WeWriWa - 3/13/16 - The Italian Hospital

Hello one and all! It's been about six months since we visited the Italian Hospital in Vicenza, Italy. In the last six months, my family and I have moved from Texas to Oklahoma and back to Texas again. The gypsy blood keeps pumping! I was able to wean one of my sons off of his ADHD medication and another, my baby Bitty, was found (after many tests and hospital visits) to have a GLUTEN allergy! Never, ever a dull moment at my house. Let's see what happened in the wood-paneled Italian hospital room where the bleeding and cramping in a young, pregnant Army wife waited, terrified. I remember it like it was yesterday . . .

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Oh dear God . . .  

The doctor barked something in Italian, completely ignoring any shred of modesty I’d retained and any sense of privacy I might have desired.

“He said get on the bed, now,” the nurse translated, grabbing my arm and helping me roughly onto the bed. I held my hand out for the sheet, but she snatched it away. “No time,” she said.

Someone had pulled a tiny sonogram machine into the room. The doctor squirted the cold jelly onto my still-flat belly and dug the probe into my flesh as the nurse manipulated my legs over the candy cane stirrups just as I’d feared. Before I could get embarrassed, a strong, thudding beat pounded out of the speakers apparently attached to this particular machine.

“The baby is alive,” the nurse relayed, relief evident in her strained English. “The doctor must use the internal probe now.”

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I hope you enjoyed this ten-sentence snippet from my forthcoming memoir, Missi Wanderin' in the Woods. If you'd like to switch gears a bit, check out the rest of the weekend writers at the Weekend Writing Warriors blog. I have featured debut author Madeline McCandless and her contemporary western (spicy) romance, Silver Sky at Dawn (Silver Sky Ranch series #1) on my Everlasting Heart blog. Feel free to stop by and show her some love! 

WeWriWa - 8/15/15 - Missi Wanderin' in the Woods - The Italian ER

Welcome back to this week's ten-sentence snippet from MISSI WANDERIN' IN THE WOODS. Click here if you would like to be a part of my blog tour for my forthcoming Amish Western, Old Amarillo, September 4-11, courtesy of Loving the Book blog tours. I would be honored to be hosted by my WeWriWa friends! Find my launch party on the 3rd of September here!

Without further ado, let's see what's in store for Sara and Charlie and the baby they may have already lost . 

I bit back a sob. “I understand, but I’d really like a sonogram to be sure.”

“Go on about your business and if you’re still cramping Tuesday, come into the walk-in clinic. After all, you’re just ten weeks along.”

Too upset to talk anymore, I handed the phone off to Charlie, slunk to the bedroom, and buried my head in the pillow. The next morning after dropping the kids off at the on-post childcare facility, Charlie packed me into our pink and purple Volkswagen Beetle – Pink Floyd edition and took me to the Italian Emergency Room, or l’ospedale.

The nurse pulled us back first, before the patients sitting in the strap-backed wheelchairs and through the jungle of glass bottles that dangled from threatening IV poles that would have looked more at home in a 1960’s mental institution, and into a room no larger than a humble office with wood paneling and magazine pictures of wolves taped onto the wall. A small exam table sat off to the side, almost out of place amid the tangle of books and misbegotten papers. The doctor, who hadn’t looked up from his work since we walked in, mumbled something in Italian before turning around expectantly.

     “Strip now,” the nurse translated brusquely, “waist down.” 

Thank you for popping by. Follow this link to get back to the other contributors for the weekly Weekend Writing Warriors blog hop where authors in all phases of publication post eight to ten sentences of the work of their choice and add their link so that readers may enjoy their work. Comments from others are what make this something we all look forward to each week, so feel free to let those fingers fly and tell how you feel about this and all of our snippets! 

WeWriWa -August 2, 2015 - Missi Wanderin' in the Woods

Welcome back! Last week, we got a peek into soldier Charlie's softer side when he insisted they go back to the Italian pound and adopt the twin brother of the little dog we'd just given a home. 

Thoughts of our puppies fizzled as I glanced from my ring to his haggard face and rested my hands on my belly again. Charlie seemed to read my thoughts. “I am so, so sorry Sara, I love all of you, Lil’ Grub, too.”

