It’s Christmas! I doubt that many of you will be reading this, but just in case, a few of my characters wanted to wish you a good holiday:
Dashiell, one of the demons in Angelic Business 2. Shapes of Greg
Dashiell (better known as Dash, and yes, he’s pretty dashing. They love him in Twitter!) wanted me to tell you that it’s OK to be a bit naughty these days. But then, he’s a demon!
G, Greg or Gregorious
G, Greg, or Gregorious, another demon (yes, he’s one of the main characters) in the Angelic Business series, wanted me to tell you that it’s OK to make mistakes and we all make a wrong choice from time to time (he should know!). Although, sometimes there’s a price to pay.
Azrael
Azrael is an angel (yes, I know you can see that), also in Angelic Business and asked me to tell you that magic exists and there are more things than what we can see, if we only believe in ourselves and others.
Pink, the heroine of Angelic Business
Pink, the protagonist of Angelic Business, wanted to remind you that you can do more things than you realise and if you believe in yourself, there are no limits. Of course, with a little help from your friends (and in her case, an angel and a demon too).
Dulce from I Love Your Cupcakes
Dulce, from I Love Your Cupcakes, hopes you have a very sweet holiday season.
Escaping Psychiatry. Beginnings
And Mary Miller from Escaping Psychiatry, who’s a bit shy, wanted to share a link to the first chapters of the prequel that it’s appearing now in Wattpad, just in case you want to do something not very Christmassy. (I’ll be sharing it in my blog from next year too).
Azrael, the angel is my YA series ‘Angelic Business’ is interviewed in N.N.Light’s wonderful blog. Come and meet him! And remember, book 3 is out next week!
As you know, I’m on the way to publishing my first YA series (I’m getting there!) and I asked for help with sharing information about it. Blogger friends, you’ve been AWESOME (and I’m well aware some people dread the way the word is used these days, but in this case, it’s true. I’m in awe, thunderstruck… any superlatives you might come up with).
I’ll try and do a drumroll of everybody when the worst (or best) is over.
But I thought as thanks, I should give you something. The next few weeks I’m involved not only in promoting my own books but in blog tours for others (it seems to be the season) so I thought I’d take the chance today. I pondered, thought and finally, I decided to share a story, that I think can be enjoyed by all, writers, readers and dreamers alike. Some of you might have read it already but it’s never been officially published, and it’s light enough, to cheer people up. It’s not short, short, but… Ah, and I leave you a few links to other things that you might find interesting at the end.
Here it goes:
The Novel
Denver had never been the most attractive or lucky of girls. Brown hair, brown eyes, average height. Not a sculptural body either. She’d gone through Primary and High School without doing anything remarkable. She’d had a few dates, but she’d never had a formal boyfriend (or an informal one, for that matter!). She’d managed to move away from her parents’ house (nice people, but too conventional) nearly a year ago, and she’d expected her life to change completely. No more boredom! Excitement, freedom, recklessness! Maybe all that wasn’t her, after all, because her life had continued to be as boring as usual. Nothing new. She had a studio-flat to herself, but that was all there was. It wasn’t even in a fancy place. Peaceful, quiet, and empty.
Even her friend Phoebe was living with someone. She’d always thought Phoebe would be the last girl in the world to get somebody. So shy, so prudish, she never dared to take any risks at all…And there she was. Phoebe had had her adventure, and Denver was still there. Waiting. What on earth was she waiting for?
If only things were like in the books or the films. Life would be so much easier to handle. If only she could discover what the plot to her life was, or at least what the genre of the novel she was living was. If life came with a book of instructions for its use and enjoyment everything would be so much simpler…
She told herself that it was all a matter of determination. She was going to take control. From now on, she was writing her own story. And she would decide what it was going to be like. She could hear the music of Carmen (‘Toreador’) as she went to sleep on the thought. Her name in neon lights. Her relatives and friends clapping at her performance. Her life was going to become a best seller!
The next morning, when she walked into her office, she’d made her mind up. A romantic story. That was what her life was going to be. A beautiful love story. The setting wasn’t perfect: tables, computers, doors, papers and more papers. But her reserve of imagination was larger than the Federal Bank’s gold reserve. She could blank out reality if she tried real hard. It was all in the process of creation. The plastic and cheap-looking tables could become mahogany, period tables. The lamps, crystal…Maybe something more intimate and less grand would be more romantic. She didn’t want ‘Gone with the Wind’ either. It was too much. Not so ambitious. Flowery pastel curtains on the windows; instead of the huge skyscrapers a lake and a little white house in the distance, a Cole Porter song…And soft light. Definitely soft light. It would go with her pink dress. And she had a hero. Mr. Spencer, Mark, her boss. He was tall, dark and handsome. Denver was well aware that there were many women interested in him, but deep inside him, even if he’d never showed it, she knew that the flame of his love for her burned really hot. She had got some flowers for her desk, to complete the scene, and she left one in his room.
Mr. Spencer came in and nodded at her. The music grew louder. He hadn’t said anything but Denver sensed that he was only feigning indifference. She waited for his call. He would call her any time to thank her for the flower, and he would acknowledge his feelings. She could picture the scene. She’d go in, and there he would be, in the centre of the room, hazy background and a shiny smile on his face. Who needed Brad Pitt or Leonardo Di Caprio when she had Mr. Spencer? He would rush towards her, inflamed by his passion and taking her hand he would cover it with kisses.
”Thanks for the flower. It’s so beautiful and delicate as you are. I suppose you imagined I didn’t notice you, but it’s taken all my self-control not to approach you before, and now…”
“Mr. Spencer…” She would blush and flip her long eyelids that were one of her main charms.
“Call me Mark…”
One of the other girls, a newcomer, short and very active, shook her.
“Mr. Spencer is calling you. I wouldn’t make him wait. He’s been quite short recently.”
“He won’t be short with me.”
The other girl looked at her surprised, but Denver marched in the office with her notebook and a broad smile. ‘Our love is here to stay’ was playing in her mind.
“Mr. Spencer.”
He was sneezing like mad. No hazy background, no shiny smile.
“Was this your idea?” He asked pointing at the flower.
“Well, yes. I thought it would enliven the office.”
“Nobody asked you to think. I’m allergic to flowers. Take that away from here. Quick!” His tone was dry and hard. He was not amused.
She grabbed the flower feeling mortified. She was only trying…
“And don’t come back in. Mr. Wingfield needs someone to help him. His secretary had an accident a couple of days ago. Take your things to his office.”
Mr. Wingfield! He was old, fiery, and not very nice. Denver could have cried.
“And take the flowers on your desk with you. Thanks.”
Thanks? Thanks? Who did he think he was? Not her hero, definitely not. A romantic hero didn’t behave like that. Men. One could never trust them to play their parts.
While she was filing documents in Mr. Wingfield’s office she concluded that, whatever it was, her life wasn’t a romantic novel. But, who wanted a romantic novel anyhow? There was no real adventure, no risk, and no danger. A detective story. A good detective story was what she needed.
