Jamie DeBree, Writer

Action. Adventure. Romance.
The Variety Pages by Jamie DeBree

On Steel Men, Yarn Projects & Keeping the Brain Loose...

Top o' the Week to ya! I distinctly remember starting last week with a "weekend hangover", and this week will be no different. Writing this on Sunday, we have plans to head out to the drive-in theater later tonight for the new Superman movie, Man of Steel. And no, this has nothing to do with my newfound love of comic books (honestly, I haven't really gotten into the Superman comics, though I did buy the first issue of the new Superman Unchained series this week). It has everything to do with my love of the first movies, and wanting to see how they changed and updated the story to make it more relevant for today's viewers. Well, and Henry Cavill is *hot*...and I love the new colors & design for the costume...

I remember being a little girl and watching the Christopher Reeves Superman movies with my dad, and falling totally in love with Clark Kent/Superman...because really, who wouldn't want a "man of steel" who is a kind, gentle soul, but also can kick the crap out of anyone, anywhere, anytime without fear of dying (we'll just ignore that little kryptonite issue, shall we)? Unlike a lot of people, I actually really liked Christopher Nolan's Batman, so I'm really looking forward to what he's done with Superman. And nachos too, of course. 

It's always a double feature at the drive-in, and 42 (the Jackie Robinson story) follows MOS tonight. I don't know that we'll stay for both - they're both 2 hours (MOS is 20 minutes longer even), and that would put us home at 3am...a bit late for a work night. We'll see though. Mondays aren't really worth being awake for anyways, right?

***Update shortly after midnight - really enjoyed Man of Steel. I loved the new dark, angst-y flavor they put on it...far more realistic, IMO. And that's all I'll say to avoid spoilers. We didn't stay for 42 (obviously). Just too late for a work night.***

In other, completely different news, I was bored (ie, avoiding something I should do in favor of doing nothing) last week, and decided to watch a video on knitting. Now, most people who work with yarn prefer either knitting or crochet, even if they know how to do both. And we're generally kind of outspoken on which one we prefer (crocheters like me being a bit defensive due to people who do neither always assuming we're "knitting"). I don't know why, that's just the way it is. Humans are competitive. It's what we do. 

So when I found myself thinking, "hey, that doesn't look so hard," I also had an instinctive guilt reaction that by even considering knitting, I was being disloyal to my crochet hobby. Which is stupid, of course, because hobbies don't care if you're loyal or not, but humans are weird. The thing is, knitting often works better for supple garments like clothing and socks. Or so I've heard. But it's also slower, and I'm impatient with my crochet projects already, so slow projects don't excite me much. 

In any case, I may still teach myself how to knit this year, but for now, I've decided to stick with hookin'. I downloaded a bunch of free crocheted t-shirt and sweater patterns this weekend, and I'm going to start either a sweater or a tank top for myself this week. I think it will be fun! 

The brain is a funny thing...or mine is, anyway. Now that I've sort of settled into a writing "routine", I've found that if I don't work on other things during the week, my creativity goes south. I need stimulation outside of what I do all the time in order to keep my brain loose and ready for anything. I think that's why I prefer writing in several genres too - it doesn't let me stagnate too long in one set of tropes or boundaries - it keeps me constantly on my toes and alert as I jump around. 

It strikes me as very important to pay attention to this sort of thing, and give the brain the stimulation it needs when it needs it. And honestly, I'm happy to do so. These last few weeks where I've been crocheting and paying more attention to plants and housework along with my writing have been some of the most productive and creative I've had all year. Sure, projects go slower when I'm spread out across several, but I think it's the "doing" that matters, not the end result so much. Loose, limber brains are happy, hardworking brains, or something like that. 

You're welcome for that lovely mental image this fine Monday morning. LOL

What's on the list for this week? Well, let's see...

- 4 serial scenes plus 1 holiday story (at least)
- Start a new crochet project
- Beta read a draft for a friend (really looking forward to it)
- Weed, walk or workout 3 nights this week
- Book giveaway starting Wednesday (so come back!)

I think that's all I'll plan, for a change. Anything else I get done will be icing on the proverbial cake, and we all like icing, right (buttercream or cream cheese for me, please!)? 

Here's to a great week with warm, summery weather...

Enjoy this post? Support your author:

Romantic Suspense | Erotic Romance | Contemporary Romance |
Horror | Flash Fiction | Non-Fiction


**Please note - If this is your first time posting, your comment will be moderated. Once you have been approved, future comments will post automatically.


Serial Story: English Breakfast, Part 8

This story is presented weekly in draft format.


English Breakfast, Part 8

Karen’s mind reached for something it couldn’t quite grasp. Dark, blurry shadows milled around, voices murmuring at the edges of her dreams, bits and pieces penetrating the fog.

Evidence...distraction...burn...kill...

