“It was a glorious day.”
Here’s what the sentence gives the readers …

and makes us …

An opening line must make our readers feel …

How are we doing with our opening lines?
Daily Word Prompt: Glorious
Here’s what the sentence gives the readers …

and makes us …

An opening line must make our readers feel …

Daily Word Prompt: Glorious

If that clock didn’t tell her the time so accurately, Sofie would have taken a hammer to it long ago. Why else would she have kept it?
But she needed the clock. It gave her the idea.
She pulled Meta’s box out from under the bed and opened the lid and removed the papers as carefully as unwrapping an unsolicited gift given by a macabre client. She placed them on her writing table.
Sofie inhaled the scent of moth balls Meta had placed inside in what seemed like ages ago. Those spherical balls of cedar had kept her bonnets, kerchiefs as well as her revealing words from being eaten and destroyed by those tiny winged creatures, the ones who did not distinguish between good or evil longhand.
Regardless of the pungent smell of cedar, regardless of the desertion she felt, Sofie could still take in the scent of Meta’s lilac-fragranced soap on her young, thin hands, could still imagine Meta’s right hand dipping the pen into the ink in order to recreate the unusual bizarre events of her young life.
Sofie looked down at her hands, still somewhat youthful for being eight years older than Meta and still attractive. But she felt old at almost twenty-eight, old due to the wear and tear of her insides from the constant thrusting and prodding of too many men. At least her so-called clients were transparent. They wanted one thing, a warm twat to comfort themselves, or if they were worried about disease, a warm and wet mouth to surround their growing phallus. Such control she had over that one simple bodypart.
But she was tired of that now. Only if she was in great need of money or a favor, would she sucomb to pleasing one of the hairy oafs. Besides, it was Meta who taught her about love. But it was also Meta who had done those awful things.
Excerpt from The Edges of Two Fields, an unfinished novel.
Daily word prompt: Recreate
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Why couldn’t wives see the similarities between themselves and a whore?
“He’s a client,” Sofie continued. “But watch, when he sees me, he’ll turn away. So will his wife.”
The man looked away, just as she thought.
“You can’t speak to him?”
Innocent Meta. “Never.” “Speaking to them in public would only break Miss Fannie’s Code of Silence. It goes with the territory. Besides, if we broke Fannie’s trust? We’d be out on the street nothing flat. Folks have tried to buy her black book of customer names but nothing doing. When the Wild Bunch stayed with us, she wouldn’t even give them up to the great Mr. Pinkerton.”
“I’m sorry, what does she call it again? A code of…”
“Silence. A code of silence.” Curious how Meta seemed more fascinated by Miss Fannie’s code than with the Wild Bunch. The bank robbers were the guests of honor at the going-away party Miss Fannie gave them two years after she arrived. The wrongdoers, pleasant and entertaining, the lavish event stood out in her memory with fondness. Perhaps she had a penchant for those who could smile at their criminal endeavors when they never get caught.
Excerpt from Naked, She Lies by C. Dennis-Willingham
Daily word prompt: Penchant
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Dear writers,
Our written stories are supposed to come to a conclusion, to an end, to be Finite.
At least, that’s the goal.
But what if we find ourselves stuck somewhere in the middle of the story and there’s nowhere to go? Or, heaven forbid, what if we’re still struggling with the beginning?
Now you’re wondering. Is this the point where Carolyn starts talking about writer’s block, what to do about it, blah-la-la?
Nope. Not going to.
I could also encourage you. You know, I could tell you to keep going, to not give up, that your ideas are good ones.
But you already know all that.
I think many of our stories are not meant for completion. Maybe those unfinished pages still sitting on a dusty shelf (or buried in the depths of your computer) have already served a purpose.
Perhaps:
Whatever the reason, I have plenty of stories that have never seen their ending.
Does this happen to you?
Do your characters keep you awake a night by flicking your ears trying to discover how they ended up?
I say, let them flick all they want. Let’s just remind them that if it weren’t for us, they wouldn’t have been “born” in the first place.
Sincerely,
C D-W

