Sunday Summary: Adjusting Focus

I mentioned on Wednesday that I was adjusting how I was getting stuff done. Writing 3000 words a day between my projects, starting with one goal and adjusting for each story as I went. Well, that was working pretty well, but tomorrow starts a new month. For me, it will be a month of editing. So, I’ll be transferring that new goal to 3 hours of editing a day. Some of this editing will depend on people getting things back to me(from my CP and a beta reader), so I’ll work on things as I can. And I have another project that needs first revisions for while I’m waiting for stuff. I’ll still be working some on my other projects too. I figure I’ll give those an hour a day, first thing in the morning(when drafting usually comes better for me anyway), working on a different on each day.

But, before I get too much into next month’s plan, here’s how this week has gone:

• Write 14045 words between 5 projects – 14832 words.
  • Protecting the Heart – 4116 words(getting *really* close to the end of this one) –  “I’m sure you don’t want to storm the front door. To minimize bloodshed-““I’m not worried about that,” Declan said, baring his teeth. “I want to shed his blood.”
  • Closing Time – 2632 words -“Your father terrified me plenty when we first met, too.”

    He shook his head. “I can’t believe that. You two are still so in love.”

    She pulled back and smiled at him. “That we are. Because he’s a tenacious bastard.”

  • Shed Some Light – 3620 words – He smiled at her, though it looked a little wistful. “Then, maybe it’s time you two held on to each other.”
  • Break on Me – 2629 words – Yes, he probably would. She just hoped everything wouldn’t be awkward when she did. He’d said Gabe was a good guy, but something told her he didn’t believe the same about himself. Even though she could see it was the truth.
  • In the Moonlight – 1835 words – I laughed even as tears stung my eyes. That sounded so much like Aunt Adriane. And God, it made me miss her even more.
• Stained by Ashes – Compile Beta Notes as I receive them back – I got 4 chapters back yesterday but haven’t started compiling them yet.
• Dance with the Devil – 910 words – 2915 words(a good chunk was from pieces I wrote during May for Story a Day) – “I don’t care,” he said, his mouth hovering close, so close, to mine. I could feel his breath on my lips as he spoke. “It feels like everything that’s ever taken me away from you was a mistake. This can’t be a worse one than those.”
• Snow White Twist – 990 words – 1035 words – Eira’s face fell slightly, and Tarian wished she’d responded differently. “I thought you were going to stop calling me that.”
• Come Back Down: Search & Destroy – 38/50 words searched through
• Read: Romancing the Beat – Finish – Finished this. Going to apply this to my next WiP I plot
• Listen: Dead Weight(TR Ragan) & Nothing Like Love(Abigal Strom) – finished both of these and almost halfway through Fatal Affair(Marie Force)
• Read: Strong Signal(Megan Erickson & Santino Hassell), Anything More than Now(Rebecca Paula), Better When It Hurts(Skye Warren), Fight For Me(Sharon Page), The Girl at Midnight(Melissa Grey), Down & Dirty(Liliana Hart), & Saddles & Sin(Jessie Evans) – I absolutely loved Strong Signal, enjoyed Anything More Than Now, liked Better When It Hurts and Fight for Me. Loved The Girl at Midnight & Down and Dirty, enjoyed Saddles and Sin. And I just finished Against the Night(Kat Martin) which I really enjoyed.

Well, almost all of it was blue this week.

As for how I’ve done for the month:

Drafting:

• Protecting the Heart – finish 1st draft(or get damn close) – I have about 4 more scenes plotted out. So, getting very close.
• Closing Time – finish 1st draft – Only about halfway there
• Shed Some Light – write 17000 words – 16840/17000 words
• Break on Me – add 9000 words – 11096/9000 words
• In the Moonlight – add 8500 words – 9586/8500 words
• Dance with the Devil – get to 7500 words – got to 12061/7500 words
• Snow White Twist – get to 5000 words – got to 6667/5000 words

Editing:

