Happy New Year

2017 was one of the best years of my life. It was the year I was hungover for the first time (the morning after my 28th birthday). The year I learned to blow bubbles with bubblegum. The year I signed with a publisher. The year I went to Universeum three times. The year I made so many new friends. It was a year of happiness. Of stability.

Welcome to 2018! Hopefully a year of action. Of being a more prolific writer even during working weeks. A year of no procrastination. A year where I’m hoping to bullet journal properly. A year where maybe I… learn to play the piano? I don’t know. But I love the feeling of January 1st!

We have a friend over and she’s dying to go and watch The Last Jedi again so that’s what we’re doing with today and later I’m going to do some writing as well.

Let’s look at last years goals:

Revise and self-publish “Out of Hand”.
Revise and send “Stargazing” to a publisher.
Try to update my blog once a month.
Not let my tumblr die. If I have one, I need to use it.
Finish The New Story, another contemporary romance.
Please, please, please finish Never break a leg before Christmas, (Come on, Kathy, this is getting ridiculous).
Start the sequel for State of Emergency.

How did I do?
I revised and published (not self-published!) “Out of Hand”. I’m almost done with “Stargazing” and I hope to send it to my publisher later in January, maybe the beginning of February. I didn’t update my blog once a month. My tumblr is not dead. Instead I’m actually using it quite a lot, so that’s good. I *haven’t* finished “The New Story”. I haven’t finished “Never Break a Leg Before Christmas”. I haven’t started a “State of Emergency” sequel.

How do I feel about this?
Perfectly okay. This has been one of my most stimulating but difficult years of my life. I want to write more during 2018, but I’m perfectly fine with my input during 2017.

Author goals for 2018:

*Finish and publish “Stargazing”.
*Finish and publish “The New Story”.
*Be braver and more active on Twitter, probably on Facebook too.
*Read more books. And not just the same books over and over.
*Read more books about writing.

I feel that these goals are attainable and I’m excited to start.

Happy January 1st everyone!

Never Break a Leg Before Christmas part 5

 Nonnie closed the door after paying the babysitter and sending her through it. She sucked in a shaky breath as she returned to the living room where Nicole was waiting for her.

 The doctor was sitting casually on the sofa with a lazy look in her face. She had never looked better, managing to somehow look cocky and hopeful in the same time. The top buttons of her shirt were undone, revealing her olive skin. Nonnie wanted to press her lips to that exposed triangle of skin.

Never Break a Leg Before Christmas Part 4 (lesfic)

“Is everything ready?” Leila was standing in the doorway. Her fair hair was placed high on the top of her head in a messy yet somehow elegant bun, Nonnie wondered how she did it.

“You look nice.” She smiled. “Quite the birthday girl.”

“Want me to fix your hair?” Leila came into the kitchen and walked towards Nonnie with her hands reaching out. “You’ve done so much, I feel like I need to repay you somehow.”

Nonnie stepped out of Leila’s reach with a laugh. She looked at the hallway mirror that she could see all the way from the kitchen. She looked like she did usually, her unruly blonde hair framing her face. She hadn’t done anything other than wash and brush. But she was happy with it. Maybe it wasn’t the most dignified look, but it suited her.

“No. Thanks, but I’m happy with how I look today.” And she was.

She was out of her crutches for tonight, and even though she wasn’t ready for high heels just yet, she wore pretty black ballerinas that went very well with her dark purple dress. She felt pretty. I hope Nicole thinks so too.

“What are you smiling about?” Leila was staring at her with a teasing look in her eyes. “You’ve met someone!”

Never break a leg before christmas part 3 (lesfic)

*Beep*

“Hello?”

“Hi, Nonnie, it’s Nicole. Listen, I’ve…” Nicole fell silent as she searched for the right words. Saying yes to an extra shift had been so easy, but now she felt sick at the thought of disappointing Nonnie.

“You’re calling to cancel.” Nonnie sounded like she couldn’t believe it and Nicole wondered what she had done to make Nonnie believe in her so much.

“I’ll be stuck at the hospital until 8 tonight. I was asked to cover the shift of a colleague.”

“Was it necessary?”

Nicole didn’t even have to think about it.

“Yes,” she said without a moment’s hesitation. “We can’t be without a surgeon at the hospital, not even for a few hours.”

“Okay.” Nonnie sounded determined. “Have you slept?”

