Lower Education

Another Wednesday, another week down. We survived the Ultimate Recital Challenge over the weekend (band competition, dress rehearsal, dance recital). My son’s jazz band won first place in their division, second place overall, and division awards for best brass/woodwinds. The dance recital was fantastic, and the kids all did a great job. You can read all about it (and see pictures and video!) here. Now all we’ve got left are one dress rehearsal, one recital, two concerts, and a graduation before school ends. At least they’re not all crammed into one weekend.

I’m finally doing some actual writing rather than editing. I think I already mentioned this, but I’m adding several scenes from Alex’s POV. That’s been fun but challenging, because I’ve only ever seen him from Dani or Phin’s perspectives.

In order to write this scene, I put out a question on Facebook asking what Alex might be drinking if he’s mostly just in the mood to forget his crappy day. For the very curious, he’s drinking scotch, which was the suggestion of several friends based on the details I shared about his personality. The best part was how this resulted in three days’ worth of ongoing discussion. My friends apparently really like alcohol!

WIP math: 15 sentences (6 + 4 + 1 + 4) from a new scene in chapter 5.

“This is completely screwed up,” he told the fish. “Dani thinks I can get inside his head. Hell, I can’t even get inside my own head most days.” He sighed and ran a hand over his face. “And now I’m talking to my fish. I can’t decide if I’ve had too much booze or not enough. Think I’ll go with the latter.” He picked up the glass and sipped more slowly this time. He snorted at the fish tank. “You guys are lousy company. I need a dog.”

He set the glass back on the table and stared at it, his head buzzing. Damn, he thought. I have to work in the morning. He shrugged and poured another shot.

As always, thanks to K. L. Schwengel for hosting. Why not post a bit of your own WIP and link up with us here? I promise we don’t bite…usually.

Woo hoo, it’s Wednesday again! I’ve recovered from my weeks of on-and-off illness (I hope), but now I’m in the thick of mass chauffeuring. Two kids + concerts, recitals, and awards ceremonies? Bring it on.

I’m also still immersed in editing Lower Education. I’m almost done with my first pass-through, and I have 2 added scenes (of 5). I’ll finish the last 3, which are partly done, and then do another sweep of the whole shebang.

Since I’m not doing anything new, I’m back to sharing bits of Lower Education. Ages ago, I polled readers for what they wanted me to post as my last (ha, ha) entry from this work, and everyone wanted to see poor Phin drunk. I thought I’d reward him for suffering through that humiliation and for letting me be a little mean to him in his interview last week. This is also a reward for those who requested a steamy scene. ♥

My WIP math is boring: It’s the 28th, so 2 + 8 = 10 for 10 short sentences.

Phin leaned down along Alex’s back. “Tell me,” he breathed. “Tell me what you want.”

Alex twisted around a little and they locked eyes. “No,” he answered.

Sucking in his breath, Phin pushed himself up a little. “Please,” he begged. “Let me make you feel good.”

“No,” Alex repeated. “Make us feel good.”

Many thanks to K. L. Schwengel for keeping us all in line. Add your own post here, and be sure to read the other entries. Happy WIP’ing!

It’s finally spring here! We had a thunderstorm last night, but it’s been otherwise warm and sunny for several days now.

I wasn’t going to post today, since I’ve put poor Micah and Cat in limbo for the time being. I’m back to working on Lower Education, doing a whole lot of editing/cutting/adding. I’ve been asked to add some scenes from Alex’s POV, which is fun. I hadn’t written as him before. Turns out, he’s kind of anal and uptight. I had written this whole scene in which Phin messes with Alex’s filing system (by taking a binder off a shelf; the horror!). At dinner last night, my husband made a comment about “binders full of [something]” (without knowing what I’d written), and I nearly lost it. I now feel the need to bring the binders back in a future scene.

Anyway, I decided that since I finished the first new scene, I’d share a little of it here. It’s not beta’d, obviously. I’m going to write all the new scenes before I have them beta-read. My WIP math for the day is 5 + 14 (5/14) for 19 sentences.

Phin ran his finger down the spine of one of the binders and then pulled it off the shelf. “Right, but you’re the resident expert. Teachers can only tell me how they refer their students, not what happens afterward between you and the district.” He opened the binder.

“Give me that.” Alex snatched the binder back, snapped it shut, and replaced it on the shelf with a huff. “Look. If you want to see them, just ask. I don’t keep student information in there—that’s all in the locked files in the main office. You could probably have permission to read some of the IEPs, as long as you use copies where identifiers are eliminated.”

“I see. I’ll have to check on that, then.” Phin inspected the rest of the shelf, examining the books and the color-coded bins. “You are impressively organized,” he remarked, pulling one of the bins down to peer inside.

Alex gritted his teeth. “Stop messing with my filing system, please.”

