I'm still not 100%. I've spent a lot of the day playing with my fidget spinner and working on my American Sign Language (ASL); I'm learning with Lifeprint and just took a break from Lesson 7's sentences to write this. I decided to write a piece of "Two Houses" fresh for the hop in my email creator. So this is really really fresh, not spell checked beyond what my browser offers. I've been thinking on "meeting the [Deaf] parents" after I watched a vlog from the CODA brothers in which one of the guys pulled a prank on then-(hearing)girlfriend when she first met their parents- here's the link for your amusement- they voice over so you don't need to be fluent in ASL to understand. I need to figure out if I can put videos right on these pages or if I need to use my YouTube channel. But to make the B hand shape in the manual alphabet, you basically just hold up your palm.
And the humor- you can tell I haven't been writing- I managed to switch Teal and Bea. Teal is meeting Bea's parents. Alas I'd already signed up for #WipItUpWednesday so the sharing is fixed.
"Okay, so B facing the viewer and then turn the hand so it's facing me, Ma'am?" I signed; I wanted to be ready for "voices off."
"Yes. No Ma'am in front of my parents," Bea signed. I tensed to keep from visibly shaking when Bea pushed the button; lights flashing in the foyer looked weird, even though I was getting used to them since she had installed them at her doors. The door swung open to show a tall, gorgeous black woman who could only have been Bea's mother, although. She grabbed Bea with one hand and me with the other before pulling us inside. She wrapped her arms around Teal and they stood still embracing. From behind them, I saw a shorter man joining us. Breathing in deep, I schooled my mind to see the signs I knew. I tried to think ahead in glossing so my signs flowed, "Hi. Nice to meet you. My name is Teal. Are you Bea's father?" He signed close to my slower speed, "Hi. I'm Bea's father. My name is George. Come in the kitchen with me." -He must know they are typically Deaf in their greeting.- I slipped into a wooden chair opposite him at a small circular wooden table. George pushed a piece of paper and a pencil toward me. On the top line, it read, "Don't worry if your signing isn't very good yet. Plus Daisy and I have heavy accents in our ASL from going to Deaf schools for blacks in the south; it might not look much like what you're learning." "Thanks," I signed. I picked up the pencil and pondered what i wanted to say. Powered by Linky Tools Click here to enjoy the other #WipItUpWednesday hoppers
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I was skimming "Two Houses" trying to decide what to share. A "when I edit" thought came into my head and I shared it as a Facebook status :D The status message will be a tease of sorts as I'm continuing with Teal and Gareth's negotiation in my sharing this week...
#amauthor I'm considering "Two Houses" for #WipItUpWednesday and I realized- because of the difficulties of showing ASL, including fingerspelling, in written English, it's going to be difficult if not impossible to use text-to-speech software to help in editing this book. "I love you." He hugged me around my shoulders. "So we'll manage a sit down when I get back from the business trip on Sunday, but we need to agree on things like will my dominance or Bea's over you supersedes the other when all three of us are together. Of course you'll also need to negotiate privately with just Bea, but what about us?" "I don't know I could use a title. For you. I mean, I giggle at all title use in erotic romance books." Licking my lips, I tried to read his lack of response for a response. "How do you feel about kneeling to speak rather than using a title then? I like that idea." He chuckled. "And maybe you naked around the house more often than not." "But won't taking it out of the bedroom make it less about sex?" I chewed on my bottom lip. "Maybe, but I don't think so. Dominance doesn't have to be just about sex, although if your comfort is to keep sexual activity in the bedroom, I could order you to go to our bed." His grin worried me. During our talking, he'd slipped out of his slacks and shirt without me exactly noticing. "I think you should pick a safe word since we haven't played so hard just yet and you might need it especially for things that happen outside of our bedroom." "Soup," I responded without knowing why. "You didn't say. Would you like you to be important, or maybe more dominant, over Bea?" "Hm. Don't really have an opinion yet on that. What if she and I usually agree on what's best for you?" I bit my bottom lip. Powered by Linky Tools Click here to visit the other #WipItUpWednesday hoppers
Ah, I didn't quite space even if it was 8pm EST before I realized I hadn't done this. I decided to skip ahead and introduce you a little to Teal's other love, Gareth, and show some of their BDSM negotiations.
