Debbie McGowan's Blog, page 18

#WIPpet Wednesday - The Making Of Us (Imposter) #amwriting

WIPpet numbers for 12th April, 2017:

12 paragraphs from The Making Of Us (Checking Him Out Book Four)
WIPpet Context:
Another snippet from The Making Of Us . You can read the others here .

The Making Of Us is the fourth book in the Checking Him Out series , but it’s a stand-alone story about friendship, love and romance—LGBTQIA, with the emphasis on the B, Q and I.

The main characters are Jesse and Leigh, who first appeared in Taking Him On (Book Two), which is Noah and Matty’s story.

The Making Of Us is first-person, told from Jesse’s perspective.

Jesse and Noah are English literature undergraduates; they have a presentation to do…

* * * * *

The day of the presentation came. I’d put forward all my best arguments for why Noah should do the talking, but he was having none of it.

“Who’s up first?” our Discourse Analysis lecturer asked. A hand shot up somewhere in front of us, and the lecturer beckoned the brave volunteers to the front of the theatre. It was an OK presentation. Even if it hadn’t been, I was all admiration for the way they’d just got up there and done it, and I joined in heartily with the applause at the end.

“Who’s next?”

More students volunteered, and on it went. There were some serious show-offs in our class who used videos and jokes, but as I listened, I realised it was to cover how little they knew, and as our time neared, I started to think…maybe…maybe I could do this.

The applause rumbled to an end after the penultimate presentation, and the lecturer scanned the theatre, gaze homing in on Noah and me. “Saving the best till last?”

Ah, man. No pressure, then?

Noah started to rise from his seat and held out his hand.

“What?” I asked.

“Give me your notes.”

I shook my head—“We’ll do it together”—and followed him, edging sideways along the row of seats.

“Fickle,” Noah muttered over his shoulder on our way down to the front. I was too nervous to think of a witty comeback.

While we loaded our presentation onto the computer, we agreed to take a slide each. Then I read the title slide. Post-Modern Discourse and Context. What the hell did that mean? Did we really put this together? What was I even doing here? I knew nothing!

* * * * *What is WIPpet Wednesday?

WIPpet Wednesday is a blog hop where authors share from their current works in progress - expertly organised/hosted by Emily Witt - and the excerpt has to relate to the date in some way. For links to other fabulous authors' WIPpets, visit: http://www.inlinkz.com/wpview.php?id=355404


Thanks for reading
Deb x

The Meaning of Alliance #LGBTQIA

Here's the point at which some people will mutter, 'Oh, no, not another blog post about yet another M/M Romance debacle.' Yes, I'm afraid it is, because it's...well, let's call it a 'passionate' community, which isn't surprising, given the popularity of Romance as a genre overall, and the fact that M/M Romance is - debatably - considered the largest subgenre of LGBT fiction.

Before I go any further, I want to make it clear that I am NOT saying this relates to all authors of M/M Romance, nor even to all straight female authors of M/M romance. A few authors have posted on their blogs about how (rightly) upset they are by being tarred with the same brush. Some of those authors ARE allies to some parts of the LGBTQIA+ community. But take a look at all those letters and remember: it's entirely possible to be an ally to one at the expense of others. Rarely have I seen an M/M Romance author/ally take to the podium to fight for lesbian rights or the marginalisation of trans men, or the fetishisation of trans women and intersex people. The alliance is often exclusively to gay men, and, at a push bisexual men who 'pass as' gay (which is bi-erasing).

Please note the word 'rarely' in the above. There are some authors of M/M Romance - regardless of sexuality/gender - who are strong, outspoken advocates of the community as a whole. They understand and acknowledge their privilege (if any), and they do their best to use it wisely. That is what it means to be an ally.

An ally will fight for you, defend you - even in your absence. An ally will believe you when you say 'I am hurt' and they will ask if they can do anything to help you heal. An ally will take on your enemies in your name. They will stand united with you, even if it means putting themselves in harm's way.

For those who might not be aware of what happened (this time) - and that's going to be pretty much everyone outside of the online M/M Romance community as well as a few of those within it:

Without naming names (they've had enough publicity out of this one), last week, an 'author' of M/M Romance posted, on Facebook, the statement: 'I identify as a gay man'. This author is, in fact, a collaborative pen name for two female authors, neither of whom have publicly come out as anything other than cisgender, heterosexual women, so this statement is, at best, problematic. Their claim since is that they used the wrong wording; it was a simple mistake, and their intentions were honourable. What they'd intended to say, if they are to be believed, was something like:

I identify WITH gay men (which they can't)
I empathise with gay men (better)

Now, it may well be that one or both of these authors are gay trans masculine people but haven't made that statement in public, and they are perfectly entitled to keep it to themselves. No one should be put in a position where they are forced to come out. However, if they are not out, they can't make a statement like this, regardless of how true it might be. They cannot publicly identify as a gay man if they don't publicly identify as a gay man, by which I mean, they need to explain themselves.

