What I'm Working On

Thought I'd pop in and rattle off a little blurb about what's been going on lately.

First, my muse decided to come back from her vacation and has started putting me to the lash. Consequently writing is happening. It's not happening as fast as I'd like, but it is happening.  More on why it's slow to follow.

I have finished the year-end tax related mess that's associated with my full-time job. Personally, I think that is why my muse was on vacation as long as she was. She has no taste for the dry business of accounting.

The thing that has been slowing me down though is car repairs and house renovations. My eldest offspring's car has been down for a couple of weeks due to a bad fuel pump. I'm actually planning to get that taken care of this weekend. Fingers crossed that goes to plan.

After that mess is taken care of, I have a garage enclosure to wrap up.  My middle offspring wants his own room and promises have been made.

The last thing that I want to mention is that I have been convinced to start publishing my works. There's so much work that goes into that endeavor that I've almost run screaming into the woods on more than one occasion. Lawdog and OldNFO keep tackling me and bringing me back though, so hopefully I'll actually push my first short stories out by the end of February.

Below is a quick preview of the short story I am working on now. The plan...as it stands now...is for this to be the backstory behind how Tole acquired Mikey and the armoire he calls home and workshop. I'm kind of excited to see how it all comes out in the end.

-Tole

It was quiet in my room for the first time all night, and I was just about to drift off to sleep. You know that feeling when the world is kind of detached, and you know that blissful unconsciousness is only moments away? Yeah, that’s where I was, and it was awesome. Well it would have been if Serilla hadn’t laid her hand on my chest and whispered in my ear.

“Killer, there is something not right about that cabinet in the corner.”

When a creature with centuries of experience and magic as strong as Serilla has makes a statement like that you should listen. I do and it brought me straight up into full consciousness again with all thoughts of sleep flying away. I sat straight up in the bed, started gathering pointy things, and asked her, “What cabinet? What’s not right?”

“Calm down Love. Nothing is trying to kill us…yet, but that armoire in the corner where you keep your clothes is enchanted with magic I do not understand.  It irks me. I tried to open it the other day and that damned wooden snake bit me. I was able to expel the poison before it did any serious damage, but I was never able to open the doors. I do not like there being something in this room that I cannot protect you from.”

I sat back down on the side of the bed and relaxed. I should have realized that she would eventually notice the enchantment on my wardrobe/weapon locker/safe room. I started putting all of my emergency weaponry back into the locations where they are stored around my bed. No point in being pointy right now.

When I was done I lay back down beside her, kissed her forehead and said, “You have nothing to fear from that armoire. The snake is simply the security system. It protects what is inside. I should have expected you to notice the enchantment, but every time you come to my room I always seem to get…distracted. It was a gift from a client…well part of his payment actually…kind of like a tip.  Frankly, I think he was trying to get rid of it.”

“Why do you need something so well protected to house your clothing?” she asked cocking an eyebrow at me.

“Oh it does a lot more than that Lover. Let me show you.”