Love at First Sight Part 2: Letters of Love and War

Word count keeps growing! I set a goal for the end of the week based on where I should be; I then met and surpassed said goal! I'm starting to think I should have been aiming for something higher than 10 000!!!

As promised:

My dearest Evelyn,

                I hope you are well for I don’t know what I would do if you weren’t. I am as well as I could be. Training is very difficult but rewarding both physically and emotionally. I miss you though my dear. We met at a most inopportune time.

                Please write to me when you get the chance, not being able to simply hold your hand is breaking my heart. I don’t have a lot of time to write so I an being brief but do not take that as a sign of my lack of heart it is far from that my beloved. My heart is flowing over the brim with love for you.

Yours now and forever,

Stanley A. Johnson

My love, Stanley,

                I am well. It is good to hear from you I fear every day that you have been sent away to war. I never took you for such a romantic man. I’ve reread your letter many times and even in its briefness it gives me goose bumps.

                I have told all my friends of our meeting. They think I have lost my mind. Maybe I have but perhaps that is what love truly is.  I sound so silly, I hope you will not think less of me for my girlish ways.

I tried to tell my mother too but she says you can’t fall in love over night; I think she is quite wrong. I have never felt this way before in my life.  There is no way it is anything but love.

I cannot wait to hear more about your life as a soldier in training,

Yours truly,

Evelyn J. Rose

My dearest Evelyn,

Reading your letter, it was as if I could hear your voice chime through the barracks. As for your accusation of romanticism I promise this is not so for how could a delicate flower like yourself survive without the manliest of men at your side? What am I saying? You do not need me or any other man; it is simply an honour for you to even consider letting me into your heart.

Truthfully, before I met you, a romantic side I did not have. You bring out the goodness in me. Before you I was hardened and serious. Now, when I think of you, which is most of the time, I smile from ear to ear.

I hope that I bring you even a fraction of the happiness you have brought me.

Yours now and forever,

Stanley A. Johnson

P.S. there is a rumour around camp that they will be sending us to aid the efforts soon.

My love, Stanley,

I do not know what to think of this news. I am unsure if I am to be happy that you are serving our country or be sad that you are moving even further from me. I will choose to be happy for the time being because it is hard not to be. I can assure you I smile that very same smile when your face or name comes to my mind.

I do not believe you when you try to tell me that you didn’t smile before you met me; your smile is one of the things I love most about you.

My friends continue to tease me for hanging on to me “silly belief” of loving you. I continue to laugh at them for not understanding matters of the heart. They know nothing of true love.

Unfortunately this strong feeling pulls at my heart string and I can’t help but be a little sad that you are not at my side. I am scared you will be harmed while you are away from me. Please come home safe and soon.

Yours truly,

Evelyn J. Rose

My dearest Evelyn,

I hate to begin my letter on such a depressing note but it is awful here. It reeks of death and decay. The sounds are unbearable. I cannot sleep. I cannot think.

I’ve been here only a short time but I already pray to be injured and sent home. I miss home, Evelyn. I miss you.

This is not the glory that the young men back home believe it to be. Yes I will take pride in the fact that I could help my country but I would not wish this upon anyone.

Stanley

My love, Stanley,

I am in tears over your last letter. I wish there was something I could do. I can only hope this letter bring you some semblance of joy and peace no matter how little.

We are feeling the effects of the efforts here as well. Many are leaving to work in factories or join medical teams. Many of my friends have gone or are locked themselves inside unable to bare the loneliness and darkness. Knowing you are out there is the only thing keeping me going,

Yours truly,

Evelyn J. Rose

Evelyn,

My best friend died yesterday. I have seen so much death. I am unsure how much more I can handle. If only you were here I could look into your eyes and know there is still good in the world.

Stanley

My love, Stanley,

I do not know what to tell you. I wish I was with you. Do you know when they are sending you home? Is the war nearing its end? I need to know you will come home to me safely.

