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Tuesday, May 1, 2012

May's Follower Appreciation Giveaway of Awesome!


No worries, we have lots more Mystery Agent contests coming up. But for this month, we thought we'd change it up a bit and do another Follower Appreciation Giveaway :) We always enjoy giving our awesome followers a little love, and fun goodies of course, and since it's been a while, we thought now would be a great time to do another giveaway.

Now, several of us are trying to get back into writing mode and are having a bit of difficulty. And since our contests generally center on finished manuscripts, today we want to have a little fun (and kick procrastination to the curb), so we thought we'd have fun with our WIPs today :D

We want you to open those WIPs and tell us the first line that you wrote today :D If you don't have a WIP, today is the day to start one! Get those creative juices flowing :)

Le Rules:

1) Leave a comment below, on this post, and share with us a line of your WIP
2) Be a follower :)

Entries will be accepted until 11:59 EST tomorrow, Wednesday May 2nd. The winners will be announced on Thursday May 3rd. Be sure to check back on Thursday to see if you've won. Any prize not claimed by Friday May 11th will be awarded to someone else.

We've put together three awesome prize packs!

Runner Up #1 will receive:
  • a $10 Amazon gift card
  • a query crit from one of our lovely OA ladies
  • a first chapter or 10 page crit from one of our lovely OA ladies
  • and a pre-order of Rachel Hartman's Seraphina 
Runner Up #2 will receive:
  • a $10 Amazon gift card
  • a query crit from one of our lovely OA ladies
  • a first chapter or 10 page crit from one of our lovely OA ladies
  • and a copy of Jennifer Carson's Hapenny Magick

And one Grand Prize winner will receive:
  • a $15 iTunes gift card for an ebook of the winner's choice
  • a query crit from one of our lovely OA ladies
  • a 1,000 word crit from the awesome Bookshelf Muse (who we'd like to send a huge shout out and thank you to for her generous donation! Thank you so much!!!)
  • a copy of Leah Cypress's Mistwood
  • and the first four books in Cassandra Clare's Mortal Instruments series
So crack open those WIPs and let us see what you're working on! Good luck to everyone and happy writing!!

(in response to a few comments we've had - yep! Rewrites, edits, revisions, brand new wordage - it all counts! :D )

59 comments:

  1. Ooooh I hope I win one of the prizes.
    My first line today is in the middle of a scene.

    Mom gaped at him. “You’re father is going on his honeymoon the same week I am?”

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  2. Great prizes! I'm in the middle of an edit, hope that still counts...

    Every time I walked into this store, I felt a piece of myself crumble off and flutter down an aisle.

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  3. If I win anything, would it be okay if I shift my prizes into the Pens for Paws Auction? We've already got some awesome stuff, but why not share the wealth . . .

    My line:
    Each time I heard that “pop” and the lights flickered out, it meant a trudge downstairs into the weighted silence of the Castle’s basement.

    Thanks for doing the giveaway--OA always has the best giveaways!

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  4. Fun! Does it count if the first line I typed was a re-write?

    The painting was the last in a series of ten that started with the climber nothing more than a small dark blot at the base of a sprawling desert mesa.

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  5. The man turned to her. "She must be broken. Now."

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  6. Fun contest! My WIP is middle grade.

    Line:

    Those red-tipped tools were a dead giveaway that she was a witch—everybody knew red was a devil color, unless it was on roses, strawberry jam, cherry pie, the American flag, or Christmas decorations.

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  7. Ooh. Fun.

    “Get up, Nine!” a voice shouts from across the room. A pillow lands with a thud on my head. “And turn off your damn transmitter.”

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  8. Fun, fun. Okay, so I haven't been writing today because I've been editing my WIP for a bloghop over the next few days. So here's the opening line to my current WIP- my narrative memoirs.

    I know at any moment he'll kill me.

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  9. He had a feeling he knew what – or who – the shadow spirit had recently eaten.

