Idaho, or thereabouts. During my time off we had sun, rain, snow, frost, and now it’s completely overcast. For those of you who have the holiday, I hope you’re doing something fun. For everyone else, I hope you aren’t working too hard and can enjoy your evening.

Pretty fair day

I took today off. I have a method I’ve been using all last year of adding one day to the various holidays. I might have to make up my own holiday weekend somewhere between President’s Day and Memorial Day. That’s a long stretch by my standards.

I’m looking forward to some writing time, and took full advantage this morning. I’m still struggling with getting all the pieces into the right order, but decided to just write today.

This is actually a good way to work all the bits out. I read back and found what’s missing. Added a sentence or paragraph as needed. Trimmed other places, and might have all my staging worked out now.

It came to a whole chapter today, so I’m not complaining. Sometimes you have to stop wringing hands and just vomit things onto the page. Once you can see it, you can fix it.

I’d really like to get this one in the fermenter and start thinking about covers and such. I’m actually behind on a couple of things and need to move those ahead a little more.

I have three days left. I may not get to everything I want, but expect to make a hell of a dent in my task list.

Did anyone else add to the holiday weekend? What fun plans do you have for the holiday, if you get one where you live?

Not quite what I had in mind

Old What’s Her Face made her annual pilgrimage to Nevada for the Super Bowl. This leaves me with a bachelor weekend.

I anticipated this to be a marathon writing session, but it didn’t turn out that way.

Don’t get me wrong, the weekend isn’t over by a long shot, but Saturday morning is usually my prime time.

I got up around six. Tended the dogs, then started reading blogs. This is my normal process. When I finished that, I opened my MS and started to read back a couple of chapters.

That’s when my daughter called. Don’t get me wrong, I’d take any opportunity to chat with her and didn’t rush anything. It took up a lot of time, though.

After that it was kind of nip and tuck. I finished a chapter and stalled out. The dogs needed things. I needed food. Mundane kind of things.

I have no obligation to do anything in particular. I can write until midnight if I want. A visit from the Muse would be most welcome about now.

There is always a certain shifting of gears when starting a new chapter. I need to plan what the next one will accomplish, and I need to leap this tale ahead a bit. How far, and how fast, is where I need to think about it.

I did hack something together for my next Story Empire post and got it scheduled.

Maybe I’ll put on some music or something and see if I can sort this next chapter out.

All over the place

It’s raining here in Idaho. They predicted about three days of it, but it’s not like one of those summer downpours. It’s just kind of a constant drizzle. I kind of like rainy days, but your mileage may differ.

Saturdays are for writing, so I sequestered myself away and moved my story ahead. I am struggling with timing on this one, which is normal for me. I’m sure to work it out and always do.

After I got my words down, I reminded Old What’s Her Face that we got a gift certificate to Kahoots for Christmas. This was from our oldest son and his family. (Thanks, Kids.)

We’re in the habit of wearing lounge clothing around the house, so we cleaned ourselves up and went to supper.

Kahoots is under new management, but their changes are small. The beer menu seems to have shrunk a bit, but still provides a broad spectrum of offerings. They no longer offer the grilled asparagus with their meals, but I got a great Caesar Salad. We both felt stuffed after walking out.

After a couple of craft beers I was feeling brave, so I decided to watch Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. Honestly, it wasn’t particularly good, but wasn’t as bad as the online pundits made it out to be.

I didn’t like Helena or the kid with the man-boy mustache. (Is he supposed to be a Straw Hat Pirate, or what? I kept expecting him to find the devil fruit.) My disappointment is seeing my heroes after they’ve gone through life. Maybe don’t trot them out six months before they head for the rest home. I didn’t find the ending to be particularly happy, and kind of felt like Jones deserved that.

Seems like all of Harrison Ford’s heroic characters wound up in disappointing situations via this method. Even Decker was living out in the dirt like a hermit.

Old What’s Her Face has to work today, so after I call Mom I’ll probably take up the keyboard once more. Hope everyone is having a great weekend, rain or not. Drop me a line, I’d love to hear from you.