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 06.06.2006
Blog book giveaway:
My Thursday book giveaway is HEARTS ON THE LINE by Margaret Daley.
My Monday book giveaway is THE SECRET LIFE OF BECKY MILLER by Sharon Hinck.
You can still enter both giveaways. Just post a comment on each of those blog posts. On Thursday, I'll draw the winner for HEARTS ON THE LINE and post the title for another book I'm giving away. Stay tuned.
Dineen Miller is now offering design services geared especially for writers at competitive rates. She has over ten years of graphic design and advertising experience. One sheets, bookmarks, postcards, business cards, letterhead, newsletters, logos. Using your book covers, pictures and information, she can create a design to fit your needs and your budget. Check out her website for more information.
TMI:
Aaah, the arrogance of a college degree.
Okay, the following rant is a bit technical, so feel free to skip if you’re not inclined to follow my geek-speak.
I was really negligent and let the battery on my PDA run down, so the device does a “hard reset,” which is basically a complete restart that wipes out everything on there.
It’s not that bad a thing, because all my files are on my storage card. The only things I needed to replace were programs like my Bluetooth Foldable Keyboard and Microsoft Reader.
I prefer Microsoft Reader because even if you upgrade the version of Reader or get a new PDA, all you have to do is activate it via their website. (Other secure ebook formats like Mobipocket are nice and easy to use, but every time I’ve upgraded the version or changed PDA, I’ve had to go back to my online library, change my security passkey, and redownload all my Mobipocket ebooks with the new passkey. Yeah, pain in the petootie.)
Anyway, I went to the Microsoft website, signed in via my Passport account, activated my Microsoft Reader, got a confirmation page. Tried to open a secure ebook on my PDA. It said I didn’t have access to the book.
I did absolutely everything. I downloaded a new version of MR. I reactivated dozens of times. I did soft reset. I did all three things they recommended on their troubleshooting guide. Finally I did another hard reset (oh joy).
At a loss, I sent an email to their support center, baffled at what I had done wrong, and frustrated that their suggestions didn’t work. I’m a college graduate! I followed instructions! I did exactly what they said and even came up with new things to do!
Then it occurred to me, what if I’m using the wrong Passport account to log in to their website? The activation is linked to my Passport account e-mail address, and if I logged in with the wrong e-mail address, the activation would be for the wrong user.
Yup, wrong account. I didn’t even realize I had two different Passport accounts (the wrong one is a default account created when I got a hotmail e-mail address).
So now Microsoft customer service is about to receive a snippy e-mail from an arrogant little booby who can’t keep her e-mail addresses straight.
They probably won’t even buy my book.
Blog Bible Study: My friend Heather has started a Blog Bible Study group. It sounds terrific. It'll start on June 12th with CAPTIVATING by John and Stasi Eldridge. I've joined and ordered both the book and the guided journal from Amazon. The timing on this is good because I've finished my Bible in 90 Days and feel a little disjointed in terms of my daily quiet times.
Heather also started a book club. I've joined that too, although I won't always participate in the discussions.
Health: Please pray for me, I'm coming down with a sore throat and I think it's ALL DINEEN'S FAULT. But then people will say it's because I spent the day writing with her at the coffeeshop and to just suck it up.
Blog book giveaway:
My Thursday book giveaway is HEARTS ON THE LINE by Margaret Daley.
My Monday book giveaway is THE SECRET LIFE OF BECKY MILLER by Sharon Hinck.
You can still enter both giveaways. Just post a comment on each of those blog posts. On Thursday, I'll draw the winner for HEARTS ON THE LINE and post the title for another book I'm giving away. Stay tuned.
Dineen Miller is now offering design services geared especially for writers at competitive rates. She has over ten years of graphic design and advertising experience. One sheets, bookmarks, postcards, business cards, letterhead, newsletters, logos. Using your book covers, pictures and information, she can create a design to fit your needs and your budget. Check out her website for more information.TMI:
Aaah, the arrogance of a college degree.
