Teaser Tuesday

Since November I've been teasing LARCH so today I decided to switch to JUDGEMENT. JUDGEMENT is an edgy contemporary about a boy who has it all and the girl who has nothing. Laura, the girl, sees through his facade to the hurting, abused boy that he is and Jefferson, the MC, sees through her facade to the wonderful girl that she is, and they accept each other but that won't come until much, much later. In this scene, Laura had taken care of Jefferson the day before, after his dad beat the you-know-what out of him. Jefferson is trying to be friends with her, but she isn't letting that happen. Also in this scene are the only two people in the school who are friends with Laura, they were unexpected and I heart them.

It’s lunchtime and the lunch room is crowded by the time I walk in the door. I’ve been thinking about Laura all day and don’t want her to feel not good enough to be my friend. She’s sitting at a table with a couple of younger guys.

“Jefferson.”

Tony is calling me over to our regular table. I really don’t feel like pretending everything is great in my life. My head still throbs.

Laura looks up from her lunch and I wonder what she is thinking as our eyes meet. No harm in finding out.

“Hey Laura. Mind if I join you?”

A shocked look crosses her face, then panic sets into her eyes.

“Laura, tell him he can sit. Geez, what’s wrong with you?” one of the boys says.

“Uh, sure. Sit down.”

The boys watch me as I sit down with my tray.

“Wow, you’re Jefferson. I’m Trey and this is Lyle. Your kind never comes over here.”

“My kind?” I have spent most of the day confused.

“Yeah. Popular. Rich. Good-looking. Athletic. Need I say more?”

“Thanks Trey. ‘Nuff said, okay?” Laura’s voice is quiet.
“I thought we settled this earlier. You don’t have to hang around, Jefferson.”

“How do you know he’s not here to play some kind of practical joke on us. Really Trey, you are just about drooling over a jock. Should I be jealous?” Lyle asks.

I look back and forth between them. Laura is looking at me like she is waiting to see what I am going to do. I wish I could read her mind.

“I’m not here to play any kind of jokes. I just wanted to see Laura. You guys have nothing to worry about. Do people play jokes on you?”

“Well, duh. We are the only two gay guys out of the closet. Laura is the only one who will be seen with us. Damn homophobic Bible-belt South. Plus it doesn’t help that Trey is black. We break two rules at once. Oh, Jefferson? Your friends are looking at us. Maybe you should return to your people. I think you’ve walked on the wild side long enough.” Lyle chuckles to himself.

I glance over my shoulder and see the entire table of my friends looking at me. All ten expressions range from horrified to amused.

“I really don’t care what they think. I can do what I want.”

“Jefferson, please leave.” Laura says.

“Fine Laura, since you are so obviously ashamed to be seen with me, I’ll just leave you alone.”

A horrified look crosses her face.

“No, it’s not that. Look, I don’t want to cause problems for you and that is what you’ll have hanging out over here. We can meet up after school if you want.”

“Only if you let me drive you home.”

She pauses and tilts her head to the side. Her dark hair falls into her face and she pushes it back. “Deal but I have to go straight home since I won’t be on the bus with my sister.”

I have just won a battle and can’t help but smile.

Holidays

The holidays are over - so why are we frying a turkey and having stuffing, cranberries and a butt-load of veggies with my family today? Could it be that mom decide to make spaghetti on Christmas day?

Holidays are crazy with my family which is why I happily spend the Jewish holidays with friends but Christmas is spent with my parents and ninety-two-year-old grandmother.

Today a dear friend of the family will be there, eighty-something-year-old Don. He and my grandmother get along very well and she gets quite perky when he is around.

It should be an amusing day.

Doctors and money

Usually a doctor's office wants their co-pay, right? I have lots of friends who are doctors and I know how frustrating it can be to not get the money they're owed. We went to one of these friends for my children's eye exam and when I tried to pay the co-pay the lady at the desk said they would bill me. I'm sorry. You want my money then take it while I'm offering.

That was five months ago. I pay my bills but for some reason this bill has been hell to pay. I tried four times and finally today I got it paid, after 25 minutes and three transfers. I honestly thought I was going to have to call my friend to pay her office. Even though I have friends who are doctors, I don't bother them with questions. They tell me to but I still feel weird about it. And I know that is normal because I had this discussion with a friend whose husband is a doctor - she feels the same way and doesn't want to bother doctor friends.

