Jamie DeBree's Blog, page 25
May 6, 2013
On Weather Talk, Free Stuff & African Violets...
Have you ever noticed how many conversations start with the weather?
Even here on the blog, I tend to mention the weather often, and I think
it's because it's one of those safe "opener" subjects we use to open a
conversation when we're not sure how else to start it. See someone you
haven't seen in awhile? "Lovely day, isn't it?" On the elevator with a
stranger? "Nice that spring is finally here, isn't it?" or "Brrr...my
feet are freezing. Shoulda grabbed my boots this morning." It's a
universal subject that everyone has an opinion on, but no one really
cares enough to get in a huge argument over.
And now I've just opened my blog with a weather discussion again. Because I wasn't sure how I wanted to start it today.
Last
week was only semi-productive, unfortunately. Mica-dog ate something
that disagreed with him again, which meant I was up all night Monday
night, and home from work Tuesday to keep an eye on him. I finally
caught a nap Tues. afternoon and was able to do a little writing that
night, but not much. So I ended up behind for the rest of the week.
Annoying, to say the least...and preventable too. We really need to
watch what Mica gets more closely - he's got such a sensitive stomach
for a dog.
I did manage to get chapters done
for all the serials though, and made good progress on my sci-fi story (I
go back and forth on whether it's fantasy or sci-fi...it's
steam-punkish, but to a lesser degree, and in a different time period,
with dragons, but not. So...). I also got some work in on my non-fiction
organizing guide. I could have been more productive, but all things
considered, I didn't do too badly.
Saturday
was Free Comic Book day - so naturally I went and picked up some free
comics, and purchased a few others I'd been wanting. I really kind of
like how they do that - the free books are specifically produced for the
event, it's one day a year, and it's all about trying new comics, and
encouraging people who have never read them to pick one up. Some stores
have limits on how many you can take, others don't, and I found myself
wondering how many people just pick up one of each (to whatever limit
the store sets) just because they're free? I'm not that person - I can
turn down something for free just as easily as something with a price if
it's not something I'm interested in. But I know a lot of people who
can't resist getting something for nothing, even if that "something"
really has no value to them at all once they get it home. Interesting
psychology, don't you think? I may have to explore that in a book
someday...
At the other end of the spectrum,
I've also been known to pay too much for something I really wanted. This
weekend at the grocery store I saw several lovely fancy African
Violets, and thought maybe I'd get one as a gift. They were expensive,
$7.99 each, and I know for a fact I could order them in cheaper (with
shipping), but still, a couple found their way into my cart - one for
that gift, the other for me. Why? Because they are lovely, and the joy
(both short term and long) of having them and giving one away was worth
the higher price to me at that moment in time. I used to grow African
Violets quite seriously, you see - I was even part of a local club, and I
haven't had one for years now. It's kind of a symbolic gesture to buy
myself one, as well as an experiment of sorts. It's important to do that
for yourself occasionally, methinks.
In any
case, it was a good weekend, if too short (as they all are). This coming
week will be rather busy (and the new fence will be finished Weds -
hooray!), but hopefully in a good way. Here's my list:
- Serial scenes for four stories, plus scenes for two extra stories
- Continue working on the kitchen organizing guide
- Monthly business bookkeeping
- Bi-monthly personal bookkeeping
- Finish reading through a draft for a friend
- Work on cover art for said draft
- Transplant new violet into a nice planter
- Clean out our front garden beds & plan what to add
- Figure out where to get a catalpa tree, and research other ornamental trees for the backyard
- Work on some crocheted gifts in progress
Lots
to do, as always, but fun stuff mixed in with work. So all in all, a
normal week. Here's to nothing terribly abnormal happening to screw
things up, eh?
Enjoy
this post? Support your author:
Even here on the blog, I tend to mention the weather often, and I think
it's because it's one of those safe "opener" subjects we use to open a
conversation when we're not sure how else to start it. See someone you
haven't seen in awhile? "Lovely day, isn't it?" On the elevator with a
stranger? "Nice that spring is finally here, isn't it?" or "Brrr...my
feet are freezing. Shoulda grabbed my boots this morning." It's a
universal subject that everyone has an opinion on, but no one really
cares enough to get in a huge argument over.
And now I've just opened my blog with a weather discussion again. Because I wasn't sure how I wanted to start it today.
Last
week was only semi-productive, unfortunately. Mica-dog ate something
that disagreed with him again, which meant I was up all night Monday
night, and home from work Tuesday to keep an eye on him. I finally
caught a nap Tues. afternoon and was able to do a little writing that
night, but not much. So I ended up behind for the rest of the week.
Annoying, to say the least...and preventable too. We really need to
watch what Mica gets more closely - he's got such a sensitive stomach
for a dog.
I did manage to get chapters done
for all the serials though, and made good progress on my sci-fi story (I
go back and forth on whether it's fantasy or sci-fi...it's
steam-punkish, but to a lesser degree, and in a different time period,
with dragons, but not. So...). I also got some work in on my non-fiction
organizing guide. I could have been more productive, but all things
considered, I didn't do too badly.
Saturday
was Free Comic Book day - so naturally I went and picked up some free
comics, and purchased a few others I'd been wanting. I really kind of
like how they do that - the free books are specifically produced for the
event, it's one day a year, and it's all about trying new comics, and
encouraging people who have never read them to pick one up. Some stores
have limits on how many you can take, others don't, and I found myself
wondering how many people just pick up one of each (to whatever limit
the store sets) just because they're free? I'm not that person - I can
turn down something for free just as easily as something with a price if
it's not something I'm interested in. But I know a lot of people who
can't resist getting something for nothing, even if that "something"
really has no value to them at all once they get it home. Interesting
psychology, don't you think? I may have to explore that in a book
someday...
At the other end of the spectrum,
I've also been known to pay too much for something I really wanted. This
weekend at the grocery store I saw several lovely fancy African
Violets, and thought maybe I'd get one as a gift. They were expensive,
$7.99 each, and I know for a fact I could order them in cheaper (with
shipping), but still, a couple found their way into my cart - one for
that gift, the other for me. Why? Because they are lovely, and the joy
(both short term and long) of having them and giving one away was worth
the higher price to me at that moment in time. I used to grow African
Violets quite seriously, you see - I was even part of a local club, and I
haven't had one for years now. It's kind of a symbolic gesture to buy
myself one, as well as an experiment of sorts. It's important to do that
for yourself occasionally, methinks.
In any
case, it was a good weekend, if too short (as they all are). This coming
week will be rather busy (and the new fence will be finished Weds -
hooray!), but hopefully in a good way. Here's my list:
- Serial scenes for four stories, plus scenes for two extra stories
- Continue working on the kitchen organizing guide
- Monthly business bookkeeping
- Bi-monthly personal bookkeeping
- Finish reading through a draft for a friend
- Work on cover art for said draft
- Transplant new violet into a nice planter
- Clean out our front garden beds & plan what to add
- Figure out where to get a catalpa tree, and research other ornamental trees for the backyard
- Work on some crocheted gifts in progress
Lots
to do, as always, but fun stuff mixed in with work. So all in all, a
normal week. Here's to nothing terribly abnormal happening to screw
things up, eh?
Enjoy
this post? Support your author:
Romantic Suspense
| Erotic Romance | Contemporary Romance |
Suspense/Thriller
| Flash Fiction | Non-Fiction
**Please
note - If this is your first time posting, your comment
will be moderated. Once you have been approved, future comments will post automatically.
May 3, 2013
Serial Story: English Breakfast, Part 2
This story is presented weekly in draft format.
Part 1 |
English Breakfast, Part 2
Patrick pulled her to the corner of the building, stopping for a moment to peer around the corner. The gunfire had stopped, and the street was empty, their assailants apparently gone. Sirens wailed in the distance and doors began to open as shopkeepers grew curious about the commotion.
Leaning back against the end of the building, Patrick considered his options. The store had clearly been open at the time, so Karen would have to go talk to the police, no matter what. He felt a pressing need to be with her, to make sure she was okay and give her support. It was the least he could do after she’d lost the store and nearly her life helping him out.
On the other hand, he needed to keep his presence out of the media, so no one would connect him to what had happened, and by extension, the case. HIs client had been very firm on the fact that the case should be kept out of the media, and away from law enforcement if at all possible. Sticking with Karen while she talked to the police made that far less likely to happen, considering the news van that had just driven down the block.
He didn’t really have a choice, and he knew that made him a world-class asshole.
Glancing at Karen, he dropped his hold on her wrist. Her pasty-white skin and hollow eyes nearly made him change his mind.
“There’s an NLE clause on this contract, Karen. You know what that means, right?”
She nodded, looking away as she fidgeted with her hands. “No Law Enforcement. Of course. You’d better go.”
He hesitated another second, and then pushed away from the building to walk the other direction.
“Do me a favor?” she called, just loud enough for him to hear. He stopped, but didn’t turn around.
“Stay away from me. I don’t ever want to see you again.”
He took a deep breath, let it out slowly, then raised one hand in acknowledgement over his shoulder before he walked away.
* * * *
Karen forced herself to turn away from Patrick’s retreating form. She went down the block toward the police cruisers parked in the middle of the street, lights flashing as officers stood by and watched the firefighters smother the last of the blaze. When she got closer, one of the men in blue came forward, one hand held out to stop her.
“It’s my store,” she said, without waiting for a question or command. “I’m the owner. Or was.”
He looked at her closer. Frowned.