• Stained by Ashes – compile beta notes as they come in – I have through chapter 12 compiled. Have 4 more waiting for me.
• Come Back Down – read through & revise – almost finished with this
• Midas’ Daughter – Read through once Come Back Down is finished – didn’t get to this one yet, moving to next month’s goals

Reading:

• Listen: 7 audiobooks in Audible library(1 from my credit, 1 was 1.99 add-on to free ebook, 2 were on sale, & 3 were read & listen from Kindle Unlimited) – 7/7 listened to
• Read: 28 books – 29/28 books
• Read: Romancing the Beat(Gwen Hayes)

Goals for next month:

Plotting:

• Defending the Heart – Finish Outline

Drafting:

• Protecting the Heart – 5000 words or finish 1st draft
• Closing Time – 5000 words
• Shed Some Light – 5000 words
• Break on Me – 5000 words
• In the Moonlight – 5000 words
• Dance with the Devil – get to 15000 words
• Snow White Twist – get to 10000 words

Revising:

• Stained by Ashes: Compile beta notes, start revisions
• Healing the Heart: finish CP revisions
• Guarding the Heart: Finish 1st revisions
• Come Back Down – Finish polishing
• Midas’ Daughter – Read Through & Revise

Reading:

• Listen: 8 audiobooks(already in my audible library)
• Read: 25 books
• Read: Writing Vivid Characters(Rayne Hall)

And for this week:

• Write: 5000 words
• Stained by Ashes – compile beta notes through Chapter 16(more if I get them back)
• Healing the Heart(if I hear back from my CP)
• Guarding the Heart – layer in World Building details
• Defending the Heart – Finish brainstorming, write Xavier’s back story
• Dance with the Devil – add 820 words
• Snow White Twist – add 990 words
• Come Back Down – finish polishing
• Read: Writing Vivid Characters – 25%
• Listen: Fatal Affair(Marie Force) & The Night Circus(Erin Morgenstern)
• Read: You’re It(Leigh Ann Kopans), Never Never(Brianna Shrum), Dangerous and Unseemly(K.B. Owen), Beyond What is Given(Rebecca Yarros), One Last Song(S.K. Falls), & Eight Naughty Nights(Eliza Madison)

 

WeWriWa: Not Gavin

Welcome to another gathering of the Weekend Writing Warriors, the blog hop for anyone who likes to write. This week I’m coming to you from my tablet since our home Internet is out (hopefully will have it fixed this afternoon), but I wanted to write this up while I was thinking about it, so using the data on my tablet is the only way. We don’t have great 4G signal out here,  but it’s better than nothing.

Anyway, I’m still sharing from Dance with the Devil. Added a lot of words to this during the week, though most of those were from pieces I’d written during the Story a Day challenge in May. It was just a matter of firing them in to the rest of the story. But for now, here’s 10 sentences from the next scene (skipped the first few of the scene):

Hadn’t he thought I might need that information during our patrols? Was this supposed to be some sort of punishment? Because I wouldn’t let us go back to one night that never should have happened anyway.

No matter how upset I was with him, I knew he would never do that. He wouldn’t put the club at risk because of a grudge against me. That wasn’t Gavin’s way.

I winced then took another pull from the bottle. I had to keep thinking of him like Hawk. The lieutenant who could keep information from me.

Not Gavin, the boy who had at one time saved me.

A little more of their history there. But how did Hawk save him? What happened between them?

Stream of Consciousness Saturday: Art

We haven’t had Internet since Thursday night. I noticed it wasn’t working when I finished a book on my Kindle and tried to add the next in the series to my wishlist. Figured it would come back on. But, all day yesterday, it didn’t. Finally called and they’re sending someone out “by evening” to try and fix it.

In the meantime, I turned the data back on on my tablet (usually use it on airplane mode with the WiFi ) so I can at least get some stuff done. Like today’s Stream of Consciousness post. The prompt is “art”. I’m just starting to plot Defending the Heart  (book 3 in my BC Security series) so exploring these characters some more.

“It’s an art form.”

