Jamie DeBree's Blog, page 59

On the Bookshelf: The Index, Book 1: Mages

Excerpt from The Index, Book 1: Mages

New York City, present day.

The din of the New York street was something that every local knew how to ignore.

It was an ordinary Monday morning rush hour and already, the myriad of brokers, lawyers, executives of all sorts disembarked the subway and went onto their respective ways to their offices. Coffee was in hand, business deals were in mind and there was an opportunity for everything.

"Hey!"

Including the occasional spill.

The woman's sharp voice and furious glare was directed at the hapless young man who bumped into her made her drop her portfolio.

"I-I'm s-s-o—" the young man muttered.

She waved him off, irritated.

He walked away, muttering, "geez, lady, I tried to say sorry" as she gathered up her spilled papers in the middle of Exchange Place. Her blonde hair wavered in the wind as she got up and walked on her way, blithely unaware of the rest of the crowd and that suddenly, this crowd got a lot thicker and the characters comprising it were much stranger than usual.

She paused in front of a glass door to straighten out her hair and ducked into the café nearby for breakfast.

Had the broker turned around, she would've noticed that there was another reflection in the glass next to her own and it stayed there after she walked away. This reflection without a source was the face and body of another young woman who looked as unlike the stockbroker as possible. Where the broker was a short, brown-eyed blonde, the new woman was a tall, sullen-looking brunette with piercing green eyes and a cool, calculating expression. Without any regard to how strange this looked, she stepped off the glass, fully corporeal, into the sun-flooded Wall Street.

She was definitely not dressed to fit in with the rest of the suits around her, what with her relaxed, wide black cargo pants, black boots and a red cropped tank top in the middle of November. Moreover, she seemingly felt no cold whatsoever, although the morning wind chill put the temperature squarely at forty degrees Fahrenheit. Her hair was long, straight, jet-black and swept into a high ponytail down to just above her waist. She also didn't care that the stockbrokers gave her sidelong glances as she strode out into the middle of the street looked around.

"Not half-bad," she remarked in a language other than English. Not that she didn't understand it, but she preferred her native tongue when thinking aloud.

She stood still, ignoring the milling workers of Wall Street around her. Slowly, her eyes grew unfocused as her senses threw out a simple request for a response.

Rena.

The answer to the name came immediately, less than a thought, less than a word but a twitch of energy against her consciousness.

Her eyes re-focused once she figured out where the signal had come from. Right away, she took off running, sidestepping tourists and pedestrians with perfect grace and without pausing, reaching such a speed that to most humans, it was only a momentary blur.

Arriella kept running until she reached Midtown, where Rena was waiting for her by the 34th Street exit of the FDR Drive.

"Break time's over?"

"Looks like."

"What happened?"

Rena paused as she saw several young men, notably of Shifter origin, go through several appearances as they ducked into a building nearby. A brief sensory scan of the area confirmed that everywhere, everyone who was anyone other than human was showing their true colors, whether or not they wanted to or if it was within their control.

"No idea."

* * * * *

He looked strange. Even for a place like this.

The Las Vegas Strip saw many odd and out-of-ordinary things in its daily turn of events and many people had their way about themselves in terms of clothing. Tourists, showgirls, people who simply thought that theirs was a style worth seeing. Despite that, hardly anyone had seen a man like this.

He was tall, well over six feet, broad-shouldered, well-built and every inch of him spoke of authority. High cheekbones, intelligent black eyes, a strong jaw and an emotionless face only added to the initial first impression that this man was not to be crossed at any cost.

While Las Vegas saw its share of high-powered executives looking for an escape, very few carried themselves quite like this when they were on the Strip.

He certainly dressed oddly. Silver-tipped boots peeked out from beneath black pants that were made of a fabric not easily named. He wore a long, flowing robe that secured with silver fastenings from shoulder to waistline on a diagonal. The robe was black, wide-sleeved and threaded lightly with silver at the edges and cuffs. His hair was long, glossy black and secured with a silver clasp at the nape of the neck.

He walked down the Strip at a steady, sedate pace, eyes roving the surroundings and senses scanning for the one person that he sought, one that he didn't require a visual sighting to find. He ignored the humans, their gray, auraless presence barely registering, though they couldn't ignore him.

He learned the old-fashioned way that teleportation was not a wise idea; he was spotted almost immediately the first time he tried. Doing so was more trouble than it was worth and inciting a panic was not welcome.

