Hello, Everyone.I have been in limbo the past few weeks it seems. Local friends have been coming out of the wood work lately and I felt, with their coaxing, the need to put my shy, hermit tendencies aside for a while and get out of the house. It’s not healthy for me to be a recluse all the time. I spent last weekend hiking throughout the beautiful Idaho country, such a wonderful time, I’ll never forget it. It seems I’m not the only one who’s missed the SSS the last few weeks, however, and I’m glad my writing friends are getting out into the sunshine. Must be cabin fever going around.
So, this week I’ve cheated a bit, changed the punctuation just slightly to turn eight sentences into six. I know, bad form; though I wanted to use this section and it was just too difficult to break it up into six sentence bits. Another scene from Squishing Whistle Pigs; after last week’s Six, the pastor makes his opening speech to the congregation and this Six follows directly.
The last word echoes through the pews all the way to the back of the room, punctuated by a select few ‘praise the lord’ interjections. A small three piece band begins to play, the congregation stirs and then the whole of them stand; reluctantly I do as they do. They begin to sing and move to the rhythm, I don’t do that. A strange force takes effect on some and their hands become weightless and rise up into the air, palms facing the ceiling; they’re attached it seemed, to marionette strings. I wonder if I look up I might see troubadours in the rafters with crossed sticks. There isn’t any.
I hope you enjoy this week’s
Six. I’m quickly running out of them. Maybe I’ll have to write something new
for a fresh set. ;)
Thank you again for your
visit here. Please visit the official Six Sentence Sunday site
for more great writers who actually follow the rules, and click on some of my
favorite Sixer’s here: Wendy S. Russo, L.J. Kentowski, Loni Flowers, Kelly
Seguin, Mae Clair, Daniela Renelt, Karen
de Lange, Mackenzie Crowne, and Steven
Montano.
Your comments are very welcome. I'm sincerely fond of them so please leave a word or two.
13 comments:
Oh my! I definitely sense a lot of cynisim from him in this. He is not a happy man, is he?
Hi Mel, I'm glad you're back for this week's SSS. Sometimes it's good to replace the felt slippers with cool hiking boots..! Hah, déjà-vu!
There is something so very.. (No, I won't say dark)... European about the way your character observes, yet doesn't take part in the world. I don't know if it is a symptom of the anguish he experiences or a general distrust in the sincerity level of what people do and why they do it, arms certainly crossed. I love it, you have such a distinctive voice in this and I do commend you for being so outspoken about certain ..aaah..types..of uuuhh..choreographed..rituals. Wonderful job! :)
Wonderful sense of movement to this and I like how you get a sense of his character too.
An interesting description of the setting and great character insight! :)
Hi ML, glad you got out and about! That is quite an acceptable excuse to miss SSS. :-) lol...
I love this snippet. Your words paint such a perfect visual. I can see them, arms up, hands sort of wandering and waving about. Marionettes.. Perfect!
Nice six. :-)
Thank you all for your comments. Eleri and Jessica, I appreciate you stopping by. I don't see you here very often and I'm glad you came.
Mae: He is heartbroken and of course he isn't very happy at all. He's searching for answers through skeptical eyes.
Dana: Thank you for the wonderful comment. As the one who gets to see inside Ben's head, I can tell you it's a lot of both. And yes, about the outspoken part; with the dwindling number of comments I have received and the complete disappearance/cold shoulder of some writing "friends" since my first Squishing Whistle Pigs post, I have clearly alienated people from my blog. As so, this may be my last Squishing Whistle Pigs post.
Hi Teresa! Great to "see" you. Thank you so much for the comment. I appreciate you. I agree, the hiking was so wonderful, and a beautiful place to do it as well. ;)
I think this is a fantastic bit of descriptive writing. What really blows me away is the fact that you're not only able to describe the scene, but that you've done so in a manner that reveals a great deal about the character. Excellent six!
Hiya ML. So glad you set your inner hermit aside and ventured out. We all need a bit of nature's inspiration from time to time. I've been doing quite a lot of that lately.
As for your six - well done! Spirituality is complicated and so very personal and from my perspective, cynicism is a natural reaction when witnessing faith rather than experiencing it. As one who has walked in both the cynic's and the believer's shoes, I love the marionette reference. Without the experience of true faith, the analogy is dead on.
Hey Mac!! Great to hear from you again! Thank you for the compliment.
The main character of Squishing Whistle Pigs, is based on many of my experiences. I actively sought out religion after the hardest times of my life; my divorce, failed relationships, tragic losses in my family, and in every circumstance these are the things I found in the organized religion I attended. I didn't want all this stuff I found there, I just wanted answers, and peace. So you are right, the witnessing part is an odd experience.
Thank you for stopping over. Love your new book cover and can't wait for it to be released.
M.L.
Hey ML, just checking in. Hope all is well in your part of the world :-) Take care. :-)
(Copied from my blog comments) Thanks. ML. The weekend is quiet, children all elsewhere or working. Me, the Mr and the dogs. :-) Low on sixes? Ahhh... Write a few paragraphs and share six from them. We miss you. :-) And Dana might be on to something ;-) lol... I'm glad you stopped by. Visiting can lift the funk. :-)
Mel, please come back, Sundays aren't the same without you. I hope everything's ok on your side of the world.
Post a Comment