A farm-themed snippet from DWARFED 2/2/14 #WeWriWa

The Weekend Writing Warrior and Facebook's Snippet Sunday are blog hops that provide authors with a fantastic opportunity to support one another, promote their books, and just have a good time. Each week authors post 8 sentences from WIPS or published works. It's lots of fun.

This week I pulled a 9 (sorry moderators) snippet from my contemporary manuscript, DWARFED. This collection of sentences picks up where last week's left off. It's a scene that could only take place on farm.

DWARFED is a YA story about Grace, a fictional teen with achondroplasia dwarfisam who currently finds life a little tougher than she ever dreamt possible. 

When you're done here, take some time and read some of the great snippets that other participants have published. You'll be glad you did!

            Luke sits in a farrowing crate, his back braced against the wall, his legs stretched out in front of him. There’s a steel bucket half full of strange-looking, small, pink blobbish things and a plastic container full of hypodermic syringes wedged against his hip, another syringe is stuck between his  teeth.

            His left hand snakes out, snagging one of the piglets. He ignores its ear splitting squeal and pins it between his elbow and rib cage. With one hand he swaps a patch of skin with what looks like a cotton swapped that has been stained with some sort of reddish brown substance, I’m guessing iodine. His right hand pulls the syringe out of his mouth, and in one smooth movement, pokes the needle into the piglet and depresses the plunger. He tosses the now empty syringe into the plastic box and picks up a giant crayon and draws a slash mark between the piglet’s shoulder blades.

            The entire process takes about two seconds.

            “What are you doing,” I ask again, raising my voice.

Thanks for reading my snippet!

Sunday's Dwarfed Snippet

Both Weekend Writing Warriors and Snippet Sunday provide writers with different interests and talents to shared writing snippets and advice. The rules for both groups are simple. Post a snippet from, in my case, work-in-progress. After posting, I get to read the snippets the other participants have posted. It's a sweet deal! 

Last week I had several first time visitors, or at least first  time commentators so I'm doing a short set up.

DWARFED is a YA manuscript featuring 16 year old Grace, who temporarily finds herself living on a working hog farm in Michigan, Luke Searc, who works for the farm, and Spēs, a newborn piglet who needs a little extra care. Grace has a big heart and a stubborn nature. She also has a genetic condition called achondroplasia dwarfisam.

A collection of snippets from DWARFED can be found here. And now, this week's snippet.

          “Grace.” Luke hesitates. He looks like he wants to say something but is having a difficult time finding the right words.

            My teeth sink into my lip and silently willing him to not mention our near kiss. My brain has turned to mush, important components have shorted out, until I get it sorted out there’s no way I can talk about what nearly happened.

I hug the little pig more closely my breastbone. She sighs and rests her chin on shoulder. I should be grateful, she saved me from making a huge mistake. Still, a part of my head, a part that must have sustained the most damage, feels disappointed.

I forgot to mention it, but I want to give a big shout out to one of my favorite youth organizations, 4-H. If you weren’t a part of the 4-H scene while you were a kid, you have no idea what you missed out on. If you have kids, you should get them involved, you’ll be glad you did!

 

Source: flohe-images.de via cookkooc_de on Pinterest

Some Romance, Alot of Creative Editing, and a Cute Piglet Rolled into a Single Sunday Snippet

I can't thank everyone enough for your wonderful advice last week regarding my snippet. You're a wonderful group of people, don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

For anyone who might  be stopping by for the first time. I post snippets from my YA work-in-progress titled Dwarfed which features the antics of Grace, Luke and a precocious piglet. It's set on a working hog farm. Be sure to check out the talented writers who have posted writing samples this week. Links to their sits can be found at the Weekend Writing Warrior website or the Facebook group.

This week's snippet picks up where last week's drops off. I confess, I had to use some creative editing and comma placement in order to stick to the #WeWriWa sentence restrictions. Still, I think it works. You wouldn't have like the natural stopping point ;D

             I can't breathe, it feels like my entire body has been squished flat and now matter how much I try, my lungs refuse to inflate. Luke uses the same elbow that sent me sprawling to lever his upper body away from mine, I sense him looking down at me.

             “Are you okay,” he asks, his voice shaking a little,“Grace?”

  Fingertips brush my cheek, prompting me to open my watering eyes, my response dies in my throat as my heart slams against my ribs in an unfamiliar but glorious rhythm. Unbidden, my gaze slides down his face, pausing at his mouth, and I wonder if his lips can really be as soft as they look.

Straw pokes at the back of my neck as Luke's slide under the back of my skull, my eyes close and I shift closer to Luke, lifting my face to his.

            Something wet latches onto my chin, sucking with enough force, I clap one hand across the front of my face. pressing my fingertips and palm against my cheeks, hoping to prevent the skin from getting Hoovered off, while using my free hand to blindly shove at the strangely shaped object.

            Luke’s laughter fills the small room as he presses his fingers against the corner of the piglet's jaw, disengaging it from my chin before scooping her up and cradling her against his chest with one hand, and reaching for me with the other. 

 

  

Source: destructoid.com via Fran on Pinterest

Six Sentence Sunday

It's Sunday again, which means another Six Sentence Sunday post! As usual, I'm posting another snippet from my YA work-in-progress, DWARFED. This snippet is basically a descriptive passage, but I think it turned out quite nicely (something I rarely say). Thanks for stopping by and taking the time to read it :) If you love reading, feel free to check out the talented writers participating in this week's blog hop.

         For the last two hours Luke and I have done everything possible to make this room, closet really, at the back of the enormous barn into a new home for my little piglet. While Luke lugged broken buckets, piles of dusty grain sacks, and other miscellaneous bits of farming paraphernalia that had found their way into the room, I went at it with a mop, broom, scrub bucket, and dust rag, and scrubbed what had to be a decade’s worth of dust and grime from the wall. Now, the front of my skirt is soaked, my back feels like red hot rods have been inserted in it, a dull headache is hammers against my temples, and I know I’m wearing a macabre veil of cobwebs, dust, and bits of hay over my hair, but the room is clean and shiny.

 Using his ever present pocket knife, Luke slices through some baler twine and passes a thick flake of straw to me.

            Taking it, I give it a violent shake, laughing as bits of dark gold straw fly everywhere. Luke watches me for a moment and smiles.

If this is the first time you've been to my blog and find yourself completely lost, that's okay. I've tried to simplify things by posting all of my snippets here.

Source: zooborns.com via Jess on Pinterest

Six Sentence Sunday 1/13/13

Welcome back Sixers!

This week my little snippet follows up where last week's ended.

This snippet was brought to you via my YA manuscript, DWARFED. As luck would have it, the first four sentences are on one side of a page break, while the remaining 2 were on the other.

He’s looking at the pigs, but based on his expression he doesn’t really see them. I can practically see the wheels spinning in his head. He must have come up with an idea, because eventually he jerks his chin towards the door, indicating that I should follow him. “C’mon, we’ve got a lot of work ahead of us if you’re serious about keeping that pig.”

         

           Luke kicks the dark blue towel through the door and into the hallway where it joins the miniature mountain of soggy towels. He hooks his thumbs in the pockets of his jeans and surveys the tiny room.  

The official list of the amazing writers participating in this week's Six Sentence Sunday.

If you want to know more about piglets born (farrowed) during the winter months, you should check out this post at the Righteous Bacon.

If you're new to my Sunday snippets and are completely confused, but would like to know more, I've compiled all of my snippets here.

Last, but not least, 1 sleeping piglet. I don't know about you, but I could cuddle it all day long :)

Source: cutestpaw.com via Destiny on Pinterest