SeptNoWriMo 2013-09-06

[alexconall]

Dear body: That was supposed to be a 'lie down for fifteen to thirty minutes', not a 'sleep all night, wake up at six-thirty'.

1790 words (woot!) for a total of 7632 (was supposed to be past 10K by today), of which only 2314 are in the novel draft. Which includes the frontispiece and the back-cover text draft.

On the flip side, my jukebox_fest story is done.

Snippet (of the novel, not the jukebox_fest):

Happy damn birthday to Anne's baby girl. Eighteen years old with everything to live for, Leah was now, just emerging from the chrysalis and spreading her butterfly wings.

Anne didn't know a damn thing about vodou except what was in the movies, and knew damn well the movies were all lies. But the movies were right about one thing, in real-world terms if not necessarily about vodou: casting a spell on a doll, if done right, was the same as casting a spell on the person the doll represented.

Four small dolls, hand-sewn of cloth in bright colors (one per doll) and varied shades of brown, lay in a shallow glass bowl. Miles away, four daughters went about their business, unaware of Anne's spellcasting as Anne had never been unaware of theirs.

The edge of the bowl was as perfect a circle as human hands could make. Let no evil cross this circle, Anne willed. Let no harm come to those within.

Her husband had warned her before his death, and now that Leah was adult, that warning was coming due.

Anne sealed off the spell, glowing golden around the rim of the bowl. Here's to the damned.