WIP

I have three projects I’m working on for NaNo this year. I gave you a peek at Cruise Ship Mistress last week. This week, I have a brief bit from Purely Relative, which is a fun little novella I’m writing that falls chronologically between the next to last and last chapter of The P.U.R.E. Remember this is first draft stuff so it’s gonna be a little rough. I’m fighting my urge to edit it already. Against NaNo rules.

I’ll let this scene speak for itself. It’s one of my favorites so far and is classic Gayle:

Jon finished first and stepped out to give me more space to condition my hair and shave my legs and other parts. When I pushed back the shower curtain, dripping wet like a bedraggled rat, because my towel had wandered off somehow, I found him equally naked, but dry. One knee kissed the floor, the other formed a right angle.

Oh my God! He’s down on one knee! He’s going to propose! My inner girly-girl ran around in a circle shrieking and waving her hands.

“Damn, slippery floor,” he said climbing to his feet.

“Oh! Are you okay?” My voice fell flat as the bottom dropped out and my inner girl tumbled into the chasm of ridiculous hopes that weren’t really hopes, but more like fantasies and not the least bit realistic and therefore not the type of thoughts a modern woman like me ought to be having. And yet, that girl had caught a branch sticking out of the side of the cliff and insisted on seeing how it might have played out. In my imagination it went something like…

“Gayle,” he would begin. His voice would probably be a little shaky. He was usually so confident. “I love you with every breath I take, every move you make… no, sorry, that’s a song…” He would swallow and his Adam’s apple would disappear into his jaw before falling back down, like one of those carnival games where you have to ring the bell by hitting a catapult hard enough with a hammer. “I’ve always known, always believed, always hoped, you would marry me. I told you that first night we made love. I meant it then. I mean it now. Please make me the happiest man in the world by agreeing to marry me. I’ll take care of you. You won’t have to look for another job. We’ll buy a house. You can have a baby or two or three, make me dinner every night, something complicated with exotic ingredients, and when I come home yelling ‘honey, I’m home’ our pudgy kids that look just like you will come running out of their rooms covered in grime and fighting because you’ve gained two hundred pounds and live on the sofa watching bad reality television and are too tired to discipline them and thank goodness I’m getting some action on the side from Thalia because a man like me has needs and…”

“Earth to Gayle!”

I snapped out of my nightmare.

Sometimes these tag challenges are brutal, but I’m usually up for one. Can’t vouch for how pretty the results will be though.

Jennifer Eaton nominated me for the “Work in Progress Challenge”

This one’s really like an interview about my WIP. Here goes:

1. What is the Title of your Work In Progress?

Purely Relative

2. Where did the idea for the WIP come from?

The last chapter of The P.U.R.E. takes place nearly a year after the chapter immediately preceding it, almost like a postscript, only I needed it to do an infodump in the form of an email. In that last chapter, I let the reader know that the two main characters from The P.U.R.E. are still together, living in Washington DC, both with new jobs. We know Jon and Gayle live together. They may or may not be married. It’s hinted that they are but…

My WIP is basically The P.U.R.E. #1.5 and fills in a few of the gaps between the last two chapters and introduces quite a few new characters who are near and dear to Jon and Gayle, and brings back a couple of familiar ones too.

3. What Genre would your WIP fall under?

Romantic comedy

4. Which actors would you choose to play characters in a movie rendition?

Gayle would be played by Juno Temple and I’d tap Brandon Routh to play Jon (though he’s getting a leetle old to play the part).

5. What is a one-sentence synopsis of your WIP?

Gayle meets Jon’s family and unwittingly introduces a whole new type of intrigue into the Thanksgiving holidays.

6. Is your WIP Published or Represented?

It’s not published, hence the term WIP. Since it’s a sequel to The P.U.R.E., J Taylor Publishing would have first dibs on publishing rights.

7. How long did it take you to write?

It’s still in process, but I’ve been writing off and on since June 3rd according to the creation date on the Word file. The first five thousand words took me until September, but the next ten thousand words I cranked out in less than a month. I believe I am within five thousand words from finishing it….well, first draft anyway.

8. What other WIP’s in your genre would you compare it to?

Gracious…no idea. Not a book, but Meet the Parents movies would be close approximations. No murders in this one but a lot more slapstick.

9. Which authors inspired you to write this WIP?

Probably all those who have successfully done the “fractional” novella sequels–Jennifer Armentrout, J. A. Belfield, Taheri Mafi…

10. Tell us anything else that might pique our interest about this WIP.

It’s a light-hearted look at family dynamics both from the inside looking out and the outside looking in. Gayle has her usual wry internal commentary on the goings on. Her romance with Jon also develops further (so yes, there is a sex scene, you pervs! LOL)

11. Finally: Tag three other Authors and ask them to complete the above interview.

Let’s go with: Ryan Derham, Sandra Bunino and Elise Brookes (who I know was just nominated for her alter ego, but multiple identities have multiple WIP’s, true?)

For more information about the predecessor to my WIP, The P.U.R.E., check out my book page.