Teaser Tuesday! Caged Chapter 29!

Wow!  Nearing chapter 30!  Who would have thought?  I'm much more on target this week on getting things done, so there shouldn't be any delays.  And on that note, I won't delay you any longer! :)

On with the show!

Or something...

***

I licked my lips and took a long breath.  My hand moved up and down Bella’s back, but there was still a lot of tension just underneath my skin.  The deep seeded desire to punch something was creeping up my spine and into my shoulders.  I wanted to swing, make contact, and feel the jarring sensation through my arm.  I wanted to feel the pain in my knuckles when I made a good hit.

Banner By Melissa Melton

I wanted to fight.

“You know I love you, don’t you?” I said.  My voice sounded desperate, but I wasn’t sure why.  I just knew it was important for her to know – like Irina had told me.

“I know, Edward,” she replied.  She pushed herself up and crossed her arms over my chest before resting her chin on her forearm.  “I love you, too.”

Her eyes smiled at me, but they didn’t offer comfort.  If anything, it distressed me more.

“I mean really, really love you,” I said with more earnest.  I wrapped both my arms up around her shoulders.   When I hugged her, I brought her a little further up my chest.

“I know,” she said again. 

“I’d do anything for you.”

She reached up and touched the tip of my nose with the tip of her finger.

“Edward, what are you getting at?”

“I…I want…”  I stopped.  I couldn’t say this.  I didn’t want to upset her.

“What do you want?” she pressed.

I sighed heavily.

“I want to fight again,” I said, and I felt Bella go tense under me.  

***

Hmmmm...what will her reaction be?  Hang on until Friday to find out!

One More Thing to Add...

...to that list of New Year's resolutions - SLOW THE FUCK DOWN!  I really, really need to stop taking on so many projects and whatever.   Writing three/ four stories at once, doing the whole work and balancing life thing, laundry...UGH.

I need to slow down, that's all there is to it.

No worries or anything- I just needed to get that off my chest.  I'll go back to working on Caged now...or Not What She Seems...Or Otherwise Occupied....shit, there I go again...  :P

Ye Old OCD Can Get In the Way

Though I have worked on Caged from an outline throughout the process, it's probably changed more than any other story I have written.  I'm going to both blame and thank "drabble" style writing for that.  I think it has made me more flexible, and allowed me to let the story write itself sometimes.  That said, the original ending no longer makes sense for Caged, which is why the last couple of chapters have been a little more difficult to write.

Here's where the OCD comes in - I like my stories to stop at "logical" numbers.  Ending in zero or five (yeah, yeah - they don't all, but I still try).  I'm not sure this is going to happen with Caged and I'm trying to come to terms with it.  I'm just not sure the rest of what needs to be said can be stretched out to 35 chapters, which is what I was recently aiming to hit.  The last thing I want to do is literally DRAG out an ending - it sucks that way.

I know - you say you want more chapters, but I also know you'll like it better if it ends where it should, and doesn't go on with nothing to say.

So I don't know how this is going to pan out, but I thought if I wrote it all down here it would at least get my thoughts on a page somewhere and force me to come to some kind of decision.  I'll let you know if it works.

Caged Chapter 28 - Tie the Knot - will be out tonight.  I might even end up posting early, since I have to work at 3am Saturday morning.

See you soon!

Tuesday Teaser! Caged Chapter 28!

Well, it may be a week late, but that's better than nothing, right?  :)  Here's a little tid-bit from Caged Chapter 28. 

***

I was supposed to be out of the house before this happened.

“He’s been here for days?” Carlisle growled in a barely hushed voice.  “My son has been here, at your house, for days and you don’t even tell me?  Seriously, Aro?”

“You aren’t going to help any of this if you go off on a tirade,” Aro responded with considerably more calm.  “That certainly never helped in the past.”

“Nice,” he muttered back.  “I don’t need that thrown in my face.”

Leaning out slightly to peer down the coiled staircase, I could see both of them standing in the foyer, blocking my escape.  My father was in tan pants and a light blue polo shirt, and he paced back and forth over the marble floor looking like he was in the rough, searching for lost golf balls.

“I’m not throwing it in your face,” Aro said.  “But I am reminding you why you need to calm the fuck down.  He’s upstairs, and this isn’t an executive meeting.”

“I know, I know,” Carlisle mumbled.  “I’m sorry, you’re right.”

They both walked off to the right and out of my view.  As much as I knew no good could come of it, I quietly walked the rest of the way down the stairs and towards the entrance to the kitchen.  I could hear them both drop down on the stools at the breakfast bar, and my father took several long breaths before he started talking again.

