Thursday 30 July 2015

Five Sentence Fiction Bubbles

You can’t see me watching you as you soak in the bath, up to your neck in soft, fragrant bubbles which massage your delicate skin, enveloping you in a silken caress. You can’t see me even when I sit next to you on the train as I inhale your floral scent and gently brush my hand innocently against yours; instead you shuffle closer to the window, gazing out at a passing world.

I see your reflection in the glass;  pale blue eyes, rosy lips, plump and inviting as your warm breath leaves a misty haze.  

Tonight, you don’t see me following you, you don’t hear my light footsteps, akin to a cat on the prowl for prey, stalking silently. But the last thing you see is me, my dark eyes staring into yours as you soak in your bubble bath, the bubbles at last fading as the water cools and is still.  


Written for Lllie Mcferrin's Five Sentence Fiction

Saturday 25 July 2015

A Break From the Day Job




It can only mean half term!


With Six weeks off for summer!


But what to do with myself?


That's Easy . . .

I intend to write a sequel . . .

 In June this year, my debut novel was released by publishers Crooked Cat, and is on Amazon. The reaction has been amazing which is great as I had planned a sequel.



After a couple of false starts, I finally have the time to get properly stuck into it because I am lucky enough to  have six weeks off.

I love that my 'day job' compliments my need and want to write. There's been times where the flow has stopped due to having to go to bed because of that early alarm call. And then it's lost. And I can never get that moment back, no matter how many times I reread the chapters before. Now, I can stay up until the small hours, when the rest of the house is fast asleep.
 zzzzzz

The only sound, the tippy- tappy of my fingers on the keyboard. And some chill out tunes on low drifting in and out of my mind.                                 
 ♬♫♬♫


Of course, the holidays aren't all about the writing. There's the reading too. And I plan on doing lots of it. Since breaking up on Wed, I have already started and finished reading three books. Yes, one of them was mine but I had to read for continuity purposes, ready for book two.








I also plan on meeting up with friends, a little drinkies, and getting ready for holiday (where more reading is a must and some inspiration for writing).



Yummy!yummy!

As for the sequel, that's a few thousand words in and has a working title of Katie Button Stateside. I'm sure as I plough through the word count and plot, the title will become more clear to me. Who knows where my inky fingers will take me and my characters . . . I never know despite my plans and plot lines as it depends on what mood I'm in, where an idea can lead and what my characters want. Yes, they're in my head, talking to me . . .


A little advertising I made for my chicklit/romance novel. Perfect for the summer. 


So that's my six weeks in a nutshell. What do have planned for the summer weeks / weekends / days ahead?

Written for Six word Saturday, hosted by http://www.showmyface.com/

Saturday 18 July 2015

I'm Still A Cat Person . . . Right?





Love my cat, Indi

I love cats!


I just wanted to reiterate this after a week of doggie madness where dogs took over completely at work.
We (I say we, it was really the kids from Y5) hosted a dog show on the school field for a fundraising event to support their business idea for Enterprise week.
I expected dogs. That’s fine. But what I didn’t expect was this urge to stroke and pet them, even go all gooey over them, talking in that sing song voice I usually reserve for my cat! (Or any cat actually because they’re so cute).
There were some really beautiful dogs and I couldn’t resist snapping away as they competed in:


Waggiest tail
Sparkliest eyes
Dog looking most like its owner
Dog the judges would most like to take home


I wish I could add some of the pics but they’re all at work.


Hold on.


Doing what cats do best
I’m a cat person.
Always have been.
Always will be.
There’s something very therapeutic in stroking its silky fur, listening to the purr. My cat, Indi, is a right old chatterbox and makes some weird but funny sounds when he looks out at the birds in the garden.


However, my Hubby suggests I was a dog in a past life because of my love of walks and the fact dogs like me! Whenever we’re out, they always come up to me without encouragement. He reckons I’m secretly a dog person.


I’m a cat person. I’m a cat person. I’m a cat person. 

Handsome boy

People were convincing me to become a dog person in my Facebook Post  with their really cute pics of doggies. I tried to balance it out with cat pics so it's quite a cute, feel good thread. And a suggestion was made in the post that you could be both a cat person and a dog person. 

I still regard myself as a cat person. 


Which are you; dog person or cat person or can you be both?

xx
I can see you . . . 
 . . . in the Christmas tree



















Thursday 16 July 2015

Thursday Threads It Better Be You

Brotherly Love

“And we just sit back and wait,” said Cane, dropping onto the park bench across from the apartment complex. He lit up a cigarette and inhaled deeply. “Not long now then it’s all over.”


“It better be. You promised me that bitch would suffer. So far, I ain’t seeing nothing. And Rachel’s up there laughing at me!” spat Daryl, pacing back and forth, glancing up at the top floor. His gut churned just mentioning her name.


“Trust me. Have I ever let you down before? She hurt you Little Brother so she hurt me. And I ain’t havin’ that. Now sit down before you draw attention to yourself.”