So I finally got someone on the phone who could help me and you know what she asked me - do you want to pay the full amount or make an installment? Hell yes, I want to pay the full amount - geez, it's only $30.

Teaser Tuesday

I had a hard time deciding whether I wanted to give everyone a view into my dystopian society or fluff from Stone and Larch, so I chose the latter since I am a romantic and it was kissing day yesterday. I have been filling in spots that needed relationship building and world building and finally got around to writing the first kiss, after I wrote several later kisses. I'm glad I waited because Larch surprised me.

In this scene Larch and Stone have fought with fighting sticks and she was really mad. The guards watched the entire thing. Larch's POV.

“You have literally beat the shit outta me Princess.” Stone said as he pressed my body into the wall. “Do you have any more aggression you want to take out on me, cause I can take it.”

I looked at the blood running down his face and the bruises already forming on the exposed skin of his arms. I saw the guards looking intently at us, they were no longer laughing, instead they looked scared. Stone and I were both breathing hard and at that moment, I didn’t care if he hated me, nor did I care if he would push me away because I was going to do what I wanted to do.

I let go of my stick and it clattered to the floor. My hands grabbed Stone’s shirt while his eyes narrowed in contemplation, like he was preparing to defend himself once more, but before he could move or lower the stick that anchored me to the wall, I surged forward as if I was being pushed from the wall by some unseen force, dragged him to me and kissed him.

Lips met lips and an electrical current moved from me into him or him into me, I didn’t know which but I did know that it was earth-shattering. His eyes widened and he dropped his stick, grabbed the back of my head, burying his hands in my hair and dragged me closer, until I didn’t know where I stopped and he began.

Cat-calls sounded and he broke off abruptly, but his hands were still buried in my hair.

“Wow,” he said and I thought that just about summed it up.

Holiday stuffing

I'm trying to think of a new name for my blog. Yes, it is random but I don't know if I really like Random thoughts. I'm thinking Random Ramblings.

As I think of ramblings I wonder why I stuff myself at holiday gatherings. I ate two plates of food tonight and as I sit here, I wish I could visit the porcelain goddess.

I had a great time as I went to my Aunt's house and got to see my cousin, his wife and their baby, oh yeah, their dog too. Their dog Chip is intact and when he came to our house he constantly hunched my spayed female. Chip is a tiny dachsund, while my dog Snowflake is part lab part Shepherd. Just picture that little thing trying to get it on with my big dog. Perverted. Not the whole size thing just the testosterone-filled male. Not that I'm saying testosterone-filled males are a bad thing - I think I'll quit before I dig my hole even deeper.

New Moon

I haven't blogged in an entire week and have missed several Teaser Tuesdays so I thought I would try to blog about something...anything random I can come up with.

So I went to see New Moon tonight. I must say it was nice to see it without the crowds and screaming fangirls. My girl friends and I laughed at times some would consider inappropriate during the movie because it was just funny. The old women behind me were laughing too.

I had heard about the shirtless wolves and must say that, well, I'm old enough to be Taylor Lautner's mother, but tonight I wished I were sixteen again so I could've enjoyed the view without feeling like a dirty old woman. Yep, my age made me feel guilty.

Now I think I will go and wash my eyes out with soap and hopefully be clean again.

Oh yeah, I look forward to the next movie :)

Paranoia

Ever think about that webcam sitting harmlessly on your computer? What if it really isn't harmless? What if someone taps into it and watches things you do?

What if it catches you, sans clothes, chatting away on Facebook? What if someone posts that to a website?

You may think I'm crazy but one never knows.

Now I shall go find some tape to cover my webcam and I urge you to do the same. And if you don't - don't blame me if you find yourself on the computer and I won't say I told you so. ;)

To have a parrot or not to have a parrot.

I love animals. Really. When I was growing up I wanted to take in every stray, but had parents who realized that was not possible and forbid it - when they found out; I was really good at hiding my forbidden pets.

One time I came home with someone's hamster that was no longer wanted. After he chewed his way out of the cage, made a home under my dad's desk and dug out the carpet to store his food, my dad made my mom take me out into the country where we let him go - probably to be killed since 1- hamsters aren't native to Georgia and 2- there was no way for him to survive.

