ericdabbs

"Thank you." The coach bent his neck forward, drawing closer to the mic. "Austin loved football. He left nothing on the field. He gave it all. He was dedicated to following in the footsteps of Xavier Rhodes, to continuing the winning tradition that Xavier established here as an All-State quarterback. His dream was to go to State U and play in front of seventy-five thousand, just like Xavier is doing this year. This past spring he made a commitment to train and work hard and do whatever it took to achieve excellence." Coach Steele homed in on me and held my gaze. "We will honor Austin by continuing the tradition of Pineville High. We will play for him this year." He cleared his throat. It seemed more an attention getter than anything else. "I dedicate the rest of this year to his memory. To what he stood for and to what he would have wanted." He glanced away and scanned the crowd. "Austin would have wanted this school, this town, to come together. He would have wanted us to press on and play football. He wouldn't have wanted us to give up and wallow in defeat. He,” the coach choked back the first shaky crack in his voice, "he would have wanted us to win it all. So... with that in mind... that's what we're going to do." His gaze found me again and drilled into me like a bullet pass between the two of us. "I ask you to make that commitment. That's what it's going to take." After a long, intense moment, he looked away. "Remember Austin. Remember his legacy. This season is for him." The coach gave a last nod. "That's all I have. Thank you."
          	
          	https://www.wattpad.com/story/361908412

ericdabbs

"Thank you." The coach bent his neck forward, drawing closer to the mic. "Austin loved football. He left nothing on the field. He gave it all. He was dedicated to following in the footsteps of Xavier Rhodes, to continuing the winning tradition that Xavier established here as an All-State quarterback. His dream was to go to State U and play in front of seventy-five thousand, just like Xavier is doing this year. This past spring he made a commitment to train and work hard and do whatever it took to achieve excellence." Coach Steele homed in on me and held my gaze. "We will honor Austin by continuing the tradition of Pineville High. We will play for him this year." He cleared his throat. It seemed more an attention getter than anything else. "I dedicate the rest of this year to his memory. To what he stood for and to what he would have wanted." He glanced away and scanned the crowd. "Austin would have wanted this school, this town, to come together. He would have wanted us to press on and play football. He wouldn't have wanted us to give up and wallow in defeat. He,” the coach choked back the first shaky crack in his voice, "he would have wanted us to win it all. So... with that in mind... that's what we're going to do." His gaze found me again and drilled into me like a bullet pass between the two of us. "I ask you to make that commitment. That's what it's going to take." After a long, intense moment, he looked away. "Remember Austin. Remember his legacy. This season is for him." The coach gave a last nod. "That's all I have. Thank you."
          
          https://www.wattpad.com/story/361908412

ericdabbs

Chapter 1 (Small Town Hero - Opening paragraph)
          
          ~Evan~
          
          When I heard the news that Austin Campbell had fallen off a hundred-foot cliff and died, I couldn't believe it. It seemed like a prank, like he would show up at any minute and set the record straight so that life could go back to normal. So we could go back to class and not have to pretend that the star quarterback, the most popular kid in school, wasn't dead and gone.
          https://www.wattpad.com/story/361908412?utm_source=ios&utm_medium=postToProfile&utm_content=share_reading&wp_page=library&wp_uname=ericdabbs

ericdabbs

Evan Mack and his friends, Layla and Blake learn about the mysterious death of Pineville High’s star quarterback, Austin Campbell. Evan discovers quickly what this means for him. - Chapter 1
          
          This is my personal celebration of finishing Small Town Hero, my 2024 ONC Vampire/Werewolf paranormal mystery novella! I’m going to share a chapter each day with a tidbit about what the MCs face. Good luck to everyone in the ONC final round:)
          https://www.wattpad.com/1419518745?utm_source=ios&utm_medium=postToProfile&utm_content=share_reading&wp_page=reading_part_end&wp_uname=ericdabbs

ericdabbs

I did it! I submitted for round three of the 2024 ONC! Small Town Hero is my entry, a vampire/werewolf high school football story with a bite (or bit) of teen love. I finished it in five weeks, sometime after the first week of March. We’ll see where it goes. If it doesn’t win, I may add 10k words to it and enter it in this year’s Wattys. Good luck to everyone!

MichaelHoliday

Yessir! You got this!
• Reply

Glory_feeling2

@ericdabbs Good Luck Sir! Hope you are doing well, everybody ... well almost everyone ... is freaking about the removal of private messaging on Wattpad. I'm going to save what I can before the deadline.
• Reply

ericdabbs

My plan is to submit Small Town Hero in the third and final round of the 2024 ONC this weekend. If you’re interested in high school football, teen crushes and romance, along with a healthy dose of Vampires and Werewolves, give Small Town Hero a try. It’s only 39.6K words in nineteen chapters, just under the ONC maximum word count limit of 40k. Lol. I know. Cutting it close. But it’s still a fast read. I think only one person has read it all the way through so far. My son. But hey, I’m thankful. He’s biased but he loved it. Maybe you will too:)
          
          https://www.wattpad.com/story/361908412?utm_source=ios&utm_medium=link&utm_content=share_reading&wp_page=library&wp_uname=ericdabbs

ericdabbs

I was wondering when the ONC 2024 Round 2 qualifying announcement would be, and boom, it happened today. I’m happy to say that my story, Small Town Hero, qualified, making it past round 2. This little YA Vampire/werewolf story is finished. I’m currently proofreading the final chapters to make sure it’s in tip-top shape to submit for the final round. Congratulations to everyone else who qualified today for round 2! Good luck with the final round:)
          
          https://www.wattpad.com/story/361908412

ericdabbs

@Glory_feeling2 Thank you!
• Reply

Glory_feeling2

@ericdabbs Congratulations!
• Reply

ericdabbs

Anyone know when the ONC 2024 will be ready to submit for round three? Just haven’t heard anything. Maybe it’s coming soon…

ericdabbs

@DomiSotto Thanks for the link and info. I was just getting antsy, I guess:)
• Reply

ericdabbs

@DomiSotto Congratulations to you too:)!
• Reply

DomiSotto

@ericdabbs we all are!
• Reply

ericdabbs

Whoever loves a great adventure, and wants to support a fellow Wattpad author @kenwallin in his publishing journey, pick up a free ebook copy of his book, The Goddess of Kunlun, book 1 on Amazon today. The free promotion runs today, Wednesday through Sunday for five days! And if you love the story, consider giving the story an honest review:)
          https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0D1445KNN?storeType=ebooks

ericdabbs

Tom Logan kicked off his adventure series with Kate Lockhart in GOLD RIVER! Wink wink. The first four chapters updated this weekend, and beginning this week, chapters will update every Tuesday and Thursday. This is a little experiment of mine, seeking to find a niche of adventure readers who love a good treasure hunt. If that’s you, give Tom a follow and check out Gold River:)
          
          https://www.wattpad.com/story/365661452