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, Stardate 10.17.2006
Blog book giveaway:
To enter, go to the blog links below and post a comment there.
My Thursday book giveaway is Hot Flashes and Cold Cream by Diann Hunt.
My Monday book giveaway is Violette Between by Alison Strobel.
You can still enter both giveaways. On Thursday, I'll draw the winner for the Hot Flashes and Cold Cream and post the title for another book I'm giving away.
Pick my title! I’m still holding a poll for the title of my book! Go to this blog post to cast your vote!
Check out Christian Women Online (click on the button above) to see what other women are blogging about this quote:
I’m rather torn about this quote. I do like it—it brings to mind the strength, prayers, and support of my husband, my parents, my friends on my writing journey. Where would I be without them, especially the past 12-14 months with all the ups and downs of being contracted and coordinating the Genesis contest?
At the same time, I really do think that what’s behind us makes a big difference.
I know many people have painful pasts, and I’m not saying we should dwell on it. But what happened to me—good and bad—shaped who I am today.
As a writer, I look first to a character’s backstory to discover what they want and why. Even if a lot of that fictional past history never makes it into the novel, I need to know what happened because, well, I’m writing their story. I need to understand the character deeply in order to know how they’d react to the juicy conflict I throw at them in the book.
(And yes, I often talk about my characters as if they’re real people. When you think about them for 8-12 hours a day while typing into a computer screen, see how stable your mind remains.)
I’m like my characters. The things that happened to me—in fact, every step of my life’s journey—was orchestrated by God to bring me to this exact same place I am today.
I didn’t make the best choices along the way, but He compensated. It’s all good.
I’m grateful for who are beside me today, but I can’t discount the things behind me that molded me.
The funny thing is, I’m not even a very sentimental person. LOL!
TMI (Camy’s oversharing section):
Writing: In case you were wondering, I finished my revisions in the wee hours of Monday morning around 4 a.m. That’s a bit late, even for me, but I’m also such a night owl that it’s not as impossible as me waking up at 4 a.m.
Next I’ll be working on my big huge website contest which was supposed to go live last month, but which I can hopefully start this week.
Diet: Captain Caffeine had to fix my exercise bike tonight—the rubber thingy had gotten off track from the wheely thingy. (Very technical, aren’t I?)
I had a relatively low-carb day—dinner was salad. I’m so glad spinach is no longer, well, lethal. E. coli is nasty stuff—I worked with it in my biology research. Although come to think of it, I worked with cancer cells, too, so the E. coli was pretty tame in comparison.
I was so proud of myself for having salad. Just had too much stuff (read: fattening) on top of my spinach.
Blog book giveaway:
To enter, go to the blog links below and post a comment there.
My Thursday book giveaway is Hot Flashes and Cold Cream by Diann Hunt.
My Monday book giveaway is Violette Between by Alison Strobel.
You can still enter both giveaways. On Thursday, I'll draw the winner for the Hot Flashes and Cold Cream and post the title for another book I'm giving away.
Pick my title! I’m still holding a poll for the title of my book! Go to this blog post to cast your vote!
Check out Christian Women Online (click on the button above) to see what other women are blogging about this quote:
"It doesn’t matter what is behind you as much as it matters who is beside you."
~ Ellen ~
"Laced with Grace"
I’m rather torn about this quote. I do like it—it brings to mind the strength, prayers, and support of my husband, my parents, my friends on my writing journey. Where would I be without them, especially the past 12-14 months with all the ups and downs of being contracted and coordinating the Genesis contest?
At the same time, I really do think that what’s behind us makes a big difference.
I know many people have painful pasts, and I’m not saying we should dwell on it. But what happened to me—good and bad—shaped who I am today.
As a writer, I look first to a character’s backstory to discover what they want and why. Even if a lot of that fictional past history never makes it into the novel, I need to know what happened because, well, I’m writing their story. I need to understand the character deeply in order to know how they’d react to the juicy conflict I throw at them in the book.
(And yes, I often talk about my characters as if they’re real people. When you think about them for 8-12 hours a day while typing into a computer screen, see how stable your mind remains.)
I’m like my characters. The things that happened to me—in fact, every step of my life’s journey—was orchestrated by God to bring me to this exact same place I am today.
I didn’t make the best choices along the way, but He compensated. It’s all good.
I’m grateful for who are beside me today, but I can’t discount the things behind me that molded me.
The funny thing is, I’m not even a very sentimental person. LOL!
TMI (Camy’s oversharing section):
Writing: In case you were wondering, I finished my revisions in the wee hours of Monday morning around 4 a.m. That’s a bit late, even for me, but I’m also such a night owl that it’s not as impossible as me waking up at 4 a.m.
Next I’ll be working on my big huge website contest which was supposed to go live last month, but which I can hopefully start this week.
Diet: Captain Caffeine had to fix my exercise bike tonight—the rubber thingy had gotten off track from the wheely thingy. (Very technical, aren’t I?)
I had a relatively low-carb day—dinner was salad. I’m so glad spinach is no longer, well, lethal. E. coli is nasty stuff—I worked with it in my biology research. Although come to think of it, I worked with cancer cells, too, so the E. coli was pretty tame in comparison.
I was so proud of myself for having salad. Just had too much stuff (read: fattening) on top of my spinach.
Comments
BTW, I'm proud of you too for having a salad even if it had too much stuff. Lol, a salad with too much stuff is better than no salad at all and just lots of stuff. (did that even make sense?)
Reminds that God works all things together for good ...
Thanks for your positive perspective!
Sunydazy