Scenes From Buffalo Part Six

Major Golden Eagle spoilers ahead! And our Unlikely Triumvirate. 

Severin had an audience in attendance before he managed to get the bag open, this time. Finches, and chickadees, and even a few woodpeckers, their checkered black and white feathers fluttering like playing cards as they alighted on the snow in the gathering crowd around him, looking up with expectant, black bead eyes, waiting for him. The cardinals were his favorites, the males in their brightest red, and the females in their muted browns and oranges, their rust tails, both genders sporting the little feather hats for which they were named. 

Scenes From Buffalo Part Five

“I think he’s afraid.”

Scenes From Buffalo Part Four

The air smelled of frost, and cold, and pine sap, and prey. Sasha ran with his mouth open, tongue lolling, diving and plunging through the heavy drifts gathered at the edge of the forest. He felt ice crystals digging at his toe pads; felt the wind in his face, sharp and wild. When he caught the scent of a rabbit, he gave a high, excited whine; changed course and plunged past the tree line, hot on the trail. He could sense and hear the other two wolves behind him; the musk of their fur, the bristling of their own excitement. It was almost like having a real four-legged pack again. 

Scenes From Buffalo: Part Three

Part Three. Spoilers for Golden Eagle. 

“Watch my body,” Trina instructed. “Not my hands. My body will tell you where I’m going next – the way I shift my weight. The knife is a distraction.” A wicked, serrated hunting number waited to strike in her right hand, held horizontally, its jagged edge gleaming.

“Who taught you that?” Anna asked from the sidelines, a grin in her voice.

Trina smirked. “Family friend.” Then she moved.

Scenes From Buffalo: Part Two

More fluff! More NY pack in Buffalo, spoilers for Golden Eagle. 

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Val sighed, and returned to his body. 

Scenes From Buffalo: Part One

I woke up this morning with this particular bit of post-Golden Eagle fluff stuck in my head, and had to write it out. Just a writing exercise, I said. Just stretching the old mental muscles, I lied to myself. By the time I finished, I realized I had lots of fluff I wanted to write, and that a good bit of it was tinged with angst. (Though, no worries, it's a reflective kind of angst, and it's also so much fluff.)

This isn't part of Lionheart, let it be known. I'm thinking it might be nice to have a little bridging novella that picks up with our NY pack in Buffalo. A novella, perhaps? Blog tidbits? We shall see. I just love these characters and I could write about them all day long.

This tidbit picks up a day or so after the end of Golden Eagle, so please be mindful of that if you haven't read/finished the book yet! 

(Grab it HERE if you need to get all caught up on the Sons of Rome Series)

And please enjoy today's totally self-indulgent snippet. 

*GE SPOILERS BELOW*

Carter

I don't know what this is. I really don't. It's not a book. Just a little thing.

Afternoon sunlight lay butter-yellow across the manicured grass of the practice field. The varsity team was fanned across the grass in basketball shorts and sweat-soaked t-shirts, doing burpees. A red-faced strength coach screamed encouragements, and water boys stood at the ready, cups all lined up on the long table that held the Gatorade cooler.

Ava/Mercy Valentine's Day Short

In a perfect world, I would write a little snippet for each couple. Assume the rest of the Dartmoor crew had similar evenings. 😄

“What’s in the bag?” Aidan asked, gesturing to it with his sandwich. He had a mouthful of meatball sub, though, so that’s at least what it sounded like he asked. He sprayed crumbs down into his lap and a dab of marinara sauce dripped out, unnoticed, onto the knee of his jeans. Because he was a fucking slob who wouldn’t appreciate what Mercy had in the bag at all.   

Friday Fluff: The Party Part One

Remy

Everyone knew Remy Lécuyer was in love with Lucy McCall…except for Lucy McCall. Or, he thought darkly, maybe she knew, but didn’t return his sentiments, and thought the kind thing to do was pretend she didn’t notice that he stared at her too long sometimes, and always found a way to sit next to her.  Because she was nice. She was the kind of genuinely sweet, soft spoken, thoughtful person who mailed handwritten thank you notes, who remembered shopkeeper’s names and thought to ask after their ailing relatives. Who didn’t mind pitching in even when her eyelids were flagging; who tutored children and volunteered at every single club charity event, smiling at everyone she encountered.