Whatever they meant, and however well-intentioned they claim to be, it is all negated by them laughing along with a fan's comment that the 'haters' (anyone who spoke out against the post - and those who did were LGBTQIA+ people and their real allies) should be rounded up and sent off to kill themselves.

In the event that it sounds as incredible to you as it did to me, here's a screen capture, with names removed.


So...

Let's talk about the responsibility of allies.

A couple of years ago, I volunteered to edit on a Don't Read in the Closet event run by the M/M Romance Group on Goodreads, which culminates in the publication of up to 200 free stories that are posted online, both as ebooks on the MMRG website, and as text threads on Goodreads. When someone asked why they were posted as text threads, one of the moderators explained that they'd received messages from readers who were LGBTQIA+ and lived in countries where being such was illegal (often carrying the death penalty). Those readers were thankful for those stories, because they were a lifeline, a connection to their community, and accessing them online via Goodreads was the safest way of reading them.

Now, imagine one of those readers discovering that someone who, to them, is something of a hero (celebrating the love of two men), condones the suggestion that they should be rounded up and sent off to kill themselves.

Think about the number of young LGBTQIA+ people who consider (and often commit) suicide. What if one of those young people stumbled across that discussion thread? This isn't just an off-the-cuff, flippant comment that can be excused. It is incitement to hatred, and it is dangerous.

Let me just pause here to say...there are so many wonderful allies out there, and brilliant organisations who support LGBTQIA+ people of all ages and walks of life. Some of us feel strongly enough to speak out and take a stand, but these occurrences are few and far between, so please don't be disheartened.

It's clear what the authors should have done - if they really are allies. They should have said something like 'I appreciate your support, but please keep your homophobic, hateful rant to yourself, and maybe have a think about what you're saying.' Or words to that effect. I'm having a problem with polite comebacks, to be frank.

As for the other authors fearful of being tarred with the same brush: there's no hiding from the fact that there are some within the M/M Romance community who behave appallingly - authors and readers - and they do so whilst waving the flag of alliance. Some don't even realise they're doing it (I like to hope).

Ultimately, as an ally, you cannot possibly understand the lived experience of the group to which you are allied. You can't. Nor is your alliance a coat of armour against the slings and arrows of those you hurt (accidentally or otherwise), and if they tell you that what you said or did hurt them, they are not wrong. YOU are.

The choice is simple. You either say sorry like you mean it and vow to do everything in your power to redress, or you stop calling yourself an ally and accept that you are in it for the money, or prestige, or whatever it is you get from writing about gay men falling in love and living happily ever after.

Now would be the time to stand up as a real ally - of gay men, or of the LGBTQIA+ community as a whole, and being a letter in that acronym does not automatically afford you alliance to the rest.

Thanks for reading,
Deb (non-binary, bisexual, white English, working-class woman - yes, I guess that's my big coming out, like anyone who knows me hasn't figure it out by now).

The Making Of Us - Carpe Diem #RainbowSnippets #LGBTQIA

Brief explanation:
Another snippet from The Making Of Us . You can read the others here .

The Making Of Us is the fourth book in the Checking Him Out series , but it’s a stand-alone story about friendship, love and romance—LGBTQIA, with the emphasis on the B, Q and I.

The main characters are Jesse and Leigh, who first appeared in Taking Him On (Book Two), which is Noah and Matty’s story.

The Making Of Us is first-person, told from Jesse’s perspective.

I was a bit stumped for a snippet today, and in the end I went with 12 short paragraphs (rather than 6 sentences—a double rainbow? ;) ). Jesse and Leigh are at the ‘tell our friends’ stage.

Here’s the snippet:

We were still holding hands when Matty arrived twenty minutes later and stopped a few feet away, his mouth and eyes wide open in a ‘Matty shock-horror’ face. He pointed at our joined hands. “Wh-whe-when did this happen?”

I turned to Leigh. “I thought you’d told him.”

“Nope. I was waiting for you.”

“Really?”

