My BFF talked me into trying my hand at writing. This will be the public site for my posting, my WIP comments, Short Stories, Poems, and just general thoughts on my writing journey. I welcome everyone to read and post comments. Constructive criticism is welcome, trolls…not so much. ;}
Since I’m stuck on chapter 17 of my SFR wip, I decide to take Sunday off from writing. But that didn’t mean I wasn’t thinking about it. I ended up playing around a bit with ideas for the cover to my Paranormal Operations, Inc. cover in my Paint Shop Pro. That’s not to say I’ll actually used this cover I made, but it was and it was great to get back to the graphic part of my creative side. So…take a look and leave me some feedback!
Defused by a drifting haze of acid smoke, the glaring red of the bridge’s emergency lights flashed as the battle stations siren wailed. Captain Da’von Rai’lyn picked himself up from the deck where he’d been thrown, swiping at the trickle of blood under his nose. A blast from an unseen enemy had rocked his ship, sending his crew tumbling. He gripped the arms of his command seat he looked around to see who was still standing among his bridge team. Most of them were on the floor or slumped over their posts. Injured or… dead.
Av’aline Elo’wen, First Officer and second in command, stood hunched over the Navigation console. Fingers flying over the keyboard, she worked to regain control of the wounded Viper class space cruiser. Next to the Navigation station, the Chief Navigator St’ellan Gam’el lay on the deck, a pool of ruby red blood seeping from under his body. Rai’lyn shook his head to clear the momentary sense of regret at the man’s death before looking around the rest of the bridge. Communications Tech Fl’ynn Tyr’ese sat at comms, trying to bring the ship’s sensors back online; blood dripped down the side of his face from a cut over one eye.
“Kill that fucking alarm now, Tyr’ese!” Rai’lyn ordered the injured man. Without looking at his captain, Tyr’ese nodded, his finger stabbing at a button in front of him. Silence fell over the bridge, broken only by the moans of wounded crew and the crackle of a few small fires still burning.
Rai’lyn scanned the destroyed bridge of his ship. The primary viewing port was black. It and ship sensors had been out since the first blast had stuck the ship. Eyes sweeping over the rest of the bridge, he saw parts of the ceiling had fallen, leaving wires and cables dangling. Most of the ships work stations had cracked screens, several still smoldering from small fires. Of the eight members’ of his bridge crew, two still stood; three were moaning as they got to their feet, another two were alive but looked to be injured. And one was dead.
He had been in command of the Viper class Spacecruiser Ph’oenix for five years, running two year patrols in the Zag’reus sector at the far edge of the Lel’eiona galaxy. In that time, he and his crews had encountered only a few space pirates. Nothing his ship and her crew couldn’t handle. Until now.
Another blast from their unseen enemy impacted somewhere mid ship. The bridge shuddered and the emergency lights flickered overhead. Those still at operating stations glanced up, holding their collective breath until the lights blazed a steady red.
“Captain!” Third Engineer Os’ric Zor’ion’s panicked voice drew Rai’lyn attention to the Engineering station. His face, bathed in flashing red light, appeared pale. “A section of engineering has been breached. The bulkhead doors have been sealed.”
“Status!” Rai’lyn snapped out. Ship functions ran from the engineering deck. Life Support, weapons, scanners, and the ships engines ran from there. When a section was breached, it’d seal itself off from the others and any crew in that area would be lost.
“FTL EmDrive is in that section, Sir,” The young Engineer’s voice quivered. “It’s still operating but at diminished capacity.” He looked at Rai’lyn, his eyes shining with fear. “We could lose it, Captain!”
The Ph’oenix was powered by a faster than light EmDrive, a large cone shaped device. By bouncing microwaves back and forth inside the cone, it created a propellant-less thruster that moved spacecraft at extraordinary speeds. Losing the FTL EmDrive would leave Ph’oenix dead in space, making both the ship and her crew easy targets for their attackers.
