I’m excited to say that I’ve actually spent quite a bit of time writing this week. I feel like I’m finally getting back into the swing of things. On Monday I wrote close to 5,000 words, so I guess that helps makes up for my ROW80 goals that I’ve missed. I need to write about 1500 words every day to maintain my ROW80 goals.
I’m very close to being halfway done with this short story, word count wise. There are three more scenes to write, although I could probably cut one if I really wanted to. I’ll decide when I get there. I figured out what the first story in the Kansas Beatitudes “Poor in Spirit” is going to be about, which makes me super happy, and I’m finding a way to connect each story to each other with characters that cross over as side characters. In other words, Ashley shows up in the first story, and Martha will show up in the third story (it’ll actually be about Martha). I do need to plan out/get an idea for the third story though.
On a side note: I was looking at different publishers to possibly submit these short stories to. I could self-publish, which is still on the table, but I prefer a publisher if only for the fact that I want to be a bit lazier with these stories until I really get back on my feet. I have a list of publishers to send to; I’m just not sure which one I’ll send to first. Anyway, back on track, I was looking at one of these publisher’s open calls, and they’re seeking holiday stories. I have one that’s not quite finished but is well over the halfway point. I could easily finish it up and submit it. My only hesitation is that it’s M/M and not F/F. I don’t want to piss off my F/F readers, so I’m thinking if I did do that I’d submit under a different pen name (one I’ve thought about for a long time), but then again, I don’t want it to be a one-off story pen name either. ugh, so many decisions that are really minor and I just need to make them.
I could consider converting the story to be F/F, but that’d take quite a bit of time (not that I don’t have time, the submission isn’t due until Sept 15th), but I’m not sure how much of the story will be lost if I change the sex of the main two characters. It’s something for me to ruminate on for sure.
Back on track of what today is all about. My WIPpet! This is an excerpt from Mourn, Kansas Beatitude #2. Because I’m writing this post on Tuesday instead of in the wee hours of the morning on Wednesday, I was able to get super creative with the math for the day.
2016 / 7 [month] = 288 + (7 [day] – 2 [day]) = 293 and you get 293 words today from Mourn.
She sniffled but didn’t dare repeat herself. It might have been twenty years since Moira had left, but it had taken her twenty years to admit out loud that Moira leaving had hurt her so much that she was still dealing with it. Swallowing, Ashley shuffled in the chair, not quite sure what to say.
“I’m so sorry,” Moira whispered, reaching out and gripping Ashley’s fingers tightly. She curved their hands together and didn’t seem to be letting go any time soon. “I didn’t know what to tell you.”
“The truth would have been a good place to start.” Ashley’s voice rang through her kitchen, and she bit her tongue. She was usually so much better at hiding her emotions than this.
Moira licked her lips and straightened her back, but she didn’t let go of Ashley’s hand. “I told you the truth back then, and I’ll tell you again now. I loved you, Ashley, more than I thought was possible.”
“You loved me, but you left.” She was whispering but it was more like screaming. The last thing she wanted was for her son to hear what was going on and tell his father, only to have his father take them all back to court for custody again. “You abandoned me our last year of school. We could have both gotten out of here, but you had to shove me in the garbage along with everything else you left behind.”
“Ash—”
“Don’t. Just don’t. You have no idea what that did to me because you didn’t care to look. It’s been twenty years, so just leave it alone.”
“Ash, I looked. Trust me. I saw everything that was happening to you, more than you saw. I was trying to protect you.”
If you want to want to join in WIPpet Wednesdays, all are welcome to participate. Simply make a blog post with a snippet from your Work In Progress. The only hard fast rule is that it has to relate somehow to the date. It’s your choice how it relates. Once you have your post done, then head on over to our wonderful hostess & link it up with the rest of the WIPpets. Visit everyone you can! We’re all comment whores. =P
Yay for finding your groove again!
Lots going on in this snippet. I am definitely sympathising more with Ashley at this point. It feels like Moira is skirting around the reasons she left, and Ashely deserves some honesty round about now.
She does but she doesn’t get it until later when the tables flip a bit =P I’m glad to be finding my groove again. It really feels good.
Oh, wow. My heart hurts a bit now. Great emotional snippet.
And yay for getting back into the groove of writing.
These two are so full of emotion they’ve both been bottling for 20 years it’s crazy and it’s about to explode.
This is so emotional. It’s lovely, in a hurty way. I love your ideas on weaving the different stories together.
Thanks! That means a lot coming from you =D
Ooh, I wonder what she was protecting Ashley from. I can’t wait to see where everything goes in this series. I love stories that intertwine.
well in her head, she was and is protecting Ashley from like everything hahaha =P
LOL! I’m sure her reasons sounded…well, reasonable at the time.
The anger sits deep in As, which means she has experienced lots of hardship, in my opinion. Does she blame Moira? I think so.
Good snippet.
Shalom aleichem,
Patricia
Yes, and yes. She’s experienced loads of hardship, and she very much blames Moira for a lot of it.
“She was whispering but it was more like screaming.” I. Love. That. Line.
And I kinda want to slap Moira for that “trying to protect you” line. Not your job, dear. Of course, I don’t know the whole story, but that’s my first thought.
haha well Moira did have very good reason for the protection stuff. It doesn’t come out for awhile though because Ashley cuts her off and won’t let her explain/doesn’t force her to explain yet.
Great emotional snippet. I’m wondering who she was trying to protect Ashley from, too.
haha literally the next line in the WIP tells us who she was trying to protect Ashley from, but I didn’t want to spoil or share lol gotta leave some intrigue!
I like the layers of history you put into this piece… between these two. And the hurt that exudes between them…. Oh!
As for your genders… I can’t speak for all readers, but I can’t see how I would have an issue with an M/M story as long as I knew ahead of time (expectations, after all, can be brutal) that we were experiencing a deviation from our “regular programming” so to speak. 😉
I’m thinking a lot of my regular fan base would be really ticked if I threw out one MM story.
You know your fan-base best. I can only speak of personal preference (then again… I LIKE M/M stories 😉 )