Blondie in the Hurricane - Stealing Time Prologue

Blondie in the Hurricane

Prologue to Stealing Time

This blog was originally posted as a Lucky MEME award that included the prologue to my novel. I've moved that bit to the end of the prologue. 

To get you in the proper frame of mind, I've included a brief video taken during Hurricane Charley in Captiva, Island, Florida.

Stealing Time

By KJ Waters

Prologue

Friday, August 13, 2004

The hurricane’s grayish black fingers descended upon the land, reaching and grabbing to devour it completely. It was three o’clock in the afternoon and day had turned to night.

Hurricane Charley approaching by Gordon Juleft http://www.bbc.co.uk/cornwall/connected/stories/hurricane_charley/10.htm#

A plan hatched in Scott's mind helped along by a little too much vodka. If he shot a few videos of Hurricane Charley and sold them to a news station he’d be in the money. That would buy him a few more months to hang out in Florida before heading back north to face reality. 

Scott graduated from high school in June but had managed to do nothing but hit the beach all summer.  He waited tables and spent almost every night clubbing and in hanging out in bars. His mom's biting comment from this morning replayed in his head, "Scott, all your friends are starting college and you're down there partying like a loser!" His parents didn't understand. With work to look forward to the rest of his life why not have a rocking summer first?

According to the radio Hurricane Charley was making a direct hit at Captiva Island as a category 4 storm with one hundred and forty miles an hour winds, but that couldn’t be true. Here in Punta Gorda, a half an hour away, the winds were whipping but there was no way it was that bad here.  The power was out cell service was down and he was getting bored. His iPod was still working and he was jammin' out to the Black Eyed Peas "Let's Get It Started."

Hurricane Charley sported 140 mph winds http://www.livewxradar.com/modules/WeatherPhotos/album26/c57

A loud crash rattled his front window causing him to spill vodka on his pants. "Damn it!" He yanked open the blinds. His neighbor’s white plastic lawn chair clung to the window at an odd angle, held there by the wind. It seemed so absurd, he just saw the guy sitting in it earlier today. Fear crept in. It had taken the better part of an hour and a quarter of a bottle of Smirnoff to get up the guts to head outside. If he timed it just right, he could catch the eye of the hurricane and move to the pool house to video the rest of the storm. 

Scott was tired of waiting for the freakin' eye, he snag some footage now before he chickened out. Crossing the tiny living room in a few steps he grabbed his camera from the kitchen counter. He shoved it in a gallon sized baggie to keep it dry and put it in his cargo shorts pocket. The Detroit Lions wind breaker he'd worn earlier was on the ratty couch. He put it on and felt for his keys. He shut and locked the apartment door behind him. The jacket soaked through in seconds, but the hood protected his eyes from the driving rain. 

It was calm outside of his door, he had expected the wind to blow him over. It must be blocked by the apartment building next door. Scott continued along the ground floor towards the side of the building closest to the pool. As he turned the corner, the wind caught him full on almost throwing him to the ground. Adrenaline coursed through his body making his legs shake. 

He looked towards the parking lot. The wind blew the rain at an impossible angle even blowing upwards at times. The palm trees bent nearly to the ground with the stronger gusts. It looked like a giant gorilla was shaking them. Right in front of him a huge section of metal roof flew across the road and smashed into a car held there by the battering wind. Scott jumped. Fear weighed him down. Don’t wuss out! 

His thoughts turned to his angry parents. He pushed on not wanting to face them yet. He grabbed the railing that separated the parking lot from the pool and pulled himself along the fence. A huge palm frond smacked him in the face and blew away. He touched his forehead, fingers showing blood. “Shit.”

A loud cracking sounded overhead. He covered his head in reflex and let go of the fence. The wind threw him to the ground and held him there. A palm tree smashed into the ground inches from his legs crushing the fence he had been holding. 

“Shit!” His heart raced. He looked back at the apartment building. Scott's brain screamed STOP, GO BACK! His heart said, you're almost there! It was nearly impossible to get up. Rolling over he crawled towards the pool house fighting against the wind that wanted to fling him into oblivion. He grabbed a light post pulling himself upright. 

Scott's brain screamed STOP, GO BACK!

Scott was almost there! A red blur caught his eye. He turned his head just in time to watch it impale him. He tried to put a name to the red horror that stuck out of his chest, pinning him against the pool house. Scott worked it out in his mind before everything went blank. Fucking stop sign.

