777 Writing Challenge

Many thanks go to the ever amazing Skye for tagging me in this challenge. It is so much fun.  I have done it once before. My friend Leah tagged me once on Facebook. I will admit, that I cheated. Page seven of my Assassin story was utterly dull and I was embarrassed to use it so I just picked a random page and seven random lines.

Today however, I shall abide by the rules.

Now, the rules of the tag are to go to page seven of your story, find the seventh line, and post seven sentences, then tag seven people.

I wasn't sure which story to use, but life made the choice easy as I could only find one story tablet in the pit that has become my bedroom.

So, here are the sevens from Running Crazy.

When would you leave?" Reeve turned the key and smiled when the engine turned over and started immediately.
"Well," Donny said, "We want to leave Monday morning. We figured to come back Sunday."
"I'd have to take time off work," Reeve pointed out.
"I thought you said you had a lot of vacation time saved up."
Reeve grinned to himself, "Yeah, I do." "


Hmmm. Not terribly fascinating I'm afraid.

Here, lets try this. This is a short story I wrote like five years ago. It just might tickle your fancy.

Gryffin smiled at her in surprise, then adjusted the piece. “Like that?”

Russet nodded. She glanced around. She had forgotten the real reason she was here. Although at the present moment, she could see no way but to kill him outright. She didn’t want to do that.


Alright! Now for seven lucky souls.. You know what? Hang the rules. Anyone who wants to post their sevens is more than welcome to. Post away!

Throwback Thursday

Hehe, is it already time for one of these again? Oh dear.

These ramblings come from 2013...so long ago. Back when I was seventeen. I was a high school graduate at this point, so I'm hoping whatever scribblings I wrote are halfway decent. It might look bad otherwise.

Beautiful Things:
"Where's the pills?" He sounded almost in tears.
"On the counter." She groaned.
There was a slight pause. "Where at?"
"On the counter." She grouched, pulling a pillow up over her face.
"No, it's not!"
"By the toaster."
Ethan swore viciously and Ashley scowled. She tossed the pillow aside and got up. She walked in and snatched the pill bottle off the counter and rattled it in his face. "On the counter. By the toaster. Like I told you."
He snatched it from her. "Give a guy a chance to wake up in the morning."
Ashley squinted at the clock on the oven range. "It's not morning anymore. It's afternoon."

I'm in love with the idea of this story, but I found it really hard to write. I was constantly trying to make it realistic without being too graphic. Which is a hard thing to do when your main character is an alcoholic who is dating a drug addict, and oh yeah, she is trying to have an abortion. However, it was ridiculously fun to write the two of them bickering back and forth and someday this thing will be finished. Once I get all the research done. Mom told me my pregnancy knowledge was seriously lacking


Western:
The red roan didn't hesitate as Matt Bryant urged him into the icy water. Halfway across the river he turned in the saddle to look back. He could see no sign of pursuit, but knew that meant nothing in these rolling hills. These were no greenhorns who were chasing him. They were men. Men with a grudge and an empty rope. He was hoping the rope would stay empty.

It never even earned a name. Poor thing. I was mostly writing this for a friend. He loved it, but I never finished it after about twenty pages and he forgot to hound me, so it fell into memory. I remember having a really cool idea for it, but I didn't write it down. I've read hundreds of westerns but they are so hard for me to write. I can never think of anything original. You know, something besides poor girls with ranches, and someone trying to steal it, cattle thieves and lost gold mines and old indian legends.
Raising Rebels:
The razor made a scraping sound as Andrew slid it along his jaw. He squinted into the mirror, twisting his mouth. He glanced at me suddenly. "Are you going to watch my every move?"
"To a point." I shrugged. "I'm just waiting till you're done so I can clean up and go to bed."

Love the idea. Love the character. Nearly impossible to write. How do I cover a three to four year time span in one book in first person?? Andrew is a complete hunk. Just saying. I had to fit a sailor into a story somewhere, and he got the lucky spot. Rashahn (my point of view character) is a pill to write most of the time. She's always misbehaving, but not really in a fun way. She's a rather disagreeable soul

Purpose:
Tyne stared. It was the ugliest girl she had ever seen. She had broad shoulders, coarse hair, and no feminine shape. She even had a shadow of hair on her upper lip.
A woman in a red dress walked up. "Tyne, this is mister Wyatt Pierce."

Quite possibly my favorite snippet ever. Tyne has never seen a male before. Ever.

