Asides

#Scotstober Day 3 #Nicht

Today’s word is nicht. It means night. I was a wee bit short of time today and ended up stealing from Running The Asset‘s first draft. Anyway, here’s my response to the prompt:

“Five meenits intae the op an she ort the script. She’s nae got ony upbring tae dae whit she did the nicht. Gin ye hidnea makit thit ca, A’m gey sicker we’d be harlin hir oot the Mediterranean.” Ward shakit heez heid.

Adam didnae hae time fur is. “She did whit hid tae be duin.”

“Thit’s whit A’m feart o. Let time thit didnae pan oot tae weel fur ye.”

Adam’s chaft tichtent.

“Dinnae bither wae the coongerin luik, ye ken A’m richt.” He smirked, “An ye ken fine weel, A’ll boot yer erse fur ye.”

“Ay, richt sae ye wull.” 

And now in English.

“Five minutes into the op and she ditched the script. She’s got no training to do what she did tonight. If you hadn’t made that call, I’m pretty sure we’d be fishing her out of the Mediterranean.” Ward shook his head.

Adam didn’t have time for this. “She did what had to be done.”

“That’s what I’m worried about. Last time that didn’t pan out too well for you.”

Adam’s jaw clenched.

“Don’t bother with the intimidation look, you know I’m right.” He smiled,“And you know well enough that I’ll kick your arse.”

“Yes, sure you can.”

#Scotstober Day 2 #Seelie

Today’s word is seelie. It means happy, lucky, blessed. And, here’s my response to the prompt:

“Dae ye huv tae staun sae close?” Evie skelt awa fae Cole, the eesome bastirt.

Cole wis gowlie. “Jist mak on thit ye dinnae wint tae fell me. Hit’s nae at defeeckwalt,” he luikit it hir, “A’m daen hit richt noo.”

“Get tae—“

He harlt hir, oxterin hir ticht. “The prap’s here.” Cole clapit hir rig lik they wur winchin.

Evie focht agin the hait and seelie growein fae whar Cole’s haun wis. “A hate ye.”

“Ay, sure ye dae.” He turnt tae hir an pred her mou.

And now in English.

“Do you have to stand so close?” Evie sidestepped Cole, the handsome bastard.

Cole scowled. “Just pretend that you don’t want to kill me. It’s not that hard,” he gave her a pointed look, “I’m doing it right now.”

“Go to—”

He pulled her to him, his arm wrapped tight around her. “The target’s here.” Cole stroked his hand up and down her back like they were lovers.

Evie fought against the heat and happiness that was growing inside her from Cole’s touch. “I hate you.’

“Of course you do.” He turned to her and kissed her.

It’s #Scotstober

Back in 2019, I started a series of posts called Thing in Scots. The series has languished for a while, and I’ve been wanting to get it up and running again. Cue Scotstober.

Scotstober is a challenge on Twitter where there’s a Scots word prompt for each day of October. You can follow it by using the #Scotstober hashtag.

Today’s word is mirk. It means dark, gloomy, night. And, here’s my response to the prompt:

Walton kept the edgie, peerin through the mirk o the wynd as he waitit fur Leigh tae answer him. “Did ye dae hit or no?” He pied doon his neb, ower heez fantoosh, wee glesses.

“Naw.” She oxtert hir hauns tae protecke fae the cauld.

“Naw? Naw?” Walton’s eens near burst oot his heid. “A kent better than tae uise a wee quine fir a mannie’s joab.” He went fir hir then, a saicant tae late.

Leigh smirked as she rammed the beetyach intae heez thairm. “Thit’s whit they aw say.”

And now in English.

Walton was on high alert, peering through the darkness of the alley as he waited for Leigh to answer him. “Did you do it or not?” He peered down his nose, over his flashy, small glasses.

“No.” She tucked her hands into her armpits to protect them from the cold.

“No? No?” Walton’s eyes bulged. “I knew better than to have a girl do a mans job.” he went for her then, a second too late.

Leigh smiled as she shoved the small knife into his gut. “That’s what they all say.”

Fan Of… My Husband

My husband, Jez, runs a weekly Fan Of… challenge. It’s less of a challenge and more of a way to share what you’re passionate about. Well, as it’s our eighteenth wedding anniversary this week (and twenty-fourth together yesterday), and as a romance writer and lover, I’m allowed to get sappy once in a while, and I thought it was pretty perfect timing to do a Fan Of…post.

My Top Ten Reasons For Why I’m A Huge Fan Of… My Husband

  1. His highbrow sense of humour.
  2. His creativity.
  3. His kindness in sharing custody of the only functioning brain cell between us.
  4. His passion for and his dedication to his photography blog is inspiring.
  5. His adorable and zany inner chimp, Godfrey, is a perfect match for my own inner chimp, Neenee.
  6. His love of nature and history.
  7. His inner strength.
  8. His unwavering support, even when I let doubt creep in.
  9. His skill in cheating at Scrabble just by saying, “it’s part of a boat,” with an impish grin.
  10. His smile. Seriously, how am I supposed to resist that?

Happy Anniversary, Sweetie! 😍

If you ever find yourself thinking, “I’m a huge fan of…” Why not share it with your blog readers and the Fan Of… community. Posts are on Mondays; check out Jez’s latest post for more information on how to join in.

Thanks for reading.

KonMari equals AWOL

It’s October and I should have been back in the word mines for a week or so by now. But, I’m not.

After my week off at the end of August it seemed pointless getting back to work only to have another week off for my birthday—sounds like a lot of off time, but I hadn’t had a day off since June.

Anyway, after my time off I sat down to work and found that I couldn’t. I just kept getting distracted by the neatly organised clutter. No matter how much I tried to ignore it, I just couldn’t focus.

It was driving me crazy and I knew that cleaning wasn’t the solution. I actually already had the solution: Marie Kondo’s book The Life-Changing Magic of Cleaning.

Continue reading “KonMari equals AWOL“

Working the Asset — Update 20th August

I love update post day! It means that I’ve made progress on my WIP, and that I’m ever closer to my goal of releasing Working the Asset.

Since the last update (ten days ago), I’ve completed Pass #5 — four days ahead of schedule 😃🥳 — and have made a start on Pass #6. In fact, I’m 12% of the way in.

For those interested, Pass #6 is all about the characters. Whittling down the cast size, cementing introductions, ensuring that I’ve treated them with respect–even when I’ve got to make them suffer 😈–and a whole host of other character related tasks.

Thanks for reading, and for your support 😍

As always, stay safe and stay awesome!

Working the Asset — Update 10th August

It’s been a couple of weeks since I did an update post for Working the Asset.

Since the last update, I’ve blasted through Pass #4, the aim of which is to deepen audience delight with genre sequences, dramatic irony, and making sure that the story escalates well.

I’m now working on Pass #5. This pass takes care of the Fou Rs or as H. R. D’Costa (the creator of this outlining method) calls them The Four Workhorses. The four Rs are Realism, Relevance, Repetition, and Rhythm.

For the past few days I’ve been working through my stack of index cards—the continuously growing stack—looking for, and creating, setups and payoffs. And, tomorrow sees me tackling the fun/teeth-drying task of wrangling my subplots into shape.

And onwards!

Thanks for reading, and for your support 😍

As always, stay safe and stay awesome!

Hi all! Our internet went on a major go slow, like slow-slow. I spent the better part of today getting it back up to speed, and thankfully it’s running smoothly now. Yay! On the non-yay front, I’ve run out of time in my workday and haven’t had the time to work on this week’s Genre Scribes.
Never fear, Amy and Kelvin will be back tomorrow.
Till then, stay awesome.
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