Ross Trevelyan 🗻🌲🦪🦀🚵‍♂️

Today, Michelle and I are proud to announce that we will be hosting the dedication ceremony for the Obama Presidential Center on June 18th in Chicago, and welcoming the public on June 19th.

We can’t wait for you to visit. Go to obama.org to learn more.

From a very productive time when I took every opportunity to paint directly from the subject, usually putting my bike on its stand and resting my drawing board on the handlebars. Magdalene bridge is crossing the river, punts are for hire and it wouldn't be complete without some ducks are happily swimming around.

One of my Cambridge on-the-spot watercolour drawings from nearly 30 years ago. This was done from the riverside board walk that leads to Quayside. I don't sketch in town any more - too crowded plus lack of stamina!
#watercolour #watercolor #Cambridge #enpleinair

Every time the ventilation started grinding children it startled Sophia a little less, but it never didn’t startle her. It didn’t sound as loud to her this time, maybe because the room was bigger or because it had to compete with all the chatter and clatter and splatter. On the other hand, the echoes of the rumblings made the ventilation system sound and feel even more terrifying than usual.

It turns out the sounds of the HVAC system in Sophia's school horrify her when she's in the cafeteria as well. She has a hard time believing that nothing sinister is going on.

#WIPSnips #WriteSky

The tree roots devoured the boulders that used to be pillars and obelisks before smoothed by time and erosion. While the streets were split into two sections like a modern road by small yet mighty streams that I could jump over with ease. I kept diving deeper into this empire of graveyards until I came to a massive staircase that seemed to lead to the heavens. I stared up the staircase to see what was at the top. That's when I saw a massive black wall that looked like a spilled inkblot in the sky from where I was standing. I was in awe of its size, it was so massive that under normal circumstances it would have collapsed by its mere weight. It seemed to grow at a snail's pace in the hours that I was captivated by it. I was compelled, no, obligated to go and climb the stairway to admire the massive wall.

One of my older peice the amount of times I used massive is well… massive.

One of my favorite things of this piece is that it describes the Akastic Record before I was familiar with the term. which for those not in the know is an enormous collection of all the data in the world in Hinduism.

Tuvee circled to the right, snarling. More massive than me, but… clumsy. He moved like a grade-schooler–no skill at all. The other boys were catcalling, except for Dovee, who looked ill. We were wrapped in a circle of jeering boys in no time. I didn’t have any real martial-arts training, but I’d been in some rough parts of the world. I knew how to block and punch. My Lihnahchoo skills were minimal, but I tried: “No touch.” My fists up, stance grounded, staring him right in the face. “Me hurt.” Against the guys I was used to, I’d be bluffing. He had twenty kilograms on me, minimum, and a reach advantage. But I had a suspicion…

#WIPSnips 7: massive

Jim grew up in a *very* different culture from the local males.

#SciFi #ScienceFiction #SFF

Maybe a 15 year old kid from London, a talking pig and a froad should really reconsider taking on a dragon!
Ashley Knight Saves the Other World
#WIPSnips word "massive"
#WriteSky #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts

I posted from this exact scene earlier in the week (maybe last week).

I thought there might be lots of action for this snip so here's a more chill one

“In the meantime, the other Master Watch agents started their search as well. At 20:10, within this radius.” She drew a big dashed circle - the place where they found Sera was slightly outside of that range. “At 20:30, they increased the search radius.” Now, the finding place was inside the next dotted circle. “At 21:00 even further.” The circle now covered a massive area, reaching far into the inner city.

Working through the timeline again.
From my Spy Thriller #MasterWatch
#WIPSnips #writer #WriteSky #WritingCommunity

Massive characters in a space opera?
Shocking
#amwriting #writingsky #WritingCommunity #writingprompts #CULLING

A hundred red eyes glared down from one massive, furious bird. With a shriek of tearing metal, the Mecha Goose seized the interrogation table in its beak and wrenched it free from the bolts sunk into the concrete floor. #WIPSnips

Ebook screenshot from Fight or Flight, book six, currently untitled: "I’d expected grandeur, gold and marble and ivory, and I suppose they were there but it wasn’t what struck me at first. As Molly led me through the door, it was like we’d stepped through into a forest, massive and growing all around us. A forest whose trees were made of marble instead of wood, leaved with gold instead of whatever it was leaves were usually made of - probably more wood, technically, given they were trees after all - a forest where the ferns grew from gold, the bushes from platinum, the flower petals from ruby and sapphire and a hundred or a thousand gemstones I couldn’t even name. All, somehow, dead.I wasn’t sure how it could possibly be the case that a tree made of marble could wither and die, but it had. Wasn’t sure how leaves of gold could wrinkle and threaten dropping, but they had, and several of them even littered the floor. All around, the forest was dead or dying, only the faintest breezes and signs of life still present. A small, bright ruby gemstone bud on an otherwise withered rose vine. A tiny sapling, some little evergreen with platinum needles and an ebony trunk, only the height of my hand. A single curled fern’s fiddlehead of gold. Everything else was dead. “It’s ‘cause they’re gone, isn’t it?”"