Assassins:
Reyin narrowed his eyes and looked around the sparse trees that grew on the mountainside. Not much to hide behind. But somewhere, Reyin knew he was hiding. He cast a glance over his shoulder, his breath fogging. It was cold this high up, though down on the flats summer hadn't quite given up the fight. He held still, listening.

I love Reyin. People tell me that name sounds like a girls. I disagree, but I did mention that in the story. He does not like to be teased like a girl. At all. This story is really fun because I get to swap between two point of view characters and Reyin can be such a total creeper and still manage to come across as a teddy bear. It's brilliant. The mood of the story likes to bounce between rolling on the floor laughing, to so intense its painful.

Out of Darkness:
“Who's sleeping in my room?” He asked warily.
Sophie wrinkled her nose. “Tommy.”
“Who the heck is Tommy?'
A hand tapped his shoulder. Cannon rolled his eyes and turned around. He had to look up to meet the guy’s gaze. He was incredibly tall, but skinny as a rat, with papery skin. He looked about fifty, but he was obviously burnt up. He could be twenty. Gage stood behind him. It was people like this that his dad and Trenton sold to. Hopeless junkies who would give anything for a fix.
“I'm Tommy.” He rasped.
Cannon flinched and backed away. Apparently, Tommy couldn't afford a room or a bath. “That's great.” He choked. Fumbling in his pocket, he handed him a stick of gum.
Tommy frowned. “What’s that for?”
“The good of mankind.” Cannon said dryly.
Tommy glared and swore at him. Cannon shrugged and put the gum away. Gage and Tommy stalked off to the living room.
“You shouldn't have done that.” Sophie said quietly.
“Mom, he's an environmental hazard.”

This one might tie the Purpose snippet. I love Cannon like I've never loved a character before, and his sarcasm is unrivaled in my not so humble opinion.

Thank you for reading and putting up with my tardiness! By my calculations there will probably only be another two, possibly three Throwback Thursday posts, as we are nearing the present and I'm running out of  antique writings.

The Story Continues

Moving on with our story, all seemed quite well, but if everything went smoothly, there's not much to tell. Like all good stories, conflict must arise.

So now I will tell of this fairy tale's demise.

Our princess was waiting to see if he'd ask, her to his bull sale, though his day was full packed.

Nothing and nothing, then the morning of the text came in ringing and her hopes soared above.

Boots and belt buckle, and pink button up shirt. She got her hair fixed and set out the door.

When she got there, the gentleman leaned on his pickup, a friend in tow, and a elderly woman the princess didn't know. The lady kept talking as the princess approached. She stopped quite suddenly and said with a grin "Are you wanting one of these boys?"

"Yes, I'm looking for him."

The princess pointed to her tall cowboy, who gave her a smile. The lady was ecstatic. It made the princess turn pink. Then the gentleman saved her and pulled her away. She hung around sipping Monster while he helped sort the bulls. She tried no to giggle watching boys run like....not fools.

When the work was all done she followed him in, loaded their plates, sat down and dug in. She teased him for snap chatting. Cause real men don't do it.

At some point during the meal her Gatoraid found its way down his neck.

He shivered and calmly said "Don't worry I'll get you back. There's ice and there's buckets. Just you wait and see. "

She shrugged and smiled. "If you can catch me."

The prince got called away again and she went in the kitchen to help. Everyone knew her as the young man's girlfriend. This was news to her, but not the bad sort at all. "You two should get married" was the sly whisper that circled and turned her face red.  He came back and got her later and they found a corner to sit down. While the sale was going he tossed sand her way, and tried to tip her chair over.

When the sale was over the gentlemen had to run. So the princess went home and retold all the fun.

Then something dark happened. It was like a spell had been cast. The texts started rolling in. Short and bitter and cold. The princess couldn't decipher the things she was being told.

She waited and begged for an answer to her questions, but then the phone went silent and her heart shriveled up.

Early the next morning, the text came at three.

"I got lost in a bottle. Please forgive me. "

The princess had harsh words. She told him "we're through." Then she curled up and cried ignoring the texts that came in a slough. She was sick the next morning and couldn't make church. His pleas came pouring in but she couldn't respond.

The princess' dad called him later and told him quite plainly that the princess didn't have time for such carrying on.

Then he begged to call her, and she said "well come on"

He called and they talked for an hour or two.

"I'm sorry this happened. I want to be with you."

The princess wasn't quite sure what to do. She wanted him too, but she wanted to do right. She knew they were different and didn't want to live a fight.

"Let's step back, and give this some time." They both agreed and that seemed to be fine.

