WeWriWa: “Finishing the Job”

Welcome back to another visit with the Weekend Writing Warriors, the blog hop for anyone who likes to write. I’m still sharing from Hawk’s story. I’m only about halfway through writing this, so as long as I don’t catch up to myself, I’ll probably be sharing from this for a while. This week’s picks up a couple lines down from last week’s. I’ll probably share one more snippet from this scene before moving on to the next.

“Do you really think he knew you were the target?” Devil asked. “Surely he wouldn’t have taken it if-“

“Yes, he would have,” I said before he could finish that thought. “He wanted me dead eight years ago. He thought I was, or close to it, when he dumped me in that ditch. He’ll just think of it as finally finishing the job.”

“I still don’t get why your own father would want you dead,” Devil said. “I mean, I know dads can be assholes, but to actually try to kill you.”

Damon’s own father had blamed him for his brother’s death, so I knew just how much he understood, but this went so much farther than that.

So what is Hawk’s father’s problem(other than being a nasty, hateful man)? Is Hawk going to tell them? What are they going to do next?

Stream of Consciousness Saturday: Which/witch/wich

“Which one is your sister?” Maddix asked from beside Jonas.

Jonas glanced over at him then back out toward the people crowding into the center. There were devils, superheroes, other things he couldn’t even make out. And there were the witches. His lips twitched. “I don’t think she bothered with a costume.”

Maddix narrowed his eyes then elbowed Jonas in the side. He was one of the few who’d never thought he had to treat Jonas carefully because of his leg. And Jonas appreciated that. “That’s not a nice thing to say about your own twin. She seems like a very nice person.”

“Who says witches can’t be nice?” Jonas asked, smiling a little. “It’s not nice to stereotype, Maddix. Don’t you know that?”

“Shut up,” he said, elbowing Jonas again. “You know me better than that.  And you’re the one that said it. Like I said, she seems nice.”

“I’m surprised you think that when she’s barely given you the time of day the last year. No matter how much you try to get her attention.”

Maddix shrugged a shoulder. “Not like she owes me anything. Doesn’t mean I can’t still try.”

“I thought Konner said you were into that Maribel anyway.”

Maddix scoffed. “Right. The boss’s daughter. I see that working out for me.”

Jonas felt Isaac slide up beside him, sandwiching him in. Not something he was going to complain about. “What are you guys talking about?” he asked.

“My love life,” Maddix grumbled. “Or lack of one. And I think that’s enough of that. I’ll see you around.”

Isaac laughed into the side of Jonas’ neck. “One way to get rid of him. I’ve been waiting to get you to myself tonight.”

Jonas knew there was still some time before they’d truly be able to do that. This party still had hours to go. But, he still slipped his hand into Isaac’s and held on to him for the moment.

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

This week’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt was to Start your post with the word “which” and try to fit the word “witch” in somewhere if you can. Bonus points if you use a word that ends in “wich.” As an added rule this week, you will lose all the points you’ve ever earned if you type “which witch is which” anywhere in your post. Have fun! And that last rule made me really want to do just that. But, I resisted. 🙂 Instead you get a little more of Jonas & Isaac(which will come after the end of their story) and some set-up potential for Maddix’s story(if I ever get to it).

Fiction Friday: “Wrong Calculations”

I’ve finished posting Staring at the Sun to Wattpad, and I’m far from ready to start posting Hawk’s story there(it’s only maybe half written, so it will probably be sometime next year). But, I didn’t want to drop my Fiction Friday posts completely. So, I thought I’d write some short stories flash fiction style. I did some browsing on Pinterest and found a bunch of prompts(21 to date, to be exact), some dialogue, some idea-based. I plan to choose one at random each week and base a story on it. These may involve current characters or brand new ones. They should all be under 1000 words, some may come close to that, while others might be more like drabbles. We’ll just have to see how that all works out.

So, now for this week’s:

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

“Come on, when have my calculations ever been wrong?”

“Well…” Corrin said, a grin spreading across her face.

“Shut up,” Silas said, grinning around the wooden spoon he’d just lifted to his mouth, “that was one time.”

“Well, you’re the one who asked,” she retorted, hitting a few more keys on her computer then exiting out of whatever she was writing. Must be steamy if she wouldn’t even let him read it.

