キャミー・タング著「戌年」連載小説 プロのドッグトレーナーであるマリ・ムトウは、厄年を迎えている。 犬小屋と訓練所の改築をしながら、いつも不服そうにしている家族と同居することになった。母と姉に言わせれば、犬の毛とよだれかけにまみれる仕事は、家族にとって恥ずべきものだという。彼女は元カレを説得し、数ヶ月間犬を預かってもらうことにした。しかし、彼の兄は、数週間前に彼女が誤って車に追突した、怒り狂ったセキュリティ専門家であることが判明する。 アシュウィン・ケイトウは十分な問題を抱えている。叔母が玄関先に現れ、同居を希望している。彼は彼女にすべてを借りているので、断ることができません。母親が家を出て行った後、ネルおばさんはアシュウィンと弟を引き取り、愛のあるキリスト教の家庭で育てた。しかも、弟のダスティもアパートを追い出され、居場所を求めている。しかし、彼は犬を飼っている。そして、その犬の飼い主は誰だと思いますか？ しかし、旧友でオアフ島のノースショアでデイスパを経営する私立探偵のエディサ・ゲレロから依頼を受ける。マリの施設で奇妙な破壊行為があり、3年前に失踪したエディサの妹の財布を発見する。エディサはマリが危険な目に遭っているのではと心配する。警備の専門家であるアシュウィンがすでにマリを知っていることを知ったエディサは、忙しい若い女性を密かに監視することを彼に依頼する。 アシュウィンは、活発でのんびりとしたドッグトレーナーに不本意ながら惹かれていく。彼女は、幸せそうな母親を思い出させる。その母親の裏切りによって、彼は人と距離を置くようになったのだ。マリは、アシュウィンの冷たい外見を見抜き、彼が家族に忠実な男であることを認める。彼は、彼女のキャリア選択を批判するだけの母親や姉とは違う。 マリのバラバラな家庭とアシュウィンのバラバラな家庭の中で、過去を隠そうとする人たちから、彼らの周りに危険が迫ってくるようになる。彼らは、影で動く秘密に光を当てることができるのか？ 過去に発表されたパートへのリンクはこちら。 *** 第8章 - 恐ろしくも真っ白な不動産書類 『みんな仲良くできないのかな？』 マリは無用に力を込めて箱に本を投げ入れた。最近、なぜ彼女は人生の中で全員と言い争いをしているのだろう？もしかすると、これは本当に悪いアイデア
Captain’s Log, Supplemental
Blog book giveaway:
My Monday book giveaway is Dark Hour by Ginger Garrett.
You can still enter. Just post a comment on the blog post above. On Thursday, I'll post the title for another book I'm giving away.
Part one of four:
It was a whirlwind conference for me this time, because I had people I wanted to spend time with (agent and editor) and responsibilities (Genesis contest and the awards ceremony). I felt like I was always running somewhere. As a result, I don’t really remember much about the conference, but here are some predominant memories.
I roomed with Meredith Efken again. She’s not only a brilliant writer, she’s a night owl and we never had to worry about waking each other up when going to bed.
I saw brief flashes of my friend Randy Ingermanson, and I only wish I had more time to talk to him.
Chip MacGregor, who had been Associate Publisher at FaithWords (Time Warner/Hachette Book Group, USA), announced that he is now starting his own literary agency, MacGregor Literary. I got a chance to chat briefly with him. He’s so much fun to talk to. I’m really glad he’s now back to agenting. He’ll be fabulous.
Speaking of agents, I also spent some time with Steve Laube. He’d done a few paid critiques at the conference, and I was fascinated by the fact that he used the guidelines and standards used for the prestigious Christy Awards. He went out on a limb and actually scored each manuscript so that each person would be able to see where he thought they fell on the scale.
The Christy guidelines are very explicit about aspects of craft and theme. I can imagine some of the people he critiqued might have thought his scoring a bit harsh, but the guidelines are so exact that I think it would be very helpful regardless of the bluntness of the critique.
I met a new Zondervan editor, Andy Meisenheimer. Andy’s terrific—I started insulting and teasing him as if we’d been friends for years.
I got to meet with my Senior Editor, Sue Brower, as well as my agent Wendy Lawton and Janet Kobobel Grant (Books and Such Literary Agency). We had a great time discussing marketing ideas for the book.