Emotion threatened to choke me as I remembered the night we almost lost our baby. I was ten weeks along and we’d just made love. I went to the restroom to get ready for bed and discovered I was bleeding. Big black clots trailed by bright red blood covered the bottom of the tiny European toilet. I called for Charlie through a veil of tears. 

Follow this link to get back to the rest of the amazing Weekend Writing Warriors.

WeWriWa - July 26, 2015 - Missi Wanderin' in the Woods/ Sara and Charlie

Welcome back everyone! Last week we left Sara, scared and pregnant in the Volkswagen. Let's delve a bit deeper into her mind today.

My mind wandered back to our family, aside from our children. We had visited the Italian version of animal control, the canile, in hopes of adopting a family pet and left with one of two twin puppies of unknown lineage. We promptly named our new girl, who looked to be a mix between an Italian Greyhound and a border collie, Rosie Giulietta. Rosie for Caillou’s little sister and Giulietta for Juliet, the most famous Italian. 

After arriving home to our rented two story villa in Arcugnano, the little mountain town just outside of Vicenza at the base of the Dolomite Mountains, it was Charlie who insisted we go back for her brother, the little black and white puppy with the floppy black ears. “I can’t stand the thought of him being in there and missing his sister, and they’re so young . . . plus, we are able to give them both a home, and it would make them happy. Let’s go back and get him tomorrow.” That is how Rosie’s brother, Romeo, came to live with us.

Thank you for stopping by! To get back to the amazing WeWriWa bloghop contributors here!

Follow Sara's trail of trouble over at her website: www.sarabarnardbooks.com 

Come check out the Prairie Rose Publications Christmas in July and Fandango! Join the event here! All books 26 books are only .99  or if a duet, 1.99. Look for The Bank Robber's Lament, by me! <3 

WeWriWa - July 18, 2015 - Missi Wanderin' in the Woods - What's Next for Charlie and Sara?

Welcome back to the Weekend Writing Warriors bloghop and this week's eight to ten sentence snippet from a published, pre-published, or work-in-progress (or WIP). We are making our way through the first chapter of my forthcoming memoir, Missi Wanderin' in the Woods. 

Last week, Charlie confessed that he'd been tossed out of the Army shrink's office for being honest and telling the psychiatrist exactly what he was thinking . . . scroll down and check out the last couple of entries for that little gem . . . and what earned him an MP escort out of that office, along with an invitation NOT to return.  Let's see what happens next. 


He chuckled again as my grim expression transformed to a half-smile. Without meaning to, I let go a little laugh, followed by a bigger one. Before either one of us could make sense of the sudden onslaught of jocularity, it was there, just as real as either of us and filling the car with much needed comic relief. Tears streamed down our faces as we gasped for breath before becoming tickled all over again at our cacophony of funny whoopings and whistlings and snorts.

As our laughing jag faded away, Charlie started our car – a pink and purple Volkswagen Golf, Pink Floyd Edition – as the stark reality of our situation settled over me like a cloud of buzzards over a rotting carcass. Here I was in Italy, pregnant, so far from home, and with my two precious babies to protect. I had a husband, fresh from combat and already exhibiting irrational, self-medicating behavior, who had just managed to get himself blacklisted from the only psychiatrist within reasonable driving distance. Just. By. Being. Honest. 

Thank you for stopping by for this week's snippet of military madness. To get back to the other WeWriWa bloghop participants, follow this link. Thanks for stopping by and be sure to pop over to my Amish blog, Sara's Amish Dreams, for a cover reveal! 

WeWriWa - Missi Wanderin' in the Woods - July 12, 2015

Last week, we finally found out what Charlie did to get thrown out of the Army shrink's office with an MP escort. He told the truth. Many of you commented and stated that you weren't sure how you would have reacted to news that your husband told the shrink he was dreaming of throwing her out the window . . . let's see what happens next. 

Cupping my hands around my mouth and nose, I closed my eyes. I didn’t have time to draw a breath before he continued.

“Her eyes got real wide. Real, like, deathly wide. Then she went all white and picked up the phone.” Charlie gave a little laugh, breaking the solemnity that had filled the car. “Then the MP’s came. Thought they were gonna arrest me, and I said for what, telling the truth?”

