Writing in the adult genre again while I wait for my son to edit my YA story

I had an idea for a more grownup romance about a widow who takes in a vampire as her tenant and falls in love with him. I worked on it a little bit today and will see where the story will take me. I have a few basic ideas on the plot ;). Enjoy and let me know what you think. Keep in mind this is the first draft. I’ll revise away later but want to know how the setup works.

Chapter One
“Tyler Joseph Mirectti, what did you just do and why I am suddenly getting e-mails from Widowed but interested in dating.com?” The flood of e-mails that Charlotte got when she first turned on her tablet was ridiculous. Why would her son even think she was ready to date yet?
Tyler stepped up to the dining room table wearing his oversized OSU t-shirt and a sheepish grin on his face. Charlotte noted that he hadn’t bothered to brush his black hair yet, but she also sadly noticed how his cowlick badly stuck up in the back, just like his late father’s hair once had. Having her son around was a blessing and a constant reminder of the life she’d had with Thomas, but he would be headed off to college in the fall. Leaving her alone in a huge house. Maybe that was his reasoning for signing her up for an online dating site.
“Did you read any of the e-mails yet?” he asked, peering at the screen of her tablet with the keen eyes of a young hawk.
“No. I told you I don’t need a boyfriend. I met your father on chance. A true twist of fate and he gave me all the love I need to get me through the rest of my life. If I meet another guy who I happen to get along with on chance, then I wouldn’t rule the possibility of dating again. I doubt I could ever fall in love with anyone else like how I did with your father, but I wouldn’t rule out the possibility of companionship.”
Tyler rolled his eyes. “Mom, you need someone to look after you and this big old century house that’s falling apart. I know you loved Dad and of course I loved him too, but who’s gonna be the man of house when I’m at college?”
Charlotte grinned and pointed to the huge, black and white tabby cat sitting on the window seat. “Buster.” She walked over to the cat and started scratching him on his favorite spot, right behind his ears. Buster purred with approval. “He’s been sleeping in your dad’s spot in bed for the past two years anyway.”
“Can Buster fix any mechanical or plumbing issues that may arise while I’m at college?” He lifted the tablet and pointed to the e-mails. “It wouldn’t hurt to choose one random e-mail and read it. You never know. That’s why I signed you up for this site.”
“Look, maybe I’ll find a mechanically inclined tenant for the apartment above the old carriage house. I’m hoping I will.” She’d put the ad out in the local newspaper last week. And posted the rental notice on a few websites as well. A handyman tenant of sorts would certainly be a more practical solution then looking for a boyfriend.
“Any takers on the apartment yet?”
“No but I’m hopeful. Finding a tenant who can bring in the extra money is a better idea then looking at a dating site and meeting some guy I might have to waste money on.”
Tyler sighed. “You may meet a gentleman. You never know. I just don’t want you being lonely too while I’m away. It’s been a year mom. It’s time to move on.”
Charlotte put her arm around her son’s shoulder. “I won’t be lonely. I have my memories of your dad and I know he’s looking out for me. And then there’s Buster.” She glanced at the cat who rolled over on his belly, exposing his soft white tummy. She laughed and rubbed Buster’s belly. “He’ll keep me company. I’ll be okay even if I don’t date.”
“But what if you do meet someone you like on a random way, like you did with Dad?”
“Then maybe I’ll be willing to date again. Until then, trust me kiddo, I’ll be okay.”
“All right. I guess I’ll delete your profile.”
“Thanks. But you need to pack first. You have a lot of stuff to pack but please leave Buster behind.”
Tyler shrugged and rubbed Buster’s belly. “He’s been your cat since dad died. And I know it. I’m willing to surrender him and let him be the man of the house.”
She kissed her son’s cheek. “Thanks kiddo.”
****
Malachi stared at his family’s mausoleum and frowned. The gold plated last name on front, Sturmer, tried to beckon him to unlock the gate, and slip into his old humble coffin before the dawn broke. But since that some stupid kid’s Halloween prank awakened him from a self-exiled twenty year sleep last year, he’d decided to make an attempt to fit into normal society again. He found a decent enough job for a vampire trying to pose as a human, as a paramedic. But the velvet lined coffin and cold marble crypts no longer gave him any pleasure. What he needed was a real home. With four-walls, a cozy bed, maybe a fireplace. A kitchen with a refrigerator to store his blood stash would be nice too. How would he find a home in this modern age? He turned and walked towards the cemetery gates supposing he’d have to start with a wonderful resource called the internet. It was how he’d found his new job.

