Today I’m participating in the 777 Novel project.
I’m gearing up for Trail in the Sand‘s virtual blog tour, starting next week on the forty-third anniversary of Earth Day. I’m visiting fifteen different blogs in seven days, which means I’m writing guests posts until my fingers are nearly raw. I’m still attempting to keep up with my own blog.
I thought this exercise sounded like fun to do with my new manuscript for my novel Safe Harbor – working title only. If you have any suggestions for a different title please. . . Also, this was an easy and fun post to put together. Hope you enjoy it, too.
Here are the rules: Share 7 lines from page 7 or 77 of your manuscript or go to page 7 or 77 and count down 7 lines and copy the next 7 lines of your manuscript.
I chose to go to page 77, which happened to be the start of a new chapter:
“Daniel drove into Venice Village, carefully avoiding the potholes in the dirt streets filled with water from the rains that drenched the area after Hurricane Charley exited the state the week before. Tall cranes stood motionless on the site where 120 condominiums would soon rise to meet the claws of the machines. As dusk approached, Daniel imagined the machinery as dinosaurs waiting to pounce on their prey, not heeding anything but the need to fill an empty and large stomach.
Some of the bridges over the canals were still under water, but Daniel knew Rob and his buddies would be staying near the bridge at the back of the compound where a rise in the landscape provided relief from the flooded canals. Daniel noted as he drove that drainage culverts and retention ponds, while not fully complete or functional, still had not performed in any way that gave him confidence this folly of creating the Floridian Venice would work.
He saw Rob and Jeremy walking toward the car so he slowed down, careful to not get stuck in some of the muddy ruts in the road, which had been carved by the trucks and machinery of the crews working diligently to bring the perfect housing complex to St. Johns County.
Rob climbed in the front seat and Jeremy climbed in back behind him.”
Safe Harbor examines the folly of man when he transforms nature for his benefit. Nature always wins in the end. A group of ordinary citizens form an odd group as they attempt to stop an international conglomerate from destroying the natural world they treasure.
Why don’t you give it a try? This was fun to see where the 777 took me. Let’s hear yours!
P.C. ZICK 
13 responses to “777 Novel Day”
What a fun idea. Here are 7 lines from page 7 of my next release coming out in a week or so.
Stupid kid. Hadn’t she learned anything in Sex Ed class? God, they knew where to go for birth control. Gave them the pamphlets myself. Abysmal writing too. What had she been doing in English class? Sleeping?
Sue had said Becky’s baby was cute as all get out. Not surprising. Becky was cute too. But how would that poor baby be raised? A fifteen-year-old mother and a welfare grandmother, not much over thirty herself, didn’t make for the best start.
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Very interesting – as a former high school English teacher, I’m hooked.
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page 77 of Dirty Laundry lines 8-14L:
The two of us were drowning in each other. The air surrounding us crackled with tension. We knew immediately things were going to a higher level. I was in my twenties now, a woman, no longer a teenage girl. Johnny was in his thirties and had waited for this for years.
The wedding was lovely, and Johnny took every opportunity to stand as close to me as possible. We made small talk until time to leave for the reception. Johnny walked me to my car and helped me get the kids ready for the ride. As I fastened my own seatbelt, he leaned into the car and assured me we would talk later.
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I love the the way you’ve created the tension between these two characters. Very tempting.
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Thanks, P.C.! I’m so looking forward to my spot on your blog in July. Best thing? When it goes up, I’ll be in MN with a group of widows – you can bet I’ll make sure they ALL read your blog that day!
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Fantastic – I’m sure you’ll have a blast, and I look forward to hearing from every one of those women!
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[…] saw this post, 777 Novel Day on Patricia Zick‘s blog and it sounded like fun. Here’s what you do: Share 7 lines from […]
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What a great exercise…and easy to complete. I’ll definitely participate. Any idea who originated this?
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Thanks, Deb. I don’t know origin. I’ve been sent this exercise from several sources so that’s why I didn’t assign credit or ping back. I couldn’t even name the sources! I hope to see yours.
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Fun! Here you go…cheezy, but these are my sappy seven:
Staring straight ahead, the sound of his voice had given me goose bumps; “I came to your store that day to sponge off some marketing concepts….to freshen up, kind of like a field trip. You can only get so much inspiration from the web and TV. I needed to get out of the box metaphorically and physically. It’s ironic and almost certainly unlikely that I would choose a store called The Box but obviously, I’m very glad I did.” He’d turned to me and his hand found my cheek again. “Everything happens for a reason, Lenore. I’m a believer.”
As I looked up, I could feel the heat fuse our breath together.
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Whoo, whoo! Wow. “Fuse our breath together” is extremely descriptive and provocative.
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Hi Patricia,
I like the premise of your novel, and Florida is such a perfect locale for a conglomerate vs. nature conflict. Best of luck with your novel!
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Thanks, Deb. Florida will probably be the setting for a few more novels.
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