Back in The Undisclosed Location, and all is relatively well. No, it is. I’m not drunk or anything, not this early in the morning.
I drove down last night; I flipped off the city as I blew through downtown, and once I was setup and the computer was going, I got in, said hi to a few people, and did a little more writing.
It was a pretty normal night, regardless of where I might spend it.
I started Chapter 43 of Transporting last night, and I feel as if I hit some kind of milestone, because I’m finally–yes, finally–writing one of the first scenes I ever envisioned when I started giving this novel some serious thought. The image was like this: the three main female characters, and one of the secondary characters, would be flying through the night in the trans-atmospheric ship one of the characters owns, and they’re all sitting around in a darkened cabin, in their night clothes, drinking tea and hot chocolate while sitting in a large bed, having a good, relaxing time while music plays in the background.
I cannot, for the life of me, figure out why this was one of the first scenes that came to me. I can even tell you where it happen: while I was sitting in my office at Playboy, where I worked at the time. That had to be late 1988, early 1989. The time is sort of hazy these days, but I know it happened there.
And, because I’m in the mood, I’m going to give you part of what I wrote last night. No changes, no edits: this is literally what I wrote last night. So here you have it: an excerpt from Transporting, Chapter 43, Copyright 2012, by Raymond Frazee. Enjoy:
As soon as they were off the ground she’d been told it was a “theme night,” and the theme was “Girl’s Pajama Party”. For the whole trip, everyone—Audrey, Lynette, Cillia, and Cytheria—had to wear night clothes, and since then, the flight had taken on the aspect of a sleepover—something Cytheria had only had three times in her life, and always with a very special friend . . .
Lynette had decided to wear forest green silk pajamas that seemed to cling to her body. Cytheria had never seen Lynette in anything like this before, and the way her friend looked sitting against the back of huge bed-cum-sitting area, she had to admit Lynette looked extremely striking.
Cillia wore a modern nightgown that was all light blue synthfiber and lace, with the heme dropping to nearly mid-calve. Audrey had gotten Maggie to make it for her, as the standard Muan nightgowns came across as very old-fashioned, and Audrey thought Cillia might stand out too much compared to everyone else.
Cytheria’s choice was not what she usually wore. At home, alone or with Audrey, she was very partial to short, silk nighties, and had been since she’d been a little girl. Here, with Lynette and Cillia, she didn’t think that would be proper attire, so she went with what she usually wore when she was with others: dark crimson lounging pants, and a soft, open-necked, short-sleeved pullover the color of sand.
As for their final companion . . .
Cytheria looked back and up, seeing Audrey’s blue slippers up in Liberator’s pilot’s bubble. “When the bloody hell are you coming down?” she asked loudly, drawing a look of surprise from Lynette and a giggle from Cillia. “You wanted a Girl’s Night Out, and you’re doing Maggie’s work.” She patted a space next to her. “Come keep us company, love.”
And there you have it. It’s just a little sample of what I’ve been working on. It’s not a lot, it’s not really telling you much, but it means a lot to me.
Because, finally, this sets up the very last scenes in the novel. This sets up another scene in the next chapter that sets up the big scene in Chapter 45. So in order to get there, you have to go through here.
And when I’m in Chapter 45, I’m almost finished.
And then I can finally get the last 25 years of writing behind me, and hope I’ll have another 25 years stretching out before me.
