The 2nd Annual Christmas Eve Tichu Party

If the title tells you what to expect from the following short story, you can probably skip right to the story.  If it doesn’t, this story takes place a few weeks after The Art of Proposing ends.  I don’t think there are any spoilers aside from who ends up with whom.  But you definitely want to read the entire Romance Arts series first anyway.

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    Violet looked at her phone flashing on the counter. “It’s your sister,” she said.
    “Go ahead.” Ryan nodded at the phone. “I’ll finish cleaning up while you see what she wants.”
    Violet smiled at his exasperated tone as she answered the call.
    “I have the best idea ever,” Audra said.
    “I thought the 2nd Annual Christmas Eve Tichu Party was your best idea ever.”
    “I thought of a way to make it even better.” Audra squealed into the phone. “But wait… Is Ryan there? He’s not supposed to know yet. Don’t tell him about this improvement. Is he there?”
    “Yes, he’s here,” Violet said.
    “Can he hear me!? Go somewhere he can’t hear me.”
    Violet was watching Ryan and saw him nod when Audra asked if he could hear her. She wasn’t on speaker but tended to talk loudly when she was excited. Violet sent him a look that said she was going to humor Audra as she moved out of the kitchen and towards her bedroom. “Okay. You can speak freely now.”
    “So I was thinking about plans for the 2nd Annual Christmas Eve Tichu Pary and then… I looked at a calendar.”
    The pause was long enough that Audra seemed to want a prompt.
    “And what did you see on the calendar?”
    “Do you know what happens on Christmas Eve this year?”
    Violet could look at a calendar herself – though she didn’t know what it might say other than Christmas Eve – but she could tell that despite the questions, Audra wanted to be the one to tell her. “I don’t. What happens on Christmas Eve?”
    “A full moon!”
    “Oh. I guess that’s cool,” Violet said. “How does that change the plan though?”
    “Isn’t it obvious?” The excitement in Audra’s voice was building.
    “No. You’ll need to tell me.”
    “It means it’ll be the 2nd Annual Christmas Eve Tichu Party… with a Full Moon!”
    Violet laughed. “That part is obvious. But what’ll be different other than adding extra words the guys will refuse to say?”
    “Instead of separate games, we can combine to play Grand Seigneur.”
    “That’s what a full moon means?”
    “Yes.”
    “And you think the guys will agree to that?”
    “Sure,” Audra said. “Logan’s already on board because I told him he’s on board. But you have to get Ryan on board without telling him exactly what’s going on because he’s more likely to tell Trevor and he really can’t know yet. If he doesn’t have time to think of arguments, he’ll be more likely to play along.”
    “Well, I think it sounds fun,” Violet said. “I’ll play along.”
    “Great! I’ll let you get back to hanging out with your brand-new fiancé.”
    “See you soon.” Violet put the phone back on the counter as she rejoined Ryan.
    He had her kitchen back in order and was waiting for her. “What am I not supposed to know?” he asked.
    “I’m not supposed to tell you.”
    “Are you really not supposed to tell me or is Audra being Audra again?” He came a step closer and took both of her hands in his.
    The proximity made her brain foggy so it was good that Violet already knew the answer to his question. She also knew that Ryan was going to enjoy the 2nd Annual Christmas Eve Tichu Party with a Full Moon as much as he enjoyed getting the information out of her. And that he’d groan at the new name.

To be continued...

So Many Lessons

I figured out something important this week.  Don’t laugh.  I figured out why writing a book is hard.  Practice makes perfect, right?  The more you do something, the easier it gets.  I was thinking about these maxims while staring at a blank page making no progress on book 4 in the More Love in Andauk series.  I’ve written enough books by now that it should be easy for me.  Some aspects of it are easier.  I’ve learned quite a bit in the years I’ve been doing this whole writing thing.  Let’s not talk about how many years or I’ll have to pretend I’m sensitive about my age.  I’m not.  I just can’t tell anyone because all the people who keep trying to give me a senior discount will feel bad if they find out how many years I am from qualifying.  Seriously, it’s more than a few.

Next week I will figure out how to avoid tangents.

I was staring at the page where my new book was supposed to appear, and it occurred to me that all the practice I have writing books involves different books.  I don’t have any practice with this book.  It’s perfectly reasonable that it still feels like hard work from time to time.  I haven’t had any practice figuring out why this particular character is having so much trouble with her love life.

On a related note, I haven’t had any practice writing this particular post.  Because it’s related, it’s not another tangent.  It’s called “making an excuse.”  And I haven’t had any practice writing the short story I’ll start posting next month even though I should have had practice last year.  Someone gave me an idea for a Christmas story.  Somehow, I forgot to write it.  I can’t say much else about it yet, only that it will involve some familiar characters.  This is called “building suspense.”  I’m sharing a ton of lessons this month, one of which is called sarcasm. 

Let’s hope next month’s lesson isn’t “Don’t tell people you’re going to post a story you haven’t written yet because you might have to admit you didn’t figure out how to write it in time.”

The Moon Diamonds

I’m writing about a new book this month, but it’s not my book.  Now you might be wondering why I’m writing about someone else’s book.  I’m glad you brought that up because I have a whole list of reasons.  Some of these are my reasons and some are the author’s reasons.  I’m not telling which is which.

1) The first reason is simply because I want to write about someone else’s book.  It’s my blog.  I get to do whatever I want.

2) I said I would write about this, and I do my best to keep my word.  It must have been many years ago because I don’t actually remember saying I’d someday share news of this first book.  But it sounds like me, and I’m doing my best to keep what sounds like my word.

3) It’s a good book.  I have read and enjoyed it.  It has some political intrigue that isn’t usually my cup of tea, and I admit I had trouble keeping track of the large cast of characters.  But there is a ton of action and humor, which are my favorite parts of a fantasy novel.  If it makes me laugh, I like it.

4) This counts as a good deed.  I’m usually wary of authors promoting each other’s work because I know there’s a lot of tit-for-tat that taints the enthusiasm.  In this case, because it’s me and I know me, I know I’m not getting anything in return.  And because I know the author, I believe she is trying to forge a path God has laid out for her.  It feels good to have a small part in that.

5) I needed a topic for this month.  Any suggestion that I complain about a lack of ideas every other month is a total exaggeration on top of a mountain of hyperbole.  Still… I’ll take the low hanging fruit when it’s offered.

6) Consistency is important.  I have mentioned this author several times over the years.  She was writing entertaining interviews at a young age.  She helped populate a fictional town even younger and has understood for years that a real book needs real effort.  And there was that disastrous time we tried to write together.  It would be a glaring omission if I failed to comment on her published work, or the fact that I’m delighted she’s following in my footsteps.

7) Even though it’s not my book, I still get a teeny tiny bit of credit because of how I ended reason six.  Try to read The Moon Diamonds without seeing traces of my influence in the writing.  It’s not possible.  This is why I think some of my readers will enjoy it even though it’s a different genre.

8) Read reason one again if you need another reason.  Then after you’ve finished my latest, you can check out this newer book.