ROW80, Flogometer, Vocabulary Quiz and Other Wordiness

Check in number one.

No editing on Out of the Water yet. I hope to visit all other ROW80ers sometime between now and Sunday, though!

Both projects have been derailed by the festival cum explosion cum drafting fest cum everybodydancenow that is the writers' houseparty at the Mall at the End of Time.

Here's a wee snip, featuring Rosa and Baha. Rosa's never seen a swing before, and they've just discovered one in the middle of the gardens on one side of the Mall:

"What should I be afraid of?"

He gave her a squeeze then pushed her off his lap. "Take a seat, Peri, and I'll swing you."

Glancing warily at him and then at the seat dangling from cold metal chains, she sat, tucking her skirts up underneath her. The cross bar the swing hung from was very high above her head.

"Extend your legs as you fly out, and tuck them under as you fall back," he told her, moving around behind her and placing his hands at her waist. "Ready?"

"Ye - no!"

He'd started running, pushing her as far as the chains extended, and then he skipped to the side and she was falling, falling back, rising up the other side, and as she came down he caught her again and heaved and she rose even higher, her toes nearly touching the overhanging branches of a willow outside the circle of sand.

Her stomach dropped as she dropped and the air rushed past her cheeks, and his hands caught her on each upswing and she thought, it doesn't matter where I am. As long as he's there, it'll always feel like this.

Submit an opening scene to the Flogometer! Fellow Forumite Dee-Ann has just had her exciting and mysterious opening critiqued.

Test your vocabulary! I got 37,900 words, which means I'm better than Shakespeare, but not up to Inky Fool standards. Think I'll reread a Diana Gabaldon novel - perhaps the just-released 20th anniversary edition of Outlander!

Have you ordered your copy yet?

Comments

Trisha said…
Nice excerpt :) I guess someone's first time on a swing is symbolic in any setting.
Sarah McCabe said…
Curses. I didn't do very well with the vocabulary thing. Only 32,000. Must read more!
Deniz Bevan said…
Thanks Trisha! It's been fun throwing my girl from the 15th Century into a far-reaches-of-the-Universe setting.

You're still better than Shakespeare Sarah :-)
Li said…
I'm wary of the vocab quiz - but mentioning Gabaldon was great, must go back and re-read her. Thx!
Anonymous said…
Love the excerpt! I'll have to try the vocabulary quiz. I'm not too sure how well it will end.
Nas said…
Loved the excerpt!
Zan Marie said…
I'm in love with this house party! Something about a young wounded Marine. ; )

I got 38,300 words, but it might not be a fair test since I taught Latin. That does give me an edge.
Love the excerpt. The quiz was fun. I got 32,200 so not disappointed. :)
Anonymous said…
OUTLANDER is one of my all time faves. Read it when it first came out and then at least six times since then. :-) I read the books that followed in the series but always loved OUTLANDER best.

I also love that excerpt you posted, especially that last sentence and all that it means.
Su said…
You know, this Mall at the End of Time sounds more exciting every time I hear about it.

I gave you a blog award! Drop by whenever it suits you to pick it up! :)
Pamela Thacher said…
Oh, the competitive side of me just reared its ugly little head... 35,000 word vocabulary. not sure if that's good or bad or what. I wonder what the average is for writers?

i loved Outlander... fascinated with diana gabaldon in general. she seems like quite a woman. would make an interesting friend. so says me and about fifty thousand other women, eh...
Pamela Thacher said…
Whoops, forgot to say that the swing description snippet thingy was nicely done. have you been on a swing lately? I used to love them as a girl, but now they make me totally sick to my stomach, after, say, the one-and-a-halfth swing. pathetic really. but your description and her reaction made me smile.
G Blechman said…
About to check out the quiz. Though, I'm already afraid, because I already know I don't have as large of a vocabulary as I should.... oh well, worth a shot!

<3 Gina Blechman
Brings me back, learning how to swing. And teaching my kids too. When they learned to swing, my life got easier!

Off to check the link.
Took the test. You're smarter than me. : (
Jennifer Wells said…
I also love Outlander! I don't know how many times I've read it, but it's safe to say at least 5 times. I just wrote a post about Jamie last week. Sigh... Jamie... <3

Good luck with ROW80!
Jennifer Wells said…
This comment has been removed by the author.
Deniz Bevan said…
Love rereading the Outlander books, li :-)

Thanks Madeline, Nas and Glynis, I'm glad you liked it!

And yet it's almost over, ZanMarie, isn't it sad? I got about that many words in too. Hopefully some of them will find their way into the wip.

Oh, Liz, you read Outlander when it first came out? How on earth did you stand the wait between each book? I discovered them when A Breath of Snow and Ashes came out and it was a long time to wait for An Echo in the Bone. I'm glad you liked the excerpt!

Thanks for the award, Su!

I think all my writer friends have been hitting above 30,000, Pamela, which is above average apparently! Glad you liked my snip :-)

Don't worry Gina and Theresa - you guys still have a greater vocabulary than Shakespear [g]

A post about Jamie, Jennifer? I shall have to see!
Jill W. said…
You know, I could have _sworn_ I'd replied to this. Apparently not...guh!

Loved this snip. There was another one, also to do with swings, a little after this that I also liked -- but I'm half-asleep and in no mental shape to go look it up right now. [g] Point is, I thought it was lovely!
Deniz Bevan said…
Aww, thanks :-)