November Walk the Plank- Nano Excerpt


This month for the YA Buccaneers Walk the Plank challenge, I'm posting an excerpt from my Nano work in progress: LOVE AND OTHER CURIOSITIES. I've never posted an excerpt of my writing on my blog before. (Particularly one that has not be edited or revised in any way.) Eeep! Well, here goes... *closes eyes* *hits post* *ignores nagging impulse to take it immediately back down*


The Curious Calibration of the Apparatus of the Human Heart


There are places that change you. Moments in time which rearrange all your pieces and moving parts in such a way that you are new and wholly yourself at the same time.
            There is a twisting and untwisting of sinews, cogs set in motion such that the hitherto dormant chamber in your mind is thrown open and all the light pours in. And the whole precarious alignment of the apparatus suddenly rings true with a single, pure and solitary note. And you find the timbre of your heart is in perfect tune. Even if you didn’t realize it at the time. Even if you were just a child. Or perhaps more particularly because it was so. When your thoughts were still tender and not fully formed. And I was just a child. And I was told countless times to stop with my wild remembrances and imaginings. So much so, that I stopped speaking of them out loud. But they never left.
            It matters not how many heartbeats you possessed before that day, or how many countless heartbeats had since passed. That day had entered your blood and no matter how many times you breathed in or out, it would never leave you.
            Because that note, once rung cannot be undone. There is a thrill inside your chest that sounds like home. There is a scent. A quality of light. And of course she is there.
            And how many nights between sleeping and waking, I imagined what I would say to her, if I saw her again after all these years. And those imaginings took on life, and we, in a sense, grew up together. 



7 comments:

  1. Ooooh.....first, I can't believe that you wrote this at top speed during NaNo. It would take me years to craft paragraphs like that. Very evocative. It makes me wonder who the MC is describing, who the woman is that haunts her heart like that. I want to read more, for sure!

    Second....LOVE that title!!

    Oh, and the photo in the post is creepy personified. Creepy. But in such a good way. :-)

    Thanks for being brave, Kris. It paid off.....Well done!!

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  2. Heidi, you just made my morning!! Thank you! :)

    The MC is a guy, lovelorn and all that. And I'm glad you love the title. I have a problem with the title in that I can't spell "Curiosities" the first time I type it...ever! (Worlds most awful speller over here)

    Oh, and the photo wasn't supposed to be creepy, it was supposed to be pretty in a surreal sort of way. It's a photo of Florida from the early 1900's. (which is when the book is set)

    Anyway, thanks for reading it...and for hugely making my day! :)

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  3. I'm so curious now! Your writing is beautiful :)

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  4. Dang! I missed it on all counts this morning....a male MC, a non-creepy photo, a title you loathe to type. Still, I got it right when I said it was good. :-) Honestly, I'd love to read more!
    Keep going, Kris....you've got something here!

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  5. Dang! I missed it on all counts this morning....a male MC, a non-creepy photo, a title you loathe to type. Still, I got it right when I said it was good. :-) Honestly, I'd love to read more!
    Keep going, Kris....you've got something here!

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  6. You're such a beautiful writer! Love this excerpt and your title!

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  7. Ohhh, I have so many questions after reading this. I love it. :) Beautiful writing, Kris. I hope to see more of this story!! And HUUUUUUGE kudos & congrats for taking the leap and sharing. :)

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