Fight Night--Honor Three Excerpt

I've been reading through the Honor series when insomnia hits me, and I've been doing revisions on Honor Three... and I thought I'd share one of my favorite scenes. Unlike most portions of the Honor books, this bit is from the perspective of Callie who just discovered that she's become a vampire. (The vampires in the Honor series are like guardians of humans.) Honor isn't quite a vampire... she's a Shadow Hunter. Anyway, Callie freaks out when she discovers she really has changed into a vampire, so the Master gets Honor there to help her "cope."

I was pretty sure if I sat huddled in the corner of the shower stall that eventually I’d have to wake up. He’d tried to come in to talk to me a few times. It seemed to work to just cover my ears and scrunch my eyes closed.

This couldn’t be happening. This couldn’t be happening.

I felt someone else come sit in front of me. Whoever it was… I was pretty sure they’d go away if I didn’t ever talk to them.

That’s when I got flicked in the forehead.

That was just mean.

I could ignore it.

I got flicked again.

“Honor, I don’t really think....,” I heard Cole say just before a door slammed.

“Hey! Princess!” she shouted just as she flicked me again.

I jumped out of my ball and attacked her. I don’t know where the rage came from. I mean, her flicking my head was pretty annoying, but this sort of outdid that. I threw her into shower door, and it shattered.

She got up stiffly and said, “Wow! I never would have guessed you had that in you.”

“HONOR?” Reeve shouted.

“I’m fine! Just tripped,” she said and then slammed me against the shower wall. I felt it crack from the force. “Callie just tripped too.”

“Look! I was ready to be dead! I was planning on being dead today!” I shouted at her. All of the frustration I’d kept bottled up inside me for so many years exploded out of me. I never confronted any of it. I just kept pushing it deeper. “Do you know what it’s like to know you won’t see your twenty-fifth birthday?” I said, pushing up off the wall.

She rolled her eyes. “I’m four years old! I woke up in a field NAKED four years ago where I grew out of the ground. I’ve been chased by every version of hell on the market since then. Every morning I was a little surprised to be alive. Most Shadow Hunters probably don’t even make it to their fourth birthday.”

“My heart stopped beating today, and I’m still here! I don’t even know if I have a heart anymore! I feel like a freak!”

“YEAH? Let me go cry a little in your corner!” she shouted back.

It happened so fast it was nearly reflex. I kicked her in the stomach. She slammed against the wall near the door. Honor shook her head, dove, and grabbed my leg out from under me. I hit the ground with a crack.

Oh… it was on.

She stood over me with her hands on her hips.

“Now! You’re going to need to buck up, Buttercup, because you have everything I’ve ever wanted and seeing you cry about it just really, really, really chaps my hide.”

I swept her leg out from under her. “You listen to me, Rambo! My mother is dead. My father ran out on us when I was a kid. I was finally doing well. I was about to finish my Doctorate in Medieval Studies. Then, I went in for some routine testing….”

“Buh blah blah blah…. What on earth were you going to do with a freaking doctorate in something that happened eight hundred years ago?” she said, using her hands to make ‘yakkity yak’ signs.

I dove at her, and we rolled across the floor a few times.

There was more pounding on the door.

“GO AWAY!” we both shouted at once.

She ended up on top, and she hit my head into the floor. “Do you know what happened to me? I was kidnapped….” Bang! My head hit the floor. “He was planning on killing me!” Bang! “He promised to rip me to shreds with his teeth and drink a toast to me with my blood!” Bang! “You’re whining about not finishing a thesis? You spoiled….”

I kicked her off me, and she slammed back inside the shower and hit the wall where I had a little bit ago.

I got to my feet and said offhand, “You’re still alive! So, clearly, you didn’t get toasted or have your entrails kicked about!”

She dropped into a crouch with snarl. “I spent the night in a freaking beaver lodge. I’ve never stayed more than four months in a place anywhere other than L.A. where Shifts ate my roommate because she borrowed my coat. So, once again… Sell your sob story to someone who has had a family… or a life… or a home!”

“This was your life, though! I stopped to help a guy who looked like a horror flick, and he kissed me and now I’m this freak who eats wolves.” I picked up a bar of soap and threw it at her. She caught it easily.

Honor looked at the soap and looked at me with a clear expression of “Are you kidding me? We’re throwing soap?”