If the Cosmics suddenly found a planet like this devoid of life at his whim, there would be no way that he'd live to see the day that followed. He had a job to do and the one thing he couldn't tolerate is interference. Humans, above everything else, irritated him, but if he wanted his way, he would have to be…tolerant.

So, he resolved to search in a slower, somewhat more old-fashioned manner. He already ran into several people before and whether because they genuinely didn't know him or their unwillingness to say something, no one showed signs of recognition. He saw enough; they were – no doubt thanks to his unwelcome arrival here – able to use their abilities.

More trouble than it's worth, I wager, he thought.

"Nice hair!"

The drunken jeer came from a young man across the street, one that clearly had too much wine. Though it's likely that what he drank wasn't wine; humans and their liquors…

The stranger glared at the man, who shrank back against the building, then turned tail and ran.

The man didn't run very far before a hand of steel yanked him into an alley.

The stranger with long hair lifted him by his chin without visible effort and analyzed the drunkard as though curious.

"Where's Shourron?" he asked with an undercurrent in his soft voice that promised excruciating pain.

"W-What the hell, man?"

"I repeat…" a sharp shake and a tightening of the grip. "Where…is Shourron?"

"I-I dunno what you're talking about!" the man choked out.

The stranger's eyebrow twitched for a brief second as he accessed the mind of his inadvertent victim and sensed nothing but fear. Fear, too much liquor, two admittedly attractive girls from the bar…so many memories but none of the one that he sought.

With a sneer of disgust, he threw him aside into the heap of garbage nearby, turned on his heel and walked out of the alley.

The man watched as the robed stranger suddenly vanished. He would later swear, in detox and thereafter, that he heard a sound resembling a whip crack.

The Index Series is available at CreateSpace: Mages | Secrets  and Amazon: Mages | Secrets

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Serial Novel: Falling in Public, Ch. 6

This serial novel is posted in draft form every Friday. To receive each installment via email, please sign up here.

Ch.1|Ch. 2|Ch. 3|Ch. 4|Ch. 5

Falling in Public


Chapter 6

Holly followed Eddie up the stairs, her heart racing as she tried not to oogle his butt in those jeans. He'd released her hand when they'd started up the steps, and her palm was still warm from his touch. As they walked down a plush hall decorated in warm green tones, she considered what she'd be doing at home right now. Checking her watch, she realized it was already well past midnight, and wondered just how long she'd stood outside that club. Longer than she'd thought, for sure.

"Here we are," Eddie said, pushing open a thick black door and waiting for her to enter. "This is where most of our songs are born. A lot of late-night sessions happen here." He walked over to the sound board and pushed a couple buttons, then flicked a switch on the wall, illuminating another room beyond the glass window above the board. Instruments were neatly arranged on stands around all sorts of microphones, and the room was carpeted all the way up the walls. Holly smiled. A room like this would be really handy for that scene where--

"Earth to Holly. Come in, Holly." The gentle teasing brought her out of the fantasy, and she gave the man beside her a grin.

"Sorry," she said. "I must have got caught up in a daydream for a minute." She'd learned long ago not to talk about her books while she was working out the plot. What people thought were helpful observations tended to confuse her process.

He smiled. "A good one, I hope. Was I in it?"

She shrugged, shooting him a coy look. "Maybe. Will you sing me a song?" She batted her lashes, not quite sure when she'd become such a flirt. He shrugged, opening a door to his right and gesturing for her to go in.

"I think I can handle that," he said, closing the door behind them with a heavy click. "If you swear you're not a journalist, I'll share part of the new song I've been working on. It's a little slower than our normal stuff, but I think it's pretty good."

Holly shook her head. "I swear I'm not a journalist," she said, thankful he hadn't specified writers. "And I'd love to hear what you're working on. I'd be honored, actually." She looked around the room for a seat. An old olive-green couch sat against one wall, stuffing poking out of the cushions and one leg missing so it listed to the right. Eddie's deep chuckle sent shivers up her spine as he stood behind her.

"That couch is the only thing I had when I came out here from Madison, Wisconson. I bought it at a garage sale there for five bucks when I was a college student, and have been dragging it around with me since that day. Call it my thinking couch - for when I'm stuck on a piece or just need to work stuff out."

Holly nodded, understanding completely. Her overstuffed brown chair-and-a-half at home was well loved and used, though not nearly as old.

"What a wonderful story," she said, walking over and taking a seat on the low side. "All of your history in one piece of furniture. My kind of scrapbook."