Next day Denver decided on wearing a dark suit, and she even bought a packet of cigarettes on the way. She tried to smoke one, but it made her cough, and her eyes started to cry. She threw them away. She’d have to be a healthy detective instead.
Once in the office nothing exciting seemed to happen for a while. Selecting the mail, answering some of the letters, rearranging some appointments. Just before midday, Steve, one of the salesmen and Marie’s (one of the other secretaries) boyfriend went to see her. He was a nice guy, nothing outstanding, but kind and attentive. He didn’t have a dress sense though, red hair and a brown suit didn’t quite match, but he wasn’t like the other salesmen always flirting with the pretty girls and never talking to her. He was polite and he always told her about his adventures when selling their ‘wonderful garden implements’. Marie never let him talk about it; it was too boring for her. She only wanted him to adore her and talk about her all the time. Steve was far too good for Marie. Not Denver’s type, but he deserved better than Marie. She always had to act all high and mighty.
“ I wonder if you can help me with this mystery.”
A mystery! Eureka! She had the feeling this was going to be her lucky day. The music inundated her ears. Dark, slightly threatening, jazzy…
“Tell me.”
“I’ve been to see Marie…She’s not at her desk.”
Denver’s pulse accelerated. The trumpet blew in. A missing person. Always a good topic in detective stories.
“She’s probably doing something…photocopying?”
“I’ve looked. She isn’t there. Nobody has seen her go out either.”
“Let’s go and see.”
Denver examined Marie’s desk with utmost attention. A good detective had to be scientific and meticulous. Shame she hadn’t brought a magnifying glass with her. But, that was too old-fashioned. Now it was all DNA testing and sophisticated gadgets. She’d have to do with her wit. It was much cheaper. Observation was the first rule. Marie’s notepad was there, so it was unlikely that she would be in Mr. Spencer’s office. Unless she…
“Do you think she’s filing something in the office?” Steve asked.
“It’s possible, but Mr. Spencer doesn’t like us to do it while he is here, and he hasn’t gone out. You see? She hasn’t written anywhere where he was going. He must be there.”
“What about the toilet?”
“It’s been quite a while. And her handbag is in the drawer, so she isn’t making up or anything.”
“She can’t possibly have vanished.”
“Did she know you were coming?”
“No, she didn’t. I wasn’t supposed to be here today, I had to go out of town, but the client phoned saying he was unwell, so I didn’t go.”
“I see.”
An idea came to Denver’s mind. She didn’t like it, but it made sense. Why Mr. Spencer had seemed so crossed recently, why Marie had been wearing nicer and more expensive clothes, why he’d dismissed her with a stupid excuse. Her mental soundtrack died. It was solemnly silent.
“I think…” Denver pressed a button in the intercom.
“Oh Marie…”
“Mr. Spencer…”
“Mark…”
“Mark…Go on…Go on…Yes, yes, yes!”
Denver switched it off. It was too much. Steve’s face had changed colour.
“Bitch.”
“Don’t…”
Steve was flushed, shaky, but tried to smile. “Don’t worry. I won’t do anything stupid. Good luck to her. I can find somebody like her any time. Thanks all the same.”
“I’m sorry.”
“It’s all right. Not your fault. Bye.”
Denver wasn’t hard enough for the job. She didn’t like its results. The truth could be too hurtful at times and she wasn’t mean. Her life wouldn’t be a detective’s story either.
Denver didn’t admit her defeat as yet. The times weren’t right for romantic novels or detective stories. People wanted the impossible, dreams come true, progress…Science Fiction, that was the ‘in’ thing. A good Sci-Fi story. That was it.
On the elevator the next day she was trying to get herself in the right mood for her new genre. The building was better suited for that than for romantic novels or detective stories really. Metallic-looking doors, abstract paintings, mechanical sculptures, cameras everywhere, computer screens, and thousands of doors…Even the people looked grey and metallic that day. The elevator stopped without a warning between the tenth and eleventh floor. She didn’t know any of the other people stuck with her. They worked in other offices. One of the men, pale, bold, in a grey suit, seemed annoyed.
“I wonder what it is this time. These bloody things never work properly.”
“It won’t be anything serious.” the youngest, blondest and prettiest of the girls affirmed. She was wearing a grey skirt and a grey blouse too. Definitely a grey day.
“Shall we press the alarm button?” a very young man anxious, sweaty, and probably wearing his first grey suit for his first job, asked.
The lights went off. Maybe she’d made a mistake and it was a horror movie after all. Or a combination, like ‘Alien’. But, the only music that would play in her mind would be the band in ‘Star Wars’ bar. OK, they were all a bit weird in that elevator, but not as weird as the specimens in the film.
“What’s happening?” It was an unknown voice. A grey woman, no doubt.
“I’ll press the button” the young grey man said. No movement, no sound. Dead quiet.
“It isn’t working! What’s happening?” the same grey woman asked. The pitch of her voice was higher this time.
The elevator shook and there were noises. Everybody went quiet. Denver thought that it didn’t feel quite right for an abduction. She’d always heard about bright lights, and usually somebody driving along lonely roads, or out for a walk, not in the middle of town, in an elevator full of people. It didn’t make sense. Maybe it was a horror novel. But why that music? It wasn’t serious. Even the music of the ‘X-Files’ would be more appropriate, but no. The alien bar in ‘Star Wars’.
They could hear what seemed to be voices coming from outside. Perhaps it was an abduction after all. Aliens. Did aliens prefer people wearing grey in elevators? Denver hadn’t read anything about that. She shouldn’t have neglected her culture that way. If she wasn’t abducted she’d made up for it. If she was…well, she imagined she’d get to know, one way or another.
“Help! We’re trapped!” the bold grey man shouted.
The voices stopped and all went very quiet.
“Something is not right.” the very young grey man offered. “I think…”
They heard somebody or something walking on the roof of the elevator. One of the panels on top of them began to move. It was lifted and a ray of light flashed in. Denver had suddenly realised in a panic that she was wearing green! They were coming for her! Aliens couldn’t stand people who wore green! She screamed and the rest of the elevator joined in.
“They’re coming to get us!”.
When a head looked in, a loud thump resounded in the closed space. A spot of light fell on the body. It was the bold grey man. He’d fainted.
“What are you doing here?” the owner of the head asked. “We told the porter not to let anybody use this unit because we had to do some repairs, so we stopped it in a place convenient for us.”
“The porter never said anything.”
“Who did you think I was, anyhow? Why did you scream? Oh well, we’ll let you out. Sorry.” The repair man grinned. He was probably thinking it would make a good story to tell his colleagues. Panic in the elevator!
It was embarrassing. Even Denver looked grey after that. And if it wasn’t bad enough, the music carried on. But she could take it. It wouldn’t be a Science-Fiction story, or a Horror novel either. Maybe try another old-style type of thing. Revival time. A good Western. Nothing could really compare to an old Western. And she’d always wanted to wear cowboy boots and a hat. With the central heating at full blast it felt like a dessert, and the cacti the company had bought to give the office a homely atmosphere helped the impression. Her name was appropriate too. Denver. The Denver Kid…The Denver Girl…Denver the Quick. Buffalo Denver? Decisions, decisions. And Mr. Wingfield bothering her about some copies. She’d choose her new name whilst making the copies.