-- Shifting under the comforter, I opened my eyes even though the room was dark when I heard the side door open and then shut. Moments later, Gareth crept into the bedroom. "My love?" I murmured. "You aren't asleep, sweetheart?" Gareth replied. "Too anxious." "About what?" He turned on the small lamp on the nightstand on his side of the bed. "There's a lot to discuss, isn't there?" He leaned over to kiss my forehead. "Are you awake enough for this important conversation?" "Yes, love." I scooted up the bed until I was able to sit beside him. "Might I start?" Nodding, I clasped his hand. "My personal feeling, desire is to keep hers and my sex lives with you separate," he began. "I agree, but I'd like to ask if that's more about her comfort or yours?" I kissed his knuckles. "Really both. She's not looking for a male partner of any sort and I can imagine a great platonic friendship with her. Who knows? While it won't be queerplatonic because I'm a cis man and she's a cis woman, maybe it can be like that in form." "Does that mean she identified as cis?" "Oh, I assumed." He shook his head. "No, she didn't state that she's cis. That's something for you to ask her in your own time and for me to say that I have no feelings one way or the other on her gender identity." "I love you so much!" I grinned with the sappiness of my outburst. Powered by Linky Tools Click here to enjoy the other #WipItUpWednesday hoppers!
So I *passed the finish line* with Camp Nano on Sunday. Not feeling it. Haven't even said anything directly to my Master, who promised *fun* for me writing because everything feels like shit here. I have a vlog update about the end of Camp as well as some "Two Houses" stuff that's uploading as I write this; link will be here once I have it to give.
I'm going to continue in the first meeting scene, just skipping a little. Bea and Teal are talking while Gareth is off checking the guest room... Brushing her fingers over my knuckles, Bea asked, "It would seem Gareth's encouraging the flirting; what does that mean for any polyamorous agreements you two have?" "I... um." I swore I could feel my throat closing with my confused agitation. "Yes, I find you very attractive, but I would like for you to set the pace." "Shouldn't I know more ASL first? I mean, what about your parents?" I sputtered. Arching her eyebrow, Bea asked, "You're not interested in dating my parents, are you?" "Your first language though." "If only I wasn't so dizzy," Bea muttered. "What?" I gasped. "Finish your soup." Bea slowly got up from her chair. She took small steps toward Gareth when he popped his head into the living room from the back hallway. As she drew close to him, she said something I couldn't hear and then he laughed. "I will. No, we aren't very vanilla as you may have guessed, but we're not lifestyle either," he replied. Powered by Linky Tools Click here to visit the other #WipItUpWednesday hoppers
I nearly forgot the day of the week- Camp Nano is going pretty bad, although I'm hoping to record and upload an update vlog sometime Wednesday. As usual for me, I'm writing "scenes" rather than "chapters." I skipped ahead in the first scene after Gareth (Bea's husband) got home from work. As I've been joking during this writing, "How do I make learning ASL sexy?" Did I succeed? :D
-- I swallowed; Bea had flirted, but never said she was exactly okay with me being bisexual and polyamorous, or what her identity was. "Why don't you enjoy your company, dear, and I'll set the table?" Gareth placed his mug on the table between his chair and the couch. "If I'm not mistaken, it seems you'd like to flirt more with Bea." The heat rushed into my cheeks. "It seems you can't hide your interest from Gareth," Bea quipped. "How well do you know the manual alphabet so far?" I carefully moved my right hand through the hand shapes. At P, I hesitated as I tried to remember the shape. Bea took hold of my hand. She pressed my ring and pinkie fingers over against my palm. Leading my middle finger to my thumb. She led my hand so my fingers pointed at the floor. I pressed my thighs together, grateful for my ankle length dress. "P," Bea murmured. "P," I whimpered. "The rest of the alphabet?" she prompted. I rushed through the rest of the hand positions, finishing Z just in time for Gareth to call out, "Dinner's served." Powered by Linky Tools Click here to enjoy the other #WipItUpWednesday hoppers
So at 11:45pm EST I realized I hadn't signed up yet LOL. I quickly remedied that and came over to my blog creator to actually create the post :D . Camp Nano sucks bad; although I'm hoping to again have a Camp Nano update vlog up so I can share the link in the #WipItUpWedneday post like last week. Depression, life stresses, bad period have largely been at fault this week. But the story progresses, even if very slowly so I wonder if I'll actually complete Camp even with the smaller goal of 40K words in a month.