I shrugged. Sometimes you worked with what was available.

She tossed the soap up in the air once and shouted, “So! Have you taken a look at the other freaks who eat wolves? Wolf does a body good, chick!” She beamed me in the head with the soap. Wow. She had good aim. “I was about to make it to step 3 with one of them, and I got called back here to deal with your little mental breakdown!” Honor yanked the towel bar on the shower stall door free and hit it against her hand. “Do you have any idea how difficult it is to get a little privacy around here?” She slammed the towel bar against the wall. “Did you hear that, all of you out there? Of course you did! You always do! Because there is no freaking privacy! I live in a FISHBOWL surrounded by vampires!”

I grabbed the towel rod off the wall. I wasn’t sure how well I could use a towel rod as a staff, but I was just about to find out.

Suddenly, a scent assailed my senses, and my eyes watered from the strength. It wasn’t bad, but it smelled a little like cooking with honey.

“What’s that smell?” I asked. “It smells sweet, rusty, and hot.”

“Probably my back,” she said blandly, tossing the towel bar into the corner. “I cut it pretty bad when you slammed me through the shower door. I think your guy just had to call in reinforcements to restrain Reeve so he didn’t come see why I’m bleeding all over.”

All the fight went out of me in a whoosh. For some reason, it had never occurred to me that she might be hurt.

“My guy?” I asked, dropping the towel rod and getting the towel from it wet.

“Yeah. The Master is completely sweet on you. It’s gooey and disgusting.” She turned, pulling her off her shirt.

“HOLY COW! Why didn’t you tell me you were so hurt?” I asked. There were deep gouges all over her back.

“Are you kidding? That was a lot of fun! I feel a lot better. It was hilarious when the soap nearly knocked you off your feet.” She laughed loudly and actually snorted.

I giggled. “That was really hilarious. When you grabbed my leg that first time, it was awesome.” I blotted the blood on her back. “I’m sorry those monster things killed your room mate.”

“Pamela. Her name was Pamela. You remind me of her. She was a girly girl too. I think you’re more ambitious and intelligent, but she never slammed me through a shower door.”

“Maybe given time,” I suggested and then I realized I was crying.

She turned and started crying too. “I’m sorry that your life changed so much. I was shocked by all this, and I already had been seeing Shifts for years.”

I rubbed at my tears. “The guy that was going to drink your blood? Is he dead? We could go kill him together.”

She sniffed and said, “Really? I’ve never had anyone say that to me before….”

I sniffed and nodded. “That was really wrong.”

She shook her head and said, “It totally was. He is gone, though. I had the earth eat him. It was cool. I can teach you how to aim better,” she said, looking down at the soap.

“Really?” I looked down at the soap. “I've never thrown soap before. It was slippery.”

Honorary Post about All Things Honor

Four years ago, Honor woke up in a meadow... naked... yes, naked and with no memories whatsoever. Well, she knew her name was Honor but that was it. She was immediately chased by a shadowy monster, but she escaped with the help of local campers. In the hospital, she discovered she was completely colorblind among other things. They also pointed out that she was short. (They got kicked for that.)

Life is not kind to the cute and short... and after she left the hospital, she was picked up by someone who assured her that they knew who she was. Instead, she was drugged and thrown into a closet where a madman calling himself "Laird Tiger" told her that she was about to be tested via running for her life. If she lived... she'd be the new "Mrs." If not... well... the others hadn't. Not one to be intimidated, Honor told this freak where he could shove it. He cut her wrist and did something with their blood that meant they could speak into each other's minds. When she grabbed his nostrils and slammed his face against her closet door, her running started early. He sent more of those shadow monsters after her. She escaped him... and the shadow monsters... but the darkness has followed her these four years.

Honor moved whenever Laird Tiger would find her. She'd never seen his face but his voice dogged her steps as did the shadow monsters she took to calling Vugs. Discovering a penchant and ability with a knife, she killed the Vugs by stabbing them in their giant glowing eye. That's been her life for four years. You can't exactly form healthy relationships when the darkness moves and hunts you. She stayed too long in L.A. and Vugs killed her roommate and best friend, Pamela.