It was important, but how? What? Her mind refused to cooperate, and a moan of frustration escaped her throat. The shadows stopped. Too much attention. Shhh...

More drugs?

No.


The shadows floated away, leaving her to drift.

****

When the haze finally lifted, all was quiet. Her head hurt, her mouth was dry, and she felt weak all over. Where was everyone? Lifting her head, she squinted, trying to see through the darkened window into the next room, but the overhead light in her own cell made the contrast too high.

She examined her arms and legs for any marks or cuts, expecting to find the torture her captor had promised to extract for the video. But there was no further damage that she could see, and while she wondered what had changed his mind, she was grateful. 

Her hands were still shackled to the table, and she examined the clasps and chain carefully. She could pick the locks, but with what? The table was clear, and aside from her chair and one other, it was the only piece of furniture in the room. Leaning back in her chair as far as the chains would allow, she closed her eyes and tried to work up the nerve to dislocate her thumb. It was the only way, and she had to get out of here before that sadist returned to finish her off.    

With one last deep breath, she opened her eyes and leaned forward, her muscles tensing just as something glinted at her from the floor under the window. Frowning, she got to her feet, leaning farther over the table to look.

A sharp metal pick of some sort lay against the wall, probably dropped when Chuck or Charles or whatever-his-name-was had collected his tools.

Happy birthday to her.

Pressing her hips into the edge of the table, she pushed, tentatively at first, and then harder as it started to inch forward. It was a heavy table, and long enough that her body acted as a fulcrum and the table started swinging to the side. Grasping the metal chains attached to the top, she pulled back to keep it straight as she walked the whole thing towards the window.

The table finally hit the wall with a thud, and she froze, her eyes glued to the darkness on the other side of the glass, straining to detect any movement at all. After what seemed like an hour, she bent down and stretched her right foot out as far as she could, trying to reach the metal pick.

She was an inch too short.

Grasping the chains where they attached to the handcuffs, she lowered herself carefully until she was hanging from them, the sharp metal bracelets cutting into the back of her wrists even as she tried to hold herself up with the chains. Reaching again, she managed to hit the pick with her toe...and knocked it farther out of reach.

Working her feet back underneath her, she stood up, breathing hard. Remembering how the table pivoted, she yanked on the chains, disregarding the pain and wet rivulets of blood running down her arms as she stepped back and swung the table away from the wall and away from the pick. Backing up, she sat down and toed off one shoe, grabbing the pick with her toes and lying as far back as she could to lift it to her numb fingers.

Her breathing came hot and heavy now as she sat up and worked the cuffs, breaking the lock on one side, and then the other. With a cry of relief, she stumbled to the door and twisted the knob, surprised but happy when it swung open without resistance.

The hallway was short and medicinal, and she immediately turned to the right and opened the door of the dark room where she’d seen the other woman before. Flipping the light switch up, she made sure it was empty and then left, forcing herself to ignore the pools of blood congealing on the floor.
There was only one other door at the end of the hall and she went for it, pressing her ear against it for a moment before pushing it open. It was an office of some sort, empty, and she frowned. This was wrong. These people weren’t careless, and they wouldn’t have left her alone, even locked up as she was. Someone had to be around - it was only a matter of time.

There was a phone on the desk and she grabbed the receiver, checking for a dial tone before punching in Patrick’s cell number.

Pleasepickup pleasepickup pleasepickup...

A metallic click from somewhere just outside sent her to the floor as Patrick’s phone sent her to voice mail.

Enjoy this post? Support your author:

Romantic Suspense | Erotic Romance | Contemporary Romance |
Horror | Flash Fiction | Non-Fiction


**Please note - If this is your first time posting, your comment will be moderated. Once you have been approved, future comments will post automatically.


Talkin' Books: Mucho Romance, Grimm Comics & a Serious Problem...


Books In Progress: 

Comics Read:


So...as you may have noticed, I've been doing a lot of reading lately. Last week, I finished Offside, and had to immediately hunt down the second book in the trilogy, Collide (which I practically inhaled as well). The third book, Conceal, isn't out quite yet, and I was bummed until I discovered that the release date is, in fact, this coming Friday! Hallelujah! Better get my writing done in time this week, because I'll be busy Friday night with the third Barker triplet...

Seriously, if you like hot contemporary romance, you need these books. 

After those, I opened up The Temporary Wife by an author I've known online for awhile now. I'll admit that in the first part, the constant crying got to me, though I understand the reasons for it (it's reasonable and logical, I'm just not a fan of weepy women no matter the circumstances). But the story as a whole is really quite fabulous and richly layered - it's not *just* a romance, it's much more than that, and I really enjoyed it. Get a copy, you won't be sorry. 

