~photo by Xerones via Flickr
Happy Vernal Equinox to all of you! The calendar says it’s spring today but the view out my window says otherwise. Listening to some Alison Krauss and the Wailin’ Jennys this morning makes it all the more difficult to be present here in the NW when all I want to do is be somewhere warm sittin’ in a hammock sipping a beverage that’s not socially acceptable to drink at this hour of day.
Thank goodness for the lovely view of the river through the budding trees here at work. Bright green moss shrouds many of the branches that reach like fingers up to the pale gray sky. Even though I am craving the sunshine, there is a hauting beauty to it all.
On another completely unrelated note, I’ve been tagged in a writer’s game, The Lucky 7 Meme, by my friend, Mike Schulenberg. Thanks, Mike!
Here are the rules to which I must adhere:
1. Go to page 77 of your current MS/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 7 authors, and let them know.
The park looked deserted when I arrived except for the animals I knew were scurrying around in the dark. Winded from running all the way from the Exodus, I needed to sit down on a bench to catch my breath. The sliver of crescent moon above was of little help in illuminating the park beyond the dimly lit lampposts standing sentry around the playground’s edges, making it hard to see into the dark depths of the wooded area beyond.
I looked towards the playground, but found it difficult to see the merry-go-round from where I was sitting. I went over to the swings and sat down on the same one I had occupied the night before, hoping that by recreating the same scene, I would somehow magically make him appear.
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Mike Schulenberg said:
Thanks for sharing, Tami! I liked it. Your selection makes a nice excerpt and I’m interested to know what happens next in your story. Keep up the good work, and watch out for that Benedict guy 😉
By the way, Alina Sayre has mentioned in the Facebook group that she’s interested in playing the Lucky 7 Meme. It would be great if we can arrange for someone to tag her.
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Tami Clayton said:
Thanks for the words of encouragement, Mike!
I was so bummed that I didn’t see Alina’s comment in facebook until AFTER I posted! I would have included her! Any ideas on who we can nudge to tage her?
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Mike Schulenberg said:
Yeah, I wish I would’ve thought to suggest tagging Alina last night when you and I were talking about the logo issue. I gave the Facebook thread a little bump up to the top in the hopes that more people will see it.
As for suggestions who we might nudge to tag her, I would think that any of the 7 you tagged who want to play would be willing to do it. Do you have regular contact with any of them?
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Tami Clayton said:
I saw your FB bump. Good thinkin’. I’ll mention it to the 7 I’ve tagged. I hate it when I miss something as obvious as that. 🙁 I blame Benedict since he’s not here right now to defend himself. 😉
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Mike Schulenberg said:
I tagged Laird when I did mine, and I just suggested to her that she get Alina, so we might be good to go. I’ll let you know what Laird says.
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Tami Clayton said:
Great! I’m glad you’re lookin’ out for all of us. The power of WANA at work here, folks. 🙂
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Mike Schulenberg said:
Laird just posted and tagged Alina, so we’re all good 🙂
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Alina Sayre said:
Thanks, guys 🙂
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Judythe Morgan said:
Tami, Your selection is certainly a hook…where/when can we read the rest of the story?
Thank Mike for starting this!
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Tami Clayton said:
Thanks, Judy! You’re so kind. It’s still in it’s infancy, very much a WIP. Hoping to have it presentable enough by summer to pitch it at a conference.
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Sherry Isaac said:
Tami, I accept your challenge, on top of yesterday’s challenge, and so will make it a lucky fourteen. Or… maybe 7 from P 77, and 7 from P 7?
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Tami Clayton said:
If anyone is up to that kind of challenge, it’s you, Sherry. 🙂
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Sara Walpert Foster said:
Thanks Tami for including me. I loved your excerpt. I think you are a lovely writer and look forward to reading your fiction. Finish it up so I can buy it for my teenagers (and steal it from them so I can read myself). 🙂
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Tami Clayton said:
Thank you for your supportive words, Sara. I’ve been in a bit of a funk lately with my writing so I appreciate the encouragement!
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corajramos said:
I’m glad you tagged me. It made me realize that my WIP have been suffering badly with all the blog promo work we’ve been doing. I’m glad I had this opportunity to prod myself back on the writing bandwagon.
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Tami Clayton said:
Glad I could prod you back to the bandwagon, Cora. Looking forward to your seven lines!
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Alina Sayre said:
Oooh, an intriguing excerpt, Tami! The magical unnamed “him.” I like how these random excerpts from the middle of our books sound so much like back cover pitches 🙂
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Tami Clayton said:
I like dipping into each others’ WIP’s, too! It’s nice to get a sampling of everyone’s writing outside of their blogs.
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Barbara Forte Abate said:
Yes, yes, lovely excerpt. I so want to know what happened “last night” and with “whom” and why oh why your character has been running in the dark! Love your style with words, Tami. And to think, this is only 7 lines …
And thank you so much for the invite. I would so rather play than work today 😀
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Tami Clayton said:
*blushing from all of the nice comments here*
Thanks, Barbara! I loved your excerpt as well. Looking forward to reading more from you in the finished novel!
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Ellen Gregory said:
Fun! Thanks for tagging me. Love your excerpt.
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Tami Clayton said:
Thanks, Ellen!
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April Plummer (@April_Plummer) said:
Awesome! Thanks for the tag – I’m doing it tomorrow!
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April Plummer (@April_Plummer) said:
And I really like your lines! Beautifully written. I was so there in the park, on the merry-go-round, watching and listening to the animals and adoring the beautiful night sky and yearning for HIM to join me. Beautiful.
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Tami Clayton said:
Thanks for the kind words, April! I’m hoping the rest of the novel lives up to the wonderful feedback I’ve received here. 🙂
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jodileastewart said:
Intriguing!
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Tami Clayton said:
Thanks, Jodi!
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Mary Ann said:
I don’t like the characterization of your writing as “my crappy first draft”… stop it!
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Tami Clayton said:
All writers have crappy first drafts. It’s like a rite of passage. Not meant to put ourselves down. The first draft is just that, a draft. The other part of writing (or some say the real writing) comes when you revise. And revise. And revise…
Thanks for commenting! 🙂
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Kate Evangelista said:
I actually got tagged for this one too! 🙂
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Tami Clayton said:
It’s been so much fun getting to read all of the excerpts that are getting posted lately. Thanks for stopping by!
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livrancourt said:
Make WHO appear?
Cool excerpt. Now, where in the NW are you? Maybe you can just come on ovar to my house and we’ll gang up on my daughter till she shows us the Sherlock videos. 😉
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Tami Clayton said:
I’m not far from you so I may just take you up on that offer! *quickly packs bag and heads north to Seattle*
See you in about five hours! I’ll bring the wine. 😉
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livrancourt said:
Woot! I just found your reply. Maybe we can meet in the middle? That would be Portland, maybe? Powells Books and then a side-trip to the Brewery next door?
😉
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Tami Clayton said:
Portland, Powell’s and a pint? I’m in! 🙂
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livrancourt said:
Okay, seriously…we book a 2-room suite at the Mark Spencer Hotel, which is about 2 blocks from Powells, we arm-wrestle over who gets the bed & who gets the couch, we bring laptops – they have wifi – and we settle in for a night of reading and writing and, um, drinking…
😉
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Tami Clayton said:
That sounds like a lot of fun! Very tempting… Let’s chat over email to see if we can make it happen sometime soon. 🙂