so lovely and so wrong

I thought I might as well put them all in one place. I'll do my best to keep my entries up to date.

Completed Stories
Stories in Editing
Stories in Progress
   
Character lists and pronunciation guides

A friend of mine got a fortune cook that read, "This week concentrate on your teamwork skills." and I thought that might make a good story with the obligatory 'in bed' added to the end, but I couldn't think any story to fit with it. This morning I finally did. Here is a summary because I may never get around to writing it.

( Three Minus One is Nothing )

il mio amore over at FictonPress asked me if I had a character map for Summer Snapshots, so I decided to make one. I tried to keep it as simple as possible, so only one line goes between any two characters. Steven lives with his mother, but I only have the parent/child relationship showing.

Click through twice for best image.





Edit: This character map would work for Prodigal's Dilemma with Jonathan added to Seth's side and no purple line between Seth and Gramma because until half way through Waiting for Valentine's Seth still lived with Matt and Belinda.

When I get all the kinks worked out of this map (Is it too simple to be useful? Does the legend make sense? Should it apply to the beginning or the end of the story?), I'll add all those characters from Valentine's to Seth's side.

This year I forgot to buy my mother a birthday present early. Normally I start looking during the summer, but this year I forgot. Tomorrow we go down to visit her, so we had to get one tonight. While looking high and low for something the exact right shade of red (not too pink, not too orange) I spotted an apron.

It was a guys' apron, I assume: black with a skull and cross bones in the center. The top of one bone is a spatula and the other fork for turning meat on a BBQ. The skull is wearing a hat and a red eye patch. Across the top it says "Captain Cook", but under the skull it says... "Surrender you buns."



Now I've got to write this apron into "Are You Together?". Are Ish and Dontae going to give it to Pete? Or is someone going to innocently have it and Pete turn bright red at the implication? If Craig had it it would be considered sexual harassment. Ish, Zak, and Akim wouldn't get it without it being explained. But I'm sure Pete's mother tells her kids to keep their buns in the chairs. And she'll probably say that very thing on Wednesday (story time) when they go out to eat a pizza parlor with a play place.

Last night I went to a concert. There I realized that only skinny boys and girl built like skinny boys look good in skinny jeans. On people with curves they just look like leggings, and legging never look good on anyone. I was also reminded that the only people who take their shirts off are the ones you wish would leave them on.

I filled a mini notebook with observation of people I saw. I was just wondering what people with mohawks looked like with their hair down when one walked by. A guy can look gay in a loose Tshirt and knee length cut offs. I don't know why I thought he was. I only saw him for a moment. One couple had the same build and were the same height. It was creepy. The only difference was gender, he was bald and older than she was (35 and 50 or something). I thought, is this guy her dad? But then I say her dance against him. Creepy.

I also came up with a story idea, which will probably wither away as I do not have time to write it. So I decided to post it here.


( A way too long smutty summary )







I was hoping this would be a 7K story, but as the summary got longer and longer, my estimate kept rising. I think I might possibly do it in 11, but it could be closer to twenty.

Since July I've been keeping track of how many words I write each day. I normally only count parts of stories and not blogs, notes, or story ideas, but I think I will count this one. It's twice as long as the chapter I wrote for Together yesterday.

I can write today. I have time. My kids are all in school (yay!) and I don't have to work. I'm feeling a little better (I went home sick on Monday, but managed to complete my shift yesterday). I've had a sinus infection of a while and am finally getting it treated, but the cure is turning out to be worse than the disease. It never kept me home from work.

Anyway, I can write, but I don't know where to start. I have a few more chapters of Summer Snapshots which will finish off the story. In Together I've got Rick, Pete, Dontae, Ish, and Zak leaving the cafe after they have lunch on Tuesday. I have lots of chapters left to go.

Or I could work on my bang*bang story. I've gotten to the start of the sex scene, but I think the beginning is awkward and disjointed. I'm not sure if it really is, or if it only feels that way because the story I wrote is slightly different than the one I planned. I don't know if I should just leave it and keep going, fixing the broken stuff when I've finished writing the whole thing or try to fix it now or simply rewrite it, smoother this time. My beta missed two weeks of school due to illness and has a play opening next week where she is one of the principle characters plus in charge of makeup and costumes, so she is too busy to look it over and point out my glaring mistakes in characterization or what not. *sigh*

For some reason I want to write something bloody and violent with a barely (or not quite) consensual love scene that grows into something more. Among my WIPs I've got one that fits the first two, when my main character slaughters the men hurting another boy. (I've only got one scene to write before this one.) I've got one with the last bit, but in that case no blood (in editing). I've got one that kind of fits all the criteria, but the growing into something more doesn't happen until the end of a very long story. I can't really spend more than a day or two on this project with all the other things I'm doing. I've got a story where a character kills a lot of people because of her family's murder. I've got a boy who also kills people, but his story is ninety percent written (I'm past all the blood and death. Only the ending sucks.)

