I shared the following excerpt of a story I am working on with my Facebook friends a few days ago. I got a few positive responses and thought back on other times when I tried the same thing. See, I’m the kinda writer who likes feedback before diving into an intense project. I’m going to have to decide which of four stories I am going to pick up and carry to the end. So, I think I’ll introduce them all over the next four weeks and then put it to a vote and see what you all think. If I get enough interest I will likely set up a pre-order option to speed up the delivery date.

Story Number 1

“The lambent advance of dawn through the slender cracks of the hotel curtains banished any hope of sleeping in. Sleep had been a bit of a brat throughout the night teasing me with an hour or two followed by 30 or so minutes of insomnia and general restlessness. I knew I was pushing it taking one final trip before hanging up my globetrotting ways for a bit, but I hadn’t counted on sleep being so tricky away from my bed at home. ‘Liz isn’t going to let me hear the end of this,’ I thought as I pictured my friend of over 20-years frowning and lecturing me about the dangers of traveling in my condition. She’d only cleared me to travel on the promise that I would call her and check in every morning and that I would fly rather than drive to my meeting. Liz couldn’t understand my love of being in the field. All of her patients come to her in the gorgeous medical suite that houses her practice in the newly renovated space she’d acquired near the Reservoir district of Little Rock. My clients require that I come to them which had suited me just fine for the past five years since I started working full time as a consultant for the Arkansas Aerospace Manufacturing Consortium. I’d received a request to come to Camden for a few days to help finalize a new agreement that would bring about a large number of new jobs in three areas of the state that desperately needed them. Yesterday we finally got everyone to sign on the dotted line. The effort had taken a toll on me though and I was actually glad to be headed home today. Taking a deep breath I threw back the cover, swung my legs off the side of the bed and pulled myself up to a seated position in two smooth motions. Eyes still squeezed shut, I immediately regretted my actions as my body took the shock of the temperature difference outside of what had been my deliciously warm cocoon under the thick comforters I’ve grown to love during my travels. I stepped down onto the floor and took a deep full body stretch before proceeding to the bathroom to begin my daily ritual completely unaware that my day was about to take a bizarre and life changing twist.”

What do you think? Wanna read more? Would you Pre-order the book today?

Marta C. Youngblood is a writer, education and social entrepreneur based in Little Rock, Arkansas. For more information on her current projects visit https://about.me/MCyoungblood.