Drawn That Way – Can You Vague That Up For Me?

From Another Point of View…

So, this week’s assignment was to rewrite an old blog post from the point of view of one of my characters. And since I’m the only one blogging from the group this week, I’m writing it from several other points of view…cause I do what I want. Or something like that.

First off, it was hard to even pick a post that could be rewritten from a character’s POV. (Memo to us for next year: Let’s skip this sort of post. They’re a pain in the ass.) So, anyway, I picked The Five Biggest Writing Distractions, because holy hell, distractions abound right now. Like my kid’s senior project, purging the house, a graduation party to plan – I really hate hosting parties. I don’t mind going, but the hosting…even the idea of it makes me break out in hives, and I–

Will: Hives? Over a party? Seriously? Quit yer bitching. I’ve been in the same place in this manuscript for months. You just left me here – feeling like an utter arsehole over Ivy and not being able to do a damn thing about it. Why? Because you’re about to shove me in an MRI tube. Which I fucking hate, thank you, very much. But you knew that I was claustrophobic, didn’t you? But you go ahead and worry about that party. Oh, and don’t even think about about checking Twitter. God damn it, Bronwyn, did you just…?

Rory: Of course she did. Not only did she check Twitter, but she sent a couple tweets and pinned several recipes to Pinterest.

Me: Oh, both of you can fuck right off. I’m trying to find healthy meals I can get the fam to eat. And also find recipes for this party. And what are you even doing here anyway, Rory? Your book is done. Besides, you two don’t even know each other.

Rory: We live in your head – practically roommates. Anyway, we’re gonna notice when you leave us hanging for weeks while you’re “looking for inspiration on Tumblr”.

Me: Excuse me, but did you just use air quotes at me?

Rory: Maybe.

Will: And while we’re at it, about about we discuss your frequent checking of Facebook. Just because it dings, you don’t need to flip over to that tab to look at it.

Harper: Right?! What are you – Pavlov’s dog?

Me: Et, tu, Harper?

Harper: You left me fighting a vampire queen and I was almost under her thrall and Elliot almost died while you wandered off to check social media. Not. Cool.

Me: I wouldn’t let Elliot die. I know you love him.

Tristan: Oh, I know, let’s talk about how you left me hovering on the verge of an orgasm for days because you couldn’t be arsed to give a girl a little satisfaction. Nope. The only thing that mattered to you was your damn sewing machine.

Me: Christmas presents! I was making Christmas presents! For small children!

Tristan: Whatever.

Me: Anyone else have anything to bitch about while we’re here?

Declan: How about your stress levels?

Me: What about them, professor?

Declan: Well, when you get stressed, if you don’t stop writing altogether, you rewrite things endlessly. And while I enjoy spending as much time with Josie as I can, let’s just say that sometimes things start to…chafe.

Will: Wait. Is that what Ivy and I have to look forward to? Chafing?

Me: If you don’t stop being a jerk…perhaps. Party planning is stressful, Will. Remember that.

Josie: Let’s not forget her ADD. There are days that she makes an overtired toddler look focused.

Me: Hey, now…uncalled for.

Harper: And yet, so true.

Will: Look, just promise me that no matter how stressed and distracted you get while you’re writing that MRI scene, you won’t leave me in that tube for any longer than absolutely necessary. I’ll lose it in there.

Me: Okay. I promise. I won’t look at anything until that scene is done. Happy?

Elliot: I’ll believe it when I see it.

Me: Aaaaaaand there he is. I was wondering if you were going to show.

Tristan: Just be happy Morgan and Jamie didn’t show up. I feel like they’d have plenty to add about your writing distractions.

Me: Yeah…I vaguely remember leaving them in some unfortunate situations. On that note, I think it’s time for me to go to bed.

Happy Blissemas!

It’s that time of year again…Blissemas! I’ve joined with the lovely Victoria Blisse for the awesome Blissemas giveaway! Check out what we have for the winner! Read on for your chance to win!