“You don’t look so good, ma’am. And if you were in that store, we’re going to need a statement. But first, I think you should see the paramedics. Come on.” He took her arm and she let him, trying not to look at the remains of her tea bar as they walked past on the other side of the street.
“Here we are.” The officer handed her off to a couple of paramedics who barely looked old enough to be out of high school. They wrapped a blanket around her shoulders and checked her vitals, all while she sat on the back of their van and watched the rest of her dreams go up in smoke.
Someone pressed a warm cup into her hands, and she started to set it aside, knowing instinctively that it was probably coffee, ironic as that was.
“Chai tea,” a voice to her right stated. She looked up to see a cop standing there, maybe even the same one who had helped her earlier. She couldn’t be sure. He pointed to her charred sign with a sympathetic look.
“I figured it was more appropriate, considering the circumstances.” He gave her a wan smile, and she nodded her thanks before taking a careful sip. It was sugar-laden and probably made from a boxed concentrate, but it did taste good. She took another, larger sip, the fog starting to lift from her mind.
“Ma’am, I’m sorry, but I need to ask you some questions. Do you feel up to it, or do we need to wait a little while longer?”
Karen shrugged, really looking closely at her would-be interrogator. He was good looking in a rugged, dangerous sort of way. The fog lifted a little more.
“Might as well get it over with,” she finally said. “Ask away.”
Enjoy
this post? Support your author:
Part 1 |
English Breakfast, Part 2
Patrick pulled her to the corner of the building, stopping for a moment to peer around the corner. The gunfire had stopped, and the street was empty, their assailants apparently gone. Sirens wailed in the distance and doors began to open as shopkeepers grew curious about the commotion.
Leaning back against the end of the building, Patrick considered his options. The store had clearly been open at the time, so Karen would have to go talk to the police, no matter what. He felt a pressing need to be with her, to make sure she was okay and give her support. It was the least he could do after she’d lost the store and nearly her life helping him out.
On the other hand, he needed to keep his presence out of the media, so no one would connect him to what had happened, and by extension, the case. HIs client had been very firm on the fact that the case should be kept out of the media, and away from law enforcement if at all possible. Sticking with Karen while she talked to the police made that far less likely to happen, considering the news van that had just driven down the block.
He didn’t really have a choice, and he knew that made him a world-class asshole.
Glancing at Karen, he dropped his hold on her wrist. Her pasty-white skin and hollow eyes nearly made him change his mind.
“There’s an NLE clause on this contract, Karen. You know what that means, right?”
She nodded, looking away as she fidgeted with her hands. “No Law Enforcement. Of course. You’d better go.”
He hesitated another second, and then pushed away from the building to walk the other direction.
“Do me a favor?” she called, just loud enough for him to hear. He stopped, but didn’t turn around.
“Stay away from me. I don’t ever want to see you again.”
He took a deep breath, let it out slowly, then raised one hand in acknowledgement over his shoulder before he walked away.
* * * *
Karen forced herself to turn away from Patrick’s retreating form. She went down the block toward the police cruisers parked in the middle of the street, lights flashing as officers stood by and watched the firefighters smother the last of the blaze. When she got closer, one of the men in blue came forward, one hand held out to stop her.
“It’s my store,” she said, without waiting for a question or command. “I’m the owner. Or was.”
He looked at her closer. Frowned.
“You don’t look so good, ma’am. And if you were in that store, we’re going to need a statement. But first, I think you should see the paramedics. Come on.” He took her arm and she let him, trying not to look at the remains of her tea bar as they walked past on the other side of the street.
“Here we are.” The officer handed her off to a couple of paramedics who barely looked old enough to be out of high school. They wrapped a blanket around her shoulders and checked her vitals, all while she sat on the back of their van and watched the rest of her dreams go up in smoke.
Someone pressed a warm cup into her hands, and she started to set it aside, knowing instinctively that it was probably coffee, ironic as that was.
“Chai tea,” a voice to her right stated. She looked up to see a cop standing there, maybe even the same one who had helped her earlier. She couldn’t be sure. He pointed to her charred sign with a sympathetic look.
“I figured it was more appropriate, considering the circumstances.” He gave her a wan smile, and she nodded her thanks before taking a careful sip. It was sugar-laden and probably made from a boxed concentrate, but it did taste good. She took another, larger sip, the fog starting to lift from her mind.
“Ma’am, I’m sorry, but I need to ask you some questions. Do you feel up to it, or do we need to wait a little while longer?”
Karen shrugged, really looking closely at her would-be interrogator. He was good looking in a rugged, dangerous sort of way. The fog lifted a little more.
“Might as well get it over with,” she finally said. “Ask away.”
Enjoy
this post? Support your author:
Romantic Suspense
| Erotic Romance | Contemporary Romance |
Suspense/Thriller
| Flash Fiction | Non-Fiction
**Please
note - If this is your first time posting, your comment
will be moderated. Once you have been approved, future comments will post automatically.
May 1, 2013
Talkin' Books: Mistakes in Magic, Set Adrift & Free Comics
Books Finished:
Blood Faerie
Books In Progress:
Edward Adrift
MM draft
Comics Read:
Superior Spiderman #8
As expected, I finished Blood Faerie this
week, and I probably will read on in the series just because I find the
whole druid/fae bonding thing interesting. But I'm still not sure I buy
the love part of the story - not yet at least. It just wasn't developed
enough for me, and I'm thinking maybe it's more my lack of familiarity
with fantasy than anything else. We'll see how the next book goes,
anyways. The magical aspects were certainly fun (so to speak). I should
probably read more fantasy just to get a feel for how relationships are
generally handled in the genre. And that's part of my goal, of course -
to become more familiar with it.
I still haven't started another paperback - hubby beat me to the
Rollins book, and I've been busily writing late nights when I'd normally
read print anyways. I am currently reading the draft of a novel that my
publishing company will be releasing soon...but I can't tell you much
about it just yet, except the catalyst for the adventure is a magical
mistake of epic proportions. It's a great story - if you like magic, or
fantasy, or the middle ages, you'll love it.
I also started Edward Adrift on my Kindle - so far, entertaining as always though I'm not too far into it just yet.
And while I bought a bunch of comics last week, the only one I managed to read was the latest Superior Spiderman
that came in the mail. Unfortunately, I was trying to read it the night
before last (Mon) when one of my dogs wasn't feeling well. So my
reading experience was rather disjointed, but I'm still crazy anxious to
find out what happens next with Peter Parker/Doc Ock brain thing. While
I'm enjoying the whole evil villain in a superhero's body tug-of-war,
it just feels a little funny. Dare I hope that Parker will win the brain
back? We shall see...
The draft and Edward will keep me busy as far as books go this week. And I'm determined to hunt down a copy of Justice League #18
so I can continue on with that series and finally read the #19 I have.
If I can do that and catch up with the Age of Ultron series, I'll
consider that groovy. I'd like to find a copy of Hawkeye #1 too, so
maybe I'll just order those in. Or maybe I'll do digital with that one
instead...hmm.
Incidentally, this coming Saturday is Free Comic Book Day
- so hit your local comic book store for free comics! I need to make a
list...Hastings is limiting it to 10 per customer, but we have a local
comic book store too. There are plenty of great titles to choose from,
including the #1 issue (or is it #0?) of Grimm - if you watch the show,
it sounds like you *need* the comic book too. Expand your reading
horizons and go get some comics!
Blood Faerie
Books In Progress:
Edward Adrift
MM draft
Comics Read:
Superior Spiderman #8
As expected, I finished Blood Faerie this
week, and I probably will read on in the series just because I find the
whole druid/fae bonding thing interesting. But I'm still not sure I buy
the love part of the story - not yet at least. It just wasn't developed
enough for me, and I'm thinking maybe it's more my lack of familiarity
with fantasy than anything else. We'll see how the next book goes,
anyways. The magical aspects were certainly fun (so to speak). I should
probably read more fantasy just to get a feel for how relationships are
generally handled in the genre. And that's part of my goal, of course -
to become more familiar with it.
I still haven't started another paperback - hubby beat me to the
Rollins book, and I've been busily writing late nights when I'd normally
read print anyways. I am currently reading the draft of a novel that my
publishing company will be releasing soon...but I can't tell you much
about it just yet, except the catalyst for the adventure is a magical
mistake of epic proportions. It's a great story - if you like magic, or
fantasy, or the middle ages, you'll love it.
I also started Edward Adrift on my Kindle - so far, entertaining as always though I'm not too far into it just yet.
And while I bought a bunch of comics last week, the only one I managed to read was the latest Superior Spiderman
that came in the mail. Unfortunately, I was trying to read it the night
before last (Mon) when one of my dogs wasn't feeling well. So my
reading experience was rather disjointed, but I'm still crazy anxious to
find out what happens next with Peter Parker/Doc Ock brain thing. While
I'm enjoying the whole evil villain in a superhero's body tug-of-war,
it just feels a little funny. Dare I hope that Parker will win the brain
back? We shall see...
The draft and Edward will keep me busy as far as books go this week. And I'm determined to hunt down a copy of Justice League #18
so I can continue on with that series and finally read the #19 I have.
If I can do that and catch up with the Age of Ultron series, I'll
consider that groovy. I'd like to find a copy of Hawkeye #1 too, so
maybe I'll just order those in. Or maybe I'll do digital with that one
instead...hmm.
Incidentally, this coming Saturday is Free Comic Book Day
- so hit your local comic book store for free comics! I need to make a
list...Hastings is limiting it to 10 per customer, but we have a local
comic book store too. There are plenty of great titles to choose from,
including the #1 issue (or is it #0?) of Grimm - if you watch the show,
it sounds like you *need* the comic book too. Expand your reading
horizons and go get some comics!
