In honor of the December 22 release of Lindsay Eland's SCONES AND SENSIBILITY (aka Lindsay, the Nice Cuda) Why A? is holding our very first contest! With prizes!
SCONES tells the story of Polly, the dreamy, Jane Austen-obsessed tween who sets out to make a love match for all the lonely souls in her sea-side town, with hysterical results.
Entry Rules:
All you have to do to enter is choose the Follow button, if you haven't already (on your right hand column of the blog) and leave a comment describing a poorly conceived love match, set-up or blind date in 1-3 paragraphs. Humor is encouraged.
For example:
Describe a love match between
- a cat person and a dog person
- a germophobic vegetarian and a carefree meat-eater
- a roller coaster fanatic and a carsick person
- a tightrope walker and someone with a fear of heights
Use our samples or make up your own!
You get the idea!
You get the idea!
Deadline:
December 22 or the first 50 entries, whichever comes first;
Winners announced December 27th.
First Prize:
Signed Author's copy of Scones and Sensibility
Full-toothed Cuda crit (with bite marks) from 2 or three actual Cudas of the first ten pages of your YA or MG manuscript
Second Prize:
Cuda crit (with bite marks) from one Cuda of the first ten pages of your YA or MG manuscript
Third Prize:
Full-toothed Cuda crit from one Cuda of the first five pages of your YA or MG manuscript
Good luck! email mommatoo@optonline.net with questions
I'm the first :) I had fun with this one, sorry if it's long. I read your descriptions and I immediately thought of a blind date consisting of a chocoholic and a health nut ...
ReplyDeleteWynne sat at the tiny table sipping her hot mocha. Her fingers tapped on the table top while her foot danced to the soft music playing in the café. A plate filled with decadent morsels of chocolate desserts sat to the side while a steaming mug of hot chocolate sat alone beside the plate of temptation. Nibbling on a chocolate dipped shortbread Wynne looked up as her guest arrived. A chair scraped along the floor as it dragged backwards. Her guests’ knees hit the bottom of the table, spilling whip cream onto the side of her mug. Grabbing both mugs before any more of the heavenly additive spilt, Wynne stifled a groan.
Her very tall, extremely slender blind date arrived wearing the promised blue sweater; a bright blue with ‘save the world’ written across, to be exact. Glancing down at her own elegant black sweater with a soft baby blue scarf, Wynne sighed. Reaching across the table with the mug of hot chocolate, Wynne halted. The hands required to hold the hot chocolate were already full. One held a dainty teacup while the other held a matching plate filled with cut apples, cheese and raisins. Wynne raised her eyes in question.
“I know your profile said you love chocolate, but I don’t eat the garbage. Here, try some apple.” Adam, her date greeted. Wynne looked down at her plate of decadent desserts, then back to the tiny plate with the sliced apple. Her fingers grabbed onto the corner of a brownie square, raised it to her lips and sweetly smiled. “No thanks.” She said moments before she bit into the rich fudge brownie with obvious relish.
Those scones look YUM. I'll have to mull and see if I can come up with anything for the contest...love matches aren't my strongest suit.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a great contest - I'd better call Cupid for some good ideas! ;-)
ReplyDeleteDebbie noticed him as soon as he entered the café. He was overweight, too short for her, and a clothing tag clearly out of place climbing up the back of his neck. No way could she she be seen on a date with a guy like that. There were standards a girl had to uphold.
ReplyDeleteThe man approached. “Are you Debbie?”
How could Ellen have done this? She lied. Drop dead glorious she said. And she’s supposed to be my best friend. “No.”
“Oh. Sorry. I was told to look for a woman wearing a yellow dress and red heels.”
Mental note to self: Never describe to your best friend what you will be wearing to meet a blind date. “Popular color combo this season.”
He nodded and walked toward the back of the restaurant.
Oh my God, he’s scanning the room for another woman dressed like me. Besides being unattractive, he’s also stupid. Good. He’s giving up.
She watched him put a cell phone to his ear as he exited the restaurant through the same door he had entered.
Leaving through the exit on the opposite side of the restaurant seemed like a better idea for her. No need to take a chance he's waiting outside. Let him wait. Her cell phone rang. She glanced at the caller ID. It was him. Let it ring. She hailed a cab. Her message indicator flashed on the display. Safely in the cab, she wondered what kind of message a dummy leaves? She pushed send.
“Hi Debbie. It’s Harrell. I’m sorry we couldn’t hook up. I had a few details to finish up at work and I sent my chauffeur into the restaurant to offer you a ride to the Play. I had hoped to meet up with you there. He couldn’t find you. I guess something came up. Not to worry, my secretary has offered to go with me. Thanks for offering to help me out.”
Stephan told me to dress casual for a concert. Hopefully my salmon cardigan, denim skirt, and penny loafers weren't too dressy, but I wanted to look my best. Where was he? I looked up and down the street. The only person in sight was a tall lanky guy with spiked florescent lemon yellow hair and a leather motorcycle jacket. Lemonhead looked at me, and --oh my goodness gracious-- he had holes in his ears large enough my entire thumb would fit through and a metal spike poking through his lower lip.
ReplyDelete"Are you Edith?"
