I just finished writing Year of the Dog ! It had a massive plot hole that I had to fix which turned out to be more work than I expected. Here’s a snippet: “Hey, Auntie Nell.” He wrapped his arms around her, bussing her on the cheek and breathing in pikake flowers and shortbread cookies. And suddenly he was nine years old again, and her solid presence had made his chaotic world stable once more. “What are you doing here?” He usually took her to dinner on Wednesday nights, but today was Tuesday. The edges of her smile faltered a little before brightening right back up again. “What, I can’t visit my nephew?” She angled around him to enter his home. “Is this your new house? Looks lovely.” Which was a blatant lie, because the fixer-upper was barely livable, much less acceptable to a neat-freak like his aunt. She also left four matching pink and purple floral suitcases on the stoop behind her. Only then did Ashwin notice the cab driver standing slightly to the side of the walkway. “Can ...
There also used to be a Captain Awesome reference, but unfortunately my editor took it out. So here’s the original excerpt from chapter 23:
Josh led Velma out onto the dance floor and Charles drew Tessa into his arms.
He felt as if a circle had been completed.
She looked up at him, her brown eyes glowing with flecks of emerald. He thought she might have stopped breathing—he knew he did. He’d been wanting to hold her since the moment he saw her at the foot of his stairs, regal in that blue gown. She hadn’t been transformed so much as enhanced—before, her confidence had been in her walk and her athletic grace, but tonight, it shone from every pore, in the tilt of her chin, the sway of her hips, the toss of her head. His hand at her waist tightened.
“The music’s started,” she murmured, and he realized they’d been standing still at the edge of the dancing area. He swept her into the slow, sensuous tango.
“Needed rescuing, did you?” she asked.
He frowned at her. “You obviously didn’t.”
“Oh, Josh already knows who we are and what we’re doing here.”
“You told him?”
She explained about Karissa.
“Do you trust him?”
“Josh assured me that they could torture him like Wesley in The Princess Bride, but they’d never get him to tell what he knows about us.”
“Oh. That completely reassures me.” Then again, she’d gained an ally tonight with Captain Awesome over there, whereas Charles had spent most of his time trying to keep Ms. Crackhead from throwing him over her shoulder and hoofing it out of the ballroom.
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And Awesome is one of my favourite TV characters. Because he is awesome - handsome, intelligent, loving husband and father, and not one bit arrogant, even though he has every reason to be.
Looking forward to the sequel to Protection for Hire (perhaps Captain Awesome will get a mention in that?).