“Sorry. Just looking.” Pushing the bin back and turning around, Phin smirked.

“Why are you really here?”

Phin held out his hands. “I told you. I want your expert opinion.”

I’m sure Alex will get around to giving his…er…”expert opinion” on something.

Since I’ve successfully avoided K. L. Schwengel‘s flying monkeys by not skipping out on today’s post, many thanks to her for hosting. If you want to join in, share a bit of your own WIP, connected to the date, and link up with us here. Happy Wednesday!

Happy Wednesday! It’s been quite a week, in a good way.  I have a lot of work to do in the next few weeks, but for now, I’m going to enjoy popping around to read all the great WIP snippets.

As for mine, I’m very sad to say goodbye to Phin and Company, but it’s time to move on.  If I don’t, I’ll just keep finding things to fix.  In the interest of not obsessing, I’m going to pick up my next story starting in April.  Which means I’d better get a move on writing it!

Last week when I took a poll, most people wanted to see Phin squirm, so here it is.  In this scene, Alex and the others have brought Phin to a weekend arts festival. They’re at a private party for one of Eunice’s friends. Despite his people-reading skills, I’ve always seen Phin as an introvert; this party is his (and my!) idea of hell.  Also, several people have been giving Phin alcoholic punch but telling him it’s “not strong,” and misfortune ensues.  I may or may not have been present for the real-life situation on which this is based.  My advice: Do not drink the punch unless you know exactly what’s in it.

My WIP math: 3/26/14 = 3+2+6+1+4 = 16 paragraphs, a nice long section in honor of my last post from this novel.

Phin relaxed and finished the second drink then tried again to find any of the people he’d come with. It shouldn’t have been hard, as it wasn’t crowded. For some reason, he seemed to be getting further away from the center of the house where he assumed the others had ended up. Before he could accomplish his mission, another guest handed him a cup of something similar to his previous two. Phin protested, “I really don’t drink.”

The man, who looked like he might have been trying to relive his parents’ hippie adolescence, dismissed him. “Nah, there’s nothing in this one. It’s the one with the blackberries you want to watch out for.”

Just as he was about to move on, the man grabbed his arm. “Where’re you going, babe?” He leered and leaned in a little too close for Phin’s comfort.

Phin had had enough and deemed the man an ass. “Oh, fuck off, will you? I’m here with someone else.” He shook himself free and tried to disappear, not checking to see if The Ass was following him.

On his way through the crowd—which seemed to have grown exponentially since Phin’s last attempt—at least three more people offered him a drink. Someone finally just shoved something at him, and Phin had to take it in order not to slop liquid all over himself. He frowned and looked for a place to get rid of it. What was wrong with people at this party? He couldn’t find a table, so he sipped some off the top to keep it from sloshing over the side while he weaved among people. At one point, he thought he spotted The Ass and quickly ducked behind someone to hide. Unfortunately, his legs didn’t seem to be working properly, and he bashed his shoulder into the wall.

“Ow,” he said loudly enough that a couple of people turned to look at him, puzzled frowns on their faces.

By the time Phin reached Alex, he knew he needed to get out of there. Whatever he’d been drinking was already causing him to feel fuzzy. He hadn’t had nearly enough to eat, and he wasn’t much of a drinker—intoxication tended to mess with his ability to manipulate situations in his favor. This was definitely not pleasant.

“I’m really not feeling great,” he managed. “And a pretend hippie who apparently finds me hot might or might not be looking for me.” The hand holding his cup shook, and Alex took it from him. “What the hell is in that punch?” Phin rubbed his face.

Alex’s eyebrows shot up. “I don’t know.”

The Ass, who obviously had been looking for Phin, appeared seemingly out of nowhere. Phin groaned, and Alex shot him a look of confusion before addressing the other man. “Oh, hey, Dave.” He leaned in, and they exchanged a quick, chaste peck on the cheek.

Phin felt slightly nauseated at the sight. “Wait, you know The Ass?” He hadn’t meant to say that; his private nickname for the man just slipped out. “Shit. Sorry.”

Dave laughed. “Nice. Alex, tell me this isn’t your date for the night.”

Alex glanced over at Phin. “Sort of, yes.”

“You might want to get him out of here before he does something stupid.”

“I’ll keep that in mind. Speaking of that, I think I’ve reached my limit for the night. Would you mind telling Renee thank you for us? We’ll see ourselves out.”

Later, Phin couldn’t recall how he’d gotten back to the townhouse. The details were blurry, in part because he spent the entire car ride trying not to throw up.

And there you have it.  You’ll just have to wait to read the whole thing now if you want to see these characters again.

Feel free to join us by connecting a bit of your WIP with the date and linking up here.  Thanks again to K. L. Schwengel for hosting us!