Letters to Follow – unused setting pages

Writing a novel often forces you to leave out bits and pieces. In the case of Letters to Follow-A Dancer’s Adventure, the book is written for young adults (and the young at heart). Teens today want action rather than descriptions. I love descriptions and sensory details. So, when I get “carried away,” I save those bits and hope to use them elsewhere. This is one such elsewhere place!

Nazaré, Portugal: a scene

  The warm sand slid between her toes as she walked toward the waves. If she closed her eyes, she needed to listen hard to hear the water’s movement. Slip, drop, gurgle, then quiet.

     Once she stepped into the water, everything changed. The coolness relaxes her feet, then her legs, then her core. She inhaled deeply, feeling the heat from her encounter with Uncle Leo slide away, like the children’s sandcastle about to dissolve at the water’s edge.