Blondies' First

 'Award'  

The Lucky 7 MEME Award

Hey everyone check out my very first Lucky 7 Meme award nomination from my twitter friend Kirkus MacGowan (@kirkusmacgowan on twitter)! Please check out Kirkus' blog at http://www.kirkusmacgowan.info/blog/ where you can find a link to his novel The Fall of Billy Hitchings and a preview of his upcoming novel Wrath. 

With this award I am supposed to share a sample of my current work in progress. Then find seven others to award the Lucky 7 MEME to, so that they can share their current work as well.

To see who I've nominate you'll have to read my novel's prologue and then find out at the end of this blog. 

My Nominees for the Lucky 7 Meme Award

Now here is the great part for me. I get to see seven author friends' work in progress! So exciting. I hope you take the time to read their WIPs because I know you will not be disappointed! I have decided to nominate those who have been the biggest support with my writing so far. That would definitely include Kirkus MacGowan (http://www.kirkusmacgowan.info/blog/) but he nominated me. I'd also include G. A. Albrethsen (http://gaalbrethsen.com) on that list, but Kirkus already got him too. So without further ado, the nominees are, in random order:

S.T. Wickersheim – http://inkcompetentwriter.wordpress.com/ encourages me daily. His debut novel out now called the Penitent Assassin, that I'm thoroughly enjoying, can be found here: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005JKR95U

Scott Phillips – http://www.rattleandblast.com stops over to twitter every so often to make me laugh and pat my back. He has a quirky and hilarious Vampire series out right now called Pete Drinker of Blood and you can find it here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0077TB4SO

Terry Tyler –   http://terrytyler59.blogspot.co.uk/  is my blondilicious friend from England and has a very posh accent. Or I think she does, she hasn't left me a audioboo yet (grrr). Terry has been an amazing support to me! She has several books out but here is her recent one, You Wish at: http://www.amazon.co.uk/You-Wish-ebook/dp/B006423HGW/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1336618857&sr=1-1

Roger Grubbs – Roger has somehow become my mentor on twitter and has been a wealth of information and encouragement. He's even called me his favorite student. He must not have very many. He's written over 30 books and is current making a movie of The Twelve Seals. Here are his links: http://www.booksbyrogergrubbs.com/kindle-nook

Chuck Barrett – http://chuckbarrettbooks.com/blog/ Chuck is the one cracking the whip for me to get this book out. He's challenged me and is very good at keeping me in line. Or at least I let him think I'm in line. He's the author of two books, The Toymaker and the Savannah Project that you can find at http://chuckbarrettbooks.com

Seth Clarke – http://www.metrodetroitdad.blogspot.com/ has become a new twitter friend and never stops amusing me. He is also superman when it comes to volume of writing. He's working on his first novel, just like me. Let see if the quality matches the quantity!

Derek Blass – http://derekblass.wordpress.com. Derek has a wealth of information on his blog on writing and self publishing that I'm soaking up like a sponge. He was a very big help to me when I started my blog. His debut novel Enemy in Blue can be found at http://www.amazon.com/Enemy-Blue-Derek-Blass/dp/0615481035/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1314026538&sr=8-1

So, nominees here are your instructions. Comment on my blog with your Lucky 7 or add a link below to your blog where you we can find your WIP section. Follow these rules:

•  Go to page 77 of your manuscript (or any part of your written work)
•  Go to line 7
•  Copy the next 7 lines, sentences, or paragraphs into your post
•  Give the award to 7 more writers and let them know!

Connect With Me

When I'm not working on Stealing Time you can find me on my social media at the links below. I hope to have my novel completed by spring 2013 with book two close behind.

• Check out my website: www.kjwaters.com
• Follow me on twitter at @kamajowa
• I'm on facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/KJ-Waters/206720056103502 for my author site, or my 'jury-rigged work around so I can like you back' facebook page here: http://www.facebook.com/kj.waters.39
• I have some photographs up on Fine Arts America at: http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/kj-waters.html for sale, check it out!
• Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/kamajowa/
• Audioboo voice messages:  http://audioboo.fm/KJWaters 
• All About Me page: http://about.me/kjwaters
• Brand Yourself Profile: http://kjwaters.brandyourself.com/