Now I'm working on Inked by an Angel ...and the jury's still out, but I haven't put it down yet and it seems like things might be starting to heat up, so we'll see. I've always liked good girl/bad boy stories, which is what this is, it's just the paranormal element I'm not quite sure of yet. I'll let you know...or you can pick up a copy and let me know. Either way, it's making me think tattoos again. I need more, the hubby will be out of town for a week this summer... 

On the comic book front, I made a point of picking up a few off my stack, and one I picked up this weekend too. The Simpsons was entertaining as always, and the paper for that comic book was really nice, more matte, and easier to read under bright light. Grimm was every bit as awesome as the TV show, and I'll be grabbing a copy of issues #1 & #2 as soon as I can find them - if not in town, I'll order 'em. The perfect fill-in for the summer TV break, where we get to follow Nick's mom as she tries to destroy those pesky coins. 

Morbius is a seriously interesting cat - he's a lab-created vampire (hence the "living vampire" moniker - he's not "undead"), and I don't think he even knows if he's a good guy or a bad guy. I went out and bought the next four issues to catch up as well, but I have to say, I kind of hate the cover art on these. The inner artwork isn't too bad, but it isn't anything special either, IMO. I think I may just go digital with this one since I'm reading for the story more than the art...we'll see. In any case, I'll keep reading. 

Age of Ultron #9 made the whole time-travel thing a bit less confusing, along with the "fix" for the problem at hand. So that was good, and there's only one more issue left. It seems like they're leading into a new continuity after that, but I'll pass...honestly, I'm kind of getting bored with this storyline.

I'm already having storage issues with comic books, if you can believe that. Currently, I'm putting them in binder pages with boards, in big binders on the bookshelf. The problem is, I didn't have much shelf space left as is, and the binders are filling up quickly. I am getting to where I only buy specific comics now, which helps, and I'm *trying* to go digital with at least some continuities (cheaper that way too, if I wait until they're out for awhile), but there's the issue of wanting to collect the artwork on some of them, and that's really not a digital thing (for me, at least). I don't really have anywhere to stack boxes either, so it's not really an easily solved problem unless I either clean out a bookcase (or part of one, but some are already double-stacked), or find a spot for another one (we're seriously running out of wall space here). Yeah, I could probably part with some of my paperbacks, but it's funny how difficult it is to do that, even when you haven't read certain books in years. I mean...they're books! 

And yes, I have issues with deleting ebooks too, so it's not even the format so much as the stories. It takes a lot less space to store more thumb drives though than it does to buy another bookshelf...

*sigh* I'll have to ponder this issue more extensively, and take a gander through the shelves again...

Enjoy this post? Support your author:

Romantic Suspense | Erotic Romance | Contemporary Romance |
Horror | Flash Fiction | Non-Fiction


**Please note - If this is your first time posting, your comment will be moderated. Once you have been approved, future comments will post automatically.

On Slider Puzzles, Crafty Gifting & High Maintenance Nails....

How's Monday going so far? Passable, I hope? My weekend was so discombobulated due to family stuff and related things that needed to be done that I'll probably be half asleep at my day job desk by the time you read this, fighting off the equivalent of a weekend hangover - only without the actual booze to blame.

My daily routines are like those flat little plastic puzzles where you have to slide the tiles around to create an image, but there's only one extra space, so you can only slide one tile at a time. If you move the tiles in a specific sequence, the puzzle comes together faster. Otherwise, you just sort of have to keep moving them around until you figure out how to get each one to where it needs to go without disrupting what you've already set up (kind of like driving through downtown here - most of the streets are one way only).

In any case, on the weekends my schedule is far more flexible, but there are certain key tasks that really throw the whole thing off if they need to be moved for some reason. One is my weekly manicure from around midnight on Saturday to 2 or 3am Sunday morning, and the other is my weekly grocery shopping trip on Sunday mornings (anytime before noon). Those two things are the only weekend tasks that are really set on the schedule, and both of them had to be moved this weekend to accommodate my mom's birthday. The grocery shopping thing wasn't too bad - we just went after brunch instead of me going in the morning. So that was relatively painless, though I did end up running out again due to bad planning/forgetfulness on my part.

If you're a crafter, you'll understand this next part all too well. I've been working on a crocheted scarf for my mom for the last couple of weeks, whenever I got time. This is how gifting always goes for the crafter (at least all of them I know). You start out thinking you have plenty of time, and then things get in the way, and the next thing you know, you're finishing up at 2 am on the day that the gift is actually due to be given. Mom's birthday was Sunday, so...bye bye, manicure time.

No, just not doing a manicure isn't an option. My nails grow long and fast, and when I don't clip, file, and re-polish weekly, they start breaking, the polish chips and they look and wear like crap. They can actually get dangerous, depending on how and when they break (yes, I've cut myself with my own nails before - toenails too). And yes, these are my real nails we're talking about here - no fakes. I work in an office, so while I could easily leave them unpolished (though I wear polish nearly all the time, which means not wearing polish is actually quite physically painful for a week or so - it's weird, but true - your fingers get used to the extra weight of polish), I can't just ignore them without ending up with a mess, something that took me years to come to terms with, given that I'm normally more of a tomboy.

