Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Lucky 7, Cute Dogs, and a Couple of Contests



I’ve been tagged in the Lucky 7 meme. Thanks to Katrina DelalloKaren Wojcik Berner, and Peaches Ledwidge. Over the past few weeks I’ve enjoyed getting glimpses into others’ stories. I hope you feel the same when I share mine. The rules are:

1. Go to page 77 of your current WIP.
2. Go to line 7.
3. Copy down the next 7 lines, sentences, or paragraphs, and post them as they're written.
4. Tag seven authors.
5. Let them know.

I haven’t reached page 77 yet with my current WIP, a lighthearted contemporary YA novel, so this is taken from page 7.

“When I slip into my seat and look to my right, instead of Granville seated behind a stack of computer books, I’m eyeball to eyeball with Tiffany and her unnaturally long lashes. I give her a confused look, expecting her to respond with some kind of explanation for the bizarre change in seating arrangement. But instead she shoots me an icy stare, colder than the winds over the arctic tundra. “What are you looking at?” she snaps.
Scanning the room, I see Granville cloistered away in the back corner where Tiffany usually sits texting her boyfriend-of the-week and touching up her two-inch talons. He looks different somehow.”

And I'm passing the Lucky 7 Challenge along to:
Celesta at CelestaRimington
Karen at KarenCantwell

Speaking of lucky, Sarah C. Pilon was nice enough to invite me to guest post on her blog today for her Unlikely Teachers segment. I hope you’ll click over to read Three Things My Dogs Taught Me About Writing I had a lot of fun writing this post. I hope you have fun reading it.



Also, today's the last day to enter these two great contests. Are you feeling lucky?

Marcia Hoehne is hosting a critique giveaway here.

To celebrate the latest Gallagher Girl release, Amanda at Born Bookish is hosting a book giveaway here.


Good luck!



73 comments:

  1. Congrats Ruth! It was fun reading part of page 77. :) Have a great week!

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  2. Ruth, love your selection! Makes me want to read more and find out what happens with Granville.

    Thanks for tagging me. I'll put my seven sentences up today.

    Judy

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    1. Glad you liked the snippet, Judy. Looking forward to reading yours =)

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  3. That was a very fun excerpt, Ruth. What a great "tag" this has been. I've read some of the others, too. Thanks for the links. I'll hop over and say hi to Marcia and Sarah's. I'd love to read what dogs have taught their writers.

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  4. Interesting snip. Very visual, especially for something so short.

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  5. I already get a sense of Tiffany's character traits.

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  6. Aw, thanks for the tag, Ruth! Your wip has a great teen voice. Nice job! I'm heading over to Sarah's to read your post!

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    1. Thanks Lynn. Looking forward to reading your selection!

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  7. Nice snippet. I enjoyed reading it. =)

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  8. Poor girl ("I" is a girl, right?) I'm feeling rejected and confused, and I'm not even in the story!!

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    1. Hi Lara. Yes, "I" is a girl. Rejected and confused is perfect, just what "she" is feeling at that point.

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  9. I visited your guest post about things you learned from dogs. Great post!

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  10. Thanks for stopping by. I'm following you back.

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  11. Aloha!

    Thanks for the comments and I think it would be fun to write a book with Cassie.... but what about... she would never agree with me :)

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    1. Settling on the premise could take longer than writing the book!

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  12. Oh... I love this lucky 7 meme thing. So fun to read these little excerpts! Yours was great. Thanks SO much for sharing! :D

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    1. Thanks, Morgan, for stopping by and commenting. I agree, these excerpts have been fun to read.

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  13. Your excert is great, Ruth! Good luck with the rest :)

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    1. Thanks, Katie. I'm nearing the 20,000 word mark, which feels like a big deal, but in the scheme of things, there'll still be a long way to go.

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  14. Do you know what I loved about your except? The detailed and yet still entertaining description. Congrats on the award.

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  15. oh, I'm heading over now. love posts about dogs!