Rai’lyn grimaced, “How long do we have, Zor’ion?” He passed his hands over his stinging eyes.
“If the drive continues to degrade at its current rate,” Zor’ion said without looking up from the console in front of him. “We have twenty minutes before complete failure.” He looked up at Tyr’ese, face pale in the red glow of the bridge.
Rai’lyn cursed. He saw the fear in the young crewman’s face. This was Rai’lyn third mission in this region but for the majority of his crew, it was their first one. This part of space was considered to be a safe mission for rookie crews. Dealing with the occasional rogue black-market trader or lost freighter gave them the opportunity to hone the skills they had learned in training. But this? This… most of his crew didn’t have the experience to deal with an attack like this.
“Divert as much power as you can to the forward defense field without affecting life support and the pulsars-” Elo’wen interrupted his command before he finished.
“Sir,” her voice was horse from the smoke drifting in the air. She cleared her throat before speaking again. “Pulsars are offline. That last hit to Engineering took out weapon controls.”
Rai’lyn spun to peer in shock at his First Officer. “All weapons?”
“Aye, Sir,” she replied. “Weapons are all offline.” Unlike the fleets newer ships, the Ph’oenix lacked an auxiliary control room where secondary controls could be used to run ships functions
“Fuck,” Rai’lyn spat. Not only were they close to being dead in space, but they were defenseless, and blind. He looked at Zor’ion again. “Do it.” Zor’ion nodded once before turning back to his terminal. Turning to the communications terminal he frowned at the blood that had slowed but not completely stopped, dripping down the comms officer’s face.
“Any luck on the scanners, Tyr’ese?” If they could get the primary screen on then maybe they could see who was firing on the Ph’oenix. The man lifted one arm grimacing as he wiped blood from his face.
“Engineering re-routed the power from Life Support to the main view screen feed and scanners, sir.” He paused as he worked the buttons on the console in front of him. “We should have visuals right about now-” Tyr’ese looked at the wall sized view port at the front of the bridge. It remained black for seconds before pinpoints of light faded into view. Stars started filling the screen between the webbed cracks.
“Nothing?” Rai’lyn muttered to himself. The port showed nothing but the blackness of space littered with shining stars. He glanced Tyr’ese “Are the scanners showing anything?”
“No, sir,” the man shook his head “scanners are showing nothing-“
“Captain!” Elo’wen snapped from the navigation station. “Ahead of us!” Rai’lyn’s attention jerked back to viewing port. As he watched it, space seemed to simmer and the outline of a ship unlike any he had seen before became visible. A shaft of pale green light shot from the underside of it, streaking toward the injured Ph’oenix. Space simmered again and the enemy ship faded away.
“Brace for impact!” There was a collective gasp from his people as Rai’lyn yelled out the warning. The words had barely left Rai’lyn’s mouth before the beam smacked into the forward defense shield. Everyone on the bridge covered their eyes and cried out in pain as the view screen filled with a blinding green glow. The ship rocked as the energy from the beam impacted against the shields sending those that had managed to regain their feet back to the floor.
“Shields?” Rai’lyn barked as he pulled himself upright with the arms of his chair. A groan answered him from where Zor’ion was attempting to rise. He used the edge of the Engineering console for support and jabbed at a few buttons. “Zor’ion?” Rai’lyn asked again.
“The shields… are gone,” Zor’ion intoned his voice low and resigned. “and Capitan-“ he broke off and turned to face Rai’lyn. “The EmDrive… that last hit we took…” he paused “we have 10 minutes before a complete shutdown.” His assessment met with a stunned silence.
“Explain,” Rai’lyn demanded. “Diverting power from the EmDrive shouldn’t have made it degrade at a faster rate.”
“It didn’t, Sir,” the Engineer acknowledged, “but that last shot caused the shields to pull more power to counteract it.” He turned to observe the reading on the station’s screen. “It’s like something in that green beam triggered the response.”
