Author Journey: October 14, 2022

 Welcome back! I hope you're settling in for a bit. I have quite a few things to share with you today, including a word prompt and another chapter of my short story. Let me get right to it!

Author Journey & Writer's Life: What's Going On?

Nothing...except I am mentally preparing for Nanowrimo which is happening next month. I still haven't solidified an idea for what I'll be writing, but I know I'm going to participate. 

I probably will keep working on Knock, Breathe, Shine. If it ends up being a novellette or novella, well, that'd be fine with me. 

I may try to rewrite The Crash of Waves using the most awful method I think I've ever heard of -- Stephen King's 'slash it til there's only three words left' method. I'm beginning to think that may be the only way to salvage that particular story. And I do want to salvage it. I like the characters and I like their backstories.

Outh'n Durr's tale still sits, languishing in my hard drive, waiting for a shower of blessing. I figure when it needs to be published, God will provide the funds I need. As they used to say a long time ago, "Times is tough all over."

I have been writing a few poems and songs here and there. That's been...interesting and mostly fun. But that's been about the extent of my writing for the last couple of weeks beyond posting here on the blog.

Knock, Breath, Shine

Chapter 7 - Things Known

When Mar’l pulled away from his rough handling of her, Merili drew back one hand a slapped him hard. She would’ve done it a second time but the surprised man had recovered and grabbed her wrist in a crushing grip. Shutting off the pain, she raised one foot and stomped down hard on one of his. Regrettably the tough hide of his boot softened the blow and he laughed in her face. His breath was foul. 

“You have no right to come into my home without permission and you have even less right to take such liberties with me. You can be certain I’ll be telling the council what you’ve done, Mar’l, and you and I both know what will happen to you then.” 

She filled her voice with as much conviction as she could. There was no way she could let on that she feared the opposite would be the truth. The council had only tolerated her for her work with healing remedies and her beautiful mosaic art. It was unlikely they’d come to her rescue. 

No, the only person who might’ve done so was at this moment peacefully sleeping in her bed — unless this scuffle had awakened him. Even still, she hoped he’d run so they wouldn’t find him. 

A dull thud shook her from her thoughts and shocked her into stillness as she felt her attacker go limp. A crack on the floor drew her attention, as well as the attention of the other two men who’d invaded her home. Another thud sent a second invader to the floor. And before the third could take two steps, he was down as well. A whirring drew her gaze to the floor where three of her special marbs rolled around. They’d each found grooves in the wood planking, following them until they bumped into a wall or piece of furniture. 

“You should tie them with rope,” Eerk spoke weakly from the doorway, “if you have some. If not, please use some of the rags from my coverings. The fabric isn’t that old. I just made it look old and tattered.” 

Merili gaped. She knew her jaw hung open but she couldn’t seem to contain her surprise. Her injured visitor had quickly squashed the threat in her home and stood as impassive as a kearu stump in the worst storm. Coming to her senses, she snapped her jaws together audibly, wincing at the pain, and turned toward her workroom to find the rope. 

When she returned, he’d moved from the doorway and settled first by Mar’l, who was the only invader she knew well. He’d grown up with her, tried to court her, but she’d known he was a bully from early dawnings. The look on Eerk’s face almost scared her. Before she could put a name to it, the expression had cleared. 

“This one,” he gestured sharply to Mar’l, “should be set against a stake and left as carrion for the whe’evet.” He may have disguised the emotion on his face, but not in his voice. Eerk was furious. Had he seen what Mar’l did? Merili could feel the heat rising into her face once again, mortified at the thought. 

Just Keep Writing: Friday Fascicles

If this is your first time participating in such a writing exercise, you're in for a treat.

Rules:

1. You can use any/all of the words and/or the photo in the prompt below to create a unique written work. Fiction or nonfiction, poetry or prose, even lyrics are acceptable.  
2. Please keep the material you write clean (ie. nothing R-rated or worse) if you wish to share the link to your work here, as well as if you link back to my site. I strive to keep my site free of such things. My readers know and expect this. I respect your right to write whatever you feel you need to write. And you're free to use my prompts. But if your material is graphic, I'd rather not view it, and most of my readers will not wish to. 
3. Have fun! This type of exercise is perfect for growing in the writing craft, or for helping through a rough patch in your current WIP. If you're looking to push your author limits and you normally write in nonfiction prose, try a whimsical collection of lyrics. If you normally write poems about real life events, try your hand at a fanfic. Give yourself some room to explore.

Don't forget to leave a link to your creation (unless you're writing graphic material) so my readers and I can check out your work. I'd appreciate a link back to this post to help me reach more readers, but it's not required. 

Photo by rikka ameboshi

This photo completes my week of photo prompts by Rikka Ameboshi. You can check out her gallery by clicking here. She's got some pretty amazing photos up at Pexels.com.

Thanks so much for stopping by today! I'd love to hear what y'all think of my short story so far. 

I'm excited that I've gotten five consecutive days of blogging done. I can't say every Monday will always afford me the time I need to prep a whole week of posts, but I'm going to keep working at it. 

Thanks for your continued support and encouragment. Happy reading and writing and I'll see you next week!

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