“How does he look?” he asked.  “Is he okay?  I mean, is he in trouble or anything?”

“He looks…okay,” Aro said.

“That doesn’t sound good.”

I shifted to the other side of the door, and I could see their dim reflections in a large landscape painting in the foyer.  Aro’s hands gripped a coffee cup as he spoke.

“He called from the same area where the police picked him up the first time.”

“Shit – at that nasty warehouse?  Where they found him with that dead girl?”

A brief flash, a vague memory of police cars, sirens, an ambulance, and the pale, blank face of a woman whose name I didn’t know flashed through my head.  I blinked rapidly, but there was nothing else to the memory.  There was nothing else except mental fog and heroin-induced apathy.

“That place was torn down years ago,” Aro said.  “But he wasn’t far from the area.”

“Is he…is he doped up again?”

“No…no,” Aro said quietly.  “He said he was tempted, but he wasn’t high when I found him.”

“Jesus Christ,” my father whispered.  His hands gripped at his hair for a moment as he leaned his elbows on the bar.  “I thought we were past that.  I thought that trainer said she was going to keep him clean.”

***

Hmmm...confrontation with Daddy is imminent!  See you on Friday!

Otherwise Alone Reading Group

Stop by the reading group hosted by @RobstenLoveCom and share your thoughts about Otherwise Alone with other readers!  What do you think will happen in the sequel, Otherwise Occupied?

Otherwise Alone Reading Group

Otherwise Alone on Amazon.com

Uncle! No Caged this Week

Some times you just have to cry "uncle."

I did a little "soul searching" and realized I'd updated when I was sick, during Dragon Con, when a friend threw her husband out of the house, and when a friend had just passed away (the update was late that night - fucking sue me ;) ).  After overcoming all of that and still posting, I have just been hit way too hard with real life the last couple of weeks, and I haven't been able to spend as much time writing as I normally like to do.  Nothing serious at all, just work and other normal stuff, but at this point I don't even have a teaser ready.

Ultimately, I could start clickety-clacking around right now and probably come up with enough words to call a full-length chapter and toss it over to DK, but it probably wouldn't be very good.  Aside from being wiped out myself, it just isn't much time to get any quality.

So, no Caged update tomorrow.  It was either that or bang something out quickly, and the next part of the story is too important for that.  Like those on the facebook page said, I know you all understand, but I also know you're a little disappointed.  I promise there will be an update next Friday, just like usual.  I'll get a Not What She Seems update out tonight or tomorrow in hope of appeasing everyone. :)

Thanks a lot for your support and understanding!

Savage

Tuesday Teaser...Where are You?!??!

I know...I'm sorry.  It's partially not knowing what day it is and a whole lot of nothing to give you.  Real life strikes again!  I'm heading out of town for work, but I will see what I can get out to you tonight or tomorrow.  I know I said this last week, but I'm so behind again I'm not sure if there will be a chapter on time Friday or not.  

Hang in there with me!  I'll do what I can!

Three Things you Should Never do on Twitter

I don't know why these came to me all of the sudden, but I think there is value.

Never do these three things:

1. Pay attention to who has stopped following you.

2. Evaluate a person based on which professional sports team they follow.  The sport, yes.  How they behave as a fan of the team, yes.  But not the team itself. 

3. Tweet while intoxicated.

This has been your Savage Public Service Announcement of the day.

Tuesday Teaser - Caged Chapter 27!

I can't believe this story has hit chapter twenty seven, yet here it is.  It seems like I just started it, but then I realize at a post a week, I've been writing it for half a year.  Wow - now it feels like forever!

As I mentioned on Facebook, this chapter is coming a little slowly, and I'm trying to catch up from being on vacation.  It's entirely possible I'm not going to be able to update on Friday because I'm so far behind, but I'm still trying.  I really didn't think I'd get a teaser out today, but I managed!

Enjoy!

 

***

“I almost fucked her, you know.”

As soon as the words were out of my mouth, I regretted it, but I couldn’t take them back.  I looked out the patio door to the large brick-lined area right behind the house.  The intricate pattern looked like a star whose northern pointing ray led over to a large grill and a stone bar.

“Are you just saying that to piss me off?” Bella eventually responded.

“Pretty much,” I replied with a shrug.  I decided it wasn’t such a bad thing to bring up after all, all things considered.  I mean, Bella ought to know, right?