#WIPSnips "Massive" from FotF#6, currently untitled

AL gets to visit the Royal Chambers, where the Fae thrones sit. Sit now empty, specifically.

My MC's retrial. The prosecution attempts to bring my MC's character into disrepute by claiming everything he ever did was for purely selfish reasons.

The #WIPSnips word for March 7th is "massive" #WriteSky #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts

From book 6

Maybe a 15 year old kid from London, a talking pig and a froad should really reconsider taking on a dragon!
Ashley Knight Saves the Other World
#WIPSnips word "massive"
#WriteSky #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts

Was there really rules in the underground boxing scene in 1880?
An Unkindness of Ravens!
#WIPSnips word "massive"
#WriteSky #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts

When we stopped in a bedroom, a massive bed in the middle, I freed my hand to grab the hem of my sweater to remove it. So glad I wore the sexy underwear. But his hands gripped mine.
I froze. Had I been too eager? Turned him off?
“May I?”
#wipsnips

They cry and crap all over themselves. For the first year that’s basically all they do, 24-7 — cry, shit, throw up all over you, and then cry and shit some more. I’ve seen what you’re like when you don’t get enough sleep. You’re not built to be awake all night with a screaming infant. And I’m not built to tolerate you while up all night with an infant.” “That part doesn’t last forever,” I rationalized. “Think about how quickly a year really goes by. I mean, we’ve known each other now for what? Like, fifteen years? It feels like just yesterday, doesn’t it? And look how fast that went.” “The years are short but the days are long,” Drew trilled as he scrolled through Grindr. “You would think there’d be at least one hot, closeted dad around here, looking to indulge on the DL. Why is dating so impossible these days?” “But see? That’s exactly my point! Everyone good is already taken. What’s out there right now for us is like shopping in a thrift store in a bad neighborhood. Everything is at least slightly damaged or irregular, has already been tossed aside as unwanted by others, and you’re really just looking for the least fucked up one that doesn’t smell too bad. It’s awful. But we’re both massive catches. Look at us! It just makes sense for us to team up. Also, I’m really not sure who you think you’re kidding referring to that app as ‘dating’. We all know you’re just looking to get laid. Call it what it is.” I honestly wasn’t sure when I became so fully invested in this idea but it was like, suddenly, this was the most important thing in my life and I was on a mission. No one was going to stop me.

Today’s #wipsnips word is “massive”. #writingcommunity #writingprompts #writersky #writesky

For the first time since she had met the girl, the Hunter saw it at last: the flame, the silent strength dormant in that heart, crushed for years under the baleful gaze of an overbearing father, and now unfurled into the most beautiful weapon, its ethereal blade shining like the purest diamond. It didn’t matter that Magda’s hands shook as she reaffirmed her hold on the long haft, or that she stood so small compared to the massive glob of flesh suspended above their heads: right here, right now, this child was the heir, the only true heir of a long, forgotten lineage that was always meant to fight for good, not for evil. Sören Albrecht had become an incarnation of evil, according to Samuel Willard; but his daughter was made of a whole other cloth.

"Massive"ly disgusting, I say.
#WIPSnips #WriteSky #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts #DreamNoMore

Context: Magda and Sam, facing the Heart in the spiritual version of Thruxted Mill. (What else was it supposed to look like than some disgusting organic thing, really?)

My snip for the word of today: Massive
Lira is from a tiny and poor village called Brimharrow. An empty shell compared to Fishtide Village across the lake.
She dreams to explore the world, as soon as her mom let's her.

#WIPSnips #Writesky

Already text

#WIPSnips #Writesky

Luckily Aubrei isn't in this scene, if she were her first question would be; "do they inflate their bits too and if so how do they have sex?"

It surprised Yana, how quickly she got used to having a Tellari wander the ship. For such a massive creature, Xyd had a knack for staying out of her way—a trait that had done much to endear him to her over the last few days. Even the residual awkwardness from the first day had faded; having quickly intuited her schedule, the alien had taken to sleeping during her work hours, and, after Yana had allowed him use of one of the bridge’s vacant terminals, spent most of his waking hours working on what she assumed were documents, written in what she assumed was an alphabet.

