The cp that wouldn't die

I never asked for a crit partner. I remember standing around one day, talking mythology because the place where I used to work was nothing if not geek-central, bouncing all kinds of things, games and movie, books and philosophy. How it got to mythology, I don't know. But this guy, Cowboy, and I got to talking about Hawaiian myths, and in an almost embarrassed aside, I said, "uhm....well, I'm writing about Pele, the Hawaiian goddess of volcanoes, in my book", which I'd never told anybody before, because to tell people you write is an open invitation.

...are you published? What have you written? You write romances? Wow....how "nice" for you. Not published? Good-bye. Which is probably why I take the whole "I'm a published writer" thing a lot less seriously than other people. My writing was one of those closet-only in the dead of night when nobody was looking kind of things. Mom's little hobby.

But to my complete surprise, Cowboy said, "why don't you bring it in and let me read it?" And I said--"hey? Did you miss the part where I said it was a romance?"

We went through the whole, "uhm...how about you read it? I'll stand over there and pretend I'm not watching to see if you roll your eyes." The "I know I gave you the same twenty pages again, I changed a paragraph. It's different." And, "I'm afraid to send it out. What if nobody likes it?"

But through all my stupid stuff, and randomness--the sex scenes? The time I spent talking to Gina, the three GH's I entered before realizing it didn't matter, Cowboy forced me to jump through hoops over and over again. He sat at that table out in the bar, where everyone could see him, reading my "romance" because he thought I could do something with my writing. When I had an ad in Romantic Times, he carried the copy I gave him around in his back pocket because he knew it was important to me.

In many ways he knows me better than I know myself. People say every writer has a theme. Something they care passionately about, and my theme has always been redemption.

Cowboy says he doesn't know why we waited so long. He's taking his art to a new level--he used to be a graphic and fine artist. Maybe it's genetic, his mom is nationally renowned, but he finally went back to school to become a web designer. He did my site, which I love. It's got an understated "art" feel to it that reflects who I really am.

But...if you've got a project, or knows someone who needs some work done--reasonably priced and carefully crafted, before he gets big and charges more, or joins an agency somewhere--One TE Productions is now open.

I don't know why we waited, either.

Cowboy is finally home...