A few days ago, Sarah Zama at The Old Shelter tagged me for the 777 Challenge. I hesitated as I was not sure which WIP was my current one. Is it the one with the beta-readers – “Storms Compass” – or the one I am re-writing with a new protagonist and a new location – “Fates Maelstrom”?

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

I decided to let the ‘excerpts’ go head to head, just like my work has to do each day – which one is more pressing/tempting/ready. There was a clear winner as the excerpt from “Fates Maelstrom” is due to be radically changed.

So here is my excerpt from “Storms Compass” which was written as Book 1 of “Gossamer Flames”:

8

Smiling again, she [Arat] strides forward. Out of the gloom the shadows form into neem trees shrouding a solitary house, a survivor of the last earthquake. At the screen, lowered voices talking Kachhi make her fears vanish into the night.

Breathing more easily, she steps into the low-ceilinged room, which is bare of furnishings. Five men sit cross-legged on the earth floor, in the low light of two oil lamps, sipping chai from a brass urn in one corner. As Chatur embraces them, Arati raises her palmed hands to her chest in an anjali mudra greeting, retaining her distance.

Let the men embrace. I need to remain serene.

*

Does that sound interesting, or just confusing? At this stage, I am not sure how “Storms Compass” will be released. There is a chance that I may work on Book 2, called “Blood Tapestry”, and work together some existing stories into a seamless plot. The resulting novel would be released, and then “Storms Compass” as the prequel setting up the main novel. Or the individual stories that make up “Storms Compass” would be released.

But I’m getting side-tracked.

Back to the 777 Challenge. So who am I going to tag? I have a feeling that this challenge has done the rounds in some form or another, so I will start with volunteers. All those that can’t do it because of a good reason, step forward now.

Just remember, we do challenges to have fun. Please enjoy yourselves, and write crazy.

Photo of a cloud illuminated by sunlight. ~ by Ibrahim Iujaz from Rep. Of Maldives

After months of thinking, writing, editing, and re-writing, my post-apocalyptic novel, “Storms Compass“, is almost ready for a publisher.

Well, I hope that the manuscript is ready, now that I have integrated the comments and corrections from my kind and brave beta readers, plus from my tireless editor.

Barring a few dotted ‘t’s and crossed ‘i’s, the novel is ready to face a few more brave souls. However, this time I am looking for readers rather than writers.

No writing qualifications required, just the ability to read and know whether the story works. And if it doesn’t, where have I strayed, what is missing, who did you ‘love’ or ‘hate’?

I need to discover if this manuscript is good enough to be a published book.

And if you read historical romance, don’t worry, as it’s good to have readers from outside my genres.

Hoping to hear from you, and all the best, my faithful followers.