Writing Upate - Daniel's Talking to Us...
Random writing update - I'm excited. Because after almost two months of no writing - the flow is back. The characters are coming alive again, the other world I live in is waking up and stories are taking shape. I'm working on three different projects right now.
1. Book three in the Telesa Trilogy, The Bone Bearer which is a huge, epic kinda tale with all sorts of threads running through it. That one is not going to be ready for awhile because its the blow-out book where I'm having a blast not holding back. I feel like I get a bit more braver with every book, put a bit more of what I'm really thinking in each one, so this next one is going to be a book that you either HATE or LOVE. And I'm not going to worry too much either way, but just let it out.
2. My adult contemporary romance - a 'chick-lit' story set in Samoa...I love to read semi-twisted, funny, sarcastic, comic romance and so Im buzzed to write one with a Pacific feel to it. And this one aint for kids...
3. Daniel's Story. I don't have a title for this one yet. Initially, it was just going to be a novella where we 'see' key scenes from the first book through Daniel's eyes and get to hear his voice. But, as usual, Daniel has hijacked the plan and the book is more of his life story, including his early years, as well as his telling of books one and two. Big Son is making fun of my efforts to get inside Daniel's 'voice' and telling me that no REAL boy talks like that. I had to remind him that, hello, Daniel is NOT real and that's the reason why readers are so crazy about him... So yeah, this book is for diehard Daniel fans...and Big Son is not one of them! This book will release soon. As in, hopefully, this year. I would like to serialize its release as an e-book so you dont have to wait too long for it.
"Daniel": Photography by Jordan Kwan, Model Ezra Taylor. On location in Samoa
Because I'm excited to be getting my writing groove back, I'm sharing a piece of the Daniel book here...
Daniel's Story: a piece
I’ve been having trouble sleeping. Every night it's the same thing. I wake up some time after midnight. Restless. Gotta get out of the house. I try working out on the old weights at the back of the workshop. The one my grandfather made for me. Work out for an hour. Hoping to tire myself out so I can go back to sleep. No luck. Get in the truck and go for a drive. And every time, I end up here. At the pool at the back of Faatoia village. The one where the boys would all head to after school back in the day while I went to work at the steel fabrication shop. It never used to bug me. Seeing as how the water was never my thing. There's some things I keep to myself. Like the fact that for most of my life, I've had a problem with the ocean, with rivers... I wouldn’t go so far as to call it a phobia. But yeah, me and the water? We don’t connect.
So if water is not my thing – then why am I here again? Its two in the morning and I'm walking through the bush, slapping at mosquitoes, grateful for the full moon so I don’t trip over and end up face first in the dirt. I can hear the waterfall before I get there. It gives me that uneasy feeling. I don’t like it. But I still want it. Ah, what the hell, let’s get this over with. The sooner I get wet, the sooner I can go home and go to sleep.
That’s how it was supposed to work anyway. That’s how it played out every other night I end up here. But tonight is different. Because tonight I break out of the tangled trees and stop short. Because there’s someone else here.
It’s a girl. She’s standing in the black water with her back to me. She’s tall, with long thick hair to her waist. But that’s not enough to hide the fact that she’s not wearing much. A black bikini thing. Which is a little unusual for Samoa. I’m caught off guard, so I just stand there for a minute and stare. She looks oddly familiar but I don’t know why. I’m sure I don’t know any girls who go swimming in the middle of the night. And while I stare at her, she raises her hands up to the sky and throws her head back. Moonlight ripples on bare, wet skin. Lines, curves, drenched in liquid silver.The night suddenly gets very hot for me, very fast. Like a rush of music that hits you with emotion. A raw, ragged Eminem song...
You must be a sorceress, cause you just did the impossible, gained my trust...You take my breath away, you're a supernova...I'm spacebound.
Right away, I feel like a creepy stalker. And that makes me mad. This is my 2am hangout. What’s this girl doing here?
I move closer. “What are you doing here?” I didn’t mean it to sound as harsh as it did.
The girl is startled. She jumps, slips and falls. Goes under. Splashes wildly. The water isn’t very deep so I wait for her to get back up. She doesn’t. She keeps flailing all over the place. I feel bad now. She’s probably freaked out big-time. I am a creepy stalker. And now she’s going to drown in a foot of water because of me.
I go quick to the pool, grab her arm. It makes things worse. She pushes at my hand. Yells. “Get off me! I said get off. I know kung fu – I mean karate. And I have a weapon. I do. Get away!”
What the hell? She blindly hits out at me and falls over again. Goes under. She’s like a drowning puppy now. Wildly kicking and hitting out at everything and nothing. Now I’m getting worried. Maybe she can’t swim. Maybe she’s scared of the water. Which makes no sense then that she would be out here all by herself. Half-naked. I’m trying to ignore the part of my brain that just said that. Do something Daniel.
