The Week’s Accumulation lxviii
It’s been one of those cookie-baking, gift-wrapping, envelope-addressing kinds of weeks. Looking back, it seems I’ve been nothing but busy, and it’s been fun. But I can feel the old restlessness setting in. I need more writing time, and to get it, I may need to turn to my alarm clock. Early mornings are still my best spot for carving out creative space! There’s a little of this and that on my desktop after this week. If you want a peek at my clutter, you’re welcome to it!
This week’s accumulation:
♦ I’ve been checking each morning, but there’s still no sign of “Angels in Harmony.” Rest assured, I’ll do a post announcing when Zondervan makes the free short story available for download. In the meantime, a teaser!
A couch. A rug. A coffee table. A floor lamp. The cupboards were barren, and the walls were beige. Kester’s new apartment wasn’t much, but it gave him the veneer of humanity. When an angel became a Graft, such things were necessary for blending in.
“Are you ready?” Jedrick asked. The warrior gestured to the front door. “Myron lives directly below you. Usually, that means … less quiet than you have been enjoying.”
Kester’s gaze flitted briefly to the plain wood floor. “How convenient.” Giving his vest a tug and straightening his tie, the Worshiper reached for his suit coat, slipped it on, and buttoned it up. “I am ready.”
An echoing stairwell. An ordinary door. Kester glanced inquiringly at his captain, who didn’t bother knocking. He ducked through, leaving Kester to follow. The apartment was garish. Every wall and door was painted a different color—red, turquoise, orange, purple, green, yellow. And the place was even more sparsely furnished than his own. A mound of beanbag chairs was heaped in one corner. Kester also noted a drum set, several amps, three music stands, and a tangle of black cords strewn across the floor.
“Myron …?”
“It’s Baird,” muttered the wiry redhead who stood staring out the window. He wore faded jeans with ragged hems and a tie-dye tank top that exposed the pattern made by furled wings. The weary look he shot his captain turned blank when he spotted Kester.
—excerpt from “Angels in Harmony,” a free illustrated short story, due out any day now from Christa Kinde and Zonderkidz!
♦ This past week, my family kicked off the holiday season in fine style by taking in a performance of Handel’s Messiah at one of the local churches. Having written so much about the concert that takes place during the Threshold Series, it was pure joy to sit in the pews of a small Presbyterian church with its stained glass windows and pipe organ. The orchestra and choir did a beautiful job, and my mind was filled with the accompaniment of angels. ♫
♦ Another fun outing this past week was our church’s Christmas Tea. Only in San Diego can we gather outdoors in December. One of my daughters made the chicken salad filled puffs that were our contribution to the delicacies. My other daughter won a potted poinsettia in the raffle. One of my sons donned coat and tie and helped to serve the ladies. And my husband lent his voice to a male trio and sang a few Christmas carols during the program. A good time was had by all:
We three: my daughters and me. ♥
♦ My first batch of Christmas cards will go out tomorrow, and I’d like to extend the invitation once more. I’d be delighted to add you to my mailing list. Would you like a bookplate? Let me know how you’d like it personalized. And if you haven’t signed up for postcards, please allow me to send some your way.
♦ And for those of you who enjoy fairy tale-like fantasy, I’ll nudge you toward the newly-available first installment in the Galleries of Stone trilogy. Since reading the tale on this blog was out-of-the-way and awkward, I’ve made the story accessible to a wider audience. Book 1: Meadowsweet introduces a world where magical mountains are entrusted to master sculptors like Freydolf. Necessity drives this recluse from the Statuary to search for a new servant. The villagers thereabouts fear him—with good reason—but when people are poor and homes are crowded, all it takes is a handful of coins to loosen family ties. Tupper Meadowsweet isn’t the cleverest child, but he’s brave enough to follow Freydolf onto the gray mountain, whose galleries hold wonders that introduce Tupper to faraway lands, diverse races, unique customs, long histories … and danger. Find out more at CJMilbrandt.com.
So what’s cluttering up your desktop? Do tell!
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