Vacation!

The husband and I are disappearing into the Pacific Northwest for a week. See you all when we get back!

Top 10 Books...

There was a meme going around Facebook last week were you would list 10 books that had stayed with you in some way in your status line. The rules were to not think too hard about it, and not take more than a few minutes, and they didn't have to be 'great works' - just books that had touched you in some way. Then you had to tag 10 friends and the person who originally tagged you so they could see your list.

Anywho, here's my 10 books:

1. The Little House on the Prairie series by Laura Ingalls Wilder

2. The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley

3. Dragonriders of Pern by Anne McCaffrey

4. The Dark Tower by Steven King

5. A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray

6. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

7. The Once and Future King by TH White

8. Harry Potter by JK Rowling

9. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

10. When She Woke by Hillary Jordan

What are your ten books? Go ahead and include them in the comments or in your own blog for me to see.

On other fronts, I haven't done much writing. We've just been so busy at work (I know... I know... I'm beginning to sound like a broken record about work) that I barely have time to go on breaks or eat lunch, and I racked up about 14 hours of overtime during the last pay period - most of which happened during the weekend - and I already have six hours of OT this week!

I did manage to jot down some scenes for the Descendents in the notebook, but that's about it. And of course they were all scenes for book two.

And now, time for WIPpet Wednesday!

WIPpet Wednesday is led by KL Schwengel. To participate, just post a part of what you're working on that somehow relates to the date. For example it could be twenty lines from chapter eleven, or eleven paragraphs from chapter twenty. Then just enter the url to your blog at this linkie.

Since today is 12/18, here is 15 lines (1+2-18=15) from an upcoming scene in my fanfic, Between Two Worlds. It's a rough draft, but I thought it might be appropriate because it takes place during the summer solstice, at a party celebrating the solstice at the Faire, and the winter solstice is coming up in a couple of days. Domick has asked Norah for a dance...

She placed her hands on his shoulders and started to sway to the music - however she quickly stopped after realizing that Domick was not moving. He stood there, stiff as a board, looking at her with a confused expression on his face. “What?”

“What are you doing?”

“Dancing.”

“You call this dancing?”

“Well, yeah. It’s what we did at all our formals and proms. I mean there’s also the bump and grind you see at the clubs, but this isn’t really the music for it.”

He made a sound that was part frustrated growl and part disbelief. “This is not dancing.”

“Okay. What were you expecting? A country dance like what the nobles did earlier today?”

“No.” He reached up and took one of her hands in his. Norah stepped back, assuming that the dance was over, but he wrapped his arm about her waist, pulling her closer to him. “Follow my lead.”

“What?”

He stepped backwards and then to one side. Norah stumbled in her attempts to follow him, and stared at the ground between them to make sure she didn’t trod on his feet. She was also aware that everyone was now watching them as he led her through what she assumed was a waltz. He brought the hand holding hers over and bumped it under her chin, forcing her to look up at him. “My eyes are up here.”

“Sorry. I’ve never done this before.”

“It’s easy.” He smiled down at her, counting as he led her through the steps. “One, two, three. One, two, three.”

She glanced down again and he made a tsking sound.

“Sorry.”

“Just trust me.”

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Exhaustion...

It's been a ridiculously busy couple of weeks. Between work, the holiday, a couple of custom rush Etsy orders, doctors visits, and two demanding cats, there hasn't been much time to write, blog (which I feel very depressed about) or even respond to comments lately (which I feel a bit rude for not doing).

But I swear I haven't forgotten you all, dear readers, fellow ROWers, and WIPpeteers! I don't have the time or the energy to say much at the moment (maybe next week will be better) but I can at least share a snippet. So, since today is the 11th, here's 11 paragraphs from The Descendants. We're going back to the first book here; Vivian has just shown up at a going away party that is being thrown for her and Audra by their friend's. However, rumor is that something big may happen at said party, and Vivian isn't looking forward to it one bit. Oh, and those strange porta's from Maya's introductory prologue make an appearance again...

“Just a small get together, she said.” Vivian murmured to herself as she climbed out of her el camino. “It’ll be just a few friends who want to have dinner before with us before we leave, they said.”

However, judging from the amount of cars lining the driveway and the street, it appeared that her worst fears were correct - everyone and their mother had shown up to see them off. She could see people milling around inside the large log cabin and could hear voices and music drifting from the deck overlooking the lake in the back of the house.

And somewhere in that mess was her boyfriend.

The boyfriend who was planning on proposing to her tonight.

The boyfriend whose heart she would break when she told him ‘no’.

The boyfriend who would probably never forgive her.

Vivian groaned and rubbed at her temples. She was being foolish. After all, just because Josh had been acting suspicious earlier today, asked to speak to her dad, and might be carrying a ring box in his pocket did not mean that he was going to pop the question. It could be some other totally innocuous piece of jewelry without any strings attached. Or maybe it was something he had bought for his mother. Or...

The Valet - one of many Audra had been hired for this little get together - standing by her car cleared his throat, reminding her of his presence. Vivian longed to hop back in her car and drive home, but she forced herself to hand her keys to him and step away from the el camino so he could drive away. Then, after taking a deep breath to calm her nerves, she crossed the short distance to the front door.

Even though there were people already inside, and she knew she could walk right in, Vivian knocked on the door anyways. She waited patiently for someone to open it, pausing to study the stone under her feet.

It was an odd piece - a large round disc that Audra said her father had imported from Europe or some other far off place when the cabin was being built. Designs that looked faintly like celtic knotwork had been carved into its surface; an outer ring that consisted of two bands twining around each other, and, inside the rings border, two overlapping trilliums. Three stones had been set around it’s outer perimeter, equidistant from each other and it appeared there might have been a fourth stone in the center, but it had been chipped away at some point.

Vivian had commented on its strange design when it had first arrived, but hadn’t paid any attention to it since then. However, tonight, the stone’s surface seemed to gleam and sparkle in the light of the moon. She shrugged it off; the stone probably had mica or something else in it.

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Music Monday

Heard this song this morning and immediately fell in love with it: