by Rena Rocford
My eyes burned. The slow goodbye then. I could live through that. I’d already died once. I could take it by inches.
I swallowed back my tears. “Well, I guess I should… ah.” I looked at my feet, then the wall, finally resting my eyes on the picture.
“Oh, yeah, sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt your viewing. I should give you space.” His footsteps retreated.
“Wait!” I crossed the floor to where he stood. “I’ve always had feelings for you, Rochan. You were always my muse. I just—I want—Could you?”
“Are you always this good with words?”
“Ahh! What I mean is that every word of those letters was true. I’ve always—”
He put his hand on my shoulder. The warmth from his body pulsed through his arm, lighting a fire across my skin. His brows drew together. “It’s good to know words fail you sometimes. I was beginning to wonder if you were some supernatural word smith.” He pushed a shaggy lock of hair out of my eyes.
The shock of his touch zinged across my cheek. I leaned in, and he met me halfway. Our lips connected in the middle, and the world stood still. He wrapped his arms around me, and I drew him in. My skin blazed like every nerve had a life of its own. His hair brushed my face, leaving a sizzling trail.
Too soon, we broke apart.
He drew a breath, blinking up at me. “You deserve love, too.”
he door to the mailbox creaked open. I didn’t really expect anything but more disappointment today. It wasn’t like the other thirty times I’d checked had offered up more than bills and advertisements.
But there it was. The white envelope, thicker than all the other envelopes. It was the one from Berkley. And it was thick.
Berkley.
I pulled the letter and ran inside, not seeing anything else. If I hurried, I could probably still catch Rochan at the coffee shop. I grabbed the letter. My first real letter to Rochan.
When I got to the coffee shop, there were hardly any people there. Rochan sat at a table, two coffees and a muffin. When he saw me, his face lit in a smile. “Cyra, I thought you’d be practicing today.”
“I should be, but…” I dropped the giant envelope onto the table. The bright blue and gold lettering for Berkley stood out against the white envelope, only slightly damaged from its ride through US mail land.
“That’s an acceptance letter if I ever saw one.”
I grinned. “That’s what I thought.” I took a seat. “Have you made any decisions yet?”
He shook his head. “Not for the long run, but I think I have an idea about fall.” He held up an acceptance letter from Berkley.
Like the great plays of yore, these acknowledgments come to you in three acts: draft, revisions, and publication.
Act I: Draft
No book is a work of isolation, and Of Pens and Swords would not exist if not for a chance moment when someone whose body was different from my own reminded me that a hand is a big thing and a small thing, and we are not our bodies. Thank you.
Normally, when I write a new book, I set aside everything else and focus on the Book To Be Written, but not with this book. I pieced it together in the stolen moments between other books, moving and remodeling a house, which is why I want to thank my family for all their support. Not only was I working on other books, but when I wasn’t working on those books, I was writing this one—pure insanity. Dinner preparation became a memory of the distant past, and luckily, my family didn’t go feral while I finished this book. Thank you all for your patience and support.
This book wouldn’t exist if a friend hadn’t teased me about the classes I could take at my chosen college, including fencing: Thanks Stephanie! A big thank you to the fencing team at UCSB, but especially to TC, Tim, Holly, Clara, Carrie, Hien, Harry, and Ethan. You all made that first year of fencing very memorable.
Act II: Revision
As always, a book is never the thing we first start out with, and for that reason, I’d like to thank Brenda Drake. When I first told her about the book she looked me dead in the eye and said “This will be the ONE!” It would have been except I had another book that would make the final stretch first, but only by the skin of its teeth! And, without the help of my critique partners who tirelessly read everything I stuff under their noses, I would not be the writer I am today. A big thank you to Mason Matchak, Emily Keeler, Elizabeth Poole, and Michelle Hauck for shaping my writing into what it is today.
Act III: Publication
Wow, first and foremost, the team at Curiosity Quills has been fantastic, and I cannot thank them enough. My book would literally not be what it is without these wonderful, hardworking and talented people. Claudia provided excellent editing, and Eugene created an amazing cover: thank you both so much! And, of course, thank you to the whole team at CQ, Alisa, Eugene, Clare, Andrew, Nikki, and Tanya have all been amazing and supportive. Thank you. I feel like the luckiest person in the world to be working with you wonderful people.