I reach down and grab her firm enough that she can’t shake me loose. Her skin is hot to the touch. Hot enough that I almost let her go. That's weird. I ignore the burn and drag her over to the side of the pool. Put her down on the ground. She turns over immediately, trying to get all that hair out of her face, wiping at her eyes, coughing and spluttering. I look at her and in that moment, I realize, hey, I know you! It’s Leila. Very wet. Very flustered. And very half-naked. Stop saying that. Stop noticing that.
In that moment I’m happy it’s her and not some total stranger, which would be really awkward. Get honest. Okay, I’m just glad because it’s her. She’s here. Right now. With me. I don’t know how or why, but here she is. And I haven’t drowned her. So yeah, I’m happy. I'm not sure why though, because the girl has been nothing but a mega-bitch to me from day one. Still, I laugh.
“So which is it? Karate or kung-fu? Either way, I’m reeeally scared.”
She glares up at me. Angry face. Angry eyes. The usual Leila. But the impact is kinda reduced because of her outfit. Or lack of it. Dammit, it’s not even a real swimsuit. She’d been swimming in her underwear and that stuff aint made for getting wet. I try not to let my eyes linger on how the material is clinging to her . But it's hard. In more ways than one. Quick, think of something else. Say something. Do something. Humor. I seize on it with relief - before she can accuse me of being a psycho stalker who can’t take his eyes off her chest, blatantly outlined in thin, wet cotton.
I look down at her hostile self and shake my head,
“And so this weapon of yours? Just where exactly would you be concealing that?”
But as usual with this girl, my joke misfires. Instead of laughing with me, she scrambles to her feet, grabbing at a towel that lies near by. Once tightly wrapped in it, she hits me with a rush of rage. “What the hell do you think you’re doing? Creeping around in the dark, sneaking up on people like that and then scaring them? And how dare you put your hands on me.” She searches wildly for words. “You – you- you horrible creep!”
It cuts to hear her accuse me of what I’d kinda been thinking of. Guilt makes me snap. Again. “Excuse me? Oh I get it, we’re going for a three count – racist, sexist and now I’m potential rapist. Is there nothing you won’t accuse me of?”
Have you had a chance to share a quick book review of the Telesa Trilogy on Amazon? I'm promising that when your Amazon reviews for Telesa:The Covenant Keeper reach 200 reviews, I will release one, two, three chapters of the Daniel book. Cos I love the love that you all have shown for the Telesa books. You make this writing journey a joy to be on, THANK YOU!
1. Book three in the Telesa Trilogy, The Bone Bearer which is a huge, epic kinda tale with all sorts of threads running through it. That one is not going to be ready for awhile because its the blow-out book where I'm having a blast not holding back. I feel like I get a bit more braver with every book, put a bit more of what I'm really thinking in each one, so this next one is going to be a book that you either HATE or LOVE. And I'm not going to worry too much either way, but just let it out.
2. My adult contemporary romance - a 'chick-lit' story set in Samoa...I love to read semi-twisted, funny, sarcastic, comic romance and so Im buzzed to write one with a Pacific feel to it. And this one aint for kids...
3. Daniel's Story. I don't have a title for this one yet. Initially, it was just going to be a novella where we 'see' key scenes from the first book through Daniel's eyes and get to hear his voice. But, as usual, Daniel has hijacked the plan and the book is more of his life story, including his early years, as well as his telling of books one and two. Big Son is making fun of my efforts to get inside Daniel's 'voice' and telling me that no REAL boy talks like that. I had to remind him that, hello, Daniel is NOT real and that's the reason why readers are so crazy about him... So yeah, this book is for diehard Daniel fans...and Big Son is not one of them! This book will release soon. As in, hopefully, this year. I would like to serialize its release as an e-book so you dont have to wait too long for it.
"Daniel": Photography by Jordan Kwan, Model Ezra Taylor. On location in SamoaBecause I'm excited to be getting my writing groove back, I'm sharing a piece of the Daniel book here...
Daniel's Story: a piece
I’ve been having trouble sleeping. Every night it's the same thing. I wake up some time after midnight. Restless. Gotta get out of the house. I try working out on the old weights at the back of the workshop. The one my grandfather made for me. Work out for an hour. Hoping to tire myself out so I can go back to sleep. No luck. Get in the truck and go for a drive. And every time, I end up here. At the pool at the back of Faatoia village. The one where the boys would all head to after school back in the day while I went to work at the steel fabrication shop. It never used to bug me. Seeing as how the water was never my thing. There's some things I keep to myself. Like the fact that for most of my life, I've had a problem with the ocean, with rivers... I wouldn’t go so far as to call it a phobia. But yeah, me and the water? We don’t connect.
