Fiction

WIPpet Wednesday: Cards and Flowers

Happy Wednesday! It’s the first day of school here, and my two are now off to 9th and 7th grades. It’s strange having the house so empty. I’m back to my regular work hours now, which is good news all around. Still, I miss the company.

I’m very nearly done with Drumbeat. Yeah, yeah…I’ve been saying that for weeks. I’m serious this time. With getting back to the school year schedule, I can be more efficient with my time. I should have it finished in the next couple of weeks.

Last time, I showed you Jamie’s piercings. This snippet is marginally related. For context, Jamie’s been sick with a head cold. Mrs. Phelps is their neighbor, previously known as Mrs. Crotchety.

WIPmath: 6 paragraphs for the 6th.

Jamie smiled. The note on the first bouquet wasn’t in an envelope, and Jamie saw Cian’s scrawling signature on the get-well card. He didn’t know whether Cian had sent two bouquets or if the second was from a fan. Not that the Creepy Crullers had that many, but a time or two had found them on the receiving end of nice things.

He accepted the flowers, and Mrs. Phelps winked at him as she stumped away with her cane. Jamie shook his head and opened the door. He set the flowers on the counter and took the note from the first one. Cian said he hoped Jamie felt better, and he was looking forward to their planned date that night.

Before Jamie could open the second card, Mack came out of the bathroom, wiping his freshly-shaved face with a towel. “What’s all that?”

“Cian sent them.” Jamie grinned in spite of himself.

“Nice.” Mack thwacked Jamie’s ass with the towel on his way past. He tossed it onto the back of a chair and started unloading the grocery bags.

Mack had his head in the fridge and therefore didn’t see Jamie’s reaction when he opened the second card. For a moment, Jamie thought he might collapse right there on the kitchen floor. He gripped the counter, trying—and failing—to take steady breaths.

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 Wrayburn for giving us this space. Happy reading and writing!

Rainbow Snippets: Put a Little Love in Your Heart

Books, Cool Stuff, Featured, Fiction, LGBTQ+, Love, Writing

Happy Saturday! I’m really excited to be taking part in this FREE BOOK EVENT, #PutALittleLoveInYourHeart. That means the anthology I’ve been snipping from, Leaps of Faith, is 100% free this weekend. You can find it everywhere (except Amazon, the big meanies) by clicking this link. If you absolutely need yours in Kindle format, contact me and I’ll hook you up.

Here’s the blurb:

From Christmas to Easter and from childhood through the end of life, here are ten interconnected stories revolving around one couple and the people who love them. These are tales of friendship, family, sensuality, and all the intimate moments that make them who they are, together and apart. The stories, while standalone, also fill in the gaps before and around the events in the novels in the Faithfully Yours series. Included: a youth embraces his identity; two women build a life together; a former rebellious teen finds her way; a pair of lovers explore each other’s minds and bodies; a man copes with loss and grief.

Because this is me, all but one couple in the anthology has at least one bi partner, including the M/F relationship. Today’s snippet is from a different story in the same anthology. It was a tough choice, but I went with a bit about my favorite women, Pam and Zayne, from “If These Walls Could Speak.” No context, just two women in love.

It was Zayne’s eyes which Pam loved most—dark and sparkling, always so expressive. She didn’t need to use words to tell Pam the important things.

When she saw Pam, Zayne’s whole face lit up. Unable to stop herself, Pam flew into her wife’s embrace, burying her face against Zayne’s shoulder. She couldn’t organize her thoughts enough to sort the I’m sorry from I missed you and I love you. Everything tumbled from her mouth in a messy string of incoherent mumbling into the fabric of Zayne’s dress.

Rainbow Snippets is a safe and welcoming space for LGBTQIA+ authors, readers, and bloggers to share 6 sentences each week from a work of fiction—published or in-progress—or a book recommendation. Feel free to join in!