Like most mad scientists, Rena Rocford’s early works were largely met with scorn and mockery, but she bided her time. After all, what did her fellow kindergarteners know about literature? From that day forward, Rena kept her writing on the mythical back burner as she pursued more logical goals. Today, crayons. Tomorrow, the world. She moved on to essays and egg drops, followed by experiments in shady laboratories. She tried her hand at everything, learning from anyone who would teach her. She even moonlighted as a horseback riding instructor.
Admittedly, living as a muggle brought Rena some levels of success such as completing her master’s degree, but always the stories returned, calling her to the keyboard in the dark of night. Now, having built armies from words, Rena has set her sights on world domination, one book at a time.
From her secret base in the wine country, Rena has enlisted the help of her cats, her loyal dogs, and her family―who can be relied upon to hide the launch codes at a moment’s notice. You can find Rena at her blog, follow her on Twitter, or find her on Facebook.
Now that you have completed this book, we hope you will leave a review so that other readers may benefit from your perspective. Authors like Rena Rocford live and die by your reviews, after all!
Please visit http://curiosityquills.com/reader-survey/ to share your reading experience with the author of this book!
18 Things, by Jamie Ayres
(http://bit.ly/1QXxsz4)
Olga Gay Worontzoff thinks her biggest problems are an awful name and not attending prom with Conner, her best friend and secret crush since kindergarten.
Then, Conner is killed in a freak boating accident and Olga feels responsible for his death.
When she downs an entire bottle of pills to deal with the emotional pain, her parents force her into counseling. There, her therapist writes a prescription in the form of a life list titled “18 Things”: eighteen quests to complete the year of her eighteenth birthday.
But there’s more to Olga’s quests than meets the eye and when her therapist reveals a terrifying secret, her world is shaken.
There’s only one thing she knows for certain: her choices won’t just affect her future, but all eternity.
Broken Dolls, by Tyrolin Puxty
(http://bit.ly/1FWlsMl)
Ella doesn’t remember what it’s like to be human – after all, she’s lived as a doll for thirty years. She forgets what it’s like to taste, to smell…to breathe. The professor’s obsession with turning sickly girls intodollsis starting to mess with Ella’s head – and it’s time for her to break free.
Half Dead & Fully Broken, by Kevin Craig
(http://bit.ly/1xzwoNw)
Carter Colby is the most unpopular teen at Jefferson High. This would be easier to deal with if his identical twin brother, Marcus, weren’t the hottest, most popular boy in school.
When Marcus is killed in a motorcycle accident, Carter discovers the one thing more painful than trying to compete with Mr. Wonderful: wearing his dead brother’s face. He felt invisible before the accident, bu
t with Marcus dead, everybody turns away from him in mourning. How can he blame them? He can’t bear to look in the mirror.
When Carter begins to see Marcus’ ghost, Mr. Wonderful’s quest to save the world and spread happiness may not be over after all, even in death. Marcus knows that Justin Dewar, the boy who drove the truck that crashed into his motorbike, is struggling with the guilt of taking a life. Melanie, Marcus’ mourning girlfriend, was also hit hard by the tragedy. Marcus wants to make things right before it’s too late.
With Marcus’ help, Carter experiences love and friendship for the first time in his life. But is Mr. Wonderful’s helping hand enough for Carter, Melanie, and Justin - three kids fully broken by the tragedy - to save one another?
Caller 107, by Matthew Cox
(http://bit.ly/1MhBgJw)
When thirteen-year-old Natalie Rausch said she would die to meet DJ Crazy Todd, she did not mean to be literal.
Whenever WROK 107 ran contests, she would dive for the phone, getting only busy signals. At least, with her best friend, even losing was fun―before her parents ruined that too.
Her last desperate attempt to get their attention goes as wrong as possible. With no one to blame for her mess of a life but herself, karma comes full circle and gives her just a few hours to make up for two years’ worth of mistakes–or be forever lost.
Appetizer:
Book Cover
Copyright & Publisher
Title Page
Main Course:
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Epilogue
Dessert:
Acknowledgments
Closing
About the Author
More from Curiosity Quills Press