Story Snip from Larksong: Chapter 31, IWSG Day, and Social Links

ello!

It's Insecure Writer's Support Group Day!

Purpose: To share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds!

Posting: The first Wednesday of every month is officially Insecure Writer’s Support Group day. Post your thoughts on your own blog. Talk about your doubts and the fears you have conquered. Discuss your struggles and triumphs. Offer a word of encouragement for others who are struggling. Visit others in the group and connect with your fellow writer - aim for a dozen new people each time - and return comments. This group is all about connecting!
Be sure to link to this page and display the badge in your post. And please be sure your avatar links back to your blog! Our Twitter handle is @TheIWSG and hashtag is #IWSG.   
 

 Let’s rock the neurotic writing world!
Our Twitter handle is @TheIWSG and hashtag is #IWSG.

The awesome co-hosts for the April 3 posting of the IWSG are Janet Alcorn, T. Powell Coltrin, Natalie Aguirre, and Pat Garcia!

Every month, we announce a question that members can answer in their IWSG post. These questions may prompt you to share advice, insight, a personal experience or story. Include your answer to the question in your IWSG post or let it inspire your post if you are struggling with something to say. 

Remember, the question is optional
 

April 3 question - How long have you been blogging? (Or on Facebook/Twitter/Instagram?) What do you like about it and how has it changed?

I've been blogging since August 2007!

Funny, I just mentioned my blogging history in my previous post:

"Post #1466 on this blog!

It'll soon be time for another retrospective, if I can get one together.

I celebrated at 500 posts and 900 posts, and my theme for the Blogging from A to Z April challenge in 2017 was reaching 1000 posts!

Nearly 500 posts since then; I wonder how long it would take to collate them all by theme..."

 

I used to blog whenever I had something to say related to reading or writing or travel (and I've been blogging on my knitting blog since February 2009!), but some years ago I decided to blog on a schedule, which was at first a few times a week, then settled at once a week on Wednesdays (so I don't miss an IWSG Day post!).

 

I love having the blog for the community, for the blogging and writing events, and for having a place to collate all sorts of book and story-related thoughts, and photos from travels!

 

I've been on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Tumblr, and even YouTube, for nearly as long, but not half as consistently!

And now I'm also on Bluesky and Mastodon!

And now, another story snip!

Larksong is set in Montreal, July 1914.

