Today, I welcome Greta Burroughs to my blog. She wrote about her greatest moment as a writer and I would like to share it with you today. Take it away, Greta.... There were two moments that stand out for me. The first was when I was writing for a medical/health/fitness magazine called “Vitality”. It was a weekly supplement in the major newspaper for our area. I was extremely happy when they started accepting my freelance articles but when they used one of my pieces for the feature article one week, I was on cloud nine. An added bonus was that I got $100 for it instead of the usual $60. I bought several copies and sent one to my mother. She liked all the articles I had published in the two newspapers I was working with but was super proud of me for having a feature article and showed it off to everyone she knew. Mom never got to see any of my books in print but her joy in my writing success was just as great as if she was showing off a best-seller. That was very special. My husband, Robert Burroughs, was also walking on air and I could see the pride he had for me. He had encouraged me to start writing and was my biggest fan. During the time I was writing for the two newspapers, my eyesight deteriorated until I was legally blind. Robert was an angel and drove me to my interviews, did all the photography and proofread all my work, correcting all my typos. We were a team and the accomplishment was just as much his as it was mine. The second event also involves my husband. He had published a couple of novels and did book signings at various places. I enjoyed going with him and watching him talk with people and selling books. The magical moment came when I published my first book and had a place beside him at the table. Not just sitting and watching but selling my own book. Me, my book! What a thrill! Thank you, Greta. Here is an excerpt from her book, Gerald and the Wee People, which is on sale right now for 99 cents. Why they had to hurry, Gerald did not know but something in the back of his mind kept telling him that time was running out. It took a few minutes, but all the boys were finally awake, a little groggy but ready to move. The problem was that everything seemed to be happening in slow motion. The heat was almost unbearable. It was a major effort to put one foot in front of the other. Gerald reminded the rest of his team that it was Miach’s way of keeping them from reaching their destination. But this time the illusion did not stop when he mentioned the forest god being up to his old tricks. This time it was no illusion. The walls burned their hands, the hot air burned their throats. The floor was sticky with some kind of hot substance that burned their feet through their shoes. They began to hear a distant sound like the laughter they had heard earlier. Cian fell to his knees and cried out in pain as the scalding liquid burned his skin. “I can’t go on, just leave me here to die,” he screamed. Tomas reached out to his brother and tried to help him up. It was no use; he was too weak and exhausted. In a very weak voice he said, “You all go on. I’ll stay with Cian. I can’t go another step anyway.” No one else said a word, the other two boys were too tired to talk, too tired to walk, too tired to care. This was not supposed to be happening. Gerald did not remember this from his nightmares. Something was wrong. He yelled to whoever was listening, “Did we take a wrong turn or something? Stop it Miach, stop it. You want me, leave my friends alone.” That just made matters worse. The scampering, unseen creatures came out of nowhere. They did not just run past this time but stayed and started pinching and biting the legs and arms of Gerald’s companions. For some strange reason though, the creatures did not bother him. All four of his companions were down, rolling around on the ground trying to fight off the shadowy figures. The screams intensified from his friends as the burning liquid covered their bodies and the creatures’ biting turned to gnawing. Gerald could hear pieces of flesh being torn away as the other boys were being eaten alive. The laughter was all around them now bouncing off the walls and echoing through Gerald’s head. “Stop it, stop it now. Please, I’ll do anything you want, Miach, just stop the noise, and stop torturing my friends.” Total silence fell. All the gnawing, screaming and laughter were gone. Gerald did not know if the total lack of sound was worse than all the noise. He noticed a light shining above him. He looked around and realized he was all alone. A voice spoke inside his mind and said, “Anything I want, huh,” followed by a soft, haunting chuckle. Links (US Amazon) http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004JKMT0Q (UK Amazon) http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B004JKMT0Q (B&N) http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/gerald-and-the-wee-people-greta-burroughs/1100075754?ean=2940015749366&itm=1&usri=greta+burroughs (Smashwords) http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/39307 |
Author Robert DeBurgh learned to fly at the age of fifteen and has over twenty thousand hours of flight time. He has been a flight instructor, cargo pilot, mail pilot, bush pilot, mercenary fighter pilot and has served as captain for three airlines.
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