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  10. “It’s stupid,” A. J. said. Then she turned up her nose and walked away. She hasn’t stopped torturing me since.

    ...already a follower. Thanks for the opportunity. :)

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  11. Here's today's first line from my YA science fiction WIP:

    "The smell of roasting flesh isn't necessarily unpleasant, unless it's your own flesh that's getting vaporized by glowing steel."

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  12. Ashley had one hand perched on her hip and a scowl to match the sarcasm in her words, “Didn’t think I’d forget, did you?”

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  13. loving these lines! keep them coming! :D

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  14. Ooo sounds fun!

    Line:

    Splashing around in the ocean, when the sky is as dark as the water, is a horrible idea.

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  15. So awesome of you, this is fun ^_^

    “And isn’t ice cream supposed to soothe all wounds?”
    “Not engagement ice cream.”

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  16. Okay, to be fair, I haven't touched the Big WiP today. I've been playing with a short story I started on Sunday instead. So if that counts, here it is:

    "The door opens and it's Fifi. I can tell by the red polish on her fingernails. She gives me that smile, mysterious and knowing, that makes me lightheaded and lets me in."

    It's always interesting, seeing these isolated lines from people's work.

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  17. There's a store in the mall called Toxic Outlaw. It stands in-between a pottery barn looking furniture store that never has any customers, and the 5-7-9 that's always crowded with fat chicks who belong in the 12-14-16 store.

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  18. Thank you for your contest. I am a follower and enjoy your website.

    Here's the line I selected:

    Maybe God will answer this prayer. “God, since you didn’t stop Daddy or kill him, kill me.”
    I wake up on Thursday.

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  19. Thanks for a super giveaway!...i dont have WIP

    My email: anashct1 [at] yahoo [dot] com

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  20. I keep tweaking and re-tweaking my first line. Then putting it back the way it was, ad nauseum. So here it is again:

    "I clawed at the earth until my fingers hit cold flesh, then I dug faster."

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  21. Love reading all these one-liners. Mine is from a project I'm in the process of editing.

    His breath was coming in short gasps, tears streaking his face, his adrenalin surging through him like an oil well that had hit pay dirt.

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  22. Thanks for doing this! It definitely motivated me! Here goes:

    Before I could protest, he turned into the student parking lot where we joined a long line of cars monotonously edging forward like cattle coming home to feed.
    “Dad, not the student lot…I mean, what if people see us.”

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  23. Great prizes, thanks.

    I only kissed two boys my whole life, and they must have felt what I did. Nothing, because they never called again.

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  24. Wow - great prizes and awesome lines everyone has submitted. Here's mine, editing my WIP.

    "A tornado of thundering hooves and roaring wind carried me away from the pit of deception."

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  25. Thanks for the fun contest and helping me get a bit of writing done today.

    Emerging from the gateway, a tall and elegant woman strode into the circle, looking like a predator stocking her prey. Me.

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  26. Fun! I love one-liners! Here's mine from current YA WIP:

    I didn’t think she was going to answer because she shoved what must have been half of her cinnamon roll into her mouth at once. When she finally finished chewing she said, “I think it’s just a place where you’re happy.”

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  27. It's been great reading all the one liners. Thanks for the prize packs. The first line I wrote today for my WIP (which is a mystery) was "He tried to move his hands but his wrists were bound by his own set of steel handcuffs."

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  28. Wow awesome giveaway, thanks so much!

    " Oh yeah, a Death App. Not too many people will be downloading that bucket of fun. "

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  29. Ooo, what fun! I've been editing, but I added this line:

    This eye has its perks. As much as I want to be rid of it, knowing Orion likes my hair is definitely a bonus.

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  30. Here's the first sentence I wrote today for my WIP:

    "We had to make those soldiers love us, but to do it, we had to look the part."

    Intriguing but frustrating reading the other entries! My thought bubble is full of question marks. Thanks for the inspiration.