Yours truly,

Evelyn J. Rose

My dearest Evelyn,

Worry no longer. I am in the hospital being treated for a gunshot wound. I will be fine but not well enough to continue my service.

I am being given an honourable discharge. I am coming home.

Stanley

Love at First Sight Part 1

I promised you guys an excerpt. Here it is. Keep in mind this is super rough draft keeping in the spirit of NaNo. It needs to be fleshed out and read over but anyhow, have a read:

                “Excuse me, miss?” The young women turned, her emerald green eyes pierced the young soldier’s soul.

                “Yes?” she replied shyly, twirling her dark hair between the delicate fingers of her right hand.

                “Your dance card wouldn’t happen to be full, would it?” He took off his hand ran a hand over his freshly shaved head.

“Well,” she smiled sweetly, “I think I’ve got space for just one more.” She winked subtly at him.

                “if you would do me the honour, I would adore to have a dance with you.” He held his strong hand out and bowed his head.

                She waited a moment, made him doubt himself, and looked him over in his crisp, new, uniform.  Finally, she placed her hand in his and he led her to the center of the dance floor.

                The band began to play a fast tune. The young soldier felt quite at home twirling and spinning his partner in intricate patterns never missing a step.

                The young woman, her black and white dress flailing, couldn’t stop smiling. She was overwhelmed by this young man and his surprising abilities. Then their eyes happened to meet; sparks flew. It was not only them who felt it either; everyone in the room could feel the electricity building between them.

                The music stopped. They came to face each other standing still. Each of their chests rose and fell rapidly and their faces were red and shone with a thin layer of sweat. Their eyes met again and they smiled.

                “Would you like to go sit out on the veranda with me and cool off a little bit?” He offered through laboured breaths.

                “Yes.” She caught her breath. “I’d like that very much.

                The young couple walked hand in hand out into the moonlight

                “Evelyn.”

                “Stanley.” You could hear them whisper before they stepped out into the moonlight.

 

 

Part 2 will be a series of letters exchanged between Evelyn and Stanley, stay tuned.

 

Jerr

Keeping On Track!

Even though I went away for the weekend I managed to keep up my writing; I'm still very on track to my word goal of 10 000 by the end of the month!!!

I set myself a goal for the weekend of 1 500 words and I squeezed in some writing every morning and managed to pump out 1 501! That's right, I one upped myself!

In addition to what I had before I've written some more character backstory as well as a little bit more of the story itself. I feel so excited and proud and fulfilled! So many times I've quit on myself; who knew I actually had it in me to set a goal and reach it?! I can only hope this new found courage and confidence will carry over into the rest of my life.

Wish me luck my friends,

Jerr

P.S. I'm thinking of giving you guys some snippets of my character development BUT note that in spirit of NaNo they have not been edited past what I do from hand written to typed!

P.P.S if you have a request for which character/couple type it in the comments below. You can choose from: James a "reformed" criminal, Evelyn and Stanley a now older couple, Tina and Greg a now middle aged couple, Brianna and Markus an early twenties couple, or Seth and Angela a now tween pair.

Camp NaNo July 2014

So, I failed at writing for NaNoWriMo in November BUT I have decided to participate in the slightly less daunting Camp NaNo. I have set my word count goal at 10 000 instead of 50 000. I think, for me, this is much more reachable. I missed writing the first couple of days because I was out in the wilderness on a family camping trip but I got right at it when I got back and wrote 888 (almost triple my "needed average per day.") I am now up to 2 386 words (todays goal was 2 258.)

Rather than doing a "novel" I am using this camp as a character development activity for another story as well as some writing for said story. So far a have written the inciting force, a series of letters from the past and two "first meetings" between characters (both romantically involved.)

The story itself centers around an "apocalypse," or devastation at the very least, caused by cosmic events. It isn't necessarily scientific but within reason enough. One of my professors always taught us that when you read you have to follow the rules of the author no the rules of your own knowledge. the author needs to stay within their own logic, yes, but not within the logic of current technology.

I may upload an excerpt soon so don't stray from here for too long!

Jerr