A stray turned up and my wonderful grandmother, of blessed memory, let me keep him at her house. I named him Kamir and loved him but he disappeared after a few weeks - I still wonder. Another stray turned up and I named him Raccoon. After a couple of months my dad decided to give him to someone in the country because he was afraid Raccoon would get hit by a car. It only took two weeks of him living in the country to be squashed in the road - yep, sure was safer.

This was how it went. I found the animals and cared for them and somehow they had to go with the exception of a few cats and a dachsund which was given to me when I was about ten. I also found a cockatiel in the backyard that my grandmother still has.

I loved animals so much that I decided to be a Vet. Only problem was the pesky Math that was required. I've always said IQ means nothing if one can't succeed in the world. It doesn't matter that I am highly intelligent when my brain isn't wired for Algebra - seriously - so I decided against being a vet and chose Spanish as my major instead.

When I was in college I bought, wait for it, a ball python. My mother told me if I brought it in her house she would chop its head off with her butcher knife. Luckily I had a boyfriend who let me keep her at his apartment until I could return her to the pet store.

So I got married and guess what - my husband never says anything about what I drag home! Once I drug home $150 worth of turtle supplies and a turtle, I said it was for school since we were learning the letter T, that was when my oldest was in kindergarten, seven years ago. Yesterday I drug home $75 worth of turtle supplies for the two new turtles that were given to my daughter. We have had dogs, cats, rats, hamsters, guinea pigs and a parrot. He almost bought me a snake once but it was mean, of course we did catch a couple of them and observed them for a few days (I homeschool so I'm always looking for learning opportunities). We can't have a ferret because we have the parrot or there would be one of those too.

I have learned that we can't feed every stray that comes along so a lot of times I let them go without feeding them (or feed 'em in the neighbor's yard, shhhh.) And my husband, although very patient, doesn't really care for all the animals so I was surprised when he called me and said that a guy at work is looking for a good home for his parrot and is actually considering it - this said after I was told that there was no room for the five cockatiels my friend would like gone from her house. I do agree with him about the cockatiels but another parrot? That's like having another child and it's my decision. All mine. Guess what's coming home.

Teaser Tuesday

I love it when a character does something so unexpected and then explains to me why it was done. Stone completely shocked me with his actions in the last sentence. Before this scene starts Ser the clone and Stone saved her from being kidnapped. She realized that Ser is the one from her dreams who saved her before. They are in a van taking her back to the apartment where she has been staying.


Stone turned my face as he surveyed the damage. I felt sore but fine. “Looks like you are fine. Now how do you know Ser?”

“Ser?” I asked. “Short for serpent?” Ser nodded.

“Fitting” I said. “When I was a child I was kidnapped, but you know this. What you don't know is that I was rescued out of that filthy cage by a beautiful man who reminded me of the snake I caught. All I remember is him telling me not to forget him and come back to him one day. He told me I would be strong and save them. I also remember how gentle he was with me. The experiments they conducted were pretty bad and it hurt to be touched but Ser was gentle.” I turned to Ser. “Thank you for that.”

“You are very welcome, Larch. We all have been waiting for you to return. Stone has some information for you to look at but he will not be able to do that until he is with you again so can you go back to the Compound?”

I didn’t know if I wanted to return to the compound. I had been free to do as I pleased the past week but after the debacle at the shopping mall, I could probably kiss that freedom good-bye. There was no way to keep this attack from Thomas.

“I am willing to do anything I need to but don’t understand any of this. Why do they want me so bad?” This was a puzzle I had been trying to figure out ever since the dreams started and I realized I was kidnapped for something more than to hurt Thomas, there was a purpose.

“Stone can explain all of that when you see the research. I’ll let the two of you talk in private for a few minutes.” Ser went to the front of the van and climbed into the passenger seat. He also replaced his mask.

I looked at Stone. He had not taken his eyes off of me since he pulled the mask off. I reached my hand up and touched his cheek. It was rough from the slight beard that needed shaving. I looked at his lips and couldn’t help but remember the kiss. I thought he would kiss me but he sat back. I was disappointed.

“So Stone, what have you been doing and what was Ser talking about?”

“I’ve been with my father. As far as the other, we don’t have time to discuss it right now but I will talk to you about it when the time is right. Ser thinks you can help him and his friends because you are smart. I want to help them too.” I wished he would stop looking at me the way that he was because it made my blood heat up.

“I guess it can wait.” I lowered my eyes too afraid of rejection to say what I was feeling to his face. “I missed you.”