But I'm getting farther ahead in the story than I planned. So I'll cut it off now with the story condemned.

Business Trips

Hello!

I actually have something to blog about!!

This last weekend I was hauled off with my coworkers to a conference for three days. While the trip had ups and downs in terms of fun, it was definitely interesting.

We left Sunday afternoon and arrived in the evening. Upon our arrival I was promptly ditched by everyone and left along with a room number and a card key. Now let me just say the hotel was huge. I'm used to staying in one story hotels where you cant possibly get lost.

This was my hotel.

It had seven stories. Seven. So instead of asking for help I just found the elevators (which are glass by the way- dizzying) and started clicking buttons in hopes of getting close to my room. Turns out I was on the fourth floor, and my room was to the left.

Then came the trouble of getting in. I don't stay in hotels. I've never used a card key. I had the idea of course, but after several attempts and still no entry I was kind of freaking out. I grabbed an innocent looking room service guy and begged him to show me. He looked at me funny and opened the door in like two seconds.

THE ROOM.



It was awesome. I got my own, because I'm the newbie and everyone else had their pals all lined up. But I got a king sized bed to myself. TWO flat screen TV's. A full sized couch. The bedroom was the size of my living room and the living room was almost as big. The shower had massage settings. Seven of them.

I do feel sorry for whoever does the laundry, cause my eyeliner did a number on the white towels. I think it was made partially with super glue. The stuff is nearly impossible to get off.

Did you know I'm really creeped out when I leave the room looking like a war zone and come back to find it spotless? House keeping is sneaky.

While my coworkers had a night of free drinks my cousin and her little boy came and got me and we went and got supper, which was tons of fun. We went to a place called Cheddars and I had shrimp, chicken, coleslaw, and mashed potatoes. I was chuck full. But it was worth it.

My two TV's did me zero amount of good. There was nothing on almost the entire time except for one hour I watched some crazy show called Street Genius that was pretty cool.

The days were willed with semi-boring classes and cramped legs, but the food. Oh my gosh the food. Stay at Embassy Suites just for the food. It is to die for. Caramel apple pie, pancakes they make to order, cheesecake, craziness.

On Monday night I went with everyone to a bar and grill a few blocks away. The food was really good but I promptly got sick and walked myself back to the hotel (which is terrifying in a town that size).

I talked to Jarod for awhile until he fell asleep (it was cute) and then I spent the rest of my night throwing up and having hot flashes (it was not cute).

Tuesday I felt awful and barely ate anything and I was never so glad to start a three hour car trip in my life.

I was so ready to be home. Home where I could sleep to the borderline pleasant sounds of my minions snoring instead of the whacky music from the bar next door. Home where I can throw in a DVD, and play my radio as loud as I want without fear of the people in the next room getting mad (my family has to live with my music. Hotel guests do not). Home where I don't have to worry about gaining 90 pounds in one meal. Home where I have a whole cabinet of medicine at my disposal and don't have to wander around looking for a Starbucks to find Alka-Seltzer.

Home is amazing.

Beautiful People of the Sibling Variety

It is time for Beautiful People hosted by Further Up and Further In! And I am going to participate this month!!

This months set of questions are for siblings. I kicked this around for quite some time. I have siblings in my stories, I really do. But most of them are in my old stories and I've grown out of touch with their personalities and back stories. I considered Will and Jessica, my pick pocketing orphans who get sent west on an orphan train. Or maybe Russett and .... I cannot remember her brother's name. Then I thought of Wyatt and Tyne until I remembered that they aren't even siblings.

So I am going to use Gwen and Taren from The Riders of Carstindad. That story and its characters are cemented in my brain and will be forever.

 

1. What is the first memory they have of each other?

Taren: I came into the room right after you were born. You were all pink and wrinkly and I was upset when Mother said you were a sister not a brother.

Gwen: Sorry to disappoint you.

Taren: I got over it eventually.

Gwen. *rolls eyes* My first memory that I know of is seeing you leaning on a store front outside of the castle and then coming over and asking me to tell you about the Riders. But when Duncan dug into my memories he showed me the memory of you coming to see me when I was born. You were wearing a dagger.

2. Describe their relationship in 3 words.

 

Taren: Tense

 

Gwen: Loyal

 

Taren: Protective

 

Gwen: Hmmm, I think you mean controlling.

 

Taren: Are you in my mind again? No. So don't try and say what I mean.

 

3. What kind of things do they like to do together?

 

Gwen: Well, swimming is fun.

 

Taren: Once I got you in the water.

 

Gwen: We also practice magic together, and sword fight.