Considering that a manicure requires my hands be basically out of commission for a few hours, the only time to reasonably do that is very late at night when the dogs are sleeping and I have no other obligations. Finishing up the scarf on Saturday night meant that the manicure had to move to Monday...never a good thing as far as sleep is concerned.

I've been watching Alias (tv show) on Amazon prime while doing my manicures, but I've reached the last season, she's pregnant and her love interest is "dead", and I tend to lose interest in shows really quick when pregnancy is added as a plot point. So I picked out a couple movies to watch instead - Cake (romantic comedy, supposedly), and The Wedding Planner (seen it, love it).

In any case, it all boils down to: busy weekend where not much actually got done (I did pay bills though - rather proud of that), lack-of-sleep hangover scheduled for Monday.

So what's on the schedule for my zombie-like self this week? Let's see - kind of a light week for a change, methinks:

- Write 4 serial scenes plus 1 holiday story
- Workout x3
- Figure out a problem that's been driving me nuts at the day job
- Finish weeding the back gardens (see bullet point 2)
- Clean off the back patio & patio furniture
- See what I have/need to get to make the save-the-date swag for Halloween
- Get our guest list together for this year's party
- Update web sites
- Start thinking about some new cover art/looking at images

Easy, random stuff, really. Should be a productive and somewhat relaxed week, which will be nice. Here's to sunshine & kicking back a little...
Enjoy this post? Support your author:

Romantic Suspense | Erotic Romance | Contemporary Romance |
Horror | Flash Fiction | Non-Fiction


**Please note - If this is your first time posting, your comment will be moderated. Once you have been approved, future comments will post automatically.

Serial Story: English Breakfast, Part 7

This story is presented weekly in draft format.


English Breakfast, Part 7


Nausea warred with relief as Patrick watched the video the kidnappers had sent to Kane Security’s main email address. Relief that it wasn’t Karen on the screen, but the woman behind the table was obviously drugged and had sustained an incredible amount of cuts on her arms even in the short time they’d been watching. There was no way she could survive that much blood loss.
The knife stopped, hovering above her skin as if waiting for permission to start again. The sound came on, and Patrick heard Karen’s voice as she told them about Kane Security and gave them Patrick’s name.

He was a little disappointed that she made it so easy, but her speech was slurred and forced, which meant either she was drugged, or something had happened to her mouth. If she was hurt, they needed to find her fast if the treatment of the other captive was any indication.

The camera panned in a slow half-circle, coming to rest as another woman came into view. Patrick squinted, turning his head to the side as he realized it was Karen. One side of her face was black and purple, the eye nearly swollen shut and her lip split and bleeding. She was looking up at someone off camera, and there was a set of shiny instruments laid out on a canvas roll on the table in front of her. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out what was going to happen next.

Meaty male hands - the same that had held the knife earlier - tied a piece of rubber tubing around her upper arm and then picked up a needle. Patrick’s stomach turned as the video cut to black.

White text displayed the single demand from her captors:

Will trade Ms. Winters for Patrick O’Neil. Meet under Crosstown Bridge, 2am.

“What do you think?” Kane turned off the video and leaned back in his chair, regarding Patrick with the unreadable stare he was famous for. Patrick shook his head, letting out the breath he hadn’t been aware he was holding.

“We don’t have a choice - we have to do the trade. I don’t get it though. They still haven’t made any demands about the journalist. Why not just kill her if that was the plan all along? Why keep her captive if there’s no reason for her to be alive?”

“They wouldn’t,” Kane said, staring up at the blank screen. “I think it’s safe to assume that she had something they wanted, but other than that, your guess is as good as mine.”

“Maybe after you trade me, I can get close to her, find out what’s going on.”

Kane raised an eyebrow. “If we trade you, you mean. I’ve got Tony going through the video for any clues, and Andrew’s working up a couple of ambush scenarios. We have a little time left, so let’s see what they come up with. In the meantime, I want you to go through those photos from the laptop again, and see if you can figure out just what this journalist was researching. Obviously she pissed off some very powerful people.” 

Patrick stood to leave, and then stopped at the door. “What about the friend - the one who dropped off the flash drive? Think she’s in any danger?”

“Mia’s on her way over there now. Karen didn’t say anything about her, so she’s probably okay, but I thought it was better to check.”

“With these guys, I don’t think we can take anything for granted.”