“I wouldn’t do that, Leigh,” Noah said. “You’ll be waiting forever.”

I laughed incredulously. “You have gotta be kidding me.”

“Carpe diem, mate.”

Now I knew he was joking, and leaned in as if to whisper to Leigh, even cupping my hand around my mouth, and said, “D’you know how long he kept Matty waiting?”

“How long?”

“A whole bloody year,” Matty complained.

“A year?” Leigh repeated. “What on earth were you waiting for, Noah?”

“For me to sit still.” Matty grinned. He hadn’t actually sat down yet.

* * * * *
Rainbow Snippets is a group for LGBTQ+ authors, readers, and bloggers to gather once a week to share six sentences from a work of fiction–a WIP or a finished work or even a 6-sentence book recommendation (no spoilers please!).

In this group you'll find anything from romance and historical fiction to mystery and YA. The common thread is that every story's main character identifies as LGBTQ+. The snippets could range from zero flames to full-on sexytimes, anything goes content-wise. The only rule is snippets will be 6 sentences long–one for each color in the Pride flag.

* * * * *
Thanks for reading,
Deb x

#WIPpet Wednesday - The Making Of Us (Face Time) #amwriting

WIPpet numbers for 5th April, 2017:

It's my ‘baby’ sister’s 40th birthday today! :)

247 words (7-2=5, and 4) from The Making Of Us (Checking Him Out Book Four)
WIPpet Context:
Another snippet from The Making Of Us . You can read the others here .

The Making Of Us is the fourth book in the Checking Him Out series , but it’s a stand-alone story about friendship, love and romance—LGBTQIA, with the emphasis on the B, Q and I.

The main characters are Jesse and Leigh, who first appeared in Taking Him On (Book Two), which is Noah and Matty’s story.

The Making Of Us is first-person, told from Jesse’s perspective.

This snippet starts with a private message from Leigh to Jesse.

* * * * *

Hey Jesse. Hope your day’s going OK and you’re getting loads done. x

If I’d had my phone with me, I’d have got the message while I was in the waiting room.

Then, 11:30:
That was a mad lecture. Advanced maths? Call that advanced? Haha. x

Only I could fall for a number buff. I was OK at maths. Advanced maths? I didn’t even know what that was.

Next message, 13:00:
Eating lunch…wish you were here. x

Could a heart explode from swelling with love? Yeah, I was pretty sure it was love by now.

Final message, 16:10:
Are you ever coming online today? Pleeeeeaaaase? x

My face was stuck in a grin as I typed:
Hey Leigh. What you up to? x

. . .

Hold on. I’m calling you. x

Calling… Oh, shit. I dropped my phone in horror. Was I in a fit state to receive a call? Unlikely, but not much I could do about that now. I hit ‘accept’.

“Hi!” Leigh grinned at me.

“Hi.” Urgh. My hair was stuck up all over the place. I attempted to smooth it with my hand.

“Were you sleeping?”

“Y…no, actually. Why?” Silly question.

Leigh’s left—right? I couldn’t tell with the camera flip—eyebrow went up. “You suit the spiky look.” Left eyebrow: same side as their lip piercing.

I laughed, embarrassed but not. “D’you think?”

“Yeah! It’s very punk. Whatcha listening to?”

“Pink. The Truth About—” ha, that was apt “—Love.”

* * * * *What is WIPpet Wednesday?

WIPpet Wednesday is a blog hop where authors share from their current works in progress - expertly organised/hosted by Emily Witt - and the excerpt has to relate to the date in some way. For links to other fabulous authors' WIPpets, visit: http://www.inlinkz.com/wpview.php?id=355404


Thanks for reading
Deb x

The Making Of Us - The Fat Controller #RainbowSnippets #LGBTQIA

Brief explanation:
Another snippet from The Making Of Us . You can read the others here .

The Making Of Us is the fourth book in the Checking Him Out series , but it’s a stand-alone story about friendship, love and romance—LGBTQIA, with the emphasis on the B, Q and I.

The main characters are Jesse and Leigh, who first appeared in Taking Him On (Book Two), which is Noah and Matty’s story.

The Making Of Us is first-person, told from Jesse’s perspective.

In the snippet below, it’s the morning after Jesse and Leigh’s ‘date’, and Jesse’s reflecting on his sleepless night. The poetry relates to his university coursework.