Xavier looked up from the computer screen and snorted. “You’re ridiculous sometimes, you know that?”

Piers’ lips barely turned up, just a ghost of a smile. It didn’t matter what they were talking about. Xavier would always get entranced by that smile. He shouldn’t have even looked up. They had to work together on this job, but that didn’t mean anything else would happen.

He was just lucky Piers would speak to him.

“It’s a computer,” Xavier said. “I see nothing artful about it.”

“And Alex said you were their best computer guy until I came back. I don’t see how that can be possible with that attitude.”

Xavier let out an undignified snort. “It’s a computer,  not oils on canvas. It’s about manipulating code, not. ..careful strokes and mixing colors.”

Piers’ gaze heated, and Xavier drew his bottom lip in between his teeth.  Maybe he should have rephrased that. Tension crackled between them until finally Piers looked away.

Hell. At this rate,  Xavier wouldn’t survive this case, let alone the rest of his career if Piers stayed on with the company. Somehow he’d have to deal with it.

And make sure he didn’t hurt Piers any more than he already had.

Writing Wednesday: Adjusting Again

I’ve been working on a time goal for the last few weeks. And it’s worked for the most part. But, I’ve started to sit there during the time I should be writing, just staring at the screen. So, my word counts for the hour I spend working on each project are coming in a lot lower than usual. So, I’ve decided to go back to a word count goal. I’m still working on each of my projects every day. Going for a combined total of 3000 words a day. I start out with that spread evenly across each of the projects(so 600 words/project). Then, as I write, I adjust, since it’s likely I won’t write that exact amount. Yesterday I wrote over 1100 words each on 2 different projects because the words were rolling on both. I’ve been working on them in order of which is closest to being done. But, I think I may switch that around for next week, so I have the higher word goal on the ones that are further behind. And I’ll adjust the day’s count if I write more or less for the day. Like Monday(before I started this plan), I only wrote about 2400 words. So, yesterday’s total goal was about 3600 words(I actually wrote almost 4k on these projects). I’ve only done this for one day, so we’ll see if it continues to work.

Those are my word goals from yesterday, not actual word counts

For now, it’s WiPPet Wednesday time, which means time for another snippet from one of these projects. Sharing from Shed Some Light since that’s what I’m working on as I type this up. I have 9 paragraphs(2+7) from some of what I wrote yesterday.

Her shoulders fell at that, and she dropped her head back to his chest. “Please don’t do this,” she said. “It’s not up to you to stop him. I need you here. I need you with me.”

He took a step back from her at that. “You’ve never needed me, Reza. You’ve made that perfectly clear over the years.”

He wanted to take the words back as soon as he’d said them. He didn’t know what he would have done the past few days without her. How he would have survived. And maybe that made this old wound ache even more. He needed her, but did she really need him? Or would all he ever do be to drag her down? He couldn’t stand to think it.

Tereza took a quick step back from him, and he could see the pain in her eyes. “You know that isn’t true, Carlos. You chose to stay away as much as I did. I made a promise, and I felt I had to keep it.”

“A promise to who?”

“It doesn’t matter. If you can even say that to me, you obviously don’t know me very well. So, I guess maybe I should just go.”

“Reza.”

He didn’t know what else to say, though, and she was grabbing her coat from the hook beside his door then reaching for her purse. Then, she turned back. “You may be an idiot, Carlos, but I still love you. Which is the only reason I would have broken my promise now. I guess it didn’t mean anything, though.”

He couldn’t do anything but say her name again. Why didn’t he tell her he was sorry, that he hadn’t meant it, any of it? But, no, he just stood there like an idiot.

What promise did Tereza make? To who? What does this mean for them now?