Patrick went back to his desk and pulled up the photos he’d taken. Some of the files looked like schematics, and he tried to blow them up with little success - the larger copies were too degraded. It was a building of some sort, but he didn’t recognize the layout. There wasn’t time to check them against the major government buildings in the area - the red tape to get blueprint copies would take hours to get through, maybe even days. He started reading through the document images, looking for any mention of businesses or agencies that could be a potential target.

Half an hour later, he sat back in his chair, frustrated. There were vague references to a research project of some sort, but nothing he’d photographed contained anything specific about who was involved or what the project was for.

Kane approached his desk, his expression serious.

“Find anything?”

Patrick shook his head. “I think the only way we’re going to find out what they’re up to is to go in ourselves. We don’t even really have a clue as to where they might be, though this does reference research, so it would have to be a lab-type environment. But with all the empty or partially empty warehouses in town...”

Kane nodded. “Mia is watching our source - so far, she doesn’t seem to be in danger. And Andrew has a couple of scenarios worked out to get Karen back.” He checked his watch. “We have about an hour left before we have to be at the bridge. Let’s go over the plans for Karen’s extraction. If we can capture whoever comes to the site, maybe we can convince them to help us out.”

Enjoy this post? Support your author:

Romantic Suspense | Erotic Romance | Contemporary Romance |
Horror | Flash Fiction | Non-Fiction


**Please note - If this is your first time posting, your comment will be moderated. Once you have been approved, future comments will post automatically.


Talkin' Books: Comic Catch-Up & Hockey Romance



Comics in Progress: 
None

I finished Bloodline last night, and no, I will not be checking out the reference materials linked at the end. I prefer my fiction stays fiction, thanks - there's enough scary stuff to think about in life without being confronted with the actual truth at the end of a novel. I am looking forward to the short story included at the end of my copy - Tracker, I think it's called, about the new character, Tucker and his dog Kane. Should be good, methinks. Incidentally there's more romance in this book than Rollins normally has (from what I remember - since I wait for the paperbacks, it's quite a wait between books). I liked it. The emotional investment of the characters is really opening them up in ways I don't remember seeing before. A nice change, in my opinion.

In any case, if I say much more about Bloodline it will just give things away, so you'll just have to read it. The ebook was on sale for $1.99 the other day...good way to grab a copy on the cheap if that's still going on...

I've started and stopped an alarming amount of romance books lately...just nothing really grabbing my attention, which is really too bad. But then I stumbled across Offside, a hockey-themed romance by Juliana Stone. I'm not a hockey fan - I'm not all that fond of intentional violence in sports (no, I don't watch boxing either, though I love watching boxer physiques - nothing like a double standard, eh? but I digress...). Offside features a female hockey player at that, who's been benched due to a violent injury. She has two first names (which always sounds odd to me, being a northerner - yes, it's stupid of me to feel that way, but it is what it is), and her hick hometown has a gender bias that is deplorable and almost (but not quite) unbelievable to me given our current times. In other words, absolutely nothing about this book should reel me in. Nothing.

And yet, I started reading (got a free copy via a link somewhere - I might be on her email list from an earlier novel I read...can't remember at the moment) and I can't put it down. I don't *want* to put it down. It's my lunchtime reading, and it's an extreme force of willpower to set it aside so I can get back to work on time. So frustrating, but also so refreshing to finally be so caught up in a romance that I can't put it aside. Needless to say, there are three books in the series, and I'm now pretty well invested in learning the story of at least one of the other sisters too, so I'll be grabbing the other two as well. And I haven't even finished the first yet. It's worth the money if you're looking for a good solid contemporary romance.

As you can see above, I did a *lot* of catching up with the comic books last week too. Six issues of Age of Ultron, and I'm all caught up. The last one was a bit confusing, but that's kind of to be expected when you're messing around with the space/time continuum...so I'm interested to see how it all shakes out in the end. And I'm sort of getting to know a few other superheroes from the Marvel universe as well, which is a nice bonus for a novice like myself.

Superior Spiderman #10 was...weird. I'm having some serious issues with the new order of things following issue #9, and having trust issues that the authors will be able to make things turn out okay in the end. I mean, the good guys still have to win, right (that's sort of what superheroes do...)? But what if one of the good guys is actually a bad guy just trying to be the good guy? Can that ultimately even work?

I'm both nervous and anxious for the next issue...

Working my way down the comic book TBR (to be read) pile, there's a Simpson's comic up next, followed by a Jonah Hex western. You can't say my TBR piles are ever boring...

Enjoy this post? Support your author:

Romantic Suspense | Erotic Romance | Contemporary Romance |
Suspense/Thriller  | Flash Fiction | Non-Fiction


**Please note - If this is your first time posting, your comment will be moderated. Once you have been approved, future comments will post automatically.

On Fermenting Food, Super Glue & Lamb's Ears...