I decided to skip ahead to the first few moments of Bea (woman in the wheelchair) and Teal (the narrating I of my story) talking in Teal's living room; Tiny is Teal's cat. "Hello?" A deep, melodic called out from the other side of the screen door. Tiny struggled out of my arms before jumping onto the back of the sofa. I turned from the belly up to see Bea standing in the black oval outline of the screen door. My heart lurched up into my throat. "Come in." My hands pushed into my thighs; I needed to learn so much more ASL vocabulary. Bea smiled as she used the handle to open the screen door. "I'm hearing if you were worried about your sentence. I'm fluent in ASL because my parents are both Deaf; that was my dad you saw signing to me. However your sentence would have been easily signed." She made fists of her hands, just the index fingers out, the palms up, and moved her fingers in a 'come here' gesture. Then she held her left hand like a C and stuck her right hand into it. Repeating the gestures, I returned Bea's smile. "I'm sad to say that I only know a tiny bit of ASL so far." "Maybe I can help. It seems the bank is desperate to sell that house so you may have me as a neighbor." "A neighbor?" I echoed and then clapped my hands over my suddenly hot cheeks. "I like your flag." "Why were you using a wheelchair?" I closed my eyes, my foot solidly if metaphorically shoved into my fool mouth. "Sh," Bea soothed as she sat on the little sofa beside me. "So guessing that the bi Pride flag is yours, I'm also going to guess that you are still rather average." She took my hand between her hands and brushed her thumb over my knuckles. "While I didn't inherit my parents' deafness, I did just recently receive a diagnosis of Meniere's Disease, explaining a few years' worth of ringing in my ears and balance problems." "I'm sorry I was so insensitive to ask about the wheelchair." "Might I ask if my guess was correct? Are you bisexual?" "Um, yes. Is your dad still here?" She laughed. "My dad went to take my mom out. So let me match your intrusive question about my wheelchair by asking if you are single, married, monogamous, polyamorous?" Powered by Linky Tools Click here to enjoy the other wondeful #WipItUpWednesday hoppers
So pissed off at my Master, I started to title this "Teal Spanks" rather than "Teal Speaks"; it is at least a few pages in before the first spanking happens :D . I'm reminded that I need to record my vlog- it actually includes the snippet I'm going to share here and another one; I share that link here if I manage to get it recorded and posted on YouTube.
I had a good talk with a new friend who's Hard of Hearing and she helped me fine tune this beginning scene from "Two Houses" (working title). Scene set up: Written in 1st person from Teal's POV, this is the first sentence of the book, Teal looking back. And then I move into Teal and Bea meeting.
And now I will tell you the story of how I came to have two homes: "my home with her" and "my home with him."