Eddie took an acoustic guitar from one of the stands against the wall and sat beside her on the couch. Positioning the instrument on his knee, he began to play a few chords. When he started singing, Holly leaned back and closed her eyes, the haunting melody and sad story of a lost love coursing through her body. When he finished, she didn't want to open her eyes. The couch shifted a little, and reluctantly she peered out under her lashes. Eddie was there, leaning over her, but not touching her, his hot breath fanning her cheek.

"I really want to kiss you again, Holly," he whispered, bracing an arm on the other side of her body. His lips were only a few short centimeters from hers. Finally, thank god.

"Then do."
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Code Name: Succulent – Prioritizing

No idea what this is? Code Name: Succulent is .

When I decided to start spending time on interests other than writing again, I needed to prioritize and make some decisions. A lot of people can just play it by ear, but my personality doesn't work that way. I'm very driven when working towards something (say, a writing career), and it's hard to break away from that to make room for other things. It has to be a conscious decision for me.

So I did what all organizing fiends & procrastinators do. I made a list.

This isn't a comprehensive list of things I'm interested in by any means, but rather a list of all the things that I'd like to spend at least some time doing, and can never seem to work in. If you read last week's post, you might have made your own list.

- Nail Art Tuesday (I do my nails weekly, but had let the blog lapse)

- Tea on Tap (ditto, sub "tea" for "nails"  and "daily" for "weekly")

- Gardening/houseplants & outdoor

- Crocheting

- Stamp collecting

- Seasonal decorations

Then I took a hard look at the absolute minimum time requirement for these items to be meaningful to me: 

Nail blog: around 2-3 hours per week, not counting the actual manicure (because I'm already doing that). That's for 1 blog post per week.

Tea blog: 1-2 hours per week, assuming 1 blog post per week.

Gardening: Bare minimum of 2 hrs per week for inside/outside plants together

Crochet: Really, just to keep my fingers nimble and make progress on a project, probably an hour or so per week.

Stamp collecting: Could be as little as an hour per week.

Seasonal Decorations: 2 hours per month

Total minimum time required for all these hobbies would be: 7 hours per week (plus 2 more per month)

That's nearly an entire work day. Seven hours I could be writing or growing the writing business. So I had to really examine what these could give me that would justify spending the time:

Nail Art blog – may also bring in new readers, because it's a popular blog with lots of visitors per day. Plus it's a good way to stay connected and have something in common with other women – not something I'm generally all that good at outside the writing community. It's one of the few "girly" interests I have.

Tea blog – the tea community is very centering, so aside from needing to really focus on a quiet, mindful activity once a week, there's also a built in "calming" effect just to being a part of that community. And I do have a few tea friends who are also avid readers, so it could have an effect on readership as well, for short stories especially. Tea tasting/reviewing forces one to pay attention to taste, scent and sight.

Gardening makes my personal "setting" come alive. It keeps the air in my house cleaner, it makes the yard and outside of the house look beautiful, and it brings joy and a calm influence to my life. It makes me slow down and literally smell the roses. It puts me in touch with all of my senses. All of which could influence my writing and the way I approach the world in a positive way. And pulling weeds is great exercise – promotes good physical health.

Crochet is an amazing way to explore tactile senses. I love the feel of all sorts of fibers, and the different sizes and types of hooks as create a piece. The necessary tension and manual dexterity are good for strong hands, fingers and wrists. There's always a new stitch to learn, or new patterns to follow or create. It's a solitary activity for me, as most of the fiber groups in town are either spinning or knitting based (and I really have no interest in learning to knit). But crocheted items make great gifts too, and it would give me time away from the computer screen (which my eyes would probably appreciate).

Stamp collecting gives me a sense of history, of being a part of something bigger and archiving events and moments in time in a very creative and artistic way. It's also incredibly easy to get sucked into both research and the philatelic community, so time constraints are pretty hard to stick to, and overall, while I find it interesting and satisfying, I think for now the time this would take would be better spent on other things.

Seasonal Decorations: I love doing tablescapes – creating seasonal arrangements for the dining room table and a metal basket in front of our house. It's a creative past-time that gives me great joy & doesn't require much time, but is really just an accent I can live without. So that's coming off the list for now too. Perhaps later it will find its way back.

All of other four activities really do justify the time spent, in my mind. That leaves me with 6 hours of "hobby time" needed per week. With that in mind, I opened up my trusty calendars, and started playing with my schedule.