Top o' the week to ya! Or something like that, considering it's Monday and most of us are back to work, whether at home or at the office (both for me, the latter first). Hopefully you all had a good weekend. Mine got off to a pretty rocky start with the Friday from hell (I know, right? Seriously weird.), but Saturday and Sunday turned out to be good days. 

One of the myriad of annoying things that happened on Friday was that I clogged the kitchen drain up with the perfect storm of tea leaves & eggshells again. It's the second time I've done that, because I can't seem to always remember to run the disposal after peeling hard-boiled eggs, something had to be done. Hubby is not fond of plumbing in the least, and he's tired of taking the pipes under there apart so I can clean them out. I can't say I blame him. 

So I decided it was time to get serious about the whole composting thing. I have two compost bins, but they're just trash cans with holes, and I don't turn them because they're heavy, so they're basically cold piles that take forever to break down. That really doesn't work well for kitchen scraps. I needed a compost tumbler, and Friday I ordered one, along with a collection pail for the counter and compostable liner bags. Then I started reading about composting to refresh my memory, and came across the concept of Bokashi composting - specifically for dealing with kitchen scraps.

Bokashi isn't really composting though - it's fermenting/pickling the scraps and then either burying them in the ground to finish composting, or adding them to a compost pile/tumbler. But it does speed the process up, and due to the anaerobic nature of it, it kills all sorts of pathogens regular compost doesn't, so you can compost things like bread/meat/dairy that you normally wouldn't/couldn't throw on a garden compost pile. Sounds good to me!


So I spent about 10 minutes this weekend making bokashi buckets - drilling holes in a couple of 2 gallon buckets, and then placing them in buckets without holes to create a draining bucket system. Rocket science, I know. I'm considering covering the outer buckets in some of that cool patterned duct tape just to make the whole thing a bit less...white. White is boring.


Other projects this week included super-gluing my fingers together fixing a broken cast iron windmill - part of my miniature smurf village that is still more "random pieces" than village. I even wrote up a short blog post about it on the not-quite-going-yet Blue Crew blog. And I also divided this leggy patch of lamb's ear so my mom could take some of the cute & cuddly weeds over to her house. Spread the fuzzy, I say!


This sparked a lively conversation on Facebook, of course, when my editor/friend didn't quite realize I was talking about plants. Sometimes writing in certain genres makes people wary of your underlying motives. Weird, eh?

Incidentally, I've unlinked my Facebook author page and my twitter account. Why? Because starting in a couple of weeks, I plan to start posting some content that will be available only on specific platforms (that applies to Google + too). And that way Twitterers don't have to click through to FB, and then to the blog to read posts - they can just go straight to the blog. Easier, methinks. The links will still feed automatically to both.

In any case, my weekend was good, and I even managed to keep up with my writing projects and work a little ahead on the next holiday serials. So not bad, all in all.

This week, more of the same, hopefully with far sunnier weather:

- 4 serial scenes
- Finish up one holiday serial story
- Start my bokashi fermenting & yard composting adventures
- Update several web sites
- Pay bills *sigh*
- Workout x3
- Finish up the crochet gift that is due by Sunday (yikes!)
- Get a solid (and simple!) plan done for Halloween party save-the-date cards. I think this might involve a cookie cutter shaped like a bat (the animal, not the wood kind)...

That's plenty, methinks. Here's to lots of sunshine and creativity this week!

Enjoy this post? Support your author:

Romantic Suspense | Erotic Romance | Contemporary Romance |
Suspense/Thriller  | Flash Fiction | Non-Fiction


**Please note - If this is your first time posting, your comment will be moderated. Once you have been approved, future comments will post automatically.


Serial Story: English Breakfast, Part 6

This story is presented weekly in draft format.


English Breakfast, Part 6


“Kane Security gave me the disk,” Karen said, knowing that whatever she did, the kidnapped journalist had to come first. That was the case, and while she wasn’t employed with Kane any longer, she was definitely involved with this case. That made the victim her first priority.

Apparently there really was no escaping the past.

Her interrogator held up one hand, and the man on the other side of the glass stepped back - Clark, she remembered - ceased his torture of the victim. Karen wished she knew what they’d done to the woman. She just sat there, head hanging down, seemingly unaware of the cuts oozing blood from her arms. She must be on some sort of drugs to withstand that without even a sound.

“Much better,” the man said, drawing her attention back to him. “And what information did you get from the disk?”

She briefly thought about making something up, knowing he wouldn’t like her answer. Better to tell the truth though, in case he sensed the lie. Whether he would accept it or not would decide the other woman’s safety, which made Karen sick to her stomach.

“I honestly didn’t see anything. The guy who brought it in - Patrick - he took some photos of the screen before the whole thing blew up. I was too worried about the timer to pay attention to the data.”

He stared into her eyes for a long time, and she held his gaze, knowing that it was crucial that she didn’t look away. It was painful considering her injuries, and when he finally tilted his head in acquiescence, she just barely refrained from letting out a huge sigh of relief as the muscles beneath her swollen skin relaxed.

