Sunday Snippet: Man Up

The work projectabundance continues. I'm plugging along and chiseling away at the four currentprojects I have on my plate—two copy edits, a proofread, and a developmentaledit are the main events. I also have a set of revisions to review and a readthrough to start. It's chaotic but also … fun? I love that everything I'mworking on right now is so different. Not one of the manuscripts is similar tothe other ones.

As usual, totallyunhinged weather in Ohio. It's cold. It's hot. It's both in one day. Rain, sun,gloomy clouds, and hey, a chance for more snow. I did get lucky and had amostly clear night for the recent blood moon eclipse, which was amazing towatch. Being a night owl comes in very hand sometimes.

Had a limited viewingschedule this week, mainly because I needed to focus on the words in themanuscripts. I did get a few things watched. I might have to give bingewatching something for background noise a go for the next few weeks.

Finished up BeyondParadise and thoroughly enjoyed the first season finale. They packed so muchinto this episode. The case, Humph and Archie fight, more shenanigans from theChief Super, Esther and Hump bonding, Margo being Margo, Kelby being Kelby, andof course, the crew from Death in Paradise at the end. I can't wait towatch the first holiday episode this week!

Caught an episodeof Elementary and quite enjoyed it. Interesting interactions between theconsulting trio and the police duo and twisty bits thrown in to keep thingsrolling.

Enjoyed an episodeof Batman Beyond. It's one I definitely remembered and liked during myfirst watch of this series.

Watched an episodeof Classic Rugrats and actually remember this one, which is odd becausemost of the ninth season has been new-to-me stuff.

Started an episodeof London Kills, the opener to the fourth season. I had to stop partwaythrough because I need to pay attention and this isn't the week for me to dothat.

Also binged amarathon of Peter Gunn on one of the live PlexTV channels. I've beenhitting Plex up for a lot of viewing fare lately and I might end up using itover the next several weeks for background noise. Stay tuned.

That's pretty muchit for the life update this week. Tonight's post is from Man Up, anovella that brings a couple together when they compete to see who can outdowho.

Here's the miniblurb:

Hattie Hale and Nero Palmer, instructors at the Academyof Light, are supposed to set the example, but can't quite get past theircompetitive natures. A drunken game of one-ups-manship goes all the way to thesleeping chamber because neither will admit to being outdone.

And a preview snippet…

Hattie wished she could sip her mugof coffee slowly, but she always inhaled the first blast of caffeine of theday. "Right, then. I'm ready for a refill. You can talk now." Shereached for the carafe and filled her mug while carefully watching him throughher lashes.She had to give the guy props. He'dkept up with her last night and didn't seem too bad off. In fact, he appearedto be doing just fine. A notch of respect ticked up for him.Nero's chin lifted. "Ground rules?Let's start there." He propped an ankle on his knee. "We need somesurprises because we know each other's strengths and weaknesses in theclassroom." Hattie blinked. "Wow. You'vegiven this some thought, haven't you?" She didn't care how they competedbecause her main goal had been to … what had been the original point?Right. She kind of wanted to testthe waters and see if anything developed between them. But … she didn't want tobe obvious.Nero arched his brows. "Whywouldn't I? You issued a challenge and, well, it could be fun to compete forsomething other than test grades." He nodded toward the pot on theottoman. "Mind if I have more? The coffee really is excellent."Hattie's lips twitched. "Can Icount that as a win?" She scooted the carafe closer to him.Nero laughed. "Why not? I haveto concede it's better than anything I've ever brewed." He refilled hismug and shook his head.An idea popped into her mind."Okay. Let's make one of our ground rules competing in nonmagickal areas."She had a couple of super-secret recipes she could pull out and blow his mindwith.Nero pondered for a moment."Yeah. I'm down with that. Like a mix of magick we don't use in theclassroom and regular, everyday stuff." Sipping from the mug, he watchedher over the rim of the cup.Hattie hid a smirk. "Allright. I'll cook dinner tonight. You can cook tomorrow. Monday … well, we'llsee how it goes. We can use it as a tiebreaker if we need to." Warming upto the plan, she made another suggestion. "For something magickal, I thinkwe should try something with runes. Set a ward and see if the other can breakit." She loved puzzles.Nero tilted his head. "Yeah,okay. For nonmagickal, I'm thinking darts? I have a board in my shed. We couldgo best two out of three." He paused a moment. "For something withmagick, how about layered hexes? We'll start at the same time and see whofinishes first?"Hattie added a stipulation."Somewhere neutral for the runes and hexes. That way neither of us has anadvantage over the other." She flashed a smile. "I'm not worriedabout the darts. Two out of three makes it fair." Settling back, shesipped more coffee.Nero set his empty cup on theottoman. "I think we're good to go. Like you said, we can use Monday if weneed tiebreakers for anything." He made to stand up.Hattie held up a hand. "Holdup a minute. I'm already one ahead of you with the coffee. I think we shouldswitch nights. You cook tonight and I'll cook tomorrow." She had to givehim a shot at keeping things even.Nero narrowed his gaze again."You need to get groceries, don't you?" The sly twist to his lips gaveaway his teasing.She snorted. "No, but I wasthinking we could maybe get the dart game out of the way after dinner." Mainlybecause she wanted to see him in his own space to get some ideas for thelayered hexes.Nero shrugged. "Let's sayseven for dinner." He got up and started for the door. "Don't belate."She grinned. "Wouldn't dreamof it. See you then."

Having a lot of funwith this one. Competing as a get to know each other outside of theirprofessional setting is a hoot to write.

 

That's it for thisweek.

Cheers!

Skye