Tag Archives: Spring

Day two of a four day weekend

It’s been a pretty productive day over all. At least in my writing world, lol! Everything else, well – I’m just ignoring it until later, or it comes after me, whichever happens first. It was a very rainy day, apparently the weather guy wasn’t wrong – for once. Which meant I had the absolutely perfect excuse to stay inside and write. And write I did.

I’ve got my main female character facing off against our bad guy. He’s in the midst of messing with her, little taunts and threats, that sort of thing. He’s a very polite, well educated, yet ruthless jackass of a man. I’m hoping I’ve developed him into the sort of bad guy that, even while people secretly kind of maybe like him, they want to see him go down. Because, even though he has his own sets of standards, his own moral code, he’s an asshole that needs to be tossed under the jail. Not sure if I’m accomplishing that great feat, but I’m ever hopeful.

Really, my biggest thing is, making him real and believable. Yes he’s a dick, yes he’s the “bad guy”, yes we all know he’s going to get what he’s got coming (cause that’s how I write them), but he still has to feel “real” to the readers. Cause, if they don’t buy it, then the whole thing just flops. Which would abso-freaking-lutely suck ass.

Well, I think that’s about it. I have to go and torment my lead female character a little more, see about the grand rescue, and then a little hanky panky between the leads. Which, given a number of things that have happened to them up to this point, will be pretty damn hot. Have a good night ~ Moira

Day one of a four day weekend

Yup, that’s right! I got me a four day weekend. With Canada Day on Tuesday the boss said to hell with it, we’re not working Monday. The reality is, he didn’t want to work on Monday since he wanted to go out to his trailer to spend the weekend on the lake. Don’t blame him, the weather today is freakin’ fantastic! From the forecast, except for a “possible chance of precipitation” the four days look like they will be stellar.

Which means I have four days to write, write and write some more. On day one, today, I slept in. I’ve been battling a bit of a head cold on top of my yearly bout of allergies. It’s been a challenge but with my buddy the Kleenex box at my side, I’ve been making it through. Beyond a bit of sinus ache, it’s actually not all that bad this year around. We’ve had just enough rain to help with the dust issue that always arises right around this time. It’s one of my bigger allergy issues, that and the dry crap that’s kicked up when people mow and de-thatch their lawns for the first couple times of the year. Yes, I’m horribly allergic to the dust kicked up by mowed lawns. If I even get a whiff of a freshly mowed lawn at this time of year I will travel four blocks out of my way to avoid it just so I don’t have the wonderful seizing in my lungs. Can’t avoid it entirely, but I damn well try for the first bit. After the first month though it doesn’t much affect me, unless I’m the poor sucker out there doing the mowing. Which, as I have no lawn thanks to apartment living, I don’t ever have to do.

Up to bat on the writing front is C&M book 3. Still need to finish this sucker off. So I have my TV playing softly in the background, coffee at my elbow, and this sucker is getting done this weekend. Come hell or… Okay, given where I live, I’m not finishing that. Since we had high water’s last year and I’m not temping Fate or anything else. *knocking on wood*

With all that in mind, I’m off to do some writing. Hope you all have a lovely weekend ~ Moira

First in a series…

dangeroustimes1sComing this Thursday Dangerous Times, is the first book of the C&M Security series. I’m very excited about this series, it’s my first one, and it’s also a slightly different take for me on a romantic story. It’s got mystery, it’s got danger, and it’s got some good old fashioned heat.

In book one we get to meet the delightfully adorable, Tamara Phillips. She’s a photographer who lives on her caffeinated beverages and hates mornings. Okay, I admit, those two traits are all me. Gotta put a little of yourself into your works, right? She meets up again with the sinfully sexy, Shawn Camden. He’s co-owner in C&M Security – the “C” if you need a hint as to how I came up with the name of his company.

I had a lot of fun writing this first book in the series. It was a great stretch of my abilities to try something new. Never having done anything with a bit of mystery behind it, and keeping the “big secret” actually a secret to the end, was definitely a challenge. So many times I caught myself giving something away that I knew would just ruin the effect I was attempting to create.

Thankfully my editor, the wonderfully talented Laurie Temple, was on my side of keeping the “secret” a secret. Normally not identifying a key character is a no-no, but in this case it was necessary to assist in leading the reader along just so. Then, at the end, WHAM! Big reveal. I also have to give a shout out to the talented cover artist who does all the Evernight Publishing covers, Sour Cherry Designs did a fantabulous job on the cover for this – so thanks!

That’s it for tonight I think, I have writing to do, characters to mess with, and a plot to twist up into knots. ~ Moira

Sunny Saturday…

It’s actually sunny out there, not kidding in the least! It’s a miracle really, given I was starting to feel like I was living in Vancouver (hehe!) after the last couple of weeks of nearly constant rain, and drizzle. I love my neighbors to the West, but seriously, keep the rain over there. Those of us living right across the Rockies are still feeling a little twitchy from last year over anything more than a couple hours of rain.