So if water is not my thing – then why am I here again? Its two in the morning and I'm walking through the bush, slapping at mosquitoes, grateful for the full moon so I don’t trip over and end up face first in the dirt. I can hear the waterfall before I get there. It gives me that uneasy feeling. I don’t like it. But I still want it. Ah, what the hell, let’s get this over with. The sooner I get wet, the sooner I can go home and go to sleep.
That’s how it was supposed to work anyway. That’s how it played out every other night I end up here. But tonight is different. Because tonight I break out of the tangled trees and stop short. Because there’s someone else here.
It’s a girl. She’s standing in the black water with her back to me. She’s tall, with long thick hair to her waist. But that’s not enough to hide the fact that she’s not wearing much. A black bikini thing. Which is a little unusual for Samoa. I’m caught off guard, so I just stand there for a minute and stare. She looks oddly familiar but I don’t know why. I’m sure I don’t know any girls who go swimming in the middle of the night. And while I stare at her, she raises her hands up to the sky and throws her head back. Moonlight ripples on bare, wet skin. Lines, curves, drenched in liquid silver.The night suddenly gets very hot for me, very fast. Like a rush of music that hits you with emotion. A raw, ragged Eminem song...
You must be a sorceress, cause you just did the impossible, gained my trust...You take my breath away, you're a supernova...I'm spacebound.
Right away, I feel like a creepy stalker. And that makes me mad. This is my 2am hangout. What’s this girl doing here?
I move closer. “What are you doing here?” I didn’t mean it to sound as harsh as it did.
The girl is startled. She jumps, slips and falls. Goes under. Splashes wildly. The water isn’t very deep so I wait for her to get back up. She doesn’t. She keeps flailing all over the place. I feel bad now. She’s probably freaked out big-time. I am a creepy stalker. And now she’s going to drown in a foot of water because of me.
I go quick to the pool, grab her arm. It makes things worse. She pushes at my hand. Yells. “Get off me! I said get off. I know kung fu – I mean karate. And I have a weapon. I do. Get away!”
What the hell? She blindly hits out at me and falls over again. Goes under. She’s like a drowning puppy now. Wildly kicking and hitting out at everything and nothing. Now I’m getting worried. Maybe she can’t swim. Maybe she’s scared of the water. Which makes no sense then that she would be out here all by herself. Half-naked. I’m trying to ignore the part of my brain that just said that. Do something Daniel.
I reach down and grab her firm enough that she can’t shake me loose. Her skin is hot to the touch. Hot enough that I almost let her go. That's weird. I ignore the burn and drag her over to the side of the pool. Put her down on the ground. She turns over immediately, trying to get all that hair out of her face, wiping at her eyes, coughing and spluttering. I look at her and in that moment, I realize, hey, I know you! It’s Leila. Very wet. Very flustered. And very half-naked. Stop saying that. Stop noticing that.
In that moment I’m happy it’s her and not some total stranger, which would be really awkward. Get honest. Okay, I’m just glad because it’s her. She’s here. Right now. With me. I don’t know how or why, but here she is. And I haven’t drowned her. So yeah, I’m happy. I'm not sure why though, because the girl has been nothing but a mega-bitch to me from day one. Still, I laugh.
“So which is it? Karate or kung-fu? Either way, I’m reeeally scared.”
She glares up at me. Angry face. Angry eyes. The usual Leila. But the impact is kinda reduced because of her outfit. Or lack of it. Dammit, it’s not even a real swimsuit. She’d been swimming in her underwear and that stuff aint made for getting wet. I try not to let my eyes linger on how the material is clinging to her . But it's hard. In more ways than one. Quick, think of something else. Say something. Do something. Humor. I seize on it with relief - before she can accuse me of being a psycho stalker who can’t take his eyes off her chest, blatantly outlined in thin, wet cotton.
I look down at her hostile self and shake my head,
“And so this weapon of yours? Just where exactly would you be concealing that?”
But as usual with this girl, my joke misfires. Instead of laughing with me, she scrambles to her feet, grabbing at a towel that lies near by. Once tightly wrapped in it, she hits me with a rush of rage. “What the hell do you think you’re doing? Creeping around in the dark, sneaking up on people like that and then scaring them? And how dare you put your hands on me.” She searches wildly for words. “You – you- you horrible creep!”
It cuts to hear her accuse me of what I’d kinda been thinking of. Guilt makes me snap. Again. “Excuse me? Oh I get it, we’re going for a three count – racist, sexist and now I’m potential rapist. Is there nothing you won’t accuse me of?”
Have you had a chance to share a quick book review of the Telesa Trilogy on Amazon? I'm promising that when your Amazon reviews for Telesa:The Covenant Keeper reach 200 reviews, I will release one, two, three chapters of the Daniel book. Cos I love the love that you all have shown for the Telesa books. You make this writing journey a joy to be on, THANK YOU!
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