If you're a person who can't work within a structured schedule…you might want to skip this next part. Or get more caffeine so I don't put you to sleep. I *need* structure – it's hard-wired into my personality, so working without a schedule would mean absolute failure at all points for me. I know this from experience. We're all wired to work a certain way – figuring that out is 90% of the battle.

I looked at all the time I have blocked out for writing, and all the time blocked out for personal stuff, and all the time blocked out for business stuff. The main part of my day is eaten up by the day job, so that's blocked out too. All told, that left me with around 10 hours per week of unscheduled time – time I normally spend mucking about on social media sites, running errands with my husband, or generally doing nothing. Obviously I still need some unscheduled time leftover – one can't be scheduled every second of the day and not end up pulling their hair out. Taking 6 hours from 10 just wasn't going to work for me. So I needed to find a few more hours – and it had to come from my writing/business time since it couldn't come from day job hours. I've sacrificed pretty much everything for writing for two years, so hard as it is, I feel like I need to do this.

It takes me about an hour to write a scene – so I cut one of my serial scenes to gain an hour on the weekend. I moved another one to the week, but will probably cut that too after the most recent story is finished. This will mean slower productivity for those two genres (just one scene per week instead of two), but better overall mental health. Here's hoping it's a good trade off (see? Even now I still fight it, mentally). That gives me 12 free hours to play with, which will work fine.  

This post is too long already, so I'll end it here for the week. If you're playing along and have a list of things you'd like to make room for, I challenge you to work through the list and figure out just how much time each item requires to be meaningful *for you*, and then really think about how those items will enrich your life (or whether it's important to keep them or not). For me, the idea was to find the few things I'm *really* interested in pursuing that will give me the most value in terms of rest, relaxation, connecting with others, and experiencing the world through different senses.

Next week – how I've started assimilating these things into my schedule, and how it's working for me. Caution: growing pains ahead…**Your first comment here will be moderated.
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Writing Notes: Trust the Characters (ie, yourself)

I was going to blog about endings
because I expected to be working on the end of The Biker's Wench
edits. I'm not there yet (don't ask), so we'll save that for
next week.

I've blogged about this before, but
it's been a topic here and there lately, and while I think I have a
handle on it most of the time, yesterday I struggled with it all day
long in my head (which wasn't an easy feat, considering I was
dealing with a rather trying day at the day job too).

I'm working on the second Fantasy
Ranch novel at the moment, and I wrote the first few chapters quite
awhile ago, then had to put them aside while I hashed out my little
fictional universe better by finishing the first book. I've been
posting the material I wrote earlier for my serial chapters, but this
week was the first week I needed to start writing new scenes. I'd
read through all the previous scenes, thought I had a handle on where
the story was going and what the main plot would be....

And then I started writing.

Normally, it doesn't bother me much
when characters take over. I like it when that happens, even
if it's way off track from where I saw the story heading, because
it's always better when the story comes from the characters (ie, my
subconscious, creative brain). Always.

Anyways, in the story Betsy has just
been left alone with Ian, the man she wants, who has incredible
powers of resistance toward her and has just been more or less
ordered to keep her safe from the maniac who is after her. I went
into the scene thinking they needed to have a conversation where he'd
try to convince her she needed his protection, she'd tell him to go
jump off a cliff, they'd have a nice little argument and end up
with him either sleeping on her couch to protect her, or dragging her
off cave-man style (I like to leave my ending options open).

That is so not what happened.
You can read the scene here if you'd like, but the gist of it is
that instead of having a spectacular temper tantrum, Betsy ends up
telling Ian this fascinating story she's never told anyone before
(because really, who would believe it? She knows that.), and implying
that there's something in her past that is Really, Really Bad. So
bad she'd rather stay and put her life in danger than run and hide
and risk the maniac somehow stumbling across it by accident. So bad
she can't even tell the guy she's crushed on since they were kids
what the big secret is.

Oh, and she didn't tell me either.

Normally, when a character starts
spilling huge secrets like this, I "get" where it's going while
I'm writing, so I can sort of see how the story will meander along
a certain path. This time, Betsy was having none of it, and I fought
with her all day long about it (in my head. And yes, I refrained from
conversing out loud with her. Luckily my characters don't break the
4th wall.). I wasn't sure how I could possibly finish
the scene with this huge question mark that could possibly affect the
end of the whole story hanging unanswered, at least in my mind. What
if I went the wrong way? What if I wrote myself into a box? What if I
screwed up the frickin' Happily Ever After (Nightmare of Epic
Proportions!!).

