Sadie Jay

I'm trying to write Lindsey's story, Cinders and Ash, which will be the third book in my Campfire series. I managed a few words this week but not as many as I'd like. Still, I'm closing in on 20k words with a goal of approximately 60K, so I'm a third of the way there. I took a day and read what I have so far, just to see if there's any chemistry between Lindsey and her love interest, Brian. Happily, it isn't as flat as I feared. (don't we all fear that, though?)


For this week's snippet from Smoke and Sparks--Lindsey spent the night with Vaugh and Daryl (who are roommates) after they'd all been to a party together. Part 4 of 4, from Vaughn's POV. Part one,Part two, Part three:

       They were chatting amicably when I made it to the kitchen. Lindsey’s normally reserved manner with Daryl was nowhere to be seen. I could only assume that him acting like the decent human being he was had finally won her over. I hadn’t realized how much I needed t…

This week I finished the first draft of my Oakley short, which will be part of the Fangs for the Memories collection (if anyone wants to beta read it, give me a shout), but I got very little done on my Cinders and Ash book (#3 of the Campfire Stories series). I don't know if it's my slacking attention span (because of world events) or if it's because this is my first attempt at writing M/F –outside of the relationships in the Headphones trilogy, and that's a whole different animal– and it's been too long since I read one. I think I need to take a day and really try to plot it out (I'm normally a pantser) but at this rate, I'm not going to hit even close to my goal date. Sigh.

(I think the kits are discussing the foolishness of humans.)
 I'm continuing with an excerpt from Smoke and Sparks, book 2 of the Campfire Stories series. Lindsey has spent the night with her best friend, Vaughn, and told him that Daryl must really love him.  Part one and Part two…

I'm working on two seperate stories right now, which is not my usual M.O. Normally, I sink myself into one story, into its style and its particular characters. Lindsey's story is meant to be fluff and fun. But with things the way they are, it's hard for me to get into that mindset lately. So I've put more time into my vampire story that I had planned for later in the year. It's a short story with a word goal of only 15k because it'll be part of a collection. But, hey, at least I'm writing!

My snippet this week continues from where I ended last week. It's a conversation between Lindsey and Vaughn from Smoke and Sparks. The previous evening, a very drunk Vaugh had come on hot and heavy to Daryl after the Halloween party, but Daryl had sent Vaughn to bed (with Lindsey). From Vaughn's POV:  
“You’re no fun.” (said Lindsey) “Apparently not,” I agreed as the memory of the night before came back in pieces and bursts. “Oh, shit, I probably blew it, didn’t I?…

I have a friend who is brilliant and writes stories with characters so well developed they make me cry. This friend publishes on AO3, although with a bit of polishing I think they could self-publish and find a whole new audience. But they have no confidence in their stories. So they say “Here, read this, and I’m sorry.” Always, there’s that apology. And it’s unneeded, which I’ve told them over and over. I not only read the stories, I reread them because they are just that good. The thing is, I do it, too. I ask, “Please read my story,” and then, at least internally, I add, “And I’m sorry. It’s not very good.” Headphones is that and more for me. I first published Headphones in 2015 as an online serial, posting “snapshots” every day for one year and one day. It was a labor of love, something I did for myself simply to prove that I could. Between the end of 2015 and the start of 2018 I continued to write while also studying the craft, looking up tutorials, and reading blog posts by auth…

I love how characters grow from some random little thought, sometimes out of nowhere. Lindsey is very definitely one of those characters for me, so much so that she's had roles in the first two books of the Campground Stories series and the third book will be hers. I've never written an m/f romance, so I'm finding it challenging. Headphones, I suppose, is close because 4 of the 5 relationships in the series are m/f. But I also don't label it as Romance, more like Contemporary Fiction with Romance. This is a different beast entirely!


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This week's snippet is a little slice of Lindsey from Smoke and Sparks (the second book in the series). She is Vaughn's best friend and it's not unusual for them to sleep together. This comes the morning after a Halloween party where Vaughn's love interest, Daryl, had dressed up as Levi from Attack on Titan:

The dream was so vivid I could feel Levi in my arms. And then through…

I've tried to concentrate on writing this week and I did manage more words than the week prior. For the most part, it's been rainy and cold, but it looks like the next few days might be rainy and warm. It's an improvement, and I'm getting outside between rain showers for some fresh air and exercise.


This short snippet is from Smoke and Sparks, the second book in the Campfire Stories series I hope to start publishing mid-summer. This is from Daryl's POV and he and Vaughn are making out for the first time, in (you guessed it!) a tent:
Oh, God, I was in Heaven. Okay, it was a musty smelling tent and the mattress had lost enough air that I could feel the ground under my back. But when I was a kid my Sunday School teacher said Heaven was the best place. We would be surrounded by beauty and angels would be singing. And they were so singing to me through my staccato heartbeat as it vibrated behind my eardrums, creating a roar that blocked out everything except the small so…