Fiction

Happy Wednesday! I almost forgot about this because I was so busy with other things this morning. It’s been quite a week! I mentioned last time having a bit of a run-in with some parents at my son’s school. This week was much better. Met a couple of new parents, and the people who were there were really cool. Besides all that, my son finished building his bridge in technology class and found it could hold 237 pounds and still not break! Meanwhile, my daughter had an excellent Christmas piano recital.

In the world of writing, I finished my featured story, “Noel and Silent Night” (you can also access it from the main page on my blog in the menu at the top). For anyone who’s interested, it’s a prequel of sorts to Passing on Faith about Zayne, Micah’s BFF. This was a good time to post it since PoF just released in November, and in January I start edits on Walking by Faith, the other prequel—this time a full novel about Cat.

It’s very weird having two novels in edits at the same time and not having one I’m writing (yet). Next week is the last thing I’m posting from An Act of Devotion because it will be done with beta readers by the end of the year. Cat’s story goes to betas next month, so I’ll post some snippets from that for a few weeks. Then I finally get to work on yet another sequel, this time for Anthem. Unlike the stories about Micah and Cat, these will be stand-alones within the same “world.” The next one is Nightsong, about an opera singer and a drag queen (not the same person!).

Futher up and further in! On to the WIPpet.

WIPmath: 12/23 = (1 + 2) + (2 x 3) = 9 paragraphs of dialog.

Adam grinned. “I may have made a bad first impression on you, but I can be smooth when I want to be. Want to start over?” He held out his hand. “Adam Lansing. Pleasure to meet you.”

Accepting the handshake, AJ replied, “AJ Mancuso. Likewise.”

“Well, that wasn’t so hard.” Adam couldn’t resist teasing a little. He gave AJ a sly smile and said, “Yet.”

“Oh, dear God. You’re dreadful.” AJ laughed. “Do you actually pick people up with those lines?”

Adam shrugged, playing it cool. “Among other things. I tend to read the situation and get what we both want from it.”

AJ leaned in. “I’ll bet. Sometime, you’ll have to tell me exactly how you managed to make your date appreciate those God-awful glow condoms.”

If Adam had been drinking, he’d have spewed his mouthful everywhere. As it was, his spit went down the wrong pipe, and he wound up coughing. “I can’t believe you just said that.”

“You were kind of asking for it.”

“Not yet I wasn’t. We haven’t even had a date.” Adam winked.

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!

It’s been a bit of a rough week, so I’m glad to be here relatively unscathed. I had a somewhat unpleasant experience talking about my writing. I’m used to people thinking what I do isn’t “real work,” but I’m usually willing to tell people I’m an author. I don’t typically disclose what I write until I’m comfortable with people and have a good read on how they’ll react. Unfortunately, I misread a situation and had a negative reaction from some other parents at my child’s school. What makes me sad is that I don’t think I have anything to apologize for, but it was a reminder that I do need to be more cautious. I wish that weren’t the case, but it is.

That said, here’s this week’s snippet. It’s longish, but it sets up the rest of what happens in the story. Adam’s realization that as a grad assistant, he’s lower on the food chain than undergrad employees is true to my experience, though I don’t know that it always works that way. (He’s referring to AJ here as “Mr. Know-It-All,” in case it’s not clear or anyone has forgotten.)

WIPmath: 12/16 = (1 + 2) x (6 – 1) = 15 paragraphs

The copier was on one side, and a plump young woman stood beside it, pressing buttons. Her pink, purple, and blue streaked hair was secured in a high ponytail which swung as she worked.

She turned around and stared at Adam as the office door clicked shut. “Can I help you?”

“Is Dr. Weinstock in? I was supposed to meet with her after I came back with the computer.”

“I’ll check to see if she has an appointment.”

The young woman obviously relished her authority to deny access to the professors. Adam tried not to look impatient while he waited for her to pull up the calendar. He knew Dr. Weinstock’s class schedule because he had to work around it. However, he had to rely on the student employees to fill him in on the rest of her commitments since she hadn’t given him any information. He wondered if it was her way of making sure graduate assistants knew their place.

At last the girl turned to him and said, “Go ahead. She’s got you in for this morning already.”

