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 03.23.2011
So as you can guess, I’ve been pretty busy. I recently detailed this all for my friend Meredith Efken when she called me the other day, so here it is in all its goriness:
1) I finished a book January 10th, another book (number 15) in the Patchwork Mysteries series by Guideposts. The books are written by several authors and only available to the Guideposts Book Club right now—you can’t buy them in stores—so I haven’t said much about them, but I’ve been having a lot of fun writing them since they’re cozy mysteries, and I’m a huge Agatha Christie fan.
2) On January 11th, I finished the Art Fact Sheet for Stalker in the Shadows, my next Love Inspired Suspense, coming out in spring 2012. I’m excited about it—it’s about Monica, the third Grant sister (you can read about her sisters Naomi and Rachel in Deadly Intent and Formula for Danger).
3) On January 16th, I finished self-edits for my fourth Sushi series book, Weddings and Wasabi, and sent it to my freelance editor, Meredith Efken at the Fiction Fix-It Shop. This is the book that I’ll be self-publishing and releasing in September or October this year.
4) On February 7th, I finished the manuscript for Stalker in the Shadows and mailed it off to New York! I also started work on another story proposal for Love Inspired Suspense.
5) On February 15th, I turned in to my editor revisions on Protection for Hire, my next book with Zondervan which releases in November. I loved this book because it enabled me to channel my Nikita-Alias side in writing the heroine, who is ex-Japanese mafia. She finds Jesus in jail and now is trying to use her skill set to help people rather than breaking kneecaps.
6) I went to Hawaii for my cousin’s wedding, and then to Nebraska to visit Tosca Lee and Meredith Efken, and during that time, the 2011 ACFW Genesis contest ended, and since I’m coordinating that, well, I had to process entries, scramble to get extra judges, and assign judges to all the entries (we had 550 entries!). Tosca’s OCD tendencies rubbed off on me, plus I was envious of her immaculate house, and so I have also been slowly cleaning up my house a little each day. I have a gigantic pile of stuff to give away to Salvation Army and I am just terribly proud of myself.
7) By March 15th, I had to finish revisions on the Patchwork Mysteries manuscript I turned in back in January. And actually, I was a little late because a) I was stupid, and b) a character stumped me, and I had to write 5 new scenes from scratch.
Whew! Are you tired yet? I sure am!
Right now, I’m writing a prologue to Protection for Hire that I hope to get done today or tomorrow, and I also got contracted for a third book for the Patchwork Mysteries series, and the one-sheet outline is due April 1st while the synopsis is due April 11th. I was also contracted to write devotionals for a devotion book by Guideposts, and those are due April 18th.
I hope it doesn’t sound like I’m whining, because I’m not. I LOVE that I’m busy and on deadlines because otherwise I’d waste time and eat too much. Can you relate? I really don’t work as efficiently as I do when I’m on deadline.
But it does seem sometimes that I’m playing catch up with all my other work—my Story Sensei critique service, my Street Team, my blogging, and let’s not forget knitting! I take a few minutes to knit every day (usually when I’m hanging out with my husband after he comes home from work) but I haven’t touched my spinning wheel in forever and I kind of miss it. Maybe I’ll spin a little tomorrow.
OH and I’m starting a new training program for my marathon running to help me improve my time (because really, running for seven hours straight was kind of painful). I’d like to one day run a marathon in 5 hours. I won’t do it anytime soon, but I can at least aim for 6.5 hours. I’m hoping to be able to run the Disneyworld Marathon in January!
That’s my catch-up for today (actually, reading over it, it kind of looks like throw-up rather than catch-up ...) and I hope you all are doing well!
If you have any prayer requests, feel free to leave them in the comments and I’ll say a prayer for you! And if you can please pray I make all my deadlines (without dying or at the very least without having a mental breakdown) I’d appreciate it!
