Other Relationships

Happy Wednesday! The weather may be yucky, but it’s warm and cozy inside. I baked cookies last night (snickerdoodles, in case you wondered). Lemme tell you, that’s a big deal. I won’t go into it much here, but last year was…bad, and I didn’t realize it because it happened so gradually. Emerging from that dark place has been just as gradual, so much that I didn’t realize it until I started getting back the joy of doing things I used to love, like baking. I’m still at the mercy of fibro fatigue, but it’s easier to manage.

The only reason I’m saying anything is that my blog is public, and I’m hoping if someone else is reading they’ll know they’re not alone. I don’t think we let ourselves acknowledge when something is wrong. For me, I usually don’t want to take up other people’s time and space, especially knowing they may have their own things to deal with. Yet somehow, this doesn’t work in reverse—I don’t feel like other people are taking up my time or space. Funny how the mind works.

Anyway, on to my WIPpet. Getting to about the halfway mark editing Keeping the Faith, and it’s going well. The story sort of ended up going a direction I hadn’t planned, and that’s okay. It just means I have to rework some scenes I’d written previously. I’m posting the bit that comes right after last week’s. (On Saturdays, I’ve been posting from later in the same chapter.) Micah’s visiting with LR. Warning for a swear I chose not to edit out for this post.

WIPmath: 1/18 = 1 + 1 + 8 = 10 short paragraphs.

“He asked me to empty my life of him so I wouldn’t waste my time in mourning.” Micah allowed exactly one tear to escape before furiously brushing at his eyes.

“My brother was an absolute ass sometimes,” LR remarked, shaking her head. “How could he ask you to do that?”

“He knew me better than anyone, and I think he might have been right. He didn’t say I should get rid of pictures or things he gave me. He wanted me not to keep all his things around, looking at them all the time and losing myself in grief. Even you remember what I was like the summer we met.”

“I do,” LR confirmed. “But you’ve come a long way since then.”

“I know.” He clenched his teeth as though that might help him shove his overflowing emotions back where they belonged. “I found some of his medical tubing, and I almost lost it. Stupid shit like that keeps popping up.”

“It’s not stupid, Micah. It happens to me too, all the time.” She put her arms around him and squeezed. After a moment, she said, “I think I have an idea.”

“Oh?” Micah pulled away.

“Yeah. You know that new community center they remodeled?”

“Of course.”

“I know a couple of people who are coordinating volunteers to teach some classes. How about I give them a call? They can contact you with whatever they need, and maybe you can help out. That’ll give you something to focus on for a while.” She smiled. “It’s something Cat would’ve loved.”

Like what you read? Be sure to check out the other entries and add your own. Just post a bit of your WIP, connect it to the date, and link up with us. Many thanks to Emily Witt for giving us this space. Happy reading and writing!

Happy Wednesday! Our household is once again back to the pre-holiday schedule. All classes and rehearsals have started. Last night, neither the kids nor I had anything, and the busyness the rest of the week makes us appreciate it all the more.

Meanwhile, I’m feeling like 2017 isn’t off to the greatest start in my professional circles. Let’s just say there’s lots of drama already. I think what makes me saddest is seeing how the behavior isn’t any more mature than middle schoolers. In fact, my own middle schoolers and their friends are mostly more advanced than a lot of adults.

Enough of that. On to my WIPpet. I’m still deep in edits on Keeping the Faith, and I did promise I’d post the next bit which follows last week’s. Micah is visiting with LR, and he’s asked if he can talk to her about something. It’s a sensitive subject for them both.

WIPmath: 1/11 = 1 + 11 = 12 sentences.

“Of course,” LR replied. She accepted Robbie into her arms and carted him to the living room, where she plopped him down with some toys. He promptly dropped into crawl mode and scooted away, dragging a stuffed bunny by the ear.

Micah fidgeted a little. “I don’t know how to say this, but…I can’t clean out his room. I just can’t.”

LR frowned. “I thought you already had.”

“Mostly, yeah. But I’ve got his shoes and his cello and some of his clothes, plus an attic full of his old tools.” He drew in a deep breath, holding it together. “I need to move on, but I feel so stuck.”

Like what you read? Be sure to check out the other entries and add your own. Just post a bit of your WIP, connect it to the date, and link up with us. Many thanks to Emily Witt for giving us this space. Happy reading and writing!

Happy 2017! I’m starting my year the way I ended it: reading lots of books. I have a whole bunch of new ones on my Kindle that were part of my Christmas gift, and I have a few I’m working on by request of the author. My goal is 60 books by the end of the year. I doubled that in 2016, but it was a bit much.

I’m also whittling away at Keeping the Faith, the last part of Micah & Cat’s story. It’s bittersweet for a lot of reasons. I know some people would love if I wrote about them forever, but I can tell it’s time to let them go. I thought about waiting (this book is set several years in the future, and I can’t predict what will happen between now and then). But because I’m ready to move on, it needs to be done now.

I think it will be clear eventually from the context what’s going on (and it certainly is in the actual book), so I’m not going to spell it out here. You’ll just have to trust me, I suppose. In this snippet, Micah’s gone to visit LR, Cat’s sister.

WIPmath: No math. New year, new snippets, first chapter.

Micah sat at his sister-in-law’s kitchen table, spooning food into his nephew’s open mouth. About fifty percent of it made it—hopefully—to Robbie’s stomach; the other half landed on his chin, the tray in front of him, and Micah’s hand. Robbie giggled and blew a raspberry, resulting in flecks of pureed squash landing on Micah’s cheek.

LR glanced over. “You really don’t have to do that. He can eat Cheerios until I finish the dishes.”

“I don’t mind.”

Never having wanted his own children, Micah nevertheless loved the ones belonging to other people. Good thing, or he wouldn’t have made a very good teacher. It had surprised him—and Cat—that Micah had taken so readily to babies, though. Robbie was number four and the third unplanned surprise. LR swore he was the last.

Micah finished feeding the baby and stepped to the sink for a cloth to clean himself, Robbie, and anything in a ten-foot radius of the high chair. LR glanced at him and choked on a laugh.

“Got some in your hair,” she said.

“Gross,” Micah remarked. He reached up with the damp cloth and wiped at it.

While he cleaned up, he contemplated what he wanted to say to LR. He wasn’t sure how to explain. They were close, made possible in large part because LR lived next door to him. Cat had moved in with Micah, and the house, which technically she’d owned anyway, had become hers. It was a good thing, too—she and Jamal had barely been married five minutes when she officially announced she was pregnant. Only Cat and Micah had known before the wedding.

“Can I talk to you about something?” Micah asked, lifting Robbie from the high chair.

Like what you read? Be sure to check out the other entries and add your own. Just post a bit of your WIP, connect it to the date, and link up with us. Many thanks to Emily Witt for giving us this space. Happy reading and writing!