To get back and sample more from other delectable Weekend Writing Warriors, click here. 

My debut novel, A Heart on Hold, is on sale for just .99 this week! Get yours here! See where we are falling in love with Charlotte and Sanderson eight sentences at a time on my Everlasting Heart blog here. 

Keep up to date with my upcoming releases at my website. 

Missi Wanderin' in the Woods - WeWriWa - July 5, 2015 - What Got Charlie Kicked Out of the Shrink's Office with an MP Escort?!?!?

Thanks for stopping by this week. In the time since we've met last, we have had quite a few adventures: an interstate move, a mess of new baby animals added to the pack, and a family vacation to my cancer doctor down at MD Anderson. Scroll down for those posts, if you'd like to read about those adventures :-) 

Now, to get caught up to speed on MISSI WANDERIN' IN THE WOODS, my forthcoming memoir where one woman must rely on her eclectic wilderness background to face a host of frontcountry problems, from a PTSD-infected marriage to an extreme cancer diagnosis. 

In our last eight-to-ten sentence snippet, our fresh-from-Afghanistan Charlie had just gotten himself escorted from the Army psychiatrist's office by the MP's . . . but his pregnant wife has yet to find out why.  

Charlie quit his cyclic observation of our surroundings and stilled in his seat. “I answered her  truthfully and said that yes, yes I do think of killing, dream of killing . . . often.”

Chills chased each other up and down my spine, dancing a terrifying dance that brought beads of sweat to my face.

“That’s not all.” Charlie’s voice was uncharacteristically soft, “then she said I got a funny look on my face and she got real sarcastic and said ‘Well what are you thinking about right now?’”

I swiped at the pearls of sweat that had begun their epic descent. Already, I dreaded hearing what would come next. 

“So again, I told the truth . . . I told her I was thinking about what sound her body would make when I threw her out that second story window and she hit the concrete sidewalk below.”

Thank you for stopping by today and I hope you had a wonderful Fourth of July holiday! To get back to the other wonderful Weekend Writing Warrior contributors, follow this link here. 

If you would like to keep up to speed on my current releases and forthcoming events, feel free to check out my website or on Twitter @TheSaraBarnard  

WeWriWa -April 12, 2015 - Missi Wanderin' in the Woods

Welcome back! Last week, a character I called Villa the Strangler swept by and it was pointed out to me that such an interestingly named character hadn't been properly introduced. I hope you enjoy this next eight-sentence snippet from my memoir, Missi Wanderin' in the Woods, as you brush shoulders with Villa the Strangler :-)

***

I kicked my way through the ankle-tall grass, wishing I had an Italian version of an Audubon field guide so I could identify some of the interesting birds that flitted about. I’d already discovered ivy, growing unchecked, choking out an ancient grove of towering trees, but when I mentioned to my husband’s unit commander the need to get someone to cut down the troublesome vine, I was met with condescending smiles and smirks, laced with a general who cares attitude. I was seriously considering, in all of my pregnant glory, taking to the ivy myself with a pair of scissors when I noticed a twosome of Military Police officers, or MPs, walking down the street toward me. Abruptly, they turned up the covered walkway and almost sprinted into the clinic, passing me without so much as a glance.

Curious, I followed them. Had Villa, the friendly soldier who tried to strangle his pregnant wife in her sleep, freaked out on her right there in the clinic?

I squinted as I entered the dark building, unable to make out much of anything except for a flurry of excited chatter coming from every direction. Then, as the MPs slowed to a stop, everything started to come into focus. 

***

Thank you for stopping by for this week's eight! Be sure to come back next Sunday to find out what happens when Sara's world comes into sharp focus . . . 

Are you in need of a professional editor for your manuscript or WIP? Contact me, Sara, at Silver Line Editorial Service to see how I can be of service to you! 

silverlineeditorial@gmail.com

The Weekend Writing Warriors are a group of talented writers that spans most every genre imaginable. Head over to check out some more of their work back at the WeWriWa blog!

