A Boy Toy on a Hay Bale

On the first day of Christmas, your Tartness gives to you…


A Boy Toy on a Hay Bale…

Yes, the song is all worked out… twelve days of Christmas a la Tart… some of them silly, some somewhat serious, and a few… to just enjoy….

I don’t write erotica, or even romance, so this isn’t every day fodder for me, but looking at this pic makes me wonder why the heck NOT, eh? I definitely enjoy some nice eye candy now and again, and it is perfectly suited to the mood of the season. Think how much DISCIPLINE that man has to just pose there in the prickly hay…


And then there is my own real life boy toy…

*scratches head*

I suppose there is a reality-check style of lesson to be had here…

Christmas in the fictional world, and then the variety who follows around the other members of his family moving ornaments because a Virgo can never leave ‘not quite perfect’ alone, even on matters of tree decoration. There is humor and laughter though (right down to his refusal to take off the silly hat—he’s been wearing it since it got cold, even in the house).

We had a nice time tree decorating… the kids and I drinking chai lattes and stirring with candy canes—placing ornaments… the hubby directing.

“There’s an empty spot.”
“No, that one can’t go there.”
“I’m moving that one tomorrow.”


What a study in contrasts… fiction and life. One larger than life, ripped abs and naughty thoughts, one grinning maniacally and reminding all the rest of us what we’ve failed to do on his time frame. At least I managed a present he won’t complain about. That’s not something I take for granted. I think in 20 years of birthday and Christmases and 14 years of father’s days, I’ve only nailed it 2 or 3 times.

I think even when the writing is about the gritty, real life stuff, it is STILL larger than life. Even every day occurrences need to be told more beautifully or more poignantly, or else who would want to read about it. My husband has frequently given me a bad time about my reading choices (I read exclusively fiction) and so I will reiterate my choice… my life has enough reality in it already.


Speaking of Timeframes!

I finished Illusions last night! (my latest WiP) I’m fairly pleased with it… think I will be MORE pleased when I go through the full edit process after book three is done…

I haven’t read a ton of trilogies—Lord of the Rings comes to mind… Bartimaeus was a trilogy… funny that I should have this impression trilogies are so common when I don’t think they actually are, because that is all I can think of. It’s the perfect approach for this story though—900 pages (I have been assured) is too long for a single book, but not only that, there are nice action wind ups in 3 places, and at least the first and second worked out much better with the PoV change.  That said, I think in the trilogies I've read (and seen) the middle is always the hardest... hmmm.... I married a middle child... the most difficult... funny how all these things fall back in on each other...

Now... to decide whether I want to dive straight into book 3 or whether I want to take a week to fill in the holes in my NaNo novel first… the decision comes down to whether I want to say I wrote three whole books this year, or whether I am in a hurry to get done with the trilogy… My greedy answer of course is BOTH… I have a lot more ideas in my head for the third book in the trilogy… I had to outline part of it (in that vague way I do) in order to get past a block on the second, so I have several chapters vividly poking at me, and you KNOW how I like a good poke…



And for those of you who really need a minorly naughty giggle, there is apparently a yearly Dickerdoodle Contest. *snort*