“Thanks.” Adam didn’t bother to hide the sneer, despite knowing it was probably a terrible idea to get on her bad side so early in the semester.

He knocked on Dr. Weinstock’s door and opened it at the muffled, “Come in.” Her office was a paradise of books, professional journals, stacks of papers, and artwork done by her three-year-old. Amid the clutter, Dr. Weinstock sat behind her desk, which was miraculously devoid of anything but a paper calendar and her computer. She looked up at Adam and smiled. Despite her gruff exterior, Dr. Weinstock genuinely cared about her students, and it showed in her classes. Adam appreciated any small gesture she offered him.

“The computer works fine,” he told her.

“Fantastic! I was hoping you’d say that. We’ll get the wireless printer software installed, and you’ll be off and running. Good thing, since you have a major task ahead of you.” She handed him a flyer.

Adam glanced down at it. The paper was an advert for the previous year’s health fair. “What’s this for?”

“You’ll be helping with the PR for this year’s fair.” She peered up at him over the top of her glasses. “You can use the old flyer as a guide for designing the new one. Check in with the students working in the health center to get the details you’ll need.”

That meant potentially having to talk to Mr. Know-It-All again, and he was undecided whether that was a good thing or a bad thing. Unable to help himself, Adam choked out, “Why?”

Dr. Weinstock arched an eyebrow at him. “Interdepartmental cooperation. The faculty and deans have determined we’ve become too isolated in our disciplines, especially when it comes to campus-wide events. This year, the health fair has several new components. The School of Nursing will be running a flu shot and basic wellness clinic. The Health Science department is providing free materials and brochures on a range of topics, and Physical Education is hosting a variety of classes. Several other disciplines are stepping in as well. Even the Music department is sending students for a demonstration on guided imagery for stress relief. Since we’re not in the business of health or education, our contribution is the promotional materials.”

Adam held back a snide comment about wondering how the Math department fit into it all. Instead, he said, “All right. What exactly do I need to do?”

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!

It’s been a long week. My kids had off from school last week for parent-teacher conferences. My older one is in 7th grade, so no conferences, but we had our 10yo’s first one ever (since we used to homeschool her). It went so well! She loves school and has adjusted well. And we’re on our way with getting her the help she needs for her disability, so it’s all good.
After the conferences, I had a weekend full of concerts. It was the annual Christmas Gala, and I loved the featured piece we played: Gloria Magnificat Te Deum (John Rutter).

On to my WIPpet.

In this story, both Adam and AJ are graduate assistants. AJ works in the student health center, and Adam works for the head of his department. These are both real jobs where I did my graduate studies, and I had Adam’s job. For the sake of the story, I’ve split the job into two, research assistant and glorified gopher. In reality, I did both these jobs myself. A lot of what I write into Adam’s experience is stuff I had to do, including the snippet below. I’ve also pretty much described the adjunct/grad assistant office from my time there. It really was just one long, windowless room shared by about 7 people. It sucked until I got moved to another office because I was helping my employer with an NIH-funded study.

WIPmath: 12/9/15: all 3 numbers are divisible by 3 = 4/3/5 = same as a 3-4-5 right triangle = triangles have 3 sides = 3 paragraphs (because I was feeling silly and because my kids think 3 has something to do with the Illuminati and would probably shout, “Illuminati confirmed!”; I think it’s a YouTube thing).

Adam lugged an older model computer monitor up the stairs to the departmental office. Behind him, Renee had the tower. They’d had to carry everything halfway across campus or risk losing their parking spots. He groaned as they hit the top step, nearly toppling backwards. He caught himself at the last minute and hauled the monitor onto the landing. His arms felt like jelly when he set the thing down to open the door to the office he and Renee shared with three adjunct professors.

It was nothing but a long room with a build-in desk taking up each wall. There were cupboards above the desks, and four of the six stations already had computers. The adjuncts all shared one desk, and the graduate assistants shared the other. There was an empty station at the far end of the room on the same desk Adam shared with Renee. The two of them had been given chairs from the department. They weren’t horrible, but they were hardly comfortable. Judging by the work he’d already been assigned, however, Adam suspected he wouldn’t have to spent much time sitting in his. Renee, in her second year, was the research assistant, so most of her work was in the library or the main department offices. As the newbie, Adam was mainly there to fetch and carry. Good thing Renee had been amenable to helping him retrieve his “new” computer, or he’d have had two trips to get it. The thought alone made him wilt.