Now, on to my progress so far this week:

• Write 14045 words between 5 projects – 7553 words. A little more than halfway and not done for the day yet.
  • Protecting the Heart – 2131 words – This is now at 75% complete, which means I can start brainstorming the next one, Piers & Xavier’s story. Woohoo!
  • Closing Time – 1303 words
  • Shed Some Light – 2235 words
  • Break on Me – 1017 words
  • In the Moonlight – 1065 words
• Stained by Ashes – Compile Beta Notes as I receive them back – nothing yet
• Dance with the Devil – 910 words – 356 words
• Snow White Twist – 990 words – 273 words
• Come Back Down: Search & Destroy – weekend project
• Read: Romancing the Beat – Finish – at 92%
• Listen: Dead Weight(TR Ragan) & Nothing Like Love(Abigal Strom) – finished Dead Weight(really enjoyed) and a little more than halfway through Nothing Like Love(liking it).
• Read: Strong Signal(Megan Erickson & Santino Hassell), Anything More than Now(Rebecca Paula), Better When It Hurts(Skye Warren), Fight For Me(Sharon Page), The Girl at Midnight(Melissa Grey), Down & Dirty(Liliana Hart), & Saddles & Sin(Jessie Evans) – I finished Strong Signal Monday night(LOVED!), and both Anything More than Now & Better When It Hurts yesterday. About 25% through Fight For Me so far this morning(mostly while eating breakfast). I’m actually a day ahead on my reading, since I didn’t plan to start Fight For Me until tomorrow.

Mostly blue & green! And hoping to turn the red into at least green by Sunday.

ListifyLife Challenge: Weird Things I Do

Okay, so the actual title of this week’s theme is “Things I Do that People Think Are Weird”, but that would make for an awfully long blog title. So, I adjusted. And I could pretty much sum this list up into one thing, but that would be kind of boring.

• Everything – Like I said, I could sum it up in one thing.
• Fold Wrappers – Or at least my husband finds this odd. When we go out for fast food, I always fold my sandwich wrapper when I’m done eating. He just crumples his up. It’s not like I feel I have to fold it. it’s just what I do.
• Think Out Loud – ok, so most people call this talking to myself. And, yeah, I get strange looks when I do it. Especially if I happen to be “thinking out loud” about one of my stories. Maybe a good thing I don’t go out in public often.

And one I forgot to add to my list

• No hugs – I really don’t like being touched with a few exceptions. I really don’t like hugs. I can handle the one-armed side hug, but unless I know you really well(and sometimes even then), I’m very uncomfortable with anything more.

There’s probably more that people haven’t actually *told* me they find weird. It certainly wouldn’t surprise me.

Sunday Summary: Mellow Progress

I mentioned on Wednesday that I instituted Mellow Monday. Though I don’t take the day off, I have taken it easy. And…it seems to have helped. Over all, I did write less words during the week, but I didn’t feel like it was such a struggle to get the words. So, I may be continuing with this, at least for now. I’m hoping once our social weekends are over(hopefully after Labor Day), I may be able to stop with this.

As I said, the week went really well. I wrote over 17,000 words. And I’m ahead on my reading for once this month. And finished revisions on one of my side projects. Yesterday we went out to a friend’s for a fire. Had some food and laughed and kids played in the pool for about 3 hours until it was dark, and we practically had to force the girl to get out(she’d probably swim 24/7 if we let her). This morning, we dropped them off at church with their grandma, came home, got on the bike and took off for a meeting with the club we ride with(usually we meet Sunday night, but our usual meeting place is under renovations, so we had it at a member’s house). Home for a few minutes, then we’re off to get groceries & some birthday presents for the girl(she’s going to be 9 in just over 2 weeks!)So, another busy, social weekend.

