I know there are a few writers subscribed here: WriteRunner has been keeping a list of writing oriented blogfests. It's nice to know about these ahead of time. Even if you don't write something specifically for it, it's good to have time to think about which clip you're going to choose.
I'll probably be posting something for the "Let's Talk" on May 18, and maybe a couple of the others. (There are some practical jokes and definitely a "bad boy" in The Adventure of Anna The Great. But my best beach scene would be a spoiler for the W.I.P. so I probably won't take part in that one. Although that other scene could take place on the beach. hmmmm.)
I'm thinking of hosting a blogfest for "discovery of the body" scenes or something like that. Not sure when. Definitely after this draft is done, though.
Daring to live life as a full time writer, with or without success.
Showing posts with label blogfest. Show all posts
Showing posts with label blogfest. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Sunday, May 16, 2010
A Scene for the Flirt Fest Entry
The blog "Critique this W.I.P." has a Flirt Fest blog festival today, where participants post a scene involving some flirting. I'm not sure I'm ready to post something from The Man Who Did Too Much, but I have something from another mystery that has some romantic elements.
In this comic cozy adventure mystery, Mick and Casey are newlywed gunslingers in the old west. He's young and inexperienced, and has much too sunny a disposition for a gunman. She's younger, meaner, less experienced, but a much better shot. They got married the day they met and still getting to know each other. Since Mick has to be very careful about how he goes about courting a rattlesnake, I figure any romantic scene between them is a flirting scene.
In this scene, they just accepted a job Casey thinks is beneath them, and she's very depressed about the murder of an old man, and the fact that nobody was impressed with her shooting the guy who shot him.
From HAVE GUN, WILL PLAY
"We should be doing something more useful. We should be going after those guys," said Casey.
She was getting back to herself again now, but that made her a little too eager to go chasing. I raised my eyebrows and leaned closer.
"And help Addley squeeze out the settlers up the valley?"
"No." She turned her back, and sat there, hugging her knees. But she had her head tilted so she could watch me.
"Well," I said. "There are other useful things we could be doing."
"Like what?"
"Smooching."
"That's all you think about, isn't it."
"Yep."
She turned completely away and thought about it. Then, instead of turning back, she lay down and looked at me upside down. Took my breath away, to see her spread out like that in the firelight. Watching at me with her head tilted back and her chin pointing up, arms and braid flung this way and that. I got my breath back fast, and picked my jaw up off the floor before she could see my reaction. Casey got self-conscious real easy. I couldn't let her catch me gaping at her.
"We ain't gonna have too much chance for privacy coming up," I said. I leaned in slow and set my arms on either side of her face. "We'll be keeping watch and all that."
I brushed my fingers down the sides of her neck. Her eyes got a little wide at that and she looked nervous, but she must have liked it, because if she didn't she would have punched me. We didn't have too many communication problems in our marriage, for all that we were still awful new at it.
I leaned in and kissed her upside down. Down her lip, and then on the chin, rubbing my chin against her mouth. I started down her jaw toward the side of her neck.
"Ain't I too young for this?" she said. I liked the funny sound in her voice.
"Hope not," I said. I had a funny sound in my voice too, but that was partly because I had a mouthful of ear at the moment.
"You're kissing me upside down."
"Good way of doing it," I said. "Hats don't bump."
Her hat had already come off. She reached up and I pulled away, but she managed to rise up and knock mine off. I grabbed her while she was up off the ground and wrapped her up in a big tight squeeze, kissing her good.
It wasn't the most comfortable place to spend the night, but a couple of horse blankets and our bed rolls, and it did all right. No miners or lice.
end scene
I'll post the progress on my current book a little later tonight.
In this comic cozy adventure mystery, Mick and Casey are newlywed gunslingers in the old west. He's young and inexperienced, and has much too sunny a disposition for a gunman. She's younger, meaner, less experienced, but a much better shot. They got married the day they met and still getting to know each other. Since Mick has to be very careful about how he goes about courting a rattlesnake, I figure any romantic scene between them is a flirting scene.
