Pages

Tuesday 20 March 2012

The Lucky 7 Meme challenge

Today, the lovely Melissa Gardiner who writes a blog at My Unpublished Life tagged me in The Lucky 7 Meme challenge. Thanks Melissa!

Here are the rules:

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

5. Let them know

Here are 7 lines from the latest draft of the MS for my novel, The Grandson. They are taken from the heroine's grandfather Peter's journal written during WW2.


Our fate has been decided by Churchill and Roosevelt during their meeting in Casablanca and we’re on a ship headed for Algiers in Tunisia. Conditions are cramped but I have enough to eat. I expect that this is nothing compared to what we have to come.

     Leaving Eleanor was never going to be easy. She’s the first girl I have loved. I was lucky enough to see her alone last night. Mother made a splendid going away supper. She’d saved up all of her points and managed to get some sausages. I’d been expecting Woolton pie, the vegetable pie being promoted by Lord Woolton, the Minster for Food.


The 7 fabulous ladies I am tagging are:

Laura E. James
Michelle Flatley
Clare Wartnaby
Debs Carr
Rebecca Leith
Debbie White
Lucie Wheeler
By the way ladies-I totally understand if you're too busy to do this or if you don't want to reveal any of your WIP/MS!

Thanks again Melissa.


32 comments:

  1. Wow, that's an interesting and original challenge. Happy to take part, I'll dig the ms out after supper - I've just put the carrots on!
    And thank you, Anita, for thinking of me. I'll check out Melissa's blog too.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Isn't it a great idea-and doesn't take long either! You're welcome Rebecca.

      Delete
    2. ps, don't go forgetting about those carrots...

      Delete
  2. Hi Anita. Thank you for including me. Thank goodness page 177 wasn't requested - haven't got that far yet. Will get down to it a little later xx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You're welcome Laura-look forward to reading your stuff!

      Delete
  3. Wow, thanks so much for thinking of me. Off to do it now... :-) x

    ReplyDelete
  4. I want to know where they've come from and if they're going further than Algiers. And what is Woolton Pie?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Rebecca, they're going to be captured in Tunisia and taken to Italy as prisoners of war. I discovered Woolton Pie when reading about rationing during WW2-found it really interesting. The Ministry of Food came up with recipes which were nutritious but didn't use too many rations. Woolton Pie was made from vegetables in season, oats and covered in pastry. Lord Woolton was the Minister of Food at the time and apparently a chef at The Savoy created the recipe. Wikipedia link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woolton_pie

      Delete
  5. Brilliant, Anita!

    Thanks so much for taking part!

    I am always really enamoured by writers who tackle historical fiction. There is a lot of research that goes into it and that is really brave. Argh, I want to read more!!:)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Melissa, thanks so much for asking me. I enjoyed it. I haven't looked at this bit of my book for ages and it's got me thinking about it again. My MS has a few WW2 journal excerpts in it written by the heroine's grandfather but most of it is set in 1994+ in Tuscany, Yorkshire, London and New York. So glad you want to read more-that's made my day!

      Delete
  6. Thanks so much for thinking of me, Anita - what a great idea. I enjoyed reading your extract! It's also great to be linked with other writers - some that I already know of and some that I don't. Right - will have to get my contribution sorted...!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Clare, thanks for your comment and for accepting-can't wait to read your bit!

      Delete
  7. Oh that's a great game! Wanna play! Pleeeese can I play?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes do it-You can be honourary number 8! Look forward to reading.

      Delete
  8. I enjoyed reading your detailed excerpt, especially about the Woolton Pie! Thanks for being my 200th follower! Julie

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hello Julie, thanks for your comment-isn't the Woolton Pie and rationing info interesting! I really enjoyed doing the World War Two research for my book. You're welcome re following your blog-look forward to reading it properly and thanks too for following mine-number 60!

      Delete
  9. What a good idea this is! I liked your extract from The Grandson - it sounds like a very interesting book. x

    ReplyDelete
  10. Enjoyed your excerpt, Anita - I have to do this from someone else!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Rosemary-look forward to reading yours!

      Delete
  11. Anita, I like this very much. One thought (feel free to discard): "Leaving Eleanor was never going to be easy. She’s the first girl I have loved." to me, this doesn't sound like a heartbroken young man, pouring his thoughts out in a journal that he doesn't expect anyone else ever to read. This sounds like somebody writing a letter to a distant relative and doesn't want to reveal too much.

    Now, this might be what you want. You might already have covered this elsewhere that because he's not certain of privacy, other people might have access to the journal, etc., so he's being very guarded as to what he writes down. If this is NOT what you want, if the journal is where he pours out his innermost thoughts, then make sure you have naked agony and even embarrassing thoughts or incidents on the journal pages from time to time.

    Sounds like a terrific premise, keep going, keep going! :-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Beverly, thanks for your comment and for taking time to give me such constructive feedback! The way I've written the journal is in quite a formal way because Peter (the heroine's grandfather) only bought it because he wanted to buy something in the shop where Eleanor worked so he could speak to her. Also I was thinking that a man of his generation may not write about his feelings openly and he may worry that someone else may see it as he's carrying it around with him the whole time. Your comment has made me think about all of this though and I may have a look at some real journals from WW2 and see how they compare. Thanks! Anita.

      Delete
  12. I'm loving this meme! Reading everyone's lines is so much fun.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Kelly for your comment. I'm enjoying reading them all too!

      Delete
    2. ps Kelly, thanks for liking my FB page.

      Delete
  13. What an intriguing glimpse into your story! We learned a lot in those 7 lines! :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks very much Jemi and for following my blog-stumbled across your blog yesterday I think and will have a closer look when get a moment.

      Delete
  14. Love your excerpt, Anita! What a fun tag.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks very much Talli! Hope you had a great weekend in Paris-looking forward to seeing pictures. Am so jealous...

      Delete
  15. What a fab idea, will do this when I get the time :)

    ReplyDelete
  16. Thank you to Janice Horton and Suzie Tullett for also tagging me for this:
    Janice Horton's blog: http://janicehortonwriter.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/lucky-7-challenge.html
    Suzie Tullett's blog: http://suzietullett.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/lucky-7-mme-award-or-se7en.html

    ReplyDelete