Everyone grew silent and the air became heavy with certainty that they were all going to die. Rai’lyn closed his eyes and ran a hand through his short hair. He had to do something… anything… to try and save what the rest of his crew.
“Av’aline,” he turned to his First Officer, the quiet use of her first name telling. “Survivors?” She nodded once as she moved to the Life Support station, running her fingers over the panel there.
“Life Support shows sixteen crewmembers scattered throughout the ship, Sir.” Her voice was study, masking her emotions. She’d been with Da’von Rai’lyn since he had taken command of the Ph’oenix five years ago. At one point she had imagined herself in love with him. Her feelings had changed over time in the confines of the ship and the years they had served together. Now he stood, when not aboard ship, has her best friend.
“Prepare to evacuate,” Rai’lyn gave the order in firm voice. “Alert all remaining crew that they have two minutes to find and secure themselves into Life Pods. We will be launching pods in three minutes.” He watched as Elo’wen programed the onboard computer to deliver the evac order. “Send a burst status update and our current coordinates to the nearest Lel’eiona star base.” Elo’wen didn’t look at him as her fingers danced over the console. When she finished Rai’lyn cleared his throat.
“Clear the bridge and report to a Life Pod.” The crew didn’t move. “Go.”
“And you, Captain?” Elo’wen asked. “We won’t go without you.” There was a stubborn note in her voice. “As a member of the royal family we won’t-“Rai’lyn interrupted her.
“And as captain of the Ph’oenix and member of the royal family,” their eyes locked as he stated in a firm voice. “It’s my duty to see everyone left gets safely off this ship.” He held up a hand as Elo’wen tried to interrupt. “I’ll be right behind you.” Elo’wen’ s lips tightened but she nodded. “Now move!” he added. The crew moved toward the door to the corridor where the Life Pods for this section of the ship were.
Each pod held two crewmembers for up to thirty days with reduced life support. Once launched the pods would chill until the occupants were hardly breathing, then a sleeping agent would be pumped into the pod, putting both occupants into stasis. After launching, the pods would be drawn together by a low magnetic pulse, forming a larger connected unit, then a homing signal on a tight beam would be automatically broadcast to the nearest Lel’eiona base station. A ship would then be sent to recovery the pods.
Rai’lyn followed his bridge crew as they scurried to where the Life Pods were waiting to launch. They spilt into pairs and one at a time, grabbing the bar over each pod opening slid into place. Rai’lyn peered into each pod. “Goddess Be With You,” he uttered the old blessing as he sealed each hatch. Each pod auto launched thirty seconds after closing.
“EmDrive failure in ninety seconds.” The mechanical voice of the ship’s computer intoned. Da’von had switched the computer to automatic before leaving the bridge. As he grabbed the bar over one of the remaining pods and paused, taking a last glance toward the bridge. With a disgruntled sigh he slid into his pod, thumbing the door closure pad just inside the opening. Da’von settled into the pod’s seat and the soft hiss of the sleeping agent filled the space. As his eyes grew heavy he thought of the bodies of his fallen crew left behind on the Ph’oenix. They deserved better than to be entombed on a dead ship floating in space. With a dull bang, his pod shot into the darkness of space, sprinting away from Ph’oenix, now dead and drifting in space. Within seconds of launching, the Ph’oenix’s computer whispered through the pod’s open commlink.
“EmDrive failure in ten seconds.” As the Life Pods completed the stasis procedure, closing ranks and forming a cluster, the Ph’oenix seemed to glow from within. Her battered hulls expanded, before being sucked inward as a massive implosion shattered the ship into a million pieces.
A short distance away, the attacking ship shimmered into view. Its size dwarfed the knot of life pods. The cluster had a few self-defense capabilities but those would be useless against the larger vessel. Before the enemy could fire on the survivors, an ominous red beam washed over the ship from above, turning it bright red. It didn’t explode; it just… crumbled until only a haze of tiny particles filled the area it once occupied. As the destructive beam faded, it was replaced by a white shaft of light that encompassed the cluster of drifting pods. They glowed eerily for a few seconds before fading from sight, leaving no sign that they had ever been there in the cold blackness of space.
