House of Skeletons

by Linda Nelson, posted in Fiction, flash fiction, Short Stories, short story, writing

Italo Calvino said: The more enlightened our houses are, the more their walls ooze ghosts.

Image credit: “love Don’t live here anymore…” – © 2009 Robb North – made available under Attribution 2.0 Generic

House of Skeletons by Linda Nelson – © June 12, 2013

Tara loved the house she grew up in, she hadn’t been back home in over twenty years. How time flies and things change.

She pulled up to the curb and put the car in park. Tara could see the property from her car. A rickety For-Sale sign hung on a wooden post. She wondered how long the property had been for sale. How could the home that she had loved so much fallen into such disrepair?

“There it is,” she said to her best friend Maddy. “That’s where I grew up.”

“That is the house you are going to buy?” Maddy asked. “Your kidding me. You can’t fix that unless you plan on bulldozing it down.”

Tara got out of the car and walked briskly toward the rundown home, Maddy followed close behind. “I’m not going to plow this house into the earth. I can fix it, I know I can.” She poked her head in the doorway where the door was off it’s hinges and leaning up against the wall. Dirt billowed in the front door, spilling across the floor.

Tara stepped over the threshold to look about the building. The Real Estate agent would be there any minute.

The back part of the house was missing where the kitchen and the dining room used to be. All that remained of it was the broken caved in bricks. She had helped her mom bake many a cake and cookie in that kitchen. Her mom passed away while she was in her second year of college.

She could still picture her dad sitting in his recliner in the living room. The chair was no longer there, but her memory was, there he sat watching many a ball game on Saturday afternoons. None of the furniture remained, just the memory of it in her mind. A single tear streaked down her cheek.

Tara’s dad passed away six months ago from a heart attack. Being an only child now meant being alone. But she had Maddy, her best friend and the closest she had to family. Maddy was like a sister to her.

“Hello,” A voice called from outside the house.

“The Agent is here Tara.”

“Okay, can you tell her I will be right out?”

Tara waited for Maddy to step outside the doorway before she crossed what was left of the living room and stooped before the dusty fireplace hearth. There she found the loose brick and underneath it the ring she had hid when she was five. How her mom had gotten into so much trouble for reporting her engagement ring missing. Her dad was rip shit. Tara never told anyone that she had taken the ring. Today she couldn’t remember why she had taken it and not given it back. It was just water under the dam, and all she had left of a memory from a time long ago.

She left the home and stepped outside to greet the Real Estate Agent whom Maddy was now questioning about the price of the property.

“I’m sorry to say. I can’t sell it to you. The property is taken. It was sold last night.”

“Can’t we counter the bid?” Asked Maddy. She looked toward Tara out of concern.

“I’m sorry to say, the owner has already accepted the sale. The property has been paid for in cash up front.”

Tara’s eyes welled with tears. She was too late. She clutched the ring in the palm of her hand that was thrust deep inside her pocket. At least she had that. “It’s all right Maddy.”

“Can I show you another property?” the agent asked.

“No never mind. I only wanted this one because it was where I had been born and raised,” answered Tara. “Thank you for coming out to meet us.”

“Are you sure, I have other properties like this one.”

“No this was the only one I wanted. But can you tell me who bought it?” Tara asked.

“Oh yes, a very nice elderly man. I think he said his name was Barry Cooper.”

Tara felt the blood leave her face. She had no idea her uncle Barry was alive. Her folks told her that he had died when she was five and was never allowed to ask about him ever again. That was until she had entered college and had done a little bit of investigating that turned up a hidden secret. Apparently her Uncle Barry was her real father. No one knew except her dead parents and her. So the skeleton was about to return home and look in the closets and Tara would pay him a visit when he did.

Getting back into the Swing of things for #ROW80

by Linda Nelson, posted in ROW80, works in progress

For the past few weeks I have had a little bit of trouble thinking of how Along Came Neil was going to progress. I just couldn’t figure out how to get them from point A in the story to point B. Then there was that missing twist element. I always have to have a twist in the story and the fact that I don’t want my readers to see it coming.

I was just plain stuck.

I’ve never really written a romance before. I have read a few and found them to be kind of humorous. Especially the romances from Stephanie Bond, I like her stories.

So when it came to writing Along Came Neil, I really have to plot and think about what has to happen. It has to be just so or else it isn’t going to work.

I guess it is kind of like how an artist who normally only sketches with a pencil decides to try their hand at painting. They know the technique but they also have to take care with their brush strokes or the picture won’t come out quite right.

If I sat down to write a fantasy it would be a different story. I know I could whip through that in a matter of a couple of months. Reading and writing fantasy is just me. I can really get deep into the story once I start letting go of my imagination. I know the story is all make-believe.

But writing a Contemporary Romance seems too close to home. The characters tend to be more realistic and everyone has their expectations and desires.

Last time I was stuck my friend Linda Kepner said blow something up. I did, I made the kids catch the kitchen on fire.

Well that worked for a bit. Then I got stuck again. Something unexpected and dramatic had to happen. So, on my Facebook author page I ran a poll. What can go wrong with a car while taking a date to the semi-formal dance?

I got some good feedback that helped me brain storm. Thanks – fans! Your help was greatly appreciated.

Then I bounced the same question off of Mike and he gave me a great brain storm. I won’t tell you what it is and spoil the story. What I will tell you is that once again I have drawn from an incident that happened to one of my kids in the past year or two. Still I won’t tell you about it and spoil the story. (lol)

Now I am getting much closer to the end of the story. I have a minimum of 17k words left to go. How hard can it be to write 17k words? It should be a piece of cake.

I estimate that I should be done with this first draft – time to set the final goal – by the fourth of July.

If I don’t make this goal than either there is either a dramatic event that has happened in my life (something to use in a future story) or this book is going to be longer than any of the books I have ever written.

Stop by our ROW80 Linky List and cheer on the progress of other fellow writers – Linky List

June NHRWA meeting:

LOL- this blog is written backwards this month. Usually I begin with the meeting tidbits and end with my ROW Update.

I hear it is okay to be different once in a while…

So yesterday our speaker was Hilary Weisman Graham. She is a writer/award-winning filmmaker/screenwriter from southern NH.

Hilary spoke to us about how she had gone about marketing her book Reunited. By the way, I won this book in the chapter raffle. I am looking forward to reading this YA book about a road trip taken by 3 ex-best friends after they have graduated from High School, only their road trip is not based on dark matter like my on road trip book Road Salt. It should be a fun read.

She told us about her marketing plan she used on her new release from a year ago and told us how she had gone a little bit overboard with expenses but she had fun while doing it. When she was asked if she would do it that way again she said she probably would not.

 – Good to know – It is alright to put a spending limit on your marketing plan. There is such a thing as a little bit too much.

The best tidbit she shared was how she had better book signing success when she teamed up for book signings at bookstores with two or three other YA writers like herself. It gave the audience more of a selection to choose from. – Good to know –

Now I just need to find a few more YA writers in New England and network with them on book signings and I will be all set.

Things happen in due time – so if any of you YA writers are in NH or Ma, even Vt – I would be very happy to join you in a book signing event. Just contact me and I’m sure I can fit you into my schedule.