Once more into the breach

To continue;

Friday Dec 4th (actually the 3rd, but since the email was sent at 10:40 pm I didn't get it until the next day) I received notification that Pull My String had taken first place in the Golden Rose contest. AND - the final judge, and agent from Harvey Klinger, Inc, wanted to see the full.

Yes, it was exciting, but it wasn't the first time I'd had a request for a full either from a contest or query. Both PMS and DG had been requested, and I had a growing array of personalized rejection letters. All encouraging, but all claiming - "We really liked this, but..." You can fill in the blanks. Liked hero, but heroine sucked. Liked heroine but couldn't beleive the hero. Loved the story but don't think it has universal appeal. Etc. etc. So I said fine, but I didn't get my hopes up too high, the higher you go the more the fall hurts. I sent the MS to the agent Saturday morning, Dec. 5.

Monday the agent told me how much she'd been looking forward to seeing the MS. That was a first. Still, no biggee. On the same day I received a request from another agent at Elaine P. English PLLC, who had been looking at a partial and now wanted to see a full. I sent hers off via snail mail, as she wanted, and let both of them know about each other. Then settled back on other projects, fully expecting to hear nothing until the new year, it being so close to Christmas and knowing how long these things take, right?

Instead, things began popping the very next week. Dec 17, 2009, to be exact. I opened my email to find ...

To be continued.

Today with The Last Logan

Today was concentrate on the villain day in the Logan universe.
Eeny, meeny, miny, moe,
Who will be the next to go?
Let him holler, I won’t let go,
Eeny, meeny, miny, moeHe's darned self-centered, and had been confining his killing to inside the family until he had to kill poor Grace. A young, enthusiastic reporter who found out a little too much - or at least he thought she did, and that was enough to get her killed.

This one I don’t even have to pretend is an accident.
I can use my hands.
The woman shivered. “You don’t have to kill me.”
She is so wrong.
Not because she knows who I am. Just because I can.
I’ve spent too much time keeping people alive. True, that is a powerful feeling. Like being a god.
But only with a small g.
Ending life – that’s real power.
It’s safe to stroke her hair, they can’t lift fingerprints from hair strands. Safe to lean close, smell the fear that overpowers the cloying perfume she’s chosen to wear.
Not safe to be her.
I wonder how Beverly would smell?
“How did you find out?” I admit curiosity. The bitch walked right up to my door. “How did you know it was me?”
“I didn’t. I swear.”
“Then why come here?”
“I just wanted to talk to you. Questions.”
Did I jump the gun? Too bad – for her.Grace will be used to frame poor Travis.
I'm at 250 pages and counting.

The Last Logan - halfway there

Back to the business of killing off characters - this is romantic suspense, right?

I'm at about 230 pages. Dead so far are

Charles, the newest Logan child, age 3 (died before the story started)
William the "badass", the oldest son whose death begins the story
Elizabeth and her unborn child - Old Man Logan's mistress

Still to die,

Grace, newspaper reporter, (currently the killer has her kidnapped)
Lakesia Styles-Logan, Old Man Logan's daughter,
Travis Styles, her half-brother
And, of course Old Man Logan himself.

There has been one attempt on the life of the heroine's daughter. There will be one more at the end.

Today's work got me to the point where the hero Kyle, is telling the heroine, Beverly, that he spent the last ten years in a Texas prison for murder. What he doesn't tell her is that he was framed, by his father and brother. (The Logan's are a truly heart-warming family). “Why Texas?”
Kyle shrugged. “Logan Enterprises has dealings there and my father needed someone to oversee activities. Once there I got bored and became involved in … extracurricular activities.”
He paused, head raised as if he expected something from her. When she remained silent he said, “Aren’t you going to ask?”
Keep calm, girl. Just do your job. Interviewing the hostile was her specialty. Sandy often compared her to his father after a hostile witness in the courtroom. But this was Kyle. He might never have loved her, but he’d never been hostile. “What was the charge?”
“Murder.”
The Earth tilted beneath her feet. She gripped the back of a chair to hold herself upright. “Impossible.”
“Not something I’d lie about, Beverly.”
He’d never been the kind to think being locked inside a jail some badge of honor. Just the man least likely to have a jail’s doors close behind him. She’d imagined Kyle Logan crawling through a desert on hands and knees, her name the last sound falling from his lips. Imagined him in a hot tub surrounded by a dozen glamorous women. But never thought of him imprisoned.
“Who did you kill?”
“Their names – I never knew.”
His hands crossed over his chest. Hands that once wielded a paintbrush with the dexterity of a maestro. Fingers that had curled around a paintbrush, that should be stained with the result of his creativity. That had caressed her skin, sent electric sparks arcing through her, driving her wild with desire.
Those hands killed six people?

