Rainbow Snippets*-- Countdown to NaNoWriMo

I didn't do much on the writing front this week. I get this lethargy between manuscripts, like I'm a bit lost and don't know which way I'm supposed to be walking. I did a couple of edits on my NaNo project first page (which you can read in a previous post) and worked on a couple of pages in the second Headphones book. But what I need to be doing is outlining and prepping. Since the beginning of Fire and Smoke runs concurrently with the end of Embers and Flame, I really need to reread and take notes so everything lines up. I always feel so unprepared when I start a new story, but somehow it always falls together. Hopefully, it will this time, also.

Today's snippet comes from Embers and Flame. Daryl and Vaughn meet through Ben and Cherry, who are in a long distance relationship. Ben is from Southern Indiana, Cherry is from St. Louis. Ben, with his son Eric and his cousins Mike and Daryl, join Cherry and his sister and her friend Vaughn for a weekend of food and baseball:

The rest of the afternoon was uneventful. The Cardinals won by a healthy five runs, making Cherry’s St. Louis crew happy. We spent too much on beer and hotdogs and laughed at Mike’s bad jokes. And Eric and Lindsey bonded, as Cherry had predicted.

There had been a moment—more than one, actually—when I’d glanced over my shoulder and caught Daryl regarding Vaughn shyly, blushing at the outrageous stories the androgynous college student was telling him. I was even more perplexed when the shy looks began to resemble flirting. I’d wondered about my young cousin after he’d shown so much interest in Cherry and although it’d never crossed my mind before, it was becoming more and more plausible that he was more than simply curious. By his expression, Mike was making the same assumptions. I made a mental note to ask Cherry’s opinion of Lindsey’s friend; whether I needed to warn Daryl or let whatever it was progress at its own speed. 

*Rainbow Snippets is a (Facebook) group for LGBTQ+ authors, readers, and bloggers to gather once a week to share six sentences from a work of fiction–a WIP or a finished work or even a 6-sentence book recommendation. If you're interested in following a diverse group of authors, check it out here.