#8Sunday Weekend Writing Warriors Excerpt #38

The Weekend Writing Warriors is an awesome site that allows writers to share their 8 to 10 sentence excerpts, published or unpublished, to the blogosphere. If you’d like to join or would like to read wonderful talent, please visit the WeWriWa website on Sunday, 3/1: http://wewriwa.blogspot.com.

This week I’ll be sharing my urban legends WIP. A serial killer murders college students, one by one, based off famous urban legends. SPOILER ALERT—this excerpt reveals one of the killer’s motives.

Here’s my excerpt:

[Sweeney Todd] let out a loud sigh, then sat on the edge of the bed. He grabbed his phone off the nightstand and pushed the red stop button on his video app. Still in the dark, he opened up his Google Docs and began typing:

My heart is racing like a horse on steroids. Her skin was so warm until it wasn’t. Breaking her neck was very loud, so loud that I hope no one heard through the thin walls. Probably not. All I heard was the bed creaking and loud grunts next door. I’m sure the coast is clear.

He typed as fast as his fingers would allow, making sure to capture every sensory detail; writers were always being lectured to show, not tell; he wanted to make sure his readers would be able to feel the experience as his main character, the misunderstood antagonist.

Keep smiling,

Yawatta Hosby

#8Sunday Weekend Writing Warriors Excerpt #37

The Weekend Writing Warriors is an awesome site that allows writers to share their 8 to 10 sentence excerpts, published or unpublished, to the blogosphere. If you’d like to join or would like to read wonderful talent, please visit the WeWriWa website on Sunday, 2/23: http://wewriwa.blogspot.com.

This week I’ll be sharing my urban legends WIP. A serial killer murders college students, one by one, based off famous urban legends. To not spoil the motive behind the killing, I’m skipping ahead in my scene.

Here’s my excerpt:

His tongue slid into Savannah’s mouth. He could smell the pickles she had on her hamburger from lunch. He didn’t hesitate to squeeze his hands around her neck. She tried to scream, but her vocal chords wouldn’t work. She scratched his hands. Her long nails stabbed him repeatedly. He squeezed tighter and tighter.

He couldn’t risk anymore of his DNA under her fingernails, so he snapped her neck. “Thank you, Savannah, for playing your part. You have no idea how much that means to me.”

Keep smiling,

Yawatta Hosby

 

 

How Urban Legends Shaped My Newest Horror Story #WIHM

I had fun writing my horror novella, Urban Legends (working title). A serial killer terrorizes a group of college students with urban legends, killing them one by one. In honor of Women In Horror Month, I was a guest on Priscilla Bettis’s blog–The making of a horror novelist. If you would like to see the nine urban legends that inspired my horror scenes, then please click on the link: Guest Post: How Urban Legends Shaped My Newest Story by Yawatta Hosby.

What’s your favorite urban legend? Mine is Bloody Mary. To this day, I refuse to say her name five times while looking in a mirror. No siree.

Keep smiling,

Yawatta Hosby

#8Sunday Weekend Writing Warriors Excerpt #36

The Weekend Writing Warriors is an awesome site that allows writers to share their 8 to 10 sentence excerpts, published or unpublished, to the blogosphere. If you’d like to join or would like to read wonderful talent, please visit the WeWriWa website on Sunday, 2/16: http://wewriwa.blogspot.com.

This week I’ll be sharing my urban legends WIP. A serial killer murders college students, one by one, based off famous urban legends. Last week left off with Sweeney Todd and Savannah flirting after making love. I skipped some of the conversation to get to the answer everyone’s been waiting for 🙂

Here’s my excerpt:

“Did anybody see you in the hallway coming towards this room?”

“No one was in the hall, if that’s what you’re asking me; trust me, they’re all probably creepy men having to pay to get laid.”

What was wrong with that? Savannah was so judgmental; how she was dressed, she could’ve been one of the damn hotel escorts, so she had no room to talk.

Satisfied there wouldn’t be that much of a trace to room twenty-four, regarding Savannah, he knew he could get away with murder.

For now.

He lay on top of her, their legs interlocked as she lay on her back. He put his face closer to her neck, breathing in her scent. “You’re beautiful, Savannah Getts.”

“You’re not too bad looking, W–,”

Keep smiling,

Yawatta Hosby

 

Stitch Fix Has A New Way of Sending Clothes!!! Gets My Approval!

Since there’s hardly any clothing stores in my area (hello, Martinsburg, needs more than restaurants and hotels!), I’ve been buying stuff online. I joined Stitch Fix and recommend them. Usually, they ask people to request a box to be shipped to them. Each box contains 5 items. If you keep them all, then you get a discount on your entire order.

I was happy to see that they changed their policy. Now, you can buy separates instead of getting a mystery box. Under the ‘shop’ label, it’ll show the shirts, sweaters, jeans, shoes, etc. you’ve already purchased. Then with each item it’ll show you things that match and will look cute as a whole outfit. I love this concept much better! Before you hit purchase, you’ll see how much the item costs. With the mystery boxes, the items and prices are all a mystery.

I’ll definitely keep buying from Stitch Fix if they keep improving 🙂

I got the cute booties and comfy long sleeve shirt for a reasonable cost. I already had the jeans from Stitch Fix. If anyone wants to try them out, here’s a $50 referral code. I don’t know when it expires, but they just sent it to me by email recently.

