Hey all.
Yes, I know I didn’t do ROW80 on Sunday. Alls fair, I was in a house with no internet at all, and it would not have been pretty if I’d done the update on my phone.
I’ll do my ROW80 update first, since it’s easy. I’ve done nothing. All of this….
1. Fallen from Grace: write 1 chapter a week (moving week excluded)
2. Promo: Answer three interview questions a day until done
3. Promo: Write out a guest post a week until done
4. Lovely, Dark, and Deep short story needs to be written/plotted 2k a day due Aug 31st
5. Paranormal Romance short story 2k/day due Aug 9th
…and nothing. It’s moving week, so I feel I’m excluded from keeping up with my goals (since that was intended when I created the goals). I’m still packing, and packing, and packing. I just had a quick trip up to Montana, and now I’m moving on Friday. So…more packing. Yup…that’s my ROW80 update.
Now…onto WIPpet
I do have something for WIPpet.
You get 12 sentences following (kind of) what you saw last week from Fallen from Grace. Grace is still at the hoarders house. There’s a bit in between, but you should be able to follow.
My math? 16-6 = 9 + 4 = 13 – 1 = 12 simple…right? Uh huh… so here we go…
She was just about to walk back in when Toulouse arrived on the scene. Grace changed her direction and headed toward his cruiser. Waiting until he was parked and out of the vehicle, she ran down what she knew.
“Animal Control called us out to assist in a seizure warrant. The owner is known to be violent.”
“You smell like horse shit, Halling.”
“No, sir. I smell like cat shit and piss,” she answered without stopping. She continued, “I found the owner in the second bedroom on the ground. He’s half eaten from the cats, no doubt hungry since they weren’t being fed. His body is cold and stiff. They’re sending someone out.”
Toulouse pinched his nose and shook his head at her. “Really, Halling. You have shit all over your face and in your hair.”
“I’m well aware. Owner is Barry Glowner. The info we have on him says he’s sixty-three years old, lives here by himself, and keeps to himself. Hinds was getting contact information for his daughter last I checked.”
“Go home,” Toulouse said.
“Sir?”
“Go home. Take a shower, or two, or three. Then get a clean uniform and make sure you wash that one a dozen times. Then come back to finish out your shift. I’ll expect your report by end of day tomorrow.”
Grace sighed. She looked at her cruiser and felt the pull of a hot shower to clean up. She felt torn in two directions. One way was the nice hot shower and gallon of soap she desperately wanted. The other way was back to the house to capture the rest of the cats. Grace licked her lips, immediately regretted it and stared up at her curly haired Sergeant.
“I think I’ll stick around and help them out for a bit. I’m already all nastified anyway. What could it hurt?”
Toulouse gave her a nod, and Grace headed back toward the house and dead owner.
Adrian J. Smith 
“Nastified” Ha!! I’ve been there, unfortunately. Life amongst critters will do that to you. Not as many as the hoarder, of course. And nothing worse than cat pee. Especially old cat pee. Lovely scene. Truly. Lovely. (In the now-I’m-wrinkling-my-nose kind of way.)
Oh, and congrats on the move to Big Sky Country! Sounds very exciting. Well, as much as moving can be.
I wish I was moving to Big Sky Country. I’m from there and had a thing going on this weekend. I’m moving to Kansas actually and it’s a bit more deserving of the name Big Sky Country
Lol I’ve been there too. About to get that way again today. Yay! <==sarcasm
“No, sir. I smell like cat shit and piss,”
Love it.
I skip ROW80 updates a lot, too. Twice a week seems unnecessary sometimes, even when you are getting stuff done.
Yeah… But I’m doing twice a week for a reason =P
Grace is a special breed lol
I like this one, though I would not be able to resist the shower. I can’t wait for you to finish the next Grace. I like her.
Thanks!! I probably would be able to resist for awhile but not long
Oh fantastic excerpt Adrian! Hair and face covered in shit, then she licks her lips… urgh! But I love the vividness of this passage and how Grace is always determined to do her own thing, see things through. :)
She is. She’s very stubborn like that. Lol
Oh, man. So gross. I do feel bad for Grace, but I like that she’s wiling to go back and help anyway. I may shake my head at her personal issues, but she’s someone I would want working in my town.
Me too!!!
Great scene, Adrian, with great sensory details to ground the reader. (Um, or maybe not so great … *g*) Grace is so wonderfully literal! Very funny. But I too really wanted her to be able to go off and take that shower …
Lol she’ll get one later
As everyone else has said, great excerpt. I would agree with Toulouse though…go home and shower! Ick!
Lol!!!! I’m sure anyone in a 100 foot radius agrees
I set too many writing goals, and life always gets in the way so I don’t meet them. Camp NaNo is being difficult because I upped the WC goal to 80k. I really want to finish at least one new novel this year. But the rewriting impulse makes that hard…
I usually am very good with setting goals and meeting them. I knew this week was going to be very busy so I didn’t expect to meet them.
Rewrite and edit later!!
ewwwww, but I do hope she goes for that shower sometime!
She does!! Just not right away
Eww. … Eeeeeewwwww. Ickickcickcikcickcick. Ugh. I’d so take my boss up on that shower. I’d probably even ask him to hose me off before I got in the car. Blech.
Lol!!!!!!!!
I’m confused, since it didn’t seem like she touched much in the house when she first went in. Though, Toulouse was kind of annoying with how he couldn’t maintain his professionalism after his first comment about the odor. Like Grace wasn’t already bothered by the situation she was in…
And he best not hold his breath waiting for her to get the pee out of her uniform… That’s stuff LINGERS!
There’s a middle chunk missing that I didn’t show between last weeks and this weeks. She got dirty then.
Ah! I get it now. Don’t you love how characters ometimes do that “yeah, but you forgot to add…” thing? :-)
Well it’s in my manuscript. I just didn’t post it for WIPpet
Ah,
I really like that Grace is trying to bring Toulouse up to speed on everything and all he can focus on is how she smells. It felt very real, because that kind of thing is hard to ignore! I liked the lip-licking moment as well, and am impressed that she decides to stick around when the offer of a shower is there.
Thanks!!! I think it adds to both their personalities greatly