Closing the folder on the table, he leaned forward.

“Just one more question, then. The man who brought you the disk...this...Patrick from Kane Security. What is his last name?”

Karen said a quick, silent apology and hoped Patrick was at the agency where he had backup. “O’Neil. His last name is O’Neil.”

Her captor smiled, rising from his seat. “Very good, Ms. Winters. Now, as much as I regret causing you more pain, I’m afraid we’ll need you to demonstrate what will happen to the other woman should her research get out to the media. No hard feelings, I hope. It’s just business.” He laughed and walked out the door, reappearing moments later behind the other window. He spoke briefly with Clark, and then stayed behind while the larger man walked out of view.

Her eyes refocused on a grotesque reflection of red and purple blotches in the glass, and it took a few seconds for it to register that she was looking at herself, blurry as the image was. She turned her head, reminding herself that it looked worse than it was. Or so she hoped, as the throbbing got worse. She closed her eyes and focused on breathing, in and out, in and out. The pain dulled to a more manageable level after several minutes.

The door to her room opened and Clark entered, a thick canvas roll in one meaty, scarred hand. He set it on the table and unfurled it with a flourish, revealing a neat row of pockets. Each section contained what Karen could only assume were implements of torture.

“I don’t understand,” she managed, her lips still swollen and painfully dry. “I answered all the questions. One look at my face should convince anyone you’re serious.”

Clark shrugged, running his fingers casually over his kit. He removed a scalpel, and laid it on top, followed by a pair of pliers, and a metal syringe.

“Because I’ll enjoy it, and your colleagues will not.” His calm monotone was chilling, the slight grin on his lips more so.

“There’s no need to fear, however. The heroine will keep you from feeling much. It tends to make for better video too. For some reason, quiet acceptance of torture seems more effective to viewers than a bunch of screaming. Who knows why?”

He picked up the syringe and a length of medical tubing and came around the table.

“Don’t worry. In a few minutes, you won’t feel a thing.”
Enjoy this post? Support your author:

Romantic Suspense | Erotic Romance | Contemporary Romance |
Suspense/Thriller  | Flash Fiction | Non-Fiction


**Please note - If this is your first time posting, your comment will be moderated. Once you have been approved, future comments will post automatically.


Talkin' Books: Dashed Hopes, Team Dynamics & Genetic Tampering

Books Finished: 
None

Books In Progress: 

Comics Read:

Comics in Progress: 
Age of Ultron #3

So you know when you *know* something is supposed to happen that will be a total game-changer in an ongoing series, and you have an idea of what it might be, and you're hoping for it to go the way you want it to, but you have this really bad feeling that it won't?

Yeah, that's kind of how I felt about Superior Spiderman #9. I won't spoil it (though it's been out awhile now, and I dare say #10 should be in my mailbox soon), but what I had hoped might happen, didn't. Quite the opposite actually, thought the power struggle was pretty incredible. And now I'm left in a somewhat awkward state of mind about the whole thing...because I'm just not sure how it's going to work without the...restrictions that were previously in place. I'm certainly interested to see where it goes from here, albeit quite nervous...

Not being as well-rounded in comicdom as long-time fans, I still get a little confused when an issue brings in a character that everyone is expected to know, but I have no idea who it is. Wolverine #3 brings in Nick Fury, a S.H.E.I.L.D agent I know nothing about, but apparently he's some dude that Wolverine has worked with in the past. Then they make reference to the X-men, and also this new "team" of sorts that Wolverine has put together...and it feels in places like I'm stepping into a dynamic that I really should know the history of, but don't. I've heard of S.H.E.I.L.D, of course, but other than bits and pieces from the Avengers movie (that was S.H.E.I.L.D, right?), I really don't have much context for it. It seems like it might be important though, so I think I'll do some digging in the digital comic archives and find out what I'm missing.

I like the Wolverine comics...think I'll definitely add this "volume 5" series to my subscription service to save some $$ and to make sure I don't miss any...

Bloodline is...well, it's freaky. And difficult to put down, which is problematic since I pick it up at night when I crawl into bed. "Just a few chapters" turns into "just a couple more pages" and then "I really can't put it down until I know if they escape this" followed by a healthy dose of, "but what about- no way! That is so not happening. Or will it? Is it even possible?"

And the team dynamics in this book are just incredible. Everyone is so in tune with everyone else - understandably so. It's quite amazing, really (yet totally believable).

Argh! I keep thinking I need to pay attention to the story structure, because this is exactly how I want my books to read (well, I mean page-turning-wise, not actual story...though I'm loving this). But I can't possibly read critically when so many things are at stake, so my own dissection will have to wait until after I find out whether the dissection in the book is actually going to take place or not (because it can't, really, but they're running out of time, and...).