That feeling you get when you finally complete a story

I started writing Little Hackers way back in November. Finally wrote the last sentence of the story today.

I had an ending planned out. I knew I needed a cliffhanger ending since this is book one of a planned trilogy. But the ending I originally planned was a bit of a downer. I wrote what could have been my last sentence and coming from a romance writing background, I needed an HEA or at least a happy for now ending to go with that cliffhanger. I think I finally found way to pull that off today.

So now Little Hackers is in the hands of my 12 year old son, who volunteered to be my editor. He took a look at the first few pages tonight and he is a little comma crazy but generally has a good eye for picking out my errors and typos. I think for my first attempt in the Young Adult sci-fi market, I might self-publish Little Hackers. It’s very easy to do these days and doesn’t have the stigma or high price it once did. However, right now Little Hackers only has a target market of a 12 year old boy who encouraged me to write this story. If he loves it, I’ll be a happy author mom 🙂

Sharing more for my NANOWRIMO story because I really like this chapter ending to chapter seven

Book cover for NANOWRIMO story made by me and PJ, mostly my son PJ 😉

Darcy carefully watched Parker as he crunched into his BLT sandwich. She didn’t like the way he licked his fingers between each bite. He hadn’t changed much as far his manners went. Mike was so polite and well-mannered but he didn’t make her heart race the way Parker did. The spider incident now behind them, could there be possibility to work together and dive into a boy/girlfriend relationship? She wanted to think so, but he seemed as stubborn as she was and also wanted to be the group leader. Dad had warned her long ago to never take any pushy crap from any boy because she was above that BS. She almost wished she still had a mom to give her female advice, or that she could remember anything about her mom at all.

            She popped on her visor and her iHear, thinking the words, images of Aoife Minotti, and images of a pretty golden haired woman holding little baby flashed into her visor. Her dad had a full head of dark hair back then and he looked so happy standing next to her mom. So different from the grey haired work-a-holic Command Chief Staff Sergeant he now was. Mom looked happy too. Were those pictures only taken on a good day, when she hadn’t slipped into the depths of depression?

            “Are you gonna eat your chips?” Jack asked.

            She removed her visor, to find the smug boy in front of her extending his hand to reach for her bag of salt and vinegar chips. Darcy resisted the urge to smack his hand away. Instead she just quietly snatched them off her plate.

            “What were you just looking at on your visor?” He asked. “Going over case stuff again.”

            Darcy shook her head.

            “Watching some crazy you tube video.”

            “No, drop it. It’s none of your business what I was looking at.”

            “Ah, I got it. You were looking at pictures of naked guys.”

            That was it. She had to put the little punk in his place. “Put on your visor.”

            “Why?”

            “Just put it on and I’ll show you what I was looking at.”

            He pulled his visor out of his pocket and placed them over his eyes. She did the same. Send pictures of Aoife Minotti to Jack Frost.

            “Wow, who’s the pretty lady?”

            “My mom. She suffered from post-partum depression, was also an alcoholic, and put a bullet through her brain before my first birthday.”

            She removed her visor to check out Jack’s reaction. He quietly removed his visor, reached out across the table like he was going to grab her hand, but then backed off like a scared kid.

            “I’m sorry. Sorry I teased you. Geesh, I seem to be doing a lot of apologizing around you. I misstep because I like you a lot. Can we start over and try to be friends? Maybe even more?”

            “We can be friends. We can be working associates but nothing more because ….” She tried to find her voice, though it wanted to quiver and not admit anything about Mike back home. “Because I have a boyfriend. If you’ll excuse me, I have to use the little girl’s room.”

            She rushed away from the table, lowering her head so Jack wouldn’t see the tears forming in her eyes. Why was she that stupid? She could have so much more with Jack then she ever had with Mike, but stubborn pride bit her in the ass and caused her to tell him the truth.  

 

           

            

How Snow Girl joined the little hackers team, unedited excerpt from Little Hackers- a NANOWRIMO story

She waited till Mike was totally out of her line of vision and turned down Vine Avenue. Sure enough there was huge, shiny white limo with tinted windows. Boy Queenie sure was taking this joke a bit too far.