Painting by C. Dennis-Willingham
In the past when Papa was healthy, I learned of this parable in the Bible. I was so Enamored by that kind of love that I would ask if he or Mama would like for me to wash their feet. Only a few times did Mama succumb to my request. Even at night, her feet were too busy moving, rarely still enough for me to wash.
Papa, on the other hand, would sit in his favorite chair in the parlor and lay down the newspaper he had been reading. He would smile and laugh as I placed the soaped cloth between his toes. Our conversations would move from one subject to the next as quickly as a hummingbird searches for nectar. The ritual seemed to both invigorate and relaxed him.
Yet, when Papa had lain in his bed with a pneumonia-fed bad heart, it was not the same. Nothing was the same.
Nor will it be again.
Excerpt from Naked, She Lies, by C. Dennis-Willingham
daily word prompt: Enamored
“You think Miss Primrose has the end of the year party planned out,” I say, changing the subject like I wish my teacher would when we’re studying mathematics.
Scooter stops blowing his harmonica. “Crowns,” Scooter says. “Stupid crowns.”
Last March, when Scooter turned fourteen, the handmade crown Miss Primrose gave Scooter never stayed on his head. I’m not so sure it was the crown’s fault.
“I agree, Scoot, ol’ Buddy,” Frank says. “We should wait until we’re real kings to wear crowns.”
“King Scooter Hutchings.” Scooter chuckles. “King Scooter Hutchings doesn’t walk on crutches.”
“Frank,” I say. “Are you teaching Scoot to Rhyme now?”
Frank shrugs and smiles.
“All the time,” Scooter squeals.
We laugh our way to the final steps of the schoolhouse. “Scooter, remember about tonight. We can’t tell Bernie about our plans. It’s a secret,” I tell him. “I want our plans to come to fruition.”
Scooter crinkles his nose.
“You know—”
“Work as planned,” Scooter says, pulling out his pocketknife.
Scooter is the smart crust around the apple pie that holds everything together.
Excerpt from The Moonshine Thicket by C. Dennis-Willingham
Daily word prompt: Rhyme
Note: What were the chances I would find the word Willy-nilly (daily post) in one of my writings? As my kids used to say, “Random!” But here it is!
Excerpt from The Moonshine Thicket by C. Dennis-Willingham
Mr. Leonard, Scooter, and Frank have already left the house for Rosie’s. It’s part of the plan. Mama squeezes her hands together while Miss Helen make-ups her face.
“Stop being so willy-nilly, Bernice. This will be a perfect evening. And for heaven’s sake, stay still!” Miss Helen says, winking at me.
Mama plants her hands on Miss Helen’s vanity. “I know. It’s just, well, there’s so much to say.”
“Then say it and put it behind you.” Miss Helen stands back and eyeballs her work. “You look beautiful, Bernice.”
“Better than beautiful, Mama,” I tell her.
“I’m in my slip for Christ’s sake. At least wait to compliment me until after I’m dressed.”
When Mama puts on her new dress, a pink taffeta with frilly layers, she says it’s too fancy for Rosie’s café. But she can’t stop looking in the mirror.
How can we be better at our writing craft? Some of these suggestions may help.
Answers to Your Novel Writing Questions | WritersDigest.com
Dad says that Mr. Posey “is richer’n four feet up a bull’s butt.” But he doesn’t act anything like Uncle Will McCleskey. He’d never pull me off a horse with a walking stick, even if he had one.
Most of the time, we even get to have supper with them and since Mr. Posey talks almost as slow as Hoover, supper conversations take a long time. At least Dad isn’t doing us any harm while we’re here. Mr. Posey doesn’t go off half-cocked like Dad does. He doesn’t hit his wife or Hoover, so I guess Dad doesn’t want to be the only one who clobbers two outta three of his family members.
Hoover asked me to ride out with him on a couple of their horses. I was supposed to be chopping wood, but the idea of riding sounded like chocolate cake. We had a good time riding around their property. It made me think of riding with Ike, the sound of hooves, the click of his left cheek. I sure do miss him.
We were trotting along just fine until my horse swallowed his head and threw me off into a prickly pear cactus. I landed on my right hand and it smarted something awful.
“Cono,” said Hoover, “ I…think….you… gave…him…just…a little….too much…spur.” And right then, my laughter took over my pain.
Since then, I’ve been trying to hide my bad hand from Dad so he won’t catch on that I’d played hooky from my wood chopping. For the last couple of days I’ve even been chopping wood with my left hand until my right one starts to feel better. It’s safer that way.
Excerpt from No Hill for a Stepper by C. Dennis-Willingham
Prickle- daily word prompt
Never, ever, will I regret saving that woman from the hangman’s noose eleven years ago. That good-for-nothing she killed deserved being plugged. Even so, a Negro woman who murdered a white man might as well start braiding her own rope.
“’Nough mess … ” Parts of her newest grumble bounced from the parlor into the kitchen. I muzzled my laughter then I heard the thwack, thwack of a dishtowel slapping the velvet settees–Reba’s version of dusting.
Without Reba Mae Tyler, I wouldn’t be grinning at the cash stacked on my desk and organized by denominations. Who better than me, and my five-foot-three-of-nothing-but-glory best friend, to earn this kind of money?
Madam Volvino down the road would have scammed the Wild Bunch. I pictured that dollymop charging a lesser fee for her bawdyhouse services then afterward, jiggling her fat rump straight to the law to collect the one grand in bounty—one grand for Butch alone.
Excerpt from The Last Bordello by C. Dennis-Willingham
Organize– daily word prompt