In this scene, they just accepted a job Casey thinks is beneath them, and she's very depressed about the murder of an old man, and the fact that nobody was impressed with her shooting the guy who shot him.
From HAVE GUN, WILL PLAY
"We should be doing something more useful. We should be going after those guys," said Casey.
She was getting back to herself again now, but that made her a little too eager to go chasing. I raised my eyebrows and leaned closer.
"And help Addley squeeze out the settlers up the valley?"
"No." She turned her back, and sat there, hugging her knees. But she had her head tilted so she could watch me.
"Well," I said. "There are other useful things we could be doing."
"Like what?"
"Smooching."
"That's all you think about, isn't it."
"Yep."
She turned completely away and thought about it. Then, instead of turning back, she lay down and looked at me upside down. Took my breath away, to see her spread out like that in the firelight. Watching at me with her head tilted back and her chin pointing up, arms and braid flung this way and that. I got my breath back fast, and picked my jaw up off the floor before she could see my reaction. Casey got self-conscious real easy. I couldn't let her catch me gaping at her.
"We ain't gonna have too much chance for privacy coming up," I said. I leaned in slow and set my arms on either side of her face. "We'll be keeping watch and all that."
I brushed my fingers down the sides of her neck. Her eyes got a little wide at that and she looked nervous, but she must have liked it, because if she didn't she would have punched me. We didn't have too many communication problems in our marriage, for all that we were still awful new at it.
I leaned in and kissed her upside down. Down her lip, and then on the chin, rubbing my chin against her mouth. I started down her jaw toward the side of her neck.
"Ain't I too young for this?" she said. I liked the funny sound in her voice.
"Hope not," I said. I had a funny sound in my voice too, but that was partly because I had a mouthful of ear at the moment.
"You're kissing me upside down."
"Good way of doing it," I said. "Hats don't bump."
Her hat had already come off. She reached up and I pulled away, but she managed to rise up and knock mine off. I grabbed her while she was up off the ground and wrapped her up in a big tight squeeze, kissing her good.
It wasn't the most comfortable place to spend the night, but a couple of horse blankets and our bed rolls, and it did all right. No miners or lice.
end scene
I'll post the progress on my current book a little later tonight.
Friday, May 7, 2010
The Bad Girl Blog Fest - Casey Keeps The Gun
I am participating in the "Bad Girl Blog Fest." Writer bloggers are posting scenes featuring a bad girl. The deadline is the end of the day today. Since I only just found out about it, I couldn't write something specifically for it. But I did have something that I've been working on, so I decided to join in.
This is from Have Gun, Will Play, a novel for my Mick and Casey mystery series about a pair of very young, recently married gunslingers. Mick and Casey have escaped from the badguys with nothing but the clothes on their backs and a bag of toys belonging to a kidnapped girl. Mick (the narrator) has lured one of the bad guys into the stable where Casey is hiding, in hopes of an ambush....
* * *
I left the door open as I went in, so he could sneak in after. Casey wasn't anywhere to be seen. Not that you'd see her if she didn't want to be seen, but she didn't show up when he came in and saw me. Had she got what I intended? I couldn't imagine she'd missed it. Casey wasn't one to give up on a chance for ambush--not even if I hadn't meant it.
I didn't see him but I could feel him behind me as I went past the row of stalls and stable clutter. I slinked on by the wall of gear and glanced back. He was there all right.
Casey wasn't at the back door either, so I scooted out into the alley, and around to the carriage house. Still no Casey.
He wasn't hiding any more as he followed me in. I could see him resting his hand on his gun. I scrambled off to the other end of the carriage house. I didn't want to lead him upstairs to our hideout, so I scrambled around a carriage, and found myself facing him on the other side. He had just drawn his pistol. I put my hands up, and gave him a nervous smile.
"You're a hard man to lose," I said.
"Hold still," he said. I did, but it didn't matter, because that's when Casey swung down from the top of one of the carriages. I saw her arm swing.