She's right to not believe him. Hopefully within the next hundred pages or so she'll get the full story out of him. Before the real killer gets to them all.

To Kill or Not To Kill

I have this poor, but dedicated reporter for the Messenger, the paper I created for the Last Logan. She's new, just screwed up once, and really wants to do a good job now to make up for her mistake. She's been assigned to check out on a murder suspect, her boss is doing a piece on the victim's family and she's just supposed to get some information at the hotel where the dead woman - Elizabeth, remember her - was found with her wrists slashed in the bathtub. She gets overzealous when she finds information about Travis's location (he's the suspect). Instead of reporting back with her information, she decides to go after him herself. I have two possible scenarios -

First, she ends up encountering the real killer and has to be killed herself. Her body is found in a place/location that further implicates Travis. Travis is eventually killed, a so-called murder-suicide after his sister is brain-dead from a supposed drug overdose they both die and everyone thinks the killing spree is over. It's not - he's just a poor decoy.

Second, she encounters Travis who takes her hostage because he knows the police are after him and he can't let her reveal his location. In a Stockholm like situation she and her captor grow close and she can't believe he's a killer. She helps him cope after his sister overdoses, and helps convince people he isn't the killer.

I'm not sure which way to go. I find I'm not as bloodthirsty as I think I am.

I did kill off Old Man Logan's three-year-old son, does that count?

Last Logan

I know, I was supposed to report back earlier. I have all the excuses under the sun. But at least I've been productive. I killed off Elizabeth, Old Man Logan's mistress, and the villain made it look like a suicide. Even better, I've set up poor Grace, a reporter who works for the heroine, to be killed in a manner that will incriminate Travis, another new character there to distract attention from my real villain. I've put the hero in a position to rescue the heroine's daughter, a move that raises the villain's jealousy AND gets the hero and heroine to stay in the same house for a valid reason. Yippee. Cause with them sleeping under the same roof it's easy to let hormones and nature take it's course - my heroine, Beverly, has already commented on how strong my hero - Kyle's pheromones are. I give it one night, and they'll not only be under the same roof, they'll be in the same bed.

Next up - we need to find Grace's body and have a manhunt for Travis. Oh yes, the hero has to admit he'd spent time in prison for murder. (I just don't know how to do conventional, flawless, billionaire heroes.)

Then I just kill Travis's sister, Kill Travis, give Old Man Logan a heart attack, and let the villain make another try at the heroine's daughter.

All in a day's work. Okay, give me a week or two.

Today's selection from the book -
“One problem with that theory,” Beverly continued. “Elizabeth wasn’t suicidal.”
“And of course, you know because you’re a trained shrink. Or is it voodoo?”
“It’s knowing when a person wants to talk, not die. She told me she could prove the test was wrong.”
“You know, if it was murder, as Janey on the spot you’d be suspect number one.”
“Don’t threaten me, Sandusky.”
“That’s Detective Sandusky.”
“Cold day in hell, Sandusky.”
He gave a mock shiver. “Knew someone had been messing with that damned thermostat.”
Thank God both Sandusky’s had the ability to cut through layers of tension. The elevator opened down the hallway and she saw rival reporters come rushing for the cordoned off area. “Do me a favor, Detective, don’t talk to them, either.” “I don’t talk to anyone.” He winked before stepping back inside Elizabeth’s hotel room.
See you all soon.