Happy May Day! Here’s another teaser from TIN GOD. Many thanks to everyone who is reading and reviewing the book on Amazon and Goodreads.

Nick dragged his fingernails across his right temple. His thoughts were racing at high speed, and the adrenaline spurred him into clarity. He was good at this. Dig, dig, dig. Dig until he had the truth by the balls.

The silence festered. Nick’s mind swam with new information. Someone wanted Jaymee’s secret kept at all costs. Who had more to lose? Paul Ballard or Royce Newton?

Or the father Jaymee refused to name? “There’s no way the baby’s father could be involved in any of this?”

Jaymee stepped back so quickly she nearly fell. Nick caught her by the elbow just in time, and she jerked her arm away, her eyes once more looking everywhere else but at him.

Cage cleared his throat. “He’s long gone. Jaymee got sucked in by this greedy Davies bitch, Wilcher, and whoever they were working with.”

“Royce Newton,” Nick said.

“Maybe,” Cage said. “We’ll have to talk to Charles–”

“No.” Jaymee’s shout reverberated off the metal walls. “You can’t. We don’t have any proof. I don’t want to get Detective Charles involved until I have to.”

“Why?” Cage asked. “He’s a good cop, Jaymee.”

“He’s not going to do a damned thing without proof except maybe interview my father, which is the last thing I want. Please. Not yet. Let’s figure out what Royce knows–if anything. Nick’s an investigative reporter. He can get something out of him. I’ll help.”

“Jaymee…” Cage began.

“I want to help.”

Nick cocked his head, chewing on the inside of his cheek. Jaymee didn’t flinch as he sized her up.

“You’re too close,” he argued.

“And you’re not?”

He ran his index finger over his bottom lip and then tapped the corner of his mouth. “All right. I wanted to talk to Royce Newton. Now I know what the topic of conversation will be.”

“Goddamnit, Nick,” Cage said. “You’re not a cop. You’re already withholding evidence with that letter. You think Royce Newton’s just going to tell you if he and Debra Davies were involved in illegal adoptions? And how are you going to get by Fat Jonas?”

Nick looked down at Jaymee. She nodded, a silent understanding passing between them, and he faced Cage. “Jaymee here needs to pay her respects, of course.”

“No way.” Cage pulled on Nick’s arm.

Nick yanked out of Cage’s grasp. “I need to talk to Royce Newton. She can get me inside.”

Jaymee glanced at Cage. His expression was unreadable, but pain reflected in his eyes. He missed his sister. The bastard that killed her needed to be brought to justice. And Jaymee owed it to Lana. “Cage, please.”

“Fine.” He shoved the trailer door open. “You’d better be damned careful. But I want to talk to Jaymee in private before we leave.”

Nick nodded and then glanced at Jaymee. “What time can I pick you up tomorrow?”

“How’s 10:00 a.m.?”

“Perfect.”

Amazon US: http://amzn.to/Zkn9KH
Amazon UK: http://amzn.to/10yWUmH

Okay, not really. But the wonderful Kelly Hashway has tagged me in a fun kind of “get to know you game.”

Rules:
1. You must post the rules.
2. Answer the questions and then create eleven new questions to ask the people you’ve tagged.
3. Tag eleven people and link to them.
4. Let them know you’ve tagged them.

Questions:

Random, but now you’re beginning to see how my brain works!

Onto Row80 Update:

On Sunday I mentioned how the Snowflake Method helped me with my plotting. I was able to take my list of ideas and get about half the book plotted. I had the first turning point and the midpoint; all I was missing was the second turning point. I have to give a huge shout out to Kait Nolan here—she very graciously has several of her writing worksheets available for download. I tried her plotting blueprint, and by the end of the day, I had my final turning point as well as several more important details. So after feeling stalled on the writing of The Prophet for a while, I’m finally ready to dig into it.

And thanks to the Snowflake methods and Kait’s worksheets, I was able to come up with a rough synopsis for The Prophet, which led to a blurb for the blog. Check it out here. I’m ready to write today, and I hope to report a few thousand words by Sunday.

As for Light and Dark, I’m going to be working on an updated blurb for it as well, and my query letters are getting close to being finished. I’ve sent out another 50 pages to my final critique partner, and I’m slowly assembling the list of agents I want to query. Still on track to get started in a few weeks.

On the personal front, Grace and I painted pumpkins last night. As you can see, we’re serious artists. Don’t you wish these babies were on your front porch?

Quick blogging update: I’ve decided to shelve Tempting Tuesdays for now. They usually get low traffic, and I’m not sure if that’s because of the day or topic. Anything I’d talk about on Tuesdays could easily be moved to Monday, and I want to focus on getting Thriller Thursdays more exposure. With Row80 updates, I’ll still be blogging 4 times a week. Speaking of Thriller Thursdays, I have something special planned for next week, so mark your calendars!

Discussion question of the day: what do you do to get your butt in the writing chair and achieve your daily goals?

Hope you’re having a great Row80 week!