"One Weekend" nominated!

I've been nominated for a Non-Canon Award. "One Weekend" is up for Best Lemon. Cool, huh? :) Here's the site if you'd like to check it out. http://thenon-canonawards.blogspot.com/p/nominees.html

So, since it will have been a long time since my last update once I finally get Chapter Twenty-six up, I figured I might as well do the remaining chapter summaries for you. Remember, the summaries are just the basics, leaving out the good details.

Ch. 19
Rosalie pays a visit to Bella at the video store and plays on her fears. She nearly succeeds in convincing Bella that killing Clifford is the right thing, but then Bella turns on her. Gone is her uncertainty, and she tries to get Rosalie to see the fallacy in how she's been dealing with her own pain. Rosalie departs and hunts down Clifford, only to find that she can't kill him.

Ch. 20
Dec-May. Holiday celebrations, with more bonding between Bella and Carlisle. Charlie meets Edward and Rosalie. Bella starts to date but it's a bad fit, and he backs off when she seems too preoccupied with Jacob and Carlisle. Bella doesn't know what's changed about Jacob, but she breaks her hand punching him when he insults Carlisle. Harry's death leads to Bella spending more time w/ Charlie, and the Cullens help her reconnect with him. Attending prom is the price, and Bella is surprised to discover whom Alice set up to be her date.

Ch. 21
Edward takes Bella to the prom. It's a surprise to Carlisle, who wistfully daydreams. Edward and Bella are able to connect as friends and permanently leave any hint of romance behind them. The Cullens offer to follow Bella to her choice of college. Learning about this, Charlie decides it's time he had a one-on-one talk with Carlisle, and a secret gets revealed.

Ch. 22
It's a three-vehicle cross-country road trip, and Bella travels w/ Carlisle in the new Toyota he and Charlie bought for her. Bella and Carlisle have several conversations, including a frank one about sex that leaves them both aroused. Shocked, Carlisle flees the hotel room and reasons away what occurred. The family meets up with Renee and Phil in Cleveland. Renee, suspicious of Carlisle's intentions, privately tells him to back off from Bella.

Ch. 23
Shaken by the road trip occurrences, Carlisle avoids Bella during the few times their schedules overlap. Bella goes through orientation and makes new friends, including a love interest.

Ch. 24
Esme counsels Carlisle and helps him to see he's only hurting himself and Bella by keeping his distance. Carlisle decides to aim for something still distant, but not absent. An incident at a party brings Matt and Bella closer together. Seeing Bella form a romantic attachment leaves Carlisle feeling lonely, but happy for her.

Ch. 25
Alice and Bella get recruited into Matt and Ramesh's Rocky Horror production. Bella begins exploring her sexuality. Upset that Bella has a boyfriend, Edward tries to make Carlisle see some sense. After a quarrel, Matt sneaks into the house to make amends with Bella. A jealous Carlisle damages his office, and kicks Matt out when he lingers. After a nightmare, Carlisle and Bella start a tradition of his coming to her during the night for heart-to-hearts. Bella takes the next step with Matt.

Beautiful banner for "Moonlit" by AlltheOtherNamesAreUsed, a surprise birthday gift.

:)

That's a different Bella, but one I had up on my profile before Fanfiction.net took away all external links. Very thoughtful of ATONAU to think to use it.

Banner for "Moonlit December" by AllTheOtherNamesAreUsed

This is also the banner for Moonlit Chapter Twenty-I'mnottellingyet in "Moonlit."

It's been a little while

I'm sorry folks, it's been awhile since I've posted anything new. I'm finding writing to be more difficult lately, in part because of time, and in part because the stress of the new fall schedule makes it harder for the words to flow once I do find myself at the keyboard.

I'm always able to get a rash of writing done just after a posting, but then, almost inevitably, it'll dry out and despite having the full chapter in my head it doesn't come.

The last post about my Bella/Jasper one-shot is once again being postponed, even though I thought I'd complete it quickly, or I wouldn't have mentioned in on the blog.

All writing energy is being devoted now to Chapter 22 of Moonlit (though I confess that in addition to "Your Real Name" and Ch.22 I was also working on Ch.23 - three things at once! No wonder I dried out).