Here’s a list of #PutALittleLoveInYourHeart participating authors that I know of, but you can also check out the hashtag on FB or Twitter:

Raven de Hart, Heart of a Pirate (Hearts of Madijak Book 1)

A.J. Downey, Her Thin Blue Lifeline: Indigo Knights Book I

L Ann Marie, Christian (The Protectors Book 1)

Barbi Barnard, Cupcakes & Kisses

Michael R Collins, Pale Winter Sun

Tee Smith, Collecting Scars

Lisa Wylie, Burning Suns: Conflagration (Book One)

Golden Czermak, Swole: Chest Day

Colbie Kay, Quiet Country (Satan’s Sinners M.C. Book 2)

MariaLisa deMora, With My Whole Heart

Erin Trejo, Rocking Fate (Hells Fire MC Book 1)

Jaime Russell, Love Me Like You Do (Love Me Series Book 1)

Kathleen Kelly, Savage Fire #2, Savage Angels MC

Chris Almeida, To Russia With Love: A Romantic Suspense Novel in the Countermeasure Series

S. H. Pratt, Choose the eBook of your choice! 😉

Rachel Walter, True Connection

WIPpet Wednesday: Unexpected meeting

Books, Fiction, New Love, Other Relationships, Writing

Happy Wednesday! One week until we go pick up the kids’ schedules at school. Two weeks until school starts. I’ll have a high schooler for real! Also, lessons, classes, the school play…whew. I’m officially signed up to start taking the adult beginner Irish dance class at my son’s studio. I’m nervous! Child #2 has decided to continue her voice lessons, which her teacher will do via FaceTime. How cool is that?

Still plugging away at Drumbeat, now more than 2/3 done. I’ve also outlined and started plotting for my next novel. I’m usually a mix of pantser/plotter, but this one is going to need much more structure. I’m moving away from more romantic-themed novels to general fiction. The next one is a road trip/re-told fairy tale type story, though I hope it’ll be less cliched than it sounds. Ha!

Today’s snippet puts Cian and Jamie in the same place at the same time. Jack the bartender is a creation of my son’s, and my son wrote the dialog between him and Jamie. Charity Bang-Bang (the drag queen) was the name I got from one of those “this would be your drag queen name” quizzes. Haha! Quick poll for next week: More of just Cian, more of just Jamie, or the story of how Jamie got his piercings? Let me know in the comments.

WIPmath: 8/23/2017 = 23 (for the day) + 2 (for the number of weeks until school) = 25 sentences

Cian stepped inside just as Brunhilda the Great, the emcee, finished introducing someone called Sister Charity Bang-Bang. She didn’t quite look like any of the nuns Cian had ever known. He might have enjoyed attending his parish school if there had been a bit more crossover.

He slid onto a bar stool, paying no attention to anything except Sister Charity and her swaying hips. It was much quieter over here, away from the stage. The gentle tap on his shoulder brought him out of his trance. Denver, the bar manager, smiled and asked what she could get for him.

“Rum and Coke, please.”

He watched her for a moment, but then his gaze traveled past her to Jack, her second in command for the night. Only one stool separated Cian from the man Jack was talking to, and when Cian saw who it was, he froze, watching them converse.

“Just a Diet Coke,” Jamie said.

“You want it with a flavor shot?”

“What do you have?”

Jack grinned. “Anything you want. I can do chocolate, vanilla, lime…I wouldn’t recommend the banana, though.” He grimaced, and Jamie laughed.

“Tried that one yourself, huh? Thanks for the heads up. I’ll have the lime.”

Still not drinking alcohol, Cian noted. It wasn’t a big thing, but he supposed it struck him as unexpected for some reason. It didn’t seem like part of Jamie’s overall persona. Then again, Jamie couldn’t really hide the shine of sweet innocence even underneath all those piercings and black clothes.

Rainbow Snippets: Stolen Glances

Books, Fiction, New Love, Writing

Happy Saturday! I just finished a week of volunteering with 30 kids ages 6-11 at music, arts, and drama camp. Boy, am I tired! The kids were cute, but I was happy to give them back at the end. I’ll stick with my teen and almost-teen of my own, thanks. It did make me grateful for all the volunteer hours I put in with the students at my kids’ school, though—the teenagers are a lot easier! (For me; your mileage may vary.)