Here’s the snippet:

I had too much Larkin in there, but in our seminars, we’d been exploring ‘irony and understatement’, which was surely just being ‘British’—something Philip Larkin did particularly well. I preferred Roger McGough’s dry sarcasm, largely because when I read his poems, I heard them in the voice of the narrator of Thomas and Friends, which was fun in an ‘I’m a sad English student’ way.

At the platform, he awaits
Percy in his green-grey regalia…re-grey-leer
Neither Henry nor Thomas nor any other
Loco, oh no—it must be Percy
The Fat Controller decreed.

Who actually thought it was a good idea to name a character in a kids’ programme ‘The Fat Controller’? Well, anyway, sad English student that I was, I still didn’t read post-war British poetry for fun, and I’d thought it would help me sleep, as in bore me to unconsciousness. Needless to say, it didn’t work, because every time I thought about Leigh—therefore every couple of minutes or so—my belly did a roll and my pulse shot off at some dangerously high speed. I was too hot, threw the duvet off, too cold, pulled it back on, too thirsty, needed a drink, drank too much, needed the loo, and so on and so forthed my way through to giving-up-on-sleep time.

For reference, here’s a clip from Thomas and Friends:


* * * * *
Rainbow Snippets is a group for LGBTQ+ authors, readers, and bloggers to gather once a week to share six sentences from a work of fiction–a WIP or a finished work or even a 6-sentence book recommendation (no spoilers please!).

In this group you'll find anything from romance and historical fiction to mystery and YA. The common thread is that every story's main character identifies as LGBTQ+. The snippets could range from zero flames to full-on sexytimes, anything goes content-wise. The only rule is snippets will be 6 sentences long–one for each color in the Pride flag.

* * * * *
Thanks for reading,
Deb x

#WIPpet Wednesday - The Making Of Us (Over Eager) #amwriting

WIPpet numbers for 29th March, 2017:
29th of the third month = 293 words from The Making Of Us (Checking Him Out Book Four)
WIPpet Context:
Another snippet from The Making Of Us . You can read the others here .

The Making Of Us is the fourth book in the Checking Him Out series , but it’s a stand-alone story about friendship, love and romance—LGBTQIA, with the emphasis on the B, Q and I.

The main characters are Jesse and Leigh, who first appeared in Taking Him On (Book Two), which is Noah and Matty’s story.

The Making Of Us is first-person, told from Jesse’s perspective.

This snippet is the morning after Jesse and Leigh’s first ‘date’.

* * * * *

“What are your plans for today, then?” Mum asked. “Seeing Leigh, I suppose?”

“I hope so. We didn’t arrange anything, but I might suggest we go for a walk or something. What’s the weather forecast?” I had my phone in my pocket, so I could’ve checked for myself, but my mum would know without looking.

“More of the same. It’ll break tomorrow.”

“Good,” I said, and not for the delight of basking in another day of ‘Indian summer’. I hated being so hot and sticky, especially at night. Especially when my head was already full of stuff that kept me awake.

Mum got up and took her cup over to the sink. “I’m going for a shower.”

“OK.” That was fair warning not to use the taps or flush the loo until she was done. I watched her leave and then took out my phone, planning in my head what I was going to say to Leigh. Hey, what are you up to today? No, that sounded like ‘if you’ve got nothing better to do’. Hey, I’d love to meet up today, maybe go for a walk?’ Hmm…better. …maybe go for a romantic walk. But Leigh had beat me to it.

Hi Jesse! Thanks for coming with me last night. I really enjoyed it, and being with you! Wanna come over? Or have you got loads to do today? It’s OK if you can’t. x

With shaking hands—and, for the first time ever, gratitude for autocorrect—I typed back: Hey Leigh. Thanks for inviting me. It was awesome. I’d love to come over – was thinking we could go for a walk together? Maybe? What time is good for you? I stopped short of saying ‘I could leave now’ and finished with ‘x’.

* * * * *What is WIPpet Wednesday?

WIPpet Wednesday is a blog hop where authors share from their current works in progress - expertly organised/hosted by Emily Witt - and the excerpt has to relate to the date in some way. For links to other fabulous authors' WIPpets, visit: http://www.inlinkz.com/wpview.php?id=355404


Thanks for reading
Deb x

The Making Of Us - Getting High #RainbowSnippets #LGBTQIA

Brief explanation:
Another snippet from The Making Of Us . You can read the others here .

The Making Of Us is the fourth book in the Checking Him Out series , but it’s a stand-alone story about friendship, love and romance—LGBTQIA, with the emphasis on the B, Q and I.

The main characters are Jesse and Leigh, who first appeared in Taking Him On (Book Two), which is Noah and Matty’s story.

