"The notion that such persons are gay of heart and carefree is curiously untrue. They lead, as a matter of fact, an existence of jumpiness and apprehension. They sit on the edge of the chair of Literature. In the house of Life they have the feeling that they have never taken off their overcoats."
- James Thurber, My Life and Hard Times

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

A blog challenge: Lucky 7

Sometimes my friends like to play games with their Facebook statuses or blog posts. I do like to join in when I can, although I'm too busy to join them all the time. This of course makes me feel guilty. ("Oh, no, they won't love me anymore if I don't play with them. I'll fall off their A-list!")

But when Jenny Hilborne, author extraordinaire, named me as one of her seven writer buds to partake in the Lucky 7 Challenge, I had to try to respond. I don't think of myself as a lucky person, but the challenge appealed to me because being lucky reminds me of Las Vegas and Las Vegas reminds me of this guy:


Ah... Dino...

So here are the rules:

1. Go to page 7 or 77 in your current manuscript (fiction or non-fiction)
2. Go to line 7
3. Post on your blog the next 7 lines, or sentences, as they are – no cheating
4. Tag 7 other authors to do the same


So here are 7 lines from page 77 of my current manuscript (be gentle, it's in its first draft state):

At each statement, Skip watched Matt McHale's face turn a deeper shade of red as his shoulders slumped forward. Claudia wept harder with each fact.

"No," McHale said. "It's not true—"

His wife cut him off. "Stop lying, Matthew. It's true. All of it." She cried a little more, then spoke again. "Of course, my husband thinks Alex was a typical teenager. He was always at the office, while I was the one trying to get Alex to school, trying to get him to do homework, wondering where he was and when he'd be home."

Now then, my 7 authors to tag... hmm... stop hiding behind your coffee mugs. I see you.


Tag, you're all it!

8 comments:

Sheri Fink said...

I enjoyed your excerpt and I accept your challenge. :) My manuscript is a work in progress. It's a children's book.

After nightfall, the Little Firefly hovered in front of a porch light so it would look like she was lit up. She spent the whole night by the light while her friends flitted around enjoying themselves. They invited her to play with them, but the Little Firefly refused. She had to stay put so everyone would think that she was glowing, just like them.

Lingering in front of the hot porch light was not a fun way to spend the night. The Little Firefly really wanted to play Fire Tag. Sleepy and exhausted, she thought of a different idea.

JFHilborne said...

Love the excerpts

Gayle Carline said...

Sweet excerpt, Sheri - I'm intrigued!

Janelle's Jaunts said...

Challenge received and accepted...

He sighed and fell back against the pillow. He was beginning to think there was something seriously wrong with her.
He began to take his girls out alone. Taylor was too busy, too tired. She always has a headache. She needed space. She had a different excuse every time.

Tameri Etherton said...

Your excerpt certainly has me excited for more, Gayle! I accept your challenge and will put it on my blog this coming Tuesday.

Sheri's little firefly is too sweet. Janelle's is very intriguing since I know nothing about her book, now I want to know who Taylor is and why she is always tired.

Fun game, thanks for including me.

Bethany Lopez Author said...

Sweet! It sounds wonderful.

Rick Ochocki said...

Thank you, Gayle. Because of your challenge I wrote another blog post. And I'm another day closer to getting a personalized license plate for the new wheels!

Indy Quillen said...

I just posted my new blog with my excerpt and gave reasons why I accepted your challenge. I never expected to discover a valuable editing tool in the process of doing this contest - but I did! Thanks for making me stretch outside my comfort zone! :0)

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