I was trying to convince myself it was in the spirit of disclosure, but really I just wanted a good reason not to ever go back to that fucking office ever again, and Bella telling me I couldn’t was as good an option as any.  I would have been willing to try something a lot more drastic if needed.

“It’s working.”  She let out a long sigh before dropping down onto the couch next to me. “I don’t think it would be very professional for a therapist to treat you after…after that.”

“That’s what she said.”

“Edward,” Bella sighed again.

I didn’t respond.

“Edward?”

When I didn’t respond again, she grabbed my arm and tried to turn me to look at her.

“Did you…?”

“I said almost,” I reminded her.

***

Ugh....silly, silly man.  Sometimes you ought to just keep your mouth shut.

I *HOPE* to see you Friday!  Fingers crossed!

Tuesday Teaser...a little late.

Between the holidays and being off work, I have no clue what day it is.  Sorry this is late, but here's a little tease from Caged Chapter 26!  LOVE the new banner from Melissa Melton!

***

I wasn’t sure what to do about Sunday dinners.

“I don’t want him to know,” I told Aro.  I leaned back on the couch and resisted the urge to put my feet up on Chelsea’s coffee table.  “He doesn’t need to know I’m staying here and he doesn’t need to know about Bella being here, either.”

“It’s not like he hasn’t already met her,” Aro said.  He poured himself a small shot of scotch and offered me the same.  “You know I told him about her the second I got back from Portland.  I was thrilled to know you were in a relationship, and so was he.”

“Well, he doesn’t need to know anything else.”

“Edward, he’s you father-”

“No!” I interrupted.  “He lost that right a long time ago!”

“He’s tried to make amends,” Aro said.  He set the bottle of scotch back down on the bar and wiped off the counter where he must have spilled a bit.

“Bullshit!” I replied.

“It is not bullshit!” Aro yelled back.  The scotch forgotten, he crossed the room with his finger pointed at me.  “He tried to reach, you Edward – he tried to take it all back, even before Angela’s funeral!  You wouldn’t speak to him!  He tried to reach out to you later, and you wouldn’t talk to him then, either!  When Emmet finally found you and they showed up together, you broke his jaw.”

“What?” I snapped back.

“Didn’t know that, did you?” Aro growled.  “Broken in three places and he lost four teeth.  He had the whole thing wired shut for two months while he took meals through a straw.  He wouldn’t even let Esme try again after that, thinking you might really hurt her.  You were out of fucking control, Edward!  He fucked up, too, but you can’t lay all of this on your father!”

***

Hmmm...maybe Edward's view of what happened in the past is a little skewed?

I got a ton of work done on the chapter today, so it should be ready on time!  

See you Friday!

Profound New Years Day Post

Happy New Year's Day everyone!  It's fairly unlikely that this post is going to be the least bit profound, but I always feel like I ought to say something insightful for the new year.  Maybe that should be one of my resolutions - come up with a profound post for 2014.

It's been a busy year for me - new day job, dealing with all the usual family stuff, making my first real venture into the world of eBook publishing.  It has all been very exciting and different, and my OCD self is still struggling with all the change.

I did really well on resolutions last year (3 of 4 completed!), so I'm going to see if I can manage to do as well this year.

1.  Otherwise Alone continuation.  I'm really, really happy with how well Otherwise Alone has been received, and I've already started on book 2 - Otherwise Occupied.  If all goes well, and I can keep working on it steadily, I think it will be out sometime in March.  After that, there may be a third book then in the summer.  We'll see. :)

2.  Finish The Gladiator's Slave - a story I was working on last summer, then abandoned for a while.  I think I'll start on it again after Otherwise Occupied is done.

3.  Get my website up and going.  I've been trying to get it all figured out, but it's been slow and I don't have much patience for such things.  

4.  Get back to a workout schedule.  I think I had this claim last year as well, but I really mean it this time!  Um...yeah...sure I do!  It's the only one I didn't manage to do last year.

5.  Get my son successfully transitioned to college life int he fall.  I'm excited for him, but it will be very hard to not have him around every day.  He is my first child and only son, and though I know it needs to happen, letting him go will be hard to do.

One of my resolutions last year was to meet more of my twi-fandom friends, which I did accomplish!  I got the meet my wonderful beta DK, my logo designer Chonga, and my blog mistress JustRobin this year, which was freaking fabulous!  I also met a bunch of wonderful ladies at Dragon Con, which we will definitely have to do again this year!  In June I'll be at the TwiFic Meetup in Chicago!  You should be there, too!

Did you set some resolutions for yourself?