Thursday, April 12, 2012

Lucky 7


The ever-prolific Isabel Costello has tweeted another writing assignment. This one is pretty neat—it’s a curtain-raising of sorts on what people are writing. And it works like this:

Go to page 7 or 77 in your current manuscript
  • Go to line 7
  • Post on your blog the next 7 lines, or sentences, as they are – no cheating
  • Tag 7 other authors to do the same
I chose the page 7 option to pull my seven lines from my manuscript, The Cookbook. Because it can be a bit jarring jumping into the middle of something without context, here’s the logline for the novel: When Lena Blake receives a handwritten cookbook from her grandmother’s estate—along with the instructions that she read it with her estranged sister—the 35-year-old undertakes an emotional project that forces her to reconcile sweet childhood memories with her soured, adult existence, forever changing the course of her life.

So, on page 7, we find Lena at her grandmother’s funeral, watching her sister, Lexie:

"It was amidst this collision of unfortunate past and painful present that I spotted Lexie, her thumbs moving over her BlackBerry keyboard in a flurried rat-a-tat-tat of efficient multi-tasking. Her brains, her patents, her genetically superior family, her egregiously large house in an upscale Chicago suburb and her annual salary with multiple commas compelled her to be doing something every moment. Moments like now. Mourn grandmother’s passing? Check. Greet group of bereaved relatives? Check. Schedule conference call with Mid-Atlantic team to review rollout plans for annihilating every competitor on the eastern seaboard? Check."

That’s seven lines of what I’ve been working on. I’m tweetin’ and taggin’, so get your seven ready!

6 comments:

  1. Oh my gosh. I love this. I've got such a vivid picture of Lexie as a person. Plus, I think most people can relate to this characterizatoin --we all know someone who can never seem to be "present" because they're always texting, or talking on their cell, or emailing, etc. What a fun premise, too!

    Can't wait to hear more. :)

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    1. You're too kind. Alas, I think we all have a little Lexie in us. With email, twitter, facebook, blogging, oh, and that writing thing we're all trying to do, sometimes it's hard not to be. ;) Thanks for the encouragement!

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  2. Hey Monica, Lexie sounds just like my wife, you must have surely met her!And it very much sounds like Lena is about to go on a journey...

    You are such an accomplished blogger, so thank you so much for your very kind feedback to my Lucky7. I'm sure I'll refer back to them for comfort when the rejections begin drop on the doormat :o) Still, we live in hope! Best regards, Tom

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  3. Is that who I met the other day?! ;) Thanks for your kind words. I think Ms. Pike is the one putting us all to shame on the blog front. :P As for those rejections...sigh...yeah, we've all been there. I like to think that we're all in this together--there is strength (and commiseration) in numbers! Keep writing--your blog is a terrific read!

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  4. My God, you've packed so much into those seven lines Monica; talk about character compression, I have a vivid idea of Lexie.
    I am intrigued by your novel's premise, I have little scraps of handwritten recipes from my mother and they have the power to evoke such a lot. It's powerful stuff and I definitely want to read it!

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  5. Thanks so much! I love that you have little scraps of recipes written by your mother--SO special! Amazing how special food can be when it's shared with family, no? Thanks again for reading!

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