For an interminable time nothing was said and my face heated up from embarrassment. Ser cleared his throat in the front. I raised my eyes to Stone’s as he cupped my face and made me look at him. It looked like a war was going on in his mind and it played out in his facial expressions. He leaned forward inch by inch and put his lips on mine. I wrapped my arms around his neck and gave in to the kiss. It was hot and heavy and I felt like I was flying. It was as good as our first kiss. Electrifying.

The van slowed down and stopped. Stone pulled away from me and I felt the connection between us break. “This isn’t right, Larch," he said as he shook his head. "We’re here at your stop.”

He opened the back doors and pushed me out.

Teaser Tuesday

From the NaNo again. Since I have given Stone's POV for two weeks, I am switching to Larch today. She is in the hospital after nearly burning in a fire and can't open her eyes. She just heard a conversation take place. Ms. Snarky is actually cleaning up her act since she has no one to interact with, I find that very interesting. As always, 1st draft.

Who would I never have to worry about again? And was that Thomas and Stone speaking? I tried to open my eyes but could not, I felt like I had sand in them, they were so gritty. This thing in my throat was about to drive me crazy and I wanted it out. I needed someone to help me but the swishing and beeping were lulling me back into sleep.

The door closed and someone approached the bed. I heard the dividing curtains close and felt the mattress sink as someone sat beside me and took my hand. The hand was warm and rough. I knew immediately that it was Stone.

“Come on Princess,” he whispered. “Come back to me. The doctors said you had such a shock that you need to retreat into yourself. I think that’s bullshit because you are strong, so very strong. What you did during the fire was amazing, I’ve never seen a braver person. Come back Larch so we can see what is between us.”

I wanted to do as he said but I couldn’t. I remembered the searing kiss we shared not long ago and I remembered how I felt when he touched me but I also remembered that my parents expected me to be with Thomas and he loved me. I knew that Stone had some issue with me and I still wondered what it was.

The feel of his hand on mine was amazing. I felt secure and peaceful but most of all happy. I let myself relax and the dreams started again.

I was a little girl laying on top of my best friend. He had found me hiding in the lab. They were going to take me away from him and I didn’t want to go so as we were playing I ran away to hide in the forbidden room.

My dark haired boy looked into my eyes, His eyes looked like the sky after a storm and he promised to protect me. I was happy and secure with the boy I loved.

The door opened and heavy footsteps came towards me. Someone put their arms around me and pulled, dragging me off of my boy. I held on to him but was no match for the strong arms. I heard him cry out for me as the door shut. I knew I would never see him again.

I looked into the face of the Professor. This was a man who scared me. I associated him with pain and I knew from the look in his eye that I would be in pain again.

The dream shifted.

I was older and in another lab but was locked in a cage like an animal. I tried to bend the bars and escape but they wouldn’t budge. I knew I had strength but for some reason was unable to make the bars move. I didn’t understand. I hurt. There were pieces of gauze taped to my skin. Terrible things had been done to me.

Someone came in and looked at me. He was different than anything I had ever seen before. His skin was the color of mine but it was smooth and scaly just like the snake I caught in the garden. He had no hair and his eyes were slightly slitted like my Japanese nanny. He was beautiful.

“I’m here to save you, Larch but you must return to save us one day. You’ll be strong. Don’t forget me and come back. We’ll be waiting.”

The cage door swung open and he picked me up. It hurt when he touched me but not from him, I hurt from the nasty things done to me. Skin was scraped off and needles were jabbed into me. I had been hooked into machines and my throat was parched from the screaming.

Everything went black.

Teaser Tuesday

This excerpt is from the first time Larch and Stone have a sparring session. He doesn't like her because he is prejudiced, against clones, although Larch is not your typical clone. Ignore writing oops, this is NaNo and has no editing. Stone's POV.

I got up and we began circling each other again. We punched, kicked and blocked over and over. It didn’t matter what strategy I used, she blocked every move. I couldn’t let her knock me on my ass again. She’d done it twice already.

I feinted right and dropped to the ground. She lost her balance and I finally got a punch in.

She was tough, I’d give her that. She spun around with a roundhouse kick that cracked into my jaw and I went down. She walked over and looked down at me. She probably thought she knocked me out. I scissored out my legs and caught her around the waist and flipped her onto the mat. I was up in a second and fully stretched out on top of her. My six foot frame completely covered her small, five feet and I could feel how soft she was.