“This isn’t even the same thing. I didn’t take human behavior into that calculation. This is just about which spices I need to make the sauce just right.” He pursed his lips. “Nope, not quite.”

She laughed and pushed up from the chair. It was a good sound to hear, especially after the shadows he’d seen flit through her eyes when he mentioned that other occurrence. They didn’t talk about it, not even vaguely. Even if it would maybe be better if they did.

But, instead of pushing, Silas reached out and pulled her into him. She didn’t even pretend to resist. He settled his mouth on hers, and she opened instantly, her tongue running along his lip.

When she pulled back, her eyes were sparkling up at him. “I think you got the calculations just right.”

The door opened before he could respond, but he didn’t look away from Corrin. “Well, this is a surprise,” Jeremiah said as he came into the kitchen. “Usually I come home to the two of you arguing.”

He brushed his lips over Corrin’s mouth then leaned in to kiss Silas, just a little harder. “Mmm. Dinner’s going to be good tonight.”

I know I’ve shared some of Silas, Jeremiah, and Corrin on the blog before. But, if you didn’t know, these three are the main characters in Playing with Fire(which I drafted earlier this year). And yes, all three of them are together in a committed relationship. And this is a bit of their “After Happy Ever After”.

Writing Wednesday: Pulling Ahead

This has been a pretty good week for me. At this point, all I have left on the week’s to-do list, writing-wise, are my main projects(that may change if I get Stained blood chapters back from beta or Flames of Renewal from CP). Plotting, editing, side projects, even Jonas & Isaac writing goals have been met. And that was even with only doing some plotting on Monday and working on 2 side projects. I seem to not know the concept of taking a day off. Ha! As a friend on Twitter said, my mellow days are similar to her most productive. 🙂

Sunday we went to my mother-in-law’s and carved pumpkins. I used a stencil for the first time on them(and it looked awfully close to how I described Jared’s tattoo in Healing the Heart).

Then, we went to Erie and the girl and I took a trip to the Books a Million(I love their bargain shelves. God a hardback for cheaper than a paperback) in the mall while the boy and my husband did their own shopping. When they came to get us, we stopped at the jewelry store. And I got my ring back.

My hand doesn’t feel naked anymore.

And now it’s time for WiPPet Wednesday again. This is a blog hop, hosting by the wonderful Emily Wrayburn, where we share a snippet of a current work in progress that somehow pertains to the date. I’ve been sharing from my Jonas & Isaac story, which I’m currently writing in a notebook(I shouldn’t even be to this story in the series yet, but these characters just won’t leave me alone). Today I have 8 paragraphs(1+0+2+5) from shortly after last week’s.

Isaac set a hand on Jonas’ knee before he’d thought better of it. And he was sure a bolt of lightning had struck him. He could barely breathe as he stared at Jonas. He seemed to be having the same issue. His chest stuttering on a breath. When he breathed out again, Isaac snatched his hand away.

“Sorry,” he muttered.

Jonas didn’t say anything, and before Isaac could get up, Konner had come in and was sliding between them on the bench. Derek stared at them for a moment then turned away. But, not before Isaac saw their cheeks turn pink.

“What are you two beautiful men doing?” Konner asked. “I just couldn’t stay away from the pretty any longer.” He carded his fingers through Isaac’s hair, flashing him a grin.

Jonas let out a huff and pushed himself up from the bench, getting onto his crutches. It was almost a smooth move. He’d obviously had a lot of practice.

“I should get going,” he said, his voice coming out a little gruff. Strained, even. “Mom’ll be expecting my call.”

Isaac watched him swing his way through the door, chewing on his bottom lip. Was Jonas mad? About the way Konner had been flirting? No, that didn’t make any sense. He was probably just tired, if he’d come here right after his PT session and stayed so late.

“Don’t worry. He’ll be back,” Konner said. “I think he’s finding his place here.”

