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inspiration, music, photography, poetry, stories, time, writing
I urge people to join in, comment with your paragraph of fiction to accompany the image. It doesn’t have to follow my story or reflect the same themes. It can be a poem or in a different language (provide a translation please 
). Anyone who wants to join in, is welcome. This photograph will be reblogged under Ermisenda on tumblr and added to the Picture it & Write gallery on Facebook and Pinterest.
Every fortnight we hope to host a photograph suggested by contributors. So, keep those photograph recommendations coming. Submit your favourite images (with credit) for next week’s Picture it & write!
The clasp that held the jewelry box snapped open. Sylvia lowered her pearls down into the velvet fabric, as if waiting for her newest treasure to glide towards the others. There was a seabed of glittering rubies, dazzling sapphires, and exquisite emeralds. The majestic diamonds shone the brightest; they were her greatest friends of all. Something about the diamond had always fascinated her the most. Despite all the pressure the diamond had once experienced, it became the strongest and most beautiful of all the jewels.
– Ermisenda Alvarez
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Want to be a published author? Contributions to this post qualify for the Picture it & Write Publication.
Ermilia 
It wasn’t that she hated men. No, she loved them. All of them. All of those that paid the price. The years had passed and now she could be free. Funny how it all started. Needing a few bucks here and there. Her secret life. Her secret wealth. No longer bound to the night, she was free to live. Each diamond came with guilt. Each diamond paid erased a bit of her soul. Each diamond securing this day. Could she find a way to replace the hollow with life? Money tight in her hand she realized her hunger for more would bind her to that unbreakable rock.
You capture your reader’s attention and emotions with this short piece.
Exchanging ones soul for shiny stones…
Nicely done, Vanessa.
So much in so few sentences. There’s an entire story in there! Fantastic story and I loved the ending. Powerful. Thanks for contributing this week, Vanessa. 🙂
“replace the hollow” really made me stop and wonder how I would feel in this girl’s place… paid in diamonds for being with men I love.
Peruzzi, old European,
passion, oh you allotrope,
dancing and insane,
dropped into black; cut
your name just above
the fault in my glass
heart.
I really liked the idea of carving the name into the flawed glass heart. Lovely imagery, Marie!
I spent a LOT of time trying to understand the relationship between “Peruzzi” and “allotrope”. I don’t. I feel stupid again. I’m going to bed now.
I agree with Ermi. I love the imagery.
I always enjoy reading your creative takes on these pictures. This one is also beautifully written.
Please find my take on the prompt here:
http://scraps-from-life.blogspot.in/2012/12/twenty-jewels.html
That was lovely! Well done!
Thanks! 🙂 That was such a beautiful poem. I love when I read stories woven into poetry. Bittersweet. Thanks for contributing this week to Picture it & write!
Dazzling image! plenty of possibilities… and i loved your story. ^^
Thanks, Kz! 😀
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a little longer than usual and the plot is a bit obvious but oh well..it’s what came first into my mind.. here’s mine ^^ http://theeclecticeccentricshopaholic.wordpress.com/2012/12/16/writing-challenge-picture-it-write-v/ thank you
I don’t think it was too cliche! I really liked how you made an emphasis on how beautiful her red hair was. I felt like it was a taste of the blood to come. It might not have been on purpose but it came out for me. That’s a lesson for all those cheaters out there! 😛 Thanks for contributing this week, Kz.
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Oh dear…a bit long, but went on and on during the dark days here near the arctic circle.http://managuagunntoday.wordpress.com/2012/12/16/picture-it-and-write-magic-hands-part-ii/
Wow, that was sensual. The heat! I loved how you didn’t drag it out so long that it ruined the excitement. I love leaving our imaginations to run wild. Thanks for contributing this week, yerpirate!
I just get protected blog from this link.
Sorry about that – was not sure if blog was safe from malware so closed and checked all for one whole week. now sure is fine.
“Despite all the pressure the diamond had once experienced, it became the strongest and most beautiful of all the jewels.”
This sounds like a parable, doesn’t it?
Beautifully written.