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  16. LOVE your 7 lines! Great tone - makes me want to read the rest! :) And since I love dogs, I am now heading over to find out what yours taught you! :)

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  17. Great 7 lines! It's almost as good as your guest post ;)

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    1. Thanks, Sarah. And thanks again for having me over to your blog. Such fun!

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  18. Ruth, thanks so much for mentioning my critique contest!

    Marcia

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  19. Thanks for passing the Lucky 7 challenge my way. I love the YA voice. I used to teach class-loads of Tiffanys!! And now I'll pop over and read your dog-lesson-post. Thanks again.

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    1. Eeep! Class-loads of Tiffanys?! Sounds excruciating.

      Looking forward to reading your excerpt.

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  20. Guess what? The title of my MG novel is Curse of the Granville Fortune. So cool that you have Granville in here. :)

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    1. That's funny. I went to school with a kid named Granville. It is just the perfect geek name, to my ear.

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  21. You did the same thing I did, taking your excerpt from page 7 instead of page 77. Great minds improvise alike, right? :)

    I love your snippet! "touching up her two-inch talons" - I feel like I know Tiffany already!

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    1. Great minds, indeed!

      It's nice to hear that you feel like you know her already. That's great feedback. Thanks.

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  22. I am going to do mine today. *feeling behind* I was going to type I was backed up, but that didn't sound right! *wink*

    Your snippet is wonderful. Love Tiffany. She's very genuine.

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    1. Ha Ha. Sometimes *how* we say it makes all the difference.

      Looking forward to reading your snippet!

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  23. Your 7 lines have me intrigued. And now I want to know what you've learned from those very cute pups. : )

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    1. So glad the snippet left you intrigued. Thanks for the feedback =)

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  24. Love it Ruth!
    I hope you don't mind, but I tagged you in the eleven questions game on my blog today. No pressure though! :) Have a great weekend!

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    1. Thanks, Coleen. I'll head over to check them out.

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  25. Ruth, the characters in your YA novel sound great! I don't know why but "boyfriend-of-the-week" made me pause and think of whether or not I know someone with one(s). I also enjoyed the guest post you did (on dogs and writing).

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  26. Glad you liked the guest post, Claudine.

    I'll bet we can all think of a Tiffany-like character we know in real life.

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  27. Ruth, I especially liked the head-banging lesson from your dog. I've done that. Did I mention I've...done...that? :)

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  28. And oh, I meant to say, your p. 7 snippet was intriguing. I like Tiffany texting the boyfriend of the week and touching up her talons. Nice imagery and alliteration to boot.

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    1. Thanks, Sarah.

      Now I just wish my dog would learn how pointless the head banging is!

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  29. I also liked the image of Tiffany touching up her talons. Great voice in this segment. I would enjoy reading more. Thanks for the Lucky Seven tag. I've posted my response if you'd like to go take a look.

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  30. Fascinating excerpt. That was a lucky passage, indeed, because I would have kept reading. Off to check out your links now. :)

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    1. Thanks, David that's just what every writer wants to hear =)

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  31. Your YA looks like a terrific WIP! Transported me right back to the classrooms of my youth. Wishing you all the best with it!

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  32. Really enjoyed reading a snapshot of your work in progress. Very visual with a lot of showing. Makes me wonder what the story is really about. Sorry, I'm late getting around.

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  33. Excellent snip! You have left me wanting more. I thoroughly enjoyed this. My mind is full pf pictures after reading this. Awesome!

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  34. I love the visuals I'm getting as far as scenery and characters from reading all these excerpts. Great job.

    Have a great week.

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  35. Awesome job! Love your descriptions. I'm intrigued.

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  36. Couldn't remember if I thanked you for the aware so I wanted to stop over and say: Thanks!

    Enjoyed the 7 lines too. Its fun to get an inside look to someones WIP even if its only a few lines.

    ctny

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    1. I agree, Courtney, those seven lines provide a nice peek. I've been enjoying seeing this one make the rounds.

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  37. I love this 7 thing! It's so cool. I just want to go to my WIP and see where that will take me.

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    1. Yes, yes, Christina - consider yourself tagged! Please post your seven lines =D

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