If I didn’t feel like such a pile o’ shit right now, I think one of my co-workers gave me her cold, I’d be out enjoying it. Instead I’ve been cleaning furiously in an effort to sweat some of it out. Now that I’ve exhausted myself though I think I shall write for a while before I go shopping. Nothing exciting though, just some food for my relatively bare fridge. Not bare-bare, but definitely lacking more than a few beverages, bread, butter and eggs. Need something for dinner, something with a bit of substance, maybe a nice thick and juicy steak. Oh god that sounds good! Of course, if I’m still feeling crappy when I go shopping I’ll likely just get a bunch of comfort foods instead, lol! It’s always that way.

On the writing front I’m stuttering through a bit of C&M Security book 3. I’ve been playing around with getting my hero and heroine back into town to confront the bad guy after they made a necessary, and strategic, retreat to recover from what he’d done. Now I need to get them back onto the playing field, quickly, so that this guy goes down – hard. Not really sure how I’m going to do this, but we’ll see. I’ve got a few ideas that I’ve been playing through, seeing how they’ll come to a conclusion. So far only two really seem to work, but I’m not really sure if it fits them. Oh well, it’ll work out, always does.

GOT-24

I think that’s it from me. I’m going to watch a bit of backlogged TV – Games of Thrones and 24 – while I write. Maybe I’ll be hit by some inspiration ~ Moira

Whole new meaning to Wet Wednesday…

The weather is dreadful, raining and nasty cold out there. It has been raining on and off all day long. It’s only just picked up in the last hour or so, the temps dropped and the clouds have lowered enough that it’s truly dismal out there. Ick!

To commemorate this gawd awful day of wet weather I’m getting into the spirit of things with a Wet Wednesday slide show of naked, wet men. All of whom should raise the temperature just a little bit more. These are all images I got out of my purchased file folder – so I have no clue who any of them are, but I really wish I knew at least…well, maybe…screw it, I want to know them all!

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And, because what would a Wet Wednesday be without the one, the only, the original…

Ferris_Buellers_Day_Off-1-1

Oh yeah, I went there. Matthew Broderick as Ferris Bueller of course.

All right, I’m off to keep working on my C&M Security book 3 -title yet to be decided- and see if I can’t make my characters nice and uncomfortable for a bit. Before I make them all run for their little lives. It’s good to be in charge of such things, lol!

Have a great night ~ Moira

Happily plotting

It’s Saturday, a bit overcast, but quite pleasantly warm. So I figured I’d set up out on my balcony to write for a while. Fresh air, sounds of the city around me, and just enough sun not to freeze to death. It was an awesome plan. Got a lot of writing done on the new C&M Security book. Book three for those keeping track. Got just over 3500 words down on the page and already my lead female character is in shit up to her eyeballs.

Unlike the other books so far in this series, this one my lead character is heading straight into danger, willingly I should mention. She’s a police detective so that’s kind of her gig. Unfortunately for my leading gal, no one actually has much of a clue as to just who they are going up against, who they are rescuing her from. Neither did she until it was too late. Much too late.

Muahahaha! Yeah, I’m evil. I just LOVE putting characters into precarious positions and then trying to figure out how to dig them out. I do a bit of plotting ahead of time, more or less enough to know what the bad guy is after -his ultimate goal- but let the characters guide the story for a good portion of it. I like seeing where they pull things, often it’s to places I never would have been able to think up sitting there staring at a blank word doc.

I’m not saying that where they pull me is always the best place. Hell no! For instance, in book two of this same series, my lead male character nearly had him and those he was with, doing something highly questionable, and very illegal. I had to kibosh that right quick. Can’t be having any of that, especially since that isn’t who they are at their core. While the staff of C&M Security might play a little loose and free with the law, they can’t break it. So, after a knuckle whack or three, I got them back on track with a slightly less dramatic, but much better for the overall storyline, path. They were happy, no criminal records or jail time, and I was happy, no supporting of illegal activities just because you can. Don’t need to be setting that sort of precedent.

Now, had I written about a thief, totally different standards there. I can’t write about a thief that never steals anything, that would go against who I was writing and the story I was creating. But these guys work with law enforcement so, bending a little is okay, outright breaking is very, very bad.

Well, that’s enough of a break, back to writing now. Need to see if I can make about 5k words before dinner. Have a good day everyone ~ Moira

Allergy season…

The “official” start of Spring for me. Gotta love the red, watering eyes, the runny nose, and the uncontrollable sneezes that can clear a room. I was ready for it though, as I am every season. Thankfully, for me at least, it doesn’t last very long. A couple three weeks and then I’m fine for the rest of the season. It’s the dust, nasty shit, from after the winter as they do the street clean up, and people mow and de-thatch their lawns for the first time of the season. Snow mold/first mowing dust is my biggest enemy. I can’t mow a lawn, at any time in the season, without being pumped full of Benadryl.