After learning to kill the Vugs more effectively, she moved to Seattle where she is followed by these strange pale men that she's run across before. One night, one of them is attacked by a Vug while following her. She doubles-back to save him and is slashed by the angry Vug. Though dying, Honor tries to do mouth-to-mouth but the man keeps muttering strange things including "I'll give you what is mine to give" and telling her he is "Hunter Thief." Their blood is mixing. Utter chaos... even before he melts into the ground and vanishes. When she arrives home, she's completely healed besides this weird scar on her wrist that looks like an arrow made of ivy.

Soon after, another guy starts following her. He has silver hair and eyes... and strange ways, but he's also smoking hot. So, of course, she yanks out her switchblade, Tuck, and threatens him in a book store. This guy has the nerve to tell her that she is marked for death and she is dying. THE NERVE! He keeps asking her about the guy... the guy she'd seen melt into the ground. He keeps following her and, in a nearby park, he pledges to give her whatever she asks for in exchange for her story regarding "Hunter Thief." To seal the pledge, he cuts his hand and her hand... which Honor was totally not on-board with. He also licks his hand... and commands her to lick hers. (She's already learned he can work some sort of mind mojo and control people.) After they've sealed the handshake, Honor is bound to finish the pledge.

Deep beneath the city of Seattle, Honor finds the caverns of Vampire and another race called Hunters or vampires. Born of Father Rock and Mother Earth, they're not the monsters of legends. They exist to keep the mortals, offspring of elementals and Mother Earth, safe as they go about their lives above-ground in Empire. True--vampires are immortal and their blood is used to create binding pledges, but they're the guardians that keep the mortals--Beings--safe from the shadow monsters known as Shifts. Beings can't see the Shifts nor can they see their immortal half-siblings, vampires, unless the vampires wish it.

The one Honor just bound herself to--is a Steward whom she calls Reeve. However, Honor isn't dying of the Shift bite that has marked her. She is a Shadow Hunter, the daughter of Mother Earth. That pledge Reeve made... to give her whatever she asked for... wasn't finite. That other Hunter she'd seen die had been a vampire Thief and had traded his life-force for hers. Honor is the newest member of the Seattle Sovereignty and Honor Thief.

In Honor Among Thieves, Honor must find her place in this weird new world and outrun Laird Tiger. She'll kill a bunch of Shifts along the way, because that's what Shadow Hunters do best. When they're all a pile of ash... it'll be her and the new guy, Reeve... who looks so hot when he fights.

Key Players:

Shift/Vugs= Formed by violent emnity--there are always more in this violent world. Shadow Hunters can see their giant eyes to stab as well as the six inch retractable claws, monster teeth, and their eight foot forms made of liquid rock but vapory as shadow. Honor favors throwing stuff at them and has wicked aim. Vampires see a "Shift of shadow" and kill by climbing them and stabbing. Shifts eat humans. They prefer to bite them and then wait for their poison to cause the human's blood to boil. It's like calling for a family bbq... and boiled blood is the scented invite. They also like Honor's blood even though she and vampires are immune to their poison. They REALLY like Honor's blood.

Honor= Shadow Hunter, short (but pissy about it), cute (even more pissy about that), and color-blind. She wears camo, attitude, and her switchblade named Tuck. She's been killing Shifts practically since she woke up. She's haunted by her friend's death and has vowed to wipe the earth from its never-ending supply of Shifts. Her favorite retort: "Bite me." She's also known for being a poet of profane hand gestures. Oh... and for the first time in her four year life, she is hot for a male... who just happens to be bound to her. Talk about your lucky breaks.

Reeve=Vampire aka Hunter. Over four hundred years old. His calling as Steward means that he takes care of those above and below ground. He is forced to kill those poisoned by the Shift's bite in order to dispose of their bodies before their blood boils. He's bound himself to Honor... thinking she'd be dead within hours. Vampires aren't known for emotions--they're trying to learn them by associating with the emotional mortals of Empire. Honor is certainly helping him experience some emotions. After all, he likes weapons... she likes weapons. He likes the way she smells and biting her... she keeps shouting "Bite me." There could be worse things.

The Master= Master vampire of the Seattle Sovereignty which includes Thieves, Warriors, Trackers/Scouts, Provision Hunters (vampires only eat the meat of carnivores), a Healer, Keeper, and a single Steward. He's closing in on his thousandth birthday... but doesn't look a day over twenty-five.