I stewed all afternoon as I worked the
day job, seriously annoyed that I was so stymied by this. I don't
get blocked...I think because I work on so many different
stories it keeps my brain just flying automatically between them all.
But this wasn't really a full-on block either. It was a crisis of
critical thinking.

I was thinking in critical mode,
worrying about points Q-Z when I should have been focusing only on
point B - the scene in front of me. So what if Betsy's Really
Really Bad Thing gets her tossed in jail at the end. That just won't
be the end – I'll keep writing until I find it. I was thinking
about all these things about her secret that could affect the
story, rather than just writing it and having faith that things will
all work out.

Because they always do. As long as I
trust the characters and record their story as well as I can, I trust
they'll get me to the HEA I need. Really, I just need to trust
myself, and that creative side of my brain that comes up with all
these stories.

Once I settled down and told Betsy to
"take it away", she did. The final few sentences I'd been
struggling with just came right out, and while I still don't know
exactly what it is that Betsy hid with the trunk, she assures me it's
nothing like what I thought it might be. In fact, I sense a plot
twist coming later, but I have only a very vague idea of what it
might be. And I think it's better this way, because if I can't
intentionally foreshadow it, I can't ruin it either by
over-thinking it.

You know what this means, don't you?
My creative mind has finally out-witted my logical mind. Might want
to stand back. This could get messy if they decide to duke it out...

Do you trust your characters enough to
follow them down a rabbit hole, even when it feels like you might be
going the wrong way?
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Meet the Author: Shay Fabbro

Today I'd like to welcome fantasy and young adult author Shay Fabbro to the blog. Shay gave us an excerpt of The Chosen  in March, and now she's here to chat. Pull up a chair and settle in for a cuppa....

When did you decide to pursue writing seriously?

I am not sure I ever do anything "seriously" But, seriously...I decided to take the leap after a dream wouldn't leave me alone! After weeks of thinking about it and making up answers for the questions I kept asking, I realized I had enough for a book.

 How did you choose what genre to write – or did it choose you?

I have been a fan of scifu/fantasy since I was a kid. So for me, writing in this genre isn't much of a stretch

Tell us a little about your writing process. How do you get from idea to completed draft?

Since I am a research scientist, there's a big part of me that likes to have things all planned out. When it came to writing my scifi/fantasy trilogy, I had the synopses for all 3 books planned out before I ever wrote a single sentence. I leave myself room for the characters to take things in a new direction, but I always keep in mind the ending so that I don't get too far off course.

What are some of your favorite authors to read?

JRR Tolkein, George RR Martin (Yeah for Dance With Dragons next month!!!), Piers Anthony, Terry Goodkind, Robert Jordan, David Eddings, Stephen King, Dean Koontz. And thanks to the rise in Indie publishing, I am adding new names to this list all the time

What do you like do when you're not writing?

Read (of course!), hiking, camping, spending time with friends and family.

How do you balance writing with the other aspects of your life?

It's a hard thing, but I have a very understanding husband I am sure it isn't easy having a wife constantly plugged into the computer. And when I'm not writing, I am also working on lecture notes for my classes (I teach biology, biotechnology, and pharmacology at Mesa State College), grading papers, getting ready for lab field trips. I have to make sure to take time away from the computer and enjoy other things.

Who is your favorite literary character or couple?

Oh my gosh, this is a hard one! There's always a little something I always relate to in so many characters. But if I had to pick one, I would have to say Hermione Granger. JK Rowling took a nerdy bookworm and made her a major part of Harry Potter. I am a lot like Hermione and can totally relate to having to "help" others with their work

Is there anything else you'd like to add?

I hope people will visit my website (shayfabbro.com) to read excerpts from my scifi/fantasy trilogy (The Portals of Destiny) as well as my new young adult/fantasy trilogy (The Adventures of Alexis Davenport). I do a lot of author interviews and reviews of Indie books so maybe visitors will find something that piques their interest

Thanks for joining us today, Shay! It was great getting to know  you a bit better.

Catch up with Shay:

Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/ShayFabbro

Twitter: @ShayFabbro

Website: shayfabbro.com

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Weekly News & Goals 6/20/11

If you were hanging around Facebook or
Twitter yesterday, you may have seen my inquiry about a weekly
wrap-up post listing out all of the places I've posted in
the last week. Several people expressed interest, so on Sundays I'll
post a link list called the "Weekly Archive". Yesterday's post
included the links broken up into categories, and a link to my Tumblr
blog "scrapbook" as well. I think next week I'll go ahead and
link to some of the Tumblr links of interest as well.