 

 

4. What was their biggest fight?

Gwen and Taren: .........

 

Gwen: Well, there was the battle when I stole Prince Rodney's armor.

 

Taren: I didn't know that was you though.

 

Gwen: At first.

 

Taren: At first. Yes, I would say that one was pretty big. I used a pretty bad spell on her.

 

Gwen: You re-awakened all the pain I've ever felt in my life. Pretty bad is not an accurate description.

 

5. How far would they go to save each other?

 

Taren: I died for her.

 

Gwen: Don't ever do that again. I would die for him too though.

 

6. What are their pet peeves about each other?

 

Taren: She is always in trouble. And the way she makes doe eyes at Darren.

 

Gwen: Am not and do not! HE is always in trouble. And he's so secretive.

 

 

7. What are their favorite things about each other?

 

Taren: She has a big heart. Too big sometimes, but it's still my favorite thing about her.

 

Gwen: I like how smoothly he can handle any situation. He can play whatever role he needs to get through something.

 

8. What traits do they share? Mannerisms, clothing, quirks, looks, etc?

 

Gwen: We both have black hair and eyes

 

Taren: And we both have marks on our face.

 

Gwen: Mine is a scar. Thanks for that.

 

Taren: Accidental.

 

Gwen: No it wasn't.

 

Taren: Well, I didn't know it was you anyway.

 

Gwen: We are both very independent, we can both use magic.

 

Taren: Stubborn.

 

9. Who has the strongest personality?

 

Taren: Hmmmm....That's hard to say.

 

Gwen: I'm not sure. Taren can be rather quiet sometimes, but his personality is quite strong.

 

Taren: She's not always as certain of herself, but she's much louder than me.

 

Gwen: I think we tie.

 

10. How does their relationship change throughout your story?

 

Gwen: Well, we met and found out we are siblings.

Taren: That was a definite change.

Gwen: We go from liking each other, to hating each other, to being best friends.

Taren: Hate is a strong word.

Gwen: Do you have a better one?

Taren: Disagreeing.

Gwen: I would hate to see you hate.

Taren: Mmmhmmm.

Gwen: Shush and answer the question.

Taren: We learn to trust each other. We become pretty much un-separable, unless Darren is around.


Ta da! That was fun. I missed doing this last month.

Continuation of a Story

This may be totally ridiculous since I wrote it a month or so ago and it is outdated, but I think I'm going to post it anyway, and then I'm going to keep the story going I think. We will see on that. But anyway, here is this post.

We left off with the princess in our story telling her lovely readers her story of her first date. When that was through the comments came in a slough, and some readers wanted more.

Well, some days ticked by and the princess was accepted for a job. With the promise of money to come flowing in, she bought her own cell phone, and punched numbers in.
"Hey prince, I've got my own phone!"

The messages came in so fast she was glad she had gotten the unlimited text.

They talked about the skunk that was plaguing the farm, and her new job, and his school day. Then she said she had to go and he warned her of bedbugs. The next morning bright and early the text came from him
"Good morning, sunshine."
She giggled and smiled and sent a reply, sitting in the parking lot, waiting for her boss to come by.

Her family, they teased her. They called her all forms of sunny. Her mom texted her in the morning "good morning sunshine." The minions said "Yowzers" cause that was his word.


They'd text through her lunch break, debating if her grandma would feed him. They hoped for a clear day, so at the potluck they could dig in.
He promised to eat her food, then backed out when she said chocolate. But he offered to come over and eat the other leftovers- he didn't know it was asparagus.

He said goodnight every night, and they take turns in the morning.

They talked about music, and her putting off homework, and how cleaning was the pits. He's got a birthday coming, and she'd been trying to fish, but whenever she asked about things that he likes "I don't know" is the only answer she'd get.

Whenever he texts her, it vibrates in her pocket. "Stop tickling me!" She tells him, but he keeps on replying.

Sunday comes round, and there's no snow to delay, they get there and other birthday people get in the way. They get their food, and true to his word, he doesn't touch her pie. She gives him guff, but can't bring herself to cry.
She managed to snag the seat next to him, and she cautioned him on eating himself sick, and eating himself fat, and he caught on and teased her with that.

When he had to leave, she had to go bowling. She invited him, but he said he'd die laughing at her gutter balls. Of course that night she got a strike the first time. He made fun of her coming in second place. He texted her all the way home, and she scolded him, saying "Keep your eyes on the road."

So that's the next leg of the story I'll tell. There's not a lot to it, but that's just as well.