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.

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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.

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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 this copy is so outdated that the character name changes I made weren't recorded!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!

Hello from Callie!

Hi everybody,

My mom told me she did something bad and she wanted me to tell you all about it. She brought me home! She keeps saying it was bad but I can tell she doesn't mean it. Everyone is really happy to have me here, even if I am only visiting.

You can see what she means about it being bad here: http://careforcallie.blogspot.com/

She also told me to tell you she will still write here, but she has to have some time to help me with my blog also!

Love,
Callie

Amanda The Great Pony Rescuer!

So now that we're not getting public in anymore (site's last day was Monday, after a ridiculously busy and crazy and exhausting three days of turkey dinners), we go to work early (8:30!), and it's crazy. All summer, I have been sleeping in until 8:45 so it's hard for me to get my body into the swing of things, really.

Anyways, this morning, I dodged a really cute German Shepherd that was getting into some skunky roadkill only to nearly run into what I thought from a distance was a baby moose. Turns out it was a pony, just standing there into the middle of the road.

I pulled over my van, flicked on the four ways and, to the amazement of the car behind me, walked right up to the pony, put my hands on his halter and led him into the nearest driveway. He was standing between two across-the-road-neighbors - I have seen him in the pastures on either side of the road but most recently on the left hand side, so I got him up in there, and then let go of him to knock on the door. The woman was angry (it's not her pony, just her neighbor taking advantage of her) because she can't keep the pony in her poorly strung fence (under which he can easily crawl - he's a pony for god's sake!), and she can't keep him tied (we have a pony we can't keep tied but solve that problem with a neck rope). She told me the guy wants to sell him - for $600. She confided that he had paid only $300 for the pony but he had "bought a saddle and bought some hay and stuff" so he wanted to make the money up! HA! I nearly laughed myself sick once I got in the van.

When she came out, he took off - she said "he hates me" - the woman came to look at our horses for sale a few years ago and was amazed that we could walk right into standing stalls with our horses and be safe - they had a stallion at their place that I am pretty sure starved to death and died... so I took more time and ended up being half an hour late, and caught him for her again and helped her put him back in the fence. When I came by there tonight on the way home, he was still in the fence so hopefully he hasn't run any stupid Houdini tricks. He's a really cute pony but $600 is a little bit ridiculous in my opinion.

Dramarama!

So the last week or so has been all kinds of busy and crazy.

Between Thursday of last week and Monday, I worked three double shifts, which was insane. I don't think I saw dad for more than 40 minutes total between those days, either. Lots of romantic drama going on at work that I am (thankfully) not really involved in but (unfortunately) guilty by association for. I've also made the mistake of learning how to run the cash register and do up the night cash sheets so now I get to be used for hostessing which gives me 0 tips. Also, Saturday, I had my first customer complaint filed against me (thanks to another waitress who made me look like I was giving poor service when I was giving correct service!), and had a huge crying jag prior to that on Saturday which I couldn't explain then and can't really explain now. Random bursts of crying from about 10:30 until 1:30, then I was fine and worked another shift without so much as a sniffle. Just needed to get it out, I think, and possibly PMSing.

I got my 4H group all lined up - I have three kids between the ages of 6-8, which is far off from where I was planning my group, but I guess it'll all work out in the long run. They're a small group and that's just fine by me, hopefully next year the fun will spread. Mom volunteered at the last minute to lead the canine project and ended up with 12 kids! I think I scared most of the children off by telling them we would not be riding.

I have the rest of today off and then will be going crazy for the next four days, between prepping for Thanksgiving dinners and actually serving Thanksgiving dinners. Sarah is coming home for the weekend so I have to plan some time to visit her for sure. More and more, I want to go to Toronto with her, even if it's just to spend a little bit of time relaxing.

I rode Bronwyn yesterday for the first time in like three weeks. She wasn't very good but she hasn't forgotten EVERYTHING. I wanted to ride her again today but mum has gone MIA and I had to turn the horses out so no choice there. Dang mom.