Maybe I'll waste the day reading instead.

Some Ideas...

( Food )

( Historical Romance )

( Schoolboys )

( Fairy Tales )

( Theme less )

Now if my kids would only get well...

A girl at work is actively looking for a boyfriend who 1) gets along with her almost two year old daughter and 2) has a job. She has been exchanging texts with a guy from work for a week or so, but she's not sure she wants to continue after finding out he has a daughter exactly her age: 22. When I ask her if he knew how young she was, she said that he'd thought she was nineteen.

Sort of creepy in my opinion.

So when I told my husband about this, he told me about a equation to see if your prospective date is old (or young) enough to ask out. You half the older one's age and add seven years (or minus seven years from the younger and double the answer).

So my coworker at 22, could date someone between the ages of 18 and 30. If you are 32, the age range is 23 and 46. If you are 18, 16 to 22. It stops at 14, where the age of your date can only be 14. The older the couple is the more years they can be apart.

These work for me. 19 and 24, sure. 39 and 27, ok. Even 50 and 32 are both adults and have been so for a while even if they might no have anything in common. The ick factor pretty well disappears.


( Let me try it on some of my couples... )


What do you think of this equation?

It has been almost two weeks since I wrote anything. I'm starting to get withdrawal symptoms. Most months I average almost a thousand words a day even though I can only write three days a week, but recently my work schedule has been changed around so I work the same amount of hours, but can only write two days a week.

I can't write on days I work in the afternoon. Twice I've been deep into a character who was very different than the ones I normally write (the not-so-nice Sanxay from E~~ and a boy who would rather be thought a rent-boy than an assassin) and then I had to disentangle myself to go to work. I haven't been able to pick up the flow of their thoughts again.


On top of that my kids are sick. They have a three day week and the combined total of days they went to school might get as high as 1½ if my youngest makes it today. My middle child missed 3½ days last week too and the other two each missed one. They are going to have so much homework when they start feeling better.

So on days that I would normally write, I've been nursemaid rather than writer. I have a hard time writing when my kids are home until I'm just finishing a story. I can edit when they are home and that's what I've been doing, but I've only got (about) four chapters of Summer Snapshots left to write, so I'd like to just finish it. I also want to write some more Together. I've got Pete promising Zak that he can meet Rick, but I don't see Zak keeping quiet about that, so I think the whole have-Rick-meet-his-friends-a-few-at-a-time thing is not going to work out.

Together is a story (and pretty much the only story) that I'm giving free reign to. I knew where it started and I know where it will end (time, place, and last few lines) and some of what was going to fill Pete's week, but for example, I didn't know Avery had allergies, what was so scary about the guy in Elspeth's basement, and that Zak was going to get balloons. The balloons started with the thought, 'the guys are walking to the dorm; what would they see?' and so the lady carrying balloon's was mentioned and then the balloons showed up on Luis's desk and who would they be for except Zak, the person who would be most mortified to receive them?

I've got my story done except for the last bit of tweaking, which is good because it's due today.

But I've also got all three kids home from school due to illness. Yesterday the one kid I managed to get out the door came home at noon. When I called the doctor to make an appointment last Thursday, I was sent to a recording about colds and flus, but I think he has a sinus infection like he did in the spring. I need to call them back and insist on an appointment this time.

My youngest managed to break his glasses while lying down with a 103°. I could tell he was the one getting out of bed this morning because I could hear the grumbles and complains from the living room. I can stand about two minutes of it before I want to dope him up on nighttime cold medicine and send he back to bed.

So much for getting anything actually written today.

I have two kids home sick today, so I couldn't write even if I wasn't sneezing up a storm. Yesterday my middle child was running a 103° fever, but today he's just coughing his lungs out. I sent my youngest to school. He wasn't sick today, just tired. I'll let his teachers deal with his whining. My oldest is home. I don't know how sick she is, but we just sent her back to bed rather than dealt with her.

This all reminds me of the poem by Ogden Nash. My dad had a record of his poems that we listened to regularly, but none of the books my library has have my favorite ones with lines such as "Medusa began it, she wrote Forever Granite" and he's still under copyright (and will be forever do to the Mickey Mouse protection act), so I can't find any online.

As far as I can recall it goes something like this:

La grippe

Yay for the grippe, the goodly la grippe,
for the frog in the throat and the chap on the lip,
for the [something] and the fire on the brow,
and the bronchial tubes that moo like a cow.

[Lots of stuff I forgot] and the ache in the legs
and the diet of consomme, water and, eggs.

[more stuff]
and for the pants of which you're so fond,
and the first happy day they're allowed to be donned.

