I'm writing this just after finishing my first 445 words on The Minister's Maid, this year's NaNo draft. I had some technical difficulties (decided Scrivener isn't for me and had to switch my info back to yWriter), and some outlining difficulties (my brain just really didn't want to), but when all is said and done I dropped right into the story and ended up with a pretty decent intro, if I do say so myself. I'm normally lucky in that even if I can't manage to plan ahead, once I start writing things drop into place. Here's an excerpt of my opening:

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"Come on, Ian.” Betsy caught her lower lip between her teeth then released it, a move she knew drove him wild. “Talk dirty to me.” She grinned, snapping her gum as she leaned over and propped her elbows on his wide cherry desk. If he knew how many times she’d fantasized about him taking her bent over it, he’d sterilize the whole thing. Twice.

“You know I don't do that,” he said, barely glancing up at her over the reading glasses perched on his nose. “And I'm working. Don’t you have something to do?” His short-cropped dark hair shone in the dim lamplight, and she longed to run her fingers through it to see if it was as silky as she remembered. He hadn’t let her get close enough though in a long time, and from the looks of it, tonight would be no exception.

Letting out a dramatic sigh she straightened, wondering for about the millionth time what it would take to loosen him up. They’d been dancing around this attraction since they were kids, but Ian was about as straight laced as they came, and that white collar around his neck was like a short chain keeping him just out of her reach.

“I just got off, actually,” she said, barely suppressing a giggle at the unintentional double entendre. “The only thing I want to do tonight is you - but since you’re not up for it, I suppose I’ll go find myself a cowboy. I hear there are some cute new city slickers at the saloon.”

He did look up then, his brown eyes fixed pointedly on her. “That’s not gonna work, and you know it.

You know why too. Go home and rest. The biker’s will be here Friday, and we’ll be busy for the next week with that. You know how they are.”

Struggling to hide her surprise, Betsy bit her lower lip - for real this time. "Bikers?" She crossed her arms over her chest, suddenly chilled. "What bikers?"

- From The Minister's Maid

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Yes, I know I have more words to do today. I'll work on it more as I have time – I'm off work from the day job for the deconstruction of Halloween, and tomorrow as well for state election day, so I've got some time to play with.

So NaNo's off and running, and I wish all the rest of you good luck and many words. One thing you should be aware of – I may be late posting occasionally this month. It's the nature of NaNo...

We have another great author joining us here on Thursday for an interview – James Huskins, author of Silent Scream: A Groovy Mystery Caper" will be chatting with us and I hope you'll drop in.

This Week at The Variety Pages

Tuesday: Ch. 17 of The Biker's Wench

Wednesday: Everyday Romance: All My Exes

Thursday: Author Interview with James Huskins

Friday: Ch. 18 of The Biker's Wench

Thursday at Beyond the Words

Media Kits: Author Bios

Goal Reports

My writing goals were iffy last week. I got caught up on the Marlow project, but didn't get any chapters written ahead for TBW. I plotted 4 scenes ahead for my NaNo novel about 20 minutes before it was time to start writing, so I suppose we can mark that one "sort of" done. I did basically plot the entirety of my thriller novel in my head while avoiding my NaNo scene outline. The business goals went well – I accomplished all but requesting reviews, and the Brazen Snake Books web site is now open for business. Personal goals are complete, which is nice.

Goals for the Week

Writing

• Keep up with NaNo word counts daily (need 1,667 per day to win)

• 2 new chapters of TBW

• New installments of the Marlow project

• Write out my synopsis for the Westhaven thriller

Business

• Open the account I was going to open earlier

• Update all websites with BSB links/logos

• Update my bio on my web site

Personal

• Get a haircut

• Pack up Halloween

• Workout at least twice

And that's my week. Busy, as usual, but lots of good stuff going on.

What's on your list this week? Read any good books lately?