We were both breathing hard. Her lips were in the perfect spot for me to kiss. I forgot she was my assignment for a few minutes.

She looked up at me in surprise. Then her eyes began to darken and I could feel her heartbeat speed up. It had nothing to do with our sparring session.

“You think you won Stone?” she whispered and licked her lips.

“Oh yeah, Princess. I got you down and I’d call that a win.” I felt blood rushing through my body and did not want to move. The only thing I wanted to do was kiss her long and hard.

Victims

I am officially a victim, or at least that's how the police report reads. Someone broke into my car last Friday and took off with my purse. I didn't realize how much was kept in my purse. I loved that purse, it wasn't expensive but it was cool. It was a hobo type bag that was plaid. The strap was short and the drawstring to close it was cool. I could pull it open and see everything in there and pull the strings together and go, knowing it was closed.

The things that were obvious to me that were permanently gone were my: iPod touch and leather case, prescription Rayban sunglasses (who but me can wear them?), checkbook, credit card (yes, I only have one), and license. As I have been completing an inventory for the insurance company Horace Mann, which so far has been wonderful, I began to see the little things that were missing: hand sanitizer, deoderant, makeup, receipts, membership cards, bandaids, notebook and pens, calendar and other small things.

It has been a hassle closing accounts, waiting for a new credit card (and learning how to use cash again), getting a new license and dealing with the loss, but the thing that really got me was the bank calling yesterday morning. Someone (possibly the person who took my purse) forged a signature on the back of one of the already made out checks, made out two more checks to himself and cashed them. Of course my bank is refusing payment but seriously? This person cashed them at a convenience store and put the same phone number on the check already made out and the ones he wrote to himself.

So this should be easy, right? The police can go to the person who cashed the check and question him. Maybe find something out. Obviously this person knew I did not write the checks to him, so he has done something wrong. Is this happening? The police have not called me back since I reported this development, so I have to go there tomorrow and see what's going on. It's not as if I live in a huge city, we have a city population of 2700, and I am hoping this can be resolved.

I didn't realize it, until today, that I am truly a victim. Someone violated my space and is continuing to violate me when they write checks out of my checkbook, look at the registry and see where I have spent my money, read the notes I have written in notebook, look at my calendar and know where I will be through the end of the year, have my appointment numbers and doctor's names, and more.

Someone will enjoy the free sub from Blimpie (I was saving this for a time when I had no money). Some child or children will enjoy three free trips to Jump City (I was saving these for my children to celebrate my son getting his cast off). Someone will go to the pizza place and use the 200 tickets my son was saving to get a big prize. Probably that someone will not use the 40% off card I have that was $20 away from being full (for my students piano books) or the clothing card that was 75% full. That someone will have no use for my Insurance card, Membership cards or license.

Perhaps the worst thing of all is that now, while I am in town, I look at a certain type of person and wonder if that is the person who stole from me. And it angers me that that person had to live up to the stereotype that is placed upon him. I used to argue that everyone is equal and we shouldn't judge based on race, religion, sex or money, now I just don't feel like arguing.

Teaser Tuesday

I am participating in NaNoWriMo so all projects have been put on hold for the dystopian about clones. I must say I am loving my characters. Larch is snarky, Stone is an ass, Thomas the Dictator is the perfect boyfriend material (even if he is 15 years older than Larch) and there are minor characters like Rodriguez who pushes Larch and jokes with her, Mrs. Gruen who is a five letter word and the screwed up failures of the cloning program who can be pathetic. So this week, I am giving you some of the messed up clones from Stone's pov, it's kinda long so you get to meet three of them. Eric is mixed with an eagle.

Eric turned around and came back in the room. He took a seat on the bed beside Lora and turned paisley blue like the comforter. Looked like I would have my work cut out for me since Lora's chameleon genes were going crazy.

“Truth time. I can’t help you if I don’t know what happened.”

Lora’s head tucked into her chest. She seemed downcast but I couldn’t really tell while she was blended in to the surroundings.

Eric surprised me by speaking up. “Stone, we love each other and want to get married. We were, um, doing what married people do when Ser walked in on us. It scared Lora. She was controlling really well till then, honest.”

Oh shit. I didn’t think they had feelings like that. Dad was not going to be happy. I realized that Ser wasn’t in the room with the others earlier when I came in and was the most sensitive.

“I need to go find Ser. Lora, think about your body and concentrate on what you are supposed to look like. Mind over matter. Get up and let’s see what happens.”

