Another short #teasertuesday from WIP #2

This picks up from where the last part left off, in the logged area that was once a great forest:

              She put the acorn back down, nestled it under some leaves and pressed her hand to the ground. It was still moist from a rain two days earlier.

                “Feel this,” she said. When she looked up at me, the smile she wore was strained.  I noticed the waver of her lips as I crouched beside her and placed my hand upon the earth.

                “What am I feeling for?”

                “A heartbeat.” She put her hand over mine and splayed my fingers a little more while pressing firmly downward. “Now?”

                I did feel something. As I focused on the sensation, more of a sound than a feeling, it became stronger.

                “Yes, I feel it,” I said. She nodded.

                “Now, feel deeper.”

                I closed my eyes and sought deeper for more. Beyond the leaf mold, beneath the deepest roots and even deeper still my thoughts envisioned the deepest roots of the oldest oaks in the forest that once stood in this place. Much deeper than that. Close to the inner heat, I felt another, stronger and more regular rhythm. When I opened my eyes, she nodded, acknowledging what she already knew was there.

                “That is the heartbeat of the Earth,” she said. “Now feel again, not quite so far.”

It didn’t take so long to reach the one I felt next. This one was unsteady, slow for the most part but racing and then returning to baseline, so slow as to be almost undetectable without knowing it was there. It didn’t feel right and when I opened my eyes again, she was watching. The look in her eyes was worried, wild and the smile was gone.

                “What is it?” I asked.

                “The sleeper. He’s waking.”

My fifteen authors

I’ve been tagged by Josie to list fifteen authors who have influenced me. Oh my. That’s quite a lot and I’m ashamed I can’t even think of fifteen right off the top of my head!

Here’s the ones that come to mind:

1. Roger Zelazney
2. Marion Zimmer Bradley
3. Terry Pratchett
4. Stephen King
5. Thoreau
6. Peter Straub
7. Carlos Castenada

Not too many of the old ones, except for Thoreau and maybe Zelazney could be considered an ‘old’ one. Of these, the ones that have influenced me and my own writing most, I’d say, are King and Zelazney. I loved the way the Zelazney’s Chronicles of Amber  novels were short, engrossing reads (and first person, the way I like to write) with fantastic sci-fi/fantasy settings. What I love most about King is his ability to draw me in, even to places I don’t want to go. His writing causes me to entirely suspend my disbelief. And although I don’t like horror, I do like that quality.

Who are the authors that have most influenced your writing? If you’re not a writer, who have you enjoyed reading most over the years and why?

#teasertuesday

Today’s #teasertuesday, but I can’t get on Twitter to see if anyone has anything posted. Maybe later tonight it will let me on. And maybe by then, I’ll have something to post, too, haha.

Gentle Rain

This morning’s first waking moments were spent trying to figure out what that sound was. It’s been so long since I’ve heard it, the sound of rain on the tin roof is not familiar anymore, haha.

Finally! It’s raining. We need it badly so I won’t grudge having to put on my hat to get the gate or feed the horses.

I wish I could stay home today and write. Or read. Or any number of things I could do if I stayed home… very tempting, but I can’t. Too many other things I have to do at work.