Finding My Escape - Prologue

I'm so excited about Finding My Escape, getting it finished.  So close. 
Here's an excerpt:

He looked down at the knife in his left hand, dripping in blood. Pausing from his task, he listened to the sound of labored breathing coming from the other room. The gasping became slower and heavier, then stopped. Charles Jordan was dead. The killer laughed.

Back to work.

He turned his handsome blond head toward the woman splayed on the kitchen floor in front of him. He’d hit her pretty hard, but this gal was tough. Grabbing her tangled hair, he jerked her into a sitting position and placed the bloody knife under her throat.

"Tell me where you hid the chip."

"No!" she gasped. The man watched as Liz Jordan’s dark eyes darted wildly at the clock.

"Where’s your daughter Liz?" he hissed in her ear, pulling the knife ever so slightly into her throat.

The woman’s eyes grew wide for a second, but quickly veiled again.

"She’s spending the night with a friend."

"You’re lying!" He dug the knife deeper. A drop of blood trickled down her neck and dripped on the white tile floor.

"Tell me where that chip is, or I’ll kill her, too."

"Okay, I’ll tell you, but pl..please," she sputtered, "I’m begging, don’t hurt her. Th..there's a key to a safety deposit box taped under the table. First Bank of Marietta. Main branch. Please," she gasped, "Hannah has nothing to do with this."

The man reached under the table with his free hand and found a key. Smirking, he slipped it into his pocket. He looked down at the woman. Her eyes were pleading.

"Thanks, Mrs. Jordan. Now, I just have one piece of unfinished business."

He paused, savoring the thought of slashing Liz Jordan’s beautiful white throat.

"Mom?" came a girl’s voice from the front door.

The broken woman below him stirred as she struggled now to raise her head. He could read the desperation in her eyes. The man tightened his grip and put his finger to his mouth to indicate silence, but the woman was already screaming.

"Don’t come in here honey, RUN!"

He covered the woman’s mouth to stifle one last cry before slashing her throat. Then he headed toward the sound of the girl's voice. Hannah Jordan was going to wish she'd missed her curfew.

I'm still polishing, so this part will probably get another shine, too!

Finding My Escape is Almost Finished

Wow!  I pulled up my blog today and was shocked to see that it had been almost a month since I've written anything.  (Tsk, tsk, Fran, that is no way to build a following.)  Anyway, here I am for the 20 or so of you who check my blog out from time to time.

Biggest news:  I think I'm pretty close to having Finding My Escape ready to epublish *takes a bow*.  I've been on a wild editing rampage (in between doing taxes) and I'm getting ready to send it out to Beta readers.  I have to say that I really have to thank my critique partner, Shannon Hill, for helping me to see the rough spots and getting everything all polished and shiny.  *hugs to Shannon*

I'll keep you posted on a release date.  Gotta go edit now!

What's Going On

I've been getting some interesting feedback from Beta and Critique Partners for my WIP, Finding My Escape.  The reactions seem to be pretty mixed.  So far, about 90% of those who have read it really like it with about 10% who don't care for it.  Everyone, even the 10% that didn't like the story have offered wonderful feedback which I am using to reshape and improve the book.

Right now, I'm still in draft editing phase.  I know I told my FaceBook buds a few weeks ago that I'd finished editing and planned to epublish it soon, but after reading/hearing the critiques, I realized I had two choices:

1. Publish the book (which most enjoyed and thought a good read) as is
2. Polish the book some more and make it a great read

I opted for the latter for a couple of reasons.   Ebooks are booming now, and there's a sense of urgency with many in the industry.  You might even call it a frenzy to get your book out.  Unfortunately, some have chosen to do that with very little editing (or in some cases even proofreading).  This is giving self-pubbed ebooks a bad rap and I don't want to contribute to that reputation.

The main reason, though, is that I only want to produce quality work.  I want to put work out there that makes people say, "see, indie writers can be just as good as NYT best selling authors".  I want people to read my books and recommend them to their friends.  I want people to write five star reviews.  I want my work to be good.

Time is the one commodity we can't replicate, make more of, or find a substitute for.  If I'm going to spend the time to write a book, you can be sure I'm going to spend the time to make it great!