“I can’t, Stone. I’m naked.”

Holy hell. At least I couldn’t see her. “I’ll be back after I find Ser.”

I started to walk out of the room but Eric jumped up and grabbed my arm. “I know what will ease her stress. We’ll just finish what we started so give us time.”

“TMI, Eric. I really don’t want to know.” I pulled away and left the room, closing the door behind me.

I looked at the hallway as I searched for Ser. He was one of my father’s first creations that survived and the oldest in this group living below ground. None of the Others were allowed to leave the Underground bunker. A leftover facility from the time when America had a large armed forces, the bunker was hidden from outside view by a sewage treatment plant. It was a C.I.A. training facility at the turn of the century. Although the C.I.A. was not allowed to operate on US soil, they still had to train and house their agents.

The hallway I was walking down looked like the inside of a submarine. I came to Ser’s door and entered without knocking. I knew it was rude of me but I had no idea what I would find.

Ser was on the floor naked, writhing and slithering across the dingy carpet. His skin had already peeled off of his head. The roll of skin was almost at his shoulder blades. New scales were shimmering with an incandescent glow on his face. It would take several hours before his skin was back to normal. Normal for him was smooth and scaly, just like a snake, which was in his DNA.

“Ser, what can I do, man?” I asked. I tried to keep the disgust from my voice. I usually hid it well.

NaNo

Wow, I am getting excited about NaNo. Somehow I have to write around 1700 words per day. I have no idea how I'm going to do that - might as well pull out my eye teeth. But wait, it's all about positive thinking, right? So I am putting Judgement on hold - I hope Jefferson stays quiet for the next month. And River is already on hold although Maia wants to wake up.

What is my NaNo about? It is a YA dystopian following Larch and Stone. I plan on using alternating points of view so it will be a challenge for me. Here's the basic info:

In 2015 Nuclear Holocaust came to the world. America eventually fell into a Totalitarian Dictatorship. An active Underground group tries to usurp the beloved Dictator at every turn.

Larch is seventeen years old and carries a secret that even she doesn't know- she is the only successfully cloned human in the world. Her uncle, the Dictator, will keep her safe at all costs.

The Underground wants her. The failures of the cloning program live amoungst the Underground with the Scientist who created them - and Larch. Larch holds the key to the future of these clones deep in her DNA.

Stone, one of those sworn to protect her, is working for the Underground and his father - the Scientist. What began as a simple mission to help the Underground changes as Stone comes to realize the complications of Larch - she is as human as he.

So that's it. My next Teaser Tuesdays will come from this. Here's hoping I make it :-)

Teaser Tuesday

Here is a short tease from the edgy YA. Jefferson has convinced Laura to let him drive her home after she avoided him all day long.

“Hey Laura. You can sit up, you know.”

“No, someone might see me.” She ducks lower in the seat.

She is the most paranoid person I believe I have ever met.

“And does that matter?” I ask as I get into the car.

“Yes, Jefferson. It matters. You don’t want your friends to see us together.”

Okay, now I’m getting pissed. What does she know about my friends?

“Laura, this is crazy. I don’t care if my friends see us together. I don’t hide things.”

“Really? So they know about your dad? They see your bruises?”

More vacation thoughts

We made it home from vacation. All things work out in the end.

We took a wrong turn. I closed my eyes for two minutes, from 4:47-4:49, Hubby dazed and missed the turn. This happened 13 years ago too on our honeymoon. This time we did not fight - guess that says we have both matured :) Instead we had a mis-adventure. We had several of those on our vacation this time and we are learning to go with the flow. Why get upset? We saw some beautiful sights in the mountains and only took an hour more to arrive home.

We nearly slid off the mountain. A few days ago I wrote about picking up a hitchhiker and not hiking the Chimneys. The day after the hitchhiker we went to the Chimneys. There were no places to park so we parked in the grass like so many others.

On the positive side, we met a great man on the hike who showed us the easy way to climb to the top. The kids were unable to climb the face - there was a 7 foot climb at one point, but were able to climb up the back way. Of course my heart was in my throat the entire time because the kids are fearless and climbed everywhere. One wrong step and they could've fallen - off the mountain, at least 100 feet if they stopped and didn't keep falling. Anyway, after the hike we got in the car and put it in gear - and slid sideways. Put it on reverse - slid some more. Got the kids out - hubby slid again. By this time the Suburban had slid all the way to the tree line. Past the trees was the drop to the swollen river.