When Denver reached the photocopier, strategically placed in the middle of the corridor that joined all the offices, she realised that she had forgotten her card. She left her things next to the machine while she went to pick it up. When she returned Marie had had the cheek to jump her place and start photocopying her own stuff. Who did she think she was? First her man, then the photocopier. What would be next? No, it shouldn’t be tolerated. There wasn’t enough space in that office for the both of them. The whistles in one of Clint Eastwood’s movies seemed to filter under the door at the end of the corridor. A very long corridor. Empty. Only Marie and her.
“Marie.”
“Yes?”
“I was here before you came. Didn’t you see my things?”
“You should remember to bring your card with you.”
Denver didn’t have a gun, but she reached for her belt nonetheless. She adjusted her imaginary white hat. At the end of the dusty street was her enemy, Marie, all dressed in black. They were approaching each other in slow motion. Did she imagine the clink of the spurs? Moving closer, a little bit closer.
“And you should remember you have a boyfriend before getting in the office with the boss.” She felt a slightly bitchy, but one had to use the best weapons available. She was ready to shoot. Fast, clean, no hesitation.
“What do you mean?”
“Have you seen Steve recently?”
“No.”
“I think he heard a very strange conversation between Mr. Spencer and you.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“One that went something like: ’Mark…Yes, yes, yes!’” she said, trying to imitate Marie’s high pitched voice. Did she hit the target? Marie was still standing, but she was sure she’d wounded her at least.
“You…!”
“Me…what…?”
Denver could see in Marie’s eyes that she was preparing to shoot. She looked like a good shot. Cool, calm, no shakiness.
“Do you know what Mark said to me, Denver? He said: ’That Denver, she’s such a pathetic creature. She always seems to be living in the clouds, she has no style, no sense of humour. I’m sure she’s a lesbian.’”
“He didn’t…” Denver felt the bullet straight in the heart.
“Do you want us to ask him?”
Denver retreated. Too much blood loss to try another shot. She wasn’t offended by Mr. Spencer calling her a lesbian. That wasn’t an insult, that was the same as calling her short or brown-haired. Only she didn’t feel attracted to women that way. But ‘pathetic creature’ ‘no sense of humour’. She’d tried so hard to make him like her and she had failed. She didn’t stand a chance with anybody else. She left the scene badly wounded. She’d lost her duel. She wasn’t made to be a gunwoman either.
If Steve hadn’t walked in her office at that precise moment Denver would have cried, but she knew he had better reasons than her to cry(after all he’d been going out with Marie for nearly two years now and he seemed quite serious about it), and he was holding on. Whatever her life was, she didn’t want to make a big tragedy out of it. It wasn’t that bad.
“Hi Denver. You don’t look happy.”
“Hi Steve. I am not. But nothing important.”
“Tell me your sorrows and I’ll tell you mine.”
“It’s a long story, Steve.”
“It’s lunch time. Go on. Let’s go out and you tell me.”
“All right.”
Sitting on a bench in the park she told Steve her ideas about books and life and her failed attempts at living her life as if it were a book. He laughed.
“Do you think it’s funny?”
“I do. Haven’t you realised that your life makes a wonderful comedy?”
“It doesn’t. Not from my end.”
“I think it’s hilarious. A shoot-out with Marie. That’s a lovely idea. I wouldn’t mind myself. But I’d rather have real guns.”
“I’m pleased I’ve made you laugh.”
“You’ve made me feel better. But not as well as to make me change my mind. I’ve decided to leave this job. It was never for me in the first place and I don’t want to do this for ever. A friend of mine is getting a restaurant. I can’t remember if I’ve told you before but I trained as a chef. It isn’t going to be a big business to start with, but…”
“Here?” It would be sad to lose her only ally in the place. And such a nice person.
“No, in Boston. It’s a bit far but I am not leaving that much behind.”
“I’ll miss you.”
“Come to see me. I’ll miss you too. The only person I’ll miss in this hole. But you must remember, nobody can ruin your life for you if you don’t let them. You have enough imagination to survive anything.”
“Thanks. We must go back to the office. I still work there.”
“Let’s go back.”
Steve promised to say goodbye before leaving, and Denver promised in return that she would try to go and visit him. She sat back at her desk and her mind wandered back to the old themes. Life. Novels. Maybe books weren’t as powerful or as good a guide as she had thought. She didn’t want to live a comedy that was only funny for others. Whoever was writing her life hadn’t given her a very good part on it. And not much voice in the matter. Life wasn’t fair.
“Denver, Denver!” Mr. Wingfield’s voice woke her up from her reveries “Dreaming again? Come to my office. I have to dictate you some letters.”
Letters, letters…Maybe life was only writing other people’s letters.
Back at home Denver kept on thinking about her life. Writing other people’s letters? Was that all there was? No. It couldn’t be. If she couldn’t live her life like a book, maybe….
She sat at the table, got pen and paper and began to write:
Denver had never been the most attractive or lucky of girls.
****
What do you think? I like Denver.
And, a couple of things, as I said at the beginning a couple of links to sites that I’ve been using recently that you might find interesting.
If you’re fed up with ads when you’re on-line, you can try this:
It is free, it exists as an extension that you can download for most of the usual browsers, and although it does not block all ads (it does not block those they consider do not interfere with content and as just part of helping run the site) it does make the experience less annoying. You can also customize it to your own taste, as, for instance, I don’t mind the Facebook like buttons that much, but you can block those too. Have a check and see what you think.
For the authors amongst us, I think we know that if we publish our books with Amazon, we have the added problem of the many different stores, with multiple links to the same book. The answer is to create a link that sends the person directly to their store. There are a few options for this, with caveats about affiliateship extensions, etc (it can get complicated), but I’ve always tried to go for an easy option. Due to some changes in the site I used before, I looked for a new one and came across, Relinks.me.
They provide not only the multi link, but also the shortened version (you don’t need to worry going to Bitly, owly or others… Yes, I’m sure you all know the links shorteners, that can be handy for Twitter), and the you can create an author one too (if you have your profile in more than one of their stores). If you only have one profile, what the author link does is direct people to a list of your books. (I asked).
They also provide a QR code for each book. I haven’t used them for anything yet, but if you produce your own promotional material, it can be handy. Apart from that, I’ve been in contact with them a few times, and they are prompt replying and keen on working with authors, so I like them.
One caveat I noticed. Evidently the system must work with localization for wherever the person clicking the link is, as when I was in Spain, those links would send me to the Spanish Amazon but my account is Amazon UK (no, the links are not that clever).
And something different. As I wasn’t busy enough (Ha!) I thought I’d try to keep my brain going by doing something different. And what better than learning a language! In a post somebody suggested a number of places to learn languages free online. And I tried the first, Duolingo and I liked it (it’s a community and other users from the original country add comments and answer questions, and sometimes the comments are priceless).
