An excerpt

Hey everyone! Guess what? My editor just sent me the excerpt they’ll be using to promote my very first teen book THE SPECIALISTS: MODEL SPY. I also found out the exact month it’ll be in stores. May 2007! Yippee!

Here’s the excerpt…

The entire greenhouse brightened with white light, and a shrill siren went off.

David grabbed my hand, and we took off down the path. Metal grids began unrolling from the ceiling, securing the greenhouse’s glass panes and prohibiting anyone from exiting. We cut through hedges and greenery and slid through a spiny shrub to our entrance hole.

TL was right there, waiting for us. I glanced up to see a metal grid grinding toward us. David grabbed the back of my shirt and pants and shoved me through, then dove after me. A split second later, the grid slammed over our hole, shutting us out.

We bolted across the open frosty lawn to where Jonathan waited. In the distance we heard the pack of Dobermans. Jonathan dropped to his hands and knees at the base of the wrought-iron fence. Using him as a step, David bounced onto his back and over the ten-foot tall barrier. I went next with TL giving me a helpful push up and over. David caught me, TL landed beside us, and Jonathan quickly scaled the fence.

With Jonathan safely on our side, we took off across the road and into the woods.

A mile later, we burst through the trees on the outskirts of an Ushbanian town, a different one from where the modeling school and hotel were located. I knew from our preoperations session that we would split up if something like this happened. David and I in one direction, TL in another, and Jonathan in yet another.

A police siren pierced the air. David grabbed my hand and yanked me down an alley. We ran past a Dumpster and skidded to a halt when a police car pulled in the opposite end. David backed me up against the side of a building and plastered his body to mine. Our chests heaved against each other with winded breaths.

He buried his mouth against my ear. “Wrap. Your. Arms. Around. Me.”

I did as he instructed, my heart hammering, keeping the police car in my peripheral vision. It slowly rolled toward us. “It’s coming,” I hissed, desperately trying to think of what to do next.

“Sorry,” he mumbled right before crushing his mouth to mine.

Oh my God, I’m sixteen, and I’ve never been kissed. Please let me be doing this right.

Check it out

What a great review I just got for Laura’s Secrets. Check it out!

You can run from your past but you can not hide. Laura Genny tries to keep firmly focused on the present and the future, but memories are harder to control and well up unexpectedly. When friend and mentor Ed Barslow gets Laura an audition with Tourist, she lands the job of her dreams. Being Head Sound Engineer for the international rock group will mean traveling with the band. There is a downside. Keeping secrets is never easy, especially when consorting with those in the spotlight.

The rocker lifestyle has long palled on Will Burns, lead guitarist of Tourist. The groupies and hangers on are a far cry from what he wants in a woman. Their new sound mixer is shy, professional and seems to be impervious to his charm. The intriguing woman is keeping her distance, but Will just wants to draw her close.

Ms. Greenland does a spectacular job on this wonderful love story. Not an easy thing to do when keeping such a disturbing topic as abuse in the background. We are given a sensitive portrayal of the effects long after the reality of abuse has come to an end.

Readers will love Will for his patience and support of the heroine. His is not the emotional battering ram technique to a relationship, but the real wooing that we as women adore.
There are few heroines that one aches so wholeheartedly for in the journey to love and healing. Laura’s tentative reaching out to Will and to happiness is an emotion filled thing to watch.
Laura’s Secrets is crafted thoroughly to fulfill the reader’s need for multifaceted characters, mystery, suspense and most of all romance.

Flashes of humor, fun episodes and tender scenes make this offering something far from being maudlin. Plot twists keep us on our toes, though foreshadowing keeps us from finding anything unexpected.

Fans of romance need only read this book to remember why we first fell in love with the genre. This is one for the keeper shelf.

~Love Romances And More

Teenage Writers

Great fun over the weekend. I spoke to a group of library patrons. Now, I know that doesn't sound all that exciting, even though they WERE an interested bunch. The really cool part was getting to talk to two teenage friends who are avid, enthusiastic, fantasy/fiction writers!! They had tons of questions, and are certain they WILL be published and famous some day. There's not a doubt in my mind, either.