On the other hand, it’s FRIDAY! Woohoo! LOL! So I have the weekend to get my snotty nosed self (literal meaning here) under control before I have to return to the workplace. The fact it will be a relatively lovely weekend, weather wise, is a huge plus. Maybe I’ll get out for an hour here and there to get some color into my poor native white Canadian ass. At least enough to not blind strangers as we pass on the street. Thank goodness I can tan. Being part Irish it was kind of a coin toss right from the start. Not everyone in my family got lucky on that particular draw.

Other plans for the weekend include some movie watching while I write book 3 of the C&M Security series. I will also likely be working on my paranormal book since it seems to finally be shaping into something tangible. Nothing else new on the horizon until I get these two written. Figured two at a time was more than enough but there are plenty of ideas I’ve been jotting down for upcoming books in the C&M Security series. Should be a good little series.

Well, that would be it! I’m off to hunt down some ice cream and poke at some paranormals for a bit. Night all ~ Moira

Week’s going great

So far anyway, lol! Yesterday wasn’t too bad, except for the drenching I got as I dashed semi-quickly home from work. I was definitely more than just a little soggy by the time I got here. There was much squish-squish happening as I dripped my way to my place. I hate having wet shoes – nasty!

Plus side though, got my contract signed, and sent off for book 2 of the C&M Security series. As well as doing up the blurb/cover art sheet – that went back to Evernight Publishing as well. Did some writing and I think I may even have an idea for book 3 in this series. It’s vague right now so I’m just letting it rumble around in my head.

Stayed up a bit too late last night and then just couldn’t fall asleep. Not because my brain was spinning but because I honestly couldn’t get comfortable. Damnedest thing too. Especially given what I spent on my awesome mattress. Frickin’ thing cost nearly a very large mortgage payment – if I paid mortgage that is. But it was a Christmas gift so, in my humble opinion, well worth it. I love my bed. My bed is awesome! But last night we just weren’t in the groove together.

I had a LOT of coffee today to combat my need to sleep. That and I needed to try, I said “try”, to keep my wandering mind focused. I think I left my brain in bed this morning because I was seriously disorganized and mildly chaotic. I did, somehow, manage to get a lot of work done though. Not a fucking clue how! Really, I have no idea how the hell I managed it.

Well, that’s it for the moment. I think I’ll go hunt down something for dessert and vegetate in front of the TV and computer for a like. Have a good night ~ Moira

Just chillin’

Had a very relaxed day at work, huge shocker, but given the rather sunny conditions out of doors it was overly surprising. Pretty sure most of the city cleared out for camping this weekend. Happens rather regularly when the weather looks great – but this is Canada, that shit will change fast and you could very well wake up under six feet of snow trying to dig out of your tent. Yeah, that sounds like the bees knees of fun ways to spend a weekend. Not!

Working on a couple of stories right now. One may, may not, be a new series but I’m not overly concerned just yet. Still gotta write the damned thing LOL! The other one I’m still getting a feel for but it’s definitely of a paranormal vibe. Not my original thought but a new and decidedly odd one. It all started with a wayward thought, a TV show and Pepsi shooting out of my nose during a sneeze I shouldn’t have tried to stifle. It was NOT pretty around here for a bit after that.

It was the oddest thing too, it just kinda popped into my head. So off I went – after wiping down several surfaces to save them from the snorted pop – and jotted down my notes. It’s very rough, but most starter stories are. So we shall see what we shall see as this develops.

Well, I’m off to grab a hot bubbly bath and maybe something to drink. Night! ~ Moira

Long weekend

keep-calm-its-the-long-weekend-2Well, so far weather wise, this long weekend kinda sucks. I’m very happy I have three blissful days off from the hell I call my day job. But really, some sunshine would not be amiss here Mother Nature.

On the plus side though I got my second instalment of the C&M Security series finished and submitted to Evernight for consideration. We shall see if they want to take it on and keep the series going. I have a feeling I won’t hear right away as I know most of the staff is off in NOLA for a conference there. From the sounds of things they are all having a blast and that’s marvelous. I may just have to join them next year wherever it might be lol!

In other news I’m working on another new story since my paranormals aren’t working out quite right and I’m thinking of coming at that from a different direction entirely. The new story may be a short, not sure yet. It will be a standalone for sure, that I do know right now. It just sort of popped into my head and I’ve been getting it down as fast as I can as accurately as I can manage. Should be a fun little read I hope.

Well, that’s about it from under a bunch of cloud cover. I’m off to keep plotting ~ Moira