If you’re curious, I’m trying to learn German. I’ve been at it for over a month and the site tells me I’m 16% fluent in German. I’m not very convinced.
Ah, and for all of you authors, those of you who know or live with authors, and in general, anybody who fancies a laugh, I’m sharing this post by Kristen Lamb (her blog is a treasure trove of information for writers) that made me roar with laughter. And, please, please, follow the links to the Amazon reviews…
Thanks all for reading, thanks dear friends for your help (you know who you are) and I hope you don’t mind this rambling post. You know, like, share, comment and CLICK!
Thanks so much to MsM for daring to review the first in my ‘Angelic Business’ series ‘Pink Matters’. And then still had the energy to interview me! You’re a star!
The first book in Olga Núñez‘ AngelicBusiness trilogy is available now for pre-order on Amazon. I was given an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. Pink Matters is a lighthearted look at what happens when an angel and a demon (fallen angel) each vie for manipulative control of a 17-year-old girl named Pink. Well, O.K., her real name is Petra because her father was into archaeology, but she prefers Pink and everyone, including her teachers, call her that. Pink and her two best friends, Lorna and Sylvia, are fairly ordinary, average girls who happen to be excellent students and therefore are not part of the “in” crowd, made up of cheer leaders and other gorgeous girls, and football players and other sports heroes. But the most popular member of the “in” crowd is Seth, who happens to live next door to Pink, is gorgeous, but…
You know I’ve been pestering you all about my new YA series‘Angelic Business’ and asking questions about marketing to try and put a plan together. OK, I’m not sure it’s a fully-fledged plan, but I’ve decided a few things. As I’ve written already the three novels, I will put them in Amazon in pre-order this weekend (with about a month in between the releases of each part), at low prices to begin with and then they’ll go up. I might later on make the first one free (either temporarily or permanently, but we shall see). I haven’t yet decided on the KDP Select thing. Might try initially (I haven’t had any of my novels in Select for a while) but…
I want to give a go at having somebody organise a blog tour for me at some point, but I think it’s probably best to wait until the first novel is out already. So here it goes. I’ve seen people organise an unofficial tour for their books, and I thought I’d ask if any of you could share a post about ‘Angelic Business 1. Pink Matters’ some time in June. I haven’t set a date for the release yet (I’ll do this weekend) but it should be around the 24th or 25th of June. I will create an html post that just needs to be copied into the blog. I am not planning on making it too long or elaborate. If I can manage to get my wits about me I might try and create a book trailer of sorts, but otherwise it will be the cover, description, link, and perhaps a bit of a sample…
I had already asked if anybody would want to have a look at the book and had a couple of replies. If anybody has the time and feels up to it, do let me know and I can provide it in any format (although it will be a draft version and home conversion so…). But if you can just fit the post somewhere…
I’ve been saving a few appearances in blogs to try and time them up with the release, so I’ll be a bit busy but…
Oh, the cover of the first book was featured in this guest post, by the wonderful Sally Emberbut of course, I also had to share it with you. Thanks to my friend Lourdes Vidal for her creation.
Angelic Business 1. Pink Matters
I’ve updated the description so…
You are Pink, not the prettiest girl, but smart and with plenty of resources. What do you do when your best male friend offers to have sex with you, because he thinks you’re a lost cause? You plot your revenge with your two best female friends, of course!
It seems you’re in luck when a new and mysterious student appears. And, to top it all, he seems interested in you too. He could take part in the plan. But then, he seems to have a plan of his own… He insists he’s not just an ordinary boy. And what seemed so easy to begin with, gets more and more complicated when Heaven and Hell come knocking at Pink’s door.
PINK MATTERS is the story of Pink, a 17 year old girl, good student, articulate and smart. What she has never been the centre of attention or made the top ten of the most popular and attractive girls at school. When two guys, both claiming to be angels, insist that she is, indeed, ‘special’, fight for her attention and help and tell her she is the key to the future of the universe, she can’t help but ask: Why me?
And now, as a treat, I thought I’d leave you this:
Thanks so much for reading, if you’re interested in featuring a post, I’d be eternally grateful, so please, just leave me a comment and contact me here or wherever, and of course, if you’d like the book, let me know, and share, like, comment… and may the angels be with you!
Hi all:
My blogger friend Teagan Geneviene alerted me to the Sexy Saturday blog hop a while back, and although I joined the Facebook group and I’ve been following with interest I hadn’t got myself organised enough to post. But when I saw the sign-up list and the mention of kisses, I thought maybe I could share a few sentences of my WIP, the third book on my series Angelic Business (Angelic Business 3: Pink, Angel or Demon?)
This is my entry:
And then he leaned towards me and kissed me. And although I didn’t hear bells ringing and saw no fireworks, it was amazing. It was crazy, it was messed up, wrong, he wasn’t my type. For crying out loud! He wasn’t even a human being! But still, I didn’t want it to end. And we might still have been there now if it wasn’t because Jackson started coughing behind us, evidently to alert us to his presence.
Here I share the rules so you can see if you might want to join in future weeks:
1 ~ Sign up on the Linky list below for Saturday, March 7, 2015. The signup begins Sunday, March 1 at 12:01 am and ends Friday, March 6 at 11:59 pm.
2 ~ Post 7 paragraphs or 7 sentences or 7 words ONLY. The choice is yours. It can be from a WIP or something you already have published. Your post should be live by 9 am US Pacific Time on Saturday. Put those lucky 7s to work for you! NOTE: This is a blog hop and you need a blog to participate. If you are unsure of how your post should look, look back on past weeks to see what others have done. Minions comment and read your post. Trust us, they let us know if it doesn’t conform. This includes when your post is too long or two short or if you recycle an old post. Please stay within the guidelines as described.
3 ~ We’ve included the link where you can get the Linky code or just link back to My Sexy Saturday at www.mysexysaturday.blogspot.com. Remember you must link back to us for participation if you do not show the Linky list. There are minions who check for this weekly. Authors ~ an email will be required to sign up for the blog hop.
4 ~ We are open to both published and unpublished authors. We also welcome your works-in-progress.
5 ~ Promote as much as you can. Our Twitter handle is @MySexySaturday. You can join our Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/MySexySaturday/ and it is open to both readers and writers. Use #MySexySaturday, #Saturday7 or #MSS82 for this week’s #hashtags on both Twitter and Facebook so we can track our progress and readers can find us on both venues. We try to promote each and every author in the hop with a minimum of a tweet or two during the week as well as on other social media. We are run by volunteers and do our best to promote all authors who sign up. Use #MSSAuthors to get even more traction during the week as we watch for our authors and share or retweet their information.
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Thanks to Sexy Saturday for this blog hop, thanks to everybody for reading, and don’t forget to like, share, comment and of course CLICK!
As all of you who read my blog every so often will know, I try to regularly write and publish books. I’ve also mentioned that my next W.I.P. is a series of NA novels Angelic Business. The three novels are now written and I’m in the process of translating them and revising (and let’s not forget the issues of finding covers, descriptions, blurbs…) them. By the way, if closer to the time when the project is ready people are interested in reading the first one of the novels ahead of publication, just let me know and I’ll happily send it to you in exchange for a comment (unless you hate it, then I might have to…not sure what. I’ll ask one of my friends who write horror novels for suggestions).
