#8Sunday Weekend Writing Warriors Excerpt #42

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Weekend Writing Warriors is an awesome site that allows writers to share their 8 to 10 sentence excerpts, published or unpublished, to the blogosphere.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, 3/29 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.

Here’s my excerpt:

The clerk didn’t look up from his computer as he typed away vigorously. “Sure.”

“Please don’t let any maids into my room. I have OCD and want to clean it myself. I’m not saying that your staff isn’t good, but I have very high standards.”

 “Of course, Mr. Todd. I’ll note your account.”

***That, my friends, ends the chapter. Looks like the creepy desk clerk escapes Sweeney Todd’s craziness 🙂

Keep smiling,

Yawatta Hosby

#8 Sunday Weekend Writing Warriors Excerpt #41

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Weekend Writing Warriors is an awesome site that allows writers to share their 8 to 10 sentence excerpts, published or unpublished, to the blogosphere.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, 3/22 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.

Here’s my excerpt:

Sweat started to drip from his forehead. Play it cool, he thought. Sweeney Todd wouldn’t be nervous in this situation. Sweeney Todd would embrace the challenge.

He studied the clerk’s eyes to figure out what he was thinking. “Hi, I just found out I’ll be spending longer in town. Can I book the same room for another two months?”

The clerk looked surprised, like why would someone in their right mind want to actually spend days, let alone months, in this dump. Clearing his throat, he said, “Of course, Mr. Todd, I’m happy that the accommodations work for you.” 

 “And can I make a special request?”

Keep smiling,

Yawatta Hosby

Top 3 Things I Learned During My Writing Retreat

Last month, I created my DIY writing retreat for a weekend. I stayed at a wonderful Airbnb artist loft, which happened to be an attic. Once my curiosity balanced out (hello, I stayed by myself in an unfamiliar place. I was checking everything out, especially the interior design lol), I was able to focus on writing. I ended up working on a horror novella.

Fast forward to March—now most people are panicking over the coronavirus. Rightfully so. There’s been a confirmed positive case in Shepherdstown, which is only a town over from me. My job had already locked our lobby to keep the public out. We can only help our customers over the phone for now. Starting today, we all have new schedules. Some departments get to work from home. I didn’t get that lucky. However, since only two employees can be in each department at a time, I volunteered for the afternoon shift. I don’t have to go to work until one p.m. My mornings are free, and I plan on taking advantage of it. So, I’m recollecting what I learned during my writing retreat to help me make the most out of my mornings, until my old work schedule returns where I go in at eight a.m. Maybe focusing on my writing and art projects will help reduce my stress and anxiety over the fear of the coronavirus…

Here’s the top three things I learned from my DIY writing retreat:

1. So many times I’ve made the excuse of I can only work in a cafe or public place. Not anymore. I was very productive all by myself— morning, afternoon, and evening. I didn’t need the background noise of customers and baristas. I didn’t need to people-watch to get my creative juices flowing. If I could concentrate at the quiet artist loft, then I can concentrate at home.

2.  It was a good idea that I planned beforehand what stories I’d work on before heading to my writing retreat. I also see that I can be quite flexible with my plans changing without it taking a toll on my mood. I have OCD and am used to routine. My plan was to finish my escape room novella. I had also wanted to revise my urban legends novella but didn’t hear back from my beta-readers in time. Not sweating it, I only focused on writing my horror escape room story.  I also wrote some comic diary scripts but didn’t draw anything. My wrist was sore from all the writing.

3. Alec Longstreth is a genius! I follow his advice when it comes to drawing comics. Turned out, his advice of writing down your schedule for the day also works for writing projects. The list I created right after eating lunch or breakfast (depended on when I woke up lol) really helped me stay on track and focus on what I needed to do. The modify column helped keep pressure off. It’s okay if you can’t complete a goal in the time allotted—you can always save it for a different time slot.

***For anyone who has ever participated in a writing or artist retreat, what did you end up learning about yourself?

Keep smiling,

Yawatta Hosby

#8Sunday Weekend Writing Warriors Excerpt #40

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, 3/15 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.

Here’s my excerpt:

[Sweeney Todd] didn’t take one last look into the room towards the bed as he closed the door behind him. What was the point? He’d be back again. When expressing art, a genius’s work was never done.

He roamed the hallway until he reached the deserted front desk. Where was the clerk? Being impatient, he rang the bell. The clerk, all sweaty, came out of a small office. Hopefully, his sleazy ass didn’t have secret recordings of the rooms. The pervert. That would definitely mess everything up!

Keep smiling,

Yawatta Hosby

#8Sunday Weekend Writing Warriors Excerpt #39

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, 3/8: 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.

Here’s my excerpt (more commas and semi-colons were used to fit more text into this week’s excerpt):

Google was a writer’s best friend. Months ago, he had researched how to stuff a body into a mattress; it was crazy the kind of stuff you could find online if you were patient and persistent; fiddling with key search phrases and clicking all the way through last page results came in handy. He followed the steps that he remembered from memory; he couldn’t risk saving the information on his phone.  

