Writer's Exercises, ROW80, and Deadly Contact by Lara Lacombe

uick post today as I'm hoping to start catching up on comments. Thanks to everyone who's come by lately!

The current round of A Round of Words in 80 Days is nearly over. I've done steady work on my typing; over 5000 words of Larksong already typed up. I can see where a lot of editing will be required, though (sigh).

Hoping to use a scene from that story during the second part of the September writer's exercise on the Forum. Here's what we did for part one:
"We’re going to use some figurative language.
First select the subject.
1. A celestial object: sun, moon, stars, comet, rocket, etc.
2. A geographical feature: mountains, meadows, canyons, dunes, desert, etc.
3. A body of water: ocean, lake, river, waterfall, puddle, etc.
4. Growing things: trees, forest, garden, weeds, cactus, etc.
5. An animal: Oh boy. Pick one
6. A gem: Again, pick one.
Now comes the fun part. Begin by brainstorming. What does your chosen word remind you of? Let’s say you picked the sea. Is it like a cauldron, a playful child, a wicked woman, a temptress, a mirror, and so on. Think about movement and mood. Does it dash, crash, rumble, or hypnotize, soothe, whisper?"

Here are the three sentences I came up with:

The squeak of a small child at night, like a kitten with a full belly who mews for yet one drop more.

She was all hard like the lines of a crystal, but whenever I came to her, each facet softened and blurred and I saw her rainbows.

Sleep came over him as I watched, wavering, as moonlight does over the still surface of sea waters cradled in an Aegean cove.

As you can see, similes and metaphors are difficult to use! Original ones in published works always catch my eye; it's such a wonderful way to be inventive as a writer.

Speaking of the forum, I just read a great book by a fellow Forumite: Deadly Contact by Lara Lacombe.

"It's a race against time—and a fatal outbreak—in this thriller of a debut
In one passionate night Special Agent James Reynolds and scientist Kelly Jarvis went from friends to lovers. Then Kelly walked away with only an apology. Now James is charged with solving a bioterrorist attack—and Dr. Jarvis works at the suspected lab.
Is Kelly an accomplice or a victim? Just what are her secrets that drove her from James's bed? Soon one thing becomes clear: The ghosts of her past have nothing on the terrorists targeting her and Washington, D.C. Another threat bathes the city in red alert, and now there are lives at stake, in addition to hearts..."

Fast-paced and smooth, this story had me eagerly moving from one chapter to the next. I loved the way the characters started as friends and the slow unravelling of their deeper emotions for each other. And it's always exciting when a story has the reader go "I never expected that!"
Highly recommended!

Which books have kept you in suspense lately?