Every instance of ‘radiant’ I have in all the books that I have, is for “radiant smile”…
As that is an obvious usage, I have decided to forgo the Daily Promtpt. Sorry. Have a great night.
Category: Uncategorized
Daily Prompt: Toxic
In The Grey House Trilogy, I’ve used the word ‘intoxicated’ a few times, but not ‘toxic’. I was not surprised by that, and decided to try finding the word in another book. The book is probably a two parter, but only the first part is written.
Though the book is about spiders, I never use the word ‘toxic’. I decided to try venom and even though someone is bitten by a spider a few times, I did not use the word ‘venom’. I cringed as I decided to make sure I didn’t use the word ‘poison’. Spiders are venomous and have venom. They are not poisonous and therefor ‘poison’ should not be used to describe their venom. Sigh… I used ‘poison’ a few times and once was incorrectly. At least this daily prompt helped me find it.
Here is the paragraph where the word ‘poison’ was used (it has been corrected):
Ann screamed as the black widow came out from behind a leaf and seemingly flew at her daughter’s finger. She tried to pull Mary away, but the spider reached her first. Ann batted at Mary’s finger, squeezing on her finger hard to helplessly stop the venom from invading her daughter’s body and killing her. Ann was up and screaming for her husband before the spider hit the ground. Ann squashed it with her garden shoe and ran to the house.
“SAM! Get the car! A black widow bit Mary!”
Daily Prompt: Warning
From The Grey House, Book One:
He nodded. “How many times has a vampire fed from you?”
She gave a short, humorless laugh. “Other than the time your man took my blood as a warning?”
They stared at each other for a moment before Vincent answered. “Yes.”
Daily Prompt: Betrayed
This is currently from The Grey House, Book One, but depending on how things turn out, may end up in its own book. Either way, it’s from one of my favorite scenes. Though Charlie is not a main character in the Trilogy, he is one of the supporting (and I think very important) characters:
“Charlie. You betrayed me. There’s no coming back from that.”
He started to speak, thought better of it, shrugged and plodded on, knowing he was using a poor excuse. “You know I won’t do it again.”
Daily Prompt: Frantic
From The Grey House, Book One:
“The Ocean’s Edge. This is Richard, how may I help you?” He sounded frantic.
“This is Charlie, I work for Vincent. I need to know the last time Natalie was at work.”
There was a pause. “Who did you say you were?”
“I was sitting at the table to the right of Vincent.”
“Oh yes, sir. I know who you are.” Another pause. Charlie was wondering if Richard was going to talk to him when he finally came back on. “The last time she worked was Monday.”
“Has she called?”
“No.”
“Has she ever missed work before?” He already knew the answer.
“No. Never even been late.”
“I want you to call me if you hear from her.” He rattled off his number and hung up. He drummed his fingers on the phone then decided. He had to find Vincent. Charlie paused with his hand on the doorknob, really considering his actions.
Daily Prompt: Micro
Micro(phones) is the word of the day. From The Grey House, Book One:
Vincent watched as the mysterious woman led Anthony away. From his security office, he could see the whole club. He followed them as they walked from one screen to another. His blood boiled as she took the bait. There was one section of the private room that was set up to be out of the way. There were hidden cameras everywhere, but only that corner had microphones.
Daily Prompt: Inefficient
I searched and searched and searched. I have not used the word inefficient in any of the books, short stories or poems that I have written. I tried to find something related, but didn’t really like anything. Therefore instead, here’s a poem I apparently haven’t shared yet:
Monster in the Street
It’s summer.
The children are laughing, running
and screaming in fun.
The leaves are all green; fall is far off.
Winter a distant memory.
In the street, tag, football, baseball.
No one knows what is really being played,
But the children join in.
The street is new,
The subdivision less than a year old.
The river nearby was changed a little,
But not enough to destroy his hideout.
He watches the children,
Listens to their joy,
And sighs.
It sounds like fun.
The sun is starting its descent from the heavens
And the temperature drops a touch.
He can come out now;
It’s not dangerous any more.
He peeps his head out of the hole,
Looks around cautiously.
Creeps along the riverbed,
Seeking out the sound of children.
A red rubber ball bounces toward him
He gives a big toothed grin,
And captures it!
Prize in his hands, he runs up the embankment
On short stubby legs.
He reaches the field, sees the street and grins.
A small boy sees, points and shrieks!
The others turn and see
A green monster,
As small as they are,
But with large protruding teeth,
And sharp claws.
Spiked tail and horns
make this little scaled one terrifying.
The children run and scream and hide.
He holds up the ball, an offering of peace.
A sad smile shows itself as they continue to flee.
Will no one stay?
Will no one play?
One lone girl, shy but brave
Sees the monster, sees the tear in its eye,
Sees that he’s holding her ball.
The others took it and threw it.
He is holding it out to her.
Bright eyed and looking for a friend,
She approaches cautiously.
He smiles and tries to hold the ball out.
She smiles and takes it from him.
Then steps to him.
And takes his hand.
The young monster squeezes her hand back
And smiles.
She laughs and he purrs.
Friendship,
In unexpected places.
Daily Prompt: Swallow
When I saw today’s word, I was a bit worried. I write Fantasy-Romance novels and The Grey House has quite a few very adult scenes that include the word ‘swallow’. I wasn’t sure I wanted to post any of them. When I arrived home, I looked up all the instances of the word ‘swallow’ in The Grey House, Book One. (I LOVE search/find tools.) And realized that I had in a way “forgotten” that this was a VAMPIRE trilogy…
So here is a rather tame use of the word ‘swallow’ from The Grey House, Book One. For more risque usages, you’ll have to read the trilogy when it comes out:
Vincent took a few swallows of her blood, then pulled his head away. He quickly reached into his pants pocket to grab a clean handkerchief. He placed it over her wound and allowed her to take her arm back. He licked her blood off his lips as he watched her turn her back.
Daily Prompt: Faceless
The word faceless makes me think of a deep, dark tunnel with a calm, warm breeze blowing into it, beckoning for me to enter.
Daily Prompt: Talisman
I searched all my writing, easily done with search functions, and found that I had never used the word ‘talisman’. But thesaurus to the rescue, I have used the word ‘amulet’. This is from an unfinished work, currently entitled “Coffee Shop”:
Knowing his purpose, Heathcliff stood and went to the tent. He grabbed the backpack full of clothing and slung it onto his back. He slipped his amulet from around his neck and wrapped the chain around his left hand. He knelt beside Princess Leona and touched her bare arm that was sticking out from the sleeping bag. Heathcliff took slow breaths, closed his eyes and recited the spell that would take them both home.
Cat Stark 