The nice man we met on the hike gave us a ride down the mountain to get a cell signal. My cell was dead so we used his. Took almost an hour til we had the wrecker coming. He called his friend who took me and the kids to the motel while he took my husband back up the mountain. Everything was fine and we made a new friend who made us promise to call him when we are in the area next time. He works with the Park Service and will take us to work with the elk and cave exploring.

If we would have not picked up that hitchhiker, we would not have met Buddy. All things work as they should, it just takes patience to see the positive.

Vacation thoughts

We picked up a hitchhiker today.

She was on the side of the road with her backpack and walking sticks at the bottom of the mountain. We pulled over, threw her gear in the back and drove up the mountain, while she entertained us with stories of hiking the Appalachian Trail. She has been hiking for six months and has roughly two weeks to go. Over 2200 miles of hiking from Maine to Georgia.

Yesterday she hitched down the mountain to get supplies and stay at a hostel for the night. Today she hitched back up the mountain to continue on her trek. A woman alone, travelling for miles and miles, sleeping in shelters along the trail. When I was in my 20's I would have never dreamed it.

I find it interesting how the Universe works. Had we driven the car instead of the Suburban, we would have had no room for her. Had we gotten up on time and left earlier, we would have missed her. Had we not picked her up, we would have hiked the Chimneys instead of Alum Cave Bluffs (which was the best scenic hike yet). And as for our hiker; had we not come along who knows how long she would have waited. She had been there for 20 minutes waiting and probably had more than 500 cars pass her in that time.

The kids thought it was the greatest thing to have her and peppered her with questions all the way up the mountain, which she patiently answered. When we dropped her off my oldest leaned over and told me we did a mitzvah today and she is right.

Teaser Tuesady

I am giving more of Alexandria, Josh and Aris since they seemed to be popular last week. This scene happens a couple of weeks before last week's teaser:

Community

I was just reading the comments left yesterday on my teaser and I felt inspired with my wip. This got me to thinking about community and how important it is for us to be a part of it.

When I joined AW, I made friends. These friends have trusted me with their babies (manuscripts), given me advice on plot points, been supportive when I received rejections, and critted my own work. For this I am grateful. It is really a great group.

Another community I am part of is my local Jewish community. It is great to talk to others preparing for Shabbat, building their Sukkah or discussing concerns to being Jewish. It also makes fasting on Yom Kippur so much easier to be in a building full of others who are not eating - far better than sitting on the couch at home thinking of what's in the fridge.

A third community I am part of is the homeschooling community. Wow, this is a huge support group. Comparing curriculum, getting the kids together and being able to complain about how hard life is when a child refuses to do school work.

All of these communities make up a bigger community. These are places to be with others like myself and around people who understand what I am going through. I think of a lady I know who is not part of a community and I wonder how she does it. Life is hard enough without the pressure of feeling like we are alone. Look around you and see what communities you are a part of. It is rewarding to give back to these groups.

Teaser Tuesady

Okay, I teased. As always this is rough and written yesterday.

edited: served it's purpose.

Sick mothers

I step out of my sick room and survey the house. It is trashed. What could I expect with three children who have no direction for almost a week? The oldest has been wonderful taking care of meals and bringing me tea and such, but running a household is just too much for her slim shoulders.

It takes a good hour to get everything picked up and put back in order. Then the cleaning begins: yellow toilets, sticky floors and a poor parrot's cage that is disgusting. After two hours of cleaning, with me giving directions to the children, the house is looking normal.

Laundry. Wow, what a mess. Even with my mother's help it is a mess. It takes another few hours to sort it all out, get it to the proper rooms and start in on the pile that never ends.

I stand back and survey the house. It is in order and smelling clean. And I wonder...how do mother's with young children do it? How did I do it when they were younger? It seems as life goes on, memories fade. We live in the present and forget the past. Perhaps that is the way it should be.

My thoughts and good wishes go out towards all those mothers and fathers with little ones at this time of widespread flu and I hope for health for all of you.

