Happy Father’s Day to those celebrating today in the U.S. UK, France, Canada, Ireland, Netherlands, Hungary, Malta, and other locations around the world. Enjoy your special day!
Here’s this week’s quote (Compliments of http://www.wisdomquotesandstories.com/): “Neither a rich man or a poor man gets to enjoy his money. One is too busy trying to hold on to it, and the other is too busy trying to get it.” ~ Linda Poindexter
So who was born on this date in history? Let’s find out who in the writing world was born on June 20th. (Compliments of http://www.onthisday.com/today/birthdays):
Salvatore Rosa, Italian baroque painter, poet, musician and actor; George Hickes, English linguist (Old German Philology); Nicholas Rowe, English poet and playwright (Tamerlane), Poet Laureate (1715-18); Adam Ferguson, Scottish sociologist and historian; Anna Laetitia Barbauld, English poet and writer of hymns (Life! I Know Not What Thou Art); Moses Waddel, American educator, minister and bestselling author (Memoirs of the Life of Miss Caroline Elizabeth Smelt); Marceline Desbordes-Valmore, French poet (Bouquets et prières); Charles W. Chesnutt, American writer (The Conjure Woman); Ivans [Jacob van Schevichaven], Dutch lawyer and detective writer; Kurt Schwitters, German-British dada-artist and poet (collages); Sergei Tretyakov, Russian constructivist writer, playwright and special correspondent for Pravda; George Delacorte, American philanthropist and publisher (Dell Books); Elisabeth Hauptmann, German writer (co-author of The Threepenny Opera); Lillian Hellman, American playwright (Toys in the Attic, Little Foxes); Anthony Buckeridge, English author (Jennings); Zoltán Sztáray, Hungarian writer; Robert Rozhdestvensky, Soviet poet; Claire Tomalin, English biographer and editor; Paul Muldoon, Northern Irish poet; Vikram Seth, Indian poet and novelist (A Suitable Boy); and Michael Gerber, American parody author.
Any names familiar to you? None stood out for me. Whether you recognize anyone on the list or not, if today’s your special day I hope you have a great one and many more to follow!
My Published Work
In addition to today being Father’s Day, it’s also the summer solstice, the longest day of the year. To celebrate, my publisher, Solstice Publishing, creating a series of photos to promote some of their authors. Two of my books are featured (one twice):
Why not check out some of the featured authors!
My Work in Progress
This week, I’ve tinkered with some chapters in Revenge, before I get editing fully underway. 
Over the past week, there were another sixteen new chapter reviews, bringing the total number to 680. As always, plenty of useful suggestions as always to improve my writing and very timely with editing on the horizon.
Here’s another snippet:
Heidi stared at him. I won’t show any fear. She grabbed a handful of sand and flung it at her executioner.
Blam!
“Aah!” Justin jerked his arm as the sand struck his face. In a reflex action, he pulled the trigger, missing the side of Heidi’s head by no more than an inch.
“No!” Bennie shoved Justin to the ground and fell on top of him, fists flailing.
Heidi scooted across the sand, rushing into the lake’s cold water. With a brisk pace, she swam away from the shore.
Shouts behind her caused Heidi to slow and take a quick look.
Both of the men were now on their feet but still struggled for control of the pistol.
Heidi resumed swimming, veering toward a couple sitting on a beach on the other side of the lake. She made short work of the distance, her long arms and legs biting into the water and rappelling her along.
“Help!” Heidi cruised into shallow water in front of the couple.
The man rushed forward. “Let me give you a hand.” He grabbed her arms and guided her to shore.
The woman yanked a blanket from a beach chair and draped it over Heidi’s shoulders.
“What happened?” The man led her to the empty chair.
“I—I was kidnapped.” She pointed to the far side of the lake. “Two men—they were going to kill me.” Heidi held a hand on her forehead as she scanned the area from where she escaped. “I don’t see them—I hope they left.”
The woman pulled a phone from her bag. “I’ll call 9-1-1.”
“No! Do you mind if I call a friend instead?”
The man and woman glanced at each other. After a nod, the woman gave Heidi the phone.
Before entering a number, Heidi glanced around. “Where are we?”
“An abandoned gravel pit near Independent Hill.” The man reached into his bag and pulled out a pistol and his Virginia State Police identification. “Don’t worry—we’ll protect you.”
A glimmer of a smile creased Heidi’s face as she punched in the numbers.
Moments later, a female answered. “Hello?”
“Sindee! Thank God! It’s Heidi.” She pulled the phone away from her ear at the ensuing shriek.
“Where are you?”
Heidi repeated the location.
“Are you safe? I’ll tell Javier, and we’ll be on our way.”
“Yes, I’m okay for now. You won’t believe it—I’m using the phone of an off-duty state trooper and his girlfriend.”
“Sit tight, Heidi—we’ll be on our way.”
The state trooper waved a hand to get Heidi’s attention. “Tell them to meet us at the Independent Hill State Police office.”
Heidi relayed the information.
“Hang on, Heidi—it’ll take us about an hour to reach you.”
“Okay.” Heidi broke the connection and handed the phone back.
“I think you’d be safer in our area office.” The officer finished putting his belongings in his backpack. “Of course, we’ll need a statement from you while we wait.” He stuck out his hand. “Guess we better introduce ourselves. I’m Sergeant Larry Supernaut.” He gestured toward the petite blond. “This is my girlfriend, Jenny.”
“Pleased to meet both of you and thank you for saving my life.”
“We better go.” Larry grabbed the lawn chairs.
Heidi nodded and smiled as they collected the couple’s belongings and headed up the slope to their vehicle.
More next time.
Since I’m still taking a short break from Revenge, II also revised chapter three of Ultimate Escalation. In 2019-2020, I posted the first seven chapters of Ultimate Escalation on the two subscription writing sites I use, receiving 101 chapter reviews.
As of this morning, the three revised chapters have received twenty-eight reviews. Excellent suggestions to further tweak the story and fix a few typos.
Once I pull Revenge from the two writing sites, I’ll also stop posting snippets here and begin with ones from Ultimate Escalation.
Books I’m Reading
I finished reading The Holy Grail (Sam Reilly Book 13) by Christopher Cartwright. As with all of Christopher’s novels, this has another well-crafted plot and was a fast read. This time, Sam was mainly on his own after being kidnapped and forced to flee from government authorities who seemed intent on killing him and his kidnapper. So what happened? I don’t like to post spoilers, so you’ll have to grab a copy to find out. Highly recommended for those who enjoy fast-paced thrillers. I look forward to reading more of Christopher’s work.
That’s all for this week. I hope you found something of interest or at least useful for your own writing and reading. If you have any suggestions for a topic you’d like to read about, please let me know. Until the next time, thank you for reading and hope you drop in again.
© Copyright 2021 Randall Krzak. All rights reserved
