P. A. Matthews

The Blood-filled Kiss

Work in Progress

First full-length novel in the Myth to Life: The Rise of Riley McCabe series.

The Blood-filled Kiss was the original title to a 300 word flash fiction piece written for the last day of a flash writing challenge. What I didn't realize at the time was how much I loved the characters of Riley McCabe and Braedon Carlisle and wanted to continue writing about them for a long time.

That little story birthed what is now the Myth to Life: The Rise of Riley McCabe series, and I can tell you I haven't had so much fun and all-out angst writing about Riley, Braedon, Desmond, Quinlan, Andrew, and the myriad of evil-doers seeking to destroy everyone. Watch out Qayin, you don't know what you're up against.

With four installments of the series published, I thought it time to accomplish what I really wanted for my dear Riley McCabe ... write her first novel, and let you know what really happened before, during, and after the first installment Between Myth and Blood since that story only touched on their first, or was it their first, encounter.

To keep me on track, I've attached a little meter so people can check out the progress of the novel and keep me honest with the word count. Blood Betrayal ended up novellette length, so perhaps 80,000 words isn't enough for a final novel, but it's a goal to reach and that's what is important in writing. Finishing the project.

So, here we go folks. The Blood-filled Kiss will now become reality, and when that novel is finished the novels of At Death's Door, Hunted, Blood Betrayal, Nightmare in Stone, Harbinger Moon, and Clandestined will each get their own meter for completion. I can hardly wait!

I'd love for everyone to keep in touch and keep me on track. I've always said I can't do this without you, the readers helping me. Hold onto your seats ... let's rock this!

June 7-14

2100 / 80000

June 15-21

The past several weeks I've hit a wall with my writing due to an arm stress injury, hence another week of low numbers on the scale. The doctor told me I have to not use the arm for a month. Sheesh, but after the other arm in a removable cast for over four months while not using it (which caused this stress injury) I have to keep reminding myself I'm not the Bionic Woman or Inspector Gadget with removable and interchangable parts to aid with writing. Too bad I suppose, but I'm not sure how adept with mechanical devices attached to me I'd be when I find it difficult to just figure out how to load a page here.

So much for being a super hero or any type of super anything ... except I fear super cranky. Alas such is my life these days. But I haven't put the entire work behind me. My mind is still active and I've taken the time mentally to plot, dress and yes, undress characters , create a new character I wanted to add in the original series but refrained since that character wouldn't always be in the series, along with all the tedious things required before actually writing. But I'm happy to let you know Wynn is now living on the page, and both Riley and I are getting used to him and can't wait to see what he does next.

Right now, some of the characters are grumpy they haven't made it onto the main stage so they can show me their stuff--especially Braedon, who has a tendency to perform quite a bit. While my mind wandered to another part of a story, I did have a short interaction between Riley and Braedon and just the few exchanged words and looks made me want to finish this story and start writing the next. I may just have to write that scene and put it away until I can fit it in the correct place.

So much for linear writing these days. In fact, the entire book may be written in parts especially since I've started this one in the middle and am working toward the end and then will work on the beginning. I rarely write this way so I'm sure this will be as much of a surprise to me to find out what happens as well as to the reader. Hopefully all of us will be satisfied with the outcome.

Stay tuned for each week's progress on the novel. Who knows, I may even mock up a book cover just to keep me going.

3000 / 80000

June 22-28

Unfortunately, due to health issues, minimal writing occurred. Not enough to really measure so I'll just add the few words onto next weeks total. So, here we sit in a dump at 3,000 words. Perhaps next week I can get my head around the story and not have to worry about constant brain clutter prohibiting thoughts, plots, and shots in the dark. Yeah, even the poetry stinks this week. Hang in there with me on this, I've got murder on my mind.