Yeah. The genetic tampering in this book freaks me out mostly because of what it means/requires as far as...well, dang it. I'm not saying anymore about it, because I don't want to ruin it for you. Just go read it, K? And don't forget to breathe...



Enjoy this post? Support your author:

Romantic Suspense | Erotic Romance | Contemporary Romance |
Suspense/Thriller  | Flash Fiction | Non-Fiction


**Please note - If this is your first time posting, your comment will be moderated.

On Green Stuff, Fiber, & Freezer Defrosting...

Looking for the next installment of Mr. Mysterious (the holiday serial)? Click here.

Part of why I love the English language so much is all the idiosyncrasies & double meanings that drive people insane. Take the title of this post, for instance. If you know me at all, you probably guessed that today's post will cover gardening and crochet along with actual freezer defrosting. If you didn't know me at all, you might think I was referring to broccoli, beans, and...well, freezer defrosting (that's a bit hard to misinterpret, though there are certainly ways). Fun with language is good for the brain. So is driving other people nuts...

If you guessed that I spent most of Sat/Sun working in the garden, you'd be right (or you're friends with me on Facebook). The project for this long weekend was simple in theory - weed as many of the flowerbeds/gardens as possible, to get ahead of the enormous bindweed and grass problems we've got here. We also are in the process of planting the front flowerbeds, and redoing all of the backyard gardens. So lots of green upheaval going on around here. Needless to say, the flowerbeds are starting to look...well, better anyways. My hamstrings are not happy with all the extra work. 

In any case, it's a long weekend for me, so I'm home today, and about a third of the day will be spent doing...yes, more yard work. I'm a lucky girl, eh? 

I've also been cycling back into houseplant keeping again, having bought four in the last two weeks. This is a good sign, as it means I'm finally letting go of my death-grip obsession with writing and getting back to "normal life". It also means that I have new plants to repot and find good spots for...a project that will start today and run into next week. Fun stuff - I'm enjoying having tropical plants in the house again. When I'm hyper-focused on anything, my cacti are the only plants that survive. 

I also finished a crochet gift this weekend, and I need to start another one tonight to match. Two weeks to go, so I'd better get moving on it! I'm going to use a new stitch I learned watching youtube videos - the star stitch. Hopefully it will go well, and work up quickly. Want to see the crochet projects I've been working on? Visit Hookin' It for the two I've done this year (more to come)... 

Did you ever leave something in your freezer so long that the ice built up on the shelf around it and you couldn't get it out? If not, well...um, really? 

I think it might have been the first or second year after we moved in here that my mom sent over a container of pumpkin squares for one of our Halloween parties. In the hustle and bustle of pre-party-prep, they were forgotten, and ended up in the freezer. We've lived here 8...going on 9 years now. 

That container is still in my deep freeze downstairs, frozen to the top shelf in a 2 inch thick sheet of freezer-frost ice. 

Needless to say, I've been meaning to defrost the freezer for several years now, and just never quite got around to it. It takes a bit of planning to defrost a freezer - because everything in there that needs to be kept needs to be moved to the freezer under the fridge - which also needs to be cleaned out, not that that leaves enough room. 

So that's a priority on my to-do list today. First thing, I'm going to clean out and start the deep freeze defrosting. It should be done sometime late in the afternoon, I'd think. Not only will I gain the use of that upper shelf back, I'll also gain some room from foods that have just been in there too long to be good anymore. Win-win, though it's a lot of work. 

What else am I up to on my "vacation" day? Well, hubby has to work, so it's just me, and I might as well make the most of it, right? 

- Defrost freezer
- Finish weeding gardens
- Write a short (2k) story due tonight
- Write Tuesday's serial scene
- Basic housecleaning (normally done Sundays, but I was busy with yardwork)
- Start new crochet project
- Catch up on one comic book series
- Pay bills

As for the rest of the week, it should be pretty normal, I think: 

- Write three more serial scenes
- Work on non-fic guide
- Send books to GR contest winners
- Update websites
- Work on crochet project
- Workout x2 (the weeding counts, dang it!)
- Get caught up on my comic book reading

So here's to long, productive holiday weekends, and short work-weeks where nothing much happens.

Enjoy this post? Support your author:

Romantic Suspense | Erotic Romance | Contemporary Romance |
Suspense/Thriller  | Flash Fiction | Non-Fiction


**Please note - If this is your first time posting, your comment will be moderated.


Weekly Topics

Monday: Weekly News & Goals
Wednesday: Talkin' Books
Friday: Excerpt Day

The Drafting Desk (excerpts)

Subscribe to The Variety Pages

Follow on Facebook

Currently Reading

Jamie DeBree's currently-reading book recommendations, reviews, favorite quotes, book clubs, book trivia, book lists

Tag Cloud