Renee plunked the tower down, and Adam slid it under the desk. He began attaching the cords. Dr. Weinstock, the head of the Communications department, had already had an extra mouse and keyboard in her desk. Adam had no idea why, and he hoped they still worked. Everything about the computer was ancient—the monitor looked like it belonged in the last century. When everything was connected, he pressed the button on the tower to turn it all on. To his relief, it booted up in under five minutes.

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!

Sigh…I feel like such a jerk. I didn’t get to the other WIPpets last week. I should be able to this week, though, since I’m not on vacation.

Not a whole lot has happened in my personal life since last time, so nothing exciting to share. Instead, I’ll go right on to the excerpt. Last week, we saw AJ’s relationship with Luke. This week, we meet his other friends.

WIPmath: 12/2 = 12 divided by 2 = 6 paragraphs

Saturday nights were for Piet and Donny. They met up at the alley a mile from campus. Piet still looked washed-out and his big frame was leaner than it should have been, but AJ was glad to see he’d put back on some of the weight he’d lost when he was sick. He’d cut his thick mop of blond hair, and he resembled his older brother much more closely now. Donny looked fantastic as always, his well-defined muscles obvious even under his casual clothes. The slight strain around his dark eyes was hardly noticeable when he grabbed AJ in a fierce bro hug.

A couple of shared pizzas, a pitcher of so-so beer, and a game and a half later, AJ was finally beginning to relax. It had taken him almost the whole time to turn his brain off and enjoy. Up until then, he’d been distracted with thoughts of Adam the Annoying and Luke’s situation. It was bad enough Piet had asked three separate times what his problem was, and his score reflected his distraction.

AJ was broken out of his fog by the sound of Piet’s voice. In response, he said, “Huh?”

“Dude,” Piet said. “You’re up.” He frowned at AJ. “You are all kinds of not with us tonight. I know I’ve already asked, but come on. This isn’t fun.”

“Sorry,” AJ muttered. “Issues at work.”

He didn’t like to talk about Luke with the guys. It made Donny uncomfortable, and Piet was never sure what to say. It was the same when he went out with Luke and Connor—they couldn’t have cared less about what AJ’s straight friends were up to. He’d never tried spending time with all of them in the same place, in much the same way he compartmentalized, organized, and sorted everything else. It was a special talent, keeping all the boxes in his life tidy.

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!

It’s been a busy week! Over the weekend, I attended the Transcending Boundaries conference, and it was really fantastic to meet a bunch of people I’d only ever communicated with online. One of the most significant takeaways was that I want to learn how to better balance fierce and passionate advocacy with gentle kindness. There’s a difference between pointing out where society as a whole has shortcomings and blasting a single individual for their missteps. There were several people I met who do this balancing act with grace, and I want to be more like them.

On to my WIPpet. This manuscript is nearly ready for round 1 edits. I’m so excited! Today, I’m sharing the follow-up to last week’s rather grim post. If you recall, AJ was speaking to his friend Luke, who is in a bad situation. Here, they have the chance to catch up a bit. This is a longish snippet, but it’s mostly dialog. In case you are wondering, Saint Monica is actually the patron saint of abuse victims. (AJ was raised Catholic by activist parents in a church modeled after one in my city.)

WIPmath: 25 mostly short paragraphs for the 25th.

Luke hollered in Spanish that he was taking a lunch break. Senora Guzman poked her head out and waved to AJ then nodded at Luke. He exited the work station and joined AJ in the booth.

The minute his butt hit the seat, AJ said, “You’re in a great mood. What’s this big news?”

Luke glanced over his shoulder and leaned in close. In a whisper he said, “I’m going to school.”

“What?” AJ said. Realizing he was too loud, he also leaned in and said more quietly, “You are?”

Nodding, Luke said, “I’m getting out. I’ve been saving up, a little at a time. I have enough for a security deposit and first month’s rent, and I already got a scholarship.” His cheeks flushed red. “I didn’t think they’d give it to me. I’m not real smart like you.”

“The hell you’re not,” AJ countered. “This is great! Does Connor know?” Connor was another of their friends, the only other person who had any idea about what Luke had been through.