It’s been a while. As in 8 months since I posted anything here. It’s been a wild 8 months though. I worked a temp job on the AF base from Oct 2019 to Feb 2020. I loved it and have been trying to get on permanently as a part time worker. I wasn’t having much luck, even though my two bosses wanted me back. However I don’t think the HR person felt the same way.
It turned out to be a mote point anyway, because along came Covid-19 and the whole base shut down. So no job, no Pharmacy, no commasery, no Exchange. Nevada shutdown, hubby got furloughed until at least July, and now we’re home together. Good thing we’ve got a strong marriage! No big issues, just some bickering once in a while. We are lucky that we can spend time outside in the yard. We have some lawn, ponds, a waterfall, and we’re doing some gardening.
So with all this time at home you’d think I was moving along on my writing. Yeah, not so much. It’s been hard to get into a flow with everything going on these days. The virus, the protests, the togetherness makes it hard to concentrate on writing. I really need to do a WIP update (I’ll do that in another post).
So to recap…
So stay safe my friends!
I’ve been working on my Science Fiction Romance (SFR) story. It’s moving along slowly. It maybe sputter to a stop for a bit. I went back to work. It’s a part time, temp job at the local Air Force base. I decide I really needed to be able to pay my bills! LOL
I am making progress on my SFR story. I’m trying to do some work on it everyday. Right now I’m mostly feeling good with what I have so far. Although I think I may have to “punch up” the world building aspect of it.
So with all that said, here’s an excerpt from chapter 7. Note: This is first draft stuff, no editing has been done on it!
Da’von Rai’lyn stared at the figure of his older sister on the viewscreen, back straight, chin tilted up, fully in command of herself and her ship. He’d heard the heated possessiveness in the War Admiral’s growled word, wondering what it meant. Ay’esha’s demand for identification plus her not so subtle threat to blow the alien ship out of space pushed that thought to the back of his mind. His gaze swiveled from the view screen to Tarkir, trying to gage what the War Admiral would do. One brow shot up at what he saw. The male’s body was ramrod straight, tense, his face drawn tight, eyes a swirling mix of red and violet. Movement near his waist drew Da’von’s attention. Frowning, he watched those hands clinch, long fingers curled open and closed with each breath he took.
Da’von stepped closer, ignoring Zotul kul Nozek’s warning snarl from behind them, standing ready to defend his War Admiral. Clearing his throat, eyes locked on the imposing male, Da’von spoke softly. “War Admiral,” he paused, drawing the male’s attention to him. “War Admiral—“
“Da’von!” Ay’esha hissed, taking a step forward on the view screen when her brother stepped into view behind the alien commander’s right shoulder. Da’von glanced at her, a brief shake of his head and her mouth snapped shut on whatever she had been about say.
“War Admiral,” he repeated, this time Tarkir turned his head to look at him. “My people mean you no harm,” he glanced back at his sister. “She means you no harm.” Da’von emphasized with a nod at Ay’esha. Tarkir’s eyes flashed back the female.
“Who is this female,
Rai’lyn?” Tarkir growled, having regained some control.
Da’von moved, standing a few paces ahead, to the side of Tarkir.
“If you would allow me—“ The same low growl filled the space. Da’von grimaced. Something was going on with the big War Admiral, something Da’von didn’t quite understand. He frowned, drawing in a deep breath, straightening, arms down to his side, chin up.
“War Admiral Tarkir kul Cadeyrn,” Da’von bowed slightly from his waist, voice study, respectful. “Allow me to introduce you to Commander Ay’esha Rai’lyn of the Lel’eiona Space Fleet.” He turned to look at his sister, who was frowning at him. Both Ay’esha and Tarkir spoke at once.
“This female is the sister you told me of?”
“Da’von, what in the all of space is going on?”