To me, Christmas means a lot of things: family, laughter, ridiculous amounts of food, baking cookies with my kids and sister, pathologically frantic crafting sessions trying to finish presents on time for all of the parties we’ll be attending and gifts I have to ship, and of course, utter destruction.

I realize a lot of you may be giving me the side-eye right now over utter destruction being included in my holiday list, but bear with me. It’ll become painfully, painfully clear in a moment.

In August of 2009, we got two sweet, little kittens—sisters from the same litter. My husband, kids and I were at the shelter trying to decide between these little cuties, and finally my husband looked at me and said, “We’re just going to have to get both. We can’t take just one, it would be like splitting up you and Cait (my sister).” I do love that man.

So, we brought home Willow and Morrighan. Like most kittens, they were adorable, cuddly, and mischievous.

As you can see, they grew into very sassy cats.

With two very sassy cats, you can imagine what Christmas was like. I don’t think the tree was even up for half an hour before this happened.

We learned pretty quickly to use only non-breakable ornaments on the tree. We also learned that the tree needs to be anchored to a hook in the ceiling with heavy-test fishing line. And, we learned that Willow and Morrighan are the masters of making strings of lights go out. Even the ones on pre-lit trees that are supposed to be less fussy. We also learned that climbing the tree is a great way to get to the top of the bookcase.

However, if you thought we’d learned our lesson about cats, we clearly didn’t. At all. This past July, we again, brought home littermates, a brother and sister we named Loki and Kitsune. They’re already both far more insane than Willow and Morrighan ever were at this age.

This year, I anticipate that we’ll have four cats in the branches.

Because we are stupid. Very, very stupid.

And we’re also screwed. Very, very screwed.

But it should make for an entertaining holiday season. I’ll be sure to post pictures on my blog…and all the other social media places.

You might have noticed that our cats have some fairly geeky names, but to be fair, we’re a fairly geeky family.

Willow was named after my favorite character on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Morrighan, after one of the Celtic death and war goddesses (This was a foolish move on our part. She’s a bit of a thug.) Kitsune means fox or spirit fox in Japanese, and she has a very fox-ish look about her. Plus, my daughter is heavily into Japanese anime, where foxes are oft used characters. And lastly, we’ve got Loki after the Norse god because we all adore Tom Hiddleston’s portrayal of him. (Another foolish move. We are, apparently, the family that does not learn.)

Since I definitely have some geeky interests, I thought it would be fun to include a little geekery in Drawn That Way, one of the books that’s part of my and Jessica Jarman’s joint series, Bound.

And while Loki and the rest of the Avengers don’t figure into the storyline, there are some random Doctor Who and Harry Potter Easter eggs—oh, and there’s also video game design, dirty Tumblr, and BDSM.

Tristan Weaver, accountant for a successful video game company, is in way over her head. Honestly answering a company-wide survey and criticizing the sexist stereotypes used in the company’s games was enough to catch her boss’ attention. But speculating on his sex life within his earshot has unexpected consequences when her hot, but nerdy, boss invites her to model for him.

Owner, artist and lead developer of Brecken Games, Rory Brecken, has a strict no fraternizing with employees rule. However, when he overhears Tristan’s conversation with her friend about his rumored kinks and begins to suspect her curiosity about the submissive side of sex, he’s more than a little tempted. When her interest is undeniably confirmed, he suggests a onetime only, colleagues-with-benefits hook-up.

Though neither want a relationship, once isn’t enough for either one of them. As their encounters become more intense, Rory makes a huge mistake that may cost him the woman he’s coming to love.

Excerpt:

“What’s your password?” he asked, setting a laptop on his tall drafting table.

“The Doctor’s Companion. All one word. Capital T, capital D, apostrophe S, and capital C.”

Rory snorted and typed it in as she turned around. “I’ll just upload the files from the SD card so you can have a copy, too.”