Next: Teaching and quiet moments.
TMI:
Writing: I posted another "Health and the Writer" post at WriterQuotes, a “Write Time” post for busy writers at WordPraize, and an agent post at my Story Sensei blog.
And in case you missed it, my review of The Secret Life of Becky Miller by Sharon Hinck is posted at the Fab Four Book Picks blog.
There’s also a book giveaway and chapter excerpt from Dark Hour by Ginger Garrett below. I’ll be posting a book review on Wednesday.
I’m working on my revisions right now. Revisions are not as clean and organized as a plotting chart—my anal side is showing, isn’t it? Please pray I can get it done on time. I want to please my editor Rachelle (who’s a great editor because she reads my blog :) ).
Diet: Don’t even ask. My parents came for a few days, which is all I need to say.
Blog book giveaway:
My Monday book giveaway is Dark Hour by Ginger Garrett.
You can still enter. Just post a comment on the blog post above. On Thursday, I'll post the title for another book I'm giving away.
Part one of four:
It was a whirlwind conference for me this time, because I had people I wanted to spend time with (agent and editor) and responsibilities (Genesis contest and the awards ceremony). I felt like I was always running somewhere. As a result, I don’t really remember much about the conference, but here are some predominant memories.
I roomed with Meredith Efken again. She’s not only a brilliant writer, she’s a night owl and we never had to worry about waking each other up when going to bed.
I saw brief flashes of my friend Randy Ingermanson, and I only wish I had more time to talk to him.
Chip MacGregor, who had been Associate Publisher at FaithWords (Time Warner/Hachette Book Group, USA), announced that he is now starting his own literary agency, MacGregor Literary. I got a chance to chat briefly with him. He’s so much fun to talk to. I’m really glad he’s now back to agenting. He’ll be fabulous.
Speaking of agents, I also spent some time with Steve Laube. He’d done a few paid critiques at the conference, and I was fascinated by the fact that he used the guidelines and standards used for the prestigious Christy Awards. He went out on a limb and actually scored each manuscript so that each person would be able to see where he thought they fell on the scale.
The Christy guidelines are very explicit about aspects of craft and theme. I can imagine some of the people he critiqued might have thought his scoring a bit harsh, but the guidelines are so exact that I think it would be very helpful regardless of the bluntness of the critique.
I met a new Zondervan editor, Andy Meisenheimer. Andy’s terrific—I started insulting and teasing him as if we’d been friends for years.
I got to meet with my Senior Editor, Sue Brower, as well as my agent Wendy Lawton and Janet Kobobel Grant (Books and Such Literary Agency). We had a great time discussing marketing ideas for the book.
Next: Teaching and quiet moments.
TMI:
Writing: I posted another "Health and the Writer" post at WriterQuotes, a “Write Time” post for busy writers at WordPraize, and an agent post at my Story Sensei blog.
And in case you missed it, my review of The Secret Life of Becky Miller by Sharon Hinck is posted at the Fab Four Book Picks blog.
There’s also a book giveaway and chapter excerpt from Dark Hour by Ginger Garrett below. I’ll be posting a book review on Wednesday.
I’m working on my revisions right now. Revisions are not as clean and organized as a plotting chart—my anal side is showing, isn’t it? Please pray I can get it done on time. I want to please my editor Rachelle (who’s a great editor because she reads my blog :) ).
Diet: Don’t even ask. My parents came for a few days, which is all I need to say.
Comments
You didn't mention that you asked Sue if you could have a nose ring and she told you to ask God.
I hope all is well with you. Thanks for the ACFW roundup. I look forward to hearing more.
BTW, you did a terrif job on the Genesis contest.
I'm eager to hear what you have to say about the teaching/quiet moments. I know I learned a lot from these.
LOL about your diet while the parents were in town. Know what you mean. But that's what is so great about Mondays. It's a chance to start over. Even if it's for the thousandth time. Kind of like the grace of God. He forgives us even if we just confessed the same sin many times before.
Have a great day!
Sarah
Considering I wasn't even important enough to get A BUSINESS CARD I think you should be THRILLED I even mentioned you on my fabulously-popular blog!
And I'll correct the error. Sorry about that. Don't know where my brain was. OF COURSE Meisenheimer has only one s. I mean, it's not like I'm an Asian chick who rarely spells European names...