My snippet this week is still in Leaps of Faith, from the story called “Pretty Boyish.” Cat, age 13, is in the throes of his first real crush. A number of people were curious about how New Boy would react to being eyed up, so here you go. Edited a bit for length and for clarity. Sorry, it’s one sentence over this week.

Cat was still eying New Boy sideways. New Boy caught him at it and gave him a funny kind of smile. It did really nice things to Cat’s stomach. He was temporarily distracted by working out how to learn New Boy’s real name and maybe ask if he wanted to hang out.

New Boy, too, kept glancing over, which Cat knew because he’d never really stopped looking, even though Ann Marie was talking again. New Boy would look over, smile a little, and blush. Cat’s heart thudded, and he plucked at the grass to give his hands something to do.

WIPpet Wednesday: Name-calling

Books, Fiction, Other Relationships, Writing

Happy Wednesday! I’m volunteering at music, arts, and drama camp every morning this week, so I may be slow on reading the other snippets. But I’m here, still plugging away at Drumbeat.

The writing isn’t going as fast as some projects have. I keep getting stuck and hung up on certain details. Part of me knows it will all come together eventually. The rest of me wants to kick the manuscript in the teeth real hard. I think I’ve finally gotten the first half to a relatively polished state, and the second half is in various stages of rewriting and adding stuff.

Today’s snippet is about Cian. He’s having dinner with his family—father, stepmother, and three younger half-sisters. Cadence, the 13-year-old, is in his dance class. Just as a reminder, Cian is deaf but wears hearing aids. Cadence liberally switches between speech and ASL. Here, they’re discussing one of the other dance students being rude to Cadence. The first line is hers.

WIPmath: 8/16/2017 = 1 + 6 = 7 paragraphs, mostly dialog.

She calls me names.

Cian’s head snapped up. Angrily, he signed, In my class?

At school. She shaped a “y” with her fingers and made a motion. Whale. She signs it so the teachers won’t know.

Do you want me to— He stopped at the force of Cadence’s no.

Out loud, Cadence said, “She thinks you won’t compete because you know I’m too fat to make us look good.”

Cian chewed his bite angrily. He didn’t compete because he didn’t like the idea of media hounding his deaf and disabled students and making them into inspirations for the general public. It had nothing to do with Cadence or any other specific dancer. “You know that’s not true, right?”

“Of course I do!” Cadence snapped. She rolled her eyes and relaxed her shoulders. “I don’t care what names she calls me. I’m okay with me, and she can stick it up her—” She glanced at their father’s raised eyebrows. “—nose. Anyway, I’m just mad that she’s talking about you.”

Rainbow Snippets: New boy

Books, Fiction, Other Relationships, Writing

Happy Saturday! Posting this a bit later than usual because we were busy with the kids’ birthday party. They arranged the whole thing, invited guests, and decided what they wanted to do. We just took care of the food and supervising them. They wanted a pizza party at the park down the street, so that’s what we did. Now we’re home and relaxing.

Today’s snippet is from later on in the same story I’ve been posting from, “Pretty Boyish.” It can be found in my anthology Leaps of Faith (link in sidebar). Last time, Cat was admiring a bathing suit. This time, he’s turned his attention to a person.

There was also a new boy, and Cat stopped short when he saw him. The boy was, for lack of a better word, beautiful. Radiant, even. Cat was sure he’d never seen anyone so wonderful in his life. Later, when they were older, this would be a joke between them. For now, Cat was mesmerized watching the boy’s graceful motion as he lay back in the grass and put his hands behind his head.

WIPpet Wednesday: Cards and Flowers

Rainbow Snippets: Put a Little Love in Your Heart

WIPpet Wednesday: Unexpected meeting

Rainbow Snippets: Stolen Glances

WIPpet Wednesday: Name-calling

Rainbow Snippets: New boy

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