WeWriWa - April 5, 2015 - Missi Wanderin' in the Woods

Welcome back to the blog on this beautiful Easter Sunday! I hope today fills you and yours with the true and miraculous Spirit of the Season, as I pray it does my own family  <3 

When I ponder what to write about, I remember the plights of my past and why I now give you praise. Then I reveal your glory by showing how you’ve worked in my life. 
— Psalm 143:5

Onto my eight sentences from my forthcoming memoir, Missi Wanderin' in the Woods . . .

Almost haughty, the unexpected psychiatrist swept by us leaving a fragrant scent of body odor and spices in her wake. Both of Charlie's knees were bouncing now. “Just be honest,” I whispered as I teetered toward the door she’d left open, obviously for me.

Sitting in the waiting room, I read magazines until I’d read them all. A few people that I recognized but didn’t really know passed me with a wave before attending their appointments and leaving again. Bored, I strode outside for a taste of fresh air before checking the time again. Three hours had gone by without a word from anyone. Villa, the strangler, and his wife passed me with a shy wave, probably for a prenatal appointment. Neither of them smiled much anymore.

Thank you for coming by! Don't forget to head back to the WeWriWa page for more awesome snippets from amazing writers! See you next week to see what happens with Charlie and the psychiatrist!

WeWriWa - March 22 - Missi Wanderin' in the Woods

Welcome back! Thanks for stopping by for this week's snippet from my newest work:

Missi Wanderin' in the Woods

Last week, our heroine's husband made a big, drunken deal out of his leaving his 

family . . . again. 

Let's see what happens next.

The  first time my husband freaked out and called us quits was at our duty station in Italy when I was five months pregnant with our first child together. Drunk, he'd torn apart our luggage in an attempt to find the passports, belonging to my two young children and myself, so he could put us on "the first plane back to the States". Luckily, I'd hidden them well. Angered at his inability to find them, he swore through slurred words to pay child support for “that one,” as he called our unborn son, thrusting a finger at my slightly swollen belly. 

 He had been back from his 15-month tour in Afghanistan for a whopping six months before he "broke", an amazing feat considering most of his fellow airborne infantrymen he'd served with had broken long before; like the ever-smiling family man who attempted to strangle his pregnant wife in her sleep or the quiet soldier who had eaten Thanksgiving dinner with us before returning to the Army post and slashing his arms bloody and climbing into a tub filled with steaming water. 

When the liquor wore off, he begged forgiveness and swore to get help from Mental Health, in the off chance he did have the so-called PTSD affliction, as long as I would accompany him . . . and give him another chance. Not having it in my genes to be the Army wife who walked out on her sick husband, I agreed and sat proudly by his side as we waited for the psychiatrist to come in. 

The door creaked open revealing not the white-haired Viet Nam vet with all the answers like in the movies, but instead a short, unsmiling Middle Eastern woman sporting glasses . . . and a Muslim hijab.

Thank you for stopping by this week! Be sure to stop by next Sunday morning for another snippet from 

Missi Wanderin' in the Woods

Missi Wanderin' in the Woods is my forthcoming memoir and perhaps the hardest story I've written to date. This is the story of one woman's reliance on her eclectic wilderness background to face epic struggles, from war-ravaged marriages to life-threatening baby deliveries to a teaching career to cancer, that just may shatter her life -- if she lets them.

Click here for more awesome Weekend Writing Warriors.

Book One of my
Everlasting Heart series,
written when
my husband was on his final
deployment to Afghanistan.
This saga continues through
a four-book series!

Rebekah's Quilt is
my debut Amish fiction
work.
Just .99 cents
this month!
Look for more from these
characters coming soon
in a new series!

Head on over to my website to check out more of  my titles featuring strong female heroines, like my debut novel and book one of the Everlasting Heart series A Heart on Hold, where Charlotte Adamsland must journey north through the war-ravaged United States in search of her husband Confederate Captain Sanderson Redding . . . or his remains, or my first ever Amish novella, Rebekah's Quilt, where timid Rebekah must face a heartbreaking truth that no other Amish girl in Gasthof Village could ever understand and one that just may cost her a future with her handsome beau, Joseph Graber. 

(Rebekah's Quilt is just .99 cents this month!)

Visit Sara Barnard Books today!