Enjoy
this post? Support your author:
Romantic Suspense
| Erotic Romance | Contemporary Romance |
Suspense/Thriller
| Flash Fiction | Non-Fiction
**Please
note - If this is your first time posting, your comment
will be moderated. Once you have been approved, future comments will post automatically.
April 29, 2013
On Fences, Yard Work & the Return of Serial Stories...
We finally had good weather this weekend -
hooray! Spring may actually show up after all, which is good, because
next weekend the guys will be here to pull out our old fence and set the
posts for a lovely new dark green wood-look vinyl fence across the back
of our yard. We've been waiting for a couple years just so we could
afford the fence we truly wanted, rather than basic shiny white/tan
vinyl, so this is a pretty big deal. It costs more, but it's going to
look absolutely awesome.
As you can see above, we currently have 4 foot chain link out there, with red plastic
privacy slats through it and tan lattice attached to the top to raise
the height enough that Lucy-dog can't jump it. So yeah. The new fence
will be a major improvement. Our neighbors might even celebrate.
In
any case, while we were out cleaning up the fence line this weekend, we
did some more planning on how to reclaim/renovate the back yard, which
has fallen into embarrassingly poor condition what with all the other
stuff we've been focused on for the last few years. The list is long,
and includes replacing the greenhouse panels, evening out the yard and
putting sod down, ripping out mulched areas for grass, and rejuvinating
our rock river planter and fountain in the garden. Oh, and we need to
plant a couple trees for shade too. Ornamental trees, at that. Plus new
raised beds for growing veggies with ornamental grasses in between. It's
gonna be gorgeous when we're done with it...but a lot of work, of
course.
So a good time in the yard this
weekend - and the dogs got plenty of yard time too, which seems to have
worn the poor things out. Tired dogs are good dogs...
Last
week was a good writing week. It took a couple days, but I finally
managed to get back into my normal writing groove and it felt really
good. Then I got to Friday - excerpt day on all three of my blogs, and I
was trying to figure out what to do with The Drafting Desk blog, and
long story short, I decided to start serializing stories on my main
blogs again. It just seemed silly to post daily excerpts at the Drafting
Desk and not post the whole story...but also odd to post all those
drafts in one place, when they could be on blogs for readers interested
in specific types of stories.
So Fridays are once again serial fiction days here at The Variety Pages, at TrinityMarlow.com (NSFW) and at AlexWesthaven.com.
I'm working on a sci-fi/soft fantasy story at the moment as well...if
you're interested in reading that in serial form, let me know and I'll
start up a blog for my new pen name to serialize that as well.
As for The Drafting Desk,
I've turned it into a personal writing journal. Five nights a week,
I'll post a quick entry regarding how much I wrote, what I was working
on, and a few thoughts about the day's writing sessions as I go. I doubt
it will be of interest to anyone but other writers, but it is public if
you're interested in what I happen to be working on any given
day/night.
What's on the schedule for this week? Let's see...
- Normal daily writing sessions
- One section of a non-fiction organizing guide
- Read through of a friend's manuscript
- Cover art for said manuscript
- Finish cleaning up the old fence/fence line before the fun starts Friday morning
- Workout x2
- Finish up a crochet gift I'm working on
That's it for me...here's to another week "in the groove", eh?
Enjoy
this post? Support your author:
hooray! Spring may actually show up after all, which is good, because
next weekend the guys will be here to pull out our old fence and set the
posts for a lovely new dark green wood-look vinyl fence across the back
of our yard. We've been waiting for a couple years just so we could
afford the fence we truly wanted, rather than basic shiny white/tan
vinyl, so this is a pretty big deal. It costs more, but it's going to
look absolutely awesome.
As you can see above, we currently have 4 foot chain link out there, with red plastic
privacy slats through it and tan lattice attached to the top to raise
the height enough that Lucy-dog can't jump it. So yeah. The new fence
will be a major improvement. Our neighbors might even celebrate.
In
any case, while we were out cleaning up the fence line this weekend, we
did some more planning on how to reclaim/renovate the back yard, which
has fallen into embarrassingly poor condition what with all the other
stuff we've been focused on for the last few years. The list is long,
and includes replacing the greenhouse panels, evening out the yard and
putting sod down, ripping out mulched areas for grass, and rejuvinating
our rock river planter and fountain in the garden. Oh, and we need to
plant a couple trees for shade too. Ornamental trees, at that. Plus new
raised beds for growing veggies with ornamental grasses in between. It's
gonna be gorgeous when we're done with it...but a lot of work, of
course.
So a good time in the yard this
weekend - and the dogs got plenty of yard time too, which seems to have
worn the poor things out. Tired dogs are good dogs...
Last
week was a good writing week. It took a couple days, but I finally
managed to get back into my normal writing groove and it felt really
good. Then I got to Friday - excerpt day on all three of my blogs, and I
was trying to figure out what to do with The Drafting Desk blog, and
long story short, I decided to start serializing stories on my main
blogs again. It just seemed silly to post daily excerpts at the Drafting
Desk and not post the whole story...but also odd to post all those
drafts in one place, when they could be on blogs for readers interested
in specific types of stories.
So Fridays are once again serial fiction days here at The Variety Pages, at TrinityMarlow.com (NSFW) and at AlexWesthaven.com.
I'm working on a sci-fi/soft fantasy story at the moment as well...if
you're interested in reading that in serial form, let me know and I'll
start up a blog for my new pen name to serialize that as well.
As for The Drafting Desk,
I've turned it into a personal writing journal. Five nights a week,
I'll post a quick entry regarding how much I wrote, what I was working
on, and a few thoughts about the day's writing sessions as I go. I doubt
it will be of interest to anyone but other writers, but it is public if
you're interested in what I happen to be working on any given
day/night.
What's on the schedule for this week? Let's see...
- Normal daily writing sessions
- One section of a non-fiction organizing guide
- Read through of a friend's manuscript
- Cover art for said manuscript
- Finish cleaning up the old fence/fence line before the fun starts Friday morning
- Workout x2
- Finish up a crochet gift I'm working on
That's it for me...here's to another week "in the groove", eh?
Enjoy
this post? Support your author:
Romantic Suspense
| Erotic Romance | Contemporary Romance |
Suspense/Thriller
| Flash Fiction | Non-Fiction
**Please
note - If this is your first time posting, your comment
will be moderated. Once you have been approved, future comments will post automatically.
April 26, 2013
Serial Story: English Breakfast, Part 1
Dear readers...this excerpt thing just isn't doing it for me. Sorry. I miss posting the serial stories. They motivate me in a way that nothing else does - it's how I started out publishing, and after a lot of thought, I just don't want to give them up.
So even though I've previously posted excerpts from this story-in-progress, today I'm posting everything I've written so far (about 2300 words or so) to get us all caught up (there are bits and pieces missing from the posted excerpts thus far). And then the story will continue every Friday with whatever new words I get done during the week, typical serial style.
This will not affect the holiday serial - those stories will be posted on their respective holidays. And if you follow my other pen names, those blogs will both be updated with new serial stories later today/tonight as well. I may even create a blog for my new fantasy endeavor, if there's any interest in reading that as I go...
If you're not a serial fiction fan, that's okay too. You can just skip over the Friday posts, and catch the books when they come out.
All that said...I give you Part 1 of English Breakfast - in unedited draft form, as usual. Enjoy, and happy Friday!
English Breakfast, Part 1
Karen flipped the sign on the front door of her new tea bar, Cup & Saucer, to “Open” and tried not to be disappointed that no one was waiting outside. The grand opening wasn’t scheduled until Friday and advertising had been minimal, but she’d still hoped the neighborhood would be excited. Turning away, she went behind the long mahogany bar she’d bought from a nightclub downtown when it closed. She checked the temperature again on each of the hot taps, straightened the china and glanced at the door every few seconds, suddenly absolutely certain that her family was right, and the shop was a failure not even an hour into its first day.
The delicate bells on top the door jingled softly and she turned away from the tea canisters that didn’t need dusting to smile at her first customer.
“Welcome to Cup & Saucer - what can I get you today?”
The woman was nearly a caricature, wearing a white wrap-dress with black polka dots cinched by a thick black belt, saddle-style black and white pumps and huge dark sunglasses that looked like something from the seventies. The outfit was topped off with a wide-brimmed white straw hat, the band of which matched the fabric of her dress.
“Do you have cups to go, dear?” she asked with a glance a the china lined up and waiting. “I’m really in kind of a hurry, but I could use a hit of something strong. English Breakfast, perhaps?”
Karen nodded, reaching for a paper cup and insulating band. “Of course. I’ll have that ready for you in a minute. It will be two-fifty, please.” She placed a scoop of tea leaves into a wide filter bag and placed it in the cup, then poured boiling water over it from the hottest tap. Snapping a lid over the top of the cup and filter, she set a timer the size of a child’s watch face and stuck it to the side of the cup before taking the money the woman laid on the counter.
“What’s that?” the woman said, frowning at the device as she picked up her cup.
“It’s a timer. When it beeps, your tea is done, and you should remove the teabag for optimal taste.” Karen held her breath, hoping it didn’t sound too odd. Everyone had scoffed when she came up with the idea, but she couldn’t think of any other way to ensure to-go patrons would get a cup that wasn’t oversteeped. She’d approached the company to build a prototype and paid far too much for the first batch, hoping they’d catch on.
