Food for Thought

Good Morning and todays Food for Thought day, is going to be something different. First of all let’s talk about Authors promoting Authors. Founded by the industrious Tina Sue, who is also a publicist and offers PR for authors to help promote their books, it is also a place for authors to meet, get help, help others and connect with readers and the public.

So who looks at APA? Magazines, Publishers, Literary Agents, Theatres, Directors, readers and of course, the authors. From one blog last year I secured a writing position with a magazine, a radio slot and a publishing deal. That happened all in one day. It was purely from being on a well-advertised blog. So today I am inviting authors of all genres, to showcase their versatility with writing.

I will start with the first paragraph of a short story and every author who stops by must contribute to it. Please, no one liners. Make it about a minimum of 100 words. Throughout the day I will place the contributions on the blog so everyone can see the story’s progression. Then tomorrow I’ll place the whole thing on my blog to give your writing double exposure. Please, add your touch, add your flair, showcase your writing and make this story come alive.

Margaret West. (http://www.margaretwest.net/)

Carrie Sanders sat in the car, which rattled like an old tin can, as the rain pounded on the roof and sighed. What on earth was she doing at midnight, sitting in Rattlers Cove, freezing her backside off? Mist hung like a silken shroud across the shore line obscuring most of her view of the water. With camera poised in her hand, she squinted out of a window which had begun to steam up, annoying her further.

This would be a good scoop for the paper if she got a picture of the, so called, Selkie, who was said to visit the cove every year, for one week. So the locals had whispered to her. Too scared to say it out loud in case the mere mention of it reaped terrible luck on their fishing boats. Carrie didn’t believe a jot of it, but her editor had become intrigued and she had been sent out to investigate.
A flash of lightening lit up the sky, casting a hazy light over the water and it was then she saw it. A dark shadowy outline of someone on the beach. Carrie rubbed at her window to clear the fog, and squinted out. She held her wide angled camera up and looked through. Her eyes widened in shock and she blinked several times, hardly believing what she was looking at. There was a silkie and it was a man, who turned and looked straight at her, his red eyes flashing in anger.

Carrie's first inclination was to turn tail and run, to quail in the face of such obvious anger. But then she stiffened her spine, reminding herself why she was there, and the moment passed. Bugger all, the scoop of a lifetime stood within reach and damned if she was going to let it get away.The next flash of lightning to split the sky revealed an empty beach. Carrie swore under her breath, scrambling from the car. She'd never forgive herself if she let this one get away. She'd also never live it down. It would become part and parcel of the local legend that was Carrie Sanders. Local joke more like.Carrie Sanders was known for letting all the good ones get away. She couldn't hold a man to save her life. They all figured her out for what she was and ran for the hills.Putting such dismal thoughts behind her, she was thinking seriously of giving up when a blessed intervention in the form of a jagged flash revealed that the selkie, if indeed that was what it was, had simply changed position. He stood just outside her car, peering into the window. She worked hard not to leap back in fright.

Her heart pounding, she clutched her camera. The movement started him and he jolted back."No! Don't go!" she shouted and opened the car door and stepped outside. This was a photo opp she was not going to miss. Not this time."Carrie!" he said. "I thought that was you."She recognized the voice. It was Jack. Of all people! Stepping forward for a closer look, his face came into full view. Their eyes met and held for a long moment. They both saw it, then. Something moving beyond the rocks. Watching them.

Get back in the car." Jack's voice was rough in her ear, and Carrie's first instinct was to balk at being ordered to do something. But as his fingers tightened around her arm, tension ran through them both like the lightning that played in the sky above them. "Did you see it...him...too?"Jack didn't answer. He took a step toward the car, dragging her with him."You did, didn't you?" So it hadn't been her imagination. The red eyes, the anger...Yes, getting in the car and leaving would be the best thing for both of them right now. But this was the chance of a lifetime. How could she walk away?In a wrenching movement, she tore away from Jack's grip and ran, not toward the car, but away...toward the rocks, and the man who waited there. She was going to get her picture, one way or the other.

Through the pouring rain, Carrie ran hard and fast towards the rocks beyond. Lightning flashed over and over as she came closer to what, she knew not. Carrie only knew that she was not to be denied.Another flash of lightning, far closer that Carrie was comfortable with and the loud crash of thunder came barreling over the landscape, causing Carrie to shriek with fright and nearly drop her camera.Suddenly, she felt something soft and gentle on her shoulder and the rain-soaked young woman turned to tell Jack that she was just fine. The flash of lightning and crash of thunder revealed a sight far more frightening than Carrie thought possible and realized that the hand on her shoulder was not Jacks.

Ran towards the rocks she could feel her heart pumping. She could hear the voice of Jack in the distance calling to her as she ran. The thunder booming violently and lightning playfully dancing across the sky. The brief flashes of light to darkness made her even more determined in her pursuit. She never liked the rain but this story was to important to her. She continue to run towards the rocks panting but exhillerated. Suddenly she felt a blunt push knocking her to the ground. The rain soaked ground cold and unforgiving. Her drenched her covered her eyes but one thing she was certain of she had snapped a picture before the fall.She remembered pointing the camera towards the area she had seen the silkie and the only light the flash of her camera as she fell to the sand.She clammored to her feet and before her stood Jack. Jack did you see who pushed me she asked. Jack..The figure known as Jack stood there not saying a word. Jack she continued....

She and Jack had a shared history, not one she was particularly proud of but they had been very close over the years. There was a time when all of the locals thought they would be together, marriage, baby's,the whole shebang but that was before Carrie had been betrayed. Jack had wanted her but being aware that he was the most eligible bachelor in town,how old fashioned did that make her sound, he could not resist flirting with every woman he came across. Not in a sleazy way but with an air of confidence that danced in his eyes.Little by little Carries self esteem had dwindled as she tried desperately to compete with the prettier girls in their small seaside town.Her older brothers had made it quite clear that in their opinion their little sister was batting out of her league and should give up any ideas of hanging onto Jack and when She had turned up at his house unexpectedly that spring evening seven years ago they had been proved right.Jack was not to be trusted with her heart and now here he was again, as he was at every momentous moment of her life, trying to spoil things. She would find the Selkie and claim him as her own,that would show him.Carrie ran blundering into the dark her knees buckling as she clambered over the dunes the soft sand shifted under her feet. Despite the spiteful wind she could hear Jacks heavy breath behind her as he gave chase. Panic thumped in her chest as she pounded along the stormy beach.she had run from jack before and she would outrun him now, if he thought he was in a position to stop her he was sadly mistaken.She must find the Selkie man, he would be her champion, he would save her.