Writing Prompt #1

Write a "silent scene" in your fiction. Create a powerful scene between two characters without using any dialogue.

Thanks to Writing.com.

----------

The silence between the two of them was palatable. James averted his eyes. It seemed too personal, almost too intimate - which was laughable, considering what they had shared so recently - for him to watch her cry like this. Her shoulders shook silently, her head down, her hands clasped in her lap as though she was offering some sort of silent prayer for relief.

James turned his head. It was not enough to avert his eyes. Uncomfortably, he wanted to leave. No, he wanted to rise, move to her side, comfort her, but he knew she would never allow it. It surprised him that she allowed herself this moment of vulnerability in front of him. She was determined to be in control at all times and this display was most definitely a lack of control.

When she looked up, her eyes were red, still pregnant with tears waiting to be shed. He wanted to brush the tracks off her cheeks. Something about her gaze kept the physical distance between them. Something had changed, in the brief moments since she'd put her head down to let out bits of her soul, and James couldn't put a finger on it. He pinched the bridge of his nose and watched her for a moment.

As though she'd had a complete change of heart, her shoulders straightened. Her chin drew up defiantly as he had seen it do hundreds of times before. Her eyes cleared quickly. A small sniffle was her only giveaway. With hardly a glance at James, she rose to her feet - elegance, beauty, poise and control, and swept from the room, leaving him alone as he had ever been.

----------

Okay - not good, but I'm getting into the swing. Next time will be better, I promise!

I spent about an hour back on No One Else last night, editing. I cut out around 400 words. To get rid of my targeted 30,000 words, I am going to have to do 75 hours worth! I actually think if I can get it into the 75,000-85,000 range, I should be safe, though. I'm so proud of myself for finally being able to go back to the book... this copy is so outdated that the character name changes I made weren't recorded! So it was still Contellio instead of Costa and Santino instead of Moretti. I looked after that right away... I am trying not to let myself remember how much work I had ahead on it before my jump drive died. If I do, it just gets unbearable.

Michelle tells me there is a Harlequin "factory" in TO and I want to visit it when I go. She said she wasn't working much so hopefully she will hang with us a little bit. :)

Scream

Today was a generally quiet day... we went to a family potluck and saw some cousins we haven't seen in quite a long time... it was nice - though those things generally are only worth about an hour of conversation because you run out of "appropriate" things to talk to family about. Do I really want to discuss the sec scenes in my novel? Probably not.

That's something I have been thinking about lately... my first book... I am really feeling an inclination to go back and work up the editing that I have so desperately been putting off. I am hoping to do so in Toronto in the new Year when I am visiting S and M and W...

Also, mom bought me a cell phone for Christmas, which is nice because I have been meaning to get one all summer but never had the money up ahead. It's an LG Rumour, so... texty texty!

And so it is... just like you said it would be...

I am terribly depressed right now. I've just come in from the barn where I sat for probably twenty minutes crying my eyes out. I don't know what's wrong with me.

It's unnerving. I am considering asking mom and dad to return all of my Christmas presents and buy me time with a psychologist instead.

I'm also considering forgoing purchasing ANY presents for ANYONE because I don't feel like any of my family except my dad deserves anything, and spending it instead on getting horses' feet trimmed, like I have been trying to do for months. Instead, my money gets taken from me for other things and the important stuff doesn't get done.

I feel so helpless and angry and sad all at one time, and I hate it.

I've never been this depressed at Christmas time before in my entire life.

Trying to take ahold of my life again...

I have been discovering and deciding a lot of things about myself in the past week.

One thing is that I have NOTHING financially. I have to fight against my mother tooth and nail to have anything, but I have determined that I WILL start looking after myself. One thing that I have done is open a Money Master account and joined the "Bank The Rest" program with my online banking. The Money Master requires a $5 fee for you to withdraw money (which should be a good enough deterrant), I can deposit money from my regular chequing account into it for free, though. The Bank The Rest program rounds every debit card purchase I make up to the nearest dollar and deposits the "rest" into my MM account. This isn't going to get me terribly far anytime soon, but it should start to accumulate SOMETHING. I am just sick of not having ANYTHING. I've also been putting away about $20 everyday from my tips. That money is going with me to Toronto after Christmas, as spending money. Mom won't be happy that I'm squirreling things away, but it is time that I have something for MYSELF. I want to go back to school, have a career, someday buy a house, and I am 23, so if I don't get started on that stuff now, I never will.

Another thing I discovered is that I don't trust people easily. I have increasingly been having problems with ... well, unrelenting horniness, but I can't imagine myself ever being comfortable enough with someone to be intimate. Something I definitely need to work on.

I had already discovered that I overthink and analyze things to the point of self sabotaging.

Another couple of things I have realized are that none of the women in this house are mentally stable (myself included) and that I want to make a career out of horses. I am not happy with my station in life currently.

I'll take to improving those things promptly!