He turned on the light while he stuffed Savannah’s dead body inside the brown-yellowish mattress. Then he took a shower in the dingy bathtub, lathered with the smallest bar of soap ever, and got dressed. He made the bed like no one had slept in it, like no one had experienced wild sex on it, like no one had killed on it.

He picked up the ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign on the dresser and put it on the doorknob in the hallway; the last thing he needed was for a maid to do routine cleaning but end up smelling the rotten flesh of the beautiful Savannah Getts, Miss Popular on campus, just a dead Jane Doe in this crappy hotel.

Keep smiling,

Yawatta Hosby

Book Review: The Soul City Salvation by Jonathan LaPoma

***I received a free copy and am voluntarily giving an honest review***

Ten months–that’s how long twenty-six-year-old writer and aspiring actor Jay Sakovsky decides to stay and teach in the bohemian beach town of Soul City, California, to save up cash and overcome his anxiety before moving on to Hollywood.

But after several “friendly chats” with the vice principal about hangover sweats and black eyes from barroom brawls, Jay sees a therapist who helps him connect his self-destructive tendencies and artistic blocks to his undiagnosed OCD, setting him on a ten-year healing journey that drives him to near madness as he explores the limits of his heart, creativity, and psyche.

A surreal, darkly comic, and psychologically epic novel, The Soul City Salvation explores mental illness, friendship, aging, masculinity, modern love, the creative process, spiritual awakening, and fighting for respect in an uncaring world.

*The Soul City Salvation is the fifth book in a loosely-linked series, with Hammond, The Summer of Crud, Understanding the Alacrán, and Developing Minds: An American Ghost Story as books one-four. Each novel can be read independently of the others.

I enjoyed this contemporary drama. It was written in Jay’s first-person point of view. Jay had OCD, anxiety, and depression—things I could relate to as a reader. In fact, some scenes when he was younger helped me understand the actual things I had been going through as a kid and teenager. My moodiness and “dark” thoughts could be linked to my OCD back then.

Jay stayed on Doug’s couch in California to live out his dreams as a musician or actor. Instead, he ended up becoming a teacher. When Jay and Doug had a fallen out, I was curious to see if they would repair their friendship. I was disappointed when that storyline sort of fizzled out. Doug had a temper. I had been expecting more conflict.

My favorite lines: 1) “I knew that the old me had to die.” 2) “Our dreams consumed the reality of our love.” 3) “Just as I’d had to make peace with death, I also had to make peace with isolation.” 4) “A part of me wanted to self-destruct. It was easier that way.” 5) “You shut them all out. You think anyone’s ever gonna give a fuck about you again?”

I loved when Silas, an old childhood friend, visited California to see Jay. It was nice to see Jay have good moments in his life instead of focusing on just the bad. The story sort of read like a journal. There was a lot of telling instead of showing when it came to character interactions. I would have loved to see the full extent of Jay’s romantic dates or his friendships in Mexico. I felt bad for Jay how his coworkers bullied him. Usually I love bittersweet or depressing endings, but I was really hoping for Jay to get the last laugh. Did he? You’ll have to read to find out.

I RECOMMEND this book to read.

Keep smiling,

Yawatta Hosby

Book Review: Curmudgeon Avenue #1 by Samantha Henthorn

You do know that walls have ears, don’t you? When sisters Edith and Edna Payne move into Curmudgeon Avenue, their presence is not welcomed by the proud, yet grouchy Victorian terrace. This delightful comedy-drama is narrated by the house itself and tells of quarrels, romances and dramas of the intertwined nincompoop residents.

Widowed Edith is looking for love and dates one of Edna’s ex-boyfriends, Maurice – wait until you find out what happens there! Edna is heartbroken after her long term partner moved to France. Unhappily cohabiting with her idiot sister, Edna dislikes her nephew, Ricky Ricketts, who permanently hangs around Curmudgeon Avenue with his on/off girlfriend Wantha, her sister Toonan and all the tomfoolery they bring…
The sisters decide to advertise for a lodger – enter the notable Harold – yet another of Edna’s exes! Still vulnerable from the Maurice incident, Edith falls for his charms… what will happen at Curmudgeon Avenue?

This novella is the first in the series of the quirky comedy-drama series, Curmudgeon Avenue.

I enjoyed this comedy. The opening line: “On the day this all started, the sky was full of August apologies for a summer undelivered.” I loved that the main character happened to be the house. It was not a fan of Edith or Edna, which I found funny. I will say the ending happened quite abruptly, and I wasn’t prepared for that. It was a nice cliffhanger though.

My favorite line of the book was: “If I have to contend with the bunch of nincompoops that replaced Mr and Mrs Payne, then so should you…” This summed up everything perfectly lol. I enjoyed the lighthearted tone of the book. It’s not a genre I typically read, but I’m happy I gave it a chance for #DectheShelves. The entire time I was reading, I pictured everything as a play with over-the-top characters and funny situations to force everyone to interact.

I RECOMMEND this book to read.

Keep smiling,

Yawatta Hosby