Here’s my contribution: TWINKLE, TWINKLE, LITTLE STAR
I didn’t see it that way but I guess you’re right! Thanks for the compliment. I love that you adapted ‘Twinkle, twinkle, little star’. Very creative! I also love that you personified the sun in the second stanza. Let the little star shine! Thanks for contributing this week, Kwadwo. 🙂
hello Ermilia,
Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star is not my poem. It was adapted from the The Star, an early 19th-century English poem by Jane Taylor and was first published in 1806 in Rhymes For The Nursery, a collection of poems by Jane and her sister Anne.
I only thought the poem would go nicely with this week’s picture.
In posting it, I do not take credit for any of the words or its entire composition.
Cheers! 😀
Hey! I might not have been clear enough. I like how you wove that old poem into your new one. That’s what I meant by ‘adapted’. 🙂 Thanks again for sharing your work with us.
There is one special Gem
to be treasured
The quality
not to be measured
Is it the brightest
or the sharpest
Do I touch?
Do I feel?
Life is like a lucky dip
Or a racket game
You hit or miss
All that glitters is not gold
A well-polished gem
Can shine and gleam
But then cracks show through
When it loses sheen
So look beyond the polished Gem
Look once, look twice
Then look again
It can take years
To strike gold
To find the one
To truly behold
Geminiwords
Oh, how sweet! I love how you twisted the end of the poem to indicate romance. I hope we all find ‘the one to truly behold’. Thanks for contributing this week, Gemini!
I like the hope this offers.
He was always so high-class about these things.
Frivolous affairs, really. And he was such a stickler for details. The room was black and white – the entire evening was being recorded in grayscale, in real time, in memory, because he had decided color had no place here tonight.
The floor was pristine white marble. The fortunes he’d spent on it aren’t worth thinking about. Somehow he’d found stock with no veins, no discoloration. As if the stone these tiles had been hewn from were made of eons of compressed virgin snow, somehow.
The walls were encased in glass shards and mirrors. White shone white, and lights reflected bright as the sun in each little facet. Walls made of diamonds.
The ceiling was white and texture-less. Hours of scrutiny would not afford you even the smallest flaw or defect. The mounts for every chandelier grew from the ceiling; there were no seams. The whole space was a flowing black-and-white work of sophistication and minimalism.
The people here are black and white, too. The whites and lights so saturate the room, my very skin looks less colored by the bloom of blush and blood than by the hand of a master craftsman, painted and glossed porcelain. Each face hidden behind a mask, eyes veiled by dark lenses. Black and white. White and black.
He always had a certain flair for these things.
This one was a minimalist masquerade, he said in the invitations. Enclosed were strict dress guidelines; even stricter inspectors had verified each guest’s dress at the door.
The room smelled of powder. Powder and perfume. But not overwhelmingly so – the scent was like a dream. Present, but fleeting. As soon as you forgot it, you recognized it again.
The chatter and clacking of shoes echoed disjointedly throughout the hall, sounds cast this way and that off the same facets that cast brilliant white blooms of light onto the array of guests. So real, surreal.
He always made a grand entrance at these things.
Amidst the small chaos of unruly echoes, a slow rain of clattering began. Tink-clink-tink. Light danced and flashed across the room, everything seemed to move. Tink-tink-clink-tink-clink. The cascade intensified, and the guests stood still, glancing around the room, gazes skittering from surface to surface, worry and wonder saturating each smile.
Tink-tink-tink-clink-tinktink-clinktink-clink.
Sliding just slightly to the side, I felt something catch beneath my heel. My gaze fell to the floor, and there I beheld the rain. Diamonds – small, imperfect, tiny diamonds – were soaking the floor, pooling out from beneath tables – tables craftily fitted with some manner of mechanism for just this. I could feel the gravity in the room shift as the communal gaze fell to the floor and watched the sparkling puddles spread.
He always succeeded in finding miraculously wonderful ways in which to flaunt his wealth.
He cleared his throat, and he became the center of the world. Every gaze fell to the man in the middle of the room, pristine crystal glass filled with chardonnay in his hand. He rose a toast, to wonder.
As we laughed and joined in his toast, the rain of diamonds came to a slow close, and we stood in awe, united in wonder, wrapped in silence and fitfully dancing lights.
