Tree of Life

Happy Wednesday! It’s been busy as usual in our household. Only another month until the first school musical of the year. Auditions for the second one are next week already, since rehearsals start right away after Thanksgiving. Never a dull moment!

Everything is right on track to send Drumbeat to my publisher by the end of the month. I have some adjustments to make, but those aren’t going to be difficult, I don’t think. All the stuff I was so worried about seems not to be an issue. I’m sure I’m not the only one who suffers self-doubt. Though I can honestly say no other manuscript has caused me so much stress, and I’ll be glad to be done with it.

I now have about 4.5k in my new WIP, Tree of Life, and about 3k in Minuet, the last part of the Notes from Boston series. I’m alternating between the two until I reach a point where I want to focus on just one.

Today’s WIPpet is from Tree of Life. This is not going to be a romance. It’s a re-told myth (or rather, several woven together), and it’s about Luke’s journey of self-discovery. The snippet is a continuation of last week’s. Luke was reading over a letter from his ex, and now he’s reading a different kind of mail.

WIPmath: 10/18/2017 = 1 + 8 = 9 sentences

Luke pushes the scrapbook aside and draws his pile of weeks-old mail toward himself. Picking up the top item, he runs his finger along the raised lines of the elegant script. Misters Antonio “AJ” Mancuso and Adam Lansing and their families request the honor of your presence…

Of course they’ll have a traditional wedding, complete with all the bells and whistles. Their wedding promises to be the sort of thing one might see splashed on the cover of Out magazine in celebration of the anniversary of legalized same-sex marriage. They’re both gorgeous, upwardly-mobile white men in their prime—the kind of guys men and women alike drool over.

Uninvited, Luke’s imagination goes there too as his gaze lands on the enclosed engagement photo. He’s done his fair share of salivating over AJ, back before they realized they were better off as friends. Luke was AJ’s first, when they were both shy and inexperienced.

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!

Happy Wednesday! And Happy National Coming Out Day. If you or someone you love is coming out today, many hugs and welcome.

I’m down to less than a month until Keeping the Faith is out. If you want to, feel free to fill out this form and join my release day fun. No requirements to do anything except post the book info, but there are options for more if you like.

Since I’m no longer actively writing Drumbeat, I’m temporarily retiring it. Once it gets close to release time, I’ll post snippets of it on Saturdays for the Rainbow Snippets blog hop.

Today, I’m posting something new. I have two projects going: Minuet, the last part of the main Notes from Boston series. (I plan to continue writing in this world in a different capacity; all completely stand-alone but with “guest appearances” by characters from the main series.) My other project is Tree of Life. This is a companion book/sequel to An Act of Devotion.

Tree of Life is not a romance. Several people suggested after AAOD that one of the side characters, Luke, needed his HEA. At first, I thought I might let him have a love story, but by the time I got around to this, I was feeling done with writing romantic themes/plots. Still, Luke wouldn’t leave me alone. So I’m giving him a different sort of HEA. This is from the first chapter.

WIPmath: 10/11/2017 = 11 sentences for the 11th.

Luke stares at the crinkled paper spread out on the table in front of him. He’s read it enough times to have it memorized. More than a year after he left his ex, Greg sent it to him through the college where Luke was taking classes at the time. The words run together, twisting in Luke’s brain around his last memories of Greg.

This isn’t the letter where I beg your forgiveness and ask you to take me back. It’s not the letter where you tell me it’s all right and that you’ll come home to me. It’s the one where I tell you I need help, and I’m getting it. This is the last time you’ll hear from me. I hope you have a good life, wherever you go from here.

They haven’t seen each other since, and true to his word, Greg hasn’t contacted him again in any other way even though Luke is certain he’s out of prison by now. With a heavy sigh, Luke refolds the crumpled page and stuffs it back into the scrapbook where he keeps it.

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!