Ming's= Honor's favorite Chinese restaurant

Canadian Donuts= Honor's favorite food

Whipped Cream= Honor's favorite condiment

Flashing Friday (Painting/Honor and Reeve)

First of all, I feel better. Wow. I feel so much better. I'm not dizzy. My brain feels all clear and fantastic and I feel like eating real food today. Non-cracker food. (Why do I feel like I ought to explain that isn't an ethnic slur?) I'm so excited. I just felt like death on a stick all day yesterday. I don't know what that was or how I came about it, but I'm hoping that It'll be gone today. That was horrible yesterday and trying to relax just seemed to make it more obvious rather than make it better. Ugh. Anyway, I'm hoping... it's gone.

Secondly, I'm a huge slacker. I haven't done any Flash Fiction this week. I loved some of the prompts. I went to check them out yesterday and just trying to concentrate made me want to hurl. Geez... the sound of text messages coming in made me want to hurl. I was like this freaky little Gollum on the couch yesterday just lurking on Twitter while curled into corner. "We hates everything. We twitters, but we hates everything." If you don't believe me, you can ask Diana... I believe I sent her one of the whiniest, grumpiest emails in the history of emails. The phrase "What fresh hell is this?" was used. (I only drag out Shakespeare when I'm really grumpy for the record... or when I'm patronizing....) So, instead of flash, I'll be posting something personally revealing. Woo woo! Prepare to be flashed.

Here is a painting I did that I gave to my mom for a room she's decorated with a castle/medieval theme:

The book he is reading says, "How to Train your Princess to do Simple Tricks." It's one of the paintings that shows how strange my sense of humor is at times.

But, wait, there is more flashing to be done. I've been posting tweets from my Honor books, and post 140 characters of quotes is annoying the.... well, it's annoying. We'll let you fill that in with whatever you feel like saying today. So, I thought I'd post a section that I was already posting from last night that requires very little explanation. It's from Place of Honor (Honor #3.) It's long and imperfect, but no one is forcing you to read it, so quit your whining. (Okay, so there is still the tiniest bit of cranky left today.)

Anyway, it starts with Honor throwing a coin in a fountain:

I veered over toward a fountain. Reeve handed me a penny before I even asked. He found my desire to wish on stars and pennies to be amusing for someone who didn’t believe in fantasy.

It was one of the few sweet and non-violent impulses that I allowed myself. There was some part of me that wanted that kind of magic to be possible. It had to be. Right?

I stood with my back to the fountain, closed my eyes, and took a deep breath.

‘What do you wish for?’ he asked inside my head.

I peeked one eye open. “I’m not supposed to tell you.” I closed my eye and took another deep breath.

‘Why?’ he asked. I could feel he’d gotten closer to me and it made my heart jump around a little.

“It won’t come true if I say it out loud,” I said.

‘So…. Don’t say it out loud. Just tell me.’ His voice in my head sounded warm and deep.

“It’s against the rules,” I whispered while frowning at him. I could tell he was prowling around in front of me trying to force me to open my eyes.

‘What rules?’

“THE rules,” I explained. “The unwritten rules regarding wishing on anything….”

‘So, you’re saying that someone thought of our situation when coming up with unwritten rules?’ His tone was amused.

Reeve was really close now. I could feel the warmth from his body. It made me shiver.

He chuckled.

“Yes, they knew someday two people would come along who could hear each other’s thoughts and one of them would be vastly annoying about cheating on the wishing rules,” I said.

I scrunched up my nose. I was going to have to try extra hard to block him out so I could make a wish. Actually, most of what I wished for was right in front of me trying to annoy me enough to kick him. I frowned and said, “Actually, the frustrating thing is that if I did tell you what I’d wish for, you’d be forced to try to give it to me. That ruins wishes.”

“Not necessarily,” he said. “Maybe it’d be something I wanted to give you.” He said it in a husky voice that made me wonder what he had in mind even while I shivered again.

“Are you cold?” he asked amused… knowing that I wasn’t.

“Well, if that was the case, if you wanted to give me something, then you could do that without me forcing you to,” I pointed out.

Then, an idea for my fountain wish came to me. I wished Reeve loved me the same way that I loved him. I wished that with every part of myself… especially the girly part that believed in wishing.

‘You know what I’d wish for?’ Reeve asked.

I tossed the coin over my shoulder, opened my eyes, and asked, “What?” while raising an eyebrow.