The woman shrugged, her frown dissipating. Or Karen thought it did. Impossible to tell for sure behind those glasses.
“What a novel idea - thank you.” She pulled something out of her purse and laid it on the bar. “Now if you wouldn’t mind, a gentleman will come in later today and order English Breakfast as well, in a china teacup. Be a dear and give that to him, won’t you? Thank you!”
It was Karen’s turn to frown as she picked up the small black flash drive. “What’s his--” she looked up as the bells on the door jingled again. The woman was gone.
Karen put the drive under the bar beside the cash register, stifling the urge to plug it into her laptop and see what was on it. Before deciding she needed to find herself, she’d worked at the same security firm her now ex-fiance worked for, doing forensic discovery on hard drives, networks, and anything else that spoke binary. It had been rewarding, but draining, and she was glad that part of her life was over.
Not that many people would probably be coming in, but if more than one man came in and ordered English Breakfast, how would she know which one to give the thing to? If she gave it to the wrong guy, would it be a security breech of some sort? She shook her head. It probably didn’t matter, and it definitely shouldn’t matter to her. Not anymore.
Maybe the guy would ask for it. That would help.
Measuring out a teaspoon of her best Yunnan tea into a stainless steel filter basket, she placed it in her favorite mug and filled it with water just barely under the boiling point. She set a timer for four minutes and waited. At least if the shop failed, she would never run out of tea.
* * *
Patrick O’Neil parked across the street from his ex-fiance’s new tea shop. As expected, it was perfect, from the lacy cream window swags to the jaunty teacup and saucer hanging from a wrought-iron fixture above the door. It would be neat and tidy inside, with everything clean and in its place. Karen had always liked everything in order. Everything had to make sense, or it would eventually have to be purged.
Just as he had. Though he still wasn’t sure exactly what hadn’t made sense about their relationship.
He got out and locked the door, looking up and down the quaint little street full of shops similar to hers before he crossed the cobblestone street, one of the last of its kind in Bellvue. She wouldn’t be happy to see him, he knew, but she was the only one he knew who could decrypt this particular information. There wasn’t time to find someone else with her particular skill set.
An airy, tinkling sound announced his arrival when he opened the door, and Karen glanced up absently from her place at a long, beautiful wooden bar.
“I’ll be right with you,” she called out, looking down again. He kept moving forward, through the neat rows of small square tables set on the diagonal with matching chairs. She froze in place the moment his identity finally triggered in her brain, and then slowly lifted her head.
“What are you doing here, Patrick?” She didn’t smile, pinning him with the intense stare meant to intimidate. Somehow she still didn’t seem to realize that it had never worked on him. Not in the way she wanted it to, anyways. Carefully adjusting his trousers, he slid onto a bar stool and tried to focus on his purpose for being there.
“Good to see you too, babe. I’ll take a cup of English Breakfast, if you don’t mind. And a woman should have brought in a flash drive for me?”
Karen retrieved the drive and slid it across the bar to him.
“I’ll make you a cup to go. That will be two-fifty.” Her words were measured and professional, with a healthy layer of stress threaded through. It probably would have been wise to send someone else, considering her reaction, but he’d wanted to see her again, selfish as that was. She’d turned his life upside down when she walked out, and for what? Some mid-life crisis? She’d never been one-hundred percent clear, and he wanted closure.
Right after she unlocked the contents of the drive for him.
“I’ll stay,” he said, earning a sharp glare. “Karen, I need your help.”
Her brows drawn together, she shook her head but he held the drive up before she could argue.
“To be clear, there’s a young woman who needs your help. And I don’t have time to find someone else who has the skills to hack this drive. She doesn’t have time.”
“I don’t do that anymore, Patrick - you know that. What are you going to do, come here every time you need a hacker? I’m sorry, and I’m sorry for whatever trouble that girl is in, but I just...can’t. I can’t.”
She turned away, dispensing water into a to-go cup over a bag of tea leaves. Slapping a small watch-face to the cup, she put a lid on and set it in front of him.
“No charge. Now please leave.”
He leaned forward, steeling himself against her icy gaze.
“A young journalist was kidnapped today, and her best friend thinks it’s because of the information on that drive. She received it by courier the day before yesterday and after she accessed the files, she hide the drive in an air duct, unaware that her friend was watching. That night, she never came home.”
“I left all the programs I developed at the office. One of the other geeks should be able to figure it out. What about Ken?” Karen leaned against the back counter, arms crossed over her chest. She was trying to resist, but he could see her resolve crumbling, hear it in her voice.
“Ken’s out on a long-term assignment, Jake’s on vacation and can’t be reached, and Derek...well, he’s distracted right now. Kane says it has to be you.”
She stared past his shoulder, worrying her lower lip like she always did when she knew there was no other choice. A quick shake of the head, and she reached across the bar to reclaim the drive.
“Fine. Give me half an hour, and I’ll see what I can do.”
* * *
Damn him.
Karen went to the end of the bar and opened her laptop on the desk area underneath the surface. Patrick had known she wouldn’t be able to say no, especially with someone’s life potentially in the balance. It wasn’t fair, and as soon as she got the data off the drive, she’d send him packing in no uncertain terms.
Firing up a program that would isolate her USB port to protect her computer from potential viruses, she inserted the disk and waited.
As she watched the screen, she was all too aware of Patrick’s presence. That heady scent of rich spice and musk, those broad shoulders that took up most of the space in a room, and that magnetism that drew in everyone within a twenty-foot radius...it was all too overwhelming. Whenever they were in the same room, all she wanted to do was strip him down and...
A window popped up, prompting her to enter a key. She fired up the encryption program she’d written and watched as an indicator bar moved across the window. It reached the end and stopped, opening a blank dialogue box with an error code displayed.
“Smart. Very smart. But not as smart as me,” she murmured, her fingers flying across the keyboard.
She clicked enter, and several documents opened in the background as a big white dialogue box popped up over the center of it all. There was a single line of text in the box.
Access Outside Protocol. Ten minute destruct delay.
A countdown clock started ticking down just before the white box disappeared. Experimenting with a few mouse-clicks, she accessed the file structure without issue, but any attempt to copy files appeared to be blocked. Shaking her head, she looked up at Patrick.
“I’m in, but it looks like I triggered a self-destruct sequence of some sort. Better come take a look, quick.”
He came around the bar and she moved aside as he started glancing through the files. “Any chance we can move these off the USB before it goes?”
“Doesn’t look like it. Pen and paper? I might have some around here.”
He shook his head and reached into his jacket pocket for his cell phone. “Pictures might work.” He snapped a photo of the file open on the screen, closed it, and then opened another. “How much time do we have?”
“Not enough.” She checked her watch. “Maybe three more minutes, if we’re lucky. We should move back. Like now.” Karen took a step back, then another and another as he frantically clicked one last photo.
“Come on, Patrick! Now!”
A window shattered at the front of the store and she turned toward the sound, confused at the distraction as a small metal cylinder bounced off the tile floors. Struggling to process two potential threats at once she turned to warn Patrick, but he was already running toward her.
“Get down!” he yelled as a loud pop sounded behind him, presumably from the USB drive. Then a ball of flames and smoke burst up in the center of the room and Karen felt Patrick’s body slam into hers, knocking her to the floor behind the bar.
* * *
Patrick didn’t think Karen was hurt, but his heart raced as he sheltered her with his body. The heat and flames roared on the other side of the bar, and staccato pops told him their attackers hadn’t left yet.
“Come on,” he said, getting to his knees and pulling her with him. “We have to get out of here. Back door.”
Thankfully she didn’t argue, just nodded and led the way as they crawled the length of the bar and through a doorway into the kitchen. The sounds were muted and they stood up to run through the galley to the door in the back wall.
Karen stopped, looking back with a pained expression on her face. Patrick stepped in to block her view, grabbing her upper arms until she looked at him. The emptiness in her gaze made his heart hurt for her, but getting them both to safety was the priority right now.
“You know there’s nothing we can do. We have to go. Right now.”
She nodded and turned away. He followed her out the back door and down the alley, where she stopped, apparently unsure of which way to go. Patrick took her hand and tugged her with him around the corner, stopping just shy of the front of the building.
“I’m gonna see if they left. Stay here, okay?”
Karen nodded again and Patrick let her fingers slip free, a bad feeling knotting his stomach. She was going to bolt. He could feel it. Letting go was absolutely the wrong move.
Reaching back, he grabbed her wrist just as she was turning away.
“On second thought, come with me. You know the drill.”
Enjoy
this post? Support your author:
So even though I've previously posted excerpts from this story-in-progress, today I'm posting everything I've written so far (about 2300 words or so) to get us all caught up (there are bits and pieces missing from the posted excerpts thus far). And then the story will continue every Friday with whatever new words I get done during the week, typical serial style.
This will not affect the holiday serial - those stories will be posted on their respective holidays. And if you follow my other pen names, those blogs will both be updated with new serial stories later today/tonight as well. I may even create a blog for my new fantasy endeavor, if there's any interest in reading that as I go...
If you're not a serial fiction fan, that's okay too. You can just skip over the Friday posts, and catch the books when they come out.
All that said...I give you Part 1 of English Breakfast - in unedited draft form, as usual. Enjoy, and happy Friday!