Illness

I hate being sick. Honestly, I feel so utterly useless. Instead of being grateful I have a husband who is keeping the house going, a mother to do my laundry and a wonderful daughter to wait on me, I am lamenting the fact that I am stuck in bed, unable to talk because of a sore throat and unable to move because of a splitting headache. It's not as if I am using this downtime productively. I could be writing or editing or even writing that article that is due, but I am not. And to top it all off, I feel guilty about the people I interacted with yesterday that I could have exposed to this flu. See that is the problem with a mind which has time to ponder life. What is that saying? Idleness is the devil's workshop. Or something like that. Funny how it takes being sick to write in my blog.

Deleted...served its purpose :)

Teaser Tuesday

Good morning,

Time for Teaser Tuesday!! I have a scene from my WIP (work in progress) which currently has 5,000 words. It is written in 1st person, male POV (point of view). It's not what I usually write. My friend asked me last Friday night how I come up with stuff because I've never been abused or raped, we were discussing and adult SNI (shiny new idea) and my husband told her I just have a sick mind. Yeah, that's probably it.


I take my supplies to the bloody spot on the floor and peel off a handful of paper towels. I mop up the majority of the blood. I pour the water on and scrub the rest with the rag. I ring out the rag in the now empty bowl. It fills with pinkish water. I continue: scrub, wipe, ring out, over and over until all of the blood is gone.

The back door opens and Dr. Lewis comes quietly in. He knows the routine. I also think he prefers to avoid my father. As I said before, I don’t know what he owes my father. Dr. Burton has been taking care of me since I was seven years old. That is when my mom left. Just up and disappeared one day. The next day was the first time my father hit me. And that night, Doc came by the house and taped up my ribs. Doc’s voice brings me out of my reverie.

“Jefferson, you look bad, son. Come sit in the chair and let me look at you,” he says. I love to listen to Doc’s voice. It reminds me of that actor, Morgan Freeman.

“What happened,” he whispers close to my ear. “I don’t mean with Judge, but what did he hurt?”

I get up off the floor and gather my supplies. Dr.Burton watches me stumble to the sink, rinse the bowl, and load it in the dishwasher. I put the rag and paper towels in the trash. Oh shit, I’m going to be sick again. I turn on the water and garbage disposer to hide the sound as I puke into the sink. I rinse my face and then mouth and turn around to face Dr. Burton. The whole room tilts and I grab the counter to steady myself.

Dr. Burton looks at me. I can tell he wants to help. His knuckles have turned white from clutching his doctor bag so hard. And that is a strange thing to see: A black man turning white. But I know he won’t help because he learned his lesson the one and only time he tried.

The Meadow's Journey

Good morning. Someone asked me about the journey of my MS, so here it is.

I had a dream. I know, so trite but true.

Saturday morning I got up and typed all day. When I finished I had a short story on the computer titled, The Meadow. I e-mailed it to a couple of friends for their input and was told it was really good and unique so I decided to finish my character's stories. The back story came very easily. I started writing in two places: the continuation after the meadow and the beginning. I know it is a strange way to write but that is me: strange, actually I'm a little backwards. I honestly think when my mom dropped me on my head as a baby it scrambled my brain a tiny bit...my husband would disagree. He would say it scrambled it a lot.

I let my wonderful piano student, Amanda, have it before I had the two parts connected <----oooh, passive voice, bad Jennifer!! Ha! Anyway, it forced me to write and finish the first part. That was exciting to see the whole thing put together. I got stuck many times. On the way to California, I had an epiphany and figured out an important part of the story. I typed non-stop on that plane. On the way home, I was excited. I got out my wonderful MacBook (I looove my Mac and have withdrawal if I am away from it for too long) and waited for the next part of my story. Ten minutes later - still waiting. Ten minutes later - still waiting. Two screwdrivers later - still waiting. I was frustrated. During those stuck, frustrated times I went back to the beginning and revised. I revised and edited the entire time I was finishing the MS so it wasn't a daunting task once the book was finished.

I wanted to write something with strong characters, life decisions and adventure that my daughter could read but I have language and boy/girl relationships so my genre became Young Adult. After 45,000 words I realized I still had a lot of story to tell so I wrapped up The Meadow at 51,000 words. I am currently working on the sequel tentatively titled: The River.

Guess that's all for now. I have a family to get back to. I will write more about the journey at a later time.

Teaser Tuesday

Wow, I finally have a blog. I have been reading blogs of my cyber-friends over at AW and they do a thing called Teaser Tuesday. It is an excerpt from one of their books, so below is an excerpt from my book, The Meadow which is a YA paranormal/fantasy. I will get this blog up and going soon so while I do that, enjoy.