So as you can guess, I’ve been pretty busy. I recently detailed this all for my friend Meredith Efken when she called me the other day, so here it is in all its goriness:
1) I finished a book January 10th, another book (number 15) in the Patchwork Mysteries series by Guideposts. The books are written by several authors and only available to the Guideposts Book Club right now—you can’t buy them in stores—so I haven’t said much about them, but I’ve been having a lot of fun writing them since they’re cozy mysteries, and I’m a huge Agatha Christie fan.
2) On January 11th, I finished the Art Fact Sheet for Stalker in the Shadows, my next Love Inspired Suspense, coming out in spring 2012. I’m excited about it—it’s about Monica, the third Grant sister (you can read about her sisters Naomi and Rachel in Deadly Intent and Formula for Danger).
3) On January 16th, I finished self-edits for my fourth Sushi series book, Weddings and Wasabi, and sent it to my freelance editor, Meredith Efken at the Fiction Fix-It Shop. This is the book that I’ll be self-publishing and releasing in September or October this year.
4) On February 7th, I finished the manuscript for Stalker in the Shadows and mailed it off to New York! I also started work on another story proposal for Love Inspired Suspense.
5) On February 15th, I turned in to my editor revisions on Protection for Hire, my next book with Zondervan which releases in November. I loved this book because it enabled me to channel my Nikita-Alias side in writing the heroine, who is ex-Japanese mafia. She finds Jesus in jail and now is trying to use her skill set to help people rather than breaking kneecaps.
6) I went to Hawaii for my cousin’s wedding, and then to Nebraska to visit Tosca Lee and Meredith Efken, and during that time, the 2011 ACFW Genesis contest ended, and since I’m coordinating that, well, I had to process entries, scramble to get extra judges, and assign judges to all the entries (we had 550 entries!). Tosca’s OCD tendencies rubbed off on me, plus I was envious of her immaculate house, and so I have also been slowly cleaning up my house a little each day. I have a gigantic pile of stuff to give away to Salvation Army and I am just terribly proud of myself.
7) By March 15th, I had to finish revisions on the Patchwork Mysteries manuscript I turned in back in January. And actually, I was a little late because a) I was stupid, and b) a character stumped me, and I had to write 5 new scenes from scratch.
Whew! Are you tired yet? I sure am!
Right now, I’m writing a prologue to Protection for Hire that I hope to get done today or tomorrow, and I also got contracted for a third book for the Patchwork Mysteries series, and the one-sheet outline is due April 1st while the synopsis is due April 11th. I was also contracted to write devotionals for a devotion book by Guideposts, and those are due April 18th.
I hope it doesn’t sound like I’m whining, because I’m not. I LOVE that I’m busy and on deadlines because otherwise I’d waste time and eat too much. Can you relate? I really don’t work as efficiently as I do when I’m on deadline.
But it does seem sometimes that I’m playing catch up with all my other work—my Story Sensei critique service, my Street Team, my blogging, and let’s not forget knitting! I take a few minutes to knit every day (usually when I’m hanging out with my husband after he comes home from work) but I haven’t touched my spinning wheel in forever and I kind of miss it. Maybe I’ll spin a little tomorrow.
OH and I’m starting a new training program for my marathon running to help me improve my time (because really, running for seven hours straight was kind of painful). I’d like to one day run a marathon in 5 hours. I won’t do it anytime soon, but I can at least aim for 6.5 hours. I’m hoping to be able to run the Disneyworld Marathon in January!
That’s my catch-up for today (actually, reading over it, it kind of looks like throw-up rather than catch-up ...) and I hope you all are doing well!
If you have any prayer requests, feel free to leave them in the comments and I’ll say a prayer for you! And if you can please pray I make all my deadlines (without dying or at the very least without having a mental breakdown) I’d appreciate it!
Comments
Camy
I am praying that you will meet all your deadlines and that it will happen without sweat.
The sweating comes with the running, hopefully not with the writing. :)
Camy
Camy