#TBT DVD Extras - 3/23

Because Loverboy was full of so many difficult moments, it made the good moments twice as special. The scene with Tango and Ian sitting on the Jag, watching the sun come up, is probably my favorite of the entire story:

In a small, vulnerable voice, Ian said, “Do you think it will be better now? Since she’s gone?”

            “I hope so.”

            Ian sat up, and leaned against Tango’s shoulder, the warm pressure a comfort. It felt like apology and gratitude. Like friendship. Like letting one another go.

            They watched the sun come up.

It was a scene that was sketched very early in the process, a note off to the side: must include this scene. Even when I wasn't sure exactly how the plot would shake out, I knew I wanted a moment of quiet closure between these two, just them being messed-up boys trying to let go of the bad things. We always see Ian so polished and manipulative, and I wanted him to have a reflective, human moment.

A note on Ian: he's one of my absolute favorites. Total indulgence on my part; I thought "how can I incorporate a dandified English gentleman in this series?" Tango's backstory evolved early on, while I was writing Fearless, and Ian took shape along the way. Then it was a matter of hoping everyone loved him like I did.

Kindle

Nook

Kobo

Walking Wounded 'Verse Short

This is a writing exercise that started as an attempt to recharge my creativity and may turn into something bigger. Spoilers for Walking Wounded. First time Tara POV.

“Boys are stupid,” Luke has told her more than once. “Nothing good comes from boys, just stay away from them.”

#FicPromptFriday: 9/30/16 – In Dreams

Irene Tweeted me about a possible Shelter-verse prompt last week, so this one’s for her! Thanks, Irene.

9/30/16 – In Dreams

Before the wedding, before they were officially moved in together, Alma launched a major home makeover. Family photos stayed, but everything else went: bedding, drapes, paint colors, knickknacks. Writing couldn’t afford her a palace, but she could afford to redo the home she’d made with Sam…turn it into the home she would share with Carlos. It helped, in so many ways. She was ready to look ahead to the future, and the house felt like a reflection of their fresh start.

 

#FicPromptFriday: 7/22/16 - Waterlogged

*It rained yesterday – yay! And for the moment, the grass is a little greener; maybe my crispy pastures can get some relief. So blame the weather on the background theme of today’s futuristic continuation. Happy Friday.*

7/22/16 – Waterlogged

It started to rain late in the afternoon. Thick storm clouds stacked up to the west and scudded in, too full to do more than sit and let the wind push them over Knoxville. They carried only rain, though, and nothing dangerous, and water fell in relentless sheets past the windows.

#FicPromptFriday - 7/8/16 – Juliet

More of the future prompt nobody asked for! Largely unedited, so apologies for typos.

7/8/16 – Juliet

When she was a little girl, Lucy knew many things about her father. She knew that he liked to sit quietly and read books on Sunday afternoons; he would pull her up into his lap and she’d doze off in the sunshine, listening to his heart beat through his shirt, and the soft rustle of the pages turning. She knew that he thought Mama’s cooking was the best; his favorite was the lemon chicken, and he said that was the first thing Mama had ever cooked for him when they met. She knew he was a Lean Dog; she liked to trace the shape of the running dog on the back of his cut with her fingers. She knew he was really good at building things with Legos, and that he could make her a dollhouse without a starter kit, and that he always smelled like leather and nighttime when he kissed her good night, and tucked the blankets up under her chin.

#FicPromptFriday 6/24/16 - Crush

This week’s #FicPromptFriday is a look toward the future.

6/24/16 – Crush

“Can you fix it, or not?”

Cal pushed his black-framed glasses up into his hair, further ruining the finger-combed blonde mess, and sent his older brother a flat look. “I can fix anything.”

Remy suppressed a sigh. “Right. Well-established. But I asked if you could fix this.”