English Breakfast, Part 1
Karen flipped the sign on the front door of her new tea bar, Cup & Saucer, to “Open” and tried not to be disappointed that no one was waiting outside. The grand opening wasn’t scheduled until Friday and advertising had been minimal, but she’d still hoped the neighborhood would be excited. Turning away, she went behind the long mahogany bar she’d bought from a nightclub downtown when it closed. She checked the temperature again on each of the hot taps, straightened the china and glanced at the door every few seconds, suddenly absolutely certain that her family was right, and the shop was a failure not even an hour into its first day.
The delicate bells on top the door jingled softly and she turned away from the tea canisters that didn’t need dusting to smile at her first customer.
“Welcome to Cup & Saucer - what can I get you today?”
The woman was nearly a caricature, wearing a white wrap-dress with black polka dots cinched by a thick black belt, saddle-style black and white pumps and huge dark sunglasses that looked like something from the seventies. The outfit was topped off with a wide-brimmed white straw hat, the band of which matched the fabric of her dress.
“Do you have cups to go, dear?” she asked with a glance a the china lined up and waiting. “I’m really in kind of a hurry, but I could use a hit of something strong. English Breakfast, perhaps?”
Karen nodded, reaching for a paper cup and insulating band. “Of course. I’ll have that ready for you in a minute. It will be two-fifty, please.” She placed a scoop of tea leaves into a wide filter bag and placed it in the cup, then poured boiling water over it from the hottest tap. Snapping a lid over the top of the cup and filter, she set a timer the size of a child’s watch face and stuck it to the side of the cup before taking the money the woman laid on the counter.
“What’s that?” the woman said, frowning at the device as she picked up her cup.
“It’s a timer. When it beeps, your tea is done, and you should remove the teabag for optimal taste.” Karen held her breath, hoping it didn’t sound too odd. Everyone had scoffed when she came up with the idea, but she couldn’t think of any other way to ensure to-go patrons would get a cup that wasn’t oversteeped. She’d approached the company to build a prototype and paid far too much for the first batch, hoping they’d catch on.
The woman shrugged, her frown dissipating. Or Karen thought it did. Impossible to tell for sure behind those glasses.
“What a novel idea - thank you.” She pulled something out of her purse and laid it on the bar. “Now if you wouldn’t mind, a gentleman will come in later today and order English Breakfast as well, in a china teacup. Be a dear and give that to him, won’t you? Thank you!”
It was Karen’s turn to frown as she picked up the small black flash drive. “What’s his--” she looked up as the bells on the door jingled again. The woman was gone.
Karen put the drive under the bar beside the cash register, stifling the urge to plug it into her laptop and see what was on it. Before deciding she needed to find herself, she’d worked at the same security firm her now ex-fiance worked for, doing forensic discovery on hard drives, networks, and anything else that spoke binary. It had been rewarding, but draining, and she was glad that part of her life was over.
Not that many people would probably be coming in, but if more than one man came in and ordered English Breakfast, how would she know which one to give the thing to? If she gave it to the wrong guy, would it be a security breech of some sort? She shook her head. It probably didn’t matter, and it definitely shouldn’t matter to her. Not anymore.
Maybe the guy would ask for it. That would help.
Measuring out a teaspoon of her best Yunnan tea into a stainless steel filter basket, she placed it in her favorite mug and filled it with water just barely under the boiling point. She set a timer for four minutes and waited. At least if the shop failed, she would never run out of tea.
* * *
Patrick O’Neil parked across the street from his ex-fiance’s new tea shop. As expected, it was perfect, from the lacy cream window swags to the jaunty teacup and saucer hanging from a wrought-iron fixture above the door. It would be neat and tidy inside, with everything clean and in its place. Karen had always liked everything in order. Everything had to make sense, or it would eventually have to be purged.
Just as he had. Though he still wasn’t sure exactly what hadn’t made sense about their relationship.
He got out and locked the door, looking up and down the quaint little street full of shops similar to hers before he crossed the cobblestone street, one of the last of its kind in Bellvue. She wouldn’t be happy to see him, he knew, but she was the only one he knew who could decrypt this particular information. There wasn’t time to find someone else with her particular skill set.
An airy, tinkling sound announced his arrival when he opened the door, and Karen glanced up absently from her place at a long, beautiful wooden bar.
“I’ll be right with you,” she called out, looking down again. He kept moving forward, through the neat rows of small square tables set on the diagonal with matching chairs. She froze in place the moment his identity finally triggered in her brain, and then slowly lifted her head.
“What are you doing here, Patrick?” She didn’t smile, pinning him with the intense stare meant to intimidate. Somehow she still didn’t seem to realize that it had never worked on him. Not in the way she wanted it to, anyways. Carefully adjusting his trousers, he slid onto a bar stool and tried to focus on his purpose for being there.
“Good to see you too, babe. I’ll take a cup of English Breakfast, if you don’t mind. And a woman should have brought in a flash drive for me?”
Karen retrieved the drive and slid it across the bar to him.
“I’ll make you a cup to go. That will be two-fifty.” Her words were measured and professional, with a healthy layer of stress threaded through. It probably would have been wise to send someone else, considering her reaction, but he’d wanted to see her again, selfish as that was. She’d turned his life upside down when she walked out, and for what? Some mid-life crisis? She’d never been one-hundred percent clear, and he wanted closure.
Right after she unlocked the contents of the drive for him.
“I’ll stay,” he said, earning a sharp glare. “Karen, I need your help.”
Her brows drawn together, she shook her head but he held the drive up before she could argue.
“To be clear, there’s a young woman who needs your help. And I don’t have time to find someone else who has the skills to hack this drive. She doesn’t have time.”
“I don’t do that anymore, Patrick - you know that. What are you going to do, come here every time you need a hacker? I’m sorry, and I’m sorry for whatever trouble that girl is in, but I just...can’t. I can’t.”
She turned away, dispensing water into a to-go cup over a bag of tea leaves. Slapping a small watch-face to the cup, she put a lid on and set it in front of him.
“No charge. Now please leave.”
He leaned forward, steeling himself against her icy gaze.
“A young journalist was kidnapped today, and her best friend thinks it’s because of the information on that drive. She received it by courier the day before yesterday and after she accessed the files, she hide the drive in an air duct, unaware that her friend was watching. That night, she never came home.”
“I left all the programs I developed at the office. One of the other geeks should be able to figure it out. What about Ken?” Karen leaned against the back counter, arms crossed over her chest. She was trying to resist, but he could see her resolve crumbling, hear it in her voice.
“Ken’s out on a long-term assignment, Jake’s on vacation and can’t be reached, and Derek...well, he’s distracted right now. Kane says it has to be you.”
She stared past his shoulder, worrying her lower lip like she always did when she knew there was no other choice. A quick shake of the head, and she reached across the bar to reclaim the drive.
“Fine. Give me half an hour, and I’ll see what I can do.”
* * *
Damn him.
Karen went to the end of the bar and opened her laptop on the desk area underneath the surface. Patrick had known she wouldn’t be able to say no, especially with someone’s life potentially in the balance. It wasn’t fair, and as soon as she got the data off the drive, she’d send him packing in no uncertain terms.
Firing up a program that would isolate her USB port to protect her computer from potential viruses, she inserted the disk and waited.
As she watched the screen, she was all too aware of Patrick’s presence. That heady scent of rich spice and musk, those broad shoulders that took up most of the space in a room, and that magnetism that drew in everyone within a twenty-foot radius...it was all too overwhelming. Whenever they were in the same room, all she wanted to do was strip him down and...
A window popped up, prompting her to enter a key. She fired up the encryption program she’d written and watched as an indicator bar moved across the window. It reached the end and stopped, opening a blank dialogue box with an error code displayed.
“Smart. Very smart. But not as smart as me,” she murmured, her fingers flying across the keyboard.
She clicked enter, and several documents opened in the background as a big white dialogue box popped up over the center of it all. There was a single line of text in the box.
Access Outside Protocol. Ten minute destruct delay.
A countdown clock started ticking down just before the white box disappeared. Experimenting with a few mouse-clicks, she accessed the file structure without issue, but any attempt to copy files appeared to be blocked. Shaking her head, she looked up at Patrick.
“I’m in, but it looks like I triggered a self-destruct sequence of some sort. Better come take a look, quick.”
He came around the bar and she moved aside as he started glancing through the files. “Any chance we can move these off the USB before it goes?”
“Doesn’t look like it. Pen and paper? I might have some around here.”
He shook his head and reached into his jacket pocket for his cell phone. “Pictures might work.” He snapped a photo of the file open on the screen, closed it, and then opened another. “How much time do we have?”
“Not enough.” She checked her watch. “Maybe three more minutes, if we’re lucky. We should move back. Like now.” Karen took a step back, then another and another as he frantically clicked one last photo.
“Come on, Patrick! Now!”
A window shattered at the front of the store and she turned toward the sound, confused at the distraction as a small metal cylinder bounced off the tile floors. Struggling to process two potential threats at once she turned to warn Patrick, but he was already running toward her.
“Get down!” he yelled as a loud pop sounded behind him, presumably from the USB drive. Then a ball of flames and smoke burst up in the center of the room and Karen felt Patrick’s body slam into hers, knocking her to the floor behind the bar.
* * *
Patrick didn’t think Karen was hurt, but his heart raced as he sheltered her with his body. The heat and flames roared on the other side of the bar, and staccato pops told him their attackers hadn’t left yet.
“Come on,” he said, getting to his knees and pulling her with him. “We have to get out of here. Back door.”
Thankfully she didn’t argue, just nodded and led the way as they crawled the length of the bar and through a doorway into the kitchen. The sounds were muted and they stood up to run through the galley to the door in the back wall.
