Rainbow Snippets*– One Down, 51 More to Go

Week one of 2023 is done. I always start the year thinking this will be the one when I get organized. It's already obvious, this isn't going to be the year! I'm still in that ether of a project finished and not being fully emersed in the next one. I decided to do another Vella, using an old serial I'd written, thinking it wouldn't take up much of my time, but it needs more rewriting than I'd thought. It's a year-long project, so we'll see where that takes me. I'm also adding occasional words to a book I have outlined but haven't started the "serious" writing. That's probably going to be a few months away, but hopefully I'll have a really solid base to build on once I start.  

Afternoon Walk-- Everything's so brown. There's beauty in it, the richness to the bland. But winter makes me want to hibernate. I miss being outdoors. (And warm.) 

My other project is a book I've written but am only now starting the long editing process. Like Cracks in the Sidewalk is, at it's base, a Second-Chance Romance. But the biggest part of the book is how their relationship falls apart. It was my attempt at writing something dark, and I think I succeeded. 

Told from James' POV, he's come home to find Val getting high with his friend Merle, and he's not happy about it. But anger turns to concern quickly enough:

It couldn’t have been more than ten minutes when I went back to find Val rolled up into himself, his arms clamped around his legs and his hands clenched so tightly that the skin had gone white. He looked up at me with tears coating his lashes and snot rubbed across his cheek. I was never the type to use pet names, but in my alarm it slipped from my mouth. “Dear, Sweetheart, what’s wrong?”

“I…I…I,” he hiccuped. “I don’t know. It’s so dark. Why is it so dark?” He stiffened and looked around the always dim room, panicked. He released his grip on his knees and covered his ears.

“What’s that sound?”

I cocked my head to listen, but all I could hear was the light sound of traffic. Finally, I heard it, a rumble of thunder, and Val flinched. I sat down and wrapped him in my arms. He clutched at me, burrowing his head into my chest, and his whole body trembled in my embrace. Was it the storm, or the pot that he’d smoked?

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