I smiled brightly, though it seemed I would be in for a long evening far outside my comfort zone. "Yes, I'm Edith. I assume that you are Stephan? The pleasure's all mine.” He shook my hand and helped me up.
"Ready to go?" he asked, already walking down the sidewalk with such a great gait I nearly had to jog to keep up.
“Definitely. What band are we going to see?"
"Emily didn't tell you? I thought she would have, I mean, she's super jealous that we're going and I even got backstage passes. They weren't cheap, but you do what you can to impress a lady."
I shook my head, apparently Emily had failed to mention a lot of things.
"Booger Flickr."
"Excuse me," I said, stopping in my tracks, "did you say booger flicker?"
Stephan unzipped his jacket, pointing to the yellow print on his t-shirt. "Booger Flickr, no e. Best thrash metal band ever. There's the stage entrance. Don't worry, since we're going to be back stage we won't get any actual boogers on us tonight. What kind of a guy do you take me for?"
As we neared the door I could hear the crowd inside chanting, “Pick it! Flick it! Never ever lick it!” Oh dear me! It was going to be a very long night indeed.
These are great! Thanks for entering!
ReplyDeleteThis is taken from a real life scene, and it's why I will NEVER set anyone else up on dates...EVER!
ReplyDeleteMelisha tugged the hem of her skirt down over knees and tucked her crossed ankles behind the chair leg. “Laci, are you sure he is coming?” she asked. Melisha had seen Mike at my house the weekend before helping my husband fix our washer. She was impressed by his appearance to the point I had to wipe the drool off of her chin. I don’t think she listened to a word I said about him after the two left us to our scrapbooking.
“Yes, my husband is picking him up.”
“Why is Jessie picking him up? Doesn’t he have a car?”
I cleared my throat and picked at the white table cloth in front of us. “No, he has a truck, but it’s in the shop. Something about a transmission. But, it really doesn’t matter. He is a really hard worker.”
Melisha didn’t have time to mull over what I had said because Jessie and Mike entered the restaurant and were headed to our table.
“You have got to be kidding me?” Melisha said under her breathe and I knew the reason for her comment.
“Jess, didn’t you tell Mike to try and make a good impression?” I whispered to my husband as he kissed my cheek.
“Yeah, but its Mike. Give him a break.”
The man looked like he had rolled in from some 80’s action movie with his plaid shirt sleeves torn off and pointy cowboy boots. Mike sat down and made sure he positioned his arm to show off his bulging muscles. I needed to do some damage control.
“So, Mike. Tell Melisha how you rescue dogs,” I said, knowing Melisha’s love for animals and hoping to show her Mike’s softer side.
“Yeah, I take ‘em in and see if they are worth the time. If not…”
“Okay, how about we order,” interrupted my husband.
The meal goes on the same until Melisha mentioned her sevice in the peace core, sparking Mike’s attention and him adding his information of being a Ranger in the Marines.
I though, “Finally a common interest.”
WRONG!
The night ended with Mike belching up his dinner and asking Melisha if she wanted to drive him home for a roll in the sheets. Jessie, the good man that he is, drove him home instead. Thankfully, Melisha was a good enough person to keep our friendship. I did remind her that I hate setting people up and it was her idea in the first place.
Congratulations on all of the success, Lindsay Eland!
ReplyDeleteSubmission:
Ah…
Halloween…
Again…
Every year Jena found herself getting more and more desperate to have someone accompany her to the school dance and every year no one would ask. Gabriella had said it was because everyone who knew her thought she wouldn’t like Halloween due to her well known dislike for any type of candy.
If it was sweet… she didn’t like it.
If it was sour… she really didn’t like it.
So of course, men viewed her the same way. As she walked into the room, already decked out in her cat woman suit they would all turn and stare but none of them would approach her. She walked over to see her friends, but both Lauren and Gabriella was already full throttle kissing their dates. She sighed inwardly, realizing it meant she had no one to talk to or stand with until a voice behind her made her jump.
At first she wasn’t sure if someone was talking to her or if it was just the chaotic sounds of other students coming into the gym but as she turned around she came face to face with Liam. The student everyone had at one time or another had a crush on until last year’s Halloween party when he had gorged himself on the candy the school had supplied as refreshments.
“So much for trying to encourage healthy eating habits eh,” he joked to Jena who suddenly felt the urge to run back through the entrance and all the way to her house without stopping. 'The one guy… the ONE guy I would never want to even so much as dance with…' she thought
“Gabriella told me you might be feeling lonely, so I thought I might come over and say hi…,” he explained, seeming perfectly confident. Then Jena realized what costume he was wearing – puppy ears that matched his brown shirt and cargo shorts with an odd-looking tail in the back.
(etc. They dance and ends with him telling her she just never tried the right type of sweets. Having her try a sea salt caramel she loves it and finds herself starting to love him.)
-Emma Michaels
Here's a personal shout out to all the entrants so far! I love them all and MAN is it going to be hard to choose winners. But keep em' coming. This is FUN!
ReplyDeleteSteena: wahoo!
Nostra, Hurray and howdy stranger!
Amykate: yeehaw!
Laci: Yowza!
Emma: Yippee!
thanks, guys!
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ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your blog posts, thank you
ReplyDelete