Birth of a Novel and Housekeeping

How was your weekend? Did you get your fill of turkey and pie? I've frozen most of my left overs to save for another day. We can only eat so much, ya know?

Anyway, I'm ready to settle back into my normal posting routine. This means I'm moving my Birth of a Novel post to Monday instead of Tuesday.

What do you want me to blog about on Wednesday and Friday?

I really liked it when you asked questions and I did some research to find answers. Did you? Should we try that again?

Some other ideas I've had are:

• Interviews With a Blogger--where I interview you.
• Book Reviews--I just need some books to review. :)
• Answers to Your Questions
• First Look--you send your first 300 words to be posted anonymously and critiqued by me.

So, here are the guidelines? You can do one, all, or none of these. But it would be helpful if you did at least the first one.

• Comment and tell me what you would like to see on this blog.
• Post a question you want me to answer (about ANYTHING) in the comments.
• Post book suggestions you would like me to read and review in the comments. 
• Email me to let me know you would be willing to be interviewed (charity.bradford@gmail.com)
• Email the first 300 words of your story to be critiqued. I'll post it without your name (unless you want your name on it). Please include the title and genre with the submission. (charity.bradford@gmail.com)

Title: Faerie Wings
Genre: YA Urban Fantasy
Current word count: 29,310

Surprise of the week:
I woke up Saturday morning and really wanted to write. The house was quiet. I had survived turkey day and guests as well as Black Friday. The story was waiting at the tip of my fingers. I went down to write and got about 500 words before the five year old woke up. That was the end of the writing.

I kept trying to come back, but my home is not writer friendly. The frustration made me cranky and I think I went to bed at 9pm with a headache. The saddest part was that when I woke that morning, I actually thought I could pull off a Nano win. All I needed to do was pull off four days of 5,000.

Totally doable.

But not in my house.

I'm still not bothered by the Nano fail, but I really want to get this story out of my head and on the page.

And guess what? Last night I started dreaming about Sendek again. It won't leave me alone, and that's how I know it isn't FINISHED. The bit that came to me was actually brilliantly simple. *head smack* why didn't I think of it before?

Don't worry, I jotted down the idea, but I promised to let it sit until January at the very least before I dig into it again.

Snippet for the week (I actually went back a couple of chapters for this steamy bit):
He stayed close by my side all night. If he wasn’t holding my hand, our knees were touching. Or he found some excuse to brush the lock of hair away from my face, tucking it behind my ear. Each time he did, his fingers caressed the side of my face, lingering as long as possible.

The whole world slowed down. I could barely eat my dinner, even though it was delicious. Later, the music at the symphony swirled around me, carrying me away to places I had never been. And Carter was in every taste. In each sound. In every sensation that moved through my body.

Images of summer fields full of wildflowers, forest trails, gardens, and hummingbirds came to me off and on throughout the night. Somehow Carter knew when they came to me. He squeezed my hand and smiled each time. The looks he gave me promised there would be time to talk. Soon.

It came in the form of the last entertainment for the night. If the symphony had been planned for my enjoyment, the dancing was for Heather. She and Scott took to the floor as soon as we made it in the door. Carter and I sat in a corner. The music was too loud to talk much, but I learned you can say a lot without words.

Carter traced the same circular pattern on my hands over and over. I leaned over and spoke close to his ear.

“Why the circles?”

He turned until his mouth was next to my ear. “Circles have no beginning and no end.” He drew another one on my palm. “There are many other meanings, but that’s my favorite one.”

The warmth of his breath on my skin spread. In the dim lighting of the club, a new boldness came over me. I flipped our hands over and drew a spiral on his palm. We sat so close that I felt his body tense and relax as he exhaled into my hair.

“Ma Cherie?”

“Did you know that in Celtic symbols, the spiral represents growth, balance, and creativity?” I spoke into his ear.

“It also means surrender and awareness. A triple spiral is a sign of feminine power.” He nipped at my ear, and a delicious tremor ran through me. “Please don’t tempt me more than I can take.”

His other hand closed over mine, stopping it’s motion. He didn’t pull away but leaned his head into mine. I couldn’t hear his breathing, but I could feel the quick rise and fall of his chest so near to mine. When it slowed he pulled back and looked into my eyes.

“Shall we dance?”

Ack! I forgot to post the chain list. Go check out these other great peeps.

Angela H.
Anna M.
Brooke Busse
Charity Bradford
Elizabeth Davis
Elizabeth Poole
Fida Islaih
Huntress
Jen McConnel
Lena Hoppe
Mia Hayson
Miranda Hardy
Nyxie Moon
Tessa C
Zoe