Do you know what was one of my most favourite times of the day back when I was in elementary school? No, it wasn’t recess or lunch. It was when we would come in from lunch recess and our teacher would read a chapter or two from a book while we settled back into our desks and got our minds ready to finish our classes.
When I was teaching, reading to my class, like my teachers had done, was one of the things I loved to do.
With that in mind, let me tell you that I have been working on a reading project which taps into memories of that loved activity from years gone by. It’s a project that I have wanted to do for some time, but then, right after I began it, I got long covid and had to abandon it for a while.
Finally, I feel as if I might be able to make some progress on it. So a few weeks ago, I picked up my book, opened my laptop, went to Canva, and started reading and stopping and rereading and stopping and rereading until I got an acceptable (but not perfect) recording of the first chapter of Dispelling the Fog.
I have completed two chapter videos now, and am working on the third. (My long covid brain can only do so much before it causes issues. 🙂 The longer I read, the more stumbles I make. But my brain’s endurance is improving. Just very slowly.)
Yesterday, I uploaded the first chapter to YouTube, and the second chapter will join it on YouTube tomorrow. If all goes well, the third chapter (the final chapter), from which the excerpt below is taken, will be uploaded to YouTube on Saturday.
I’ll put the first chapter video link below this story excerpt that goes with the image above.
As I was writing Dispelling the Fog, I was searching for an activity for my heroine to do. That scene from the Gwenyth Paltrow version of Emma came to mind – the one where movie Mr. Knightley says, “Please, don’t kill my dogs.” So I did a little archery research and decided that Madeline in my story would shoot a few arrows in the final chapter as she finally figures out what her heart wants.
This is how that chapter begins:
Archery was not something Madeline had spent very much time practising. She preferred rambling through the garden and into the wildwood beyond. However, today, with the sun shining as it was, and with this section of the garden, which was laid to lawn, being so close to the path which led to the stables, archery had seemed the perfect activity in which to take part.
She had been out here for nearly a half-hour already, sending her arrows flying at one target about fifty yards away while standing next to the one she would shoot at when she went to collect her spent arrows. Just as she was preparing to shoot her final arrow, she heard that for which she had been listening — the sound of horses clipping and clopping along the gravel path that wound its way to the stables. Fletcher and Noah had gone riding, and as she turned toward the path, she was delighted to see that it was indeed them returning.
She watched them for a while, her fifth arrow hanging loosely between her fingers. Finally, when Noah spotted her, she waved and then turned back to the target, which was looking rather barren. Two arrows had hit close to the mark, but the other two lay on the ground. Hopefully, now that she no longer needed to look at the path to see if there were approaching riders, this final arrow would end up where she wanted it to go.
“Lift your elbow.” Noah called as he swung down from his horse. “Let me show you.” He tossed his horse’s reins to Fletcher and trotted over to Madeline while her brother took both horses toward the stable.
He waved a finger in the direction of her target. “Show me your stance.”
Madeline lifted the bow she had lowered when he had called to her.
“I am going to guide you.”
He stepped close enough to her that she could feel his breath on her ear and smell horse and fresh air as it mingled with the spicy fragrance that often hung around him. His arms wrapped around her so that one hand could help her hold the bow while the other grasped her elbow and lifted it to where he thought it should be.
“Now, pull back.”
His words tickled her ear in a most delightful way.
“Pull back,” he repeated.
Oh! She had forgotten in the wonderfulness of him whispering to her and nearly holding her, that she was supposed to be shooting an arrow. She muttered an apology for woolgathering and dutifully drew her arm back. His hand, which was still holding her elbow, moved with her.
This novelette will be free on all my retail platforms until the end of June as soon as I can get Amazon to price match the free price that is already up on other retailers. 🙂 You can find links to where this story can be purchased by clicking HERE.