The Making Of Us is first-person, told from Jesse’s perspective.

In the snippet below, Leigh has taken Jesse to see a friend perform at an open-mic night. Sorry it’s eight sentences, not six. :( It needed the last paragraph for a sense of context.

Here’s the snippet:

Once I was settled in the corner, Leigh slid—more scooted—along the seat, and I got a waft of that citrusy smell again. I switched to breathing through my nose, getting high on the mix of that smell, the dizziness of slightly hyperventilating and Leigh being just a few inches away. They giggled, and I shrugged to ask why.

“I can’t reach the floor.”

I peered under the table as Leigh kicked their legs like a kid on a dining chair. I hadn’t noticed, but the bench was high enough that my knees weren’t bent up the way they usually were.

“Piss poor ergonomics,” Leigh said—engineering speak. “Must’ve been someone your height designed these.”

* * * * *
Rainbow Snippets is a group for LGBTQ+ authors, readers, and bloggers to gather once a week to share six sentences from a work of fiction–a WIP or a finished work or even a 6-sentence book recommendation (no spoilers please!).

In this group you'll find anything from romance and historical fiction to mystery and YA. The common thread is that every story's main character identifies as LGBTQ+. The snippets could range from zero flames to full-on sexytimes, anything goes content-wise. The only rule is snippets will be 6 sentences long–one for each color in the Pride flag.

* * * * *
Thanks for reading,
Deb x

#WIPpet Wednesday - The Making Of Us (Purple) #amwriting

WIPpet numbers for 22nd March, 2017!
(2017/22)*3=275 (rounded to a whole number) words from The Making Of Us (Checking Him Out Book Four)
WIPpet Context:
Another snippet from The Making Of Us . You can read the others here .

The Making Of Us is the fourth book in the Checking Him Out series , but it’s a stand-alone story about friendship, love and romance—LGBTQIA, with the emphasis on the B, Q and I.

The main characters are Jesse and Leigh, who first appeared in Taking Him On (Book Two), which is Noah and Matty’s story.

The Making Of Us is first-person, told from Jesse’s perspective.

In this snippet, Jesse and Leigh are about to go on their first (kind of) date.

* * * * *

Leigh came into the living room, shoving stuff into the pockets of their…blue? pants. Whatever colour they were, Leigh’s shirt appeared to be the same shade, over which was a striped waistcoat. Probably not blue and yellow. Baseball boots had replaced the Doc Martens of the past few days.

“Blisters from hell, mate,” Leigh explained.

“Yeah?”

Leigh nodded and opened their mouth to say more, but got cut off by Sol’s exclamation of, “Good God. I’ll go find my sunglasses, shall I?”

Leigh rolled their eyes but then looked doubtful. “It’s not too bright, is it?”

“Not for me,” I said, although I was also curious enough to come clean. “I’m colour blind.”

“Are you?”

“Not completely. I mean, I can tell your pants are blue.”

“Purple,” Leigh and Sol said together.

“OK.” I laughed. “And your shirt’s purple, too?”

“Yep. Have a guess at the waistcoat.” Leigh was clearly enjoying this.

“Well…” I squinted, like that would make any difference. “It looks blue and yellow to me, so I’m gonna go with purple and…green?”

“Almost.” Leigh pointed to the stripes in turn. “Red, green, red, purple, green, pink, green, red, purple.”

“Wow, that’s a lot of colours.”

“I can change if it’s too much.”

“No! It’s not. You look great.” Blue and yellow or all those other colours they’d said, they really did.

“So, I’m guessing you can’t tell what colour my hair is?” Leigh speculated.

“Um…purple, by any chance?”

They grinned. “Got it in one.”

“I’m a quick study,” I said, returning the grin and feeling pretty pleased with myself. This was much more like the banter we’d had in the summer.

* * * * *What is WIPpet Wednesday?

WIPpet Wednesday is a blog hop where authors share from their current works in progress - expertly organised/hosted by Emily Witt - and the excerpt has to relate to the date in some way. For links to other fabulous authors' WIPpets, visit: http://www.inlinkz.com/wpview.php?id=355404


Thanks for reading
Deb x

The Making Of Us - Same Old Jesse #RainbowSnippets #LGBTQIA

Brief explanation:
Another snippet from The Making Of Us . You can read the others here .

The Making Of Us is the fourth book in the Checking Him Out series , but it’s a stand-alone story about friendship, love and romance—LGBTQIA, with the emphasis on the B, Q and I.