Is Konner right? And just what is he up to? s Jonas mad, or something else? I’ll have more next week. 🙂

Color Code:

Monthly Goal met/finished

Weekly Goal met

Progress made

Nothing done

Plotting:

• Green Hills & Smoky Fields – Story Toolkit, Outline Act 1 in Scrivener – Finished Story Toolkit. 9/9 sections. Have scenes organized into chapters in Scrivener On Target

Drafting:

• Primary: Write 35000 words on main projects – 22579/35000 words Off Target(about 6k below target)
  
  • Still Burning – 2403 words
    • His brother took a step toward him, and Austin was running. Then, he was wrapping his arms around the boy. “You had us so scared. Mama is nearly out of her mind. How could you do this to us?”
      “I’m sorry,” Levi sobbed against him. “Danny needed me. Then, we saw everyone coming and tried to go deeper in the woods. But, Danny twisted an ankle.”
  • Whatever It Takes – 1114 words
  • High on Loving You –
  • By the Gun –
• Secondary: Write 4500 words on side projects – 4703/4500 words On Target
  • Patrick & Sarah – 177 words
  • Tavin & Haiwee – 102 words
  • Roman – 167 words
  • Dougal & Shae – 107 words
  • Jacob & Matthew – 157 words
  • Mike & Fadil – 124 words
  • Hawk – 100 words
  • Sean & Braeden – monthly goal met
  • Melanie & Garren – 96 words
• Stretch: Write 25 pages for Jonas & Isaac project – 26/25 pages. On Target

Editing:

• Primary: Stained Blood – Beta edits as they come in – 2/24 chapters,  got Chapter 4 back, copied notes for 3/3 scenes into Scrivener, edited 3/3 scenes  Target in Sight
  
• Secondary: Flames of Renewal – CP edits once I get them – 0/25 chapters Not even sighted in yet
• Stretch: Love Who You Love – type from Word to Scrivener – 10/11 chapters On Target

Reading:

• Listen: 5 audiobooks – 8/5 Bullseye!
  • Lord of Shadows(Cassandra Clare) – Started this Thursday(10/12) morning. Finished it Monday morning. I have so many feels and nowhere to put them! Gah!
  • Geekerella(Ashley Poston) – Started this Tuesday morning. Finished it Tuesday night. Really, really enjoyed this one.
• Read: 30 books – 19/30 Off Target
  • Ride Hard(Laura Kaye) – Started this Saturday evening. Finished this Monday evening. Really enjoyed it.
  • Echoes at Dawn(Maya Banks) – Started this Monday night. On page 135/307

Social Media

• Primary: Post Writing Wednesday, Fiction Friday, Stream of Consciousness Saturday, Weekend Writing Warriors, & Sunday Summary each week – 16/20 posts On Target
• Secondary: Post to Patreon 4x – 1/4 Off Target

Crafting:

• Knit: GENEie Hat – Started this Tuesday. 6/6 rounds of ribbing done. 41/53 rounds of cable pattern done Target in sight
• Crochet: Dreamy Scarf –

Sunday Summary: Better Week

This was overall a better week. No unexpected interruptions to my routine. Kids were at school all day, every day. I took my Mellow Monday, just typing up notes for a chapter I got back from beta reader and writing a bit on Jonas & Isaac in the afternoon. Otherwise I got laundry/chores done and read. The rest of the week went pretty well after that. And I met most of my writing goals(fell short on High on Loving You and By the Gun, but otherwise good).

Reading Yertle the Turtle to me.

Yesterday for some reason, my computer kept freezing up. No clue why, but I couldn’t do anything until I’d shut it off and turned it back on. One time it did it before I’d even opened anything back up again. So, I may be spending this Mellow Monday compiling all my scrivener projects and uploading them to dropbox. Just in case this computer does decide to die on me. It’s lasted more than twice as long as the last netbook I had(which managed 18 months, 6 of those me babying it to keep it going).

Not sure how they all fit in the chair.

Color Code:

Monthly Goal met/finished

Weekly Goal met

Progress made

Nothing done

Plotting:

• Green Hills & Smoky Fields – Story Toolkit – Finished Act 1 beat sheet. 6/9 sections On Target

Drafting:

• Primary: Write 35000 words on main projects – 19062/35000 words Off Target(about 4k below target)
  