Angel in Montjuic cemetery, Barcelona
Those of you who are authors I’m sure have read tonnes of advice on having a marketing plan ahead of any publishing, the importance of having an author platform, building your presence in social media and all that blah, blah, blah. For what I see most of us try and follow that advice adapting it to our own abilities and personal style.
Although I’ve done quite a few of the things I’ve read about, there are some I have resisted to and I’m wondering about giving them a try (you know, so I can say I’ve tried it). I haven’t really tried paid advertising (I got my first book listed in a book club site and had an ad for a promo, both very low cost, with no results to speak of, and yes, now I know advertising your first book is unlikely to have much of an effect, but one lives and learns. Also tried a very low cost listing of my audio…not much to tell there either) or blog tours, and I was interested in knowing what you, my author friends who have tried them think of them. I’ve read about analytics and all that, so if you want to give me hard data, it will be welcome, but I’m more interested in personal experiences, gut feelings, and the ins and outs of things that only somebody who has tried can give. (I’m also fully aware that book genre, timing, style, and personal circumstances influence results, probably together with the phase of the moon, the energy of the pyramids and the leprechauns at work on that particular day). I have only participated in blog hops as a host, and I guess there will be differences between those the authors organise themselves, more or less informally, and those organised by a tried and tested company (or perhaps not…what is your experience?).
Another angel in Montjuic
I know some sites like Bookbub are supposed to be the bees-knees, but I’m also aware of the difficulties in getting into it, the amount of reviews required, the price, and the fact that now big publishing companies are also using the service, so there are even fewer chances for the rest of us. But anything, anecdotal evidence, amazing discoveries, bitter disappointments, so-so results, will be welcome.
And I also would like to hear from readers who aren’t writers. How likely are you to buy books based on advertisements on book sites, blog tour posts or any other marketing strategies by authors not known to you? (And the offer about the book is also open to readers, of course).
If I get a “decent” amount of replies, I will collect them and do a follow-up post to share the collective “wisdom”. That’s a deal.
She’s lost her wings. I wonder…
And I thought I’d leave you with a bit of the beginning of the third book in my trilogy (Pink, Angel or Demon?), where the main character, Pink, is wondering why everything that’s going on is happening to her:
All this is very well and good (not really, but you know what I mean), but nobody had bothered to answer why me. There was some kind of prophecy (or what passes for it in celestial and demonic circles) and I fitted in. One had to wonder where would prophecies come from in such spheres. (Or at least I did. I’ve been known to think far too much, and obeying De Bono, to think sideways. Look how far it’s got me!) I imagine somebody must fit in (and they were very insistent that I was the only one) but again, why me? No false modesty, but there isn’t anything that special about me. This is not one of these paranormal young adult books where the protagonist discovers that there’s a long history going back to the Middle-Ages of witches and special powers in her family. There’s no fay blood in my line, nobody I know regularly becomes a wolf or a dog or shifts shapes as far as I’m aware. And although the world is full of bloodsuckers, I’ve met no official vampires yet. I’ve never seen a ghost, and I don’t live in a haunted mansion. And although recently demons and angels wander around as if they were in season, to the best of my knowledge there’s no portal to the other world open in Hope Springs.
This one is a beauty
The draft of the first novel in the series Pink Matters is currently available in Wattpad, here. As mentioned in the body of the post, if you fancy getting the ready-to-publish version in a few weeks, just let me know and I’ll send it to you.
Thank you all for reading, and don’t forget to like, share, especially comment, and spread the word. And if you fancy clicking, don’t let me stop you!
I’ve carried on taking pictures of angels and other interesting things in cemeteries, so if you like any of them in particular, let me know. I’m after ideas for the covers!
We’ve left 2014 behind and most people tend to take stock of what happened the previous year and think about the future. Plenty of things happened to me last year (and I’m sure the same goes for all of you) but I wanted to look at my writing and books.
Escaping Psychiatry cover by Ernesto Valdés
In January 2014 I published Escaping Psychiatry. This book is a compilation of three novellas (psychological thrillers) with the same protagonist, Mary, a psychiatrist and writer whose attempts at dedicating herself exclusively to writing are thwarted once and again by friends or circumstances that keep dragging her back (kicking and screaming) into psychiatry. The three novellas: Cannon Fodder, Teamwork, and Memory are quite different in subject and touch on abuse, racism, prejudice, police corruption, murder, serial killers, rape…
If you want to check in more detail you can always look inside or get a sample, here:
In May 2014 I published a story that I had written a while back, but I felt was very appropriate to the times of surveillance and privacy invasion we live in, Family, Lust and Cameras. It’s a dark story of obsession, mind control and abusive relationships. Can you imagine what would you feel if your life became The Rear Window and you knew somebody was watching you all the time? Well, you can read this novella and see.
In September 2014 I published I Love Your Cupcakes, a sweet romance, where the three protagonists (Dulce, Adelfa and Storm) end up taking part in a TV baking competition and discover that one can find love in the most unlikely places. An upbeat and fun book to read, I recommend it if you’re having a fed-up day.
In November I took part in NaNoWriMo and won! I decided to write the third in a series of Young Adult/New Adult books I’ve been working on. For the time being the series is called Angelic Business and the books are: Pink Matters, Shapes of Greg and Pink, Demon or Angel?
As you can see I don’t have a cover yet, and as it’s going to be a series I’ll have to give it some thought.
I’ve published the draft of the first book in Wattpad (I’ll remove it when I publish it) and at the moment I’m editing and translating them all, with the plan of publishing them fairly close to each other…
Now that I’ve told you what I’ve been doing and what I’m going to be doing, it’s time to wish you a Happy Year 2015, ask you about your projects and wish you good luck with them . And as always:
Thanks for reading, and you know what to do, like, share, comment, and if you fancy, CLICK!
As you will have noticed, recently I’ve been talking to you a bit (well, a lot) about my new novel. And I thought it was time to tell you a bit about my projects instead.
A couple of years ago (give or take) I wrote the first in what I planned to be a Young Adult series (at least a trilogy). Angelic Business. I decided to call the first novel Pink Matters. I spent some time trying to find an agent, with very little result (yes we like it but not enough, no, we don’t like it), and as a result of the research I did at the time I discovered the option of self-publishing, and as life is too short, I decided to give it a go. Instead of publishing that novel, I went for one I’d been working on for a long time an had also translated in Spanish and English (The Man Who Never Was). I carried on publishing other stories but never abandoned the thought of the series, to the point where a few months ago I wrote the second novel (Shapes of Greg).
Thinking about the third novel and looking for angelic inspiration, it occurred to me to create a board in Pinterest on the subject and of course I found many pins. I also realised cemeteries have plenty of sculpture of angels, and decided to go off taking as many pictures as possible.
Angel in the cemetery of Poble Nou in Barcelona.
