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Monday, March 12, 2012

I am "It"


I’ve been “tagged.”  How bad is this? I didn’t know what that meant.  So I went to the blog of Lauren Waters, the “tagger” and found these instructions.  

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. No cheating
4. Tag 7 authors
5. Let them know

Before going further, I’ll confess a few truths.  I’m suffering from a severe case of blog topic drought so I was grateful for this exercise since it would result in a new post (thank you Lauren).  That said, I to, was intrigued to discover what was on page 77 of my WIP.  I paged through only to find that page 77 came at the end of the chapter and had two lines. 

So, herewith, please find page 78.  BTW, I’m not tagging anyone, but this is a fun exercise for anyone who feels so inclined.  Oh, and if I were to give this little snippet a title, I’d call the following lines: “What you see is not what you get.”

“Then they left me to stare at the man I thought I knew, a man who looked like a pale stranger, and I as I had recently confirmed, had been acting like one too. An oxygen tube snaked into his nose.  His arms were tied down, his skin, pale blue chalk.  I tried not to think about anything other than Harrison’s recovery, but the shock of the last several hours was beginning to wear off.  My mind began to probe the truth, the way a tongue finds the crater remaining after a pulled tooth.

Not only did my husband have a heart attack and drive off the road into a retaining wall, but I’d arrived at the hospital to discover he’d had a companion in the car.  That shouldn’t be a revelation, I suppose, since I’d suspected all along that he was up to something.”

Lauren has tagged a bunch of other folks, so for some fun reading, click here to find the links.

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ooooh! Wow! This is so compelling. That last paragraph would be amazing on the back cover of your book!

Bish Denham said...

It's amazing how much of the story is revealed in just a few lines, 78 pages into a MS. Excellent!

Anonymous said...

Wow. You packed a lot of suspense into those seven lines!

Old Kitty said...

Ooh nice extract!! Oh dear - your poor mc! What a way to see your hubby and know all the other stuff too! Yay! Great tag!! Take care
x

Jemi Fraser said...

THose are 7 great lines! :)

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Someone's in trouble!

mshatch said...

love it :) I wonder if she'll pull the tube out...

Yvonne Osborne said...

Wow! In a random sample you have hook, line and sinker! A great pitch. For fun I did the same thing. Very interesting.

Helen Ginger said...

Well, that turned out to be a great page to turn to for this exercise! Made me want to read more.

Carol Kilgore said...

Great hook! Write faster :)

Jennifer Shirk said...

GREAT excerpt!! Thanks for sharing. :)

Susan Flett Swiderski said...

What a terrific excerpt. I hope your first seven lines are as intriguing. Great job!

A.L. Sonnichsen said...

I really like the truth/crater metaphor. Nice job! I've seen a few of these around the blogosphere. Fun exercise!

A.L. Sonnichsen said...

Sorry, I meant tooth/crater metaphor. LOL!

Robyn Campbell said...

Wow! Great job, Liza! Very gripping. I for one cannot wait to read your book! You have left me hangin'!

You write with such assurance. Love it. :-)