Keep smiling,

Yawatta Hosby

Supporting #WIHM, I’m Adding The Empties by Kristen Gorlitz to My To-Be-Read List!

February is Women In Horror Month, and I’ve been browsing Twitter to find authors to support. I love to read, and I’m a firm believer of writers helping other writers. Plus, I love graphic novels. I was in luck when I found Kristen Gorlitz sharing her horror graphic novel, The Empties, on Twitter.

The Empties: You are who you eat.

When a housewife contracts a flesh-eating illness, she and her husband rekindle a love that is literally all-consuming!

A chef has a simple desire–he wants to be happy and he wants his wife to be happy too. But just because his wife has a roof over his head, it doesn’t mean that she’s happy or fulfilled. There’s something missing in her life, and even she can’t put a finger on what it is. That is,  until she develops an insatiable hunger for flesh!

You can get the first comic book in the series for FREE at this direct Dropbox link.

I’ve gotten a sneak peak of The Empties, and I’m very impressed! The horror graphic novel will be released on February 18, 2020 on Kickstarter–  http://www.horrorcomicbook.com.

If horror is your thing, if graphic novels are your thing, if the undead is your thing, then please consider showing Kristen Gorlitz support 🙂

Keep smiling,

Yawatta Hosby

Getting More International Love! Check Out My Guest Post: What’s in a (Character) Name? #WIHM #IARTG

For Women In Horror Month, I was determined to guest blog and get my name out there as much as possible. Even though I’m shy in real life doesn’t mean I have to be shy with social media 🙂

I had the honor of being a guest on Samantha Henthorn finds the right words blog today! Samantha is the author of Curmudgeon Ave Series. You should check her books out. I found her through the #DectheShelves challenge on Twitter back in December. In fact, I had met a lot of cool authors during that time.

If you want to see how I come up with character names for my horror stories, please click on the link: What’s in a (Character) Name?

Keep smiling,

Yawatta Hosby

#8Sunday Weekend Writing Warriors Excerpt #35

The Weekend Writing Warriors is an awesome site that allows writers to share their 8 to 10 sentence excerpts, published or unpublished, to the blogosphere. If you’d like to join or would like to read wonderful talent, please visit the WeWriWa website on Sunday, 2/9: http://wewriwa.blogspot.com.

This week I’ll be sharing my urban legends WIP. A serial killer murders college students, one by one, based off famous urban legends. I’m skipping the sex scene that was coming up from last week’s blog post.

Here’s my excerpt (many semi-colons added. Looking through my WIP, I realize I use a lot of short sentences lol):

She lay in his arms; her soft blonde curls tickled his arm. He gently placed a strand of hair behind her ear. Should he continue to live in the moment or was it time? In bliss, he didn’t want to accidentally fall asleep and mess up the plan; he had a full night ahead of him.

Sweeney Todd. He laughed to himself; what idiot would really accept that as a suitable name? The desk clerk should’ve known that was a fake ID; lucky for him, the guy was stupid; people were morons in general.

He kissed Savannah on top of the head.

“That feels nice.” She laughed a lazy laugh, “You see, you can act sweet when you want to.”

Keep smiling,

Yawatta Hosby

Book Review: Hollow Heart by Ben Eads

***I received a free copy from Ginger Nuts of Horror and am voluntarily giving an honest review***

Welcome to Shady Hills, Florida, where death is the beginning and pain is the only true Art…

Harold Stoe was a proud Marine until an insurgent’s bullet relegated him to a wheelchair. Now the only things he’s proud of are quitting alcohol and raising his sixteen-year-old son, Dale.

But there is an infernal rhythm, beating like a diseased heart from the hollow behind his home. An aberration known as The Architect has finished his masterpiece: A god which slumbers beneath the hollow, hell-bent on changing the world into its own image.

As the body count rises and the neighborhood residents change into mindless, shambling horrors, Harold and his former lover, Mary, begin their harrowing journey into the world within the hollow. If they fail, the hollow will expand to infinity. Every living being will be stripped of flesh and muscle, their nerves wrapped tightly around ribcages, so The Architect can play his sick music through them loud enough to swallow what gives them life: The last vestiges of a dying star.

I loved this horror book. The opening sentence “Making deals with the dead had to stop” had me hooked right away. The author did a great job with setting and description at the beginning. I could picture the bad conditions Harold and his neighbors lived in very vividly.

My favorite lines: 1) Pain is just one of my hobbies. A hobby the world will soon know. 2) No one leaves. Never has. Never will. 3) Everything went dark as they descended like an elevator with its wires cut.

I appreciated that the plot was pretty fast paced. There weren’t any dull moments in the book, but I wished the author would have slowed down at certain parts, especially towards the end…

To read the full review, please visit: https://gingernutsofhorror.com/fiction-reviews/book-review-hollow-heart-by-ben-eads

Keep smiling,

Yawatta Hosby

Getting International Love for Plenty of Fish #WomenInHorror #WIHM

I got a pleasant surprise this month, which is awesome because it’s Women In Horror Month. My dark suspense short story, Plenty of Fish, got a 4-star review from Deborah J. Miles who lives in the UK. Thank you so much 🙂

“This is another well-written, short, dark tale from Ms Hosby, where I found myself holding my breath, expecting the worst, while still hoping to be wrong.”–Deborah J Miles.

Check out her blog (Against the Flow Press) to read the rest of her review.

Keep smiling,

Yawatta Hosby