Guest Author October Weeks

Hello folks! Today I bring you the first of two guests this week. Read on for a post by the lovely October Weeks, who is celebrating the upcoming release of The Red Barn.

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I Was Minding My Own Business When…

The voice of an older woman came into my mind and interrupted the editing of another book. I was in the middle of a paragraph when she rudely barged in and gave me the first line to her story; It must be close to the mid-day, for the man who owns my house has shown up to chop more wood from the stack several yards to the side of the barn.

I saved the changes to the manuscript I was working on, knowing there was no way in Hell this new voice was going to just go away and leave me be, and opened a blank document. It took just a day and a half for me to write The Red Barn. Would have been less, but I do work full time. And, just to note, this happens to me often. A voice comes out of nowhere and demands I write their story or else. Sometimes they even come with soundtracks! Normally, I write anywhere between a few paragraphs to the entire first chapter, depending on how demanding said character is, but sometimes it’s impossible to stop writing. I have to write.

As it turned out, this older woman who rudely interrupted me was a two centuries old ghost. She dictated what was happening to her as it was happening, and boy were there some surprising twists in her tale!

Two things I can tell you without giving too much away:
~ She is NOT a nice woman. As a matter of fact, she’s downright nasty.
~ She is completely unrepentant for her deeds, both past and present.

After I had gone through and edited The Red Barn, I realized that I wanted this short story to be shared with the world. After some research I chose to send it to Musa Publishing, who, after just a week, offered to publish it. I was beyond thrilled. When I learned that it would be its own ebook I was even more excited. This short story that had come from nowhere was going to be my first official publication!

So, am I upset that this older woman barged in on another story? A teensy bit, but I’m very glad that she was so damn pushy. And I’m even more pleased to be able to share her dark tale with all of you.

The Red Barn will be released Friday, August 31. You can find an excerpt, a book trailer, and even some bookmarks and postcards on my website, http://www.octoberweeks.net/. I am also giving away four copies of the book, one for each format it will be released in: PDF, PRC, ePUB, and MOBI. The winners will be chosen this Friday- release day!

Head on over to my blog to enter- http://hauntedoctober.wordpress.com.