What, no San Diego Chronicles?

I’ve been in San Diego all week, but haven’t really been inspired to write anything about it. I have been writing like crazy – don’t get me wrong… Just not about this fair city. Or its glorious sleek-bodied women with their midriffs showing and their ample bosoms bouncing as they walk, cell phones attached to their ears, ponytails streaming behind them like banners in a sex mag. I’ve been writing, instead, on my third novel. In the last four days I’ve written almost twenty pages, which – doing the quick math – translates to about twelve thousand words. Good wow.

I’m really liking where it’s going, and though I never get too much in the way of comments from my fantastic readers on my excerpts, I’ve decided to post a bit of this one. This isn’t a terribly important part of the book, it’s just the last few paragraphs I’ve written tonight. So here it is, an official excerpt from Shedding Sadness, my third novel:

She set the heavy firearm down on the counter and put her hands on her hips. She was obviously trying to play the part, but had not gotten to read the script first. She had no idea what to say. Richie finally spoke up for her.

“That’s what you wanted, right? Forty-five with light rails?”

“Yeah, light rails. That last gun had heavy rails!” she said, smiling.

Richie shot a glance at the man again. He had rolled his eyes. He wasn’t buying into this bit at all.

“She’s kidding. Ha!” Richie said, slapping Casey’s shoulder. She looked at her shoulder afterwards, a look of pain in her eyes. Quickly, he added, “Okay, so we need the tac light too.”

The man nodded and walked over to a wall full of tactical torches. He opened the box as he walked back to the counter and pulled the plastic wrap off a SureFire tactical light, then slid it onto the rails beneath the muzzle of the Kimber. A satisfying click resounded as it snapped into place.

Richie picked up the pistol this time and held it properly, and triggered the flash. It blew brilliant white light against the wall in a concentrated, hundred-lumen beam. He nodded professionally, and said, “Okay, let’s wrap it up. Right, Casey? This the one?”

She nodded dumbly. She was so far out of her element she could barely stand to talk anymore. “Yeah, that’s the one!” she said, raising her dainty little fist in the air with almost no enthusiasm.

“Okay, great,” the salesman said with an equal amount of enthusiasm. “Fill out this form, sir.”

“Oh, it’s not mine. I’m teaching her to shoot. Wanna start with the best, right?” Richie said.

The man sighed and looked at him, leaning against the counter. After staring at Richie for a long moment, he finally decided to test them. “What kind of loads you plan on running through this baby?” he said, looking over at Casey.

Richie closed his eyes and lowered his head. Shit.

She shrugged as he looked back up at her. “Well until I get used to it, I’ll just use target bullets.”

The man nodded. Was she bullshitting him? Richie could almost hear his thoughts. He still waited, silently.

She shrugged again. “If I get serious, I’ll carry jacketed hollow points. Something with some stopping power, you know?” she said, shaking her fist in the air again.

Richie fought back a smile. He was so proud of her he thought he could kiss her. “Good girl!” he wanted to shout.

The man nodded. “All right. Well fill this form out. We’ll get it cleaned up and meet you up front with it.”

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