• Write 14165 words between 5 projects – 15285/14165 words.
  • Protecting the Heart – 3495 words – “Damn it, Eva,” he muttered as he pulled back into the street. “You should have just trusted me.”
  • Closing Time – 3185 words – Nolan nodded and stepped back. But, he held his hand out as Gio started to step past him. “Give him a chance, Gio. I know he made a bad mistake. I know you don’t want him to hurt you, too. But, give him a chance to prove he won’t.”
  • Shed Some Light – 3996 words – “I can’t do this, Reza. I can’t lose him, too. I don’t know what I’ll do if I lose him, too.””Survive.” She pressed up to him, and he tried to take in the comfort she offered. “it’s what you’ve always done.”
  • Break on Me – 2271 words – He nodded, but his face had fallen. “I get it, Lora. Don’t worry. I won’t pursue you if you don’t want me. I’m a big boy.”
  • In the Moonlight – 2338 words – “Hot,” I said quickly. “If you meant what I think you did. Please don’t ever apologize to me for saying anything dirty. Even if it’s only vaguely dirty.”
• Stained by Ashes – Compile Beta notes from Chapter 12(and any more I get back during the week) – Got Chapter 12 done. No more chapters received this week.
• Dance with the Devil – 920 words – 1199 words – Hawk following me to my bed? Yeah, I didn’t see how that had good idea written anywhere remotely near it.
• Snow White Twist – 995 words – 1021 words – “Please drop the princess. I already told you I do not own that title any longer.”
• Come Back Down – Revisions – Done. Going to do a search for all my crutch words next weekend
• Read: Romancing the Beat – 80% – Got to this point
• Listen: George(Alex Gino) & Wrong Number, Right Guy(Elle Casey) – finished both of these, loved George and really enjoyed Wrong Number, Right Guy. Listened to most of Dead Weight by T.R. Ragan(less than an hour left). Enjoying it.
• Read: Finish Tough Love(Lori Foster), Officer Off Limits(Tessa Bailey), Always on My Mind(Jill Shalvis), Thorn Fall(Lindsay Buroker), Into Elurien(Kate Sparkes), Caged in Bone(S.M. Reine), The Everlasting Circle(Juliana Haygert), & Wish Come True(various) – I finished Thorn Fall(enjoyed), Into Elurien(loved!), Caged in Bone(really enjoyed), & The Everlasting Circle(really enjoyed). I finished Wish Come True this morning. It was a collection of LGBT short stories(actually, I think they were all m/m). I read most of the stories, but it’s not unusual for me to skip a few in an anthology.

Love all that blue! Now for next week:

• Write 14045 words between 5 projects
• Stained by Ashes – Compile Beta Notes as I receive them back
• Dance with the Devil – 910 words
• Snow White Twist – 990 words
• Come Back Down: Search & Destroy
• Read: Romancing the Beat – Finish
• Listen: Dead Weight(TR Ragan) & Nothing Like Love(Abigal Strom)
• Read: Strong Signal(Megan Erickson & Santino Hassell), Anything More than Now(Rebecca Paula), Better When It Hurts(Skye Warren), Fight For Me(Sharon Page), The Girl at Midnight(Melissa Grey), Down & Dirty(Liliana Hart), & Saddles & Sin(Jessie Evans)

WeWriWa: The Last Thing

And we’re back for another visit with the Weekend Writing Warriors, the blog hop for anyone who likes to write. Sharing the last 10 sentences from the scene I’ve been sharing from Dance with the Devil. Next week, I’ll move farther along in this story. I’ve skipped two paragraphs of Devil being reminded that Hawk does have some say over what he’s told.

I don’t know why I was surprised. It’s not like it’s the first time he kept information from me. Or claimed he did something for my own good. I was a little sick of it, though.

“I could have handled it,” I said, looking around Bull right at Hawk. “Maybe one day you’ll actually trust me.” I turned away. “If you don’t need me here, I’m crashing at my place tonight.”

I didn’t hear anything from Bull or Icarus, but just before I reached my bike, I heard Hawk murmur, “Be careful.”

That was the last thing I wanted to be right now.

Is Devil going to get himself into some trouble? Or will he actually take Hawk’s advice?

Also I posted the final chapter of Into the Sun to Wattpad yesterday, so if you’ve been waiting for it to be finished, you can go ahead and read it now.

Stream of Consciousness Saturday: Second

Time for another Stream of Consciousness Saturday post. Today’s prompt is “second”. I’m almost to the point in Protecting the Heart where I’ll start outlining the next story. In this case, Defending the Heart, Piers and Xavier’s story. So, I think I’ll explore more of what’s happening between them.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Now, just wait a second.”