A window lowered and she recognized the dark haired woman motioning to her. Short dark hair, no sign of grays though she should have had them now. Mrs. Ramierz, their fearless leader. Was this truly a Queenie joke or was this for real? Did Queenie get their teacher in on it all too?

“Mrs. Ramierz?”

“Hi kiddo. Come in.” She opened the car door.

Darcy gawked at the plush interior. So many USB ports and even a few visors scattered over the seats. She wondered if it even had iHear controls enabled.

“Okay.” She plopped onto the cushy seats. Yeah she could totally ride to school in style in this.

“How’ve you been?” Mrs, Ramierz tapped her long red fingernail on the window. She always had style, such a classy lady.

“Okay. Alright so where is the White Queen? I know she put you up to this. I thought it was cool how she hacked into my alarm system this morning. But you both have taken the joke too far.”

“What if this wasn’t a joke?” Mrs. Raimiez arched a perfectly groomed brow. “What if your government really needed you?”

Darcy rolled her eyes. “Please. I‘m only fifteen. Not old enough to even start on my driver’s test yet or get microchipped. What would the government want with a kid like me?”

“A very smart kid. A girl who can decode any complex IT security protocols. Five years ago you were part of a team that floored us, surpassed our expectations. And now we need you. We need you, White Queen, White Knight, and Jack Frost to solve one of the worst cybercrimes in our nation’s history.”

Whoa, now that piqued her interest. “Okay, so tell me more.”

“Someone is stealing billions of dollars in government funds. We need you to figure out who.”

“Okay, so why us? Why the tech camp kids? What made us so special that we can’t figure out what grown ups can’t.”

“Because you kids were smarter than the grownups. You always caught code and tracking we missed. You four are the best young hackers in the nation and I convinced the IT Security Staff at the White House that you four were the best for the job. Are you in?”

“I don’t know. I have life. I have a boyfriend. I just can’t leave my friends and my dad to be holed up in secret facility like I was five years ago. What will you tell them while I’m away?”

“We can take care of that.”

“How?”

“It’s best off that you don’t know.”

Okay, her evasiveness was getting on Darcy’s nerves. “I want to know how you plan on hiding me from my family and friends. You did that five years ago under the guise of a tech camp. Dang. I should have realized you were just testing us back then. But this will take longer. It might take years to track down some black hat hacker who’s been avoiding all government detection.”

“We have a plan. What if we could give you a dopledanger of sorts to take your place? Pretend to be you.”

“Like a clone or a robot or something like that? No, absolutely not. There are some major ethical lines that you’d have to cross to let some clone take my place and robot? Plueeze and whatever. A robot could never take my place.”

“Can I take you back to my hotel so we can talk more about it? So you can think it over. We’d pay you nicely for your time, Darcy. You could have that college fund you so desperately want. Maybe even that Electric Ford Roadster you just mentioned to you boyfriend.”

“This is getting way to freaky and I’m leaving.”

She opened the door before Mrs. Ramierz could stop her and ran down the street. They knew all about the conversation she’d just had with Mike. How much had the government been spying on her?

The limo managed to keep up with mad sprint, honking occasionally. But then backing away as they reached the high school. Obviously Mrs. Ramierz didn’t want to seem like a crazy stalker of teenage girls. Darcy stopped running but stopped dead in her tracks when she reached the school steps. The robot flirting shamelessly with Mike didn’t look like a robot at all. It looked exactly like her, right down to her blonde curls and freckled nose. Mike smiled and laughed at something the robot said. He looked happy. She could never give him that sort of happiness because their relationship had been far too polite. She wanted to be jealous of the robot taking her place, wanted to charge it at and hotwire the bucket of wires and real flesh till it didn’t work anymore, but she couldn’t do that. Maybe the robot was more socially apt than she was. Maybe it could make a suitable Darcy Minotti replacement while she went off to save the government from falling apart.

Darcy carefully backed away, hoping her robot doppelgänger or boyfriend wouldn’t see her. The white limo was waiting for her at the end of the street. Darcy sighed and became resigned to the fact that she’d no longer have a normal teenage life. She was now a legit white hat hacker.