Here is the link to my board about angels in Pinterest:
During my recent visit to Florence I also went chasing after angels (and cupids and Eros. Plenty of them).
Ooooh! Sweet!
I’m not sure if you remember that I’d shared a bit of the first novel already, but just in case, I leave you the first chapter (sorry, no angels yet):
Chapter 1. Petra (a.k.a. Pink)
It’s very true. Nobody can make you feel as humiliated as a really close friend can. Yes, we were close. But from that to assuming…Seth and I had known each other for years, lived next to each other, went to school together, shared things…And Seth was the most popular guy at our High School (and therefore the most popular guy in my universe), and had all the girls he wanted and all that. I know; you’ve watched the movie. And you know that everybody believed I was in love with him and wasn’t it a shame that I wasn’t “his type”, and was rather “plain” and… “plump”…But, OK, it was fine that everybody thought that and felt sorry for me. What wasn’t fine, not by a long stretch, what was really offensive was how “he” himself believed it. He had phoned me on the fatal evening (5th November if you must know), at around midnight, quite drunk, asking me to go and collect him from Chris’s party. They had invited me but I was busy writing and I knew how these things went. Because of course, I was also “boring”, “clever” and “studious”. I didn’t drink and I didn’t do “drugs”.
I went to pick him up (I had to borrow my parents’ car, but they liked Seth, and I was convinced that at least my mother thought that things would “develop” between us) and I found him necking a girl. I’d never seen her before, probably from a neighbouring town. Once he’d said his goodbyes (something on the line of ‘I’ll call you’ but very slurred) he followed me, or rather, I half-carried him to the car. I had to stop once so he could be sick. Then, when I stopped in front of his house to let him out, he turned to me, kissed me on the cheek (lovely experience still smelling of sick and all) and said the memorable:
“You know, Pink, if you ever…I know you don’t have a boyfriend, but…you know…If you can’t find …if you ever want a bit of a…cuddle and a kiss…or…anything else, ‘anything’ really…I’ll…I’ll do it for you.”
I just pushed him out of the car feeling sick myself. And I could not sleep after that.
Next day it only got worse, although I didn’t think that was possible. I hoped he would not remember the comment, and didn’t even expect or want an apology, but…Oh, no, that would have been too easy. I tried and avoid him during the day, even decided not to talk about it to my best friends, Lorna and Sylvia. You see? Maybe if I didn’t talk about it, it wouldn’t have really happened. I could just pretend it had been a nightmare and I had imagined it all.
I left School without meeting him and I thought I had succeeded and was home safe. But no, too much to ask. As soon as I got to my door I heard somebody running towards me. I didn’t even need to turn; I knew it would be him.
“Pink, Pink! Hey…I’ve been trying to catch up with you all day!”
“You finally have. What did you want?”
“I…Listen, about yesterday…”
I didn’t want to make him feel bad about it either. It was my maternal, mother-hen instinct towards him that had been developed over years (if not imprinted in my DNA) and I could not switch it off, even when he was vile. I decided to pretend I didn’t remember.
“Yesterday?”
“The sex thing…I…”
“Forget it.”
“No, no. Don’t get me wrong. That’s not…I just wanted to say…I meant it. It wasn’t a drunken thing…Of course, you don’t need to worry about anything; I wouldn’t tell anybody about it.”
I was about to ask him if he was serious, but he was looking solemn and “sympathetic”. I couldn’t come up with anything to say, and he misinterpreted my silence.
“You’re all right. No need to say anything. I’ll see you around.” He said, patting me on the back. My only consolation was that he had not patted me on the head, like a good dog. It wasn’t much of a consolation, to be honest.
I could have screamed, and I actually did when I got into my house and locked myself in my bedroom. I wanted to kill him! Justified homicide, no doubt.
I was quite upset for a couple of weeks, trying to avoid Seth to little avail. He seemed completely unaware of my efforts or feelings.
I couldn’t keep it to myself any longer, and I finally told Lorna and Sylvia. We had also known each other for many years, and gone to the same school and class since we were little, even though Lorna and Sylvia lived in High Ridge, a neighbouring town. We had always had similar interests and hanged out together, as we didn’t seem to easily fit in with any of the usual groups. Studious and bookish, but not repellent (none of us even wore glasses), plain but not awfully ugly, not particularly sporty but not clumsy enough to become the butt of all jokes. And yes, we weren’t in the group of the fashionable “in” people, but we did not attract attention because of weird sense of dress, make-up or tattoos. If anything, we were grey and invisible. And so far that had been fine with us. It was also true that my friendship with Seth gave us some street-cred that probably avoided our fall into one of the officially despised groups.
I had been trying to exercise, eat healthily and lose weight, and I had succeeded somewhat, although I had enough insight to know I’d never be Barbie…Even if I were to starve to death, my body shape wouldn’t change to the point where I would have legs coming up to my armpits and although I still had some hopes for my breasts, so far they had refused to become anything that guys would bother to look at…
Lorna had done better with growing up, and although she would not accept it when Sylvia and I told her, she had become an attractive girl. It was evident when the three of us were together that guys were now looking at her, whilst in the past they normally scanned over us to look at somebody else. Her newly straightened long dark-brown hair, hazel eyes, faultless olive complexion and heart shaped mouth made her quite pretty, even without make-up. And she was petite and well proportioned. She’d even gone out on a few dates, although so far she had not found her prince charming.
On the other hand, adolescence hadn’t been quite so kind to Sylvia who had suddenly had a growth spurt that had made her taller than most of the boys of our age, very skinny, and flat as an iron board. Despite countless visits to orthodontists and a succession of devices worth of listing in any torture Wikipedia article her smile wasn’t made for toothpaste ads and she had become even shier than before. From my best friend perspective I must add I found them both beautiful and the best friends a girl could wish for.
When I told them about Seth’s behaviour their reaction was as I expected.
Lorna was indignant.
“Who does he think he is, now, eh? Gee… How can you be friends with him? You don’t need that idiot, Pink, you definitely don’t.”
Sylvia was always kind and forgiving. I also had my suspicions that she fancied Seth too…Well, OK, most girls did, but Sylvia was so shy she hardly ever allowed herself to think about boys, as it sent her into meltdown. But I’d seen how she blushed when Seth had looked in her direction or talked to her and…if not love…infatuation at least.
“He was probably just trying to be nice…He’s a bloke after all. He doesn’t understand how we feel about these things. I’m sure he didn’t intend to humiliate you.”
“Well, good job then, isn’t it? I don’t think he could have done it that much better if he had tried to humiliate you… A mercy fuck…Ughhhhh! It makes me sick!” Lorna said, still angry.
“Yes, I also felt very angry to begin with. But now…rather than just carrying on fuming, I think maybe I should be proactive and do something about it.”
“Yes, but what?” Sylvia asked.
“That’s what I wanted to talk to you about. “I have to get my own back on him.”
“How?” Lorna asked, interested.
“I have to prove him wrong.”
“You mean…finding a boyfriend? Isn’t that a bit too much?” Sylvia said, evidently appalled by the suggestion.
