journal, candles, glasses, fall leaves, coffee

Hey, writer friends! It’s Work in Progress Wednesday, and as a lot of you know, that’s when I post an excerpt of a work in progress and invite you to do the same in the comments section.

And for the regulars, I have an announcement: I’d pulled back to doing WIP Wednesday every other month due to the demands of my day job. Having left that job, I’m going back to doing them every month. This makes me really happy, because I love reading your stuff! So the next one will be on Wednesday, November 2.

Anyway, I’ll go over the rules for anyone who’s not familiar with this!

*post 500 words or less (otherwise, I may trim it for you )
*no graphic or adult content, but a little innuendo or salty language is okay
*no criticism, suggestions, or asking questions, because we’re often sharing things that aren’t ready for critique yet. However, positive words are encouraged (and I believe they are good writer luck!)

LUCKY AUTHOR professional editing and proofreading private author coaching query and synopsis help

If you don’t have a excerpt to share but you’d like to tell us about your upcoming project for National Novel Writing Month, that’s great, too! I’ll be working on Paris In Time, my time travel sequel to Knight at the Museum.

I’ve shared so many excerpts of Knight at the Museum, my story about a medieval English knight in modern-day Chicago, and this is probably the last one I’ll share at WIP Wednesday!

***

“It’s easy for me to forget that you were in battles like that,” she said.

“I am glad, my lady, for I would like to forget myself.”

She took in a breath as if to say something, but then she didn’t speak.

Gryffon, attuned to her every gesture in this moment of closeness, touched her hair. “What would say, my heart’s queen?”

“I just…since you didn’t even like going to war, would you ever think about selling your armor?” He stiffened, and she added quickly, “I know I asked before! It’s just that having you here has really, um, made me put more on the credit card. It’s put me more in debt. If we’re going to keep living together, I just…you know.”

Gryffon’s heart felt heavy. “I will find another way to pay my debt to you. To me, the armor does not represent the wars or the tournaments. I would’ve gone mad had I dwelled on those.” She raised her head to look at him, her eyes filled with sympathy.

“My good memories have sustained me through the torments of hell that no man alive can imagine. And chief among them are the day I wore that armor when I was made knight, filled with hope for the future and the desire to do good. I have remained sometimes in that memory for hours, or maybe days, and it has sustained me, even though it was a bright beginning to a never-ending nightmare.”

“I can understand that,” Emily said. “Honestly, it’s amazing that you can still function, after all you’ve been through.”

Even when he spoke of such strange things, she understood him so well, and he warmed to her praise.

“And now I am in a bright new world, but it is often bewildering, and it seems to me…” He shook his head. “It seems to me that as long as I have the armor, I am still myself, and this is not some other fantasy, prolonged only because I have gone mad at last.”

“I didn’t know you were afraid of that,” Emily breathed. “This is real. You and I are real.”

“What we have just done has very much convinced me of it, for although my imagination is powerful, I could not have dreamt of such a pleasure as awaited me between your sweet thighs.” She blushed. “I will let the shadows go, and make thousand new memories of—” He searched his mind. “Sunshine, and roses, and swiving, to fill the space where they have been.”

“What’s swiving?”

He laughed. “A word I should not use with a gentle lady.” He usually had finer manners. But surely between two who had joined together in bodies and in souls, there was a different kind of courtesy.   

“Is it…what we just did?”

He laughed again. God, it felt good to laugh, with his lovely lady in his arms. “The very same, sweet bird, and what I hope we shall do a thousand times again.”

***

I’m looking forward to reading yours, if you feel like sharing! I’m working on an editing job today, but I’ll read tonight. Thanks for stopping by, and happy writing!

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