Karen stopped, looking back with a pained expression on her face. Patrick stepped in to block her view, grabbing her upper arms until she looked at him. The emptiness in her gaze made his heart hurt for her, but getting them both to safety was the priority right now.
“You know there’s nothing we can do. We have to go. Right now.”
She nodded and turned away. He followed her out the back door and down the alley, where she stopped, apparently unsure of which way to go. Patrick took her hand and tugged her with him around the corner, stopping just shy of the front of the building.
“I’m gonna see if they left. Stay here, okay?”
Karen nodded again and Patrick let her fingers slip free, a bad feeling knotting his stomach. She was going to bolt. He could feel it. Letting go was absolutely the wrong move.
Reaching back, he grabbed her wrist just as she was turning away.
“On second thought, come with me. You know the drill.”
Enjoy
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Romantic Suspense
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| Flash Fiction | Non-Fiction
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April 24, 2013
Talkin' Books: Sudd No More, Otherworldly Triangles and Amusing Superheroes...
Books Finished:
The Third Gate
Books In Progress:
Blood Faerie
Comics Read:
Justice League of America #2
So I finally finished The Third Gate (as
you can clearly see). There was something slightly off about the ending,
but I can't quite put my finger on what it was. Still, it was a pretty
epic last chapter or so, and I really had my doubts about whether
certain people were going to make it out...you just never know
sometimes, you know? My husband is now entrenched in the story, so we'll
see what he thinks of the "Sudd" when he's done. He's a much pickier
reader than I am.
Blood Faerie is cruisin' right along, and
now I'm caught in this quandary with our poor heroine who is stuck
between another faerie, a druid, and an impossible decision. Which is
what we need for a good story, of course, but this is kind of the
crucial spot wherein I wonder if the author will let me have what I want
for these characters, or rip my hopes to shreds in deference to the
bigger picture. I hate this part, and I love it too. And I'm not
familiar enough with the fantasy genre just yet to be able to predict
how things will end. I'm honestly just crossing my fingers that either
way I don't get left hanging off a cliff, although luckily I started
this late enough for there to be several more books already out and
waiting if it is. So we'll see...
The second issue of Justice League of America
was basically a "let's introduce the rest of the team" issue, but it
cracked me right up in several spots too. There's a very abrupt
distractionary smacker in there that was pretty darn fun, and I got to
meet some characters I haven't before (being a relative comic-universe
newbie). There was also the introduction of a rather intriguing and
grotesque villain before the next storyline was introduced...and now I
have to wait for the next issue to figure out what the heck the
super-heroes-who-might-not-be-heroes were doing on that last page. Dang
it.
I bought issue #19 of the regular Justice League
series, but I couldn't find #18 at Hastings (where I was shopping),
which is vexing. And from what I read online, I need to read them in
order because #18 is pivotal to the next story arc. So this weekend, a
trip to the actual comic book store is in order to find that so I can
keep up with both lines. I also bought the next three Age of Ultron issues which should get me caught up in that world.
I'll easily finish Blood Faerie this week, and I'm trying to decide whether to nab that new James Rollins paperback ( Bloodline )
before my hubby gets to it, or let him have it first since he's faster
with the paperbacks than I am. Rollins' books aren't really the kind you
can just put down for long though, so maybe...
Edward Adrift
is up next on my kindle, so that's an easy decision. Although maybe I
should check the ending and see if it's left hanging like the first one.
Hmm...
So...good stuff this week. What are you reading?
Enjoy
this post? Support your author:
The Third Gate
Books In Progress:
Blood Faerie
Comics Read:
Justice League of America #2
So I finally finished The Third Gate (as
you can clearly see). There was something slightly off about the ending,
but I can't quite put my finger on what it was. Still, it was a pretty
epic last chapter or so, and I really had my doubts about whether
certain people were going to make it out...you just never know
sometimes, you know? My husband is now entrenched in the story, so we'll
see what he thinks of the "Sudd" when he's done. He's a much pickier
reader than I am.
Blood Faerie is cruisin' right along, and
now I'm caught in this quandary with our poor heroine who is stuck
between another faerie, a druid, and an impossible decision. Which is
what we need for a good story, of course, but this is kind of the
crucial spot wherein I wonder if the author will let me have what I want
for these characters, or rip my hopes to shreds in deference to the
bigger picture. I hate this part, and I love it too. And I'm not
familiar enough with the fantasy genre just yet to be able to predict
how things will end. I'm honestly just crossing my fingers that either
way I don't get left hanging off a cliff, although luckily I started
this late enough for there to be several more books already out and
waiting if it is. So we'll see...
The second issue of Justice League of America
was basically a "let's introduce the rest of the team" issue, but it
cracked me right up in several spots too. There's a very abrupt
distractionary smacker in there that was pretty darn fun, and I got to
meet some characters I haven't before (being a relative comic-universe
newbie). There was also the introduction of a rather intriguing and
grotesque villain before the next storyline was introduced...and now I
have to wait for the next issue to figure out what the heck the
super-heroes-who-might-not-be-heroes were doing on that last page. Dang
it.
I bought issue #19 of the regular Justice League
series, but I couldn't find #18 at Hastings (where I was shopping),
which is vexing. And from what I read online, I need to read them in
order because #18 is pivotal to the next story arc. So this weekend, a
trip to the actual comic book store is in order to find that so I can
keep up with both lines. I also bought the next three Age of Ultron issues which should get me caught up in that world.
I'll easily finish Blood Faerie this week, and I'm trying to decide whether to nab that new James Rollins paperback ( Bloodline )
before my hubby gets to it, or let him have it first since he's faster
with the paperbacks than I am. Rollins' books aren't really the kind you
can just put down for long though, so maybe...
Edward Adrift
is up next on my kindle, so that's an easy decision. Although maybe I
should check the ending and see if it's left hanging like the first one.
Hmm...
So...good stuff this week. What are you reading?
Enjoy
this post? Support your author:
Romantic Suspense
| Erotic Romance | Contemporary Romance |
Suspense/Thriller
| Flash Fiction | Non-Fiction
**Please
note - If this is your first time posting, your comment
will be moderated. Once you have been approved, future comments will post automatically.
April 22, 2013
Winter, Distractions & Dreaming Big...
Welcome back to winter! Yes, I'm being totally sarcastic. And I *like*
winter...but it's April. Yesterday's snow storm just didn't really do it
for me, unfortunately. Having to wear sweaters & turtlenecks to
work last week? Yeah, I'm over that. The thing about not liking to shop
is, I don't actually have that many clothes. I'm not one of those women
who has to swap seasonal styles in and out of the closet - it all fits
with no problem. But I do get tired of wearing the same clothes to work
after 6-8 months or so, and I've been looking forward to short sleeves
& lighter materials.
The weatherman says we might hit 60 degrees eventually this week. All I'm saying is...he'd better be right!
Last
week wasn't a terribly productive one for me, writing wise. And it
wasn't because of anything going on in world news, I just had a really
busy week at the day job, and a rather distracted one at home. That's
why Sleep With Me still isn't in print, and why I didn't get
nearly as much writing done as I wanted to. But I did get some done, and
it felt good. Great, actually. So I'm looking forward to this week, and
hoping the stars and my willpower will align just right to get a lot of
writing done.
Part of my problem (a big part,
actually) is that I got out of my daily writing habit and haven't found
my way back in. A few weeks ago I had a lot of changes going on all at
once, and I don't really deal well with change - it throws me off
kilter. It's hard to get back in a routine once you've let it go, and I
just need to be firm with myself and get back into that groove.
One
of the things I do when I start getting that "out-of-control" feeling
is...organize things. I'm a control freak, and "organizing my world"
makes me feel more in control - it calms me when life starts feeling
chaotic. So my biggest distraction last week was organizing stuff. My
to-do list, day job stuff, our menus, my kitchen, my budgeting/bill
paying...you get the idea. I'm still kind of in "organize the chaos"
mode, but it's starting to normalize, so I have high hopes for the
return of normalcy soon. Or what passes for normalcy around here,
anyways.
I keep thinking I should harness all
this organizational energy and share my processes with the world. They
won't help everyone, of course, since we all think differently, but
maybe there are people out there who would find my insights on
organizing and routines helpful. I haven't been organized enough
(ironic, eh?) to get it off the ground, but it's still niggling in my
head, and I did some planning this weekend that I hope to flesh out a
bit more this coming week.
Speaking of plans...here's my list of to-do's this week:
- 5 scenes for drafts in progress
- Print formatting/upload for SWM
- Finish read-through of horror novella
- Submit SWM to a few review sites & start a GR contest for print copies
- Start organizing my inbox(es)
- Workout x3
- Clean up the back fence line...we're finally getting a new fence (two weeks)
- Daily eye gel (another habit I let slide, to my detriment)
That's plenty, I think...anything else I happen to get done will be a bonus.
Here's
to spring, whenever it finally decides to show up, and to organizing
chaos, the ultimate "feel-good" fallacy. Have a great week!
Enjoy
this post? Support your author:
winter...but it's April. Yesterday's snow storm just didn't really do it
for me, unfortunately. Having to wear sweaters & turtlenecks to
work last week? Yeah, I'm over that. The thing about not liking to shop
is, I don't actually have that many clothes. I'm not one of those women
who has to swap seasonal styles in and out of the closet - it all fits
with no problem. But I do get tired of wearing the same clothes to work
after 6-8 months or so, and I've been looking forward to short sleeves
& lighter materials.
The weatherman says we might hit 60 degrees eventually this week. All I'm saying is...he'd better be right!