****

Mrs. Ramierz had several pieces of luggage all packed for Darcy when she returned to the limo and awaiting her. Obviously the teacher/leader had confidence she would return. After a brief drive, they dropped her off at a decent Holiday Inn somewhere in the D.C. area and Darcy collapsed on a cozy quilted bed. She placed her visor over her eyes and thought, watch Doctor Who, but even as the awesome familiar theme music blared into her ear, she had a hard time concentrating and enjoying the 3D TARDIS hurtling in front of her eyes. She thought, pause Doctor Who, and placed her visor on the night stand.

Maybe she should Skype Queenie to see if she was already at the hotel. She had no idea of how to get in touch with the boys. She thought of White Knight and his mocha skin and dark eyes. He’d been a prankster five years ago and totally competitive. But a nice guy and friendly when they talked. Jack Frost, cute with his sandy brown hair and big blue eyes, but also had a major ego problem and even at age ten he thought he was best hacker in all of the world.

And then there was her best friend the infamous White Queen. Smart, pretty with auburn hair and hazel eyes, creative as heck. They still played on Minecraft together, building worlds on their own little server. She never learned White Queen’s real name, where Queenie girl lived, or anything about her family, but they had so much in common in interests and everything else that the fact that Queenie’s personal life was such a mystery didn’t bother her.

A sudden knock on the door jarred her out of her thoughts of her friend. “Are you ready to go meet the rest of the team, Snow Girl? They’re waiting.”

“About as ready as I can be.”

She bolted to her feet and wondered if they all work together again. Five years had passed and it was hard enough to work as a team back then. She’d find out soon enough.

Darcy opened the door and followed Mrs. Ramierz down a plush carpeted hall. A cute, familiar auburn haired girl was waiting for them both at the elevator. The auburn haired girl turned, a grin spread across her face. Darcy noticed Queenie had gotten braces, she could spy the faint line of a retainer, but they suited Queenie and didn’t stop her from being pretty. They squealed like reunited teenage girl friends always do and took off running down the hall. Embracing a tight hug when they met.

“Been a long time, Snow Girl.”

“Too long, White Queen.”

“Let’s go girls. You two can catch up later.” Mrs. Ramierz hit the down button for the elevator. “The rest of the team is waiting for you. Let’s go find the boys and we’ll brief you all the case details.”

Blogging at the cozy page on Friday and why I like getting dressed up :)

I was working on some questions for my guest spot at my friend Amber’s Cozy Blog Page and was just thinking about a reply I wrote to one of her questions. I told her that my heroine’s perfect date would be to get dressed up and go to a fancy ball or banquet. That would be my reply too.

Granted dinner and movie nights are fun but how often does a girl get to shake the dust off that little black dress or bring out the diamonds and pearls? I have to get dressed up tomorrow night for an awards banquest for my hubby’s company. Little black dress- check.

I had one already but when Phil told me I could go shopping for a new dress while he went suit shopping with the boys from work, I was all for it.  Shopping isn’t really my thing but this was the first dress I tried on and liked and it got a thumbs up approval from PJ who suffered through shopping with his mom :).

Next hair styling- Check- Mom brought the bangs back for me and got rid of my split ends. Updo scheduled for 2 pm tomorrow at the little salon in the plaza where I work.

Makeup- check. Took advatage of a buy one get one sale on cover girl at CVS to stock up. And supervision for PJ while Phil and are out- check. My friend Dawn’s teenage daughter will be watching the munchkin. She’s a good girl and she’s watched PJ before.

So will I be all set and ready to get dressed up for an awards banquet to support my hubby, you bet :). I really do enjoy getting dressed up and attempting to look like a princess 😀

Blogging from my cell phone to wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving

On the hwy and passing by woods to Grandmother’s house we go 🙂 The SUV knows the way to lead us today with our trusty GPS. Okay, so that wasn’t the best version of the song but it’s all I could come up with. Kinda cool blogging from my iPhone on the way to see my parents. Wouldn’t want to do the sleigh & horse thing all the way to Columbus. Anyway, whatever technology items you may take with you in your travels or wherever you may spend your Thanksgiving, I truly hope you have a blessed day.

