Progress Report

Walking Wounded

• 47,571 words
• Estimated finish date: Dec. 1
• Favorite line of the day:

  “Oh God,” Sandy says in a low, strong voice. Not shock, only maternal love. “Oh God, baby, I’m so sorry.” Her hand leaves his arm and cards back through his hair.

              The ticking clock on the wall counts out thirty seconds. The fridge hums quietly to itself.
              “Would you like a really big shot of something out of the adult cabinet?” she asks.
              Luke manages to nod.

...

American Hellhound

• 2,511 words
• Estimated finish date: Jan. 2017
• Favorite line of the day:
• It struck Maggie, suddenly, like a physical blow, that Ava was a long, long way past the girl who’d come home from college a few years ago. She was still slender and beautiful. But there was a new sharpness to her eyes…and a new understanding. Motherhood had both honed and softened her, that powerful contradiction of fierce and gentle that a woman found when she realized she loved something so much she’d kill to protect it. She’d always felt that way about Mercy, though – and she had killed for him.

...

Dear Heart

• 43,046 words
• Estimated finish date: Jan. 2017
• Favorite line of the day: So much time wasted now, as they danced around one another, trying to relearn old rhythms irreparably damaged by the traumas they’d survived since they knew each other last.

Tuesday Notes

I've been trying to spend as many weekend hours as possible away from the web and social media. That stuff'll rot your brain. And then yesterday I was on a good writing kick and decided to just stick with it, and save blogging for another day.

Assorted Tuesday notes:

• I know I have readers in Florida and the Carolinas, and I've been thinking about you all this weekend, hoping that you and yours are okay, and that you rode out the storm.  Florida is big horse country, and one of the things that's always terrified me is the idea of having to evacuate a farm in the event of a hurricane. Evacuation is daunting and difficult for everyone, but throw a barnful of thousand pound animals into the equation, and it's completely overwhelming. I know in hurricane seasons past, Georgia horse show grounds opened up their barns to take in evacuated horses, and I'm sure the offer stood this time. I'm hoping everyone was either able to get out, or able to stay safe. The news footage of the storm surge was terrifying.
• I had the best of intentions re: The Next Chapter of Dear Heart. I have about half of it written, and had hoped to finish and post it this past weekend. It's not clicking, though, and I've been in a Walking Wounded headspace, so I've been focusing on it the last few days. DH is coming, I promise!
• With NaNo coming up, and not one, not two, but now three projects sort of in the works - why do I do this? - there are days I find myself scrambling for blog topics. So if there's ever anything you want me to address, be it about a book, character, or writing in general, feel free to leave me a prompt somewhere or shoot me an email. I love to talk about what you guys are interested in!

Working on a #TeaserTuesday post to share and diving back into the game. Wishing everyone the best.

#TeaserTuesday with American Hellhound

Since the cat's out of the bag (or dog, rather), I thought I'd tease a little bit more about American Hellhound.

First off, you guys being excited helps make me excited, so thanks for that!

Second off, that prologue very much sets the tone for the book as a whole.

Remember that scene at the beginning of Sleeping Beauty? When everyone comes to see the baby. And they tell the prince, who's, like, twelve-years-old, that this is his future wife? And he's all "eww." As was pointed out in the comments (Suz!), the prologue really highlights Ghost and Maggie's age difference, and that's definitely intentional. I've really enjoyed playing up the "royalty" aspect of the club in this series, and large age gaps were always common amongst the aristocracy. It's another way to uphold the old English tradition of Dartmoor, and it's also something you see a lot of in the outlaw biker world. So, yes, I wanted to put that front and center. This book WILL contain a present day look at their relationship, but readers should be aware that glimpses of young Mags and Ghost are going to be the history that Mercy and Ava were repeating.

Because Ghost is the president, we get a chance to look deeper at the mythology of the club, its origins, and the process that led to his presidency. It's a more subtle, political side of the MC, a little more treacherous and slippery.

And of course, despite her mother thinking of her as a "princess," we get to see Maggie come into her own as Queen from the first...and see her continue to own that title.

The book will run two storylines, past and present, and for the first time we'll get to "see" the club of Ghost's youth, meet Uncle Duane, and realize just how far the club has come since then. It was a lot less legit, and a lot more Mad Max back then. After the quiet horror of Kev's book, it will be a chance to return to the action/adventure, hardcore MC side of things. What I want is to do it up big and epic Fearless-style. But we'll just have to see how it all pans out.

I'll tease what I can, when I can, and be working on it all this winter so it can release early next year some time.

Adding a note here because I've seen lots of scattered bits of not-quite-accurate info across various websites:

Be sure to follow me to stay up to date on progress and to be the first to get the teasers:

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or email: authorlaurengilley@gmail.com

And here! Happy Tuesday.

American Hellhound - First Look

American Hellhound, Dartmoor Book 6

Copyright © 2017 by Lauren Gilley

Prologue

“You don’t want to get lost out on the moors at night,” old Donnie Rawlins said, his English accent thickening as the tale began, the firelight licking across his grizzled features, catching like sparks in his eyes. A low breeze scudded across the hard-packed dirt beneath their camp chairs, a faint whistle that could have been branches, could have been voices, could have been the faraway baying of unseen hounds.

#MusicMonday 10/3...and other things.

"Run" by AWOLNATION is giving me all kinds of Maggie and Ghost vibes. That's how it always works - start working on one project, and you have all these ideas about one you aren't supposed to be working on yet.

So far, I've got the broad brush strokes of the plot, and I've got their personal plot as a couple pretty firmly nailed down. The rest is set to simmer patiently, and it's going to be pretty epic.

Also, we've got a title now:

American Hellhound

#FicPromptFriday: 9/30/16 – In Dreams

Irene Tweeted me about a possible Shelter-verse prompt last week, so this one’s for her! Thanks, Irene.

9/30/16 – In Dreams

Before the wedding, before they were officially moved in together, Alma launched a major home makeover. Family photos stayed, but everything else went: bedding, drapes, paint colors, knickknacks. Writing couldn’t afford her a palace, but she could afford to redo the home she’d made with Sam…turn it into the home she would share with Carlos. It helped, in so many ways. She was ready to look ahead to the future, and the house felt like a reflection of their fresh start.

 

**GIVEAWAY**

I'm giving away three signed paperback copies of Loverboy over on Facebook. Head over there for rules and entry, and good luck!