[more stuff] and the splendid relapse.


I hate only remembering part of a poem. It's like a song that the same three lines run over and over in your head. Anyway that's what I feel like today.

My mystery adventure romance which I may never finish. I was trying for one of those stories where nothing seems important until suddenly everything is.


The Discovery of E~~

( It's slash even if it doesn't look like it... )



This uses a world created for The End of E~~, a short story I wrote a few years ago, which is all about Emmaline.

My thanks to cranberrynomiko for beta-ing and lihsa for the illustration.

I got the idea for this story from the song Tobacco Island by Flogging Molly. Who would be more likely to run away and become a pirate in the Caribbean than a group of Irishman sold off as indentured servants to Barbados after Cromwell invaded Ireland? Then I looked around to see what was happening in Japan at the same time.

Japanese Isolation began in 1631, making it a capital offense for a Japanese to leave the island. My ninja was, conveniently for me, trapped on the wrong side of the border. He can never go home.

But as Cromwell invaded Ireland in 1649, my pirate had to be younger than my ninja. He also needed time to get caught, be sold off, slave under the hot sun for merciless landowners, escape, join a pirate crew, work his way up to be elected captain, and go back for his friends.

Finn and his crew are more interested in the treasure (tobacco, sugar, chocolate, silver, gold, and European manufactured goods) than killing anyone. If the crew didn’t resist, they aren’t injured, but if they do resist they are killed. The Baile's reputation is so well known that other ships hardly ever fight back anymore. After all, Finn is the Dread Pirate Roberts.

I met a Chinese man, who I thought was pretty young to be a china chef. One of my coworkers blushed when she saw him. She is twenty-one and thought he was around her age. We all did. A week later, I was talking to the head chef about the cooks that come in on her days off and mention that the young one had been in. She knew exactly who I meant, but said that despite his apparent youth, he is forty-five. That is twice as old as he looked. My ninja is the same way. He is thirty-four and looks about sixteen.

Names:
   Ling (ling) is the persona Nameless Ninja wears. His name is really Kouji (Koh jee), but there wasn’t room to put it in.
   Lugh (LOO) is named after an Irish god/saint. His full name is Lughaidh (LOO ee), but I doubt anyone could pronounce it either. He is Finn’s cousin.
   Jamie (JAY mee) is sixteen. Maybe I should write a story about him and Lugh.
   Cian (KEE an) is the Quartermaster, which is why he can tell Finn what to do.
   Queen Dick is a derogatory nickname for Richard Cromwell, Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland, also known as Tumbledown Dick.
   Charles is King Charles II, who ruled after the Cromwells. The Tories (running men), which Finn and Lugh were part of, fought for the return of the monarchy.

Soundtrack:
Black Friday Rule — it’s about someone who can never go home, but makes the best of things.
Holiday — it’s one of my favorite songs and it has the right beat.
The Kilburn High Road — it has the right feel : war, dead men, ships, exile bound…
Queen Anne’s Revenge — Blackbeard’s ship
Seven Deadly Sins — Pirates
Tobacco Island — Of course

Holiday is by Green Day, the rest are by Flogging Molly

And the story title comes from the last half of a saying.

I should be editing my pirate/ninja fic, or writing the last few chapters about Seth and Steven or plotting out another extra from Rick's POV or even getting ready for work, but yesterday when I sat down to write a summary that I plotted while I was at work, I ended up writing a short story instead.

The original story was going to be about five times as long with love scenes and lots of tension and not end until the young prince is born, but this is what I ended up with:

( Warm lips brush mine )

I thought I might as well show it off. Otherwise it will just hang out in one of my stories folders (should I count it as complete or in progress?) collecting dust.

I've been banned from reviewing someone's stories.

In the last review that I did on one of her stories I mention that quote-action (or action-quote, both preformed by the same person) sounds more professional than quote reaction (First paragraph: one person talks, the other reacts. Next paragraph: the react-er talks, the other reacts). This is something I've told numerous people since I've started reading stories on line. No one has ever listened to me, but no one has ever banned me before.

It feels kind of weird, but I'm not going to let it bother me.

I didn't write today although I should have. It is my "Saturday", but I had a kid home sick, so I used that as an excuse to read something, but the story (part two of three) ended so aggravatingly (a character died even though Main had the ability to save him, only he didn't think about it), so know I feel like I wasted the day.

The reason I didn't write, and I couldn't write on Tuesday either, is that I'm trying to decide if my bang*bang story is enough. Should I wrap up the not-quite-sex or have it lead to going all out. My love scene is 2.2k out of 5.4k, so it's not like I scrimped on the details. If I stop here it will be more the first part of a longer story, but complete in itself. I think I need a second opinion.

