Sadie Jay

Christmas in 20 days? I'm not ready! November was a busy month and I've got the feeling this month is going to be worse. Unfortunately, that means writing is going to be reduced to a few minutes here and there. Hopefully, I'll finish this section of Fangs for the Memories  this month, and then hit the rest of it hard after the first of the year, while finishing up the edits of the Campfire Stories series. I'm looking to publish it soon. Fingers crossed!  Peppercorn thinks the mantel is his. It's decorated now and he's not happy with me.  He'll get it back in a month.  Snipping again from Fangs for the Memories : A bit of a continuation from last week ( part one here) . Rollie feels guilty after spending Thanksgiving day with some friends, as if he has somehow cheated on Alex. Alex reassures him that it was alright. It results in their first kiss.    I didn’t get a chance to continue. Rollie’s hands were suddenly on my shoulders and I was being shoved agains...

For those who did NaNoWriMo, I hope your month went well. I tried it twice, and made it through once, but that was before I started my cookie business. Now, the baking starts in October and won't end until a few days before Christmas, so very little gets done on the writing side of things. Maybe I'll use January as my challenge month. Just burrow in with a blanket and a cup of hot something, and try to ignore the cold outside! Peppercorn found his new spot before we were even done! This week's snippet is again from Fangs for the Memories . It's Thanksgiving and Alex is spending the evening with Rollie. Rollie is feeling guilty that he spent the day with friends and Alex is feeling, well, a myriad of emotions: “Rollie, I’m sorry I can’t be with you during the day.” “Because of your…condition?” And I was reminded again that he had no clue to what I was. This was it, the moment I needed to spell it out for him. Because if either of us was lying, it was me, even if it w...

Over the last two weeks, I've been working on a rewrite, filling the plot-holes that my beta readers pointed out. We all hate criticism, but the nice thing was, they all seemed to hit on the same snags. And yes, I consider that a win, because it means the rest of the story worked. First and foremost, it was suggested that I'd started in the wrong place, and after some debate, I decided to write a prologue instead of a full chapter. Hopefully, it reads better now. Why does January always feel like I'm living life on still-pause? I think Peppercorn feels it, too. The prologue from Smoke and Sparks , book two of the Campfire Stories series. This snippet is told from Daryl's POV (part one of ?): July 2016 “Don’t worry, Daryl, it’ll be fine,” my cousin Mike said to me. “Ben won’t care.”             What was fine , according to Mike, was crashing Ben’s weekend camping-rendezvous with a woman he’d been dating for a few weeks.           ...

I haven't posted any Peppercorn pictures lately, but he'll be 6 months old this week. He's gotten so big! I really didn't want another cat since we already had two, but I don't regret keeping him at all. He's active and has kept our two older boys on their toes, but he's beginning to calm down. I fear a Christmas tree might not be advisable this year, though! I have two books with Halloween scenes simply because costumes are fun! I should have thought about this earlier in the month, but since I'm working weekends now, I'm totally off my schedule and apparently unable to think ahead. I just realized I tend to write holidays into most of my books. Maybe because there are usually emotions involved and that's what I write? It's as good a theory as any. So this week's snippet is going to be the opening of the Halloween scene taken from the third book of the Headphones series:         Scoey adjusted his cuffs. He was sure he looked...

We have two other cats, Squirt and Pip, who are both nearly 5 years old and we worried how they'd do with Peppercorn. Being a kitten, if he's awake, he's running and into things. And thankfully, the "oldsters" have accepted the idea that he's here to stay and have actually started to play with him. I really didn't want another cat--two in the house is plenty--but sometimes exceptions are made and we're glad for it! This week's snippet, from Sunshine Smile , is the conclusion- part 4 of 4.  ( Part 1 , Part 2 , Part 3 )  A little background on Annalise--she's Marcus' on-again, off-again girlfriend (Marcus is one of the housemates) so everyone puts up with her. She does nothing without it benefitting her in some way. She's really not nice. And she tends to dismiss Headphones, calling her the group's pet monkey. Headphones has every reason to dislike her: With a flimsy story about not waiting for Marcus anymore, Annalise he...