Luke shook his head. “I was planning to tell you both when we went out, but…” He bit his lip.

AJ knew what he meant. The last time they’d gone out together, Greg had kept Luke at his side the whole time. He wasn’t even allowed to have a pee alone, and AJ and Connor couldn’t separate him to find out how he was doing. It was a big deal that he’d found a way to apply for school and tuck money away on his own. Even six months ago he wouldn’t have been in a frame of mind to manage it.

“Are you going to tell him?” AJ asked.

“Can you?” The anxiety hadn’t left Luke’s light blue eyes. “I would, but I don’t think I should call him.”

“Sure. Is there anything I can do?”

“Mm-mm.” Luke grinned again, the joy returning as suddenly as it had left. It came complete with Luke’s charming dimples, which only appeared when his smile was genuine. “I can’t wait!”

“I’ll bet,” AJ agreed. “What are you studying?”

“Liberal arts, for now,” Luke said with a shrug. “I don’t know what I want to do. Maybe something in food service. I really like my job, even if it is just serving fast tacos.”

AJ laughed. “There’s no such thing as ‘just.’ If you love your job, who cares?”

“Maybe. Anyway, I’ll figure it out. For now, I want to know what else is out there. Senor Hierra and Senora Guzman have said they’ll let me work around my classes. They’re the best.” He blushed again, bright scarlet on his pale cheeks.

“They are,” AJ said. They’d been like a second family to Luke since he moved to the town to live with Greg.

“I should get back to work.” Luke crumpled his trash and stood up.

“Me too.” AJ stole another look around, hoping Luke wouldn’t notice, then gave him a hug.

To his dismay, Luke had seen. “He’s not here,” he said.

“I know. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be.” Luke squeezed AJ’s hand and put his mouth up to AJ’s ear. “I’m okay. I’m getting out for real this time.”

“I know,” AJ repeated. “Love you, Lukey.”

“You too.”

One last smile and Luke retreated to the service counter, slipping back in through the employee door. AJ waved to him on his way back out, saying a silent prayer for Saint Monica to intervene on behalf of Luke’s safety.

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!

Well, I’m not as far as I’d hoped to be with NaNo. But I’m very close to the end of writing this novel, which is better. Then onward and upward! I have a few short works in progress along with the edits on two novels. Plus I need to fit in two out-of-town trips and another pair of concerts in the next 3 weeks. Christmas is going to feel like a relief after all that!

On to my WIPpet. When we last saw AJ, he was discussing health center educational materials. Done with his work, he’s gone to have lunch with his best friend, Luke. This snippet has less of the playfulness of the last one. What AJ says about calling someone to help Luke not doing much good is true—domestic violence between a same-sex couple is often not taken seriously, and there’s a reluctance to call or admit there’s a problem in the first place for a number of reasons.

WIPmath: Nothing fancy. 18 sentences for the 18th.

Once Carrie was back and taking care of the people in and out of the health center, AJ ducked out. In his car, he debated whether or not to text Luke and decided against it. Luke sometimes forgot to delete messages, and AJ wasn’t up for another confrontation with Luke’s volatile boyfriend when he saw a message from another man. AJ sighed. Without having witnessed Greg’s vicious side directly—other than the time he called to scream into the phone at AJ—there was little he could do. Luke had to make that call himself, and thus far, he’d never done it.

At least Luke had work, a local place called Taco King. It was run by a family, and they were good to Luke. He deserved it, after all he’d been through. AJ knew Luke hid a lot from them, too. If they’d known even half of what AJ did—or had ever seen it—they’d have called someone, not that it would have done any good. AJ pulled up out front and got out of his car, scanning the lot to make sure Greg’s compact wasn’t parked anywhere in the lot. Seeing nothing, he entered the tiny counter-service restaurant.

Luke was finishing up with a customer. AJ studied him from the doorway, while Luke wasn’t paying attention to him, and was relieved to see nothing immediately worrisome. His surfer-blond hair had been trimmed short and spiked, and he had faux-diamond studs in both ears. AJ wondered if the new look was Greg’s doing. Luke looked tired, and he was still too thin, but his face wasn’t a mess like it had been last time. Satisfied, AJ approached the counter as soon as the previous customer was gone.

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!