Chapter 22, instead of being Bella starting at college, as promised, is now going to depict the road trip to get from Forks to the eastern United States. It's been a little bit since "Moonlit" had Bella and Carlisle alone together, and we were due. :)

In the meantime, I did post an outtake of a summer baseball game on the "Moonlit Deleted Scenes".

I thought that I would give you all a teasing taste of the Bella/Jasper one shot I've been working on off and on since May.

An age guide to the vampires for the plot of "Moonlit."


Actual physical ages:

Jasper: 20

Alice: 19

Carlisle: 23

Esme: 26

Maggie: 25


Ages at the time they arrived in Forks:

Jasper: 15

Alice: 15

Carlisle: 26

Esme: 29

Maggie: 28


Supposed ages at the time of the death of Maggie and Jasper's parents:

Jasper: 12

Alice: 12

Carlisle: 23

Esme: 26

Maggie: 25

(Jessica says "like a decade ago" to Bella, but the story is only five years previous to that moment.)


Ages at the time of Chapter One:

Jasper: 17

Alice: 17

Carlisle: 28

Esme: 31

Maggie: 30
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
I found this among my drafts, dated October 2010. Thought it was time to post. :)

Moonlit banner

RachelxMichelle of RxMbanners made a banner for Moonlit, just because the story has been on her mind since the last update. Now that is one of the nicest things ever!

Stephenie Meyer went high fashion on Alice's prom dress, so I felt that I could only do the same. This is an Armani gown from the Spring 2006 selection.

The goal is to post Moonlit Ch. 20 tonight! I'm currently in the home stretch.

Carlisle gives Bella a second gift on New Year's Eve.

What girl's heart wouldn't go aflutter at the sight of Carlisle smiling?

Chapter Twenty of "Moonlit" is going to span mid-December 2005 through to mid-May 2006. Hang in there with me folks.

Squee! RxMBanners let me adopt this one for Chapter 19 of "Moonlit." I first came across this montsh ago, and thought how much it worked for the Bella/Rosale face-off I was going to have in Moonlit. It disappeared from her site for awhile, and I thought that it had been adopted. It showed up again when I was composing the chapter. How serendipitous is that? It was a great visual, and along with some music, it helped me get out what I consider to be one of my best chapters.

I was given the banner to adopt. Yay!

So, I wrote a lemony outtake for "One Weekend." You'll have to tell me whether it's good. I left it on a happy note - but one that felt too flirtatious. I liked the ambiguity of making the reader decide whether Carlisle and Bella get up to anything more.

Yet, it bothered me more and more leaving it that way, like I was compromising myself. Part of "One Weekend" is about having a lover who is also a friend. Lots of people take exception to that - particularly since Edward and Esme remain in the picture. Leaving the outtake with an ending that was delightfully flirty made it feel like I wasn't acknowledging my characters' ability to step back. That was wrong.

So I got out of bed tonight to add a little more to the outtake that came to mind as I was reading myself to sleep.

The plan: to leave the already submitted lemon to post onto the DirtyCheekyMonkeys blog as it is. Posting will be June 15th.

Afterward, I will added to "One Weekend" on fanfiction.net with the outtake that includes the characters stepping back.

Hope you like both.

A preview of Chapter 19 of "Moonlit" as I still work on refining it.

Of course, this doesn't explain the posters, but that's ok. I like to be mysterious for stupid reasons.


The moon had already risen by the time Carlisle was on his way to the hospital. Carlisle had never really thought of Bella as a child. She was young and she was a girl, but to him she’d never been a young girl. All the same, it had been something of a jolt when he saw her standing in the doorway of the small yellow house wearing nothing but a red towel. Her hair was down and wet, leaving a trail of water drops on her shoulders. Carlisle had watched as one of those drops, reflecting prisms of early moonlight that few could see, moved its way down to her clavicle. His eyes had followed the path and moved beyond, tracing the delicately pale and smooth skin to the towel line.

The towel had obviously slipped since she’d first wrapped it around herself. It was loose around her torso and waist, moving with the rise and fall of her chest. Her hidden figure was obvious, and as easily declared by the shapely legs revealed from mid-thigh down. Even her bare feet were adorable. Journeying back up to make eye contact with Bella, Carlisle had seen when the realization of her attire hit her. He had smiled at the beginnings of shock and embarrassment on Bella’s face. “Did I arrive at a bad time?”