Okay, the following rant is a bit technical, so feel free to skip if you’re not inclined to follow my geek-speak.
I was really negligent and let the battery on my PDA run down, so the device does a “hard reset,” which is basically a complete restart that wipes out everything on there.
It’s not that bad a thing, because all my files are on my storage card. The only things I needed to replace were programs like my Bluetooth Foldable Keyboard and Microsoft Reader.
I prefer Microsoft Reader because even if you upgrade the version of Reader or get a new PDA, all you have to do is activate it via their website. (Other secure ebook formats like Mobipocket are nice and easy to use, but every time I’ve upgraded the version or changed PDA, I’ve had to go back to my online library, change my security passkey, and redownload all my Mobipocket ebooks with the new passkey. Yeah, pain in the petootie.)
Anyway, I went to the Microsoft website, signed in via my Passport account, activated my Microsoft Reader, got a confirmation page. Tried to open a secure ebook on my PDA. It said I didn’t have access to the book.
I did absolutely everything. I downloaded a new version of MR. I reactivated dozens of times. I did soft reset. I did all three things they recommended on their troubleshooting guide. Finally I did another hard reset (oh joy).
At a loss, I sent an email to their support center, baffled at what I had done wrong, and frustrated that their suggestions didn’t work. I’m a college graduate! I followed instructions! I did exactly what they said and even came up with new things to do!
Then it occurred to me, what if I’m using the wrong Passport account to log in to their website? The activation is linked to my Passport account e-mail address, and if I logged in with the wrong e-mail address, the activation would be for the wrong user.
Yup, wrong account. I didn’t even realize I had two different Passport accounts (the wrong one is a default account created when I got a hotmail e-mail address).
So now Microsoft customer service is about to receive a snippy e-mail from an arrogant little booby who can’t keep her e-mail addresses straight.
They probably won’t even buy my book.
Blog Bible Study: My friend Heather has started a Blog Bible Study group. It sounds terrific. It'll start on June 12th with CAPTIVATING by John and Stasi Eldridge. I've joined and ordered both the book and the guided journal from Amazon. The timing on this is good because I've finished my Bible in 90 Days and feel a little disjointed in terms of my daily quiet times.
Heather also started a book club. I've joined that too, although I won't always participate in the discussions.
Health: Please pray for me, I'm coming down with a sore throat and I think it's ALL DINEEN'S FAULT. But then people will say it's because I spent the day writing with her at the coffeeshop and to just suck it up.
Comments
Go down some green tea and suck it up.
Oh, did I say that out loud??
Captivating is a great book, and I think as writers we particularly can appreciate it because it helps us come up with wounds for our characters that many women deal with.
And I bet your sore throat is Dineen's fault too. ;)
And please don't mention "suck it up" again. I've become so sick of that expression. I've had it thrown at me oh, probably several 100 times in the last year. Who ever thought that up? I guess it will be a hot expression for a while but then, like any fad, it will gradually fade away. I sure hope so.
I think that horrible "arguably" which is such a nonsensical expression, is finally losing some of its punch. Of course you can argue about everything in any direction you want. So the statement it introduces doesn't tell me a thing about what the person saying it actually feels. Is it possibly, probably, indubitably, or hardly that the following statement is true. We have good serviceable words which make a meaning clear. But then, perhaps the whole idea is to not commit to a definite opinion. Sheesh. I guess I sometimes think too logically.
Sorry about the rant. I'm always behind on new expressions. The first time I heard the "suck it up" I just thought "huh?". Oh, well, that's just me, I guess. I'm getting too old and set in my ways.
Get well quickly, Camy.
BTW, e-mail coming.
Man, not you too??? Captivating?? Everyone and there mother keeps telling me I need to read this book... ask me if I have? Better yet ask me if I've bought it?? LOL Nope... Heather be broke.
Yeah... you being sick because you and Dineen spent the day together... um, yeah SO not getting my sympathy! But I loves ya, babe!
I guess we're busted. LOL! Sorry if I got you sick!