One corner of the younger man’s lips lifted in a smile. One that he did not dare let cover his entire face as both parties glared at each other. Oh yeah, this was one time his sister could not take control, the thought was fleeting, scattering almost before he could grasp it. He cleared his throat, looking to Tarkir, asking permission to explain. The big male, body still tense, folded his arms across the hard planes of his broad chest, nodding at Da’von to proceed. With a brief nod, Da’von turned, fully facing the view screen. He stared at the image of his sister a minute, noting how tightly strung she was, before he spoke.
“It’s good to see you, Esha—“
“Commander Rai’lyn.” She corrected him tersely. Her lips tightened, her tone holding both anger and fear. He was going to have step lightly. He started over.
“Commander Rai’lyn, it’s good to see you.” Her eyes narrowed. “The Ph’oenix was attacked, destroyed. Those of us that survived were rescued when War Admiral kul Cadeyrn intervened, destroying our attacker and collecting our Life Pods.”
Ay’esha stared at her brother, eyes carefully avoiding the big male standing just behind him. “The Ph’oenix and her crew were assumed lost after comms between your ship and Fleet were lost.” She paused. “The Sc’ythe was sent to find out what had happened and to bring back any…” She stopped, not finishing her sentence. Da’von grimaced, knowing what she had left unsaid.
“Commanders Rai’lyn,” Tarkir’s deep voice brought both the Rai’lyn siblings gaze to where he stood. “This conversation can be better held in person.” He locked eyes with Ay’esha, “Commander, you will transfer to the Slayer, your brother can speak of what happened and what to do next.”
There was a long moment of silence before a rough voice hissed from behind him, “War Admiral… I must point out, we do not know what threat this ship is to us. To bring these beings aboard—“
“Enough First Sentinel!” Tarkir snapped, freezing everyone on the bridge. He turned to Zotul kul Nozek, locking eyes with his First Sentinel. “You will escort Da’von Rai’lyn to the hanger bay and shuttle him to the Lel’eiona ship. Return with,” He turned to look at the female standing ramrod straight on the screen. “Both Commanders.” His gaze went to Da’von. “You will accompany my First Sentinel, returning with Commander Rai’lyn.” He wasn’t asking. Da’von frowned, eyes narrowing.
“War Admiral kul Cadeyrn,” Da’von came to attention. “I thank you for your timely intervention, the rescue of my crew, and the hospitably of your ship. I do not take orders from you.” Tarkir raised one eyebrow and Zotul growled loudly, taking a step toward Da’von, ready to protect his captain. Tarkir held up one hand.
“Stand down,” he ordered Zotul, who froze, massive body vibrating with suppressed tension. “I understand your words, Rai’lyn. In your place I would feel the same, there are issues we need to talk about. The three of us.”
“What issues?” Da’von asked. “Why do these issues involve my sister?” Tarkir looked back at the viewscreen. He ignored the other male’s questions.
“You will go to her ship, return with her,” Da’von swung his gaze to his sister. Her gaze was locked on the big Teric male.
“Nether of you will decide my actions.” Her words were pitched low, each one dropping like ice. “I am the commander of the Sc’ythe and as such will determine my next course of action.” She glared at both males, her gaze softening on her brother’s face. “I’m so happy to see you alive, brother. Most thought you all lost.” A slight tremble edged her words. “I knew you lived…” Breaking off, she visibly reined in her emotions, eyes shifting back to Tarkir, she gave him a shallow nod. “I will contact you, War Admiral.” The viewscreen on the bridge of the Slayer went dark. War Admiral Tarkir kul Cadeyrn eyes narrowed. He’d been dismissed…by a female!
I’m to the point in Tarkir kul Cadeyrn and Ay’esha Rai’lyn story that I need to create a star map to find my way about space. So far I only have three galaxies and a dead zone, but I left room to add more as I need them. So with that, I give you the world of the Dark Warriors…
So I’m working on my SFR right now. It’s slowly moving along. I’m going to post a snippet from Chapter 4.