Those on my newsletter list received
the weekly archive via email, and I'm going to send that out weekly
as well. The newsletter will include the archive, as well as the next
week's schedule and basic news. Apologies to those who get the
information twice, but it seems like a good way to spread the
information around without assuming everyone's reading/following
the blog.

Also, the W.I.P. Newscast at SnakeBites is going to just one news cast per month due to a drop in views
for the videos. I think it will be more popular as a "novelty"
thing.

Shay Fabbro will join us on Tuesday for
an author interview – I hope you'll drop in to meet her!

This week on The Variety Pages

Tuesday: Interview with Shay Fabbro

Wednesday: Writing Notes – Epilogues

Thursday: Code Name: Succulent -
Priorities

Friday: Chapter 6 of Falling in
Public

Saturday: Excerpt from Kat Gilraine

Sunday: Weekly Archive

Elsewhere

Tea reviews at Tea on Tap (Mon/Weds)

Chapter 6 of The Minister's Maid
at FantasyRanchNovels.com (Tues)

Design of the Week at Nail Art Tuesday
(Tues)

Web Store – Yea or Nay? at Beyond theWords (Thurs)

Progress report at Body in Motion (Sun)

Goal Reports

Last week was pretty much a
wash...mainly because when you decide to shake up your life like a
snow globe, flakes don't always fall where you want them too.
Hormones had a lot to do with it too – attitude is everything when
you're trying to move forward. I did manage to keep from going
backward though, so it's all good. This week should be much better
in terms of productivity.

Writing

Finish current erotic short serial

Five serial scenes

Finish edits for The Biker's
Wench

Business

Pick up the marketing a bit

Update web sites

ISBN assignments for TBW

Post free stories

Stay up on the bookkeeping

Personal

6 workouts for the week

Cup of tea nightly before bed
(green/white/something I don't normally drink during the day)

Shut down by 12:30am Tues – Fri
to read ½ hr before bed.

Clean off dining room table

Catch up on serial blog novel
reading I've been missing lately

That's my week – lots going on, but
plenty of fun stuff mixed with the necessary stuff, so groovy all
around. What are you up to this week?
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Weekly Archive 6/12 - 18/11

It's been brought to my attention a few times in the past few weeks that some people A) try to keep up with me all week on the 'net, and find it difficult to catch everything. I'm flattered that anyone would want to follow me around, since I do tend to flit hither & yon, but I want to make it easy for those of you who do.

So to facilitate that, I've decided to post a weekly archive. It will normally show up here on Sundays. I'll also send this out to my newsletter list, so if you're signed up for that, you'll get this in your email. Apologies to those to get it twice!

Please note that the list will include *all* posts, including my pen name fiction, so be careful where you click. I'll also include web site updates when relevant.

Without further ado - this week's link list, by subject: 
Fiction

Romantic Suspense
Chapter 5 of The Minister's Maid (FantasyRanchNovels.com)
Chapter 5 of Falling in Public (The Variety Pages)

Erotica
Chapter 13 of The Mechanic (TrinityMarlow.com - Adults only, NSFW)
Chapter 14 of The Mechanic (TrinityMarlow.com - Adults only, NSFW)

Thriller/Suspense
Chapter 46 of Angel Eyes (AlexWesthaven.com)

Writing/Reading/Publishing

Writing Notes: Research vs. Fiction (The Variety Pages)
Book Sales: Business vs. Life (Beyond the Words)
W.I.P. Newscast (Snake Bites)
Review of Fever Dream by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child (Goodreads)

Hobbies/Other

Nail Art
Pink & Blue Water Marble Design (Nail Art Tuesday)

Tea
Dusting off the Cobwebs (Tea on Tap)

Health & Personal Wellness
(The Variety Pages)
Getting Back on Track (Body in Motion)

To see posts by others that I found interesting over the past week (or anytime), visit my Tumblr blog. I use that mainly as a sort of scrapbook for sharing posts and links I enjoyed and wanted to share.

Thanks for reading...see you next week!
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Serial Novel: Falling in Public, Ch. 5

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Falling in Public


Chapter 5

Eddie shut the door behind Holly and grinned. "Sorry about sending you out there alone," he said, hoping she wasn't too traumatized. If she was, he'd make sure she got home okay, but aside from a very cute red hue to her cheeks, she didn't look too much worse for the wear.  "I tend to forget that our sort of hedonistic lifestyle isn't the norm."

