Stephanie Cage - Writer

“I said—do you have any children?” The repeated question was spoken a lot slower and carefully enunciated this time, as if she herself were a child. The question, unbeknown to him, brought to the surface her secret, long held dream of having a child of her own. To raise her child to be loved and wanted, as she was never brought up. Never to be used as an accessory, then discarded when the party was over. Rania shook her head sadly, partly to dispel the image and partly to answer his question, murmuring softly, “No. No, I don’t.” She had a sneaky feeling the barriers she had long ago constructed were becoming more transparent with each passing minute of this conversation. His sharp gaze never seemed to miss a trick as he watched her smooth down her apron for the umpteenth time that evening. “Why do you ask? Am I that much of a natural with children?” She smiled breezily. Clearly, he was in no mood for jokes as her light-hearted comment fell on deaf ears and he continued...

The next day arrived entirely too fast. Training lasted until well past midnight, leaving Rachel to function on less than six hours of rest. It’s only six months , she reminded herself, and you’ll be junior editor in no time . She stood in line at the coffee shop beneath the building that housed Equinox Publishing, her eyes burning from lack of sleep. Certain that a frappe would make the world right again, she waited patiently to place her order. Her patience was rewarded with quick service, and she held her iced coffee drink lovingly as she scooped it up from the counter. Sleepily, she suppressed a yawn and turned to head upstairs where, undoubtedly, another stack of wasted manuscripts awaited her attention. Rachel hadn’t taken five steps, when her toe caught on the edge of one of the rugs. It sent her falling forward; her frappe went flying ahead of her. “Oh!” Before the exclamation had completely escaped her lips, she felt a pair of hands grab onto her. The floor rushed...

“Sorry I’m late,” Lalita said as she rushed into the boardroom. She took her seat at the opposite end of the table to Jeremy and ran a shaking hand over her hair. Raising her eyes, she met Jeremy’s concerned stare and did her best to paste a reassuring smile on her face. Conversation buzzed around her as she stared out the window. When Lalita noticed a prolonged silence, she pulled herself back to the present. Twenty pairs of eyes stared at her. “Lalita? I asked if you wanted to make any final comments before we wrap up?” Jeremy repeated. “Oh…ah…just to thank everyone for their cooperation and hard work in making Evans International a success. In my discussions with the CEO last week, he indicated that we are on track for a record-breaking year and that Asia is leading the corporation in both new products and new partners. Thanks to you!” Lalita concluded with a round of applause and hoped her smile reached her eyes. Taking her words as dismissal, the men and women gathe...

  Sexy in the City 9 Glamorous, Globe-trotting Contemporary Romances - ebook set only $0.99 for a limited time. Amazon Barnes & Noble Crimson Romance From New York to Paris, London to Los Angeles, these cosmopolitan tales of romance will challenge and inspire your most worldly fantasies: Singapore Fling by Alexia Adams: A CEO-in-training is tempted by her a handsome hotshot marketing director as they tour the company’s Asian offices. But will eight countries in three weeks lead to whirlwind romance or lasting love? A Place to Rest My Heart by Galen Rose: This poignant story of family, romance, and discovering where you truly belong will enchant everyone who’s ever left their heart in San Francisco. Kirby by Samantha Molina: The competitive nature of New York’s publishing scene forces Rachel Sirianna to adopt an alter ego—but can she keep her hot boyfriend from discovering the duplicity? The Very Thought of You by Carolann Camillo: When real estate develope...

    A lot of my friends seem to have been tagged lately to share '5 surprising things' about themselves.  I'm grateful, but also a bit worried, that nobody's yet tagged me (at least, not that I've noticed... if you've tagged me and I missed it, sorry!  I'm really not ignoring you on purpose!).  I'm not sure what I'd say, because I don't think there's a lot surprising about me.  I'm pretty much 'what you see is what you get'.  So instead of sharing 5 surprising things about me, I thought I'd share 5 things that surprised me this weekend.  And I was VERY surprised this weekend.       Being a southerner by birth but a northerner by choice, I thought I'd got used to the fact that the North isn't the grim industrial wasteland that southerners tend to imagine.  I live within easy reach of the Peak District and the Yorkshire Moors, not to mention my favourite seaside resort, sunny Scarborough.  So why did I expect...

I just realised it's been a few months since I've shared here what I've been writing for Book-in-a-Week.  For anyone who's missed my previous posts, I should probably explain that Book-in-a-Week is a fantastic web-based community of writers who once a month take part in a shared challenge to set and fulfil a writing goal over the course of a week.  As well as participating regularly, I also write a monthly column for the site.   I've been thinking a lot recently about how I can fit in more writing time, and be more productive in my writing time, so two recent posts have been inspired by these experiments. The first post on this theme looks at developing a daily writing habit, which is advocated by many successful writers, including Stephen King.  You can read this one at http://www.book-in-a-week.com/2014/06/the-chain-method-to-writing-every-day/. Following on from this, I've also posted about the benefits I've found to keeping closer track of my word ...