I have another column up at Romancing the Blog today. It's reader-centric this time, though.

My brother finally knows I really have a book, because he was looking over my shoulder as I edited over the weekend. I don't talk about it a lot because when I was in college I thought I was Maupin for five minutes and tried to write one, and people that were my posse then still ask about it and I never finished(partly because in lieu of structure, it has more jump-cuts than a Homicide episode...I just wasn't equal to that at twenty.) But I thought I was and hyped it to everyone and felt horrible when it came apart and I abandoned it. Part of it is, of course, that he doesn't listen when I talk, but even he could not ignore the page counter.

Susan, is a CP a Critique Partner?

Yes.

Also, is it possible they're just at a section of the book where they don't yet have the big picture--that your characters are more complex than their assumptions?

That may be part of it, but I don't think it's to do with how far along they are in the book so much as my making some less-than-ideal POV choices. I've got two big sections in Jack's POV that I think I'm going to have to recast into Anna's. Her view of Sebastian is more nuanced--after all, she was married to him for two years, while Jack met him for all of five minutes. She can provide history and perspective through a few lines of introspection here and there, while Jack is just going to hate him for making the woman he loves miserable. Also, at this point in the story, Anna is trying to seduce Jack and not being at all subtle about it. I thought it would be obvious her lack of subtlety came from inexperience and desperation, but somehow it's not reading that way despite clues dropped in earlier scenes (though there part of the problem may be reading it ten pages per week--it's easy to forget clues you read 3 weeks ago that you'd remember if you'd read them that morning on the bus). Hopefully getting into her head will fix the problem.

Woot! FedEx just delivered what had better be box one of my authors copies.

Matty Groves. Shiny!

Teppy! Monday - new topic?

Ahoy, mateys! 'Tis time for the new lily-livered drabble topic! Yarrr. But rest easy -- the topic is not pirates.

Challenge #75 (cave) is now closed.

Challenge #76 is strike, and any variation thereof (on strike, strike out, strike it rich, bird strike, etc.)

Now be ye drabblin', scurvy dogs! Yarrrr!

My WIP has a fight scene brewing, so I guess I have violence on the brain. Drabble:

Back straight. Weight centered. Shoulders relaxed. Knees bent, feet ready to move. Breathe. Remember to breathe. Eyes open, ears open. Keep the others in your peripheral, but don’t take your eyes off the prize. Here he comes. The swing is lazy, predictable. He’s trying to goad you. Don’t let him. Sidestep. His friend looks antsy, throw a feint to dissuade him. There’s the real attack. Parry, redirect. He’s off-line. Strike!

The blade hits home and his opponent crumples. He draws it free, a practiced flick of the wrist to remove the blood as he returns the weapon to ready.

Next.

The waiting is going to kill me and it hasn't even been a week yet.

Deep breaths, Allyson. Deep deep deep. They won't do anything about the waiting, but if you breath deep enough, you'll at least feel stoned.

Keys

Put your fingers to the piano keys
Let them linger, let them tease and bite
Skin to ivory, perfect calloused tips
Beat the rhythm, all in black and white.

Where I sit, languid and listening
All my world awash in liquid sound
Every wire takes its time to sing
Struck by hammers, notes both flat and round.

Ebony and rosewood are your base
Echoes from a box of rare delight
Treble laughing, bass and midrange full
Drape themselves across my dreams at night.

You strike the keys, and make those hammers fall
And I'll come dancing to that siren's call.

God, Deb, that's gorgeous.