A Teaser Chapter From My Novel

Happy Saturday!

Here in Florida, the sun is shining, the birds might have been singing earlier, and the humidity is unbearable. But it’s a good day to stay inside and write.

Back in 2023, I wrote a post called Do Something Hard where I mentioned publicly for the first time that I was trying to write a novel, and I challenged you to “do something hard” like read a hard book, commit to writing every day, or learn a new form of art.

Then, back in March, I told you I had finished my first draft – along with everything else that went crazy at the end of ’24 and beginning of ’25.

Now, I am editing and revising my novel, and I am growing in my confidence. I keep telling people revising is like Frankenstein – I remove a part here, paste it back there, strikethrough lines that don’t make sense, bringing my written monster to life. I’m happy to say I have a solid beginning and end. But the middle… that’s why authors revise.

Right now, I’m working on making my words make sense. I ask myself: Is this action normal for a real person? Does this speech follow normal flow of thought? It’s nit picking at its finest, and there are times I don’t even realize I’m missing a word because my brain knows it should be there so it reads it in.

Anyway, I said all that to say this: I want to share my Prologue with you. Read it. Tell me if you like it. Tell me if it makes sense. Then tell me if it’s grammatically correct. Hopefully – within the year – I will announce publication.

And now, without further ado, the Prologue to the novel I call The Pirates’ Doctor.

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She was alone.  Adrift in the middle of the ocean in a boat with a hole.  She had no idea how far she was from land.  Her food and water had run out days ago.  And now she was caught in a storm.

She had seen the clouds first, rushing in to obscure the sliver moon.  Then wind descended on her, screaming around her and whipping her matted hair into her eyes.  Driving rain pelted down, stinging her face.

Spinning, rising, and falling on each wave, the boat was tossed like a leaf in the wind.  She gripped the sides in terror as the water crashed in.  The boat could not stay afloat much longer.  

Without warning, a jagged rock smashed up through the bottom of the boat with a sickening Crash!  She tumbled into the water.  Trying to scream, she inhaled ocean instead.  The salty water burned her throat and lungs.  As she fought to the surface, water invaded her senses.

She clung to the last fragments of the boat, desperation overwhelming her.  The waves pushed her back and forth and in violent circles, but somehow she managed to stay afloat.

Suddenly, her body slammed against a rock.  She grasped at it blindly and let go of the fragment of wood she had been holding.  She pulled herself as close to the rock as possible and held on with every ounce of strength, digging her toes into a narrow crevice.  

“Please God!”  She closed her eyes and cried against the wind.  

Waves pummeled her and pried at her fingers, but she was determined to stay above the water until the storm ceased.  The rock she clung to was wide and steep.  Her fingers cramped, and her hands slipped along the jagged surface searching for a new handhold.  With a desperate sigh, she laid her forehead against the rock and squeezed her eyes shut.

She was too tired to realize when the rain stopped and the wind calmed to a quiet breeze.  Turbulent waves stilled to gentle ripples around her.  Black clouds parted, and the sun cast its rays into the grey pink of dawn.  

When she finally opened her eyes, her heart dropped in dismay.  The rock she clung to was not a rock.  It was a steep cliff rising so high out of the water she could not see the top and plunging far beneath the surface.  And it was as wide as it was tall.  Behind her sprawled the ocean, a vast, blue-green expanse, deadly and frighting.  

Her strength was failing.  She had to find a place to rest before she dropped from exhaustion into a watery grave.  Slowly, she searched for a new ledge for her feet, one she would be able to stand on.  The jagged surface sliced into her skin, but the water washed away the blood before she saw it.  

Inch by inch, she worked her way along the cliff until she found a ledge big enough to stand on comfortably.  Balancing herself, she lifted a hand away from the rock.  She stretched her fingers and balled them into a fist to work out the cramps. 

As she stretched her other hand, a strong wave crashed into her, slamming her face into the cliff.  Her vision blurred, and she lost her balance.  Flailing desperately, she fell backward into the water, the waves pulling her away from the cliff.  She kicked her feet out, propelling herself back to the surface.  Gasping, she filled her lungs with air, and sank again, down, down to the ocean floor.  Her vision dimmed.  

As blackness engulfed her, a large arm wrapped around her waist.

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