Fractionalized Friday!

Since I had to shelve my current WIP to focus on revisions to KATANA, I'll leave you with the first two pages of the revamped version. Enjoy!

It was the toaster’s fault.

Or, at least, that’s what I told my best friend Quentin as we stood under the mall’s awning, listening to the night-security guard lock the doors behind us.

“I can’t believe we’re missing the biggest party of the year for this!” I grunted as I adjusted my grip around the large toaster, causing me to wobble in the designer shoes I’d stolen from my mother’s closet. I teetered off the walk where I righted myself only by sinking a six-inch heel into the cigarette-butt littered mulch. I sighed. “Our last day as juniors – we should be celebrating with the rest of our class, not hanging out in the house-wares section of Sears.”

“Relax.” Quentin put a hand on my back to steady me as I pried myself free. “You’re captain of the pom squad, and I’m co-captain. You know the party doesn’t officially start until Rileigh Martin and Quentin Gordon arrive.”

“Yeah? You wanna know what does start?” My shoe popped free and I shook it several times to rid it of the remaining dirt. “Carly Perkins using my absence as her opportunity to get with Whitley.”

He pursed his lips. “Please. Carly is a cheerleader, and everyone knows that the cheerleading squad is where you stick the girls with no rhythm. If you want the bomb-”

“Bring out the poms!”

“You know it!”

Even though I held a bulky appliance, I still turned in a circle and bumped hips with Quentin as was our custom. When we finished laughing, I shifted the toaster against my side and dug in my pocket for keys.

Quentin glanced at his watch and sighed. “Unfortunately you can’t stop teens from drinking. By now, most of the cheerleaders have drank enough to lose their inhibitions. If we don’t get there soon, I’m not going to witness – and more importantly, make fun of – all of their bad choices.”

“Speaking of bad choices…” I struggled for several seconds in a game of tug-of-war against my skinny jeans until my keys finally pulled free. The sudden release offset my balance and I tumbled a few steps to the side before Quentin righted me with his hands on my shoulders. With a sigh, I nodded to the box I could barely circle my arms around and started down the concrete stairs that led to the asphalt. “Is this not biggest, ugliest toaster you’ve ever seen?”

“Who needs to eat six pieces of toast at once?” he agreed. “I know it was on her registry, but your cousin does not need to eat that much bread. I’ve seen her. In fact, laying off the carbs would not be a bad thing.”

I feigned shock, but couldn’t keep the amusement from creeping into my voice. “You’re terrible.”

“Me?” Quentin skipped down the steps ahead of me, his green eyes sparkling from the overhead lamp. “What about you, Miss Ulterior Motive? Just be careful. I think killing your mother via credit card statement is illegal in three states.”

Hump Day Humor

This is too funny not to repost.

Enjoy!

When you run into the wall the coyote painted a path on...

Current Obsession: Sierra Mist Ruby Splash

I am the Queen of setbacks. This latest one was a real doozy. There I was, last Thursday, making real progress on my revisions, catching up on my Crit Group critiques, starting back up at the gym, and spending quality time with my daughter. *cue ominous music*
Thursday night: Sore throat and stuffy nose
Friday morning: Fever
I manage to get an appointment with my doctor and the after he checks me out he asks, "You haven't been on any recent trips to Mexico, have you?"
So it wasn't that bad, but I did catch a nasty virus, one that I'm still fighting today. Luckily, my fever was only at 99.5 today, but let me tell you, I haven't moved from my bed in four days. That's four days of the house going to heck. Four days of ignoring my revisions. Four days of crits piling in my inbox. And, worst of all, four days of having my little angel make the "tremble lip" face at me from the bottom of my bed as she doesn't understand why mommy can't go outside and play with her. And I don't know that tomorrow will be any different.
It's enough to make me want to quit. But I won't. Why, you ask? Well, it's not because I'm not a quitter. I quit lots of things - and am proud of it. I quit selling Avon when I starting buying more lip gloss than I sold. I quit the basketball team in junior high when all the other girls suddenly shot up and I stayed my current 5'1" self. And I quit washing my clothes in Tide when I broke out in hives.
But there are things that I won't quit. Ever. I won't quit being the best mother I can be. I won't quit writing and participating in critique groups. I won't quit dog training and participating in agility trails. And I won't quit perusing the Delia's catalogs that come by mail, even though I'm *cough* almost thirty. Why? Because these are the things that make me who I am. I can no sooner quit them, then quit being Cole.
So, hurdles, while I find you incredibly annoying, I'll still jump over you to get to the things that matter.
So I ask you, patient readers, what are the things that matter to you? The things that you could never quit?

I'm back!

Dear poor neglected blog,

I humbly beg your forgiveness and bear offerings of Hagendaz and Ghiradelli for your favor. I have forsaken you and plan to make up for it immediately. Starting Monday, expect three regular postings from me a week. The lineup will include:

1. Monday Musings - a blog about whatever I feel like at the moment
2. Humpday Humor - a blog regarding the funniest thing I've found on the web to date
3. Fractionalized Friday - impressions on my current work in progress

Thanks for hanging in there with me. It's about to get interesting : )