• In chapter 1, Alice arrived at the family cottage to take care of her grandmother's aviary, following her grandmother's funeral, only to find that her parents had already leased the cottage to another family for the summer. The only way she could have one more summer in her favourite place was to surreptitiously take on the role of governess to the two young girls...
• In chapter 2, we met George, laid up at the hospital with a broken leg. Instead of joining his friends on a Grand Tour of Europe, he's being sent off to recuperate at a rented cottage in the country...
• In chapters 3 and 4, we returned to Alice's point of view, and saw her bonding with George's younger sisters. Then she got a surprise -- George was arriving at the cottage that very day! We saw a hint that Alice finds George attractive and interesting -- but also unbearably rude.
• In chapters 5 to 10, they had their first argument, then argued once more, but the stakes were higher: war is on the horizon. Then George attempted a rapprochement. Alice had some feelings stirring... During their first evening together, they began to suss each other out over a card game, and they reached a détente of sorts before going their separate ways for the night.
• In chapters 11 and 12, we started the next morning in George's point of view, with his dawning realization of his attraction to Alice. Yet this realization did not lead to greater friendliness.
• In chapter 13 (which I mistakenly also labelled as 12!), a new complication arose, in the form of the arrival of Albert, George's younger, and rather rude, brother. Meanwhile, George was busy with inappropriate (as he thinks) thoughts of Alice. (I skipped a scene where Alice takes the girls down to the lake and needs to pretend with a neighbour, Mrs Chase, that she is not a governess, but simply helping out with the girls. Then, while Alice is distracted, trying to spin her web of half-truths and discussing the threat of war on the horizon, Lucy gets up on a rickety boat tied up at the dock and fell off into the water.)
• In chapter 14, on returning from the lake, Alice and the girls overheard an argument that ended with this outburst from George to his brother Albert: "I don't need your tales of self-pity. The question is, what are you going to do about it, now that you've f***ed it all up?"
• In chapters 15 to 19, we witnessed the fallout from the argument, then shared a moment between Alice and George in the garden. Alice left George and resumed her governess role, and decided not to join the brothers that evening in the parlour. Then, early the next morning, Alice went out, only to find George rowing on the lake, and joined him.
• In chapter 20, following their early morning idyll, we finally had a true rapprochement. Alice, making up her mind in an instant, called out to George's sisters: "We're going on an expedition with your brother." (I skipped the rest of chapter 20, in which we take a trip through the woods with Alice, George, and his sisters. There are friendly chats, the girls sign their brother's cast, and George begins work on a sketch of Alice. When they return home, the girls help Alice feed the birds in the aviary and clean it in preparation for the arrival of Mr Palmer, a prospective buyer visiting from Boston. Mr Palmer says he will make his decision on purchasing the aviary and return the next day. Throughout the day, there are hints of the gathering storms of war.)
• In chapters 21 and 22, as Alice saw Mr Palmer off at the gate, a new complication emerged, in the arrival of Albert's friends from university. Alice and George came close to admitting their attraction, but then George unwittingly insulted the birds and the aviary and Alice's affection for her grandmother's pets.
• In chapter 23, following omitted scenes (a bit of George's reflections on Alice, and his feelings for her (as well as memories of unfavourable reactions from his parents about his hobby of sketching and painting); at the end, he decides that it might be a lark to try to lure Pixie away from his brother. He proceeds to do just that before dinner as she plays up her role of nurse and guides George through some exercises in the front parlour. This leads to an arm wrestling match between all the boys, involving both wagers for a few coins--and kisses for the winner from Pixie. That evening, they all gather in the front parlour, and agree to attend the ball and bonfire at the Hatley Manor hotel the next night. George catches Albert and Pixie canoodling in the kitchen, but decides he's in no position to say anything because he was ready to embrace Alice the governess), the next day, the crowd slept in, all except Alice, who took her charges into the village to watch a magic lantern show. On their return, George decided to show them his secret--the full extent of his artistry. It was revealed that Eleanor is also a budding artist, and the siblings agreed to continue to develop their talent and to hide it from their disapproving parents.
• In chapters 24 and 25, the girls returned to the house, and Alice and George, alone in the enclosed garden, sat side by side on the bench... They kissed, and Alice revealed her true identity to George. They talked, perhaps all too briefly, about what they would do with their newfound feelings.
• In chapter 26, George watches her with Mr Palmer (who's returned to inspect the aviary and agree on its purchase) and thinks about how he's actually looking forward to the big party at the fancy hotel that night, now that he'll have Alice on his arm. I've skipped this bit, and a bit where they discuss Alice's attachment to the cottage and the birds, as well as the fact that Alice isn't really a governess and what they might have to tell his family, if anything. Also a part where, seated side-by-side and hand-in-hand on the porch, they talk of George's hopes and plans for his future career, in despite of his father. Then she asked him if he meant to return to England, but Albert interrupted.
• In chapter 27 and 28, in the evening, they all made their way to the banquet and dance at Hatley Manor. Alice juggled her governess duties with advances from Albert--and affairs of the heart (I've left out a bit of conversation with other partygoers from the village and the interlude when Elsie arrives to pick up the girls)
• In chapters 29 and 30, Alice and George returned to the house together (I've left out the bit of their conversation about Albert and his friends, and their journey to the house, with George in his chair--but his crutches have been lost), and they grew closer than ever before, until Albert interrupted them! I've omitted the argument between George and his brother, Albert's unwanted advances on Alice, and an interlude in which George and Alice, in his bedroom, take their relationship further than they have before, until George says the wrong thing and Alice storms upstairs to bed. The next morning...

She was woken out of a dreamless sleep by Lucy's attempts to talk softly.

Eleanor admonished her sister. "If you can't whisper, at the least keep your voice down."

"I am!"

Alice smiled to herself. Then, so as not to hurt Lucy's feelings, she made a show of turning under the covers, yawning and stretching. She stifled a groan at the time on her bedside clock; only five, and she'd crawled into bed long past midnight.

"I told you you'd wake her," Eleanor said.

"It's all right, girls, I've been awake for a little while," she lied.

"Then you heard the parrot, too?" Lucy asked, sitting up in bed.

Eleanor yanked the blankets over her own head. "Not this again, Luce," came her muffled voice.

"But I heard it! It woke me up, Miss Alice."

"Sometimes he gets rowdy." She swung her legs off the bed and pinched the sleep out of her eyes. "Elsie must have been up and about early and brought him a bit of seed."

"But I heard him outside!" Lucy insisted, over a groan from Eleanor. "Outside our window!"

"That's not possible, dear."

"That's what I told her," Eleanor crowed, throwing the blanket off her face.

"But I heard him!" Lucy's lower lip wobbled.

"All right, Lucy. Let's get dressed and go down to breakfast. We'll look in on the aviary first."

Lucy was instantly distracted. "May I feed the budgie from my hand again?"

"Yes, you may. Come wash your face."

Washed and dressed, and with beds--if not neatly--made, the girls tripped downstairs. Alice dressed hurriedly and made her own bed, dithering over the shirt she'd inadvertently taken from George. Should she bring it down or ignore its very existence?

"Miss Alice! Miss Alice!" Lucy's shrieks rose up the staircase, followed by the tramping of an elephant herd in the form of two girls in boots who scampered up the stairs and into the room.

"Goodness, girls, you'll wake the town, never mind the household. What on earth is the matter?"

"The birds have gone!"

"Whatever do you mean by that?"

"The doors are open, the aviary's empty. The birds have gone!"

Are you participating in the April Blogging from A to Z Challenge?

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