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  31. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  32. I'm a long time follower :) Here's a line for today's WIP.

    "I want—" friendship! Her brain screamed. Pull back now while you still can. But she opened her eyes, drowned in his turbulent grey sea and her heart over ruled her head. "—you."

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  33. This is great, thanks! Here is mine:

    Lauren lay with her back to Mark while resentment twisted and coiled in her stomach like a nest of snakes; her husband’s snores reverberating around the room.

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  34. Nice contest! Here's the first line I wrote today:

    Leave it to my mom to keep a land line for the sole purpose of checking whether or not I have a boy in my room.

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  35. Thanks for the contest. This blog is great!

    "I think I peaked in sixth grade."

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  36. This truly is awesome. Wonderful contest.

    "It took nearly twenty minutes to rip myself out of the shower curtain, the only light in the bathroom the blue digital numbers of our clock radio, calmly measuring my efforts."

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  37. Just turned on to your blog by the lovely Emilya above. Will definitely come back. Here's a line from my WIP:

    There is only one spot above my waist that flame didn’t lick like a rough puppy—an oval of unscathed skin several inches around my right eye, cheek and half of my lips.

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  38. May 3 is my birthday. Does that get me any brownie points?

    "The excitement was palpable."

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  39. It turned out that my shins were red herrings.

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  40. Why is it I always find out about these contest things so long after?
    Here's my latest line. Taken from the WiP that is the Dark One's Mistress:

    Something to her left hissed.

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  41. You guys always have the bests contests. One of the many reasons I'm a follower.

    "Killing was one of those things that grew easier with time, that and tight rope walking."

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  42. yay! thanks!

    Cooper patted his chest, feeling the firmness of his body, making sure everything was in the right place.

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  43. Awesome, thanks!

    My stomach turned when Mia told me about the countdown, what the hell is wrong with people?

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  44. Very awesome of you guys! Here's my latest sentence:

    At the very least, we could dump in a bunch of cat hair and foil the batch.

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  45. Thank you for this awesome giveaway!

    From my MG fantasy adventure I'm editing:

    But all she could do was sit as she inched backward, closer to the tornado and almost certain death.

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  46. Great site, wonderful prizes! Thanks!

    A blooming stain of blood on the underside of the mattress caused drops to fall rhythmically to the floor, plink, plink, plink.

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  47. Love the prizes. Fingers crossed. Here's my first line...

    It was the cardinal that saved me.

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  48. Thanks for the fun contest (and the great prizes.) My line:

    “What did you call me, you little twirp?” Harriet said, her face so close Maggie could smell tuna fish on her breath.

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  49. Can you enter more than one line if you have more than one wip?

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    Replies
    1. Good question :) Just one WIP though :) Thanks!

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  50. Hi. Great contest. Here goes: "I feel foolish getting in a dither over an owl."

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  51. Great contest idea! Here's my line: "I'm jealous of the snowflakes that float down to the ground like wads of cotton, with no aim or purpose other than to just be, to exist."

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  52. "Every girl shot to their nearest window." (on a school bus)

    Fun contest!

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  53. Gosh, it looks like my first comment got lost in cyberspace. What I said was you guys are awesome! I'm feverishly working to finish my wip (or something like that):

    "Um, we don't have time for that touchy-feely crap right now!" Sam pushed past us and jumped on the bus.

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  54. Ooh, fun contest. I'm a follower, and here's a line from my WIP:

    There are moments in my life I wish I could erase.

    Thanks for the contest!

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  55. Fun contest! Thank you!

    Call it “denial” or “minimization”—whatever; for forty-three years, it’s been my primary defense against the missiles of disaster that are always hurtling into my life.

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  56. Yay! Just in time from a RIDICULOUSLY long day at work!
    Line from my YA Urban Fantasy. Revising it!

    "I’m unwisely attracted to your unflinching ability to become violent and aggressive off the drop of a dime; you’re like a ticking time bomb getting off on explosions...you're so amusing."

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