Fic Prompt Friday 6/3 - That Kind of Dad

#FicPromptFriday with Jordan Walker this week. He's my favorite Walker, and possibly my favorite among the characters I've written. Spoilers for the Walker Series and apologies in advance for typos.

6/3/16 – That Kind of Dad

Maybe she won’t notice, Jordan told himself, as he fitted his key in the lock. Maybe she would be bleary-eyed and tired from her day of writing and wouldn’t be able to see his bruise. It wasn’t that bad after all, Tam had said so. “Hmm, it’s not the worst I’ve seen,” he’d said, just a few minutes before, in the parking lot. “I’d get some ice on it, though.”

#FicPromptFriday: 5/27/16 – Adventures in Presidential Babysitting

This week's #FicPromptFriday installment features Ghost and his grandkiddos. A short one today as I finalize details on TLC for our release this weekend. As with last time, please excuse typos - this is just for fun.

*The girls are all at a baby shower :)

5/27/16 – Adventures in Presidential Babysitting

There were four of them. Why were there four? Why had his children needed to multiply this many times?

Not grandfatherly thoughts to have, but Ghost had them all the same, as Lainie sat down on her butt and wailed up the ceiling. And of course, that woke Camille up in her swing and she wailed too, a thin, half-asleep cry that put screws through Ghost’s temples.

Extended Edition, Basically

Hi, happy Sunday! I would love to say that most of my weekend was spent consuming milkshakes (seriously, put chocolate chips in coffee ice cream and Oh My God), but I've been elbow-deep in TLC edits, with only the one milkshake.

Right now, I'm typing up one of several scenes that I'm going to be adding to the final, published edition of the book. Some that I've shared via #FicPromptFriday, and some that I have not.

There are two sides to Wattpad, the good and the bad. On the good front, I can get content to you guys regularly, and quickly. On the bad, I'm not posting chapters from a fully edited and revised manuscript; what you all read on Wattpad is more or less a rough draft. I figured the readers who were dying to know wouldn't mind a typo or two. Or three. Or four. The disadvantage, then, is that you haven't read the final, polished product.

When it comes to editing, I never quite know what I'm getting into. Sometimes I'm tickled pink. Sometimes...not so much. As has been the case with TLC. Despite the fact that this is a 116k word, 424 page book, there are some scenes I feel could benefit from expansion. And there's new content I'd like to add. I've debated with myself as I've edited this weekend, asking if I want to go through with it, and I've come to this decision:

I've always been wildly fanatical in my love for Lord of the Rings. The books. The movies. Anything affiliated. So when the Extended Edition DVDs came out? Oh boy. How wonderful. The EEs provided a more complete film experience. Nothing left on the cutting room floor. Theater-going critics might not have appreciated it, but the fans did.

So I've been thinking all weekend, and since I don't write for the critics (hello! I see you lurking) but for the fans, I decided to go ahead and bulk up the book with the extended material that's been kicking around in my head. When TLC releases, expect a fuller, more complete vision than what's represented on Wattpad. I'm dedicating all of this week to getting the book up to par with the rest of the series, and I hope you'll all enjoy the results when the final book premieres  on sales channels on the 30th.

5/21/16 Continuation of Yesterday

I decided I had to do a quick continuation of the #FicPromptFriday piece I did yesterday. Same warning applies: potential for typos, and potential for TLC spoilers.

5/21/16 Continuation

As predicted, it was taking a long time. Her contractions were much closer together now, and the doctor had said it wouldn’t be long the last time he’d taken a peek, but four hours was a long time to be in this kind of pain, in Fox’s company no less.

In the chair beside the bed, he plucked ice chips from a cup one by one and crunched them noisily.

“Those are supposed to be for me, you know,” she said.

He tilted the cup in offering.

“Oh no. You enjoy.”

Live

The Kindle version of Rosewood is live now, and can be found here, for $0.99. There's something wonky with the Amazon pages, so all the book summaries are being cut off at the top. Ugh. Whatever. The print version should be available shortly; I'll post the linky when it is. It's a quick read: the shorts "What Ails You," and "The Vacation" that were posted - for the most part - here, and an added Jo/Tam story, "Totaled." Support is love!