Revising an older WIP called Abracadabra

I decided to dust off what I figured could be a possible The Last Sorceress related book and turn into a definite sequel to The Last Sorceress. The hero is the nephew of High Sorcerer Olorin, who plays a pretty major role in the Last Sorceress. His name is Jerence and he’s a mage guardian, the equivalent of a cop or FBI agent in my fantasy realm. He’s young, about twenty-two but really he doesn’t know his true age since time runs differently beyond the Great Divide. Jerence is also eager to prove himself. So he corners a goblin prince in a cavern in the Thunder Mountains and chases him to our world in Las Vegas. Jerence then poses as a magician to catch the goblin while using his real magic prowess. I like how I changed him up a bit when I decided to revise the story. Gave him more motivation when he has something to prove to his uncle and older sister.

The story was originally inspired by the Steve Miller song. I get my best ideas from music. I was listening to the song while taking my son to school one day and thought; Hmm, why don’t I write a story about real sorcerer using his magic to catch a demon (my villain was originally a demon but I changed to goblin because I didn’t want to do too many demon villains) while posing a Las Vegas show magician. I’m not messing with the heroine of this one too much because I like her too much. Her name is Amanda. She’s divorced and doesn’t believe in magic, very no-nonsense. But she’s trying to discover what happened to her ex husband’s niece. Little does Amanda know that the goblin has her ex’s niece imprisoned. So of course, Jerence and Amanda will have to work together to rescue her. A true mage working with woman who doesn’t believe in magic but they both have something to prove. The sparks flew the first time around and I think the dynamics between Amanda and Jerence wil be rocking now 🙂

Extreme Ohio Romance Website Makeover

Since I have a new blog, thought I needed a revamped site to match.  I like the new look and I think a Dynamic Web Template is the way to go so I  won’t have to rework pages too much as I add them. Hubby installed a more current version of Front Page Expressions when he wiped and reloaded the Purple Princess and although I haven’t explored all it has to offer, I’m liking it so far.

Anyway, since I love feedback on my site designs, if you drop by, please let me know what you think. Also, I’m looking for a spam proof guestbook for it too because I do love reading comments from my vistors. If anyone knows of any, please let me know. Thanks and night all 😀

Moon over Parma vs Moon over Carnitha

It’s a big glowing full moon over Parma tonight. Of course, in my fantasy world of Carnitha, the moon’s always full. Carnitha exists in an alternate reality. Not bound by rules of science. My fantasy world, my rules 🙂 It was so much fun to create.

Hello wordpress :D

Hello word press. I’ve toyed with the idea of starting another blog for a while now. Years ago, I had one with blogger but wasn’t crazy when they changed the formatting. I’ve used word press with several author clients (I do web design for authors on the side) and I liked how easy it seemed to be to use. When I discovered that Word Press had an iPhone app, that was the clincher for the new blog.

My big announcement for this new blog is that I’ll have a new release up at Passion in Print Publishing on November 19th. It’s been one of my favorite stories for a long time and I’m thrilled The Last Sorceress found a great home at Passion in Print.

Here’s an excerpt I hope you’ll all enjoy and stay tuned for a twitter contest and more details about the release. Happy 11/11/11 everyone and I hope you remember to hug a veteran today and tell them thanks since it is Veteran’s Day.

Those amber brown eyes glittered with what looked like amusement. He handed her a brown paper package.

“Here, open it when you leave,” Glenn said.

“Um, thanks, I guess. Will you be doing another conference in the Cleveland area anytime soon?”

“We will meet again, very soon. Do not worry, Maurelle.”

He was gone before she could ask why the heck he’d called her Maurelle. Janet did see him hand identical packages to

Spencer and Anita. Anita gave her an awkward little smile as Spencer rushed straight for the exit. His face was red and his fists

were still clenched. She wanted to say she was sorry for giving

up without a fight. Her pride prevented her from speaking to him at all.

Spencer charged through the door and stopped. Janet almost ran into him.

“Spence, what the—” She broke off as she looked over his shoulder.

One white stone room, covered in thick vines, was all that

remained of the massive convention hall. She would never know

if the vendors or the rest of the convention goers noticed that

the entire network room had vanished, but her jaw dropped as

she turned. They stood in the middle of a huge forest. There

were no forests in Cleveland. The Metroparks ran through the

suburbs, but even the Metroparks had roads. Tall, majestic trees

surrounded her. Deer ran wild and free. A dragon with thick,

blood-colored scales soared above their heads. It’s wild, lionlike

call held Janet spellbound. Hold it, a dragon? No, it’s an

airplane. It has to be a plane, if it was a dragon that would mean

we were all in the…

“M-mom, d-did y-you s-see that t-th-thing?”

