It's time for another installment of the
Insecure Writer's Support Group hosted by our own wonderful
Ninja Captain Alex and co-hosted this month by
Bob Milne,
River Fairchild,
Julie Dao and
Sarah Foster! Please take a moment to thank our lovely hosts for their support!
I'm keeping my insecurities brief as I've got big news to share with you all.
It's the new year and I'm struggling to put a mountain of intentions into practice. To write, everyday. To read, everyday. To make time everyday for the things I realize I need to do. I fell into a lot of bad habits over the holidays, like I'm sure we're all prone to. I ate WAY too much. With time off from work I fell into the habit of sleeping late. I allowed myself to slack on a lot of things- writing included. And now I'm trying to get myself to rebuild good habits. It's a slow start, to say the least. But I have faith in myself.
Hopefully next month I'll have some real action to report- and some insecurities that will undoubtedly arise from that. But for now, I'm simply praying for all of us to start the new year with steadfast faith in ourselves. Follow your bliss, forget about the rest.
And now, onto the big news! My friend
Kimberly Afe just released
The Headhunter's Race on January 3rd and today I'm featuring the amazing world she created by sharing with you an excerpt, character interview and info on Kim's journey to publication. I hope you enjoy reading these as much as I did! And don't forget to enter the rafflecopter for your chance to win
a
copy of the eBook + the SAS Survival Handbook and a copy of the eBook + a $25 Amazon gift card! (See below!)
Excerpt
from The Headhunters Race
This
excerpt is from the day the race starts and Avene is getting ready.
Hours later, when the birds start chirping, I know it's almost time to
wake up. I get out of bed and change into my special clothes. The ones I've
been saving for this day: a sturdy pair of jeans and a man's blue flannel
shirt. Underneath I wear my white fitted tee-shirt, depicting a crudely drawn
skull. I added the crossbones bearing a set of daggers with a nearly dried-up
marker I found a year ago. It represents my mantra for the race: stay away from
me or I'll kill you.
I tie my sheath around my thigh,
re-lace my boots with longer and sturdier cord I found on a pair of men's boots
in the goodie two shoes clothing pile, and then gulp down several handfuls of
water. I wipe the droplets from my mouth while I pace like a caged panther. A
few minutes later I slug down another five handfuls before I remember to fill
my water bottle.
Zita leans up on her elbow.
"You're sure you want to do this?"
"I have to, Zita. It's our only
way out. The only way we'll be free."
She throws off her cover and leaps
to her feet. "Well, we better do something with that hair. They'll start
calling the prisoners out soon."
Zita snatches our slop container
from the table. She fills it with dirt from the corner and mixes in a bit of
water. "I'm not sure how well this will work," she says, stirring it
with her finger. "Sit."
I sit on the ground cross-legged at
her feet. She kneels beside me, takes a small lock of hair, and rubs mud all
through the strands. The stringy tresses stick together, cold and wet against
my cheek. After one side of my head is finished, she steps back and surveys her
work. "Nope, this isn't working. Your roots are still too light."
"Why don't you wash her whole
head in it?" says McCoy.
I stiffen. Leave it to him to think
of dunking my whole head in mud.
"You're a genius!" says
Zita. She grabs my arm and pulls me to my feet. "Help me," she says
to McCoy and I cringe at the thought of him touching my head when I'm a direct
competitor. He might send his ninja blade across my neck.
He grabs the sink, half full of
water, water I need to drink, and dumps three quarters of it into the corner.
"Hey, I need to drink that!" I say.
"You can drink ours," says
McCoy.
Right. I'm not going to drink
theirs. He'd love that. Especially now that he's going to have to hunt on his
own and the only way he knows how is by poaching off me.
Zita stops short of pouring in
handfuls of dirt. Instead she goes to the fire pit and scoops out gobs of ash.
She swishes it around with her fingers, stares at it like she's not satisfied,
and goes ahead and dumps in a handful of dirt anyway. "Okay, bend over,
girl."
I lean over the sink while Zita
pours the murky mixture over my hair and massages it in. It's gritty and gross.
"Hand me that old shirt in the
corner," says Zita.
I'm looking upside down at McCoy
while he retrieves the old shirt she uses as her dust rag. She wrings out my
hair and then places the shirt over top and squeezes out the excess water.
"I wish I had a comb," she says, flipping my head up and steering my
behind back to the ground.
"It's okay, I can use my
fingers," I say.
McCoy dashes into their room.
"Boom has one, hold on."
I lean my head back in defeat. He's
determined to help me, to make me feel obligated to help him in return, but his
niceties aren't going to work on me.
Character
Interview
This interview is with Avene, the sixteen-year-old main character in
The Headhunters Race.
Q – What’s it like living in a fend-for-yourself prison?
A – Its hell. Especially if
you’re the stepdaughter of the man who sentenced every last person in there to
life. We drink dirty water, scavenge for
usable items, and barely get enough food to sustain us. I have to hunt whatever bugs and rodents I can
find to supplement the slop they dump in.
Q – How can you hunt in a prison?
A – Hunting inside the prison is not easy. There isn’t much to hunt considering we’re on
the inside and most animals are smart enough to stay on the out. Fighting for slop is worse though. But the place is run-down and there are plenty
of openings for small animals to find their way inside.
Q – Is it true that you are missing a body part?
A – *Sighs* Figures you would ask me about that, but it’s true and it’s
not really all that noticeable. It could’ve
been worse if it weren’t for Verla.
Q – I’m so sorry. Speaking of
Verla, she was a tough woman, how did you meet up with her initially?
A – There was no meeting up with Verla. She decided if she wanted you around or not
and I guess I was lucky enough that she took me in. Otherwise, I’d be dead.
Q – Do you miss her?
A – I miss her every day.
Q – What about McCoy?
A – What about him? Do you want
to know why he annoys me so much?
Q – Yes.
A – That makes two of us.
Journey to Publication
The Headhunters Race has a bit of a long journey. The idea was born on June 26, 2011 after a
Zelda game commercial inspired me. The
commercial was brilliant and I thought why can't they make a movie that cool? And then I thought, why don't I write a cool
adventure myself!
So I
brainstormed this story with my son over a dinner of spicy spaghetti a couple
of nights after the idea came to me. We
worked out the entire novel: the
characters and their motivations, the world, and the details of the race as I
frantically wrote it all down. My
husband and daughter also helped me brainstorm items that I needed worked out. I then spent a little while playing around
with Avene's voice and then wrote like crazy. I finished in December of 2011. I actually started having critique partners
read it in November of 2011 and began querying agents in January of 2012 after
more revising. I also entered it into a
few popular contests around the blogosphere in early 2012. Then I took a very long break due to life
circumstances with hubby’s heart and moving.
Early this year I got back into writing.
I’d been thinking about self publishing for quite awhile so when
querying a few more agents and a handful of publishers didn’t work out, I decided
to go for it, and now, 2 1/2 years later, the book is out there! Wahoo!
Author
Bio
Kimberly is the mother of
two awesome kids, wife of the nicest man in the world, and her dog's best
friend. She works by day and writes middle grade and young adult science fiction
and fantasy novels in her spare time. She lives with her family in the
beautiful Sonoran Desert.
And now here's your chance to win!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