--- I saw her sitting in her wheelchair studying the front of the long empty house across the street. I wanted to see how long her white blond hair was as it fell between her and her chair. She wheeled her chair backward as if to gain a wider perspective of the house; to her left, a tall man stood using ASL that I couldn't understand. She turned her head just as my bisexual Pride flag rippled out wide. When her light blue gaze met mine, I smiled and signed, "Hello. You understand sign?" My heart pounded with my first signing directed at a living, flesh-and-blood, present person. Her smile grew. "Hello! My name is Bea. Yours?" she signed back. I swallowed hard and then fingerspelled, "T-E-A-L." I drew in a deep breath before signing the one sentence I was pretty sure I knew. "I'm learning to sign." Bea nodded even as she signed, "Yes." Then she fingerspelled, "C-O-F-F-E-E A-F-T-E-R?" I signed back, "Yes," figuring "after" meant "after I look at this house." I watched as Bea wheeled up to the side door before locking her chair's breaks and gingerly rising to her feet. She followed the Realtor into the house. "Bea," I murmured to myself. "I wonder if she's deaf." Powered by Linky Tools Click here to view the other wonderful #WipItUpWednesday hoppers!
A few weeks ago (link here) I shared a portion of the page long "trigger warning" or "context description," as I prefer for "Vala: Out of Night" (that would be a different title than "Out of the Night: Book One" that I'm pondering. So today, I'm going to continue in difference and share with you a brand new blurb that is still in process. And yeah, obviously I'm doing some things different- like "triggering material" rather than "trigger warning"- I have my reasons.
Before that, I want to share some developments on Vala's Story. Beyond the rewrites- which are finished with me until BRs have comments through book 3- I've also found a new cover artist. While I'll be engaged in Camp Nano writing in a few days, I do hope to see about getting the first book- "Out of the Night: Book One" or "Vala: Out of Night"- what's your opinion? Night controls and limits Mearr in many ways, but a gorgeous man and a name change helps Vala escape into happiness. The Queen introduces her to his family of submissives or slaves, as they each prefer to be called. Eighteen people, of whom she only meets two at first. Can she find her way in her new multi-racial family? The Queen guides Vala into his family with love, affection, and BDSM. While Abrecan puts a bump into the road of The Queen's plans for Vala, the other adults in the family are ready to help. She makes a fast and deep connection especially with Iona, the beautiful Grecian woman who is parenting with The Queen. Can Vala become lover, partner, submissive, everything The Queen needs? Simon and Tommy support The Queen in bringing in Vala from the beginning, even before her new name. Maybe not Abrecan, but everyone else waits patiently to welcome Vala into their love. Men and women, even a non-binary person not yet ready to come out, are so ready to love her. Can they help guide her into a better service to The Queen, a better love to the family? Triggering material: There's enough complex stuff to warrant a whole page on the topic, but I'll summarize here. Multiple genders in multiple types of sexual and BDSM activity, interracial and polyamorous relationships, use of "slave" in a consensual BDSM context, upsetting character backstories that include everything from rape and incest to mentions of domestic abuse and racism. Powered by Linky Tools Click here to enjoy the other #WipItUpWednesday hoppers
I got drunk enough to hear a stand up comedian yell "Go go go!" and it made me think "Gelfling!" but not enough to forget about #WipItUpWednesday :D So you get part two of "Vala's First Collared [by The Queen] Meal." Here's part 1 in you'd like to read it first.
