Saturday, January 3, 2015

Loretta disapproves - Weekend Writing Warriors / #8sunday / 01/04/15

Hi! Welcome to another Weekend Writing Warrior round. Every week writers post 8 sentences on their blogs from a published or unpublished book. Then we "hop" around and leave comments on each other's snippets. Whether our work is already published or in progress, the helpful comments help us become stronger writers on our next WIP. We welcome EVERYONE's comments.

See more at the
WeWriWa blog

I'm introducing snippets from More Than a Friend, a part of The Many Faces of Chelle Cordero, a short-story collection which exemplifies (I hope) the diversity of my writing.

More Than a Friend is a short story based on a manuscript of the same name (which has never been published) This manuscript was co-authored by my sister, Barbara Cordero Du-Bois, and me. I re-wrote it as a short story because I wanted my characters to LIVE.

Happy New Year! I hope all of your celebrations were great.

I’m skipping ahead since last week’s snippet. Janice has returned to work. We found out that she met her husband through Jerry and that he was upset he never made it clear how he felt about her. They’ve spent time together as friends. Janis was summoned to her mother-in-law’s (Loretta, Jerry’s aunt) for dinner and we learn that Loretta has never liked Jerry. Janice’s sister-in-law, Mandy, is also present for dinner. And now the 8 sentences:

Dinner was strained. If it hadn’t been for Mandy’s effervescence it probably would have been silent except for Loretta’s crying spells. Janis really did feel for Loretta and never faulted her emotions, but her anger over Janis’ return to work and her continued friendship with Jerry was inexcusable.
“You are a widow and you should act like one. You shouldn’t be so self-centered, everything doesn’t revolve around you.”
“Mom,” even Mandy was taken aback by Loretta’s hostility, “Billy would never have wanted Janis to stop living.”
“How do you know what Billy would have wanted? He’s… he’s dead.” 


 For more WeWriWa snippets, go to www.wewriwa.com


More Than a Friend
Can best friends become lovers
and share a lifetime together?

 AUDIO 

PRINT 

Kindle 

 AllRomance Ebooks 

 iBooks 

 Smashwords 

The Many Faces of Chelle Cordero is a single author collection of short stories featuring Introduction, Pussycat Tails, Holiday Happiness, Not Alone, I Swear That Raccoon Just Knocked on the Door, Stormy Weather, A Mother’s Love, More Than a Friend, The Meeting, The Vacation and a special bonus section.



This year's Preditors & Editors Readers' Poll is open until January 14, 2015.
I have a few entries in the poll and if your wouldn't mind, I would love your support.
You can vote one time in each category.

And Good Luck to everyone else who is entered!
Romance Short Stories ~ Holiday Happiness

Writer’s Workshop ~ Living, Breathing, Writing Promotional Sites ~ The Potpourri Parlor
Anthology ~ Your Game Plan for Seamless Holiday Decorating




7 comments:

Patricia Preston said...

Loretta sounds like she has a grudge against Janice. Lots of family drama!

Unknown said...

Great eight! Gosh, I felt like someone slapped me with that widow statement. You can feel the deep emotions that are going around this room.

Charmaine Gordon said...

I ache for the widow and family conflict is over the top as she pulls her life back together. Good eight.

Elaine Cantrell said...

That's quite a dinner! Nicely done.

Veronica Scott said...

Ah yes, as a widow, I've had to deal with other people' expectations. I hope your character will be strong within herself and do what *she* needs to do. Excellent, true to life excerpt.

Anonymous said...

You're a widow doesn't mean you're dead, for heaven's sake! I would hope any loved one would want you to live after their loss, and be happy. And if they wouldn't... they were kind of a terrible person, then, and their opinion shouldn't matter.

FCEtier said...

Nice 8!
I would rather hear the first paragraph from the characters via dialog rather than from the narrator.
And, you write such good dialog, too!