Fan Friday « Robin Writes

We were getting ready to go to our first client’s home for the day. The TV was on and our youngest was playing on the bedroom floor. The older kids were at school.

My husband called out, “Hey, what’s going on? Looks like a plane just hit a building in New York!”

I came out of the bathroom just in time to see the second plane hit the World Trade Center.

We stood there, staring, trying to make sense of it. For almost an hour.

We wondered if we should pick up the kids from school; we wondered if we should go to work.

I called our client and asked if we should come—she said sure, why not? I couldn’t tell her.

We managed to gather our supplies and the three-year-old and left the house. By the time we arrived at the client’s house, she was glued to the TV.

Halfway through the job, we left. We couldn’t stay. She barely noticed.

We spent the next week, probably, watching TV and wondering what to do, if anything. We wondered what it all meant. What would happen next. We called friends who flew, making sure they were safe.

My mother was stuck in France. No flights.

Every year on this date, things are tense. Here, I mean. At home. Not just across the USA. It’s an overall feeling of doom, a sense of waiting and watching. And remembering.

Even fourteen years later.

Okay, okay, I’ll talk about the elephant in the room—REPEAT!

Yes, it’s coming, this winter . . . I promise! In the next few weeks, I’ll narrow it down a bit more. The problem is that I’ve been a little distracted . . .

First, as you know, we’ve been remodeling and re-everything-ing our new farm in preparation for moving in the spring. What a project!

Second, I do have a business to run, and lots of time is spent on the Guild, plus the Creve Coeur Days board is gearing up again for next June . . . and the kid is a senior in high school! Holy cow . . .

Third, I’ve been working on a new WIP: Turtle Stampede.

And all I’m going to say about that is it’s a doozy! [insert maniacal laugh] Think Sharknado . . .

All that said, most of you know I’m a panster, not a planner, but I also don’t believe that a “real” writer has to write every day. Although I usually do.

I’m certainly not one for setting the alarm clock for 4:00 a.m. just so I can write—good grief, it would look like this:

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So, no.

I have to feel it, be in the moment, be inspired. And yes, sometimes that occurs at the most awkward time. 😉

At any rate, just so you know, REPEAT is coming!

And here’s the opener:

The dark clouds came from the west, boiling and black. The wind whipped across the land, shoving aside everything in its path, everything that wasn’t secure. The man behind that wind, responsible for the coming storm, figuratively if not literally, was safely ensconced behind his walls as he watched the clouds move east.

Unbreachable walls, impenetrable, and this time he would succeed. He laughed wryly at his own wit, comparing himself to every supervillain ever conceived, fictional or otherwise, because he knew without a doubt that he was the best. Indeed, he was the only one of the original plotters still alive, thanks to his planning and foresight and, of course, his intelligence. And VADER. Credit where credit is due, he supposed.

He shrugged. Too bad, really, that so many had died. Yes. Terrible. But it had made his plans so much easier to execute. And now, when they all least expected it, there was one more move to make.

Just one.

Repeat.