Last
week wasn't a terribly productive one for me, writing wise. And it
wasn't because of anything going on in world news, I just had a really
busy week at the day job, and a rather distracted one at home. That's
why Sleep With Me still isn't in print, and why I didn't get
nearly as much writing done as I wanted to. But I did get some done, and
it felt good. Great, actually. So I'm looking forward to this week, and
hoping the stars and my willpower will align just right to get a lot of
writing done.
Part of my problem (a big part,
actually) is that I got out of my daily writing habit and haven't found
my way back in. A few weeks ago I had a lot of changes going on all at
once, and I don't really deal well with change - it throws me off
kilter. It's hard to get back in a routine once you've let it go, and I
just need to be firm with myself and get back into that groove.
One
of the things I do when I start getting that "out-of-control" feeling
is...organize things. I'm a control freak, and "organizing my world"
makes me feel more in control - it calms me when life starts feeling
chaotic. So my biggest distraction last week was organizing stuff. My
to-do list, day job stuff, our menus, my kitchen, my budgeting/bill
paying...you get the idea. I'm still kind of in "organize the chaos"
mode, but it's starting to normalize, so I have high hopes for the
return of normalcy soon. Or what passes for normalcy around here,
anyways.
I keep thinking I should harness all
this organizational energy and share my processes with the world. They
won't help everyone, of course, since we all think differently, but
maybe there are people out there who would find my insights on
organizing and routines helpful. I haven't been organized enough
(ironic, eh?) to get it off the ground, but it's still niggling in my
head, and I did some planning this weekend that I hope to flesh out a
bit more this coming week.
Speaking of plans...here's my list of to-do's this week:
- 5 scenes for drafts in progress
- Print formatting/upload for SWM
- Finish read-through of horror novella
- Submit SWM to a few review sites & start a GR contest for print copies
- Start organizing my inbox(es)
- Workout x3
- Clean up the back fence line...we're finally getting a new fence (two weeks)
- Daily eye gel (another habit I let slide, to my detriment)
That's plenty, I think...anything else I happen to get done will be a bonus.
Here's
to spring, whenever it finally decides to show up, and to organizing
chaos, the ultimate "feel-good" fallacy. Have a great week!
Enjoy
this post? Support your author:
Romantic Suspense
| Erotic Romance | Contemporary Romance |
Suspense/Thriller
| Flash Fiction | Non-Fiction
**Please
note - If this is your first time posting, your comment
will be moderated. Once you have been approved, future comments will post automatically.
April 19, 2013
Friday Excerpt: English Breakfast
This excerpt is from the next BeauTEAful Summer story, English Breakfast. I've cut the scene short here, in deference to people who might be sensitive to such material after the events in the news this past week, but it may still be disturbing for some. Do remember than this is fiction, and romantic suspense, so the outcome is fixed at "happily ever after" in this particular case, no matter how bad it seems at the moment. If you do read it, I hope you enjoy the set-up...
Excerpt: English Breakfast
Damn him.
Karen went to the end of the bar and opened her
laptop on the desk area underneath the surface. Patrick had known she
wouldn’t be able to say no, especially with someone’s life potentially
in the balance. It wasn’t fair, and as soon as she got the data off the
drive, she’d send him packing in no uncertain terms.
Firing up a program that would isolate her USB
port to protect her computer from potential viruses, she inserted the
disk and waited.
As she watched the screen, she was all too aware
of Patrick’s presence. That heady scent of rich spice and musk, those
broad shoulders that took up most of the space in a room, and that
magnetism that drew in everyone within a twenty-foot radius...it was all
too overwhelming. Whenever they were in the same room, all she wanted
to do was strip him down and...
A window popped up, prompting her to enter a key.
She fired up the encryption program she’d written and watched as an
indicator bar moved across the window. It reached the end and stopped,
opening a blank dialogue box with an error code displayed.
“Smart. Very smart. But not as smart as me,” she murmured, her fingers flying across the keyboard.
She
clicked enter, and several documents opened in the background as a big
white dialogue box popped up over the center of it all. There was a
single line of text in the box.
Access Outside Protocol. Ten minute destruct delay.
A countdown clock started ticking down just before
the white box disappeared. Experimenting with a few mouse-clicks, she
accessed the file structure without issue, but any attempt to copy files
appeared to be blocked. Shaking her head, she looked up at Patrick.
“I’m in, but it looks like I triggered a self-destruct sequence of some sort. Better come take a look, quick.”
He came around the bar and she moved aside as he
started glancing through the files. “Any chance we can move these off
the USB before it goes?”
“Doesn’t look like it. Pen and paper? I might have some around here.”
He shook his head and reached into his jacket
pocket for his cell phone. “Pictures might work.” He snapped a photo of
the file open on the screen, closed it, and then opened another. “How
much time do we have?”
“Not enough.” She checked her watch. “Maybe three
more minutes, if we’re lucky. We should move back. Like now.” Karen took
a step back, then another and another as he frantically clicked two
more photos.
“Come on, Patrick! Now!” Enjoy
this post? Support your author:
Excerpt: English Breakfast
Damn him.
Karen went to the end of the bar and opened her
laptop on the desk area underneath the surface. Patrick had known she
wouldn’t be able to say no, especially with someone’s life potentially
in the balance. It wasn’t fair, and as soon as she got the data off the
drive, she’d send him packing in no uncertain terms.
Firing up a program that would isolate her USB
port to protect her computer from potential viruses, she inserted the
disk and waited.
As she watched the screen, she was all too aware
of Patrick’s presence. That heady scent of rich spice and musk, those
broad shoulders that took up most of the space in a room, and that
magnetism that drew in everyone within a twenty-foot radius...it was all
too overwhelming. Whenever they were in the same room, all she wanted
to do was strip him down and...
A window popped up, prompting her to enter a key.
She fired up the encryption program she’d written and watched as an
indicator bar moved across the window. It reached the end and stopped,
opening a blank dialogue box with an error code displayed.
“Smart. Very smart. But not as smart as me,” she murmured, her fingers flying across the keyboard.
She
clicked enter, and several documents opened in the background as a big
white dialogue box popped up over the center of it all. There was a
single line of text in the box.
Access Outside Protocol. Ten minute destruct delay.
A countdown clock started ticking down just before
the white box disappeared. Experimenting with a few mouse-clicks, she
accessed the file structure without issue, but any attempt to copy files
appeared to be blocked. Shaking her head, she looked up at Patrick.
“I’m in, but it looks like I triggered a self-destruct sequence of some sort. Better come take a look, quick.”
He came around the bar and she moved aside as he
started glancing through the files. “Any chance we can move these off
the USB before it goes?”
“Doesn’t look like it. Pen and paper? I might have some around here.”
He shook his head and reached into his jacket
pocket for his cell phone. “Pictures might work.” He snapped a photo of
the file open on the screen, closed it, and then opened another. “How
much time do we have?”
“Not enough.” She checked her watch. “Maybe three
more minutes, if we’re lucky. We should move back. Like now.” Karen took
a step back, then another and another as he frantically clicked two
more photos.
“Come on, Patrick! Now!” Enjoy
this post? Support your author:
Romantic Suspense
| Erotic Romance | Contemporary Romance |
Suspense/Thriller
| Flash Fiction | Non-Fiction
**Please
note - If this is your first time posting, your comment
will be moderated. Once you have been approved, future comments will post automatically.
April 17, 2013
Talkin' Books: Webs, More Fae, and a Lot of Mud
Books Finished:
None.
Books In Progress:
The Third Gate
Blood Faerie
Comics Read:
Superior Spiderman #6, #6.1, and #7
Wolverine #1 & #2
Age of Ultron #2
Hawkeye & Mockingbird #1
Speaking of books, my buddy Dolly Garland is just starting up a new site dedicated specifically to reading and literature! Go check out the first post at Kaizen Reading - you might even see a few familiar names on the guest roster...
The Third Gate is just...really cool. And
sort of "ewww" worthy. It's muddy, only not mud, but gunk. Lots of
gunk. And people are diving in it. It's one of those things that I'm
having a little bit of a hard time envisioning, just because it sounds
totally gross. So...you know. I should finish it this week, I think.
Good stuff. I'm really enjoying it, and tonight we're headed into
serious trouble, methinks...
In Blood Faerie , I finally found out why
our intrepid faerie is living in the human world, poor thing. And it's
funny how the imagination twists things - I read that her ears are
"gently curled at the tips" and my mind translates that into an image of
these bizarre (in a cool way) corkscrew ears. Munro, our intrepid
detective just had an interesting experience as well, which I'd tell you
about, but I don't want to spoil anything, so you'll just have to read
it for yourself. India's got plenty of these fae books out and coming,
so best get a move on, eh?
As you can see, I finally made it to the comic shop last weekend. *And* my first subscription copy of Superior Spiderman
finally showed up! But they started with #7, and I'd only bought up to
#5, so I had to buy the two #6 issues to catch up. Woe is me, eh?
Needless to say, it wasn't long after I got home that I sat and inhaled
all three - awesome story lines, though the #6.1 tie in with Age of
Ultron wasn't as in tune with the regular series as it could have been.
Ah well.
I also read Age of Ultron #2 (which only
puts me several issues still behind, but...budget, you know), and
interestingly, I liked Spidy's portrayal there better. But it sort of
seems like we have two different spider-dudes going on here...which is a
little odd. I don't know, maybe that's normal for overlapping series.
