New Story Snip! ROW80 and Nature Photos

atching up!

Slowly, but surely. I'm still working my way through A to Z Challenge posters and commenters, but I did catch up on all the blogs I was due to visit as part of my minion duties!

Here are a few of the new bloggers I met:

A Taste of Travel

Reflections En Route

Joyful Antidotes

Anseo A Mhuinteoir

My Sweet Peanut

Trigger's Horse

Moon, Light and Shadow

Word Stories

I've also moved a little further on one of my ROW80 goals, which is to participate in the May exercise on the writers' forum.

Here's a brief description of the exercise:

"The Power of Place.

How does a writer go from a generic "dark and stormy night" to creating a world that is so real, so tangible and vibrant that readers and characters alike live in it?

This power of place goes beyond simple world-building such as sketching maps of towns or creating blueprints of buildings. It goes beyond a mention of the weather, or the mountains, or the sunset reflected in a lover's eyes. Those are all good, but it gets better.

Setting is more than just a backdrop for plot and character. It’s another tool in the writer's toolbox that works hard at multitasking."

For more of the description, as well as the guidelines, come visit us on the Forum!

Today I managed to type up the scene I'll be submitting for the exercise, a brief snip from Larksong, my NaNo story from last year.

This story takes place the summer before World War I and features two characters who think they know what hardship is. By the end of the summer they've learned that not only are they stronger than they believed, but just how much they'll need that strength in the months to come. And, of course, it's a romance!

I've shared a brief snip featuring Larksong's Alice and George before, and now here's the scene from the May exercise (the bird reference is to one of the pets in her Nanny's menagerie):

Alice woke in the half light of morning needing the chamber pot. She felt for it under the bed, eyes half lidded, still snatching at a dream of Nanny B that had left behind a pervading sweetness, though already the details were beyond recall. 

Dawn had come and gone outside, though it was early yet. Early morning chill fogged the edges of her window. Far out on the lake an intrepid soul was fishing off the Mary Louise. George. 

There was no mistaking that stubborn outline, quite apart from the leg in its cast, propped on the gunwale at an angle that jarred the idyll of the misty morning lake. 

It was the work of a moment to shove the pot aside, exchange night rail for frock and slippers, and -- somehow remembering her woollen shawl at least -- tread softly down the stairs. 

Turning the key in noiseless increments, she slipped through a crack of doorway and, once out of doors, flew like Oscar the budgie down the lawn and through the tree belt.

Once on the dock she trod softly, lest George catch her at unawares and discover how eager she'd been to join him. She halted at the end, slippers soaked in dew from her mad dash, and watched.

It would not do to disturb the clear unrippled surface of the lake, nor the surrounding firs that gazed solemnly at their reflections. The sun had not yet broken through the morning haze. All was glassy and rough-edged, like a creature startled in a den it had not meant to be found in. A lone loon called to the east. 

George floated in the midst of the scene, ram rod straight, though no one was about to take notice of his posture.

Yet as his boat spun a lazy circle above an unseen current, she glimpsed his set jaw and the thin line of his mouth; he was hurting, and clenching his teeth against it. 

As the boat completed its turn, he saw her, and was apparently as reluctant as she'd been to disturb the raw morning, for he gave no sign or greeting.

Or was it that he did not want company, least of all hers?

She should have kept the peaceful sight of him from her window to herself, and not come down to uncover or disturb his tryst with pain.

Meanwhile, more photos!

lakeside morning

a pot of chocolate mousse! (couldn't fix the sidewaysness)

lakeside morning panorama

this niche reminds me of an Ent house

another United Nations peacock!

advancing on a statue...

one stone, the other feathers; two statues -- or so it seems...

another lakeside morning

amazing rainbow after a recent rain shower

if I could have run out and jumped on that pot, would there have been a pot of gold on it?

tried to get a shot of the full arc; hope you can see it!

Which stories are you working on?

Do you have a snip or favourite line to share?