  • Still Burning – 2408 words
    • “He doesn’t need to worry about me,” she said, turning away from Nolan as he closed the door and made his way through her living room.
      “Well, of course he doesn’t,” Nolan said. “No one has to worry about anyone else. But, when we care about someone, we tend to do just that.”
  • Whatever It Takes – 2516 words
    • Jared shook his head. “No, that you can’t. But, you’re right, talking to Jayla might do some good. Gail’s a prideful woman. But if enough people tell her something, she just might start to listen.”
  • High on Loving You – 1580 words
  • By the Gun – 632 words
• Secondary: Write 4500 words on side projects – 3774/4500 words On Target
  • Patrick & Sarah – 175 words
  • Tavin & Haiwee – 158 words
  • Roman – 171 words
  • Dougal & Shae – 106 words
  • Jacob & Matthew – 259 words
  • Mike & Fadil – 245 words
  • Hawk – 92 words
  • Sean & Braeden – monthly goal met
  • Melanie & Garren – 117 words
• Stretch: Write 25 pages for Jonas & Isaac project – 21/25 pages. On Target

Editing:

• Primary: Stained Blood – Beta edits as they come in – 2/24 chapters,  got Chapter 4 back, copied notes for 3/3 scenes into Scrivener, edited 3/3 scenes  Target in Sight
  
• Secondary: Flames of Renewal – CP edits once I get them – 0/25 chapters Not even sighted in yet
• Stretch: Love Who You Love – type from Word to Scrivener – 8/11 chapters On Target

Reading:

• Listen: 5 audiobooks – 6/5 Bullseye!
  • Lord of Shadows(Cassandra Clare) – Started this Thursday morning. On Chapter 26/30
• Read: 30 books – 18/30 Off Target
  • Fear No Evil(Allison Brennan) – Started this Thursday night. Finished this Sunday night. The length it took me to read doesn’t really reflect my enjoyment(because I did like it) but more that other stuff kept coming up. Stupid other stuff. 😉
  • Midnight Sun(Kat Martin) – Started this Monday morning. Finished it Tuesday evening. Enjoyed it, though there was one part(inheriting memories from like her great-great(?) grandmother) that was a bit more than I can suspend my disbelief.
  • Revenants(Christina Olson) – Started this Tuesday night. Finished it Wednesday evening. Enjoyed it.
  • Christmas on 4th Street(Susan Mallery) – Started this Wednesday evening. Finished it Friday afternoon. Enjoyed it.
  • Summer Nights(Various) – Read this Friday evening. Well, I skimmed most of them. It’s a collection of flash fiction stories. Most just didn’t grab me.
  • A Risk Worth Taking(Victoria James) – Started this Friday evening. Finished it Friday night. This was a shorter one, and I did some skimming because it just wasn’t pulling me in that much.
  • If I Was Your Girl(Meredith Russo) – Started this Saturday morning. Finished it Saturday evening. Loved this one.
  • Ride Hard(Laura Kaye) – Started this Saturday evening. On page 70/357

Social Media

• Primary: Post Writing Wednesday, Fiction Friday, Stream of Consciousness Saturday, Weekend Writing Warriors, & Sunday Summary each week – 15/20 posts On Target
• Secondary: Post to Patreon 4x – 1/4 Off Target

Crafting:

• Knit: GENEie Hat – Started this Tuesday. 6/6 rounds of ribbing done. 31/53 rounds of cable pattern done Target in sight
• Crochet: Dreamy Scarf –

WeWriWa: “Leaves One Option”

Welcome back to another visit with the Weekend Writing Warriors, the blog hop for anyone who likes to write. I’m sharing more from Hawk’s story. They’re still trying to figure out who sent the sniper after Hawk, if he really was the target.

“And you’re sure he meant one of us?”

Wraith just raised that eyebrow again. Right, we were the only ones around here known for our vigilante work, and the ones the Crows seemed to hate the most. “But, we have a truce with them.”

“And if we can’t prove they hired the sniper, we can’t claim they broke it either.”

“Fuckers,” I cursed and heard an echo of that from Damon, still standing at my side. “Did he say which one of us? Was it really me he targeted, or was I just the easiest one to lure into a trap?”

“He claimed they were going to get rid of someone who should have been dead months ago. You and Devil were the ones they planned to kill back then, and if he hadn’t been with you, he wouldn’t have been in that area, so that only leaves one option to my mind.”

Are they right? Was Hawk the sniper’s target? And was it the Crows who hired him? I may have more answers for you at some point.

And I’ve posted the final chapter of Staring at the Sun, so you can check that out if you’d like. It’s going to be a while before I have Hawk ready to start putting up there.

Stream of Consciousness Saturday – “Season”

“Cinnamon. Ginger. Cumin. That’s a good one.”

“What are you talking about?” Isaac asked, looking over at Jonas.

