Sweet Saturday Samples: Starting 2012 With A Snippet From BLACKBIRD FLIES

Welcome to the first Sweet Saturday Sample of 2012! I hope you all had happy, restful Holidays filled with laughter and treasured memories.

Our Holidays were beautifully chaotic (as always). Then we all got sick the day after Boxing Day. Perfect. Oh well! We're all pretty much on the well side of things now.

Well, my 2012 has started off fantastic! My YA novel, UNDERTOW, that I was working on for NaNoWriMo and sharing with you all will become a reality. That's right! I finished the manuscript, and spent half of December editing it, then was offered a contract with Imajin Books shortly after that. I'm very excited and so proud to be a part of this amazing publishing team. So, what's the bad news, you're asking? It's that I can't share any more snippets from UNDERTOW here on 'The Gift' until it's gone through editing and I get the OK from my publisher. Stay tuned and I'll keep you posted on its progress. Thank you SO MUCH for your support, kind words and interest in my first full-length YA novel.

OKAY! On to today's snippet. We're going to share from my very first work of YA, BLACKBIRD FLIES (through Astraea Press). In this scene, we feel the strong attraction between Payton and Lily. Like magnets, even though there's a powerful force drawing them together, there's an even stronger one repelling them away from each other. Enjoy!


I adore this scene because it highlights almost every element that seems to draw people to the story: music, family tragedy, and a sweet romance in the making:

He shoved the last bite of his bologna and cheese sandwich into his mouth then walked into the piano room. No one was there.

Perfect.

He ran his fingers along the smooth, glossy body of the baby grand. This school had the best of the best. The only stand-up piano at the college was the one the instructor played—isolated in the front corner of the room beside the chalkboard.

He sat on the leather-­‐‑bound bench and lifted up the lid covering the keys. He gingerly pulled his wrinkled and ripped Mozart score from his canvas bag, opened it to his favorite piece: Fantasie, K 475. He positioned his hands over the ivory keys.

He closed his eyes, hearing the piece in his head—the way Mom used to play it. It was the song she’d played for a piano festival competition when he was younger. He’d sat in the audience watching her in awe. It had always amazed him that a woman so torn up inside was able to calm her mind and completely absorb herself in her music. She was…miraculous.

She’d won first in Canada that year. And he was proud to be her son. Why did things have to get so bad? Why couldn’t that have been enough for her? Why couldn’t he have been enough?

He’d barely begun when his attention was snapped back to the present by light pressure on his right forearm and thigh. Startled that he wasn’t alone anymore he jumped, almost falling off the bench. Lily, who’d sat beside him at some point, also jumped, gasping.

“I’m so sorry,” she said. “I called you but you didn’t answer.You were so into your playing.”

Payton straightened his glasses. “What…what are you stalking me or something?” he asked, shoving his
hands into his back pockets.

Lily squinted at him and sputtered. “You wish,” she said. “Um...no! I was walking by to the Dean’s office and heard you playing. I just said you didn’t hear me. I mean, I wasn’t the only person to check you out. Look!”

Payton’s gaze shifted to the back of the room where a few students and the dean had gathered. “You seem to have a small fan base here already,” she said. “Did you want to report them or something?”

He rolled his eyes and playfully shoved her shoulder. She gave him a half-smile. “By the way,” she said, lowering her voice. “Never pictured you as the preppie Eddie Bauer kind of guy but Cool Water kinda suits you.” She leaned closer to his shoulder and sniffed. “Yeah, I definitely think you should use that more often.”

She winked.

A tingle sparked in his stomach. He’d forgotten he had his dad’s sweatshirt on. He made a mental note to buy some of the cologne pronto. Or steal his dad’s.
~~~~~~~~

Well, that's it for our Sweet Saturday Sample for this week. I hope you enjoyed this. I'm working on another project that I'm going to share snippets from as I go, starting next week, so be sure to come back! OH! And be sure to check out the other AMAZING authors (click HERE) participating this week.

See you next time!