The main characters are Jesse and Leigh, who first appeared in Taking Him On (Book Two), which is Noah and Matty’s story.

The Making Of Us is first-person, told from Jesse’s perspective.

Here’s the snippet:

When I thought back to the first time I saw Leigh and felt the tug of attraction—OK, full-on crush—and Matty told me Leigh wasn’t a girl, I did have to consider what that meant, but not because I’d thought Leigh was a girl. All I knew then was what I knew now; I was head over heels, and Leigh being queer—the word they said fitted them best—was irrelevant to that feeling, other than pushing me to reconsider who I was myself.

Well, I was the same old Jesse Thomas I’d always been. I was male. I’d never doubted it, and my gender had never been called to question the way it was for Leigh, and sometimes for Matty, who wore make-up, had longish hair and moved very gracefully. He was feminine—or femme, he said—but he was definitely male, and if anyone told him he looked ‘so gay’, Noah stepped in and said, ‘Do I look gay, too?’

* * * * *
Rainbow Snippets is a group for LGBTQ+ authors, readers, and bloggers to gather once a week to share six sentences from a work of fiction–a WIP or a finished work or even a 6-sentence book recommendation (no spoilers please!).

In this group you'll find anything from romance and historical fiction to mystery and YA. The common thread is that every story's main character identifies as LGBTQ+. The snippets could range from zero flames to full-on sexytimes, anything goes content-wise. The only rule is snippets will be 6 sentences long–one for each color in the Pride flag.

* * * * *
Thanks for reading,
Deb x

#WIPpet Wednesday - The Making Of Us (Wiggling Toes) #amwriting

WIPpet numbers for the Ides of March!
15 (for the day) paragraphs from The Making Of Us (Checking Him Out Book Four)
WIPpet Context:
Another snippet from The Making Of Us . You can read the others here .

The Making Of Us is the fourth book in the Checking Him Out series , but it’s a stand-alone story about friendship, love and romance—LGBTQIA, with the emphasis on the B, Q and I.

The main characters are Jesse and Leigh, who first appeared in Taking Him On (Book Two), which is Noah and Matty’s story.

The Making Of Us is first-person, told from Jesse’s perspective.

In this snippet, Jesse is sitting in Noah’s backyard, and Leigh has gone inside to get drinks.

* * * * *

I’d never noticed Leigh singing before. I wasn’t musical myself, but I could tell if someone was singing in tune. Leigh’s voice was incredible. In tune, yes, but there was something more, like they were channelling the oppressive warmth of the evening and transforming it into this husky, rich melody. It was so beautiful, I didn’t realise I’d stopped breathing until Leigh was standing next to me, holding out a can of Coke.

“You all right, Jesse?”

“Um, yeah.” I nodded vigorously enough to rattle my brain, if that were possible. “What was that song?”

“Song? Oh! It’s called ‘All the same to me’. I’ve been listening to it all day, and it’s stuck in my head. D’you like it?”

“Yeah, I really do. You have a really good voice.” Really, really… Urgh. Come on, Jess, get it together.

“Thanks. My friend wrote it.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. I think you’d like her other stuff.” Seeing as I still hadn’t taken my drink, Leigh put both cans down and hopped up onto the table, sitting with legs crossed, the toes of one socked foot wiggling mere inches from my hand. The motion was hypnotising.

You know what I would’ve loved? For us to have been at that point where I’d just reach over and massage Leigh’s foot while they talked. Which would mean first asking Leigh out on a date, and Leigh accepting. Then we’d have to establish some kind of relationship. How long would it take before we were comfortable enough with each other—

“Those boots gave me blisters,” Leigh said.

“Did they?” I was pretty sure they’d said something else before that, but wiggling toes, daydreams—I was starting to understand how Noah almost failed first year. This was crazy.

I got the feeling Leigh was aware of my sporadic loss of concentration, but they continued anyway. “They’ll be fine once I’ve worn them a few times. Same with my last pair. So you’re not interested, then?”

“In?”

“I mean, it’s OK. I’m going anyway. I guess I could ask Matty.”

Right, so this was the bit I missed.

* * * * *What is WIPpet Wednesday?

WIPpet Wednesday is a blog hop where authors share from their current works in progress - expertly organised/hosted by Emily Witt - and the excerpt has to relate to the date in some way. For links to other fabulous authors' WIPpets, visit: http://www.inlinkz.com/wpview.php?id=355404


Thanks for reading
Deb x