“You were talking about the perfect seasons. I was coming up for some good seasonings for you.”

Isaac laughed and tossed a pillow from the couch at his boyfriend. Is that what they were now? “You are such a goof sometimes.” Though it had been a long time since they’d fallen into this. He could only hope it was back for good. “And you know that wasn’t what I was talking about. Or have you been thinking about eating me? Should I be worried?”

Jonas laughed and sent him what Isaac had always dubbed his naughty smile. “I think about tasting you all the time.”

Isaac went to throw another pillow at him, but there weren’t anymore on his side of the couch. And Jonas twisted so he could press Isaac back against the arm of the couch. “Your mom,” Isaac said. “She’s in the kitchen. Your sister’s upstairs. Your other siblings will be here.”

“We have time for this,” Jonas said, pressing a hard kiss to his lips. When he pulled back, he was still grinning. “Yes, cinnamon would be a good seasoning for you.”

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

Well. I didn’t really know where that one was gonna go when I started it. Got a little warmer in here than I expected. *fans self* Today’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt was “season”, and it got a little spicy on me.

Fiction Friday: Staring at the Sun – Chapter 10

I have the final chapter of Staring at the Sun for you finally. After this, I’m not sure what I’ll do for Fiction Friday until I have Hawk’s story ready to go. I’m thinking about writing a flash fiction story each week, but we’ll see. Anyway, for now, here’s the beginning of Chapter 10.

Cassie opened her eyes to light streaming into the window Wraith climbed through the night before. There was no one there now, though, someone watched from the doorway. Henry, she realized turning her head slightly. Her mouth was dry, and her stomach ached. They hadn’t given her anything to eat or drink since they’d grabbed her. Now her heart sank, knowing Grady still wasn’t here for her.

He was coming. He had to be.

Henry sauntered into the room, and she tried to force her body up into a sitting position. She got herself braced against the wall, but that was about the best she could do without the use of her hands. “You ready to beg for forgiveness yet, Cassandra?”

“I don’t need your forgiveness, Henry. You should be the one asking for it. You took advantage of a scared young girl who found herself pregnant and no way to get in touch with the father. You held it against me every day. My trust in you, what I thought might be love. You used it to hurt me. And to hurt my son. No, I won’t ever ask you for forgiveness. I’ll never give you mine.”

He was in front of her in two strides. His hand shot out and her head bounced off the wall from the slap. “Do not ever speak to me like that again, Cassandra. I beat it out of you once. I’ll do it again. Don’t doubt it.”

“Oh, I never have.” She wiped the blood from her mouth on the shoulder of her shirt.

He started to leave the room. Cassie heard the roar of engines down the street and propped herself up on her elbows. That had to be Icarus. If it wasn’t, she didn’t know what she’d do. Henry apparently heard it too. He sent a glare over his shoulder at her. “I’ll take care of that. Once he’s gone, you won’t have any other option but to apologize and accept what I offer you.”

“Never,” she spit at him.

“You’ll see.” He started out of the room.

And if you want to read the rest of the chapter, you can find it here. I hope you’ve enjoyed the story.

Writing Wednesday: A Better Start

So, this week has started off better than the last one. At least as it comes to interruptions to my routine. Word count is roughly the same(actually a little lower because I didn’t write anything Monday that I count towards the goal). Monday was mostly spent on reading and getting stuff done around the house(I got almost all the laundry done in 1 day). Though I did work on getting beta notes for chapter 4 of Stained Blood copied into Scrivener. And during our daily afternoon sprint on Twitter, I worked on Jonas & Isaac(which I don’t count toward word goal because it’s all by hand).

Tuesday I made some good progress, particularly on side projects. And some progress on a couple main projects. I’m hoping to make even more progress today. I’ll get to more on that progress in a bit. But, first it’s WiPPet Wednesday!!! I’ve got more with Jonas & Isaac today. I have 8 paragraphs today(10-18). Jonas has been stopping by the youth center but it’s always been when Isaac isn’t around. Isaac and Konner are talking about that here.

“So what do you want me to do? Tell him you’re here by lunch Tuesdays and Thursdays? Or to stop stalking you?”

Isaac laughed. “You know that’s not what he’s doing. He just hasn’t figured out what to do with himself now that he isn’t a soldier. Anyway, you said he gave tips on setting up the soccer practices. And he stayed later Wednesday to talk to a few of the older boys. So, he’s helping. I don’t see a problem with him hanging around then.”

