Here’s a first line quiz. I will award a bag of chocolate to whomever gets all of them correct. If there is more than one person than I will draw a name from a hat.

1. My father’s family name being Pirrip, and my Christian name being Philip, my infant tongue could make both of those names nothing longer or more explicit than Pip.

2. It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.

3. When he was nearly thirteen, my brother Jem got his arm badly broken at the elbow.

4. “What’s it going to be then, eh?”

5. A squat grey building of over thirty four stories.

6. Boys are playing basketball around a telephone pole with a backboard bolted to it.

7. My names was Salmon, like the fish; first name, Susie.

8. It was a very likely place for disappearances, at least at first glance.

9. She dreamed of sanctuary.

10. The corpse grabbed her arm with cool fingers.

Thanks for playing.

Chris Redding

www.chrisreddingauthor.com

http://chrisredddingauthor.blogspot.com

evanescent \ev-uh-NES-unt\, adjective:
Liable to vanish or pass away like vapor; fleeting.

This word does not mean what I thought it was going to mean.
Sounds like some thing bubbly. Like effervescent. Ginger ale. Champagne

No one knew their pensions were evanescent. Or their jobs for that matter.
It sounds more upbeat than the word really is. It’s a fleeting thought that you can’t get back. Not something you pop open to celebrate.
It’s not a word that springs easily off my tongue. It isn’t a word I use at all so it was new to me when I saw it in my inbox.
And I can see how powerful it could be. But for me it now has negtive connotations.
But things that are fleeting can be negative. In the sense that you’d like them to last longer.
Can you use it in a sentence?

Chris Redding
The Corpse Whisperer August 2007
www.chrisreddingauthor.com
http://chrisredddingauthor.blogspot.com/

            My degree is in journalism and for about 5 months I actually worked in that field. Did I crave the hard news? Nope. I loved the feature stories, but I went at them with no less vigor than I did the breaking stories.

            Frankly, people’s jobs are interesting. I once spent a half an hour on the phone with a guy named Ted E. Behr (no joke)  talking about effluent. It was fascinating because he found it fascinating.

            What does that have to do with being a Chihuahua?

            Well I always warn my interviewee that I will keep asking questions until I either get an answer or understand what the person is telling me. I liken it to those little dogs that grab onto your pant leg and won’t let go.

            Gotta admire the little guy’s persistence. He’ll hang onto your pant leg and he only weighs eight pounds.

            And I think this is a great attitude on many levels for a writer.

            First you have to be persistent and finish the damn book.

            Then you have to learn all you can about writing and how to make your gem shine.

            And of course you have to submit. No matter how many rejections, you have to keep polishing and keep submitting. Until someone says, “yes.”

            You must write another book. And another. Until you write one that someone wants to publish.

            And when it is published, you have to get out there and network with your readers. You have to do signings. You have to do workshops.

            You have to be persistent.

            Especially because lots of people around you won’t be.  I’ve seen writers come and go and never get published. And it wasn’t because they couldn’t write, it was because they gave up.

            So be the Chihuahua.