Extras

February 15, 2021 by acackler Leave a Comment

Table Five – Cover Reveal

I am excited to announce the cover reveal for my latest romance, Table Five!

This is an erotic romance, full of laughs, budding love, and plenty of steamy sex. I really hope I captured all three in the cover.

Since I didn’t get any bites from agents, I’ve decided to go ahead and self publish this one. I intended to wait a little longer, but I’m too excited to share it! Coming in at just over 51k words, Table Five is a quick, satisfying read. I’ll be getting it set up as an ebook this week, and hopefully it will be available for ARC reads shortly!

The blurb:

Mae Norris has a plan. Actually, what she has is a to-do list. She has been loyal to the wrong man her whole life, and now she’s ready to find out what she’s been missing.
First on the list: Have sex with a stranger.
Jamie Harding is intrigued by her plan, and agrees to be her stranger. But he can’t get Mae out of his head, and “one night only” quickly turns into much more than either of them had intended.
Jamie knows he’s barreling toward disaster, because there’s things on her list he can’t help her with. He can’t ask her to stop, and he can’t bear to watch. Will there be anything left for Jamie when Mae has finally found herself?

Visit the book page for Table Five to meet the characters and get bonus material, sneak peaks, and updates on availability.

February 4, 2021 by acackler Leave a Comment

The Possibility of Paul

A deleted scene from The Little Owl.

Last night, I typed two magic words into my third draft for The Little Owl:

The End

Don’t get too excited. There is still a lot of editing and cutting to do before final edits, beta reading, and more edits. Right now, I’m sitting heavy at 108,815 words. That’s about five to ten thousand too many.

Nonetheless, I started this story way back in high school, nearly two decades ago, and this is the first time this story has had an actual climax and ending. So I’m calling that a big fat win.

Woo!

To celebrate, I’d like to share this deleted scene from The Little Owl between Gwen, the main character, and her best friend Paul. In early drafts, I toyed with the idea of a mild love interest between them (I know, I know. I’m a romantic. Cut me some slack.)

That idea got scrapped in the latest draft for fear of producing a love triangle or a friend zone. I love Paul far too much to dump him into either of those categories as a third wheel.

But I found this scene lovely, so at least I can share it here. Enjoy!

The Possibility of Paul

Leaning against the door jam with the swaths of crimson and lilac spilling from the sky, he was like a painting. The doorway framed him in pure color and peace. I watched his profile, saw the bright colors reflected in his clear eyes. This was Paul. My most steadfast friend, most reliable, most sure. Until now, he’d only been a companion, true and real. But now, in this light, I could see the seeds of something more.

I walked over to him and stood in the doorway next to him. From this angle, his eyes were just his eyes again. Warm and brown. He looked down at me with his usual, calm expression. He raised one eyebrow in question.

“I’ve been thinking about what you said,” I answered. “About getting married.”

His eyebrow lowered and he nodded. It was an acknowledgement. There was no nervousness or hopefulness, just waiting. “And what have you decided?”

I frowned a little, just a little. “What would that life be like?” I asked thoughtfully. “I can almost see it, like it’s just out of the corner of my eye.”

He continued to watch me, waiting. It was times like this that I wished I could see into his mind, see what he was thinking. He was my biggest mystery at all times, and my greatest intrigue.

I don’t know what made me do it. An urge came over me and my body obeyed. Gently, I rose up and kissed him on the mouth.

He didn’t pull away as I approached, though he had plenty of time to do so. In fact, he bent down and kissed me back. It was calm and quiet, like the vivid sunset that painted us. And in that kiss, in the unexpected softness of his lips, in the scratch of his beard, in the touch of his hand on my arm, in the sigh of his breath, I could see it then. I could see that life.

I could see us in a stone cottage near the fields with a great sycamore casting shade over the front door. Children chased bugs in the tall grass. Paul walked home in the sunset, sweat on his brow and a sack of grain over his shoulder. He touched my face in greeting as passed into the house to wash up for dinner. It was easy and comfortable and good, and in that moment, it was all I wanted.

And then the kiss ended, and the scene dissipated.

I looked up into his eyes and saw a warmth and a wonder there. Then I knew that what I had seen had not been my imagination.

“Did you see it?” I asked.

He nodded, his hands on my face.

“It could be a beautiful life,” I said.

He gave me a rueful smile. He pulled me close and kissed me on the forehead, then wrapped his arms around me in a tight embrace. “It could be,” he agreed. “But it’s not our path, I don’t think.”

I soaked up his warmth in the cooling sunset and stared out over the fields. “No,” I said. “I don’t think it is. But I’m glad you’re here now.”

He gave me one final squeeze before letting me go. He smiled down at me and put my arm in his. “It’s getting late. Time to head back in,” he said.

I nodded, and we started down the dirt track that led back to town.

January 15, 2021 by acackler Leave a Comment

Character Description Notes

Some authors spend a lot of time on character description. There are all kinds of questionnaires and forms floating around out there on the internet, and they were even given to me as assignments in college.

The author details favorite colors, food, music, and hobbies. They decide where they went to school, who their first girlfriend was, or what their job is. 99.9% of this stuff never makes it to the finished novel, but the author enjoys this exercise. It’s like building a character on the Sims.

Admit it. Those of you who play Sims have spent way too much time in the character design studio, tweaking your character’s nose shape, without ever actually getting to the game. It’s happened to me, I’m not gonna lie.

