Six Sentence Sunday - 2/27/11

Still from Playing For Keeps....

Unspoken words of love choked him. But she wasn't ready to hear it. Samantha's issues were deeper than reporter and athlete. He turned her palms up and ran his forefinger along the lines wishing he could read them and know what the future held. Ryan waited patiently, watching her mind at work, going through each angle, then discarding it, and moving on to the next. Her cell's ring-tone filled the air ending what little hope he had of her trusting him with the dark secret she hid from the world.

Achieving life is not the equivalent of avoiding death. Ayn Rand

The above quotes says it all doesn't?
I can't tell you how important Ayn Rand has been to me. I still remember reading Anthem when I was 13 and what an impact it had on me - as well as her other writings. I keep meaning to go back and re-read them but there are so many books that I haven't read....

Anyway - here are some more awesome quotes from her....

A creative man is motivated by the desire to achieve, not by the desire to beat others.
Ayn Rand

Civilization is the progress toward a society of privacy. The savage's whole existence is public, ruled by the laws of his tribe. Civilization is the process of setting man free from men.
Ayn Rand

I swear, by my life and my love of it, that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine.
Ayn Rand

The question isn't who is going to let me; it's who is going to stop me.
Ayn Rand

To say "I love you" one must first be able to say the "I."
Ayn Rand

Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart. ~William Wordsworth

Writer’s Digest always has good information but my favorite from the most recent issue comes from an interview with Emma Donoghue (author of Room) – the interview was written by Jessica Strawser.

Donoghue was asked if she outlines – she said she did in great detail and that she ‘writes down what revelations the reader is getting at each point, so I can see if whether I’m giving away a lot in Chapter 1, and then no new information until Chapter 5. What you’re trying to do is keep up the reader’s energy at every point. You’re looking for spots where things would sag or get lost….’

_______________

In WD they always have a column of cool stuff for writers – this month they showed posters created using the entire text of a novel – see the sample above of Little Women. You can see more at http://www.postertext.com

Six Sentence Sunday - 2/20/11

It’s back to fun and games with Samantha and Ryan – they are in the shower – they are washing each other and she's just smacked him on the butt to turn around stating "I don’t have all day." Ryan turns and says…

“That didn’t seem to be the case when you were washing my ass.”
“That’s because it’s so big. They should’ve made you a wide receiver instead of a tight-end.”
“Hey, this ass was voted the cutest butt in the NFL, by femalefan.com.”
“Wow, did you get a trophy?” she asked sarcastically.
“Not even a certificate.”
She lathered up his chest and then followed the trail of dripping suds down to his abs. The foaming soap gathered at his ____, which she took into her hand. Staring mischievously into his eyes, she said, “Now this is...”
“You better not say cute,” he growled


(sorry my blog is not set up to use the p,d,or c word -LOL-don't want the blog police to get mad)

Zombie Love

No post yesterday - I know bad romance writer-bad - but I was busy with real life romance :) - anyway -
My friend Colleen knowing my love all of things Zombie had given me a belated Christmas (because I hadn't seen her) present - one was The Zombie Night Before Christmas - so next Christmastime.... but the other one was Every Zombie Eats Somebody Sometime which is a book of zombie love songs! Each is sung to the melody of a real song. It is hilarious! Here are two samples:


sung to Endless Love by Lionel Richie and Diana Ross:

Dead love,
You're the food in my life,
In this damn zombie blight.

My first turn,
You're every bite that I take,
Each shuffling step I make.

And I
(I-I-I-I-I)
I want to chew
All brains with you,
No other dead will do....

etc.

okay sung to the tune of "Wonderful Tonight" by Eric Clapton

It's late in the evening; she's wondering what's out there.
She loads up her shotgun and brushes her long blond hair.
And then she tells me, "You don't look quite right."
And I say, "Yes, you'll taste wonderful tonight."

etc.

So fun!

Six Sentence Sunday - 2/13/11

Again from Playing For Keeps. In this scene Samantha had the paper print an article about Ryan written by Jenny, a 12 year-old cancer patient that Ryan visits regularly. He's just read it - originally he told Samantha he did not want any publicity but she got around it by having Jenny writing it. So here Samantha has just asked him if he's mad ----


“You’re like a superhero to her.”
“Naw, if I was really a superhero I’d find a cure for Jenny’s cancer.”
“Not even Superman can do that.”
“Yeah, I know.”
His voice broke and she wished she were there to give him a hug. “Do you want me to come over?”
“Hell, yeah. I need to do something manly.”
Samantha told him she’d be right over, thinking he was the very essence of what a man should be.

I have not had a letter from you. I feel dry like a desert. - Nelson Mandela

Nelson Mandela and his wife Winnie kept their love alive during his unjust incarceration through visits and by letters.
Every word went through censors. Sometimes letters never made it through at all. Still, they loved and they wrote. Here is a little of what Nelson Mandela wrote to his wife....

6 May 1979
Your beautiful photo still stands about two feet above my left shoulder as I write this note. I dust it carefully every morning, for to do so gives me the pleasant feeling that I'm caressing you as in the old days. I even touch your nose with mine to recapture that electric current that used to flush through my blood whenever I did so.

Sigh....

Six Sentence Sunday - 2/6/11

Thanks for stopping by!
Another one from Playing For Keeps...

Ryan rinsed off quickly, then grabbed a towel from the shelf, and wrapped it around his waist.
After wiping away the steam on the mirror with a sweep of his hand, he took a long hard look at himself. He rubbed his fingers across the stubble on his chin. God, he needed a shave or maybe he needed a new face. Man, I’m getting old. Where was the young rookie that used to gaze back at him? Not that he’d trade places with him - that kid didn’t know shit.

Who wrote - "Till then, a thousand kisses, mio dolce amor! but give me none back for they set my blood on fire."

Napoleon did! Who knew the fearless emperor had it in him? I guess he was passionate about love as he was about war. Here is a love letter he sent to his future wife Josephine...

Paris, December 1795



I wake filled with thoughts of you. Your portrait and the intoxicating evening which we spent yesterday have left my senses in turmoil. Sweet, incomparable Josephine, what a strange effect you have on my heart! Are you angry? Do I see you looking sad? Are you worried?... My soul aches with sorrow, and there can be no rest for you lover; but is there still more in store for me when, yielding to the profound feelings which overwhelm me, I draw from your lips, from your heart a love which consumes me with fire? Ah! it was last night that I fully realized how false an image of you your portrait gives!

There must be millions of people all over the world who never get any love letters... I could be their leader. ~Charlie Brown

It's February and as Valentine's Day approaches I started thinking about love letters. I did a search and came across one from Mark Twain (Samuel Clemons) that I - well - fell in love with. Here it is....

Out of the depths of my happy heart wells a great tide of love and prayer for this priceless treasure that is confided to my life-long keeping.

You cannot see its intangible waves as they flow towards you, darling, but in these lines you will hear, as it were, the distant beating of the surf.



Mark Twain (Samuel Langhorne Clemens), American writer, to Olivia Langdon, his future wife.


Sigh....

Writing love letters is sadly a lost art.