So I’ve been secretly working on a special little project – a short story to be released on Wattpad.  Watt now?  That’s what I said.  And then I immediately felt ancient!  This is how all the kids are doing it now – reading and writing as part of an online community.   Or ‘sharing stories on a social platform that connects people through words’, as they put it. Sounds interesting right?  And with 40 million Wattpadders signing on to read free stories, who can argue with that?  Once I discovered this innovative way of reaching new readers, it really got my creative juices flowing – the result of which is Betwixt, a gothic romance short story, that I hope you will all enjoy reading.

When Catherine revisits Hollowbrook cottage on a stormy October night, she crosses paths with a mysterious stranger who is not all that he seems. On a night when the veil between worlds is at its thinnest, all that is real and unreal meet in a nowhere place, at a nowhere time.

The essence of Wattpad as a social platform is that writers can gain instant feedback on their work, so please feel free to comment, share and vote.  I’ll be sharing one chapter every week for the next six weeks, so to whet your appetite, here is an excerpt from the first chapter.  Happy reading 🙂

Chapter One

“We don’t get many visitors up here this time of year,” the old woman sniffed, pulling a hand-knitted cardigan tightly around herself. She looked like the kind of person who had never felt warmth in her life. Her brusque manner made it clear from the outset that she did not appreciate having to deal with guests this late in the season, or at this time of night. The old farmhouse stood at the end of a long and winding driveway, half concealed by immense pine trees and the darkening clouds that rushed across the mountains. It was late October and the rugged landscape had wrapped itself in a wild and inhospitable cloak of withering trees and faded grasses; not at all how she remembered it.

Read all of Chapter One here.