What a sight that would be! You created such beautiful imagery. I loved this description of the scent – “The room smelled of powder. Powder and perfume. But not overwhelmingly so – the scent was like a dream. Present, but fleeting. As soon as you forgot it, you recognized it again.” Thanks for contributing this week, Kristin!
That would have been one pricey party!
Haha, now that’s making it rain! I really liked the marble being like eons of compressed snow.
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Hey so I’m back to Picture it & write! Yeah 🙂 I’m so glad to finally have found time for this again. It’s always so fun to make a contribution.
It’s great to hear back from you, M.D! We missed you and your stories.
Bah! Poor girl. I absolutely love the line about how lust and love can be great friends. I definitely agree with that statement! I like to think I have that with my partner. 😉 You don’t have to trade one for the other at all. You just have to keep looking! Thanks for contributing this week to Picture it & write.
This is a superb idea! It’s been years since I last wrote a short story, so my writing skill is really rusty. Here’s mine and cheers for reading. Oh and go easy on me 🙂
I hope you enjoyed writing and I hope to see you next week!
It was now or never. After weeks of desperation and self denial, it finally dawned on him: he needs cash. Fast. All he had to was plain simple. It was right in front of him; grab those diamonds and run. No more hiding, no more misery. He remember reading somewhere that there’s something good and evil inside everyone. The only difference is which one they’d go for.
” I’m home! “
There goes my plan… the man grimly thought to himself.
Guess I have to tell Agatha the truth, with that the man walked away in defeat, and braced himself from the letdown he’s about to receive.
A great little story! Sometimes plan aren’t as simple as they first seem. Thanks for contributing this week!
I like the bit about the choice between good and evil.
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Here’s my attempt. Well, a lame effort but atleast I tried! 🙂
What a sad story. 😦 Life is never constant and we have to try and make the best decisions each and every day. Thanks for sharing your story with us, MuZer!
I had quite a few different interpretations on this pic but somehow all of them were turning out to be sad only. I wrote this as it made the most sense in my head!
Thanks for these creative prompts every week, I look forward to participating in them and appreciate your feedback, Ermisenda! 🙂
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This one worked to help continue my Elven Games serial. Thanks!
Ooo, I love how the tiny diamonds were fairy dust. That was very creative! Thanks for contributing this week, Sam! 🙂
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Hi there! Here is my offering for this week, sorry about the delay!
Enjoy
Joe
I agree with Scriptor Obscura. It’s only the beginning of a great mystery novel! I loved the description of the diamonds – ‘There was the blazing sparkle from the pile of diamonds that scattered beneath him.’ Thanks for contributing this week, Joe!
Oh, this one has been so popular…! 🙂
Just popping in to wish you both a wonderful Festival Season.
Thank You both for the opportunity to join with you in your wonderful generosity.
May you Eliabeth, and you Ermisenda receive whatever fills you with joy this Holiday Season.
I look forward to rejoining you in the New Year…. xoxoxo 🙂
Such kind words, Carolyn! Thank you so much. Both Eliabeth and I wish you a great holiday season as well. It’s been fantastic to have had the pleasure to read your work and have you part of our online community. Next year will bring many new adventures and great stories. 😉
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Okay so first, I just love that you opened this with pearls! A couple of prompts ago, I got those from the gold nugget veil! I’m loving this theme! I almost wish I’d read yours before writing. It might have been another I incorporated. The two things I love most about the diamond, you highlighted here. The incredible stress that produces it, and it’s magnificent clarity that results. …in so few words. Marie will be proud of you if she finds this one!
The latest of my late posts… here’s Twinkle, Twinkle…
Okay, next time, I say it’s when I mean its… someone just kill me please?
Thank you! I’m glad you enjoyed it. That’s the quality I love about diamonds too.
This story defintiely had a dream-like quality to it. I loved this description – ‘listening to her innocent voice pierce the darkness in delightful nocturnal lullaby.’ So beautiful. We have received some very creative posts this week with the diamonds! Thanks for contributing this week, Annie!
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Late as usual but here I am: Brittle Beauty
Initially got the idea from a chemistry lesson and built the story around it, so it might be a little boring. Not that chemistry is boring, chemistry is cool (the chemistry cat is lurking in the shadows). I hope you both had a peaceful Christmas and cheers in advance for the new year!