She shrugged, a shy smile teasing her lips. "It's okay. I was just a little shocked, is all. Where I'm from, people still lean toward the conservative end of the sexual spectrum."

"Where do you come from, if you don't mind my asking?" He took her hand, relief when her fingers curled around his mixing with a healthy dose of desire as he tugged her toward the kitchen. That would be a nice, safe, non-suggestive room to start with, he figured. And a glass of ice water wouldn't hurt at this point either.
She didn't answer right away, and he looked back with concern. Then he grinned at the look on her face as she looked around the room. "I guess it is sort of impressive the first time, isn't it?"

Her eyes flew to his face and her hand slipped from his as she burst out laughing, her arms wrapped around her middle. Amused, he waited until the reason finally hit him. Crossing his arms and leaning against a wide marble counter, he chuckled with her as she regained control.

"I do believe you have a dirty mind, Holly..." he said, shaking his finger in jest.

"Saunders," she supplied with a sheepish grin. "And yes, I'd say it's very impressive." Her tone was still light, but the way she looked at him sent excitement spiraling under his skin. Oh yeah. An image of her riding him naked under the mirrors over his bed sent a chill up his spine, and he deliberately pushed away from the counter and went around the other side, taking two glasses out of the cupboard. Easy there, boy. She's not one of those brainless groupies...

"Water? Wine? Soda?" he said, setting the glasses on the counter with a wink. No sense in letting her off the hook, even if he was backing off. For now.

She braced both forearms on the counter, the position giving him a good peek down the front of her shirt. Yum.
"Water please," she said, well aware of his view, if that smirk was any indication.

"Coming right up." He turned away, fascinated by her innocent yet flirtatious nature. Filling both glasses, he handed one to her, and watched as she took a dainty sip. "So what else would you like to see? We have pretty much everything available right here - a theater, gym, studio..."

Her eyes lit up at the last one. "I'd love to see the studio," she said, taking a slightly larger sip before placing her glass on the counter. Then her eyes got big and she snatched it back up. "Sorry," she said, rubbing the condensation off the countertop. "I can put this in the sink."

Eddie laughed. "Here, I'll do it." He rinsed the glasses and left them for the housekeeper, then took Holly's hand again. "Come with me - the studio is upstairs." Just down the hall from the bedroom...
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Code Name: Succulent

You'll have to excuse my photos
today – 12:30am in a dimly lit living room isn't the best
picture-capturing environment. However, my red dining room wall
always photographs nicely.

This is a pencil plant (well, my pencil
plant, actually), formally known as Euphorbia tirucalli. Perfect
for a writer, right?

You
may recognize this one: Sansevieria trifasciata,
commonly known as the snake plant, or mother-in-law's tongue if
you're feeling snarky.

And of course these
are pretty common (please excuse it's slightly homely appearance –
it's had a rough winter) – Crassula argentea, or the Jade
Plant/Tree.

What do all of these plants have in
common (besides brightening up my house)? They're all succulents –
hardy plants that are able to store water to use in times of drought.
The word "succulent" has a few different meanings. From
Dictionary.com:

suc·cu·lent
[suhk-yuh-luhnt]
–adjective

full of
juice; juicy.

rich in desirable
qualities.

affording mental
nourishment.

(of
a plant) having fleshy
and juicy
tissues.

I recently killed a
bunch of tropical houseplants. You can read the whole sordid story
here, but the basic gist of it is, I focused so much on one major
goal in my life (becoming a full-time writer) that I pushed
everything else in my life aside. And I realized recently that I'm
in danger of becoming a one-dimensional person, with my life
basically revolving around just one main interest.

Frankly, I don't
think that's healthy.

Until a couple
years ago, I lived by this adage:

The best way to know life is to love
many things. - Van Gogh

Hence the title of
this blog – The Variety Pages. It wasn't always a writing-based
blog. I used to cover many topics here – a different one daily, but
found that readers tend to prefer niche blogs. So I broke them up
into their own little communities, and I find they do far better that
way. Still, variety in life has always been something I strive for,
something I lust after, really. I want to live a succulent
life - a "juicy" life rich in things that are healthy for me, and
nourishing to my brain.

For the past two
years, I've let that lifestyle slide away, to my detriment. And I
know that if I make an effort to recapture that love of variety, it
will not only make me a better person, but a better writer as well.