“I don’t think it needs to go quite as far as a boyfriend. I don’t really want a boyfriend. I’m far too young and have too many things to do…Anyway; you know what I think about all that.” In summary what I think about it is, nice in theory but in reality quite likely a big waste of time at an age when one doesn’t have that much time to waste. More important things to be getting on with. OK, I know you might think sour grapes and all that…But honestly…boys? Maybe when they grow up…if they ever do.
“I see. You just want him to see you going out with somebody…” Lorna said, appreciatively. “I approve.”
“Yes, but who?” I asked.
“Let’s see.”
As usual when we had to take important decisions or discuss serious matters we went to the library café. With the popularity of e-readers, netbooks and tablets, android mobile phones and particularly Facebook, Twitter and other social networking sites, there was hardly anybody other than people of a certain age at the library. We always sat at the same table, at the back by the window, and we considered it “our table”.
Once settled there, with our diet-coke drinks, we started virtually looking around for candidates. Sylvia was very organised and stopped Lorna when she stated naming boys at random.
“It’s best if we look at the population of guys.”
“What?” I asked.
“Well, you know…Kind of an ethnographic/sociological-type study. What type of guy are you thinking about?”
“You want us to create a profile?” Lorna asked.
“Maybe. But I think that would be too ambitious, considering the raw material we have access to. It will be easier to look at what there is, in terms of groups of guys that might be available.”
“OK. A methodical and scientific approach. Why not?” Yes, it made sense. No need to be overly emotional and girly about this thing. If we were going to do it, we might as well do it well. And as it was a matter of guys, thinking like a bloke might help.
Sylvia got her i-pad out.
“Really?” Lorna asked. “Isn’t that going a bit too far?”
“Why? What is technology for if not these kinds of things?”
“Important things, maybe? How to solve the problem of providing energy and food to the population of the world, curing illnesses, providing education to the masses…” I said.
“Yes, OK. Maybe we’ll do that at some point, but what’s the harm in using a spread sheet to make a sensible decision about guys?”
I had to admit she had a point. Today, finding a possible candidate to boyfriend. Tomorrow, the Noble Prize.
Lorna, who’d evidently been giving boys some thought, took charge of naming the diverse groups of candidates, whilst all of us considered their pros and cons. Well, we couldn’t always find pros. When looked at in such a systematic manner, it appeared surprising that anybody would actually dare to go out with anybody else. Dating agencies definitely deserved their money and more for even attempting such a task.
“Let’s see, let’s see…What kind of guy would you want Seth to see you with, Pink?” Sylvia asked me.
“Well…evidently somebody reasonably attractive but with some brains…I mean, it would have to be somebody he’d believe I’d go out with…He knows me well enough to know I wouldn’t go out with just a pretty face…Not that “just a pretty face” would probably go out with me either.”
Lorna looked at me serious.
“Oh, Pink, don’t start like that. There’s nothing wrong with you…any guy…”
“Let’s leave it. That’s not what this is about…Let’s be methodical.” I said.
“OK, attractive but reasonably intelligent…”
We thought for a while. Not that many boys that would easily fit in such category…
“There’re always Seth’s friends…Adam isn’t bad looking…” Lorna said.
“No, he isn’t. Neither are Tony, or Chris, or Scott…Are you joking, Lorna? Haven’t you noticed the type of girls they go out with? Cheerleaders, trend setters…the beautiful or at least pretty girls…That would be mission impossible and you know they are hardly discreet…When they go out with a girl everybody knows all the details. Even we do!” I replied.
“Yes, Seth is the only one with a bit of class in his group of friends.” Yep, Sylvia. Didn’t I tell you she fancies him?
“I’m also not very convinced about any of them regarding the brains department. They are popular and good at sports and that gives them a lot of leeway, but with regards to merits…” I said.
“Seth is quite clever…I think.”
Lorna and I looked at Sylvia. I don’t know about me, but Lorna definitely rolled her eyes.
“Yes, and he has lovely sandy-coloured and wavy hair, green eyes, cute dimples and the rest. Stop talking about Seth, Sylvia. He’s the cause of all this trouble, and evidently Pink isn’t going to go out with him. No, you’re right, Pink, none of his friends are of any use. He knows them too well; he’d know that you wouldn’t really go out with any of them…It wouldn’t work.”
Most of the guys we considered clever were in one of two despised categories, either the brainy, studious group, mostly composed of extremely uncool characters, good for conversation and teaming up for school work but not datable material, or the geeks.
“Theo, Paul, Mark and Luke…” Sylvia said.
“The brains? Sure, they are clever, but…attractive? Have you ever looked at them?” I said.
“Well…OK, but Mark…has nice eyes…” Sylvia added.
“Yes, and Theo is very tall, and Luke has lovely dark curly hair, but, Mark has horrendous acne and is very short, Theo is really big and always sweaty, Luke wears really old-fashioned glasses and is so skinny that you can hardly see him in profile and Paul…” I added.
Yes, poor Paul was officially the ugliest guy in the school. He was a really nice guy but if I went out with any of them Seth was bound to think I was desperate or I had lost my marbles. He’d probably repeat his offer if he saw me with any of them. They wouldn’t work.
Lorna shook her head.
“No, none of them will do. Not only are they ugly but they also are very shy with girls and have no social graces. They’d probably have a heart attack if they as much as suspected you wanted to go out with one of them…And…”
“Yes, I know. They’re too nice and bound to get hurt if I just used them like that.” OK, I was trying to get my revenge on Seth, but it wasn’t fair to hurt others in the process. That would never do.
We refilled our diet-colas and looked at the document in Sylvia’s i-pad…So far only crosses…Sherlock Holmes used to classify the cases he was working on according to how many pipes he had to smoke to get to the answer. Smoking was no longer pc and women and pipes had never mixed up very well so…I guess in our case we would go by the number of diet-colas we drank whilst thinking about a problem, or producing a plan. This one might break our record of three.
“What about the geeks? They aren’t quite as sensitive as the brains.” Lorna asked.
Although the brains were fairly geeky, the geeks were a distinct category of boys who seemed to only have time for gadgets, games, and who most of the time seemed to live in an alternative reality that only crossed with ours very sporadically.
“And apart from Troy, all the rest are fairly normal looking.” Sylvia agreed.
We all paused at the mention of Troy. He was the son of the mayor and in contrast with his oldest brother, who had left school with a football scholarship and was now at Davis, the jewel of the family, he was really awkward looking and odd. He’d always reminded me of actors in horror movies. He didn’t seem to belong in our planet. He wasn’t ugly, but just like a Picasso his aesthetics and looks were extremely unconventional. It’s true that nobody could go unnoticed at his arm, but I wasn’t convinced that was the kind of attention I wanted.
“Have you ever tried to talk to Matt, Pete, Dean or Todd about anything that isn’t games, computers or comic books? I know you’ve tried. So have I. With no success. I want revenge but not at the cost of my sanity. I don’t want a real boyfriend but at least I’d appreciate somebody I could have a conversation with…”
More crosses. Still no ticks.
