From my upcoming novel:
“I have to talk to Daddy about changing the terms of the pre-nuptial agreement with Miles so I can get out of this terrible marriage,” thought Wendy, as she drove to meet Barb, her long-time lover.
Category: Challenges
One-Liner Wednesday
A quote from my upcoming novel:
“Wendy always dresses so old for her age,” thought Miles, “even when we are meeting friends for drinks and dinner.”
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Chasing the Killer
“We have sightings of him in Red River Gorge, Captain,” Rain said. She was a patrol officer on the Lexington Police Force.
“Get a team together and get out there. Find out where in the Gorge,” the Captain responded. “You need the dogs.”
Red River Gorge is a huge wilderness area near Lexington, Kentucky. Leroy Michaels, a convicted murderer, had escaped from jail. They had reason to believe he was trying to hide by losing himself in the Gorge. His wife, who he had tried to kill, lived near by. The police had items of his clothing to give to the dogs.
The police team and the canine team all met at Slade, an entry point to the Gorge. They gave the clothing to the dogs and they got the scent. Everyone started out following the dogs who headed into one of the mosts rugged parts of the Gorge.
They heard a scream and saw a flash of orange. Leroy Michaels had fallen 60 feet from one of the many ledges in the Gorge.
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#SoCS – 06/03/2017
Donald Trump, Weather, Climate
It seems coincidental to me, Linda, that today’s #SoCS prompt is weather. Why? Two reasons. This week, our President decided to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris Climate Agreement. The second reason is that hurricane season in the U.S. started June 1, 2017 and runs through November 30, 2017. Mr. Trump has appointed no new director of either FEMA or NOAA, the two agencies that deal with disasters such as hurricanes and that forecast and track hurricanes. Perhaps this is an oversight. The people that a hurricane will affect who live on the Atlantic Seaboard, the Gulf Coast, and every part of Florida will suffer due to such an oversight.
The Paris Climate Agreement. Mr. Trump apparently does not understand the Paris Climate Agreement. If he does understand it, then his withdrawal of the U.S. from it is particularly hateful. He seems to think that polluting the environment of the U.S. will lead to job creation when all it will lead to is more pollution and the continued killing of our planet. The U.S. is well on its way to reducing the use of fossil fuels, like coal, and reducing the greenhouse gases we emit. Mr. Trump is trying to set us back 50 years. Instead of supporting the efforts to develop wind farms and solar farms, for example, he wants to go back to mining coal. Coal miners can and would be trained to work in the clean energy industries. One such industry has already relocated to an area where coal was previously mined. Many of our 50 states vehemently disagree with him and are going to follow the Paris agreement on their own. Many large corporations are going to do the same.
Why is all this happening? Mr. Trump is feeling desperate. With low ratings, he is trying to do something that, during the campaign, he told his base he would do. He told them he would drop environmental regulations in the name of job creation so that’s what he is doing. He has found government too complicated to do much of anything else. So he is pursuing his nationalist agenda by turning his back on the environment. It particularly pleased him because he could turn his back on Europe at the same time since he desires to be an isolationist. In just the short time Mr. Trump has been President, we have lost our position as leader of the free world and either China or a European country will assume that position.
Whether or not our President can or will pursue an agenda that appeals to more than 38 percent of the American people is still a mystery. From what we’ve seen so far, his priorities lie somewhere besides where the priorities of the majority of the American people lie.
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One Liner Wednesday
A line from my upcoming novel:
Miles planned to have some very hot fun with Abby, then end their relationship in a way she’d never forget.
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The Children of Birch Branch
“Come look,” Maxine called to her cousins. “Look what I’ve found.”
Maxine and five of her cousins were at their homeplace on Birch Branch. They had been given a day by the attorney to come get whatever belonged to their family. Maxine was cleaning out the shed and found these ancient toys.
Kevin said, “I feel like we’re looking at our parents’ lives. I guess in some ways we are looking at their childhood here.”
The cousins finished up with a last look at the house and the property on Birch Branch. They knew they would never be back again.
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The Streetcar and the Thief
Every day, when Madison was on the streetcar going to work, she saw the same man. He was always standing on the corner of High Street and 9th Avenue. He was tall and blonde. Their eyes would meet when the streetcar paused there.
Madison was intrigued by his eyes. They looked to be a very light blue. He had on a suit and carried a briefcase. She assumed he was going to work too.
One day, when Madison’s streetcar got to the corner, the man ran over and jumped on. As the streetcar lurched ahead, he grabbed on to the same pole as Madison.
Madison said, “Going to work?” She smiled.
“Yes,” he said. “I had to finally meet you first.”
They chatted and laughed until the next stop, when Madison had to get off. They promised to meet again on the streetcar.
As Madison walked to her office, she realized her handbag was missing.
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The Fiery Panther
“We have to establish a fire break to keep this fire from jumping the highway,” Roger said to Jeff, who was fighting the fire along with him.
There were 30 firefighters trying to hold back just this section of the fire near U.S. 41 in South Florida, but they were having little luck. It was hot and dry, with winds at 30 mph.
The Chief radioed in and told the men two firefighters were trapped in their section. They were asked to try to get to them. Roger and Jeff looked at each other, then at the roaring flames in front of them. They knew there was no way to get to the men. To try would be suicide. They would have to hope their fire blankets would save them.
As some of the men kept piling up dirt near the highway and others were using the hose, two men came running out of the flames, covered by their fire blankets. Everyone cheered! In the arms of one of the men, under the blanket, was a small, black creature. A tiny Florida panther! Separated from its mother and saved by the firefighters even while they were saving their own lives.
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#SoCS – 05/27/2017
All that seems to be on my mind these days, and just about all I’m doing, is working on my novel. I’ve been reading about writing a novel as much as I’ve been writing. I’m not a novice writer, but I am certainly a novice novel writer so I’ve been trying to learn as much about novel writing as I can learn.
In order to give depth to the novel and the characters, you have to use the characters’ senses to paint the pictures in the book that you want your readers to see. One surprisingly sense that I, in writing my novel, have found particularly effective, is the sense of smell.
If your character takes a walk in the woods, for example, and the wildflowers smell sweet and lovely, that sets a scene in the reader’s mind of a beautiful day in the life of the character. But if those same wildflowers smell cloying and too sweet, the scene is interpreted by your readers as something completely different.
In novel writing, smell can be a very powerful sense for the writer to use for the purpose of illustrating a scene.
The example I’ve just given is a very subtle example that a writer can use to set the meaning of a scene in a reader’s mind. Of course, there are examples of smell that are far more obvious. The smell of asphalt on a highway. The smell of different types of food. You get the picture. If you are a professional writer or have aspirations to be, develop a file of all the different types of smells that you find that you can use in your writing and that information will serve you well.
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One-Liner Wednesday
This is a line from my upcoming novel:
“As the nut-colored trees bent together as if they were whispering, Abby wondered what Miles could possibly want with her at this point in their lives.”
The Write Scribe 