He was staring down at my hips but looked up smiling. His smile was dangerously close to a smirk. That smile always meant one thing.

I cleared my throat and said, “Never mind. I think I know.”

‘Did you ever decide which step seeing you naked was on this path to mating? I’m guessing we’re not going through these steps very quickly. How many steps are there? Ten? Fifteen?’

His questions sounded vague and thoughtful. I got the feeling he might know more about the steps, so I decided not to attempt a stumbling and embarrassing guess. I didn’t have much input to give. I was four years old even if my memories of the world seemed a little older. He was four hundred and five. He must have gained some carnal knowledge in all those years.

He’d read books. Books had ‘stuff’ in them. I’d read a very interesting book that I’d borrowed from Pamela in which a vampire was the lead male character even. Most of the ‘pertinent’ descriptions had left me feeling a bit ill. I like to think that made me practical and rational. Seriously, who throws around the words “heaving”, “swollen”, and “engorged” thinking it sounds sexy when you could use those same words to describe viewing a case of gangrene. I think the fact that I was repulsed just goes to show you that I saw a more universal application of the adjectives in use.

I looked at Reeve who still had a serious look on his face.

I found it strange that he was wondering about seeing me naked again. I couldn’t figure out what the draw was. I was short and scrawny.

Reeve looked over my body as if considering a puzzle or writing up a checklist, and I shifted uncomfortably.

What if, once he saw the full me, he wasn’t interested anymore in me at all? Maybe he’d get tired of me…. Maybe he secretly wanted someone more like Callie. She looked so statuesque and perfectly perfect. Reeve was perfect. He was huge and muscled. I stared at the frown on his sculpted mouth.

Did it matter if there were any steps beyond kissing? Kissing was pretty amazing. My stomach jumped around like a wild thing trying to fly every time. Why clutter up something perfect with crass groping or my nakedness?

Reeve finally said, “From what I’ve seen, I think there are probably nine steps.’

“Yeah?” I asked aloud. Wow. He must have really thought this through. I might have made up a step just to make it an even ten, though. Reeve wouldn’t. He was strictly honest… sometimes to a fault.

Okay. So he wasn’t perfect… but I didn’t hold his honesty against him.

“I think we’re on two,” he calculated.

Two? Two wasn’t very far. Was he telling me this because we were taking too long?

“Your point?” I asked crossing my arms.

“I just told you,” he said in confusion. “I think seeing you naked is around step seven.”

“Step seven? What are steps uhh….? No. Wait. I don’t want to know. Let’s just get going.”

I started walking and then turned to see him looking at me from behind while walking very slowly.

“You’re starting to make this creepy,” I warned him while putting my hands on my hips.

“I find you fascinating,” he said honestly.

I felt my cheeks flush and my heart start thumping. I felt flattered and terrified. Was that the same as saying he loved me? Probably not. I wondered what step that was. Maybe it wasn’t one in Reeve’s mind. My heart started thudding… from dread.

What if he really didn’t love me? Now that I thought about it, fascinating wasn’t the same as a declaration of affection of any kind.

A snake swallowing a rat was fascinating in a grotesque way. That really clarified the definition in my mind. Fascinating could be documentary-worthy. Then, there was that woman with the world’s longest fingernails in the world record books. That was fascinating.

“It would be nice if it was before step seven. Maybe we could skip steps?” he suggested, dragging my mind away from vile topics.

“We can’t skip steps! That’s why there are steps.” I threw my hands up in the air for emphasis and to distract him from the sound of my nervous heartbeat.

It worked, because, for a moment, he followed my hands with his eyes as if they were saying something. It was wise of him, because most of my hand movements were making a statement. This one was saying, “SKIP STEPS! NO! Then we’ll get to the monster at the end of the book which is where you see me naked and freak out.”

“We can skip step five, though,” he said. “I’m more interested in seeing you naked.”

“We CAN’T skip step five! That’s an important step.” I had no idea what step five was. It could be sharing straws for all I knew. I was just not ready to jettison ahead to step seven.

“We could move step seven up so that it’s step four or five and just slide the remainder of the steps backward. We wouldn’t be skipping things that way,” he suggested.

I narrowed my eyes.

“You’ve seen me naked,” he pointed out.

