May Blog Chain - How to show relationship dynamics?

Describe them. The May Blog Chain with Absolute Write is in full swing and this month’s theme is relationships. Before me went Pezie and after me, Inkstrokes. The full chain is at the bottom of the post.
Instructions:

Show a character’s approach to relationships in a short scene. A harmless exchange between mother and daughter? A submissive character overwhelmed by a dominant partner? A passionate lover’s quarrel? A forlorn, unrequited letter?


Use your characters’ interaction to show the dynamics of their relationship, show how they’re growing together or growing apart, or just have silly fun. Character descriptions at the beginning are forbidden this time around–let them speak or act for themselves!


So, I'm going to go ahead and post a small part of my novel which is on submission and has received lots of full requests. Yay! Here goes...
I move the twigs aside so that I have a clear view of Lexa diving into the lake. Splash. I catch my breath as she surfaces, her skin shimmering like spider silk below the moonlight. She throws her head back and laughs. She is alone, and I am here. I take a step forward, miscalculating the results. Leaves crunch. “Shit,” I mumble and freeze. Lexa is already looking my way, her eyes wide, her hands hugging her bare chest.



“Who is there?” Her voice sounds forced, almost scared.


I stay still. What a coward. But what would she think me if I came out? Would she call me Dusty Cummins the stalker? She’s called me that before, a stalker.


“Who is there?” She looks back and forth, reminding me of a swan that has lost her way. Her hair whips against her shoulders.


God, she is so beautiful, so fragile, and when she said she hated me she didn’t mean it. I know she didn’t. She’s only afraid of the others, showing that she likes Dusty Cummins, the son of a poor beggar, the laugh of the school, the poet. She doesn’t just like me, she loves me, and I love her.


Lexa dips back into the lake so that only her head pops out and she shivers. Her shiver sends the hairs on my neck on end, and I want nothing more than to comfort her, to hold her close.


“Lexy, where are you?”


“I’m here, in the lake.”


That would be Lavelle, her boyfriend. He doesn’t deserve her. I turn to leave, but Lavelle isn’t there, and Lexa is still here. This in my only chance to be alone with her, to tell her what I feel. I tuck my hair behind my ears, straighten my suit, and emerge from the foliage.


Lexa’s mouth drops open.


I smile. She knows she’s happy to see me, I’m sure of it. She just isn’t showing it, yet. She’s just surprised, maybe even scared that Lavelle will see me with her.


“Dusty Cummins?” Her face scrunches and she frowns. “What in all hell are you doing here?”


Sand trickles in my shoes as I trudge through the beach and pick up her clothes. They’re warm to the touch from the summer breeze. A soft scent of flowers and fresh bread lingers with her petticoat. It’s the same scent her golden locks smell of from afar. It’s an indescribable scent.


“Put my clothes down,” she yells. Her hand comes out of the water holding a pebble, and she eyes me suspiciously. “I swear I will stone you if you won’t.”


She is just scared. That is all. As I stare into her widened eyes, the last poem I’ve written for her rings in my ears and I have to recite it to her. “I've written you a poem, Lexa. Like desperate souls, two vain beings stand. Forgiven of sin, forgotten of love. The darkness retreats, and she’s back in his arms. We call on a the sky with its billowing wisps, where seagulls will churn and fall to the depths—” Before I can finish the first verse, she throws the pebble.


Tell me what you think and visit the other awesome bloggers!!!


orion_mk3 - http://nonexistentbooks.wordpress.com


Proach - http://desstories.blogspot.com/
Yoghurtelf - http://thefarseas.blogspot.com/
AuburnAssassin - http://clairegillian.com/
aimeelaine - http://www.aimeelaine.com/blog
Della Odell - http://dellaodell.wordpress.com/
jkellerford - http://jennykellerford.wordpress.com/
LadyMage - http://www.katherinegilraine.com/
pezie - http://www.erinbrambilla.com/
xcomplex - ME!!!
Inkstrokes - http://drlong67.wordpress.com/
ElizaFaith13 - http://www.girlspwn.blogspot.com/
dolores haze - http://dianedooley.wordpress.com/
juniper - http://www.katjuniper.com/
Steam&Ink - http://steamandink.blogspot.com/

Gosh, my spacing is really messed up and I can't seem to fix it. Sorry! Also, I will be giving out an award and hosting a contest in the next couple of days!