“That’s good to know,” Konner said, breaking into a grin. “Because he’s in the gym with some of the older kids right now. Last I knew, they were kicking a ball around, but that might have changed.”

Kicking a ball around? How was he managing that? And was it reminding him of all he’d lost? He dropped his bag behind the desk then started toward the area of the center that held the small gym. Konner chuckled behind him, the bastard. If he didn’t know better, he’d think Konner had kept Jonas here just for this reason.

The hell of it was, he just might have. Konner could be a sneaky son of a bitch when he thought it was necessary.

Not that it was right now. Of course.

He stepped into the gym and just stood for a moment. The kids were indeed kicking around a soccer ball. Derek stood on the other side of the room, hands on their hips, watching Jonas. Isaac wasn’t sure he could stop doing the same thing. Jonas was doing drills with the kids, from the bench. Calling out directions, throwing or kicking the ball to one of the kids, easily catching a ball that came his way.

He was in his element. And beautiful with it.

Oh, Isaac, you are so sunk. Might as well give in now. 😉 Not that I can make it that easy for them, of course.

Color Code:

Monthly Goal met/finished

Weekly Goal met

Progress made

Nothing done

Plotting:

• Green Hills & Smoky Fields – Story Toolkit – Finished Act 1 beat sheet. 6/9 sections On Target

Drafting:

• Primary: Write 35000 words on main projects – 13645/35000 words Off Target(about 6k below target)
  
  • Still Burning –
  • Whatever It Takes – 673 words
  • High on Loving You – 848 words
  • By the Gun – 198 words
• Secondary: Write 4500 words on side projects – 3774/4500 words On Target
  • Patrick & Sarah – 175 words
  • Tavin & Haiwee – 158 words
  • Roman – 171 words
  • Dougal & Shae – 106 words
  • Jacob & Matthew – 259 words
  • Mike & Fadil – 245 words
  • Hawk – 92 words
  • Sean & Braeden – monthly goal met
  • Melanie & Garren – 117 words
• Stretch: Write 25 pages for Jonas & Isaac project – 17/25 pages. On Target

Editing:

• Primary: Stained Blood – Beta edits as they come in – 1/24 chapters,  got Chapter 4 back, copied notes for 3/3 scenes into Scrivener, edited 1/3 scenes  Target in Sight
  
• Secondary: Flames of Renewal – CP edits once I get them – 0/25 chapters Not even sighted in yet
• Stretch: Love Who You Love – type from Word to Scrivener – 6/11 chapters On Target

Reading:

• Listen: 5 audiobooks – 6/5 Bullseye!
  • Lord of Shadows(Cassandra Clare) – Started this Thursday morning. On Chapter 19/30
• Read: 30 books – 13/30 Off Target
  • Fear No Evil(Allison Brennan) – Started this Thursday night. Finished this Sunday night. The length it took me to read doesn’t really reflect my enjoyment(because I did like it) but more that other stuff kept coming up. Stupid other stuff. 😉
  • Midnight Sun(Kat Martin) – Started this Monday morning. Finished it Tuesday evening. Enjoyed it, though there was one part(inheriting memories from like her great-great(?) grandmother) that was a bit more than I can suspend my disbelief.
  • Revenants(Christina Olson) – Started this Tuesday night. At 40%.

Social Media

• Primary: Post Writing Wednesday, Fiction Friday, Stream of Consciousness Saturday, Weekend Writing Warriors, & Sunday Summary each week – 11/20 posts On Target
• Secondary: Post to Patreon 4x – 1/4 Off Target

Crafting:

• Knit: GENEie Hat – Started this Tuesday. 6/6 rounds of ribbing done. 18/53 rounds of cable pattern done Target in sight
• Crochet: Dreamy Scarf –

Sunday Summary: The Askew Continues

Friday when I turned on my computer, it said Windows wanted to do an update. I figured, what the heck. I’d already put it off once. And it usually only takes a little while. Ha! 2 hours later! It finally finished. But, then when I tried to go to wordpress to read blogs I follow, a page comes up saying “A secure connection could not be established” or something like that. That was using Microsoft Edge, which I’ve used without a problem since installing Windows 10. I tried on Firefox and finally managed to get them to come up after much refreshing. Apparently this is going to become an issue(something about SSL certificates that I don’t really know anything about).