I choked a little. Wow. That memory was both disturbing and good. “It wasn’t by choice. You and all the Hunters seem to think the Inner City is some sort of men’s locker room.”

“You were the first female there in five hundred years.”

“Just because you prefer for there not to be any mystery….”

The Creative Process

Most of the people that follow this blog are most likely writers so, you know, that there is no one way that writers get inspiration. For those that aren't writers, be aware that my particular process is tainted by obsessions, quirks, poor memory retention, and a slightly split personality. Actually, it's my process that is more creative than processing my creativity.

So... I was reading through Without Honor trying to figure out where I was going with that book because revision was starting to wear on my brain. I couldn't figure out what my vague allusions meant but the story was really exciting--right up until I stopped writing it. (I told you... split personality. I vaguely remember writing some of it... sort of.) Then, Hunger Games arrived in the mail. Diana has suggested that the second in that series is the Holy Grail of Writing Perfection. Plus, I've been meaning to get to Hush, Hush. So, being as I was in between projects and without inspiration--it seemed like a good time to get some reading in.

So, naturally, I woke up this morning--in the frigid cold--in the dark--with the soggy wet weather making me feel exhausted. While I was internally complaining and whining, I realized where I was going to go with Without Honor. GAH! What? No! It's the seventh book in a series of unpublished books. (Reeve is so hot!) The seventh book! (Seriously, he really is.) I only keep writing it because I have so many addicts pushing me to it. (And... well... because of Reeve) Also, Honor is sort of fun to write. (Mostly it's Reeve.) Still, I have other WIPs I should be focusing on--really. (I can still think about Reeve while writing them.) I was just re-reading Without Honor to see what I had down. (Also, because Reeve's thoughts are steamy.) Bah!

So, I'm faced with a conundrum. Do I work on Without Honor or read these books--knowing that reading other books sometimes screws with the voices in my head for a bit? So, I'm sure some of you are thinking, "It's no problem, Wendy, just take some notes." (The thought makes me snort laugh.) So, I don't work with outlines. I work with dialogued moments--in my head. I think, "This conversation goes like this and it connects to this." I also leave myself clues to the bigger picture throughout the story--clues that I don't actually know why I'm leaving them until later on. Seriously. I'm constantly surprised when things work out in the end. It's really exciting when one of my characters figures out a clue and tells me.

So, this friend of mine really wants me to read "Hush, Hush" so I'm going to take a stab at notes for Without Honor in the hopes that I'll understand them when I get there.

(For those that read Honor's stuff, spoilers might be ahead, or trying to negotiate your way through what I'm writing might make your head explode. Either way--you're warned.)

Notes:

Connection to Ares important/Priest important/"Water is drugged" "You need to live."/Thor's backstory should come in/Island--find that island again/Not a hag--get rid of hag stuff/Mutus Liber/raising dead mentioned in book five/six days/Druids/Zombies/Honor targeted due to dreams/looking at boat at Locks/Refocus on date/"I've tasted that. I nearly would have rather died," Clooney said./Elixir of Eternal Death/Some islands might have Rogues on them--eating salmon/Why did Archer get left behind? You left him behind in Clooney's scene/Figure out the passage of time business--find a way or reason to speed up time/Honor dreaming of watching Reeve fight/Reeve has first dream/Motive behind abduction not entirely evil/leave open-ended for eight/Leave Honor behind/prison should not have earth in it--maybe cement or metal/basement/bathroom--just because otherwise that's gross/Ares being a dark magi will require re-explanation of that/You have Merlin, but maybe Gandalf would be better/Guerdon?/Make sure to disarm Honor--twice over because of other weapon/Get Faith a Tuck/she gets away--she? Probably/explain princess Diana's absence/If they have Rogues--they might have Shifts/Who or what are they fighting before Clooney's scene/end on dream or Christmas/mistletoe should keep coming up--wiki it/go back through notes for that one thing that you starred that you thought was cool--whatever it was.

Okay, that was my official brain dump. That is what my creative process looks like. A garble of strange thoughts with intermixed dialogue. I had more dialogue in my head, but it's already slipping away. Okay, I have yoga right now. Ta, all.

Alrighty then....