“How close are we to the last reported position of the Ph’oenix?” Ay’esha asked as she continued to stare out into space.
“We should be on station at that location within the hour.” Ai’leene swung her gaze to her Captain. “The ships sensors should have picked up the Ph’oenix already.” She looked back down at the console with a frown. “All they’re picking up is a vast debris cloud.”
Ay’esha came to her feet and her head whipped around to stare at her Comms officer. “Debris cloud?” she questioned. “There’s no sign of the Ph’oenix?”
Ai’leene’s eyes met Ay’esha’s as she answered with a soft “No.” She drew in a deep breath before containing. “There is no sign of the ship or…” she paused, “the Life Pod cluster.”
“What?” Ay’esha asked, stunned. “Scan again!” She demanded turning back to the view screen. “Wit’hrop, get us as close as possible to that debris.” Ad’ara Wit’hrop was the In’vader’s master navigator and was one of five volunteers for the rescue mission from that ship. She was also one of the best the fleet had to offer.
“Aye, Captain.”
“Lav’rans,” Ay’esha spoke to the man standing at the science stations. Ja’xon Lav’rans stood silent, waiting for his orders. “I want an analysis of the debris field.” He gave a short nod and turned back to his station. “I want to know what is in that field.” She stood ridged, her hands curled into fists at her side as she fought a swell of panic. Were those parts and pieces floating around in space part of her brother’s ship and the life pod cluster? And if they weren’t, where was Da’von, his crew, and the Ph’oenix?
The tension raised the closer to the floating detritus they got. Each person on the bridge stared at the viewport, searching for any signs that this was not the Ph’oenix. Another soft ping sounded from the engineer’s station and every head turned to watch Ai’leene read the information on her screen. She looked at Ay’esha, her face grim.
“Still no sign of the Ph’oenix or her pod cluster, Captain.” She looked back down at the screen again. “Scanners show nothing over a few centimeters in size within the cloud.” Ay’esha’s face was pale as she processed that information.
“Then maybe the ship and her pods weren’t in this location,” Ay’esha spoke in a low voice. “Wit’hrop, recheck the coordinates fleet received for the Ph’oenix.”
“Aye, Captain.” The man bent over his station, fingers flying.
Ay’esha turned to the Command chair and thumbed one of the small buttons embedded in one arm. “Engineering,” she waited for a reply from Engineering Master Ya’nic Bro’nwyn, another volunteer from the In’vader.
“Aye, Captain,” the voice that answered was clear and study. It took a lot to rattle this man. The quiet strength in that voice washed over the bridge, lessening the tension some.
“We need to send a small nano probe into the debris cloud ahead of us.” She glanced over at her Science Officer who was still working his station. “Lav’rans will send you the coordinates for the center of the cloud.” Lav’rans looked at Ay’esha as she spoke, giving her a slight nod of his head before returning his attention to the science stations screen.
“Got them, Captain.” Bro’nwyn acknowledged. “Programing the coordinates into nano probe now.” There was a moment of silence and all eyes turned to the viewport. “Probe away.” the voice came from the speakers embedded in the hull of the bridge. A bright streak of blueish light shot from below the view screen, headed straight for the debris cloud in front of them.
“How soon before we get any type of readout back from that probe?” Ay’esha asked Lav’rans without looking at him.
“Once it reaches the center, it should only be a matter of seconds before we get any data.” He answered still watching the view screen. “It might take a bit longer to interpret that data to know what we’re looking at.”
“Alright.” Ay’esha replied as she started to pace the deck in front of the captain’s chair. She was normally a patient person, a good trait to have if you were in command of a battlecruiser, but this… this was family. She had to find Da’von and his crew and failure was not an option.
Taylor – Paranormal Operations, Inc. Book 1 (PNR)
My edits are done. Now I have to send the manuscript out to be professional edited. That’s not going to happen soon. Funds are tight for me and about to get tighter. I’ll have to look at my budget at a later date. But it’s DONE. Word count ended up at 87,932.
