… but not without one more last hurrah.

My Friday started off exactly as planned. Pilates, hot chocolate, and then into the office to write the final chapter of Amplifier 5 – the denouement I’ve had in my head for over a year.

I climbed on my treadmill, put on my computer glasses, and started reading through a section of text that I’d highlighted to rewrite at the end of my day yesterday.

Then I reached for my hot chocolate.

And knocked it across the room.

Yes.

500 ml of dark, hot chocolate in perfectly frothed skim milk, flung … in an instant …

All …

Over…

My …

Tiny office.

White painted walls and baseboards (flat white paint, which is great for touching up but not so great for wiping off), a pilates reformer, hand-stained pine flooring, a portable heater (which was on and instantly dried all the liquid splattered across it), and a ten-foot-long wall of white cabinets (seeping through the seams into the cupboards themselves).

Molly Millions was delighted at this sudden explosion of tastiness dripping off practically every surface of the room. It was a miracle that she wasn’t in her doggy bed right beside me at the time, because it also got soaked.

I didn’t scream.

How? I have no idea. Except I had a puppy to grab and leash.

Long story short, hot chocolate gets EVERYWHERE. I had to dismantle my pilates reformer, and the parts of it that can be, are currently in the wash. Did you know that even well-finished plywood (such as the interior structure of my pilates ‘box’) can’t be cleaned of soaked-in liquid? Not even with a liberal application of hot soapy water? Ditto with the slightly perforated padding (for traction, I assume) on the jump board.

So … an hour later the floors, walls, cabinets, desk, heater, and pilates reformer were scrubbed and dried – and I’d managed not to cry about any of it. I made myself a second hot chocolate and treated myself to the latest installment of the Innkeeper novel that Ilona Andrews is currently serializing on their blog …

Then I wrote the final chapter of Amplifier 5.

It took me almost two years, but I now have a complete first draft of Instincts and Imposters (Amplifier 5). Along with a Zans novelette (Amplifier 5.5) (which will be included with Amplifier 5).

The curse is broken, but not before it tried to break me.

One.

Last.

Time.

😂

I’ll begin tackling the second draft on Monday.