He typed it in on her keyboard.

On her laptop.

Her laptop that he’d just grabbed from her office.

Where she’d been looking at, well, basically porn, when he’d walked in earlier.

“Close the lid. Close it,” she practically screeched, crossing the room to do it herself.

His eyebrows drew together, and he stared at her, his expression quizzical. Then, he slowly turned his head back toward her screen. She could see the flickering image of the .GIF reflected in the lenses of his glasses. Even without looking at the computer, she knew what he was seeing.

She must have watched that image cycle through twenty-seven times before he’d entered her office earlier. A man stood behind a woman and slid his hand over her chest to gently wrap his long fingers around her neck as he yanked down the cup of her bra with his other hand, baring her breast. Her nipple hardened right before the .GIF repeated itself in an endless loop.

Scorching heat rushed to her face, and she closed her eyes. If there were any justice in the world, the floor would open and swallow her whole. Or there would be a tsunami on Lake Michigan, and it would drown her. “Just so you know, I wasn’t looking at…that site…on company time. I didn’t open it until after five.”

The man’s hands had reminded her of Rory’s. It was part of the reason she’d watched it over and over. That and the stupid conversation she’d had with Clover.

“I believe you,” he said, somewhat distractedly, clicking the buttons on her touch pad. “You’re not one to slack off at work.”

She forced open her eyes, only to discover that he’d moved from her dashboard to her actual blog where she’d reposted all of the images that had turned her on and was scrolling through them. All of the images that made her want more than the boring, safe sex she always ended up with. All of the images that were currently revealing her desperate needs to her boss.

“At least, I know my instincts about you weren’t wrong.”

“What are you on about?” She didn’t actually want to know, but the words were already out of her mouth, and it was impossible to call them back.

He turned to face her. “Earlier today, when you and Clover were discussing my sex life in the break room—”

She dropped her head back to stare at the ceiling. “You heard that.”

“From the phrase, ‘one tall blonde with’ I believe it was, ‘ginormous tits after another’ until you noticed me.”

“Fabulous.” Where the hell was that tsunami when she needed it?

“It piqued my interest—”

“Of course, it did.”

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Bio:

Bronwyn Green is an author, blogger and compulsive crafter. She lives Michigan with her husband, two kids and three somewhat psychotic cats. When not frantically writing, she can be found helping in her youngest child’s classroom or binge-watching Netflix while working on her latest craft project.

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Chapter One of Drawn That Way and an Amazon Gift Card Giveaway

To celebrate one of my favorite stories I’ve ever written, (I seriously love Rory and Tristan), I thought I’d share the first chapter and have a little giveaway. To be entered, comment below, and for extra entries, please share on Twitter!

Here’s my inspiration for Rory…

Dear god…Hugh Dancy.

*sigh*

Wait…I was supposed to be doing something. Right. The giveaway post.

Chapter One of Drawn that Way

Tristan Weaver slid the finished survey across the break room table to her friend, Clover.

“Are you seriously going to submit that comment?” Clover asked, her brown eyes wide.

Tris shrugged. “Why not? It’s true. I haven’t seen a single female character come out of this company that wasn’t drawn like the average uni boy’s wank fantasy. Giant, gravity-defying boobs, waists so small they couldn’t possibly hold up those chests and giant bubble arses—all I’m suggesting is a little diversity. A more realistic view of women in video games. I don’t think that’s too much to ask.”

She leaned forward, warming to the subject. “And, while they’re at it, they could give them some armor. All the male characters have full protection. The best a female character gets is maybe a crop-top-style breastplate and a Xena skirt. That tells me they’re there for visual interest for men—not as viable characters.”

“Hey, now. There are some girls,” Clover said, pointing at herself, “who dig a scantily clad female as much as any guy.”

Tris smiled. “I know, but don’t you get tired of having one ideal shoved down your throat all the time?”