Piers turned slowly at the other man’s voice. “What, Xavier? I figured you would prefer it if I leave.”

“I know I’ve never said that. You’re the one who walked away from me.”

“Because you could not even keep a simple promise to me.”

“There’s nothing simple about it. I told you-”

“And I told you I would not be your secret anymore. But, that is just where you wanted to keep me, wasn’t it? Where you would still keep me if I let you.” Piers hated the flash of pain that went through the other man’s eyes, but he couldn’t do it. He just couldn’t.

“It’s not what I want,” Xavier insisted. “I just don’t know how to handle it any other way. Dad is-”

“You already told me you didn’t want to disappoint him. There are worse things, though, X. Mine barely spoke to me for a year. Even these last two, things have been strained. And all that for nothing because you refused to see your end through.”

“Are you done now? Or are you going to interrupt me again?” Piers scowled, but he didn’t open his mouth again. To his surprise, Xavier’s lips did pull up slightly. “As I was trying to say, Dad’s sick. He’s been having a lot of health problems for more than a year. I don’t want to add more stress on to him.”

“And you really think him knowing you love another man would add stress?” Or maybe love never had anything to do with what was between them. He didn’t want to accept that, though.

“And I’m not willing to risk it. I’m sorry, Piers, but I just can’t.”

So, they were still at a standoff. Just as they had been for the last three years. Only now Piers couldn’t avoid Xavier. They’d be working together. Maybe it had been a mistake to accept Alex’s offer after all. But, it was one he’d have to live with now.

Just like falling for Xavier in the first place.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Oh, these two. I always knew Piers would get his own story, I didn’t realize until they ran into each other at the end of Guarding the Heart that they had a story to tell together. I also wrote that moment when things first fell apart back in April, if you want to take a look at more of their background.

Fiction Friday: Into the Sun – The End

I just posted the final chapter of Into the Sun to Wattpad, so if you’ve been waiting to read the whole thing at once, you can. I’m planning to start revising book 2, Come Back Down, this weekend. Hopefully I can start posting it next week or possibly the week after that. For now, here’s the beginning of Chapter 12 from Into the Sun:

When we pulled into the yard, Mom stood on the porch beside Barbie and Chief. A woman I hadn’t seen before stood beside him, but by the way he had his arm around her, I figured she was with him. Mom was already heading down the steps when I shut off the bike and let Birdie off. We had taken the most direct route and were the first ones back. The others shouldn’t have been far behind.

Mom stood next to the bike by the time I took my helmet off. My arms were shaking, and my breath came a little too fast. But, she took me in her arms. “I’ve been so worried,” she whispered. “I thought he would-”

“He’s not going to bother us,” I told her.

That had her pulling back. “What did you do? Did you-”

“He’s still alive,” I said, putting a hand lightly on her cheek. “I let him know I have information that could destroy him. If he comes after us again, I won’t hesitate to use it.” Even the little I had could hurt him. “The bullet Dad put in his knee is going to keep him out of action for a bit.”

She gasped and spun toward Icarus. “You shot him? What did you do that for?”

“If I hadn’t, he likely would have killed our son. Is that what you’d like? You going to keep choosing him over the ones who actually love you?”

“Grady.” His name came out sounding rough, at barely more than a whisper.

His face only softened slightly. “It’s an honest question, Cassie. You chose him over me. You chose him over our son. If you’re going to keep doing that, I can take you back to him right now.”

“I’m sorry, Grady,” she said, tears filling her eyes. Then, she turned and fled back into the house.

I stared at her then turned to Dad. “What did you do that for? Why did you have to upset her?”

“What do you think he would have done if I had taken her back and handed her over? Just accepted her back? Accepted you back?” He made a jerking motion with his hand in front of his chest. “He likely would have come near to killing you both if he didn’t actually accomplish it. I’ve known men like him, and they don’t stand what they consider disloyalty.” His face was as hard as his words, but I saw more than anger in his eyes. Still, I couldn’t let his fear get to me.