Peppercorn (11 weeks) Not the best picture, but I was trying to get one that would show the changes in his fur. His head, legs, and tail are black and have lost their fuzz, while his body is a reddish dark-brown and still long-haired. It'll be interesting to see how it all settles over the next few months. Oh, and the meds seem to have worked. Still the occasional sneeze, but no more matted eyes. This week's excerpt is part 3 of 4 from Headphones: Sunshine Smile . Annalise is the lead singer in another band and one of the housemates' girlfriend, although their relationship is rocky at best. She's not a pleasant person. Read part one here and part two here .  Mick was courteous to the brunette over the course of the next couple of hours, listening politely when she made suggestions. After the instruments were put away and the crew had grabbed their favorite beverages and perches, Annalise found a spot on the couch next to him. He threaded his fingers into t...

The day job is still taking too much of my time and energy so I didn't get very far on my editing. I've got two projects floating around in my head that I've been trying to take some notes on. One is a Christmas novella and the other is a short story for an anthology. I need to figure out a good way to divide my time and accomplish EVERYTHING. And still have time to splash around in my pool! 10 week-old Peppercorn has a bit of a cold, so there are matted eyes and kitty sneezes. Hopefully, the medicine will work quickly. Last week Headphones was having a breakdown . This week, Lenny and Honey talk her down:  “Okay, hon, backup and explain what’s going on to us less enlightened beings.” Honey took her hand and pulled her to the nearest chair, pushing her onto it with the hope that she could calm the girl down.  “Yeah, okay.” Headphones took a deep breath and gathered her thoughts. “Ever since Mick was in the hospital Annalise has been hanging around. Get it?...

I think I've mentioned before, but just in case not, Headphones features an ensemble cast. It's probably not marketable, but sometimes we write something because it's in our head and needs to come out. Headphones is that for me. I tried to write a blurb for it this week, but it feels flat. How to summarize a 3-book series in less than 300 words? Ah, the joys of writing! This week's Peppercorn picture. 9 weeks old. (he was 2 months on the 5th)  This week's snippet comes from book 2, Sunshine Smile . Honey and Lenny are two of Headphones' housemates (and Lenny is in the band that Headphones plays guitar for), while Annalise is, well, a problem. In more ways than one: “Shit! Dammit!” Headphones was kicking cushions around and cussing a blue streak. “Mother fucker !” Honey and Lenny stood back, stunned.  “Are ya sure she ain’t got Tourettes?” Honey wondered aloud. “Frith on a Frito!” the girl snarled. Lenny’s paralysis broke and he stepped for...

 The further adventures of Peppercorn! (because he's still the main attraction at our house right now!) He turns 3 weeks old today and he's on the move! We had a box set up for Howie to keep him in, but she can't keep him there anymore. We've been bringing him into the main part of the house to get him used to it, and for our indoor cats to get to know him. This is the first time I've ever had a cat from birth. So much fun! On the writing front, I'm making progress on the third book of the Headphones trilogy. My snippet is again from the first book, In From the Cold . And continuing with the Rainbow part of Rainbow Snippets, I'm taking from Jay and Scoey's building relationship.  Poor Scoey--he's demisexual but doesn't know it. So his attraction to Jay throws him because he's never been attracted to a man before and it really messes with his idea of himself. As part of his torture, he begins to have dreams:   Scoey couldn’...

Or is that kittens and puppies? Mother's Day isn't something we really celebrate here in the House of Jones. But there's no rain in the forecast today, so I'll probably do some grilling. We do have a "new" addition to the household, tho, making me a Grandma of sorts, so I guess I can "celebrate" that. A feral kitten that we'd managed to tame surprised us with a kitten of her own. Thank goodness she only had the one. Hopefully, we can get her to the vet before we end up with a full litter! Introducing week-old Peppercorn. This week's snippet once again comes from the first book of the Headphones series. And even though it's an ensemble story, I'm focusing on Scoey and Jay's relationship. In today's scene, the two have known each other for about a month and are working together as bartenders. Jay, who is bi, is being harassed by his ex, Crissy, and Scoey has had enough of it:              Crissy  abruptly stopped her...