A long time from now, once my pirate/ninja story is finished and Steven and Seth are safely back in Portland with kids in tow and Pete and Rick have celebrated Mother's Day at Pete's parents house, but before I write the side story from Steven's almost first boyfriend's current boyfriend/husband's POV (is that convoluted or what? ) I want to write about women, but I still want to right M/M. I have a few ideas:

- A girl's twin brother comes out to his parents (and her). Bonus: Princess Bride DVD, caring parents, and athletic boyfriends. (Title: My Brother, the Princess)

- A mother know what her son and his best friend are doing in his room after school. She tries to think of a way to show him that he doesn't have to hide who he is. Bonus: chocolate chip cookies, NPR, and references to Rick and Pete

- An ambassador to (a) Persia (like country)'s wife after her husband is given a boy as a bedroom slave by the Sultan. Bonus: spying servant, adventurous women, and historical clothing

- A high school girl watches her best guy friend fall for her crush. Bonus: guys dancing, dessert, and a first kiss

- A little girl with two fathers starts school. Bonus: Zoe, Steven, and Seth

- A woman realizes that the person her almost-fiancee talks about wistfully is really a guy. Bonus: a wedding, college friends, and not one, but two Flogging Molly songs

- A girl raised to be homophobic learns that she and her new boyfriend/long-time crush will be staying with his gay brother and boyfriend over the holidays. Bonus: Christmas, snow, candy

- A girl with a male rival for a mutual friend's affection wins that love, but only after the gay guy falls for someone else. Bonus: high school, Dairy Queen, and prom

- A mother discovers a used condom and is relieved to find out it was from her son and his steady, but secret, boyfriend and not the hundred things she'd imagined. Bonus: a loving family, a college boyfriend, and pizza night (Title: Mom, Detective)

The last one isn't quite the same as the others. I think it will be much longer. I tried to write it for a contest, but the summary ended up nearly 2k, which was the maximum story length. Of course as I haven't started any of the others, they all could be 10+k.

I know I have more of these. I'll add to this list as I think of them.

Collectively titled The Ones We Love or something because that does fit all of them.

I finally feel happy with Resistance, now that it's two-thirds the way through the due date. One more read through, or maybe two, and I turn it it.

I really like Shadow Magic by Jaida Jones and Danielle Bennett despite its stupid title. There isn't even any shadow magic in it (unlike Patricia C Wrede's book by the same name). It should have been called Blood Magic if they couldn't have come up with something as good as Havemercy.

And I even liked it despite the total absence of boys kissing. The two couples in it are more along the lines of Rook and Thom: very strong, eternal, non-romantic love. Although Caius and Alcibades might someday take that step. They certainly aren't buddies.

I will probably buy in when it comes out in paperback, but next time I read it won't get half way through and hand it over to my daughter in exchange for a favor, then spend the entire next day reading (or not) a page or two at a time as I show my mother how to sew pillow cases (much harder than just doing it myself), getting her started on her new sewing machine, and a thousand other interruptions. It took me three hours to read the first two hundred pages, but almost ten to read the last 180.

I think I'm going to make my mother thread her machine twenty times tomorrow. If you aren't confident threading the machine, you'll be scared to unthread it when you hit a spot of trouble and rethreading a sewing machine is kind of like restarting a computer. It cures a load of ills.

I have wonderful heath insurance. I pay about $200 a month. My employer pays the other $600 instead of giving me raises (I'm already at the maximum wage for my position). But my dad is about to retire. If he leaves this year his employer has promised to pay $800 dollars a month for his heath insurance the first year, $700 the second and so on until he's eligible for Medicare. But that means that as he grows older he will have to pay more and more to keep the same insurance.

My sister's husband is trying to get disability. His old boss promised to pay for his health insurance until the money comes in. That was very nice of him because my brother-in-law is on all sorts of medicines, but soon they will have to pay for their own and my nieces always seem to need a doctor (broken arms from falling off the top of the refrigerator, whopping cough after missing a vaccination, etc.) And kids always need dentist appointments and everything else.

But the thing that bugs me the most, what makes me angry is a girl at work that can't even afford the fifty dollars a week to insure herself and her eighteen month old. This morning the little girl bled into her diaper, so of course the mother took her to the hospital. The ER checked to see if she'd been abused and for a bladder infection. Both were negative. They told the mother that any other tests would been so expensive that she would never be able to pay them off. The mother went to the doctor her daughter had while she was still covered by our state's version of Medicaid. The nurses refused to send the little girl's paperwork to the hospital saying the they were too busy. Her daughter was screaming in pain, but she had to leave her with Grandma and go to work because she even though the ER only ruled out two possibilities of many, she now owes them a bundle.

Is this really the kind of country we want our children to grow up in?


Edit: She's got ecoli. No one knows were she picked it up. It's one of the watch and wait diseases. Her body has to fight it off, but at least her mom knows what it is now.