777 Writing Challenge Strikes Again

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Deborah O'Carroll long ago (back in September 2015--yikes!) tagged me for the 777 Writing Challenge. And I'm finally getting around to participating. Some of you might be scratching your heads and thinking, "Wait, didn't Tracey already do the 777? Like, twice?"


You are correct. The first time can be found here, the second time here. I just realized that Deborah was the one who tagged me the first time, too--and that it was my very first tag ever. All the warm, fuzzy memories . . .


Anyway. The rules are as follows:

The 777 challenge requires you go to Page 7 of your work-in-progress, scroll down to Line 7 and share the next 7 lines in a blog post. Once you have done this, you can tag 7 other bloggers to do the same with their work-in-progress.

Buuut it's fun to play around with the rules. I'm changing lines to paragraphs, and rather than isolating paragraph seven of page seven, I'll give you a couple paragraphs of context as well. Just because I'm sweet like that.

Oh, I nearly forgot to mention that this snippet is coming from book 2, The Prophet's Key. None of this is edited, so you get behold the raw, uncut glory (or mess) before I take a chisel to it. In this scene, Josiah is supposed to be waiting while his family has a meeting with his psychiatrist, Dr. Teagan. You see, the events of the first book have had big ramifications on the home lives of the protagonists. Particularly Josiah's.

Everyone thinks he's schizophrenic with delusions of grandeur, let's just put it that way.

Anyway, Josiah is listening in to this family meeting from outside Dr. Teagan's office.



~*~

“I just want my son back,” Dad snapped. “If that means giving him his meds myself, I’ll do it.”

An image of Dad forcing his jaws open and shaking a pill bottle down his throat ramped up Josiah’s inner heat to boiling.

“Monitor him, yes, but don’t antagonize him. Patients fare best when home life is stable. If he refuses to take the pills, we may consider switching him to a daily injection."

Josiah gripped the doorknob, then paused. What would it help to barge in? To protest? Resisting would only worsen the situation.

He spun on his heel and marched down the hallway and out the front door. A blast of early summer heat washed over him. Though the very thought rankled him down to his bones, the solution was clear: play along.

~*~

In keeping with my generous (ahem, lazy) method of leaving this particular tag open, I am again saying that if you want it, take it! Share your 777 snippet on your blog, here in the comments, whatever floats your boat. Or even just share a snippet of your work-in-progress, all tag rules aside. Give me all the yummy words!


p.s. On an unrelated note, keep an eye out for a very special bloggy happening coming later this month! It involves fantasy novels, an Oscar Awards sort of idea, and YOUR participation!