They also do it because it adds depth to your character. Concrete details like this can come in handy. You won’t need them all, but it helps you remain consistent to remember that your MC’s favorite color is blue. That means they’ll have blue walls, lots of blue shirts, and a blue phone case. Details, details, details. You don’t need a whole sentences describing your MC’s possessions. Just throwing in a quick “blue” or “teal” before any noun can make a huge impact for the reader in terms of description.

But I don’t do that.

In fact, I go about the entire thing backwards. I write the scene, attribute physical descriptions to my characters, and THEN go to my notes to document that concrete detail (so that I can remember later for continuity). This means that my character description notes come in odd phrasing sometimes, because I’ll just lift it straight from the story.

Below you’ll find the character details I recorded for Table Five. It is not super organized, but it works for me.

Trigger warning: I am very fond of swearing, and my notes documents were written for an audience of one: myself. Please proceed with this in mind.

Mae
- Average height, wild brown hair, fine boned fingers (don’t curl), decent boobs, rounded hips, rounded face, slightly too large nose, sarcastic smile, pretty mouth, winter pale skin
Jamie
- Brown hair, slightly redder beard (usually shaven), clean, lean, mildly muscled, hairy, occasionally stubbly, fantastic ass, light skinned
Pat
- High, loose afro, petite, medium dark skin
Taylor
- Tall, lean, immaculately styled hair
Eve
- Spritely, blonde
Margie
- Likes big scarves, long wavy mermaid hair
- Teaches algebra 1 and 2, geometry, and trig. Her students are mostly 9-10 graders, with the occasional remedial older student
Gordon
- Dark hair and beard, very smiley
Clara
- tall brunette, very pretty with a bright smile and an open expression.
- Big smile, country accent, perky boobs
Aaron
- Shorter, blond, fit but stocky, confident in his body
Helen
- Short hair in a bob, dyed to hide the grays, deep voice
Jerry
- Large man, graying hair, receding hairline

And that’s all she wrote. Literally. This is the entirety of the note taking I did for my characters in Table Five. There is never only one right way to write a book. 🙂

January 9, 2021 by acackler Leave a Comment

On the City of Valheid.

Taken from the notes document for The Little Owl. This is some world building for Valheid, the seat of government for Derehan, where the bulk of the story is set.

In the northern country and at higher altitudes, so the buildings will have extremely steep roofs with thatch or sod. Stone and wood construction. Cobbled streets and dirt roads.
Well thought out drainage ditches and canals with a very simple sewer system for runoff only. No indoor plumbing or black water management. Chamber pots and out houses.
There is no military, but there is a guard. They are not a war-like kind of people, but they do recognize the need for military-like men. Members of the Guard train in hand to hand combat, often live in the barracks (but are not required to). They act as community service, civil peace keepers, defense, and emergency assistance. They are basically the army, police, firemen, etc. They are very well trained and organized, running under Cynebald (general), 2 captains, then sergeants who manage smaller squads. All of the city states of Derehan have guards, and in time of national emergency, they can all send men from their guards to make a national militia, who would be led by Cynebald.
The only real natural disaster possibilities are blizzards in the winter and the occasional flood during a particularly rainy spring (while the melting snow is still making everything too wet anyway). This is managed with simple planning. The only real social assistance is to make sure that everyone has enough supplies and to help neighbors dig out if they get snowed in. The guard distributes any supplies needed and provides assistance. In the case of flooding, the city was designed to handle it so the flooding only ever endangers some farming fields or outlying properties outside of the city proper.
How did the city get its name?
City’s main exports are barley, wool, livestock, oats, medicines, and flax. They have artisans and also export wool and linen cloth, both luxury and plain. The market has room for all kinds, preserved and fresh foods and herbs, cloth, tools, alcohols, livestock auction (held in the outskirts), medicines, and services. The leatherworks guild is very well respected in the area, as is the blacksmithing guild.
The city’s main imports are sugar and exotic foods like citrus fruits and spices, iron and other metals, coal, salt (there are very few mining operations in Derehan, especially around Valheid). There is some market for things like gems and precious metals, but only a little so traders just bring some and try to sell, sometimes with success and sometimes without.
The greathouse oversees all import laws and settles disputes, but almost all of the importing is done privately by local merchants.
Other major land holdings: All of these also have extensive farming etc to provide for themselves, but these are the exports that are of main interest to Valheid specifically.
- Mairn: owned by Leland. Main produce is grapes, hops, grain, wine and beer.
- Purgo: owned by Nanette Graves. Main produce is grain and livestock
- Silda: owned by Heidi known for healing and medicines, and also has a fish hatchery so they export salt fish and smoked fish, specifically trout.
- Barano: owned by a wealthy merchant named Cornelius, basically just a farming community.
Turly is the shady street. It’s close to the city walls on the western side where the slope gets extremely steep, and is the least valuable property. Therefore it has over time become a haven for criminal activity, sex work, and tramps and is rife with poverty. The guard spends a lot of time dealing with Turly Street, and Gwen and Jo often go there to assist with social programs.
The wealthier homes are closer to the center of town near the greathouse and run along avenues branching off of the main road.
The roads are in a grid formation, very practical and simple. The water is provided by wells.

Extras

The Possibility of Paul

But I don’t do that.

Taken from the notes document for The Little Owl. This is some world building for Valheid, the seat of government for Derehan, where the bulk of the story is set.

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The Glass Wheel

Twisted Version

The List

Table Five Prequel