Stuart's Daily Word Spot: Ice

Ice: noun - frozen water, which is a brittle translucent crystalline solid; a body of such frozen water; the sheet or layer of ice on a pond, river, etc; figuratively – a lack of warm feeling, cold-heartedness, deep reserve; an ice cream; the icing on a cake; diamonds and other jewellery (slang); the profit made from illegal sales of theatre or cinema tickets (US slang); protection money (slang).

'Donald took his vanilla ice onto the frozen puddle, which was now solid and allowed him to skate on the surface of ice.'

'When Gordon made his suggestion to her, Deidre replied with a glance that exposed the ice in her heart and he knew he'd spend the night in the guest room again.'

'Marylyn counted the crystals of ice that poured from the soft leather bag, handed her by her aged but hideously rich admirer, before she calculated how she'd reward him.'

Pic: Bridlington Bay.

Tonight is Wednesday

That means that I am out for the evening, sharing thoughts, ideas, stories and experiences with others of my writers' group. I meet with a bevy of talented, warm, generous but profoundly honest women writers. Sometimes, Rick attends and amuses us with his comic poetry, sending us into fits. We read our words and receive the considered reflections of those present. Criticism is given freely and honestly and, with the gathering made up exclusively of published writers, it is always worth hearing and considering. Adverbs are crushed, clichés are scorned and purple prose is consigned to the bin where it belongs. But all is done in a generous and positive way, with suggestions for replacements of the offending words and phrases. The discussions are always lively, occasionally heated, but always good-humoured. So, tonight's post is just this and the word of the day.    Word of the Day is divorced from the post that precedes it and produced in response to a request from a follower to provide just such a service.
Word of the Day; influence – to affect a mind or an action; this is sometimes a corrupting force, but not always. ‘Percival had always longed to influence Penelope out of her pants, but, under the influence of half a bottle of Chivas Regal, he simply fell on his face at her feet, adversely influencing her opinion of him.’