Working from Calls

Working from Calls: Six Degrees of Separation

Brenna Lyons

It’s funny how the author’s mind works. I guess if it worked like everyone else’s there wouldn’t be such a small percentage of people who are writers. Still...

The call comes out. At first glance, I really want to write something for it, but the usually-vociferous muse shrugs and tells me, “I got nothing.” I’d say it’s a first for her, but it happens often when calls for anthologies or collections come out, unless I already have something done or in process that would work for it. The logical side of my brain (ah...that left side) opines that I need to forget the call and move on to other projects.

If that was the end of it, I wouldn’t be the person I am. So, what happens next?

That pesky right brain--you know, the creative and feeling half of the picture--really wants to get in on that call. Like a small child, it’s poking the left side and whining, “But I want to write for this call. I want to. I want to. Find me something to write about.” I feel like offering right brain cheese to go with that whine...and in fact, probably nibble on some.

Back to the poor, beleaguered left brain. My left brain has never learned to be a proper parent and tell the child (right brain) that whining does not get the right brain what it wants, so the left brain is sneaking around, looking for the six degrees of separation to match the call to something interesting enough to kick the muse into gear. It’s unconscious, because if the conscious mind had an inkling of it, it would step in and smack the left brain around...and rightfully so.

The left brain, as you might know, is a pattern matcher. Mine is rather overdeveloped, as is the connection between right and left brain, which means the infantile right gets to bug the left unmercifully. “I’m bored, Mommy. I want something to do. No, I don’t want to do that. I want to write for that call I told you about.”

Back to the left brain, who is busy dedicating some small portion to satisfying right brain to shut the bugger up.

And the whole process goes something like the following...

1. I see a call for, say...holiday song stories for LooseId.

2. After running through every holiday song I know, Christian and not, the muse is still saying, “I got nothing.” And in the case of “Sailing Home for Christmas” by Doug Stone, she’s saying, “Still too raw. Try me back for that catharsis in a few more years.”

3. The back and forth of the right nagging left continues, until the left brain starts looking at holiday movies and happens upon Love Actually, one of my favorite holiday movies. Hence begins the six degrees of separation.

4. Admittedly, the “All I Want For Christmas Is You” song that Joanna Anderson (Olivia Olson) sings is my favorite, so I focus there. Sam (Thomas Sangster) desperately wants Joanna to know he’s alive, and his step-father, the new widower Daniel (Liam Neeson), helps him achieve that. In the end, both Sam and Daniel end up finding love.

5. Fresh from the heart wrenching stories of Liam Neeson losing his beloved wife Natasha Richardson, the character of Sam stuck in my mind...sort of. He was tragic but he did move on.

6. The further encroachment of Love Actually into the thought process came with the tragic love triangle of Peter (Chiwetel Ejiofor), Mark (Andrew Lincoln), and Juliet (Keira Knightley).

7. Presenting all of this to the right brain, the following happens... What if a Juliet-like woman has lost the man she loved and wanted to marry? What if she never knew the Mark-like brother of her husband-to-be loved her too? What if they remained friends, despite their feelings for each other? And what if something brought them together? Love happens, right?

8. Left brain says, “Now, go play and let me do some work over here.”

9. And right brain scurries away and creates a story aptly titled ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS IS YOU for LooseId. In fact, it just released today.

All I Want For Christmas Is You- Two years after losing her fiancé Zach in a car accident, Robin is moving on. She's set her priorities, and one of them is following through with a life plan she and Zach made together...having a baby. It would be best if said child shared some of Zach's genes.

Enter David, Zach's older brother. He's Robin's best friend, her confidant, the one person who won't think she's crazy to do this...she hopes. Since there's no chance the ladies' man will fall for her, she hopes sex with him will stop the dreams where David takes Zach's place.

It's the invitation he's been waiting for, three years of watching Robin with his little brother, then watching her grieve Zach. If only she wanted David for himself and not a convenient sperm donor to conceive his brother's child. Then again, in such close quarters, maybe he'll be able to convince her to something more permanent...if his parents don't catch wind of the whole thing first.

HEA-yes, VIOLENCE-mild, LANGUAGE-graphic, SEX-erotic...anal sex/play

Cover art by April Martinez!

Happy reading!

Brenna