Maria Savva's Blog - Posts Tagged "blog-challenge"

Lucky 7 is a blog challenge. I was challenged to take part by author Elpi Pamiadaki who is a writer I met on Twitter.

The challenge is to blog 7 lines from unpublished works of fiction. Here are the instructions:

1. Go to page 7 or 77 in your current manuscript (fiction or non-fiction)
2. Go to line 7
3. Post on your blog the next 7 lines, or sentences, as they are – no cheating
4. Tag 7 other authors to do the same

I currently have an unpublished manuscript I'm working on -- my upcoming novel, Haunted.

Here are the 7 sentences from page 77:

In fact he hadn't stopped talking about the ring for much of the afternoon.
Emily walked towards the table and picked up the ring.
'Hey, don't touch what you can't afford,' said Russell, laughing.
She put on the sweetest smile she could muster. 'But Russ, didn't you say I could have the jewellery? You said you got it for me.'
He narrowed his eyes, then shrugged.

Now, I'd like to pass the challenge to the following authors:


Darcia Helle
J. Michael Radcliffe
Quentin R. Bufogle
Susan Buchanan
Julie Elizabeth Powell
Mark Rice
Felicity Lennie

My indie author friend,Susan Buchanan, thought it would be funny to set me an impossible task this morning. She tagged me in 'The Booker Award', a blog tag where bloggers or fellow authors have to choose 5 favourite books and then tag 5 other bloggers or authors and ask them to do the same. Now, anyone who knows me knows that I read lots of books. How could I possibly choose 5 favourite ones? Also, the fact that most of the stuff I'm reading these days is excellent, makes the task even harder.

Thanks, Sooz!

(Actually, I'm secretly pleased she tagged me as I do love these types of challenges, but don't tell anyone.)

Okay, without further ado, I am going to dive into this challenge.

No, first I will give you the link to Susan's blog: http://susancbuchanan.blogspot.co.uk/...

I am choosing my 5 favourite independently published books because it is rare that an indie author will be presented with an award for his or her book, and there are so many indie authors who deserve an award, in my opinion.

Right, I had a tough time choosing. But all book awards have long lists of books, don't they? So this is the long list I came up with, and I would give all of these books the award if I could:


























My long list could be even longer, but I think I should stop there...

I love all the above books for different reasons, and it is very hard to pick 5. They are all books that have left an impression on me.

The rules say I have to pick five books, so the five I am choosing for the Booker Prize are:

My Schizophrenic Life by Sandra Yuen Mackay

This book really opened my eyes to the reality of what it feels like to be someone living with Schizophrenia or similar mental conditions and I think it is such an important book in the fight against discrimination against those who suffer from mental illness.








Beyond My Control By Stuart Ross McCallum

This is such an inspirational story. Like Sandra's book, it is a book that can teach us something about another person's journey.








33 Days by Bill See

This book brings together my two loves, music and words. This memoir of a touring band is inspirational; it deals with many subjects that affect all of us including dysfunctional family life, racism, friendship, death.







The Day the Flowers Died by Ami Blackwelder

This is probably the only book that has ever made me cry real tears. It is so well written.






Horse Latitudes by Quentin R Bufogle

For the opposite reason to Ami Blackwelder's book, because it made me laugh out loud. I also found the main character to be very realistic and I could relate to a lot of what he was going through. It's also a very fitting read for these recession years.






Now I have to tag 5 bloggers or authors to take up the challenge.

1. Darcia Helle

2. Michael Radcliffe

3. The Secret Writer

4. Joel Blaine Kirkpatrick

5. Sandra Yuen Mackay

I've been invited to write a blog post about books and chocolate. How can I resist?

I love chocolate and I love books, not sure which I love the most. Okay, maybe chocolate would win... but maybe books... You see the problem?

Thank you to author Susan Buchanan for tagging me in this challenge. You can read Susan's blog post here: http://susancbuchanan.blogspot.co.uk/...

So the rules are that you should choose between 6-8 chocolate bars or types of chocolate and link them to books you think they might be a good accompaniment for.

Here goes:

Killing Instinct: A Michael Sykora Novel





Darcia Helle's wonderful novel uncovers a very dark and murky underworld. This dark fiction suspense is surely suited to one of the darkest chocolates out there :)

Beyond the Veil - Omnibus Edition







J. Michael Radcliffe's brilliant trilogy contains wizards and witches from the Black Order who are skilled in the darkest of magic. This omnibus edition is suited to the Black Magic selection box as there are also some short stories included. Some of the characters are good characters and some are bad, so a box of chocolates seems to be an appropriate accompaniment.

The Avalon Trilogy





Julie Elizabeth Powell's enchanting Avalon trilogy contains lots of magic, so how about a selection box from The Magic Chocolate Company to accompany this series? It's a very colourful collection, and her books contain some very fun and colourful characters.

Fastian: An Edgeweir Tale





Jay Finn's characters go in search of a key in this first adventure in the series, so a chocolate key from Not On The High Street would be perfect.

Shadows of the Realm





This chocolate dragon could probably accompany J. Michael Radcliffe's Beyond the Veil trilogy as well :)

Dionne's wonderful fantasy adventure contains dragons galore, so this lovely handcrafted chocolate dragon would go very well as a snack to eat while you read.

Metallic Dreams





All you music fans out there might like to nibble on a novelty chocolate guitar from Yummies.com while you read this 'very metal' novel by Mark Rice.

Either Side of Midnight





This cleverly written thriller about twins Naomi and Annabel, would go very nicely with a Twix bar :)

Love & The Goddess





Last but not least, for this heavenly novel featuring no less than three goddesses, how about something from the Divine chocolate range? I would suggest some dark chocolate hearts as there's lots of romance between the pages :)

This challenge has been fun! I hope you liked my suggestions.

I'm now going to tag a few of my author friends:

Helle Gade, poet and photographer. Has written three fabulous collections of poetry and is a talented photographer, as well as a chocolate addict so I am sure her choices will be very interesting! Find out more about her on her blog: http://hellegade.wordpress.com/

J. Michael Radcliffe, writer of spellbinding fantasy fiction, and cat hoarder! You can find out more about him here: http://michaelradcliffe.wordpress.com/


Darcia Helle, talented author of suspense novels and short stories. Visit her blog here: http://quietfurybooks.com/blog/

Ben Ditmars, talented poet and author of novels and plays, you can find out more about Ben on his blog: http://niceoldspice.blogspot.co.uk/

Look out for their chocolate and book choices on their blogs soon!