Clover nodded, her pink and purple pigtails bouncing. “I do, but I’m just worried about expressing that opinion here. I’m not saying you’d be fired for having a differing view, but you haven’t been here that long, and it could make things difficult. Jobs are hard to come by, right now.”

“Yeah…I know.” Tris hadn’t even been working there for six months, and she had a metric crap-ton of student loans to pay off. She couldn’t afford to lose her job. Of course, her parents kept telling her they’d pay off her loans if she’d move back to Wales. But the whole point of getting her citizenship when

her student visa expired was to stay in the States. She sighed, weighing her options. “But, we were asked for our input on the new game storyboard and artwork. Brecken Games definitely has a type.”

“More like Rory Brecken definitely has a type. Did you see the parade of models he interviewed last month?” Clover laughed and took a swallow of her Coke.

Tris rolled her eyes. “One tall blonde with ginormous tits after another.”

“Well, the last one must have been the winner. She was still here at midnight when I left that evening. And, judging from the noises I heard on my way out, she was winning in more ways than one.”

“Oh, please…with him? Seriously?”

Clover’s eyes widened. “There’s a reason he only uses one model per character. Apparently, he ends up banging a lot of them during photo shoots, and from what I’ve heard, he doesn’t do relationships.”

“Well, that I can see. The guy barely speaks. I mean, he’s good looking in that distracted artist kinda way, and he’s got that intense, nerdy thing going on. But I just don’t see women falling all over him.”

Tris could admit to herself that she found him vaguely attractive and weirdly compelling, but he was definitely not her type. She preferred her guys clean-cut and ripped—footballers were more her speed. Rory was none of those things, but he still made her stomach flip if she thought too much about him. He had dark, wavy hair that almost always looked as if it was a month past needing a haircut, a closely trimmed beard and black-frame glasses that made him look like a cross between a disgruntled hipster and a disapproving professor. It was the disapproving professor vibe that often had her squirming in her seat.

Her friend scooted closer, drawing Tris’ attention away from her sudden need for alone time. “Just telling you what I’ve heard. Oh, and I guess he’s a little kinky, too.”

“He is not,” Tristan said, stifling a snort. That was pushing the boundaries of her belief a little too far. However, now, the disapproving

professor fantasy was back full-force. And, thanks to Clover planting that perverse little seed in her head, Tris suspected she was going to need some quality time with her detachable showerhead, tonight.

Clover just nodded.

“What kind of kinky?” Before Clover could answer, Tris held up her hand. “You should know that if you tell me feather ticklers, blindfolds, whipped cream and strawberry syrup, I’m going to be severely disappointed in your idea of kinky.”

She’d been disappointed in a former boyfriend’s idea of kinky, too. When she’d suggested they try something a little edgier in the bedroom, she hadn’t anticipated ending up with a yeast infection and having her favorite sheets stained.

The other woman rolled her eyes, and was that a blush coloring her cheeks? “The things I’ve heard from some of the models are way more hardcore than feathers.”

“Like what?” Just once, she’d like to try something that was a sharp left from Vanillaville. It wasn’t that she objected to conventional sex—good sex was good sex. But some days, she wanted something more. Something a little different. As her dirty Tumblr would certainly attest. Taking a deep breath, Tris sat back in her chair, took a sip of coffee, and tried not to sigh as she waited for Clover to spill.

When the other woman didn’t elaborate right away, Tris continued, “So, what…how intense are we talking? Spanking? Flogging? Bondage?”

Clover cleared her throat. “They’ve all been mentioned.”

Crossing her legs, Tristan took another swallow of coffee and hoped to dull the damp ache pulsing between her thighs. God, she needed to get laid. It had been far too long. For just a minute, she tried to imagine the practically pathologically reserved Rory Brecken doing any of the things she’d just listed, but D/s sex and the owner of Brecken Games didn’t belong in the same sentence—let alone the same thought.

Her friend tilted her head to the side and stared at her.

“What?”