I use "massive" a lot when referring to Xyd. A lot of these are placeholders until I find more situation-appropriate ways to convey his sheer size, but this specific placeholder is in a paragraph I quite enjoy.

#WIPSnips #FirstLight #WriteSky #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts

Black text, green background, “massive” highlighted pink "I'm a villain." I wring a purple tank top I just took from Evie's dresser as I try to give a hearty villain laugh--the basic "mwahaha" can't go wrong; it's a classic--to chase away the ache in my gut, but I can't get enough breath to support it. "You...did this to me," I say out loud. I need to say it to her for real. I stumble downstairs, the bag still in my hand, and find the Dark's handset in the kitchen next to the sink, where it always sits. I hit the number two for the speed dial to Evie's cell. As usual, I don't hear it ring, but I know it did. "Evie," I say after her generic voicemail message, "I need you to answer me. I need you to find a way to talk to me. I don't know what you're doing to me, but I don't want to feel like this, so please stop. I hate this, and I hate you, but I love you, and why won't you return my messages? Why do I feel like this? I hate it. It's so weak." I lean back into pantry door and let myself sink down to the floor. I haven't ended the call, but I don't know what to say. It feels like there's so much, like it's so MASSIVE, and there's something more I need her to help me work out, and all I can do is sit here, cradling the phone to my ear and holding a bag that's only half-packed, trying to ignore the part of my brain that's calling me a coward for running away. "Everything would be okay if we could just be together."

Ace panics in the face of wishing he’d been Bug’s hero. No, no, he’s a villain!

#WIPSnips #WriteSky #WritingCommunity
From Super/Human 🦹🏼☎️

GUARDS SHOVED THE CREWMEN into a converted animal pen at the prow. “Content que ton ‘petit con’ ne comprenne rien,” Burke muttered. The Frenchmen crowed at the remark. Conall shot the priest a puzzled look. “Happy the ‘little prick’ couldna twig a word,” he said. “Jean’s words.” The men spent the night with manacled hands looped around their knees, backs to the hull, careful to avoid the chalky smear of chickenshit in the chamber’s center. A bitter setback. Sleep offered only a reluctant respite from Maguire’s worst fears. In the morning, sunlight trickled through the open gunports, slicing into the orlop in narrow blades through the ventilation gratings. Burke, stooped beneath the bow’s low overhead, came from the communal latrine bucket with a defeated look. “I wager we’re bound for Constantinople. Wish we still had the safe passage. Might’ve used it when we escape.” Galloù raised his manacles with a theatrical sigh. “Escape? Bah! But bless you, bon Père. You are the eternal optimiste. It is why I stay with you.” “Din’t the Greek fella say the women’d be brung aboard an’ all?” Conall asked. The priest groaned and slumped down. “Aye, he said so. She was a prison hulk—may have other lockups. They’ve put us on the orlop, straddling the waterline. Hold below, gun decks above. That cully in charge’s a Kerryman. God knows how—”

A boatswain’s whistle cut him off. Feet pattered and scuffled on the deck above as seamen slammed the gunports shut, plunging the orlop into darkness. The Persephone’s masts shrieked and vibrated as they strained against every timber from keelson to carlings. Once the massive ship gathered way, she cruised on calm seas for hours, the prisoners drowsing where they sat. Eventually a leadsman’s voice drifted down, calling the depth. “By the mark—nine!” Chain rattled out the larboard hawsehole, the bow timbers screeching as the anchor bit the seabed. A starboard anchor followed, then one from the stern. The sounds shifted from the rush of wind and waves to the suck and kiss of the Aegean as swells lifted and lowered the giant warship.

#WIPSnips: massive

Our story: Maguire, Fr. Burke, & the crew of the Razorfish, a Breton smuggler in pursuit of Warwick's Octavia, have been captured & held by the Turks in the Bozcaada fortress.
They were abruptly transferred to a British (!) privateer, strengthening Burke's theory about a plot.

The current president was once CEO of the world’s largest weapons manufacturer. Their relentless takeovers of competitors, the buying stripping and selling, and the endless billion-dollar shareholder deals, all in the name of profit, gave him incredibly deep pockets. He was accustomed to having connections to the War Machine that had once kept America powerful and everyone else scared. So, when the former president’s peace accord came along and effectively stopped all that dead, he found himself adrift and bored. Politics and the yes-men and women who surrounded those in power must have appealed to him, So, he set out on his next pursuit. To buy his way into the White House.

