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 - May 31, 2015 - Missi Wanderin' in the Woods

Welcome back to this week's snippet from my forthcoming memoir, MISSI WANDERIN' IN THE WOODS, where one woman must rely on her back country experiences to get her through some of life's toughest trials -- from a PTSD-infected marriage marriage to an extreme cancer diagnosis.  

I gulped and adjusted my growing weight in the seat. “And . . . what did, um, you say?”

Driver side mirror, rear view mirror, passenger side mirror, over the shoulder, out the window. Driver side mirror, rear view mirror, passenger side mirror, over the shoulder, out the window. “The truth, like you told me to.”

Sucking in the side of my cheek, I waited for him to continue. 
He didn’t.

“What is the truth?” I caught a squeak at the end of my word. 

Check out the other eight sentence offerings from wonderful weekend writing warriors here. 
If you are a fan of Amish fiction, enjoy my latest excerpt from my forthcoming Amish fiction novel, OLD AMARILLO here.
If historical romance is more your genre, you might like my debut novel - eight sentences at a time - A HEART ON HOLD here. 

WeWriWa - 5/17/15 - Missi Wanderin' in the Woods

Welcome back, y'all! Here we go . . .

“What did . . . mean,” I huffed, struggling to keep up, “when you said . . . honest like I told you to be?”

Luckily, we were coming up on the car and his stride slowed considerably. Without missing a beat he went to my side first and opened the door, as usual, and waited until I was situated before shutting it and getting in himself. His hands were trembling and his eyes darted from side to side, as though he was just waiting for someone to appear at the window. Something in his eyes gave me the impression he wanted something to appear, just so he could deal with it. Icy fingers of fear gripped my spine, leaving me with a sense of utter, terrifying helplessness in the passenger seat. What if he flipped and felt he had to deal with me?

Whatever had clouded his eyes passed almost as quickly as it had come, and he began to speak. “She asked me the same question a million ways, and none if it was about what happened between us . . . she didn’t even let me talk about that.” 

Thanks for stopping by and riding the storm out with me as we make our way through the first chapter of my forthcoming memoir, Missi Wanderin' in the Woods! Leave me a comment and tell me your thoughts, if you like :-) 

To get back to the other awesome WeWriWa authors, go here!  

WeWriWa - April 26, 2015 - Missi Wanderin' in the Woods

Welcome back to this week's eight-sentence excerpt from my forthcoming memoir, MISSI WANDERIN' IN THE WOODS. Last week, Sara followed two MP's into the dark Mental Health wing of the Army Clinic where her husband, Charlie, had his first appointment. Our last scene closed with Charlie being escorted out by the MP's and a pregnant Sara wondering what in the world was going on. 
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Charlie, however, didn’t lower his voice as heat flooded my face. “I was honest, just like you told me to be.”

Once outside, the MPs clarified the situation without going into detail, also without lowering their voices. “Sergeant, do you understand that you are not to enter this facility unless for a valid medical reason and you are forbidden to make any appointments with Mental Health until a new provider arrives?”

Charlie puffed out his chest and squared his shoulders. “Yes Private, I do.”

Most of those peeping eyes from the clinic had followed us outside, anxious to catch a glimpse of the dirty laundry that my husband had no intention of hiding. Covering my face with my hands, I wanted to melt into a puddle.
******************************************************************************

Thank you for stopping by and sharing in these experiences with me! Though MISSI WANDERIN' IN THE WOODS is nonfiction, please feel free to visit my other two blogs dedicated to my distinctly different fiction works: 

Sara's Amish Dreams
An Everlasting Heart

Weekend Writing Warriors are a group of diverse, talented,and passionate authors who share pieces of their hearts and souls in eight sentence snippets each week in this bloghop. Check out their work, fall in love with their books, and be sure to leave them a comment on their blogs :-) Reach out to them here!