Saturday we went and got groceries, dropped the kids off at mother-in-law’s and came home so we could get ready. This was the first year our station for the motorcycle club we belong to has held a “Kickin’ Cancer” dinner/dance benefit. The ride we have in August raises funds for a local oncology center. This benefit was for the same thing but to spread it around to more than the “motorcycle crowd”. There weren’t a whole lot of people there this year, but hopefully the word will spread a bit more and that will change next year.

On our way to the benefit. And I was apparently not the only one who said #nodressesforme I counted a whole 2 dresses there 😉

This week was a bit off for me. I still made progress, just not nearly as much as I would like.

Plotting:

• Green Hills & Smoky Fields – Story Toolkit – Finished Event Brainstorm 2 & Locations. 4/9 sections On Target

Drafting:

• Primary: Write 35000 words on main projects – 11926/35000 words Off Target(about 4k below target)
  
  • Still Burning – 2390 words
    • He dropped onto the couch, not having the energy to make it all the way to his bedroom. Why bother anyway? The last time he’d been in there, Jess had been with him. And the last thing he needed right now, was reminders of that. He’d never get any sleep.
  • Whatever It Takes – 2303 words
    • And that meant keeping her distance from Carisa as well. For the best anyway, she thought. Nothing could ever come from that. It wasn’t worth the risk *Oh, Jayla, this is so not true. It will be worth the risk. Just wait and see. 😉
  • High on Loving You – 1256 words(these were written last Sunday after I posted my check-in)
  • By the Gun – haven’t touched this yet this month.
• Secondary: Write 4500 words on side projects – 2451/4500 words On Target
  • Patrick & Sarah – 131 words
  • Tavin & Haiwee – 117 words
  • Roman – 146 words
  • Dougal & Shae – 188 words
  • Jacob & Matthew – 140 words
  • Mike & Fadil – 108 words
  • Hawk – 172 words
  • Sean & Braeden – 118 words
  • Melanie & Garren – 144 words
• Stretch: Write 25 pages for Jonas & Isaac project – 15/25 pages. On Target

Editing:

• Primary: Stained Blood – Beta edits as they come in – 1/24 chapters, typed up notes for 2/2 scenes from Chapter 3, finished writing 2 new scenes, edited 2 existing scenes: 1514 words, got Chapter 4 back but it won’t open 😦 Off Target
• Secondary: Flames of Renewal – CP edits once I get them – 0/25 chapters Not even sighted in yet
• Stretch: Love Who You Love – type from Word to Scrivener – 6/11 chapters On Target

Reading:

• Listen: 5 audiobooks – 6/5 Bullseye!
  • Taming Cross(Ella James) – Started this Sunday afternoon. Finished it Wednesday afternoon. Was ok, but had some issues with it.
  • Lord of Shadows(Cassandra Clare) – Started this Thursday morning. On Chapter 11/30
• Read: 30 books – 11/30 Slightly Off Target
  • Drive(Sidney Bristol) – Started this Friday evening. Finished it Sunday night. Liked it but didn’t feel really drawn in until closer to the end. Still going to continue the series.
  • Picture Her Bound(Sidney Bristol) – Read this Monday morning. It was a shorter one, but really enjoyed it.
  • One True Pairing(Cathy Yardley) – Started this Monday morning. Finished it Monday night. Loved it.
  • One Snowy Night(Jill Shalvis) – Read this Monday night. Great novella. Loved it.
  • Accidentally on Purpose(Jill Shalvis) – Started this Tuesday morning. Finished it Tuesday night. Loved it.
  • One Dance with a Duke(Tessa Dare) – Started this Wednesday afternoon. Finished this Thursday night. Really enjoyed it.
  • Fear No Evil(Allison Brennan) – Started this Thursday night. On page 214/408

Social Media

• Primary: Post Writing Wednesday, Fiction Friday, Stream of Consciousness Saturday, Weekend Writing Warriors, & Sunday Summary each week – 10/20 posts On Target
• Secondary: Post to Patreon 4x – 1/4 Off Target

Crafting:

• Knit: GENEie Hat – Started this Tuesday. 6/6 rounds of ribbing done. 12/53 rounds of cable pattern done Target in sight
• Crochet: Dreamy Scarf –