Amazing, but true. I am the grand prize winner of The Accidental Novelist’s Writing Contest! My congratulations go out to the other winners who had participated in the three rounds. All entries were wonderful to read.

In case you missed this latest writing event in my life, I will give you a recap.

In Round 1, we were supposed to write 50 first lines, which I posted here. I picked my top 5 sentences to submit and this one was chosen by the judges to go through to Round 2:

Nobody wanted to claim the abandoned baby on the hill.

For Round 2, we had to write 5 first paragraphs and we could use our first lines. We had to submit our top three of the five, all of which I posted here. One of my paragraphs went through to Round 3:

Nobody wanted to claim the abandoned baby on the hill. Not a single hunter from the King’s clan and not one farmer from the Queen’s clan knelt in admission. That hill, with its concealed scorpion pits and live landmines, was supposed to keep the two clans divided as part of the War treaty. But the baby had all the markings, proof that the hill had been crossed. He had the silvery eyes of the Kings and the ruddy skin of the Queens. His secret will not last long. In time, the family birthmark will bloom. Announcing to which hunter and which farmer the baby truly belonged. And then the spooks will come after them.

Sidenote: I was told that my “Deadly and desirable” paragraph was a runner-up. Very cool…

Finally, for Round 3 we had to take ONE of the winning paragraphs and tell what the story is about. Beginning, middle, and end. Stakes and consequences. And we had to do it in 10 sentences or less.

So, I chose my paragraph to tell the following story:

Sarae, a sixteen-year-old girl of war-torn Queen’s clan, finds an abandoned baby that possesses the features of Sarae’s people and of the enemy, King’s clan. Someone illegally crossed the hill, an act so galling war threatens again.

The prayermasters learn that the baby is part of a long-forgotten prophecy which warns the Queen’s clan is destined to be wiped out forever, unless a Breaker can be found.  Sarae, a Breaker, is her clan’s only hope of survival but she’d have to destroy the King’s clan.

She is unwilling to destroy the enemy, for at one time they were all one region, friends and family. Sarae knows there is a chance to unweave the prophecy, but it means a treacherous journey being hunted by spooks and the risk of being stoned for treason.

In her quest of unweaving the prophecy she makes unlikely bonds who share her cause of bringing peace between the two clans. One of Sarae’s scouts brings her the devastating news that the abandoned baby’s birthmark has bloomed, revealing it as belonging to Sarae’s family.

Sarae soon discovers that her own family was responsible for the clan war from the very beginning. Sarae makes the choice to destroy her family so that she can bring peace back to the clans.

And I won! Yippee! There are actually PRIZES that go along with this, so that makes it even more fun-pendous. I get a copy of a print or ebook version of either Book One or Two of the Faerie Tales from the White Forest series, written by The Accidental Novelist herself, Danika Dinsmore! Plus, I get a special, secret prize. Aaand…not only was this a brilliant, helpful writing exercise but I actually created a storyline that I could turn into a STORY!

Wow, thanks, thanks, and more thanks to all involved including Danika and the judges (I only know them by first name): Tod, Jennifer, Natalie, and Yvette.

This is way too much excitement for me in one day, honestly. So, I need to end it here.

The Accidental Novelist (Writes Again) is holding a 50 first lines contest. I wrote 50 first lines in about two hours (I got interrupted twice by my lovely children), and I picked my top 5 lines to submit to the contest. Further instructions included posting the 50 lines on my blog (if I so chose). I chose. So, here they are. All 50. The first 5 are the ones I thought were the best (if I can go so far as to say that).

• 1. Deadly and desirable, that was the heading on my business card.
• 2. She and the horse eyed each other with suspicion, remembering how one tried to kill the other.
• 3. Seven deadly sins have become eight now that I returned home.
• 4. Nobody wanted to claim the abandoned baby on the hill.
• 5. She glared at the wheelchair knowing if she ever used the damn thing, it would be to commit suicide.
• 6. I kneeled down, accepting the knighthood, knowing I wasn’t the one who’d saved the king.
• 7. The tide ebbed just enough to show me the last of his footprints.
• 8. The remains of the village smoked for three months after the Ravage Killings.
• 9. When our prayermaster rolled her stones and gems to see the prophecy of the village, she saw a horse and its rider coming to save us.
• 10. Mud Dwellers kill for information, but they’re the only ones who can read the broken slate trail.
• 11. I am not supposed to climb the great oak because, they say, it is neutral territory.
• 12. As he walked through town, he watched people turn out lights in their houses for fear he’d ask them for help.
• 13. The morning is pink and clouded when I decide to buy the gun to kill my husband.
• 14. Too many mountains were in the way, and I had to think of another way to outrun the beast.
• 15. I have no idea where time went other than to know she died when I wasn’t paying attention.
• 16. I loved him once when the moon was just a shadow in the water.
• 17. Grabbing the key, I knew there was no chance to unlock it before she sliced my hand off.
• 18. Riddled with bullet holes, the door was useless and I looked for another source of protection.
• 19. She waited by the tree, the one with the dead limb that refused to fall in a storm.
• 20. He had blown up into a lump of lard, probably because that’s all he ate.
• 21. When he showed me the picture I knew that my secret was out, but I continued to lie.
• 22. The broken glass glinted in the sink, but I sifted through it anyway, desperate to find my wedding ring.
• 23. After everything that he did for me, I still couldn’t tell him I found the book.
• 24. The sky swelled open with a flurry of stars, and I saw the trail my sons took to find their father.
• 25. I am too young to be this sad, and too old to worry about it.
• 26. He came for me, like a beast on the prowl.
• 27. I had to leave her for dead if I wanted her to survive, and I cut myself free.
• 28. Quietly, the child slipped out of the shack and raced out to find a better place.
• 29. The bird visited again, this time in the dead of night, and I knew it was my turn in the pit.
• 30. The tower rose out of the mist, giving her the one push she needed to seal her fate.
• 31. Seven rubworts glowed through the water as she silently led the Dog Angel across.
• 32. The only sound in the room was the raspy wheezing of the dying man in bed.
• 33. She spit at my feet, and I knew I’d found the right place.
• 34. Clanners of the East don’t get a chance to apologize for not knowing the rules.
• 35. The clouds spelled trouble, and I was heading straight for them.
• 36. All Creatures of the Dark Sun were forced to give up one prized possession.
• 37. A dewmist is what she needed to save her family, but it meant releasing the plague again.
• 38. The people of the town prayed quickly for the marked baby, and then they abandoned it on Peak Hill.
• 39. My father illegally brought my grandmother to the ward, so I have to break her out.
• 40. This time I will not let him go, I vowed, and prepared the ritual of death-love.
• 41. He buried his daughter under the large oak wondering if she and her mother will meet again.
• 42. The meadow glittered with moondust, and I longed for him to come back.
• 43. Red is a good color for her, she thought, as she dressed her cold body.
• 44. I don’t have a lot going for me, other than a cannon for a left arm and the ability to pace off 100 yards blindfolded.
• 45. The moon is wedged in the sky like someone had thrown it up there and it got stuck.
• 46. I can barely make out the pair of silver eyes through the clumps of rhododendron blossoms, eyes that used to be mine.
• 47. My big break into show business came at the expense of my childhood best friend, Serena Barnes.
• 48. I fantasize more about my sister’s husband than I probably should.
• 49. I grew up in a farmhouse where it sits at a lopsided angle in Bailey, New Hampshire.
• 50. My new hometown is smaller than Dover and shouldn’t have its own township except it’s the birthplace of a founding father or something.