“Just wondering what you’re thinking.” Clover twirled one of her brightly colored pigtails around her finger.

“I dunno. I can’t see it. I can’t even imagine him talking dirty to a woman, let alone tying one up.”

The sound of feet scuffling at the door dropped Tris’ stomach to the vicinity of the floor, and she whirled to look behind her.

Fucking hell. Rory Brecken stood in the doorway holding a folder and his ever-present travel mug. How long had he been standing there? How much had he heard?

He nodded at Clover then turned to Tris and nodded at her, too, pinning her with his steady gaze. If he knew what they’d been talking about, he gave no indication, just broke eye contact and moved into the break room and slid his mug under the spout of the coffee maker.

Both women stood. “I should get back to that code,” Clover muttered. “It’s not gonna write itself.”

As she left the room, Tris discreetly folded the survey in half and headed for the door.

“Tristan?”

In the nearly empty room, his voice seemed to resonate, sounding a little rough, as if he didn’t use it often. Hearing her name in that gravelly tone sent shivers along her spine. She hoped like hell he hadn’t noticed.

Pasting on a smile she wasn’t close to feeling, she turned around. “Yes?”

He stared at her for what couldn’t have been more than a few seconds, but it was long enough to convince her that he’d heard every word they’d said about him. Her stomach lurched as her nerves rioted with anxious regret. She and Clover had no right to discuss his personal life. What he did or didn’t do with his character models was none of their business, and she felt like an arsehole for prying.

She was about to say as much when his gaze dropped to the table then lifted back to hers. “You forgot your coffee.”

(End of Chapter One)

So…anybody ever catch you talking about them? Saying something bad? Saying something good? Share with the class!

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Please continue commenting. Rafflecopter will count those entries even though the widget isn’t showing up.

If you also choose to tweet it, please use @Bronwyn_Green in your tweet so I can include your tweets in a second drawing for people who are tweeting. Same for people who are sharing on Facebook. Please tag me in your post so I can put your name in the secondary drawing.

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Dream Cast for Drawn That Way

I’ve been looking forward to this blog post since I’ve got a new book coming out soon – it’s dream casting time!

Here’s the blurb – then scroll down for the cast of characters.

Tristan Weaver, accountant for a successful video game company, is in way over her head. Honestly answering a company-wide survey and criticizing the sexist stereotypes used in the company’s games was enough to catch her boss’ attention. But speculating on his sex life within his earshot has unexpected consequences when her hot, but nerdy, boss invites her to model for him.

Owner, artist and lead developer of Brecken Games, Rory Brecken, has a strict no fraternizing with employees rule. However, when he overhears Tristan’s conversation with her friend about his rumored kinks and begins to suspect her curiosity in the submissive side of sex, he’s more than a little tempted. When her interest is undeniably confirmed, he suggests a onetime only, colleagues with benefits hook-up.

Though neither want a relationship, once isn’t enough for either one of them. As their encounters become more intense, Rory makes a huge mistake that may cost him the woman he’s coming to love.

As soon as this story popped into my head, I knew exactly what Rory Brecken looked like. Hugh Dancy in Hannibal – you know…minus the blood, the psychotic breaks, the encephalitis, and the jail time.

Instead, think quiet, geeky video game designer and artist with a side of kink. Unruly hair, a little scruffy, gorgeous eyes – just like I like ’em.

As easy as Rory was to cast, I had a harder time with Tristan Weaver. I knew her personality well, and I had a vague idea of what she looked like, but it wasn’t until I saw Felicity Jones, that I knew I had my Tris. She’s an accountant with a penchant for speaking her mind. She’s also prone to blurting things out.

Next up is Tris’ friend, Clover. Clover also works at Brecken Games as one of the programmers in development. She looks like Vicki Zhao Wei, but with the pink and purple hair below this .

And lastly we have Annie, another friend of Tris’. She looks like Anna Sophia Robb and is the resident receptionist and game beta tester. Also? Very sassy.