Polar Shift – Mistletoe, North Pole Book 2 (PNR)
I’m now working on this one. I’m about 13 chapters into it and while the characters are talking to me again, they aren’t wanting to go in the direction I want them to go. So I’m deciding if I need to do a small rewrite or just forge ahead and see where everyone in the story ends up. Word count so far is 17,162
Tarkir – Dark World Warriors Book 1 (SFR)
I have done no work on this story. I hope to get to it after edits are done completely on my Paranormal Operations, Inc. book. Word count hasn’t change, it’s still at 8,889 words.
Incubus MC – Demon (PNR/MC)
See Tarkir, above. No progress at all. But I have been thinking about the story line. I think I need to “punch” up the story. Make it grittier, rougher, at least the bikers in it. Word count is at 4,870.
Kai and Kekipi (Hawaiian Tales PNR)
I’m not sure I’ll publish this one or just make it a freebie for on my author’s page. I’ve kind of lost interest in this story. I’m writing from a weird, third person point of view. We’re were in Hawaii in May for a two weeks, but didn’t even work on this short story. I’m still at 3,178 words on this one.
Future Plans
Hubby retired in Jan of 2019, so writing has been a bit hit and miss. I do love him being home through. He holds much better conversations than the cats! LOL! I’m still on schedule to get my SS and Medicare in Dec. Although signing up for both may be a pain. I have been called for the dreaded Jury Service starting end of this week (08/01/2019) and if picked, be tied up for about 4 months.
My writing plans for the year are still to publish my Paranormal Operations, Inc. book at the end of the year (or Jan 2020). Try to complete Polar Shift (Mistletoe, North Pole #2) and maybe find some time to work on my SFR book. Plus I lots of story ideas! One even set right here in Las Vegas!
So much to do!
I’ve finished the first book in what I hope will someday be my Paranormal Operations, Incorporated series. I need to send it off to be edited and get a good cover for it. But funds are really tight (you know that old saying about squeezing water from a rock?) so it will sit on my hard drive for now. But since it’s as far as I can go on it right now, I’ve moved on to the second book of the Mistletoe, North Pole series.
And I find myself struggling with it. It’s NOT going in the direction I imagined it to go. I wanted it to run in the same vein as Santa Baby (book one in the series), but it keeps taking a darker tone. I wanted a lot of interaction between the two main characters, Holly and Sig. This is kind of a second chance at love paranormal story. But so far it’s been mostly about why someone/something would target the heroine (Holly) of the story.
So…I’ll be posting some stuff from it here. Maybe I’m on the right track, but my gut says I need to backtrack the story a bit.
Hubby had to take a class in Hawaii, so w’er here in Honolulu until next Wed. We flew in on the 16th and have been enjoying the weather, the beach, and the Aloha that Hawaii has to offer. We have a great ocean front room on Waikiki beach, with dual views of the ocean. We’re staying at the Hale Koa, which is a Army property. As such we got a great room rate for the room.
We’ll be bcak to the mainland this coming week, which means I have to hit the writing hard. I’ve done pretty good here. About a 1k words each time I work at it. Wish I had these views at home. LOL!
So for now…Aloha from Hawaii!
Here’s some pictures from our trip so far.
One view from our room on the 2th floor.
Our spot on the beach!
Me coming out of the water.
The Hilton Hawaiian Hotel’s Fireworks on the Beach show, from our room lanai.
Bar was closed, but I set up to work on the second book in my Mistletoe, North Pole book.
Now for some random food and drink pictures.
A Lava Flow – Love these!
Pink Dimple – Also love these!
Lau Lau Combo Plate from Zippy’s. We have a lau lau, Kalua pig, rice, and corn. YUM!
Loco Moco, kind of. The cook was not in a good mood. The gravy needs to be over egg but it was still good!
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