It was a little surprising that she hadn’t fallen in her haste to get up the stairs and change.

In the solitude of his car, Carlisle laughed again under his breath. Bella was still Bella, despite the fact that he was noticing her figure. Plenty of teenage girls had figures and Bella, at eighteen, was definitely no exception. Carlisle wondered when she would start dating, and he lost his smile. Bella, dating… she’d have to be with the family less, and that was a thought Carlisle didn’t like.

It was selfish of him. As it was, he felt bad at having stepped on Charlie’s parental toes by gifting Bella the phone without talking to him first. He hadn’t stopped to think about Bella’s primary family, even if it consisted of just her father. That made it all the more important, particularly since Bella would be going to college soon. Carlisle would have more time with her then than Charlie would.
The thought startled him, or more pointedly, the assumption behind the thought did. Alice and Jasper had taken on the roles of teenagers in order to enable the family to stay in one place longer. Ostensibly the same age as Bella, they, too, would supposedly be going to college when she did, while the family’s home base was to remain in Forks for about another three years. At what point had he envisioned that they would all actually follow Bella to her college of choice? Yet, that was exactly what Carlisle wanted to do.

Over an hour early for his shift, Carlisle parked his Mercedes and made his way into his office. It was fairly small compared to the one he had at home, yet it was serviceable for his professional needs. The hospital budget had supplied the desk and chairs, as well as the standard issue filing cabinets. Carlisle began to review patient files.

He’d have to talk it over with Esme and Maggie, as well as Alice and Jasper. It would mean uprooting the family earlier than planned. Yet staying with Bella would be worth it. There would never again be another Bella in his life, their lives. If the family agreed, hopefully Bella would, too. Somehow, Carlisle had no doubt that she would.

Yet, something had happened on her father’s couch tonight. She’d held herself back. Bella had been about to kiss his cheek, but she’d paused then pulled away. What had made her draw away from him like that? It was a silly thing to feel wounded over, but Carlisle had been hurt. He could reason it away now as simply an awkward moment. Though prior to this evening he and Bella hadn’t had any awkward moments.

The phone on his desk rang unexpectedly. Carlisle picked it up, wondering if Grace had noticed him come in and he was being asked into the ER. The voice on the other end did not, however, hold middle-aged accentuation.

“We’ve already sent in our applications,” chimed Alice. “Jasper and I are completely on board with actually attending college this time around. Jazz is looking forward to earning a degree in history.”

Carlisle smiled into the phone. “Saw this one coming, did you?”

“Yes, and I made sure we got our applications in on time before you had to bribe any schools to let us in. I know the money doesn’t matter,” Alice interrupted before Carlisle could speak. “However the morality of it is an issue. How do you think Bella would feel knowing that we’d bought our way into joining her?”
“Point taken. What schools? Are there any that will reject Bella because of her father’s limited income?”

“Don’t worry about it, Carlisle. Just be prepared to look for hospital openings in New England once Bella decides which of the many acceptance letters she’ll receive means the most to her.”

Sometimes it was still unsettling to have Alice’s precognition a part of their lives. He had just barely had this realization, and now it was nearly set that they’d be relocating in a few months. “How do Esme and Maggie feel about this?”

“Bella means something to all of us, Carlisle. We want to continue to be a part of her life.”

“Let’s just hope she wants us there.” Not many young women had their friends’ entire families move to a new state to stick with them through college. “I don’t want to smother her, Alice.”

“You couldn’t, Carlisle.”

Carlisle thought again of Bella pulling back from him. “I’m not so sure,” he said sadly.

I've been unsuccessful at writing anything for the past 3 or 4 days. I was invited to write a lemon for Dirty Cheeky Monkey's Squeeze My Lemon, and I'm going to do it. At first I started a Bella/Jasper spy O/S that is based on a dream that I had way back in September. I juggled both it and Moonlit together. Then I got stalled on both.

So, I thought, well, the third time Bella and Carlisle have sex in "One Weekend" has always been in my head though I never wrote it out for the story. I'll do that instead.

I am still roadblocked. Though it's been fun rereading parts of "One Weekend."

