WIP Wednesday: Quail -- Not Queries

There's a lot cooking over at Miss Snark's First Victim this morning. The February Secret Agent contest is in full swing. Click here to read my first 250-words of V-Day/Any Day But and feel free to leave a critique. You don't need to be a participant to comment on an entry. Yes, I've laid my neck down on the chopping block again. I'm a sucker for the feedback -- good or bad. It helps me improve, even when it's painful.

Also, there's still lots of room for entries in my Valentine's Day Contest! You have until Saturday the 13th to get your dream vacation written in the comments section (use the link above to find the thread). And if you win, you'll get a $25 gift certificate to Powell's Books. So, what are you waiting for?

As for writing, well, I've been busy. Combing through V-Day one more time, just in case it gets any attention in the Secret Agent contest (not counting on it, but you never know!). I'm also still working on finishing the first draft of Back and loving every minute of it.

In other random news, we had a bird knock itself unconscious on our picture windows this morning. That was a first. Aaron took down the last two screens on our living room windows yesterday so we could fully enjoy the view. This morning, as I was standing in the kitchen, I saw something that looked like a football hurtle itself through the air, hit the window with a thunk, and fall. When I ran to the window I saw a quail lying prone and still in the grass. Gabe and I cheered for it: "Come on, quail! Don't be dead! Get up! Get up!" (I was seriously going to start crying if it was actually dead.) It took about five minutes, but finally that poor bird lifted it's head, plume trembling. A few minutes more and it flapped dizzily over to the fence and sat there. So, if you ever visit us and notice a yard full of brain-damaged quail, you'll know why.