The Work in Progress (WIP) Blog Tour

I'm delighted to have been invited to join the "Work in Progress" blog tour by my friend and fellow author, Colleen Story. Colleen is a prize-winning author of novels, poems, short-stories, and she also writes articles and research-papers specializing in health and wellness. Colleen writes speculative fiction in both the young adult and adult literary genres. Her fantasy novel, Rise of the Sidenah, is forthcoming in 2014 from Jupiter Gardens Press (under the pen name “C. Shay Ryander”) and her literary novel, Loreena’s Gift, is forthcoming from Dzanc Books in August 2015. She is also the founder of Writing and Wellness, a robust informational blog with author features and articles on topics like staying healthy while writing, finding your own voice, and managing the ups and downs of a writer’s life. You can read her WIP post (including some good advice on self-belief from Rocky III) here:
http://www.writingandwellness.com/2014/09/16/facing-the-truth-about-your-wip-advice-from-rocky-iii/

The rules of the WIP blog tour are as follows: provide the link back to the post by the person who nominated you, write a little about and give the first sentences of the first three chapters of your current WIP, then nominate four other writers to do the same.

So, here we go: The Weir House was supposed to be a short story but it grew into an historical/time-slip novel for adults and the current draft stands at about 80,000 words. The Weir House is the story of two Victorian sisters as they struggle to break free from their father's oppressive household, and the woman who is haunted by their story over a century later. The two parts of the novel - Victorian melodrama and twentieth-century ghost story - weave in and out of one another throughout the book.

Here are the first sentences from the first three chapters:

Chapter 1: The front door slammed shut with such violence that the frame quivered, and the whole house with it. Maria lifted her face to the rain, astounded by her own resolve.

Chapter 2: It was just like Bea to take the heat-wave personally. It might have consoled her to know that the rest of England was suffering too, but Bea never bothered with TV and she didn't think of it like that.

Chapter 3: Mrs. Betsy Fleet arrived at the Weir House by stealth. She sent the driver to the front door with her luggage, while she stole up the cobbled lane, between high walls and lime trees, to the garden gate.

I'm nominating the following amazing writers to reveal their WIPs:

Kerri Cuevas http://www.kerricuevasbooks.com/
Heidi Chandler http://heidichandler.com/
Aviva Orr http://www.avivaorr.com/
Rakie Keig http://rakiekeig.blogspot.com/

Please take some time to look at their websites, blogs and books!