conversations

Anna continues to buy drugs from Bobby. She thinks she's hiding this from Jack who thinks he has his own secrets.

Lady Gray taught me how to cast a real circle, more than just a spell, but I was too young. No discipline.

How's it work?

Breathe slow and deep. Taste the air. You can't disconnect taste from smell or memory. If it's sweet, I think of my first lipstick, Tangee. The power in that. If I taste salt, I think of the sea, the first time I felt a board tilt under me, lifting as it slid down the face of the wave and I stood up to the power of the ocean. Eyes open wide, sweep the negative spaces, see all the edges glow, how some colors thrum where they touch. How anything vibrates if you see it well and fully. Sounds: the wind in your ears, your own heartbeat. And touch. I hold my own hand and plant my feet. All of this at once, a tapestry, a grid of protection. I design the hurricane and stand in the peace of its eye.

So how's it going?

It's hard. I'm still learning. Jack does it without even thinking about it.

Do you want the fives or the tens?

The tens.

Are you sure?

Yeah. 

Extravagance

 

Let a fine day begin with long-awaited new shoes arriving just in time. AND, miracle of miracles, they fit and do not offend my fashion insensibilities. In the past month, I have bought four pairs of shoes online and sent all of them back. Shopping in person is even harder when you wear 10W.  

The crown and heart of this day was a surprise ice cream social for my co-pirate and his bestie since pre-K.

We scarfed up the ice cream, wished we had brought sweaters, and just watched these two spiral around each other. She will be moving away in a few weeks, but for now, the joy overcomes the sorrow of the days ahead. I think they will keep in touch.

I bought myself a traditional derelict bouquet from the nearly dead bin and cooked for myself something that was not whatever slammed between two slices of bread.  

 

You can see my hairy friend waiting for me to look away so she could lick the plate.

I wish there had been wine. Still, I corrected my chemistry, put on some music, and stalked the internet boyfriend for a while.

All of this in an effort to NOT keep checking on the stats of my first ever advertising promotion for the book. This screengrab for book one of the trilogy was the peak. Color me thrilled.

Voices in my head.

 

"What do you remember? Don't close your eyes." He touched her forehead. "Look at me. What were you feeling?"

"Fury."

Characters in conversation can take the story to places I never anticipate.

I've been reading a book about the importance of outlining (in a very specific way) and I just can't feature doing it.

Free is good

 It's back to work Monday. All kinds of work. Here's some fun stuff. 

All this week, the Kindle version of Out of Step, book one of the Prophets Tango trilogy is FREE !! 

I feel a little like a crack dealer though, 'cause I promise you'll be back for the other two to complete the story.  Go here for that free taste.   

Turns out that little snip of conversation that I started the other day is going to be in book 4. 

I love it when they let me eavesdrop.

of a Sunday

  

We flung ourselves across the bed and read comic books, taking turns with the panels. Stopping to research things that were unknown. Kilroy was here. Inconsequential. He has a phenomenal vocabulary grasping the nuances of words mostly from context. "Where they live."

I am re-watching the most amazing film adaptation of a novel- Cold Mountain with Jude Law and Nicole Kidman. I'm in the mood for pure love and stone heartbreak. Don't know if I'll make it all the way through.

There's a book waiting for me, too.