If I Should Die

A Quiet Busy Month

Lynette M Burrows

December is typically a hectic month. I’m often a last-minute shopper. There are celebrations—three birthdays, Christmas, and New Year’s Eve. And it’s a three-in-one business-wise: end of the month, end of the quarter, and end of the year. Yup, tons of statistics, gathering statistics, and reviewing the year. This pandemic year it was a quiet busy month. Making Revising If I Should Die continues. Slowly. But you know what? I’m really pleased with changes I’ve made. Rearranged the order of some scenes and it works well. A first reader said she really enjoyed the story so far. She also made some brilliant suggestions for improvements. Eleven blog posts appeared here. (More to come) I wrote a draft of a newsletter. Now I just need to format it and send it. Managing Every day I record the hours I work on a project or task. And I record word counts.  Every week I review what I’ve accomplished and try to plan for the next week. Sometimes the plan works, other times not so much.  My analysis of this month’s activities revealed a time period that I could use better. And while I’ve only recently changed the way I do things, I […]

Sneak Peek Revision Draft If I Should Die

Lynette M Burrows

A sneak peek is a portion of a story in progress. It’s an early draft which means there are grammatical errors, punctuation errors, and probably some story errors, too. So why post a sneak peek? It’s a tease of what’s coming. It’s a test—does this work? And it’s a peek into the writing process many readers enjoy. This snippet is from the revision draft and is part of a new chapter. So, without further ado, I present this sneak peek-revision draft, If I should Die, book two in the Fellowship Dystopia Series. If I Should Die  By Lynette M. Burrows Day 2 The aroma of warm pancakes and syrup and the rumble of her stomach woke Miranda before her sleep shift had finished. She needed coffee, but the galley already held two people. David stood at the stove flipping pancakes.  “Morning, Captain.” Wanda offered her a mug full of hot, black coffee. “Beryl’s piloting. David’s cooking. Mind if I go forward?” Miranda took the mug. Lifted it and inhaled the fragrance of fresh coffee. “Go ahead.” Someone should get some extra sleep. She sat at the lower helm, sipped coffee, and watched the remaining fog roll off the river. “Peace […]

Sneak Peek: If I Should Die, Chapter 6

Lynette M Burrows

Welcome to sneak peek, If I Should Die, Chapter 6. This is the sixth (Duh) installment of sneak peeks at my WIP (work-in-progress). If you’ve already read chapters 1-5, skip the synopsis and recap and go to the section labeled chapter 6. If I Should Die is book two in The Fellowship Dystopia Series (formerly called the My Soul to Keep series.) It’s the continuation of Miranda’s story (book one, My Soul to Keep). Miranda has built a successful Safe Harbor rescue system across the inland waters of the United States. Refugees from the religious oppression of the Fellowship find safety and freedom aboard the Safe Harbor boats. But now her brother needs rescued so he can complete his mission. She’s committed to helping him, but she’s a peace-loving woman. Will she resort to violence and save lives or stick to her principles and sacrifice many? ReCap Chapter One: Miranda pilots her yacht, the Lady Angelfish, up the Missouri River to rescue her brother, but the U.S. Coast Guard and a Second Sphere agent stop her for a “routine” inspection. You can read a brief sample or watch me read the entire Chapter One. Chapter Two: Irene, Miranda’s sister, can’t believe she’s the wife of the newly appointed […]