Happy New Year, everyone!
Hopefully your hockey teams are starting 2014 well, unlike mine, which began
with losses and injuries. And speaking of bad news, I have bad news and good
news, which would you like first?
The bad news is that Valley
of Gold, the novella I said would be published for Christmas, is obviously
not done. Well, actually it is done, but I’ve decided to add another novella to
it before publishing. So, now I have to write the extra novella.
The good news is that I am
editing my next long book right now, and it’s even longer than How The
Cookie Crumbles. So long in fact, that it’s divided into two books. Don’t
worry, the first book will have a proper ending. I hate those cliff-hanger
books, they seem like a cash grab to me. Anyway, it’s already done, but I
have to do some severe editing before it's ready to publish. Sigh. Editing
always takes longer than I think. So I’m not even going to make a promised
publication date, because I’m way too optimistic. Examples of my magical thinking:
“Why yes, I can have that 50 page report done by tomorrow morning.” “Why yes,
the Canucks are going to win the Stanley Cup!” “Why yes, I’m going to have my
next book done by the end of January.”
The new books, which have
no titles yet, are about Kelly Tanaka, a girl who plays hockey. Yup a girl,
because we follow her from high school to university to the working world. It’s
a sprawling epic that crosses generations, continents, and world wars. Naw,
just kidding, it’s another hockey romance.
I’m excited because the
first seven chapters in the first book have already been edited and finalized.
So only 70 to go. Really. But in the meantime, here’s an excerpt for you. Let
me set this up. Kelly is obsessed with hockey, she plays hockey and trains
hard. In fact, she’s so focused on hockey, that she hasn’t had any interest in
doing what normal 17 year-old girls do. Important things like shopping for
clothes and dating. But a dare from Laura, the captain of her new hockey team,
leads Kelly into a whole new world: guys.
In this excerpt, Kelly is
going on a “fake date” with Nicklas Ericcson, a good-looking winger from the
local rep hockey team. It’s not a real date, because in order to win her bet,
Kelly had to beg and bribe Nicklas. One of his conditions was that the
tomboyish Kelly get dressed up, since he has a reputation to maintain. So, in
the previous chapter, April, Kelly’s best friend, orchestrated the obligatory
chick-lit makeover scene, and voilá: a whole new Kelly. Just in time for the
fake date.
After fixing me up, April
even dropped me off at the movie theatre. She wanted to stay and have a look at
Nicklas, but she had a date of her own. While I was waiting in the lobby, I saw
two girls from my hockey team there. I figured they were spying on me, so I
went over to chat.
“Sorry, Kelly. Laura did
not believe you 100%, so she made us come. We were seeing the new Katie Holmes
movie anyway. Don’t worry, we won’t follow you into the theatre or anything,”
said one of them, a d-man named Hilary.
“You look really nice,”
said the other girl, called Sara M. to distinguish her from the two other Saras
on the team. “I like your top.”
I don’t think anyone had
ever liked my top before, so April certainly knew what she was doing. The
second sign that I looked different came when Nicklas walked right by me
without noticing. To be exact, he checked me out but never got as high as my
face so he didn’t recognize me.
“Hey Nicklas.”
“Kelly? Kelly! You clean up
nicely.” He seemed surprised, and smiled.
“Nicklas, this is Sara and
Hilary. They’re on my hockey team.”
“Hello,” both girls said at
the same time. They had these goofy expressions on their faces. Nicklas seemed
to have this weird effect on women.
“Ladies,” Nicklas nodded at
them. Then he turned his megawatt smile on me. “Shall we get the tickets?”
I held them up. “Way ahead
of you,” I replied. I kept looking at his lips. Seriously, I just wanted to
kiss him again. What was wrong with me? This was charity on his part, and I had
to be cool.
“Excuse us then,” he said
to the girls, who were apparently stunned silent. He put his hand on the small
of my back. Electricity again! I took a huge breath in, which caused him to
focus on the V of my top.
“You sure look different,
Kelly. You look—hot.”
“Um, thanks,” I replied
with automatic politeness. Another first, no guy had ever called me hot before,
unless I was actively sweating.
We sat down in the theatre.
Nicklas started telling me about how his team was doing and who the best teams
in his division were. As he was talking, he kept leaning towards me and getting
really close. Once, he played with the fringe on my jacket, and his knuckles
brushed my breast. I was torn between punching him and jumping him, so I
pretended not to notice. Finally he paused and gave me this intense look.
“You know all the time we
played hockey, I never knew you had a body like this underneath the equipment.”
“Well, I probably didn’t. I
mean I was only 13 or 14 when we last played together.” Wow, could I have
sounded any dumber if I tried?
He laughed. The movie was
starting, so I was spared making any more stupid comments. As the previews
began, he put his arm over the back of the seat.
“What are you doing?” I
asked. Really, I couldn’t stop my inner eleven-year-old from hijacking the
date.
“I figure if your teammates
are watching, we need to make things look good.”
“I don’t think they’re
here. They were going to another movie.”
“You never know, Kelly.”
And he pulled me in a little closer to him.
The movie was actually
pretty good, in a cartoony way. There was a strong female star, so it wasn’t
like a formulaic action flick. The only downer was that it was going to be
continued, so the ending wasn’t very good. But honestly, I had been distracted
by Nicklas the whole time. He was so close, his arm was touching me, and I
could smell his masculine smell that was a combination of cologne, soap, and
sweat. He seemed to be able to generate the whole electrical thing without even
kissing me. I was feeling a little dazed when we finally got up to leave. It
was a good thing that this date was almost over, ’cause I needed time to gather
my wits.