The Closest Book

The GREAT Karen Lee has tagged me with another Meme. This one states that I am to find the closest book to me, open it to page 123, jump to sentence #5, and post the next 3 sentences here.

What a fun idea! It gives all of us the chance to spy on what our friends are reading. And more importantly, we get a glance into what writers are including at around pg 123 in the progress of their plots.

But before I lay my closest book out here, you must know that several friends and I just spent this past weekend at the beach where we discussed our Myers-Briggs Types extensively. I am classified as a "J" not a "P." This means (among other things) that spontaneity isn't exactly my thing.

But -- I'm trying to learn.

So, when I got this meme from Karen I looked around on my desk. The first book I saw was the Writer's Market -- but Karen already used that for her meme. So I prepared to look a little farther. Then it occurred to me...

The closest book to me at my desk is MINE. MY BOOK. It's on my computer; my own, not yet published (and no-where near ready yet either,) novel manuscript.

And though it's not yet on bookstore shelves, it IS a book to me. (I guess that's a good sign related to my psychological growth as a writer, eh? I believe my manuscript to be a book! But, don't worry. I'm sure that tomorrow will be another one of those days when I become convinced that I have no talent, realize that I have no motivation, and become once again certain that the little things I have gotten published so far have been only because editors saw how pathetic I was and took pity on me...)

But, nevertheless, today is a day for taking risks. So without further adoo -- (ok, well, and bearing in mind that this is definitely a first draft and that it will likely be totally different when finally sent to an editor... and, um, uh, erg... Ah- whatever!) Here is my moment of spontaneity:

Sliced from my own page 123

"Jolie stepped off the tram at the University, and glanced down at the pencilled map Sasha had sketched of the grounds. The Orchestral building was to her left, as expected, and Jolie was amazed again that in two seconds, on a napkin, at a bus stop Sash had still managed to capture the campus in perfect scale.

She slid in through the archway that he had starred on the map and the sound of a violin trilling behind a closed door greeted her."

And, from a book sitting near my desk which actually HAS been published...

Pg 123 Line 5-8 of The Clue in the Crumbling Wall (Nancy Drew) By Carolyn Keene

"Hey, come quick!' he shouted. `I've got something to show you!'

Cob was irritated..."

And now I tag my fellow writer-friend, Bish Debnam. And I recommend that all writers scroll to p 123 in our manuscripts and ask ourselves: Is this paragraph, this plot arc, this little drop of action, this brief dialogue good enough to send to an editor? Or would I be embarrassed to post it online? Eh hem...

May all of our page 123's get more and more glorious with every draft!