This past weekend, my husband’s grandfather passed away. We knew it was coming; he was 98 years old and had been having issues on and off for the past couple of years. However, he had been doing pretty well recently, so it was a bit of a shock when we got word that he wasn’t doing so well.

Thankfully we were able to visit him one last time before he passed. He lit up whenever Boyo was in the room, and Boyo was absolutely fascinated by him.

Then a couple of days later we got the call that he was gone.

At the risk of sounding cliche – he will be missed. A lot. But he’s in a far far better place now.

In other news, I finished up one of my classes. I passed. Not quite with flying colors, but pretty damn close. The next class started this week, and so far it’s going well. I only have three weeks left on the other one. However, my midterm didn’t go so well – the website was having issues, there were a lot of questions regarding subjects that weren’t covered in class or any of the materials, and my own reading comprehension skills seriously failed me a couple of times – so I’ll need plenty of prayers and crossed fingers when it comes time for the final.

Despite everything that is going on I did manage to get some writing done.

I had originally planned to rewrite the opening chapters for The Descendants this week. Instead of Vivian’s dad getting married, I was going to change it so that Vivian was the one getting married instead. However, whenever I tried to sit down to write it, I found myself going back and editing the other opening instead.

I also made the decision to take a story that I am going to publish under a pen name, and cut it in half and publish it as a short story instead. I sent it off to a friend for her to edit last week, and after discussing it with her, I’ve come to the conclusion that 1) it’s just not ready yet and 2) it’s not strong enough to be a stand alone story. Based on her advice, I’m going to go through, edit things (I use way too many ‘had’s and ‘that’s among other things), rewrite some scenes, expand on others, and go from there.

I had a feeling it wouldn’t work alone, that it wasn’t ready, but I was just so excited about it. Oh well, it’s better to wait, and be patient, so that way it’s 100% ready.

Anywho. Enough of all that boring stuff. It’s Wednesday – which means it’s time for another WIPpet!

WIPpet Wednesday is a blog where we share snippets of whatever project we are working onthat somehow relate to the date. So since today is the 28th of September, you could share 28 lines from chapter 9, or 9 words from page 28. Or you could even add the date together and figure it out from there. For example, today I’ll be sharing 10 paragraphs (2+8=10) from the Descendants.

This is a scene from book two of the series. In their travels, Vivian has become separated from the others. However, she and Gwalchmei, who is the stranger who helps her in this snippet here, have crossed paths again and he’s agreed to help her find them. As always, this is very very rough.

The glow of the fire illuminated Gwalchmei’s face, but beyond the circle of their camp, the shadowy forest loomed.He poked at the flames, sending sparks flying up towards the dark branches overhead. “Is that why you didn’t want me to kiss you that night in the hallway? Because you are promised to someone?”

“No.” Vivian licked her lips. “I didn’t want you, or anyone, really, to touch me because I was afraid that I would hurt you.”

He arched an eyebrow. “You were afraid that you would hurt me?”

“I’ve been told I have a mean right hook and an expansive vocabulary of insults that would make a…” She was about to say marine but paused, suddenly realizing that he wouldn’t know what that was. She pursed her lips together while she tried to think of a better word. A knight? No, knights didn’t curse. An archer? “… A soldier blush.”

“Admirable traits in a woman.”

She laughed. “My step mother would disagree with you. But, yeah, I was promised to someone. It was the day before my wedding. We were at the rehearsal dinner, and I stepped out to get a breath of fresh air, and someone grabbed me, and the next thing I knew, I was here. Well, in that field – you know the rest of the story from there.”

“I imagine you’re desperate to return to your beloved then.” He stabbed at the fire with his branch again, a little more violently than before.

“No. He made it pretty clear that he was more interested in someone else.”

“He’s a fool then.”

“Thanks.”

To read more WIPpet Wednesday posts, go here.

PS, if you can figure out where the title of this post comes from, you get a gold star.