Daryl slouched next to Cane but his agitation was clear to see; his foot tapping constantly as he bit his already stubby nails. “I love her,” he muttered. “I wish I didn’t.”


“That’s why she has to go,” Cane replied with a sly smile.


They sat in silence, anonymous to passersby hurrying home from work, their eyes not leaving her balcony window when they saw the curtains flutter, shadows in the light. Excitement flooded through Cane as he saw Rachel struggle against a large, strong man. Her scream was stifled momentarily by a hand to her throat before she was thrown from the balcony.


“Fancy a kebab?” Cane asked, standing up, turning his back on the scene as a crowd swarmed. He’d seen it all before.


But he wasn’t going to tell Daryl that.  


242


Written for Thursday Threads hosted by Siobhan Muir over at The Weird, the wild and the Wicked

Monday 13 July 2015

Monday Mixer! It's back! Yay!!!

I knew my day was coming. I planned it just as I wanted it. But there’s always some family drama erupting around my eldest. What’s he gone and done now? I can’t quite make it out but my Beryl is wagging that finger again. Such a sagacious woman, taking no nonsense from any of them.

A tear trickles down my sallowed cheek as a susurrus of her name escapes my dry lips, hoping it’ll reach her like a gentle kiss on her heavily rouged cheek. She’s sitting proud, ignoring the ennui surrounding her from her own flesh and blood. I wish I could clip my boys right round the ear for their lack of respect; not to me, but their mother.

The stentorian voice of the vicar, belying his doddering frame, makes me jump as it rings in my head; ironic how his words of love are splitting my skull. Sod this for a game of soldiers. As soon as Beryl bids her last, I’m off. Just as long as there’s none of that ululating. My sister’s one for that but she’s keeping it together.

I smile, surveying my life below. Not too bad, Sydney, not too bad at all.

200

So pleased this flash fiction is back! I loved this. Makes you think and is highly creative. xxx

Sunday 12 July 2015

Five Sentence Fiction Thief

Gossip

It was the same conversation, again and again, about the spate of burglaries in the town as Carly placed the drinks on the bar, accepting the barest of acknowledgements with payment.


She tried not to listen but couldn’t help overhearing about the worry of leaving the house for holidays, weekends away, trips to the supermarket,  or even the school run where the house was empty for just half an hour; that’s all it took to ravage a life of memories, trinkets, heirlooms that meant everything to the owner and nothing but a quick payday to the thief.


A wry smile crept over her face as she heard them declare how careful they were being in not blabbing about their plans, leaving lights on, using timers and asking the neighbours to keep watch. How safe they felt, discussing this in a pub where the drink loosened the tightest tongue, where they ignored the girl behind the bar constantly, never noticing how she listened intently, how she always wore the latest trainers, had perfectly manicured nails despite working the bar, and went to all the big gigs, all on her crappy wage.  


Carly made a mental note; number 42 away from Wednesday for three nights, a timer set, a spare key in the shed under the third pot; these people were stupid and Carly didn’t mind taking advantage of it.   


Thought it was about time I revisited Five Sentence Fiction with Lillie McFerrin. It's been a while but I've never forgotten it, just needed to be more organised. After all, my very first five sentence fiction inspired my debut novel. Good times.

Thanks for stopping by and reading. xxx

My debut novel available from Amazon UK

and Amazon US

My very first flash fiction and Five sentence fiction. Wicked which inspired my novel. xx

Saturday 11 July 2015

Bird's-eye View from the 15th Floor



This post is for Six Word Saturday where you describe your life in six words- don't you just love the little hyphen, making one word :-) .  You can then elaborate if you wish and seeing as I like words and can use thousands instead of 10 or 6, I have elaborated. I decided to share some pics from last Sunday when we had a family get together in Chelsea. I would've loved to have visited more of the places I knew so well as a child but once the photo albums come out, there's just not enough time. 


Birds-eye View from the 15th Floor




Ok, not quite a bird's-eye view but as close as you'll get without flying into Heathrow. Standing on my Aunt's balcony, last Sunday, on the 15th floor on the iconic World's End estate in Chelsea, SW10, you can see right across London. In the distance is the Wembley Arch, below, the streets of Chelsea.

I used to stand on this balcony as a child and that excitement of the view has not diminished even though the views have changed.





But one thing has never changed and that's seeing Chelsea football stadium, Stamford Bridge, from the balcony on the 15th floor.

            


Turn in another direction, you can see The Royal Albert Hall (bit blurred that one). Then in another direction, you can see across the Thames to Battersea in 'Sarrrf' London.

I love visiting London. And will never tire of it; the buzz, the noise, the excitement, and especially those places that mean so much and were a huge part of my childhood, like the 15th floor on the World's End estate.


Source












                                                    


                         http://www.showmyface.com/ hosted by Call Me Cate