Simon leaned over the arm of his chair and tapped on Viviana's head. Viviana looked up and smiled at Simon. "My Lord?" Simon leaned over farther and whispered into Viviana's ear. Springing up to her feet, Viviana ran out of the dining room in the direction of the kitchen. "What was that about, my Lord?" Mandisa looked over her shoulder as Viviana passed out of sight. "I forgot dessert." The Queen perked up in his chair. "Dessert?" A goofy grin spread across his face. "What did you make for dessert?" "Raspberry Chocolate Heart Tarts, my Queen." Simon smiled proudly. "I found the recipe in my new chocolate desserts recipe book." "Very good." Viviana walked back into the dining room and stopped next to The Queen. Swishing her hips as she otherwise stood still, she smiled at him and asked, "Dessert, my Queen?" "Place a tart on my plate and then give the tray to Simon." Viviana placed the tart on The Queen's dessert plate. She started to move away when she let out a loud gasp and looked over her shoulder to see The Queen grinning at her, his hand still cupping her ass. "Problem?" The Queen's grin grew larger. "Um... no, my Queen," Viviana sputtered as she tried to step back from the table, only to find herself more securely in The Queen's hand. The Queen let his hand drop to his chair. "Get back to your place before I am enjoying you instead of this tart." Viviana gasped and ran back to Simon, giving him the tray and quickly sinking into submissive pose behind Yiska's chair. Chuckling softly, The Queen looked down at his dessert and picked up his fork. "My Queen?" Raanan started, but stopped quickly when The Queen raised his hand in the air. "No talking during chocolate, boy." Raanan laughed, blushing. "Sorry, my Queen." The Queen nodded and attended to his dessert in quiet. Powered by Linky Tools Click here to enjoy the other #WipItUpWednesday hoppers
:D I'm a brat... I did some reading and editing on the way to picking something to share from "Out of the Night: Book One" of my Vala's Story serial... yes, it's with a BR and I'm still pondering new cover art. I also got writing a little in the WIP I'm going to finish, I hope, during Camp Nano next month... (and a tease of the first line from that WIP... And now I will tell you the story of how I came to have two homes: "a home with her" and "a home with him." )
But I think I may share at least one more scene on WIPWednesday before moving on to "Gates of the Garden: Book Two." This is from Vala's first formal meal after The Queen collars her. Vala held Greta's hand as they moved behind Iona's chair. Greta whispered, "You've had the chance to see one of our Lords in submissive pose?" "Yeah," Vala replied and sank to her knees beside Greta. Carefully looking around, she spotted Simon's dark brown dress shoes moving close to her. "I would like a taste of each thing you made," The Queen ordered. After a few moments of spoons sounding against dishes, Simon's shoes moved away again. "Fix your plates." Patience. I'll be fed. This is more of the ceremony that pleases The Queen so. Vala snuck a glance in Greta's direction; her sister slave patted her elbow before going back into sub pose. "Now present your sub or subs with their bowl," The Queen announced. "Let me help with your hair," Greta murmured before pulling Vala's hair into a twist and clipping it onto the back of her head. Continuing in whisper, "Normally, our Lady would have clipped our hair up before leaving her room." "Thanks," Vala murmured. She licked her lips when Iona placed a bowl of beef stew on the floor in front of her. "Be a good girl," Iona cooed. The Queen called out, "Fourth class slaves remember that you are to eat without using your hands. Eat quickly, lest you be thought ungrateful." Vala blinked her eyes and a single tear dropped into her soup. How different this is from this morning! She carefully ate her food. No need to get emotional. Sighing, she enjoyed Iona's momentary touch on the back of her neck as she chewed a carrot chunk. Just be pleasing. I've seen Tommy and Simon--my Lords, I should think now--do it in hundreds of small ways. When she had eaten most of the meat and vegetables she lapped up the broth as quietly as possible. Startling Vala, reminding her that people were eating at the table above her, Simon asked, "So we'll be getting back onto some sort of schedule starting tomorrow, my Queen?" "Mostly," The Queen replied shortly; after a moment, probably after swallowing, he continued, "Except for Prisca, Kaya, Adan, and Ailin, who I will need for Vala's lessons, everyone else is released to his or her normal activities." "Oh, that's wonderful, my Queen," Iona said, clapping her hands. "I just bought a new set of candles last time Greta and I went shopping." Raanan chuckled. "What color are they?" "Twelve pillar candles, building in color from white to black." "Going to introduce Vala to candle wax?" Mandisa asked. "Around her lessons, if The Queen allows for the time," Iona replied. "I do hope to give you time with her since Pride changed things today," The Queen said. "Vala is being such a good girl. If you are done eating, you may kneel up." Sparing another glance at Greta, who was still bent over her bowl, Vala rose up onto her shin. Um, at my ears, Viviana suggested. Folding her fingers against the back of her collar, she let her gaze flit across the chairs, the room. Powered by Linky Tools Click here to enjoy the other #WipItUpWednesday hoppers |
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