Sadie Jay

As a little "side job", I bake cookies. This isn't important as far as this blog goes, but it is one of the reasons I'm not getting much writing done this month. I signed up for a vendor show on December 1st and I've spent the month baking and icing cookies. One more week and that huge undertaking will be done. Then maybe I'll attempt my own "NaNo" in December!            The second reason Smoke and Sparks bogged down is because Daryl showed me a side that I hadn't realized was there so I'm making a few changes to my original story. It's a good thing; I'm starting to get a better feel for my characters.            In the meantime, I'm going back to Cut Shot for this week's snippet. This takes place early in Jed and Ian's relationship when they're still feeling each other out: Excerpt from chapter 4: Within a half-an-hour, they were back in the truck and then parking in front of the Shortstop and he didn’t reca

I've pretty well given up on NaNoWriMo. Just too much else going on this month for me to devote the time I need. It doesn't mean I'm giving up on Smoke and Sparks (which I think is the official title if I don't change it again!) but I'm also not going to get stressed for not making much progress. It's just simply impossible to concentrate and write when I'm thinking about the other five things I need to get done. The first few chapters were the "introduction" chapters and now I'm getting into the set up that will (hopefully) define Vaughn and Daryl's relationship. They had an instant attraction when they met, but they live too far apart to have accidental run-ins. Instead, for the last few weeks, they've been texting. Also of note, Daryl is from a small southern Indiana town where half the population is related. (Mike, Daryl, Ben, and Larry are all cousins.) This snippet is Daryl's pov: Oh. My. God! I’d just sent Vaughn an

For this week's snippet, I'm going back to Embers and Flame . My NaNo project is moving slowly and the first draft is still extremely rough. I think mentally it was a rough week plus I've had some work-related projects that have cut into my writing time.  I have the problem when starting a new project of letting go of the last one. In this case, Ian and Jed from Cut Shot are still rolling around in my head, making it hard to grab hold of Vaughn and Daryl. Couple that with this current WIP being the second in the series. I've been going back and rereading bits and pieces, which has Ben and Cherry jumbling it a bit, also. Once I get through the next chapter or two, this story won't be running concurrently with the first, so the writing should (hopefully) move quicker. Right now I keep "fact checking", making sure everything is lining up.  This week's snippet is a conversation between Ben and Cherry and comes from Embers and Flame. It's the w

I'm doing NaNoWriMo this year, but I've set my own goal. I'm not going to stress myself with 50K, instead aiming for 30K. The first year I did NaNo, I made the 50K and I would love to do it again, but I simply have too many other commitments this time. Ideally, I'll surpass my minimum goal and get Fire and Smoke 2/3s written in November and finish it in December. Of course, things never work out as I plan! Today's snippet is from this NaNo project. It's snipped from Daryl's opening chapter. He's with a group of his friends at a campground and the conversation is between him and his older cousin, Mike: “Hey, Turkey, come help me with this,” Mike yelled at me. He’s called me Turkey my whole life. When I asked why he said it was because I looked like a plucked turkey when I was born. Yellow-pale skin with a round belly, legs drawn up, and pointed elbows that flapped like wings. I’d asked him to stop more than once. It made it worse. “This” was lower