WeWriWa - April 19, 2015 - Missi Wanderin' in the Woods

Welcome back to this week's eight sentence snippet from my forthcoming memoir, Missi Wanderin' in the Woods. Without further ado, let's jump right back into the mix and see what is going on in the Army clinic that drew the MPs on the run . . . and see why in the world I followed them inside. 

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The MPs stepped to the side, like something out of a movie, revealing my husband standing between them.

“Is this your wife?” one of the burly officers barked.

Charlie nodded and stepped beside me, but the Military Police officers just stared at us - unmoving. “Are we leaving?” I asked, feeling as though I’d walked into a group where the punchline of a joke had just been delivered.

Charlie just put one hand on the small of my back and began guiding me toward the door with the MPs following us closely.

I kept my voice at a whisper, acutely aware that all eyes in the clinic were fixed on us. “Charlie, what is going on?”
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To get back to the other amazing WeWriWa participants, click here! 

To see my other blogs for this week, click here for my snippet from A Heart on Hold, my debut novel, and click here for a snippet from my forthcoming Amish novel, Old Amarillo. 

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 - March 15 - Missi Wanderin' in the Woods

Welcome Weekend Writing Warriors and Guests! 

Enjoy this eight-sentence excerpt from my newest work: 

Missi Wanderin' in the Woods. 

***

I slid my white gold wedding ring, the one we’d picked out together after only two weeks of dating, off my finger and sucked in a breath, trying not to let the hurricane of familiar emotions drown me yet again. 

Across the house, my husband of five years threw everything that was outright his into various bags and suitcases, taking care to fling the pictures of us and our life together onto the ground. Like trash.

“There’s no going back,” he bellowed as he stormed into the kitchen where we'd sought refuge, his words slurred by the drink, “this is for real. We're finished!”

Up until then, I had been futilely attempting to shield his leaving from our two youngest children, sugar sweet and ever-grinning boys aged two and four, but as he carried on, the baby began picking up random toys and shoes. “Don’t yell at Mama,” he shouted, his own little words garbled by the speech impediment that afflicts three quarters of my children, before hurling what he could grab at his daddy, who up until then had been the center of his protected little universe. 

My oldest babies, ten and eight, retreated to the dark corners of the kitchen to watch this all-too-familiar scene, always brought on by combat anniversaries and alcohol, play out yet again.

***

Thank you for stopping by and checking out these eight sentences from my forthcoming memoir, Missi Wanderin' in the Woods, the story of one woman's reliance on her eclectic wilderness background to face front-country struggles ranging from a war-ravaged marriage to cancer.

Need a cheap read? Rebekah's Quilt is on sale for just 99 cents this month!

Sara Barnard's Author Website

Check out more excerpts from other amazing 

Weekend Writing Warriors 

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See you next Sunday for more from 

Missi Wanderin' in the Woods!

The Inaugural Post

Hello from Utopia!  Dinner is done.  The kids are bathed.  Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman plays in the background.  My husband, G.I. Joe, plays with Sun 2 (middle son) and Moon Princess (daughter) while Rambo, the German Shepherd, looks on like a furry guardian angel.  Sun 3, (the baby) just learning to crawl, attempts mobilization on the living room floor.  And Sun 1 (oldest son) ... well, Sun 1 ... where did he go?  Oh, he's back in the bathroom, bathing all six of the stuffed Angry Birds in the sink.  Belle the Wondercat just dashed through the living room, clearing Sun 3 in a single leap.  The two Italian dogs are asleep, hidden beside the entertainment center, while the little blue-eyed husky, Luna, just snuck out the doggy door, sopping Angry Bird in tow.  WELCOME TO MY HOME!  We had a wonderful home cooked meal tonight, the recipe is going to be posted next.  Needless to say, G.I. Joe and I are exhausted, happy, full, and ready to go to bed so we can play Words With Friends ... but the kids are all STILL set on go!  I hope you enjoy it here as much as we do!