The #WIPSnips word for March 6th is "pursue"

From Pandora's Secret today.

The current US president (in the world of the novel). Rourke isn't a fan

#WriteSky #WritingPrompts #WritingCommunity

Image of the following text: “Where did your fiancé vanish to during your dalliance with the Lyran prince?” She tensed at his choice of words. “Jayce drank too much at supper and wasn’t feeling well.” “And you weren’t taking care of him?” “Why should my evening suffer for his poor judg-ment?” Serivar frowned. She matched his expression. “You should be happy to see my relationship failing. Imagine how much you could teach me without Jayce competing for my time?” She meant the comment to be sarcastic, but Serivar brightened. Before he could pursue whatever disturbing thoughts ripened be-hind that look, she said, “I have a question for you.”

Haven't joined #WIPSnips in a while. Here is a brief excerpt from, Dissident, an epic fantasy I'm doing edits on with today's word pursue. Happy reading! #AmWriting

Fomorian originally met Deveroux in the latter’s 21st year, when Formorian boarded the Crystal River and Humboldt Railroad’s night train to Fireridge pursuing his wife, who refused to die in any meaningful sense. He’d not long sat down with a sherry in the observation car when a bony hand assaulted his back. His sherry ejected itself from the glass to the assailants’ ratty trousers. It soaked in just below the cowboy belt buckle. “Brother, don’t you mind that a bit! I can forgive that sin just like mine’s forgiven!” Deveroux shoved a King of Diamonds playing card in Fomorian’s face. It had some scripture or other smeared across it. Fomorian did not take the card, even when Deveroux dropped it anyway. “Brother, I don’t know where ya think you’re bound, but I can tell ya this here ain’t the journey that matters, and I got written proof of that right here!” He slapped his scuffed leather suitcase, plopped into the seat across from Fomorian. Fomorian got up. “If I didn't have witnesses, I’d leave you a noxious puddle of goo.” He changed seats. Deveroux followed him. At the new spot Deveroux pulled a thin book with an unmarked brown paper cover out of the suitcase. “This here can offer you all most people want in life: unlimited freedom and power! Yaahooo! Look around ya at the people gawkin’ at us ‘cause they can feel its might! See their angry faces? Jealousy, brother! Pure jealousy! Because I ain’t offerin’ them what I’m offerin’ you! All you gotta do is hand over that freedom and power to a higher power and He’ll give it all back tenfold so fast you literally won’t see it happen! And you can’t do that no better than right now through that higher power’s most trusted agent on earth, Me! I take cash, checks, gold, or even the deed to your home…” Fomorian closed his eyes, breathed in, out, listened to the rhythm of wheels on rails, contemplated whether he could make order out of such chaotic stupidity. A nice diversion.

Flashback from Ocean Ghost: How Deveroux stumbled into the Big Bad's minion conscription program. #WIPSnips #WritingCommunity #pursue

Excerpt for The Orange Peel Game reads; “My advice, Caroline?” asked Olive. “If there’s something out there that you want —a claim to fame in your job, the prize that’s in that little box, whatever— then you need to agitate some gravel to get it.” Just days ago Caroline convinced herself she was doing just that. Now, sitting across a familiar stranger, who had just showed her foreign sights and newfound tastes of the very city she grew up in, Caroline realized that she hadn’t even scratched the surface of her life. “Applesauce!” Olive spat. “It’s nearly five and we’re the other side of town!” Like a hunt in the blossoming field of Central Park, Caroline and Olive galloped outside and bounded across the streetcar tracks. They soon spotted and pursued and barely boarded a trolley, back for the Yards.

Caroline spends the day with a new ally, who shows her there's much more to life than watching the world go by...

Excerpt from 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘖𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘗𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘎𝘢𝘮𝘦 🍊

#tbr #readsky #mystery #amreading #bookrecs #booksky #bookish 💙📚

“We can share an apartment while we each do our thing. You’d study with Dr. Christensen and the other faculty there, and I’ll go out and try to get hired at a newspaper.” He held up a flattened palm like a stop sign. “I wouldn’t be dependent on you. I have some money saved.” “Do you think I care about money?” she asked. He set the catalog down. “I just wanted to make clear that I wouldn’t take advantage of you. I’d pay my way.” She began to cry. “You don’t care about me studying at Columbia. You just want to go pursue your goddamned New York Times fantasy and not have to dump me.” Fantasy echoed in his head. Dump echoed too.

My MC has made the decision to leave the islands and wants his girlfriend to come with him. His idea for her: a Ph.D program at Columbia. #WIPsnips #pursue #writesky #literaryfiction