Weekend Writing Warriors – Measuring Alien Love on a Kitchen Scale 9

Welcome friends, followers, and Weekend Writing Warriors!

This week, I’m continuing with the sample chapters of my unfinished Nano. Gordon is surprised to be out to dinner with a beautiful girl and her alien sweetie, and he’s been telling them a bit of his family history…

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“Is that enough about my parents for now?”

Doomah barked quietly, (was that how Librans laughed?) and Vanessa nodded. “Certainly enough, especially if you’re talked out.”

“How did the two of you meet?”

“I was working at town hall,” Vanessa said, “and he was a protester, occupying the town hall as part of a stunt that was designed to get us to all leave the planet or something.”

My mouth dropped open for a second. “Really?”

“I was young and foolish,” Doomah explained, “afraid of what would become of our beloved planet if we started inviting lawless aliens to live among us.”

Visit the other Weekend Writing Warriors at http://www.wewriwa.blogspot.ca/.

Weekend Writing Warriors – Measuring Alien Love on a Kitchen Scale 8

Welcome friends, followers, and Weekend Writing Warriors!

This week, I’m continuing with the sample chapters of my unfinished Nano. Gordon is surprised to be out to dinner with a beautiful girl and her alien sweetie, and he’s telling them a bit of his family history…

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“I went to a chef’s college in Paris once I graduated from secondary school,” I continued. “That’s where I met Tommy; he was one year ahead of me. I studied there for two years, and there was a charity cook-off the summer after that. Tommy and I both participated. He got runner-up, and I didn’t place nearly as well. Mom and I got into a big fight afterwards; she and Dad both came to watch the quarter-finals, but I’d washed out before they arrived. I stormed off to the airport with nothing but a computer tablet and credit chip, took the first flight I could get a seat on, signed up for university without even caring where I’d landed. A few weeks later, some movers showed up with all of my stuff from Paris.”

Visit the other Weekend Writing Warriors at http://www.wewriwa.blogspot.ca/.

Weekend Writing Warriors – Measuring Alien Love on a Kitchen Scale 7

Welcome friends, followers, and Weekend Writing Warriors!

This week, I’m continuing with the sample chapters of my unfinished Nano. Gordon is surprised to be out to dinner with a beautiful girl and her alien sweetie, and he’s telling them a bit of his family history…

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“When I was thirteen, I started to get interested in cooking, myself. Mother suggested some good training programs for adolescent chefs… actually no, that’s not right. Mother picked out ONE program and actually enrolled me in it, but my father pulled me out of that one. He said it needed to be my choice, not hers, so then she offered half a dozen alternative courses, and I picked one.”

“I think I’m sensing some mommy issues,” Vanessa said.

“I guess she was used to being in charge, especially when it came to the kitchen. Wyatt was her birth name; did you know that? Dad agreed to change his, when they married, because she was the brand, the star.”

Visit the other Weekend Writing Warriors at http://www.wewriwa.com/.

Weekend Writing Warriors – Measuring Alien Love on a Kitchen Scale 6

Welcome friends, followers, and Weekend Writing Warriors!

This week, I’m continuing with the sample chapters of my unfinished Nano. Gordon is surprised to be out to dinner with a beautiful girl and her alien sweetie, and he’s just started telling them a bit of his family history…

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“My mother went on one of those reality video competitions when she was twenty-seven, won first prize, got an offer to run the kitchen for one of the top hotels in New York, then broke her contract there to start up Wyatt’s–when she fell in love with my father and he offered to bankroll her dream. When I was young, my parents were always running around the world, opening new locations, putting out fires, doing publicity stops. Sometimes they took me along, more as I grew up, but a lot of the time they left me with nanos and tutors, wherever they thought I’d be stable for at least a few months.”

“Nanos?” Doomah asked. “As in extremely small machines?”

“No, um… have you heard of nanos?” I asked Vanessa, and she half-shrugged and half shook her head, all at once. “It’s one of those slang things, maybe never caught on outside of… it’s a term for male nannies who specialize in taking care of young boys — the masculine, testosterone-laden, surrogate father figure equivalent of a nanny.”

Visit the other Weekend Writing Warriors at http://www.wewriwa.com/.

Weekend Writing Warriors – Measuring Alien Love on a Kitchen Scale 5

Welcome friends, followers, and Weekend Writing Warriors!

This week, I’m continuing with the sample chapters of my unfinished Nano. Gordon is surprised to be out to dinner with a beautiful girl and her alien sweetie, and he just asked a slightly rude question about the alien!

“Yes, I’m male, and I’m thirty-seven cycles old, which would be perhaps thirty-four Earth years,” Doomah said. “Is there any other statistical information you need?”

“No, that just about does it, thank you. Umm, your turn to ask questions, I guess; either of you.”

“Well–would it be unforgivable if I asked you about your mother first?” Vanessa asked.

“Not if you let me tell you about her my own way,” I said. “It’s weird to grow up with a mom who’s a celebrity chef.  I wasn’t around for her rise to fame, of course, but I’ve seen most of it on the video archives.”

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Visit the other Weekend Writing Warriors at http://www.wewriwa.com/.

Weekend Writing Warriors – Measuring Alien Love on a Kitchen Scale 4

Welcome friends, followers, and Weekend Writing Warriors!

This week, I’m continuing with the sample chapters of my unfinished Nano. Gordon is surprised to be out to dinner with a beautiful girl and her alien sweetie, and things aren’t getting any easier for him! I’m skipping ahead a little in the scene, over the food talk. Gordon and Vanessa get a little bit of awkwardness out of the way, while Doomah the alien stays quiet.

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“Is it okay if I ask you more personal questions?”

“Yeah, but can I sneak one in first?”

“Is it about Doomah?”

I nodded, not quite sure how to phrase it.

“Yes ,we’re… well, in the Libran fashion, we’ve declared an intent to become life partners. In Earthling terms, I guess you could say we’re engaged.”

“Oh–I just wanted to know if Doomah was–a he or a she. Sorry, I know that they do have gender more or less the same way we do, but blast me if I can tell the difference.”

Visit the other Weekend Writing Warriors at http://www.wewriwa.com/.

Weekend Writing Warriors – Measuring Alien Love on a Kitchen Scale 3

Welcome friends, followers, and Weekend Writing Warriors!

This week, I’m continuing on directly from last week’s excerpt from my Nano. Gordon is surprised to be out to dinner with a beautiful girl and her alien sweetie, and things aren’t getting any easier for him!

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Doomah smoothly took my hand in its own many-jointed fingers and gently lifted it up and down, as if a handshake was more like a properly choreographed dance move than… well, what the heck was it, really? Just a routine courtesy gesture that none of us Earthlings think much about anymore, do we?

“Thank you so much for coming, Gordon,” Vanessa said, shaking my hand too, and took her seat on the far side of the booth from where I’d been sitting, Doomah taking its place next to her.

“It’s my pleasure,” I said, turning to the menu as the most obvious distraction. “Any recommendations for what’s good?”

“I’d be curious as to your opinions on the chicken-fried steak,” Doomah said in a rich baritone voice. He seemed to be speaking English quite fluently, not using a translator pack the way most beings did when they needed to communicate with aliens. “Should I tell you what it’s made with first?”

Visit the other Weekend Writing Warriors at http://www.wewriwa.com/.

Weekend Writing Warriors – Measuring Alien Love on a Kitchen Scale 2

Welcome friends, followers, and Weekend Writing Warriors!

This week, I’m continuing on directly from last week’s excerpt from my Nano. A lot of you commented with curiosity about the introduction of Doomah, so hopefully this snippet will shed some light!

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The conversation where I’d joked with Tommy about him setting me up with Vanessa flashed through my mind. I’d been prepared for Vanessa to bring a man to dinner with me, or even a woman, and was generally ready to take either as a sign that she just wanted to be friends with me and wasn’t interested in a new romance.

I certainly hadn’t expected that her significant other would be a freakin’ alien.

“So, umm, nice to meet you, Si– citizen.” I put a hand out towards the Libran, unable to remember if that was considered good manners with them. Hell, after being blindsided with this, I could be excused for a little well-intentioned rudeness, couldn’t I?

I have no idea about the genetic standards of attractiveness for Librans, but Doomah seemed to be well put together, as far as I could stretch human esthetic standards. It, or he, (she?) had a generally narrow frame and long arms that were always gracefully in motion.

Visit the other Weekend Writing Warriors at http://www.wewriwa.com/.

Weekend Writing Warriors – Measuring Alien Love on a Kitchen Scale 1

Welcome friends, followers, and Weekend Writing Warriors!

Thanks for all the great comments on ‘Return to Civilization!’ But I’m going to switch to one of the rough drafts that I was working on in Nano this year. This is from the scene where Gordon, my MC, is meeting Vanessa for dinner; he met her at the Earthling chamber of commerce a few scenes earlier.

“Hey, Gordon, you’re here already!”

I looked up to see Vanessa, dressed in a bright red dress with a miniskirt hem, long sleeves, and a high collar, with little cut-outs around the shoulder. She had her hair gathered up into a poufy tail behind her head. “Um, yeah, I wanted to get here early to scout out the place by myself,” I admitted, and checked the chrono on the table menu. “You thought you’d be the first to get here early?”

She chuckled. “Yeah, I guess so. Gordon Wyatt, I’d like you to meet Doomah.”

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What’s Up Wednesday: The last Nano-mile?

What’s Up Wednesday is the weekly blogfest to share the answers to a few simple questions… Join us!

What I’m reading:

Great stories from Analog magazine; finished “The Matthews Conundrum,” and read some great novelettes and shorts like “The Chorus Line”, “Redskins of the Badlands”, “Ian,  George, and George” and “Bugs.” Started really getting into “Magic Bites” on audiobook, too!

What I’m writing:

Lots of great Nano words! I’ve finished off “The Aurigae Express”, and I’m back to “Alien Love on a Kitchen Scale”, where the plot is finally heating up with some alien courtroom action; our heroes have found out that their right to own property in their town on the Libran planet of Escaleron may be taken away, along with their homes and the buildings they were using for their businesses.

Oh, and my current word count is better than 43 thousand! Hoping to finish at the Friday write-in.

What inspires me right now:

Still write-ins, and occasional flurries of snow. 😉

What else I’ve been up to:

Not too much, really. Still posting plenty of Nano spotlight interviews here on the blog, of course. Backed up my Nano writing to 44 different places this weekend. Bought a universal remote control that doesn’t actually have a code for the device I want to use it with, sigh.

What about you? Click here to join the hop or check in with some other great writers.