Weekly update #2…Let’s catch up!

Good morning.

Happy Sunday! It’s time for my weekly update. Things were hectic this week. I spent many hours on the road, traveling to and fro to various appointments and what have you. Thursday evening, I drove to Memphis to visit an old friend who I had not seen in fifteen years. We laughed, caught up, and it was as awesome as I had hoped it would be. 

As hectic as the week was, I had a blast. Good food, good friends, and I’ve finally discovered some of the much ballyhooed ‘joy’ that comes from living. For God’s sake, I went to a mall yesterday. I hadn’t been in a mall in years, and I had a great time. I even spent 25 bucks for a candle. 

Switching gears and focus for a second, I got some writing done this week. A friend looked over my beginning paragraph and wrote me back. After reading her suggestions, my fear was confirmed: It could be better. So, I took her suggestion and ran with it. I liked the way it turned out, and I will share it below. 

As always, I hope and pray you’ve all had a wonderful week. Below is the sample of the new beginning of The Rainy Ripper:

“Mama always said there’d be days like dis,” Job muttered as he walked through the torrential rain toward The One Stop Shop. “But I bet she never thought her oldest son wind up on the streets, walking through a hurricane to get a Raspberry Iced Tea. Some things you can’t see, no matter how much prophetic juices you got flooding your veins.” The doorbell chimed as he pushed the door open and stepped into the store. After shaking off the rain as to not track up the white tile floor; Job shuffled to the cooler and took out two cans of tea. 

No one worked the counter, and the only noise in the store came from the television that hung from the ceiling and the humming of the coolers. Job looked around and then dinged the bell. Having worked on occasion for the owner, Talia Omar, Job knew she sometimes stocked the coolers during the downtime. Taking the tea with him, he walked back toward the storeroom. As he passed the last aisle, Job stopped in his tracks and dropped his tea. “What in the world? Oh no, no, no…”

Bloody footprints led into the hallway. In the shadows Job saw Talia leaned up against the cooler, her throat slashed open, the gash deep enough Job could see her spinal cord. A pool of blood stained the concrete floor. 

Behind him, Job heard a noise. He turned his head to see what caused it, when suddenly, he no longer had any need for Raspberry Iced Tea.