“Yes.” Nicole felt warmth spread through her chest at Nonnie’s concern. “I just woke up and have been sleeping since two this morning. I would have called sooner but I got home in the middle of the night and -”

“Don’t worry, there is no need to explain.” Nonnie chucked. “If there’s something I understand it’s your dedication to your job.”

“How is the leg?”

“Aching and keeping me from work.” Nonnie sighed. “The understudy is taking over my role for the next three weeks and then we’ll see.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. Anthony is deliriously happy to have his mom home during the evenings. But I do miss it.” Nonnie was quiet for a moment. “Listen, I still have a baby-sitter for the night. Want to grab a bite to eat when you get off from work? I could grab some take-away and head to your place around nine?”

“I’m going to be tired.” Nicole didn’t mean to sound negative; the thought of seeing Nonnie after her shift was tantalizing but there was the risk that she would be tired. And grumpy.

“I want to make sure you eat.” Nonnie laughed. “That sounds stupid. But it’s true. Sorry.” She might have apologized but there was nothing apologetic about her tone. Her sincerity was a breath of fresh air and Nicole felt herself clutching the phone harder.

“Do you now?” Nicole wondered if Nonnie could hear the smile in her voice.

“Yes, doctor. So what do you say? Chinese?”

“I’ll be home around ten to nine.”

“I’ll be there.”

 

* * *

 

 Some days everything that could go wrong, went wrong, and Nicole arrived home at five to nine feeling slightly tired but still looking forward to seeing Nonnie something immensely. Despite leaving the hospital later than she had planned, she cycled home fast and threw herself into the shower.

 She walked through her living room, barefoot in jeans and towelling her wet hair when the doorbell rang. Her heart pounded wildly in her chest and she couldn’t stop the smile that came to her lips.

 She opened the door and her smile grew even wider.

About Never break a leg before christmas

If anybody is curious about which version of Into the woods I imagine that my character Nonnie Nunster plays in.

I love this version of Into the Woods…

Never Break a Leg Before Christmas part 2 (lesfic)

Beta read by my lovely fellow writers, K and Deniz Pekin.

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“Mom!!”

Nonnie put the last touch on her deer costume and exited the bathroom. She looked at the tiny Super Mario that was waiting for her at the end of the stairs. Please let Anthony grow this year, he can’t take any more teasing.

“I’m coming honey.” She went downstairs, picking up her coat that was hanging over the railing. The coat wasn’t brown like the rest of her costume, it was dark green and Anthony wasn’t slow to voice his complaint.

“Your coat doesn’t go with your costume.”

“Yes it does, deer live in the forest, you know that.”

“Fine,” Anthony said and grabbed his pumpkin-shaped basket. Nonnie looked at him sentimentally. He was ten now, who knew how many more times he would even want to go trick-and-treating. At least his red woollen jumper was warm enough; he didn’t need a jacket that would ruin his costume.

 Nonnie grabbed her purse and they left the house.  

Never Break a Leg Before Christmas part 1 (lesfic)

Beta read by my lovely fellow writers, K and Deniz Pekin.

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“Nicole! Here!”

Nicole lifted her head of short black hair and looked at the group of women that were quickly approaching her. She put her phone away and smiled. Her smile turned into a bit of a wince as Ashley arrived and practically threw herself at Nicole. Why must she always hug me?

“Hi!” Ashley finally released her and introduced her to the group of women with her. Nicole had never been with this particular group of women despite Ashley having badgered her about joining them for ages. For once Nicole hadn’t been on call, a not-so-much-favour from her boss who had finally had enough of Nicole’s workaholic ways and told her to take the whole weekend off. I don’t want to have the union breathing down my neck, he had said. So don’t call them then, had been Nicole’s answer. It hadn’t mattered. She was banned from the hospital for at least 72 hours. This of course meant that she’d had no excuse when Ashley had invited her to go out with a group and watch Into the Woods. They weren’t really the musical-going crowd but a friend of a friend was playing Little Red Riding Hood and a couple of free tickets had spread through the group. Including the ticket that Ashley now handed Nicole.

 “Don’t look so grumpy, Nicky.” Ashley winked and then not-so-subtly nodded to a tall, blonde woman who had been introduced as Leila. So that’s why Ashley has been so eager to get me to go out. Nicole sighed. She had agreed to go to a musical, not a blind date!