Sunday Snippet: Rewarding Experience

Well … November has arrived and the weather is cooling off to true fall-like temperatures. It's pretty chilly when I take the dogs out for the final time at night. Brrr.

Had a limited work week with only one project on my desk. Sometimes it's nice to have the extra time to get things done around the house. I'm still on my great clear-out and making solid progress. I have a new couch coming later this month and I'm excited to get everything ready for it.

Decent week of television. I caught four episodes of The Muppet Show. Anne Murray, Jonathan Winters, Star Wars / Mark Hamill, and Christopher Reeve were the guest stars. I remember the Star Wars episode from childhood. My brothers and I loved that one.

Finished up Prime Suspect and actually loved the way the series ended. I don't remember if I actually got to finish the entire series when I watched the first time so I'm glad I got to complete the entire run. Really like the bookend of how it began with how it ended.

Watched two episodes of Peak Practice. As suspected, David's wife kind of went off the rails and the climax of that happened in the second episode. I'm also enjoying Paul's storyline. Nice to see him pop up about every other episode.

Caught two more MasterClass lessons with Brandon McMillan. He's very good at explaining his technique and I'm hoping I'll be able to work with both dogs to have them behave better.

Watched another episode of Glitch and this show is as trippy as I thought it would be. Three episodes in and I'm still not quite sure what's going on. James has quite the dilemma on two fronts and it's almost uncomfortable watching him juggle everything.

Enjoyed another Pop Profiles. This one featured Jennifer Lopez. I didn't learn a lot of new things about her career but I loved revisiting some of her stellar moments.

Caught two more episodes of Classic Rugrats. This show is so much fun to revisit. Had a chance to talk to my oldest and reminisce a little about how much we loved watching when he was little.

Watched a great episode of Chicago Med. I'm starting to really enjoy Dr. Latham. I also loved getting into a little more of Goodwin's story. Also really liked Reece's storyline for this episode.

Enjoyed another episode of The Brokenwood Mysteries. I've been enjoying having Frodo pop up in weird jobs. My hope is he'll eventually end up at the Toad and Lion. He'd make a great bartender.

Started a new episode of Blue Heelers. This one is interesting with a rural flavor to it. I'm feeling bad for Adam. He's got it bad for Chris and she's not going there because of their age difference.

Started the final two-parter of Silent Witness for season thirteen. This is another South Africa setting. I have a very vague memory of what happened the first time I watched and I'm looking forward to the second part to see if I remember anything else.

I'm almost finished with season twenty of Classic Who. The Master did show up again in a two-part arc and that leaves one final episode left. "The Five Doctors" will round out the season and we'll be on to twenty-one.

Enjoyed another episode of Roswell: The Final Verdict. This focused on how the government went to a lot of trouble to silence witnesses of the crash. The AI found a couple of false statements and that always interests me. Looking forward to the next episode.

That's pretty much it for this week's update. Tonight's post is from Rewarding Experience, a novella that got a start with a writing community prompt.

Here's the mini-blurb:

When an explosion rocks a deep space mining expedition, injuring Trixie Bell, she realizes how much she wants and needs Jock Tennyson by her side. The grueling hours and physically exhausting work makes the couple cranky and edgy, but Trixie decides to show Jock how rewarding a simple reprimand can be.

And a sneaky peek…

Jock got a hard kick to his gut. He didn't like the idea of training and running production at the same time.

He shook his head. "We're not authorized to train on site, Trix." A stupid restriction, but one clearly written into the contract.

Trixie snorted. "Too damned bad. Unless you've got a better suggestion, I'm out." She started for the door.

He stopped her. "Hold up. Wait just a damn minute. I don't want my best person putting herself at risk here." He didn't want anyone in danger, but especially her.

Trixie rolled her eyes. "Again, do you have another suggestion? Because we can't make the quota unless one of us actually goes in and trains the miners." She flicked her gaze over him. "Obviously, it won't be you." Her tone implied he no longer could.

He bristled. "I've worked in the mines a long time, Trix." A full year longer than her, as a matter of fact.

She made a disgusted sound. "Yeah, right up until you became one of the suits." She sneered the last word.

He glanced pointedly at his heavy twill work pants and dusty boots. "I don't wear a suit." And he never would.

She waved her hand. "Doesn't mean you haven't become one on the inside." She turned and left.

Jock frowned. "Way to give me a shot at fixing this, Trix." Leaning back, he reflected a little on why he took the job as foreman.

He'd hoped to bring about desperately needed change. Instead, he got buried under a mountain of need this, make it happen, and keep things coming. And his biggest supporter—Trixie—ended up walking away pissed off and angry.

Tossing the pen on the files, he put his head in his hands. "I might be in the middle of a steaming pile right now, but I'll find a way to make things up to her." Including yet another call to the commission to plead their case.

I usually end up writing sci-fi romance that takes place on a ship and I'm enjoying having this set on a mining colony. Trixie and Jock are also a lot of fun to write.

 

That's it for this week. Catch everyone on the flipside.

ML Skye