A Night at the Wesley – Revisited
After a morning of shopping for school uniforms with three kids, I was completely done. I knew there would be no writing for me this afternoon – my brain was fried and my nerves were frazzled. Some macaroni and cheese and a glass of wine were all that I was thinking about.
But I did turn on my computer as I ate. Checked a few emails, responded to none but starred them for later. For some reason, I decided to check my Amazon sales through the KDP website. (An amazing and insidious site that can bring me to tears or have me leaping with joy.) Today, though, I was too tired to care one way or the other.
But I did see that A Night at the Wesley had sold a few books this month and I noticed its publication date – 07/08/2012. A year old! I missed another baby’s birthday.
Like all of my children, I have a clear vision of the day they were either born or published into the world.
Last year, it was unbearably hot here in North Texas. We were on track for breaking a record for most consecutive days of temps over 100 degrees. Even me who never complains about the heat was a grumpy, sweaty lump.
I gave the kids and hubby some Popsicles and began writing about snow.
I saw the building shrouding in a mist first – dark and cold without a warming fire. The Wesley Hotel in downtown Detroit was created.
But this is an erotic flash so we’ll need heat from somewhere. Enter Connie Atkinson, pissed that she’s in Detroit when she should be in Vail at a posh ski resort in front of that fire.
Then we’ll need someone to warm up Connie’s night. Ah, there he is…Noah Cohen, attorney and former college study buddy! The Wesley doesn’t seem so bad to Connie when she’s staring into Noah’s soft brown eyes.
Those two brought a lot of joy to me last summer. In fact all of the characters did. I wrote this when I knew even less about being a writer than I do now…and that’s saying a lot. I wrote it as it came to me and one day I’m sure I’ll revise it into a longer work. Make it more of a “romantic” piece but for now I think it’s fine as it is – the possibility of a happily ever after.
A Night at the Wesley – a little heat in the middle of a dreary winter written in the dog days of summer. (For the recipe for A Long Sloe Screw, the cocktail in the short story, click here.)