“So, you had to make her cry? How will that make it better?”

Icarus’ shoulders slumped a little. “That hadn’t been my intent, Trace. And I’m sorry for it. Seeing Birdie…” His gaze dropped away, and he swallowed then brought his eyes back to mine. “It snapped something in me. I…I’ll apologize.”

My mouth dried, and I felt torn. Nothing he’d said hadn’t been the truth. But, I hated to see Mom hurting, especially now that we were both away from Henry. “Give her a little time first,” I suggested. “She’s upset. Not that you shot him, I think. She needs to process it and figure out how she feels.” I understood. I’d had the ride back to do that, and I still wasn’t sure.

Hope you’ve enjoyed this story. I’ve really liked writing this series, and I have at least one more story to write once I finish Dance with the Devil.

Writing Wednesday: Mellowing

So, I instituted Mellow Monday this week.  I didn’t completely take the day off. I did still wake up early, like usual. And I compiled my beta’s notes for Chapter 12 of Stained by Ashes. Then, I did some writing. I kept with my hour per project. But, instead of forcing myself to focus, I’d write a little bit then read a little bit and back and forth. Obviously my word counts were lower than normal, but I still got 1500 words between 3 of my projects. Then, Tuesday I still felt a little unfocused, but not nearly as much and I managed over 5000 words. Over 1700 of those were on 1 project. Today seems to be falling somewhere between the two. But, forward progress is still being made.

Since today is Wednesday, it’s time to share another snippet. Today, I have 20 sentences from Shed Some Light. It’s the only project I have left to work on today. This is part of what I wrote in that 1700+ word session.

Once Toby had closed the door, Carlos turned on him. “What the hell’s going on? First you drop a bomb on Reza that she’s your sister, now you’re being all cryptic about my own brother. What the hell, Pedera?”

Toby looked past him at Tereza, and she winced. She put a hand on Carlos’ shoulder. “It was more the other way around,” she told him. “I know I was out of sorts last night, but I should have made that more clear. I saw the photo of his mom and recognized her.”

“Our mom,” Toby corrected her.

She would have winced again, but she couldn’t make herself feel guilty for not thinking of her like that. “She abandoned me, not you. I can’t…I just can’t right now. Okay?”

He nodded after a moment. “Okay. But, you should talk to her and listen to her reasons. I did last night.”

Tereza dropped her gaze to the floor. That was the last thing she wanted to think about doing right now.

As for my progress this week:

• Write 14165 words between 5 projects – 9347 words so far this week.
  • Protecting the Heart – 1980 words
  • Closing Time – 2114 words
  • Shed Some Light – 2406 words
  • Break on Me – 1343 words
  • In the Moonlight – 1504 words
• Stained by Ashes – Compile Beta notes from Chapter 12(and any more I get back during the week) – Did Chapter 12 on Monday. Waiting on more.
• Dance with the Devil – 920 words – 912 words. Got so, so close. A lot of those came from one of my Story a Day pieces(It’s Apparent).
• Snow White Twist – 995 words – Nothing yet this week
• Come Back Down – Revisions – Nothing yet. Weekend Project
• Read: Romancing the Beat – 80% – at 65%
• Listen: George(Alex Gino) & Wrong Number, Right Guy(Elle Casey) – finished George on Monday. Really enjoyed this. Have less than an hour left on Wrong Number, Right Guy. Really enjoying it.
• Read: Finish Tough Love(Lori Foster), Officer Off Limits(Tessa Bailey), Always on My Mind(Jill Shalvis), Thorn Fall(Lindsay Buroker), Into Elurien(Kate Sparkes), Caged in Bone(S.M. Reine), The Everlasting Circle(Juliana Haygert), & Wish Come True(various) – I finished Tough Love(enjoyed) and Officer Off Limits(also enjoyed) and Aways on My Mind(Loved). About 19% through Thorn Fall.