Wolverine Vol. 5, issues #1 & #2 were
just as good as I'd hoped they would be, and I look forward to
following that series regularly as well. Seems like a decent "jumping
on" point (a phrase used a lot in comics, as the continuity is just this
vast behemoth of a thing to wade into). And I also appreciate that the
writers weren't afraid to turn an "innocent kid" into a villain, even if
only temporary. Seems like something I might have done. I may subscribe
to this one (if I can stand the frickin' long wait for the next
issue...it is way cheaper though...).
Hawkeye and Mockingbird #1 is one of the
free digital comics I downloaded this weekend in the Marvel event - I
got 186 of the 700 being offered. I was interested in the Hawkeye
character, and thought this might be a good way to get to know him. And
it was a really good history of not just his backstory, but a little
more insight into the Marvel universe history as well (civil war, alien
invasion, all the stuff I missed out on not reading comics all these
years). I probably won't read forward in this particular series (it is
intriguing, but my TBR pile!), but I think I'll check out the newer
Hawkeye series if I can find the #1 issue for that (maybe I'll just get
the digital version, if it's a little cheaper - often they aren't, with
comics).
I also picked up the #2 issue of Justice League of America , so I have that waiting to be read along with all those digital comics I downloaded, and of course Edward Adrift is waiting on my kindle for me to finish Blood Faerie . Oh! And we found the latest James Rollins paperback - Bloodline - last weekend! Woohoo!
And that's my week in books...much better than last week. I
downloaded a few more free books for my Kindle this week too - on the
one hand, I feel bad for authors not getting paid. On the other hand,
these are indie authors, and they make the choice to give away their
books. So may as well read free, esp. when I know I'll enjoy them...
What are you reading this week? Anything fun? Serious? Interesting? Squee-worthy?Enjoy
this post? Support your author:
None.
Books In Progress:
The Third Gate
Blood Faerie
Comics Read:
Superior Spiderman #6, #6.1, and #7
Wolverine #1 & #2
Age of Ultron #2
Hawkeye & Mockingbird #1
Speaking of books, my buddy Dolly Garland is just starting up a new site dedicated specifically to reading and literature! Go check out the first post at Kaizen Reading - you might even see a few familiar names on the guest roster...
The Third Gate is just...really cool. And
sort of "ewww" worthy. It's muddy, only not mud, but gunk. Lots of
gunk. And people are diving in it. It's one of those things that I'm
having a little bit of a hard time envisioning, just because it sounds
totally gross. So...you know. I should finish it this week, I think.
Good stuff. I'm really enjoying it, and tonight we're headed into
serious trouble, methinks...
In Blood Faerie , I finally found out why
our intrepid faerie is living in the human world, poor thing. And it's
funny how the imagination twists things - I read that her ears are
"gently curled at the tips" and my mind translates that into an image of
these bizarre (in a cool way) corkscrew ears. Munro, our intrepid
detective just had an interesting experience as well, which I'd tell you
about, but I don't want to spoil anything, so you'll just have to read
it for yourself. India's got plenty of these fae books out and coming,
so best get a move on, eh?
As you can see, I finally made it to the comic shop last weekend. *And* my first subscription copy of Superior Spiderman
finally showed up! But they started with #7, and I'd only bought up to
#5, so I had to buy the two #6 issues to catch up. Woe is me, eh?
Needless to say, it wasn't long after I got home that I sat and inhaled
all three - awesome story lines, though the #6.1 tie in with Age of
Ultron wasn't as in tune with the regular series as it could have been.
Ah well.
I also read Age of Ultron #2 (which only
puts me several issues still behind, but...budget, you know), and
interestingly, I liked Spidy's portrayal there better. But it sort of
seems like we have two different spider-dudes going on here...which is a
little odd. I don't know, maybe that's normal for overlapping series.
Wolverine Vol. 5, issues #1 & #2 were
just as good as I'd hoped they would be, and I look forward to
following that series regularly as well. Seems like a decent "jumping
on" point (a phrase used a lot in comics, as the continuity is just this
vast behemoth of a thing to wade into). And I also appreciate that the
writers weren't afraid to turn an "innocent kid" into a villain, even if
only temporary. Seems like something I might have done. I may subscribe
to this one (if I can stand the frickin' long wait for the next
issue...it is way cheaper though...).
Hawkeye and Mockingbird #1 is one of the
free digital comics I downloaded this weekend in the Marvel event - I
got 186 of the 700 being offered. I was interested in the Hawkeye
character, and thought this might be a good way to get to know him. And
it was a really good history of not just his backstory, but a little
more insight into the Marvel universe history as well (civil war, alien
invasion, all the stuff I missed out on not reading comics all these
years). I probably won't read forward in this particular series (it is
intriguing, but my TBR pile!), but I think I'll check out the newer
Hawkeye series if I can find the #1 issue for that (maybe I'll just get
the digital version, if it's a little cheaper - often they aren't, with
comics).
I also picked up the #2 issue of Justice League of America , so I have that waiting to be read along with all those digital comics I downloaded, and of course Edward Adrift is waiting on my kindle for me to finish Blood Faerie . Oh! And we found the latest James Rollins paperback - Bloodline - last weekend! Woohoo!
And that's my week in books...much better than last week. I
downloaded a few more free books for my Kindle this week too - on the
one hand, I feel bad for authors not getting paid. On the other hand,
these are indie authors, and they make the choice to give away their
books. So may as well read free, esp. when I know I'll enjoy them...
What are you reading this week? Anything fun? Serious? Interesting? Squee-worthy?Enjoy
this post? Support your author:
Romantic Suspense
| Erotic Romance | Suspense/Thriller
| Flash Fiction | Non-Fiction
**Please
note - If this is your first time posting, your comment
will be moderated. Once you have been approved, future comments will post automatically.
April 15, 2013
Drain Clogs, New Books & an Optimistic Start...
Last week sucked, with a few notable exceptions. Pretty much
anything that could go wrong did starting on Tuesday, including a
clogged kitchen sink (only one side, thank goodness) that we didn't
manage to get un-clogged until just yesterday. Not because it was
difficult, mind you - it took about half an hour once we finally decided
to "just do it". It just took us that long to give into the realization
that chemicals, plungers, and even a shop vac just wouldn't do the
trick, and we'd have to take pipes apart to get the job done.
Lazy souls, we are.
But the sink is fixed, and last week had it's good points too, like Craig Lancaster's launch party for Edward Adrift on Friday night, and a trip to the comic book store Saturday evening (after my first Superior Spiderman subscription comic got here and I realized I still needed the one before it). Oh! And finding James Rollins' Bloodline
in paperback, finally! I do so love when a favorite author's latest is
finally out in paperback (hubby still prefers paper and we both read
action/adventure novels, so we buy those in print to share).
And of course you might have seen my last post, wherein Sleep With Me
was finally released on Saturday. Yay! Always great to release another
book into the wild, and I'm particularly proud of this one (good thing I
don't read reviews, eh?). There will be two more in that series, and
I'm looking forward to writing them both. Fun, contemporary reads. The
paperback for SWM should be available in the next couple of weeks, for
those who like the lower tech versions.
This week, I've hit that "reset" button on life, and hopefully I
can make a lot more progress than last week (which was practically
none):
- Scenes for 5 drafts
- revisions to a horror draft
- Print formatting/upload for SWM
- Personal budgeting/finances (I did get the business books caught up last week - go me!)
- Kitchen reorganization (will probably take more than a week, but I
decided after our little kitchen fiasco last week that it was
necessary)
- Workout 3x
And that's plenty for the week. Here's to much more reading and writing, and much character chattiness along the way, eh? Enjoy
this post? Support your author:
anything that could go wrong did starting on Tuesday, including a
clogged kitchen sink (only one side, thank goodness) that we didn't
manage to get un-clogged until just yesterday. Not because it was
difficult, mind you - it took about half an hour once we finally decided
to "just do it". It just took us that long to give into the realization
that chemicals, plungers, and even a shop vac just wouldn't do the
trick, and we'd have to take pipes apart to get the job done.
Lazy souls, we are.
But the sink is fixed, and last week had it's good points too, like Craig Lancaster's launch party for Edward Adrift on Friday night, and a trip to the comic book store Saturday evening (after my first Superior Spiderman subscription comic got here and I realized I still needed the one before it). Oh! And finding James Rollins' Bloodline
in paperback, finally! I do so love when a favorite author's latest is
finally out in paperback (hubby still prefers paper and we both read
action/adventure novels, so we buy those in print to share).
And of course you might have seen my last post, wherein Sleep With Me
was finally released on Saturday. Yay! Always great to release another
book into the wild, and I'm particularly proud of this one (good thing I
don't read reviews, eh?). There will be two more in that series, and
I'm looking forward to writing them both. Fun, contemporary reads. The
paperback for SWM should be available in the next couple of weeks, for
those who like the lower tech versions.
This week, I've hit that "reset" button on life, and hopefully I
can make a lot more progress than last week (which was practically
none):
- Scenes for 5 drafts
- revisions to a horror draft
- Print formatting/upload for SWM
- Personal budgeting/finances (I did get the business books caught up last week - go me!)
- Kitchen reorganization (will probably take more than a week, but I
decided after our little kitchen fiasco last week that it was
necessary)
- Workout 3x
And that's plenty for the week. Here's to much more reading and writing, and much character chattiness along the way, eh? Enjoy
this post? Support your author:
Romantic Suspense
| Erotic Romance | Suspense/Thriller
| Flash Fiction | Non-Fiction
**Please
note - If this is your first time posting, your comment
will be moderated. Once you have been approved, future comments will post automatically.
