Hey, Weekend Writing Warriors. Going to be a busy week. If you have followed me for a while you know that all our kids and my mom visit in early December to celebrate Christmas. We have done since living in Texas. The kids love it because they get two Christmases. Well, they are all grown now, but everyone still makes the trek to us and we still celebrate. It will be a great time.
I also set my surgery date: December 23rd. We shall see what happens from there. They will remove my appendix and the masses and fix my hernia. Then they will check the area for additional growths and test the masses for cancer. We shall see what happens from there.
Elissa Celebrates Christmas and Elissa Learns Thankfulness are available through Amazon!! I’m too excited to offer both books side by side for the holidays. Pick up your copies today to get in time for a stocking stuffer for your little reader.
SYNOPSIS:
With NaNoWriMo, I am taking you on the journey with me and giving you snippets from the book I’m writing. Keep in mind that these will be raw and unedited. So, excuse errors and grammar.
My piece for NaNoWriMo will be The Five Barred Gate III. Considering that The Five Barred Gate II will be released on January 5th, it would be my next logical piece to pen. Enjoy.
The Five Barred Gate is a dystopian world where the government has enacted laws against freedom of speech. This has hurt the religious community the most.
SNIPPET:
Summary:
The Five Barred Gate III picks where The Five Barred Gate II leaves off. Derrick Andrews is talking with his wife, Rachel, and feels he needs to go with is dad, Jacob, to Austin to talk with the authorities. They’ve been demanding Jacob to release his sermons for scrutiny before they are delivered from the pulpit. He has refused. Facing arrest, he now wants to make his appeal.
Here is a bit from last week.
“I know, son. We lost much. But we ultimately won in the end. God overcame. We wouldn’t have been able to do it without him being on our side. He placed that guard in the prison sympathetic to our cause and he was the key to our freedom. Without Him, who knows what our status would be, we could all still be in that hell-hold or even dead.”
“Should we expect the same resistance in Austin?” Michael asked.
“If Megan Woodland is anything as her letters express, we may have something to worry about. But if these are form letters with her name attached, which is what I feel they are, I think I can reach her and receive some leniency.”
We pick up right just about we left off. Jacob and Michael have arrived in Austin and are about to head into the DAs office.
“The DA will see you in just a moment,” the secretary said as she sat behind her desk, picking up her phone that was ringing. She answered it with the same pleasant tone.
“Thank you, Tracey,” Jacob said.
Michael always appreciated how much of a people person his father was. If they were to make any progress with the District Attorney it would be on his father’s merit, he had a way with others. He knew about using names, eye contact, and making people feel important. And most crucial, he never realized he was doing it. A true sign of humility.
“What do you expect will happen, Dad?”
::There is your ten, or so, but let’s continue a bit with the scene.::
“I’m not sure. I’ve placed it in God’s hands, Michael. The laws are clear. And I know I am in clear violation of them. Her letters have stated that over and over. I can only hope that she is more sympathetic in person than on letterhead.”
“These are bureaucrats. And we are in Austin. One of the most left-leaning cities in Texas. You are toast, Dad.”
“That is no other way but to trust in the Lord, Michael. After all we have been through, you should know better than that by now.”
Michael thought back to the jail he found his wife in. The long corridor and freedom he brought her and his father through. God was most certainly on their side through that trial.
“I’m sorry, Dad. I let it slip my mind. Forgive me,” Michael said.
The phone buzzed and Tracey answered it. “Yes, Mrs. Woodland. I’ll send them in.” She hung up and alerted them that their appointment was ready.
“If you will follow me,” she waved toward a door at the end of a small hallway. “You are slated for fifteen minutes. Please have your information ready and be precise with your request. All decisions are final and fines and sentences if necessary are implemented upon your meeting’s conclusion. Officials are on standby to enforce the law and maintain peace. Do you understand these stipulations, gentlemen?”
Both men gave their affirmation.
A chill ran up Michael’s spine. They were certainly walking into the lion’s den. He could feel the walls closing around him. He just hoped that the Lord would keep the mouths closed as he did for Daniel. He feared for his father, they needed an ally, but amidst the darkness, one would be hard to find.
Tracey rapped lightly on the door, a light muffle to which Tracey replied, a language which she most likely spoke fluently. She opened the door and led them into Mrs. Woodland’s office.
A tall rectangle window in the corner of the room lit a pathway from the door to Mrs. Woodland’s desk, like a yellow carpet leading them to their destiny. The DA’s office had a ceiling-to-floor bookcase with important-looking spines. Michael always wondered how many of those books lawyers ever read or touched. Or were they like in the movies, filled with important past cases that could help prove someone somewhere dealt with something somehow and could be set free if that one case fact could be found?
“Good afternoon, gentlemen,” a strong voice said, snapping Michael from his skyward gaze. “Please have a seat, and we can begin?”
You can hear the ‘dun dun’ of Law and Order. And were we begin the new phase of Jacob’s journey. You can read all about his first stating in the Five Barred Gate. You also have Elissa the Curious Snail’s holiday books available. Check out the links below.
Featured Titles
Little Reminders of Who I Am (2020)
The Transference (2022)
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