I'am having a contest! *Pick your Prize*

80 Followers! Yay! That's got to be a milestone. Thank you awesome people for following my blog. Because of this, I want to hold a contest to give away a YA novel. Also, I'm in a great mood. I am in for another rewrite, but I've gotten great feedback and am very excited because I know my novel will get there if I (work) *slave* on it hard enough.

To the contest...Because I know that's what you all want to hear about. So I was thinking which E-novel I should give away and some that came to mind were...Game of Thrones (Its on TV now!), Twilight, Blade Itself, or Pathfinder. Those were some of my thoughts, but I would like to hear would you guys would like to read! Now, the e-book will come in PDF and of course once you win the contest you can't give it away or distribute it or what not, because I purchased it. So please comment and tell me what you wish to read. I would prefer your choices to be YA and Fantasy or Sci-Fi, but if you like other genres and the novel is great than post it right in. So comment and spread the word, because I am hoping to have this contest on next week.

Speaking of contests...I just won an e-book and there is another great contest you can enter over at Loren Chase's blog! Go on and take a look because you can win a fabulous ARC copy of BEAUTY QUEENS by LIBBA BRAY and all you have to do is comment and spread the word.

CHEERS!!!

Do YOU really love to write?

Writing is hard work. If you remember the day you first sat down to write, you probably just thought about the beauty and the whole greatness of your story. I look back now, and the first time I wrote a story was probably when I was under 10, but it wasn't a novel. It was a (I actually thought I would publish it!) picture book written with terrible grammar. Ha! Writing a novel is after all a great accomplishment, and one which we forget after we fail with query letters. Yes, everyone goes through it. At least the majority. Everyone gets rejected. Whether it is your first manuscript which was rejected or you are still getting rejected, we all do some time in our life. That's when I looked back and asked myself one question. Is this really worth my time?

Life is short and time is limited and in order to prevail (I am starting to speak like my characters) you have to use it wisely. When you are receiving dozens of rejection letters you slump. So many people I know have given up, thinking that giving up proves they are strong enough to admit the truth. So many writers I know actually stopped writing. Those that did didn't love their craft. They thought that they would send out a query letter and their dream agent would fall in love. Like that really happens...And the ones that did really love the craft came back years later only to shed tears over the fact that they are now late and they have less time to pursue their goal. I have had a share of rejections in my short life and I understand them more than anything. I didn't give up. I kept writing and rewriting and most of all I enjoyed it. Every bit of it. Now that my first novel is finished and I am nearing completion of perfection on my 13 other works I miss writing about those characters and those world and I have to keep writing. I just have to.

So I have passed that slump where I felt like giving up my dream of publication and realized that I don't write for publication. I write for myself, I write for my characters. Now, I've been struck with luck as one might call it. Or perhaps to be truthful, I've simply improved my writing a ton. The requests are piling up and I am at a very satisfactory rate of rejections. 46% positive responses. I couldn't ask for anything better and I can't wait to see what happens. Maybe I will have an agent before I am an adult! Amazing and exciting, not that age really counts. But mainly, I would have never seen those responses if I would have given up. So ask yourself this...Do I really love writing? Trust me, I know you won't stop.

Just for the fun of it, have you ever quit? Have you ever stopped writing for even a week just because you were in a slump?

Oh and another update...I have been reading up like mad in my genre...I guess reading is essential for writing, but I don't feel I've learned much yet I will be hosting some great contests to give away awesome best selling fantasy novels! YAY! Spread the word wonderful followers :D

Cheers!