Back in January ItHappened sent me this image she'd found, totally labeling it as the second sex scene in my story. Have to say, it's pretty damn good. What do you think?

I typed this up for a reader who accidentally started the story at Ch. 13 when she added an author alert, and then started from the beginning, not realizing that it was a story she was already reading.

So, since I went through the effort, I thought I'd share. This is a very basic chapter-by-chapter synopsis of Moonlit, leaving out many of the details that keep you folks coming back. It feels like a booklet insert on a DVD TV season.

Ch. 1
Bella comes home and gets injured in her driveway. At the ER she meets Carlisle, and something seems suspicious and familiar.

Ch 2.
Bella starts school, and might have been hit by Tyler's van if she had parked differently. She notices Alice watching.

Ch. 3
Alice ponders Bella's future. Bella gets injured in the kitchen and sees Carlisle again.

Ch 4.
Bella begins to get suspicious about the connection between the Blacks and the Cullens. Alice and Jasper save her from attack in Port Angeles, with Rosalie and Edward in the wings.

Ch 5.
Carlisle talks with Alice about the unknown girl she saved.

Ch 6.
Bella goes to La Push and gets Jake to re-tell her the story of the Cold Ones she heard when she was 8. She realizes that the Cullens are vampires, and twists her ankle.

Ch 7.
Carlisle treats Bella and her excessive interest makes him conclude that she has a crush on him.

Ch 8.
Embarrassed by a faux pas that allows her to realize Carlisle thinks she's crushing on him, Bella goes to Carlisle's office and tells him she knows the truth.

Ch 9.
The Cullens discuss Bella's knowledge, and Carlisle is worried for her safety. Maggie decides to talk to Bella.

Ch 10.
Maggie surprises Bella in her truck after school, and after some discussion the family welcomes Bella. Bella learns of the errant members: Edward and Rosalie, vampire vigilantes.

Ch 11.
Flashback to 1934 and the paths that led Edward and Rosalie to go vigilante together

Ch 12.
Alice envisions that Bella is Edward's singer, and the family makes preventative plans. Carlisle helps Bella through some awakening moral issues, and they touch for the first time.

Ch 13.
Prepared to meet his singer, Edward uses music to help control his bloodlust. In later conversation, Edward offends Bella and leaves, only to sneak into her room that night. Carlisle angrily fetches him away.

Ch 14.
Though Edward privately realizes that he's formed a romantic attachment, the family decrees he's not to be left alone with Bella. Bella is more aware of her sexuality. Carlisle accepts a date with a human acquaintance. Bella, Rosalie and Edward argue, leading to Bella finding out they were involved that night in Port Angeles.

Ch 15.
Rosalie sets the record straight with Bella. Edward decides upon a plan to woo Bella, only to have Alice tell him to back off for Carlisle's sake. Maggie comforts Edward. Bella seeks comfort from Carlisle, and they blindly admit their affection for one another.

Ch 16.
Bella is happy, until Rosalie informs her that one of her attackers is no longer in jail. Rosalie vocalizes a flashback of her trauma.

Ch 17.
Edward snatches Bella for a private chat, in which he reveals that Rosalie is trying to manipulate Bella. Learning that Rosalie is very damaged and Edward suffers with her makes Bella sympathetic, until he kisses her. Both are flustered yet resolve to not let it go any further.

Ch 18.
The family decides to be lenient with Edward. Morally torn, Bella realizes that Rosalie has successfully begun to sink her hooks in. Carlisle arrives to check on Bella, and a confusing romantic moment is interrupted by Charlie's arrival.

This picture helped me through Chapter 18.

We've got worried Carlisle.

Distraught Bella.

More worried Carlisle.

A towel.

A gift.

An almost-kiss.

Charlie coming home.

A confused Bella.

A sad moment.

Let's throw in some Joan of Arc, and a Blackberry and the chapter is chock-full of stuff.

I just want to say THANK YOU to AlltheOtherNamesAreUsed for sending me this picture.

I've been writing, getting interrupted for the very good cause of caring for my newborn son, coming back and losing the feel for the chapter, finding it and writing again - only to be interrupted. The chapter's coming, I swear! Boy, did I call it when I thought it would be slow, though. I wish I could work it faster.