We're all looking
for balance, no matter who we are or where our passions lie. I have
to say, I think balance is like perfection – neither one is
actually achievable in the utopian way we want it to be. But I do
think we can find a way to achieve our goals without sacrificing
everything else in our lives, if we're willing to work at it, and
perhaps be a little more patient than we'd like. Having an interest
in something doesn't mean we have to spend oodles of time on it. I
think taking little snippets out of our day or week to enjoy just a
small piece of those things that we love can make a huge difference
in how we see and interact with the world.

This summer, I'm
embarking on a personal mission, Code Name: Succulent. The
mission is to rediscover the things I love outside of writing, and
sculpt my life in such a way that I can enjoy those things in smaller
bites while still moving at a decent clip toward my main career
goals. The point is not to balance everything – I don't believe
that's possible or even necessary. It's more a matter of being
content in each moment and savoring little slices of life wherever I
can.

I invite you to
join me on this journey of re-discovery every Thursday. I don't
claim to have the answers, but perhaps you might find some of it
interesting. At the very least, you'll know a lot about houseplants
when the series is done (and who knows what else?).

Next week, I'm
starting at square one by making a list of those interests I want to
make time for on a regular basis. I'll share my entire list, and
then show you how I've chosen which ones to put at the top. Wanna
join me? Make your own list of everything you can think of that
you're interested in (must be something other than your main interest...because this project is all about diversifying).
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Writing Notes: Research vs. Fiction

So I was going through the editorial
comments for The Biker's Wench this week (which is why I'm
starting this sentence with a preposition, of course – and also why
I'm leaving it there), and my editor had commented that it seems odd for
my heroine to take a bus all the way to Salt Lake City, UT from Reno,
NV when her final destination (when she starts, at least) is Las
Vegas. Editor Carol gets out her trusty map and sees there's a
highway running straight from Reno to Vegas that would make much more
sense. And she's absolutely right – it would make far more sense
to take the more direct route through Nevada.

Except for one minor little detail.
There are no buses traveling that lonely stretch of Hwy 95, or not
that I could find, looking at the online bus schedules for the major
Greyhound bus line. In order to ride Greyhound from Reno to Nevada,
you have to go all the way over to Salt Lake City between the
two, according to their web site. I was kind of amazed, really, and
as a nod to my readers who don't live in Nevada and might scoff at
the fact, I even have my heroine make note of how odd it is.

Why did I look that up? Because I knew
that somewhere in Nevada, a reader might read my book and go, "wait,
does the bus even go that way?" and I wanted that rather large and central
detail to be realistic so the setting of that portion of the book
wouldn't get in the way.

Now little details, I'm fine with
just making up. In Salt Lake City, there's a bus depot (we've
established that, I think). I didn't look at pictures of said
depot, but I needed a planter there that sits on top of a raised
stone platform. So I put one there, for my personal storytelling use.
Will readers who live in Salt Lake frown and think, "I don't
remember that being in front of the bus depot..."? Absolutely. But
for some reason, it doesn't bother me as much to add/inject objects
like that as it suits my purposes, whereas the bus route needed to be
true in my mind.

One person who reviewed Tempest
caught few things I should have researched better – or
really, just known better, logically. There are a couple of
procedural items regarding how my hero handled things that when
pointed out by the reviewer, I smacked my head with my palm and thought "duh!"
Had I bothered to work through it from a law enforcement/bodyguard
point of view, it would have been very easy to fix. I try not to make
those mistakes often, to be sure, and perhaps if I'd researched FBI procedure a bit, I would have done better there. Write and learn...

For the most part though, I try to
write in a way that I don't really need a lot of research. It's
not that I mind research, necessarily, I just would rather not spend
a lot of time on it. The research I needed to do for TBW took all of
about an hour (because after researching bus routes, I had to
research regional FBI office locations (this is why writers are
worried about being on watch lists, people). If I'm writing and
write myself into a spot that might require more extensive research,
I'll admit, I'll often rewrite it to something less detailed to
avoid the research. Because I'm lazy like that, and I write
fiction, dammit.

Incidentally, that's a big part of why I "created" Fantasy Ranch out in the middle of nowhere. I didn't want to have to research any particular city or place in great detail, I just wrote my own instead. 

How do you feel about research? How
much time on average do you spend researching a book? Do you take
"artistic license" with things if needed, or do you try to stay
true to "real life" (assuming you're not writing fantasy or
your own fictional setting)?
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