So, I'm feeling burnt out today. I've been working on revisions and contests and queries.... Looking around my house, I really need to unplug and plug in my vacuum--after I manage to find the floors. Unfortunately, I just want to go back to writing Without Honor. I went to reread and catch up in the story from where I left off--and I can't remember where I was going with some of it. I was throwing out bits and pieces of information--and some of them I knew where I was leading--and, okay, some of them I didn't. Still, when the story dropped off, I was left thinking, "Huh... wha? Where was I going with that? There must be more. This was starting to get good!!!" Grr. Anyway, I've had this problem before when I pick up other projects or do major revisions in the middle of working on a WIP. It'll work out, but it's frustrating right now.

Also, I'm noticing that the steaminess factor in this Honor book is amped up to a ten. I think I mentioned this when I was working on it, but I can't remember. Anyway, uhh... whoa. Reeve needs a cold shower. Jaime sent me an email with a "revised" make-out scene that I'll have to check out.

Man, I'm tired. So many days of dealing with all of this writing stuff made sleep impossible last night. The kids were soooooo late to school. It was so bad that it was funny. I slept through all the alarms and woke up to T babbling on and on about something to do with a website. The fact that it was actually light outside was my first clue that we were seriously late.

B is having a rough time. Her sensory system and needs aren't as obvious as T's, so I'm not sure what is wrong. She had a bit of soggy, crying melt-down in Dairy Queen last night. The husband looked to be in abject misery as he had a headache after a long day at work. Poor "the husband."

So, cleaning, laundry, dishes, and lots of caffeine are on the docket for today. Le sigh. I know that polygamy is a touchy subject when combined with Mormonism and, normally, I wouldn't bring it up or try to explain it but, come on, aren't there just days where you wish there was another wife that actually liked to clean and cook? I'm just saying.... (Okay, so I still couldn't handle polygamy but there are aspects that don't sound so bad. Sharing the geeky husband? Sooooo not going to happen.)

Okay, there is today's half-grassed post. (Did you notice how I snuck in something that was nearly a profanity? Clever, eh? I'm going to use it for the rest of the day to see if it takes off.)

Have a good Tuesday, my lovelies! Mwah! Mwah!

Happy Monday to you!

It's a school holiday due to Martin Luther King Day--which, I have to say, though we're rural, the grade schools really, really do an excellent job about talking about discrimination and the importance of equality for all. They not only have an assembly but they go over it in classes all year. My kids know more about the civil rights movement at their age than I did by Junior High. My kids have a very difficult time understanding the whole concept of treating someone differently because of their race, though. They've been raised in an environment where that just never happens, so it just strikes them as odd. So, they've had more trouble understanding prejudice than avoiding it.

Well, as it's a holiday, you know what kind of email I received. Le sigh. I don't want to talk about it--not really. I did enter a contest at query tracker with Honor Among Thieves. This time the contest was actually open for an hour and a half and not just a couple minutes.

I'm revising Guest of Honor right now with the hopes of having it ready for a lulu run for my Mother-in-law. I'm supposed to be reading North and South. It's hard to read a book that others have said is "tough to get into."

Anyway--stuff to do--Reeve to drool over. I'll keep posting lines as I come across them on Twitter for those that are following my feed.

Happy Monday.

Sunday Supplication

Hey, I'm entering Honor Among Thieves into a contest in the morning. I've written out a few blurbs for that purpose and I'm trying to figure out which one to go with. If you've got the time and interest--just click on the picture of the Honor Among Thieves book to the side of here.

Today has already been stressful. T is out of control due to his loose tooth (he lost one tooth, but he has two more loose teeth.) He's been so buzzed that I gave him caffeine gum to chew to calm him down before church. He was good as gold for church, but he's re-amped up again, so he got another piece of gum. I'm hoping he calms down before the husband and I start screaming uncontrollably. Last night was the last straw in our patience--he was freakishly out of control. I need to get the citrus mints with caffeine in them again. It was like a miracle this morning when I found the gum--as part of a desperate search for anything containing caffeine.

(For those that are baffled by why I'm giving a hyper-active child caffeine--it has the opposite effect on the hyper-active and children prone to mania and over-stimulation. That's why the bulk of ADHD meds are stimulants for the rest of the population.)

I've been fighting headaches all week so if I'm a little more scattered than normal--that would be why. (Well, also T has been out of control all week due to his teeth.) I finally figured out it was my Twitter background causing eye-strain, so I switched it out and hopefully I'll be able to cut back on the ibuprofen.