Happy Wednesday!
Hi friend,
Today is another beautiful day on the farm, so I'm sitting on the screen porch typing this.
This week has been challenging. I had a recurrence of shingles. The first bout was in my right eye and the right side of my face and left me blind in that eye for six months and never fully healed. Thankfully, I felt the onset this time and got on antivirals in time to keep it from getting bad, and this time it was on my left leg, so not quite as scary as in my eye.
When we went to get my script filled, we drove through a storm and a couple of branches fell on our new Mazda CX90. I convinced Joe to pull over in a restaurant parking lot for a few minutes until the worst of it passed. It was super scary. The car needs a couple of pieces fixed on the mirror and the windshield wiper, but I'm enormously grateful we weren't injured.
And lastly, to top it all off, I stubbed my toe on one of the dogs. Can you believe that? How does that happen, you ask? Well, you get up to let out a big white fluffy German Shepherd, and she stops in her tracks before you register that you must also stop. One purple and black toe later, I learned never to walk that close behind her.
Nevertheless, we had good times at the Pumpkin Festival and the Benton Fly-In (video of the fly-in below).
Today is a good day. And the sunshine looks gorgeous against the colorful leaves. So, how has your week been? Any prayer requests? Please don't hesitate to share.
FROM MY WRITING DESK
So many writing projects, so little time. I have so many projects I'm juggling that it's hard to find time to get words on the page, but next month in my Skool community, I'm hosting daily live writing sprints, so that should help with my own writing, too.
The Shelter Me This Christmas collection I mentioned last week shot to #1 in the charts for a while, but it's settled down at #2. That one is still on preorder. It'll release next Tuesday.
In the meantime, getting back to our regularly scheduled excerpts, here's one from Grave Consequences.
Grave Consequences
Rocks and debris bit into her skin. A sharp pain knifed through her shin. She ignored the agony, rose to her feet, and ran. Faster. Branches clawed her. Brakes squealed. Footsteps. Shouting.
“Cate! You won’t get away from me.”
She hid in the base of a pine tree. Damp leaves released a musty odor. If he smelled it, she could be discovered. It was her best chance of survival. If she moved, he’d hear her, and continuing to run was out of the question. Her asthma would kill her if her captors didn’t.
Clarence’s footsteps. Twigs snapped under his feet. “All you’ll have to show for your bravery will be cuts and bruises.” He was nearby. A few trees stood between them. Her ragged breathing would give her away. She held in a cough. Her asthma brought on coughing fits. Once she started, it was hard to stop. A cough now could be detrimental to her survival.
Another crunch. Leaves underfoot. He was closer. Too close. “I know you didn’t get far. Come out now and I won’t have to hurt you.”
— an excerpt from Grave Consequences
FARM NEWS
The old rooster is making his way to the house again, so he must be feeling better. He got some leftover cream of wheat with raspberry in it this morning. He seemed to enjoy it.
Two of the youngest chickens tried to perch in the rafters of the barn, so Farmer Joe had to convince them (with a broom) to get down from there and move to the coop. We've accepted that they're insisting on living in the duck coop instead of the chicken coop, but we're not letting them move into the barn. We have one chicken that lives in there, and we let her get away with it, but the rest of them need to stay in the coops, so we don't have too much chicken poop in the barn. I don't think Sadie and the goats would like that much.
AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT & GIVEAWAY
Sami Abrams is my guest this week on Heartbeats & Hideaways. She shares how Charlie ONE began with one image of Raven in danger, why post-traumatic stress often appears in her stories, and how her characters still surprise her. Enter by Oct. 27 for a chance to win a print copy. U.S. mailing addresses only.
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CRESTON MAPES
 (affiliate link)
Have you read anything by Creston Mapes yet? He's an excellent storyteller.
His publisher sent him to Las Vegas to research this novel, and it's been optioned for a motion picture. Isn't that exciting?
Murdered Vegas Homeless Man a Millionaire in Disguise? Reporter Hudson Ambrose hears an early-morning call on his police scanner about an injured person at a bus stop on Las Vegas Boulevard and rushes to the scene. His world is blown off its axis when he discovers a murdered homeless man with a bankbook in his pocket showing a balance of almost one million dollars. Should Hudson wait?
CHECK OUT THESE CLEAN READS ⬇️
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Browse the bookstore at https://elleekay.com/bookstore/
Happy reading!
Blessings,
Elle E. Kay
📧 [ElleEKay@ElleEKay.com](mailto:ElleEKay@ElleEKay.com)
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