They are both writing series books, and one has ten books planned already. They write every day, and help edit each other's work.

The self-confidence these two displayed was contagious! I hope every teenager reading this has an equally awesome dream to latch onto. It was a blast talking to them.

I also was excited to find out that "Cynthia's Attic: The Magic Medallion," was a finalist in the "Children's Fiction" category in the USABookNews 2006 Book Awards.

Fast and Freaky Fiction Contest Winner

I would like to officially congratulate the
Winner
of our first official
Fast & Freaky Fiction Writing Contest
October 2006.

On October 21, 2006 Echelon Press Publishing will make

THE WITCH TREE
by
C.A. Verstraete

Available for sale as an e-book download.

Congratulations and check back on the
First of each month for the new theme for our
Fiction Writing Contest!

Southern Festival or Books

Hey everyone! I’m giving you a shout out from Memphis, TN.

I’m here right now participating in the Southern Festival of Books. It’s been going on all weekend.

I’ve met some really awesome people like Ashley and Jessica from West Memphis. Hi gals!

I’m staying with my sis-in-law and her family. Hi Cathy, Jacob, and Max!

I’m sharing a booth with some cool authors like Sam Morton, Grace Howell, and Linda Prather. Hey guys!

I ate at this neat place called North Town with the world’s best hot fudge sundae. (I didn’t eat the sundae) But they have tasty wild rice bowls.

That’s about it except for the fact my sis-in-law makes the best freaking coffee in the world. Its like having Starbucks right here at my disposal.

Lipstick. A priority.

I’ve told this story a few times over the past couple of weeks and everyone says “you have to blog that”.

Okay, so here goes…

I’m in the airport in Jacksonville, FL. It’s about 6 in the morning. There’s a pretty long line at the US Air counter. I’m standing there with my suitcase, waiting my turn, dreaming of a cup of dark roast from Starbucks. All around me people are looking just as groggy.

Up at the front I hear “No lipstick? What?!”

I immediately perk up. Did someone say ‘no lipstick?’

Then I hear a woman in front of me. “Lipstick?”

Then behind me. “Lipstick?”

Then a few back. “Lipstick?”

And then it echoes through the crowd. “Lipstick?” “Lipstick?” “Lipstick?” “Lipstick?”

Then I speak up, panic settling in. “Hello? We can’t have lipstick?”

The US Air counter lady (looking a bit frantic), waves her arms in the air. “Excuse me. Can everyone quiet down for a second?”

A hush fell over the crowd.

“I didn’t say lipstick,” counter lady continued. “I said lip gloss. You can’t have lip gloss.”

A collective sigh of relief came from the crowd. I probably was the biggest sigher of them all.

And then it occurred to me. Terrorism. National security. HUGE issues. And lipstick was what worried me. Sheesh.

But hey. I gotta have my lipstick. Come on now people. Priorities.

Fast and Freaky Fiction Writing Contest

In honor of Halloween (and all the other holidays of fall) Echelon Press would like to publish your "Fast and Freaky" October story. The fast part means you have until October 14, 2006 to submit your story of 3000-6000 words. The winner will be notified by October 17, 2006 and have 5 days to edit/revise the story. Echelon Press will publish your story in its e-book division on October 23, 2006. Simple!

Our only real request is that your story be creepy! Creepy horror, Creepy romance, creepy mystery, you get the point. Stories must adhere to the following guidelines. If you are under 18 years old we will need your parent's permission to publish your work, if you win.

Standard Manuscript format

• File saved in Word format (.doc) or (.rtf)
• 8 ½ x 11 page
• Times New Roman 12pt font/black
• 1-inch margin on all sides/ 1.5 line spacing
• Align text left, do not justify (aligning text both left and right)
• Header containing title, author name and page number
• Capital letters at the beginning of sentences and proper nouns
• Show new paragraphs by indenting first line of new paragraph .3. Do not add blank line between paragraphs.
• Show scene breaks with * * * * centered in the appropriate line.

All cover letters must include

• Name (and pseudonym if applicable)
• Mailing address
• Phone number
• E-mail address (if available)
• Web address (if available)

E-Mail your submissions to contest@echelonpress.com