“What about the invisible guys?” Lorna asked. She meant, guys that like us didn’t seem to belong in any of the defined categories. Plain, non-offensive, not particularly sporty, not particularly clever, not particularly attractive…
“No good. Pink needs somebody Seth would notice. Somebody who’d force him to make a double-take when he sees her with him. An invisible…won’t work.”
I nodded. Yes, Sylvia was right.
“He’d notice it if you went out with one of the rebels.” Lorna said.
Yes, even Hope Springs, ‘the town where nothing ever happened’ (according to our rewriting of the official motto that was ‘where all dreams are possible’. I agree, sickeningly sweet, and not true to boot), had some bad guys. At our age we were not truly convinced they were genuinely bad, they really hadn’t had time for that, but they were rebellious, non-conformist, and more troublesome than the generality. Admittedly in a place like Hope Springs that wasn’t very difficult, but…they had a bit of a reputation.
“Clint has a girlfriend. And Jesse…” Sylvia said…
Jesse had pushed Sylvia last year and she’d fallen downstairs twisting her ankle. He’d denied it had been intentional, saying that he was just in a hurry and she had been on the way, but…we officially didn’t like him. We’d predicted he’d end up in prison some day. Jailbait was a bit too much for what I had in mind. No.
We were now on our third diet-cola and still no reasonable candidates.
“I can’t think any longer.” Lorna said. “I think we must have gone through all the class.”
We were quiet for a few seconds, and then Sylvia jumped up.
“You’re right! That’s it! We’ve gone through all the boys in our class. But that’s not all the boys. We need to look at other classes. We need to expand our age range.”
I closed my eyes. I knew where this was going now. I could see the name Sylvia would come up with flashing in neon lights. But I was still curious to know how she’d bring him up.
“I don’t think younger guys would be appropriate. First…Even guys our age are immature, can you imagine a younger guy? A year younger would already be too much. You don’t want to get a reputation for being a cradle-snatcher.” Lorna said, final. She had a way of summarising things and getting straight to the point that I’d always admired and thought would put her in good stead for a career in advertising or the movies.
“No, Seth would laugh at me if I went out with a younger guy. He’d tease him and me to death. That wouldn’t help.”
“Oh girls, come on. You know I didn’t mean you should go out with a younger guy. What I meant was you should look at older guys. It’s always a status thing for a girl to go out with an older guy. A man of the world, more mature…”
“Sure, but how old? What are we talking about? University guy?” Lorna asked, turning to me and winking. She’d evidently also worked out what Sylvia was trying to get at.
“We don’t want to go over the top either or make the guy look like a freak or a paedophile…No, maybe somebody a couple of years older…” Sylvia added, trying to sound casual, and failing.
“I don’t think we know a lot of guys that age, do we, Lorna?” I asked, looking at Lorna, trying to appear serious.
“No. I can’t think of any. Maybe guys from another town…” Lorna snapped her fingers. “I have an idea! Sylvia, why don’t you ask your brother Jackson if he has any friends that would be suitable? He’s two years older than us, isn’t he? I don’t know his friends, but it’s possible one of them could do. Maybe you should phone him.”
Lorna and I both looked at Sylvia with intent and a composed expression.
“Yes, that sounds like an idea. Why don’t you phone Jackson, Sylvia, and ask him?” I said.
Sylvia looked at both of us, red-faced, breathing fast and shallow, trying to think of something to say. We finally couldn’t keep it up and started laughing.
“You should see your face, Sylvia!” I told her.
“You were taking the mickey! You knew I meant my brother!”
Lorna squeezed her arm.
“Of course we knew you meant your brother. You’re always trying to fix him with Pink. You’ve always had this idea that the two of them will fall madly in love, will be happy ever after and you will be sisters and have lovely nieces and nephews.”
“But Jackson really likes you, Pink!”
“You know I think your brother is a nice guy and I quite like him, as a friend, but…”
Lorna again got to the point quickly.
“Jackson is clumsy, has the attention span of a fish and other than ball sports has very few interests. You are the brains in the family, dear Sylvia. Your brother, although not bad looking, is a bit of an…”
Sylvia didn’t let her finish.
“You’re right, this is all for revenge and it wouldn’t be fair to get my brother involved when he has feelings for you…”
Poor Jackson probably didn’t even know what he felt, but was happy to go along with his sisters’ assessment of his feelings and had always been extra-nice towards me, although I’d tried as much as I could, without hurting him, to make him understand that I didn’t see him as boyfriend material, and I didn’t really want a boyfriend anyway. Lorna was right though, he wasn’t bad looking. He had the perfect smile that his sister hadn’t managed yet despite her and the dentists’ efforts, and although very tall he was a good basketball player and his height suited him.
“Well, that’s it then. I think we’ll need to keep thinking.” Lorna said. “I can’t drink any more diet-cola or go on about guys any longer. We’ll have to leave it.”
“Maybe somebody new will come along.” Sylvia said, always optimistic. I didn’t think that was likely but nodded. No point in upsetting her further after our comments about her brother. Maybe all our dreams would come true anyway.
As an experiment, I decided to download the draft of the first novel to Wattpad, so if you fancy reading on, for the time being it’s available here:
What I decided was to finish writing (and then translating, editing, correcting…) the third novel in the series, and then publish them all in fairly quick succession, to try and build up interest and also to avoid leaving readers waiting for too long.
Here a not very happy angel, waiting for you to finish writing the next novel. Might feed you to the lion if you don’t get done soon!
A good friend and fellow author (Hi Teagan!) suggested I buddy up with her for NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) that despite the name is international, where you can join, and challenge yourself to write a novel at least 50000 words long (if you do, you’ve won). You can take part in forums, encourage and support each other, and buddy up with other writers. I had been curious about it but never before managed to join at the right moment. And I thought…it would be an excellent opportunity to try and write the draft of part three. Still nameless, but…
And if you’re taking part, buddy up with me if you like! I’m OlgaNM7.
So now you know what I’m up to (apart from my translating business that keeps going and I’ll talk to you about that soon but, not until after November for sure), and don’t be surprised if you see me doing reblogs and refreshing some old material in the blog as I’ll be a bit busy next month, but I’ll try and keep up posting other authors’ new books.
And just for some inspiration, I leave you the Jacob Epstein’s angel in Oscar Wilde’s tomb at Père Lachaise cemetery in Paris. Now they’ve put a protective glass in front to avoid so many kisses and the cleaning bill that it said goes to the family. Oh well… (there’re still some kisses where the glass doesn’t reach!)
Jacob Epstein’s angel in Oscar Wilde’s tomb in Paris
Time to go but I couldn’t resist leaving you this angel again from Poble Nou in Barcelona. It needs a good clean (unfortunately there’s a gate in front and I couldn’t reach) but I thought it was so gorgeous…
Dust indeed
Thanks for reading, and remember, if you’ve enjoyed it, like, share, comment and of course, CLICK! Ah, and if you see any interesting angels, think of me and share!
The first book in Olga Núñez‘ 
Just Olga 