CRACK!
She hit him just behind and above the ear, and he went down like a sack of potatoes.
"Damn!" I said. "What did you hit him with?"
She held up a leather bag--a bag of marbles that had been among the toys. That was where the crack came from. It was the marbles, not his skull. I bent over him. He'd gone down hard, but he wasn't quite out. I rolled him over to get his gun. Casey grabbed it away.
"Give it to me," I said.
"No."
"You already got the marbles and a knife," I said. She held out the bag of marbles to me. I didn't take them. "Come on, Case."
"No, I got it. I'm the sharp-shooter. I back you up. I need a gun."
"You aren't that good with a pistol."
"Am too."
I sighed and took the marbles. Then I remembered and I straightened up to look at her.
"Wait a minute," I said. "You already got a gun. You got your boot gun."
"You want it?"
"No."
She shrugged. I sighed and held out my hand, and she squirmed around to get it while keeping an eye on him. She handed it to me; a little one-shot derringer, with no range and maybe enough power to get through a leather vest if it wasn't too thick. I took it and stuck it in my pocket. She was right. I was the one up front and talking, so I probably could make better use of it.
* * *
Later tonight I will continue with my regular blog posts. (In the meantime, you can check out some published Mick and Casey short stories at Mick and Casey Mysteries.)
This is from Have Gun, Will Play, a novel for my Mick and Casey mystery series about a pair of very young, recently married gunslingers. Mick and Casey have escaped from the badguys with nothing but the clothes on their backs and a bag of toys belonging to a kidnapped girl. Mick (the narrator) has lured one of the bad guys into the stable where Casey is hiding, in hopes of an ambush....
* * *
I left the door open as I went in, so he could sneak in after. Casey wasn't anywhere to be seen. Not that you'd see her if she didn't want to be seen, but she didn't show up when he came in and saw me. Had she got what I intended? I couldn't imagine she'd missed it. Casey wasn't one to give up on a chance for ambush--not even if I hadn't meant it.
I didn't see him but I could feel him behind me as I went past the row of stalls and stable clutter. I slinked on by the wall of gear and glanced back. He was there all right.
Casey wasn't at the back door either, so I scooted out into the alley, and around to the carriage house. Still no Casey.
He wasn't hiding any more as he followed me in. I could see him resting his hand on his gun. I scrambled off to the other end of the carriage house. I didn't want to lead him upstairs to our hideout, so I scrambled around a carriage, and found myself facing him on the other side. He had just drawn his pistol. I put my hands up, and gave him a nervous smile.
"You're a hard man to lose," I said.
"Hold still," he said. I did, but it didn't matter, because that's when Casey swung down from the top of one of the carriages. I saw her arm swing.
CRACK!
She hit him just behind and above the ear, and he went down like a sack of potatoes.
"Damn!" I said. "What did you hit him with?"
She held up a leather bag--a bag of marbles that had been among the toys. That was where the crack came from. It was the marbles, not his skull. I bent over him. He'd gone down hard, but he wasn't quite out. I rolled him over to get his gun. Casey grabbed it away.
"Give it to me," I said.
"No."
"You already got the marbles and a knife," I said. She held out the bag of marbles to me. I didn't take them. "Come on, Case."
"No, I got it. I'm the sharp-shooter. I back you up. I need a gun."
"You aren't that good with a pistol."
"Am too."
I sighed and took the marbles. Then I remembered and I straightened up to look at her.
"Wait a minute," I said. "You already got a gun. You got your boot gun."
"You want it?"
"No."
She shrugged. I sighed and held out my hand, and she squirmed around to get it while keeping an eye on him. She handed it to me; a little one-shot derringer, with no range and maybe enough power to get through a leather vest if it wasn't too thick. I took it and stuck it in my pocket. She was right. I was the one up front and talking, so I probably could make better use of it.
* * *
Later tonight I will continue with my regular blog posts. (In the meantime, you can check out some published Mick and Casey short stories at Mick and Casey Mysteries.)
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