“It’s an airplane, sweetheart. That’s all it was. Come on, let’s

go find our car.”

“N-no, that was not an a-airplane.”

“Spencer is right,” a small voice whimpered. Anita

approached. Her entire body trembled. “It was red. It had scales.

I heard it roar.”

This cannot be happening. Carnitha is not real. We’re still in

downtown Cleveland. We’re not that far from Burke Lakefront

Airport. It was just a special airplane decorated like a dragon.

Maybe the air show was in town?

A tree branch snapped behind them. Janet turned to see a

very large ogre with golden-brown eyes smiling at them. “Open

the packages now. It should explain a lot.”

The paper crinkled in her hand when she slowly ripped

through her package. She didn’t know how to react when she

found the leather get-up Maurelle wore and a large, golden

book. The only thing missing was the staff. But before she could

say anything, the handsome man dressed in an ogre costume

handed her a golden staff with a large opal stone on top.

He grinned, and Janet shuddered at the sight of his glistening

fangs. “It was too large to wrap. Go try it on. I’m eager to see

how you look in it.”

“Okay, this isn’t funny, Shrek.”

She winced when Spencer looked to the sky, as if he prayed

for a dragon to fly by and carry him off to its lair. Sorry, kiddo. I

know that one was pretty bad. Slipped out of her mouth before

she could take it back. She sighed when Dazzart laughed. Why

is everything I say or do the end of my child’s mortal existence?

Then again, she was pretty sure this was the end of their mortal

existence.

“Shrek, yes, I saw the movie,” the ogre replied. His raucous

laughter filled the forest before he continued. “Real life is far

more interesting. I wonder where your movie moguls get their

ideas from.”

“Okay, we’ve gotten off track here. We shouldn’t be discussing movie ogres. We should be talking about why you

gave us this stuff. Number one, I don’t have the body to wear this sort of thing…”

“Oh, I beg to differ.” He laughed. “Look down.”

Her boobs had ballooned to twice their normal size. Now, she wasn’t about to complain about it but did feel pretty uneasy

about the sudden chest growth spurt. It wasn’t just her breasts,

though. Her legs were longer. Janet’s jeans looked more like capris. She reached behind her neck, gasping as she realized

her plain old short hair was gone. It was longer and fely like it had been braided. She grabbed the braid, tossed it over her

shoulder, and saw that it was velvet black.

Janet glanced over at Spence and Anita. They had changed too. Anita was now a pretty little elf with silvery blonde hair and

very pointy ears. Spencer was a tall elf with black hair, dark blue eyes, and a frightened look on his face.

“What the hell did you do to us?” she shouted. “Change us back right now.”

“I can’t,” the ogre replied. “You are no longer Janet Lind.

Henceforth, you shall be Maurelle Windhaven, your son shall be

Nidhogg Windhaven, and Anita, you shall be Gilraen Elenzar.”

“No, no, no! No, this sort of thing doesn’t happen. This is a

sick joke. Did my ex put you up to this? Take off that ridiculous

costume now and change us back.”

“Why is my human form more appealing to you, my sorceress?

I saw the way you looked at me during the conference.”

His voice was still very husky and very sexy. It made her long

to see the man beneath that mask again. She reached forward

and gave his chin one heck of a yank. Very odd—it didn’t feel

like latex.

He grabbed her arm, and she felt a loss of circulation from

his strong grip. “I would advise you not to do that again. Put on

your uniforms now, please. The others are all waiting at Fort

Greenbalm, and I have to return in time to welcome the rest of

the gamers to our world.”

She stood there, frozen for a moment, rubbing her pulsating

temples. Her heart pounded, and she could barely breathe.

Okay, so the guy I thought was my knight in shining armor is

really an ogre, I am not Janet anymore. A dragon flew over my

head. Holy crap, the growth on the walls of the network room,

that’s how the bastard lured us here. It was real. This place is

real. I’m really a sorceress. Oh shit, that must mean Adieal really

existed. At that point she did what any woman in her position

would do. She freaked out.