Ups, Downs, and Words

I’ve been fairly busy with life and work, but I have done some writing and personal editing. Mostly LHNB stuff, but I’ve also been digging into Kin #1 edits with the hopes to get it out the door sometime in June. (I need to pick which publisher I want to send it to. It’s currently my baby and has 2 more stories in the series…hopefully, so I’m being particular.)

I haven’t even been looking at submission calls. Those tend to be fun and easy, but I really want to get a novel on my resume. Though some poking around tells me this probably will be just a little too short to get a print book. Bah. A novella will do, I suppose 😉

I’ve also been trying to write 100 words a day, with some flexibility for those days that just exhaust me (like yesterday). I’m currently working on a trans* story and I have no idea where to go with it right now. But all the muses are being kinda quiet and mellow right now, so I’m going with it. Good time for editing. And when they have a point to make, the muses will make it.

Edits and Figurines

So a few quick things.

1. I finished my Love Has No Boundaries story and sent it to the beta and got what appears to be generally positive feedback, so yay.

2. For those who follow my tumblr, you know that the first story I’ve written since my accident was accepted into a Storm Moon Press anthology. I had a shifter story in the works, but it was being difficult. Then I saw this picture and a story just blossomed.

3. I’m going to be doing a ton of edits the rest of this month, as in addition to the LHNB edits, I imagine eventually I’ll be getting otter edits. AND I’m trying to shape up a finished story by plugging in some changes a beta gave (more edits!) and maybe send it to another reader and then out to pub. I hope. It feels on the verge of being ready for an editor to tear into it 😉

4. And this, just for amusement. It’s a figurine I saw in the GoodWill store by me. Captions/comments are welcome:

Word Counts and Weariness

So anyone who follows me…anywhere probably hears a lot of complaining coming from my mouth. I try not to, but right now my body is in an unhappy place and it leads to whining. My recuperation has been a frustrating dance of one step forward, two steps back. I thought I was feeling 90% better and then I got bad news and got dumped back at 75%.

I’m pretty much in some sort of discomfort, whether it’s my lower back, my neck/shoulders, my eyes, my head, or (new this week!) my jaw. The days these complaints are minor, I feel good. Then other days I’m exhausted just by waking up (not even getting out of bed). I’m tired, all the time.

But I’m working (it’s baby steps) on being more positive. Remembering the good things that happen during the day. Remembering the things I can still do.

One thing that helps, some days at least, is a new word count goal. 100 words a day. That’s easy, right? I’ve only missed one day so far (after working a full day and being absolutely exhausted). So it’s easy and feasible and if what I wrote is utter shit, I don’t feel bad deleting it because it’s only 100 words. And most days once I start I feel good and get more than 100. That is a nice feeling, even when I’m just working on a free piece of fiction 🙂

Because even if it’s small progress, at least it’s always progress.

Another teaser

Again, names are changed and this is a rough draft, but here’s another teaser for my Love Has No Boundaries story:

After dinner Mike headed toward the living room for their usual couch session, but Luke caught his hand in the archway. He turned back, brow raised, and found Luke smiling like the Cheshire cat, a glint in his eyes. “What?”

He stepped forward and pulled Mike to him until they were divided only by cloth. “I thought you might like to see more of the house.”

Thank God he was in good shape, because if not, that would have stopped his heart. “Yeah?”

“If you want.”

“I want.” Suddenly he nothing but wanted. All their previous evenings together had kept them dressed, hands wandering under shirts and over crotches, but never further than that. He’d been grateful, he had. But he was also curious. He slid his free arm around Luke’s waist and relaxed into the heat of his body.

Luke chuckled. “It’s hard to show you the rest of the house like this.”

Teaser: LHNB

So for the Love Has No Boundaries prompt I’m doing, we’re encourage to post some teasers of the stuff we’re working on, so I thought I would. Here’s the two leading men meeting 🙂

So here it is (name’s changed, cause there’s a thingy they do with them. Yeah.):

He paused to slop some macaroni salad on his plate and noticed that the line was curving around a man grabbing some slices of roast beef. From the side all Michael could see were broad shoulders, a muscular body gone soft with age, and a head full of steel-gray hair. Then he shifted, reaching for the meatballs, and Michael saw his face. Broad too and tough, like he’d spent most his days outdoors, but curled into a smile at the corner of his lips.
Maybe he felt Michael staring, because a breath later, he was looking up and Michael was trapped in his pale blue gaze. His heart thumped noisily in his chest, but he couldn’t pull away from those eyes. They studied him a moment, then wrinkled at the corners as his smile widened. “Hi.”
“Hi.” And still they stared at one another. At least Michael was staring. He cleared his throat, forced himself to look away–and looked right back again. “Hi.” He winced. “Great food, huh?” He winced at that too, but it was better than repeating greetings.
“Beef and beer. Can’t go wrong.” He held out his hand. “Luke.”
His hand was rough and strong and sent a flush of heat through Michael’s chest. “Michael.”
Their hands lingered just a moment longer than normal, then they both released. “Did you need to get to the meatballs, or are you just as surprised as I am to find another guy here our age?”
“Definitely that.” He laughed and rubbed his hand through his hair. “Although the meatballs do look good.”
“Well, I won’t interfere between a man and his meat.” 

Hope you enjoyed it! And it’s a rough draft, so things are apt to change…

Otters and Silver Foxes

Today was my first day back at my full-time job, although I’m only working part-time at the moment. So I’m dead on my brain at the moment.

I submitted my shifter story to SMP. It’s pretty much the first thing I wrote since the accident, so I don’t know if it’s very good, and it’s not quite long enough, so they might not take it. But I’ll do something with it if they don’t want it.

I’m also currently ignoring my other shifter story in favor of writing a prompt from the Love Has No Boundaries anthology from the M/M Romance group on GoodReads. I have it started, but no idea where it’s going. Some friends keep tossing me pictures of sexy older men for inspiration 🙂

I’ve been really struggling with my depression the past week or so, as those who follow my Tumblr know. It makes it hard to work, write, or just breath some days. But then I have other moments where everything is fine and it feels so freeing it’s wonderful.

Also, a note about aloe plants: They are sturdy sons of guns! I had an aloe plant at work that didn’t get watered or tended to for 3 months and it’s fine. Green and happy as a clam. The one by the window got sunburnt, but it still was pretty well off (although I put it out of its misery). These things are Rambo tough. Inspiring, huh?