Snippet From My Queer Polyamorous Romance Novel, Community Witch - An Unapologetically Trope-y, Cozy,

Snippet from my queer polyamorous romance novel, Community Witch - an unapologetically trope-y, cozy, and relationship-driven romance story about the healing from trauma, found family, and joyful queer relationships. (Looking to publish next year.)

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Aspen glanced around the space but couldn’t identify anything strange. Neither were they able to sense any obvious malevolence. “Does anything here look out of place to you?”

Rav looked around, then shook his head. “Not here. But mostly it stays back in the studio.” He pulled a set of keys out of his pocket and unlocked the door behind the register. “Which is back here.”

Aspen, who had hung out with a lot of artists in university, had expected chaos and mess. They were surprised to instead see a studio that was so immaculate and neatly organized that it barely looked as if it were in use. Even more surprising was Rav’s sudden inarticulate cry of anguish as he strode over to a painting in progress on an easel. “I wasn’t done with that!” he yelled in frustration at the ceiling.

“I take it something was moved?” Aspen asked mildly from the doorway.

“It put my paints away! And the brushes I was using!” Rav gestured in frustration at the large unit of pull-out drawers. “I left out the colors I was using so I’d be able to match them!”

“And… the ghost put them away?”

Rav held up a finger, clearly mistaking their confusion for skepticism. “I know this sounds crazy, but look.” He opened one of the drawers and started tossing tubes of paint on the floor.

Not more than a second later, the tubes lifted themselves off the floor and floated back into the drawer, which then slammed shut. Aspen blinked in shock. “Well there’s something I’ve never seen before. You have a poltergeist that cleans!”

In retrospect I shouldn't have been surprised that this content would do well here

Sweater vest attempt number two is going well

Snippet from my queer polyamorous romance novel, Community Witch - an unapologetically trope-y, cozy, and relationship-driven romance story about the healing from trauma, found family, and joyful queer relationships. (Looking to publish next year.) ---

“My life has turned into a Lifemark movie,” Aspen groaned, flopping dramatically onto their bed. “Thirty year old enby leaves the big city, including their terrible partner and the job they hate, to move to a beautiful small town, has meet cute with beautiful stranger before running into The One That Got Away.”

There was a choking sound on the other end of the line.

“You’re allowed to laugh,” Aspen grumbled. “Even I think it’s ridiculous, and I’m living it.”

Becks didn’t laugh, but Aspen could hear the grin in her voice. “I assume the beautiful stranger is Rav, but who is The One That Got Away?”

“Remember that guy I was hopelessly in love with in high school? The wholesome football player?”

“Maybe?”

“My best friend? The one that was over all the time?”

“Oh my god, that himbo you tutored, then pined for the rest of high school? The one you wanted to smash from orbit?”

“Not a himbo,” Aspen bristled, unable to argue with the rest of Becks’ description. “Anyway. She’s Nat now. I ran into her at the gym just now when I was dropping off cards around town. And we’re going to catch up when she’s done with work.”

This time, Becks did laugh – gleeful peals that made Aspen smile despite themself.

G'raha was staring at Alisaie with the embarrassed look he usually wore when he wanted to ask for something sexual directly. And Alisaie, it seemed, had known him long enough to recognize his tells, even in this very different context. "What do you want, G'raha?"

"You could," he began, only for his voice to break. He swallowed and tried again. "You could...if you want... fuck my throat."

Alisaie blinked. Raised an eyebrow. "Not opposed, but... not what I was expecting."

G'raha attempted to maintain composure, but the twitching of his tail betrayed him. "A skill acquired at the Studium."

Alisaie's face lit up with surprise, then delight, both eyebrows now sky-high. "At the Studium."

G'raha went adorably pink again. "While it is certainly not the experience of every man, many young men have... have certain urges, and one doesn't always want to leave the library to indulge them. Over time, I formed a circle of acquaintances of... like-minded individuals who made a habit of relieving each other without any expectation of personal attachment, and. Well. I've always believed that there's no point in doing something if you don't do it well."

G'raha looked so mortified as he finished his explanation that I honestly couldn't blame Alisaie for the cackling laugh that burst out before she could get control of herself. "I'm sorry," she said, belatedly covering her mouth. "I'm just... I'm realizing now how badly I misjudged you. We had so much more in common back then than I would have guessed."

G'raha struggled for a moment to process this, then gave up. "So..."

"Do you want me to fuck your throat? Because I'd love to do it, now that you've brought it up.""Yes."

(Look, I'm so proud of these horny nerds okay.)

I'm quite proud of this sentence:

"G'raha, the poor, sweet moron, looked as if he'd been hit over the head, as he always did when confronted with the undeniable fact that he was actually quite lovely."

Someone caught G'raha at it again

pentiment

Me: Hey internet, how long should I wait before following up with an agent about their request for a full manuscript? The Internet: minimum 3 months Me: