Posted Apr 3 2018, 12:00 pm in giveaways, prizes, Scavenger Hunt, teen reads, YASH
This bi-annual event was first organized by author Colleen Houck as a way to give readers a chance to gain access to exclusive bonus material from their favorite authors…and a chance to win some awesome prizes! At this hunt, you not only get access to exclusive content from each author, you also get a clue for the hunt. Add up the clues, and you can enter for our prize–one lucky winner will receive one book from each author on the hunt in my team! But play fast: this contest (and all the exclusive bonus material) will only be online for 120 hours!
Go to the YA Scavenger Hunt page to find out all about the hunt. There’s a BUNCH of contests going on simultaneously, and you can enter one or all! I am a part of the PINK TEAM–but do check out the other teams for a chance to win a whole different set of books!
If you’d like to find out more about the hunt, see links to all the authors participating, and see the full list of prizes up for grabs, go to the YA Scavenger Hunt page.
This is an early freewrite that I did while brainstorming Rosemarked. In it, Zivah travels to the capital and tries to earn a place in their healer’s academy. Those of you who have read the book know that I ended up taking it in a very different direction.
The first thing I feel when I see the hospital is intense excitement. The city itself, with its bustling noise and crowds, is hard on me. But the sight of the hospital stirs in me great joy. It’s the largest building in the area, and one of the largest buildings I’ve ever seen, for that matter. The surface is gray stone, with ivy climbing the walls. I see people in doctor’s robes hustling in and out.
It’s to be my challenge then, to enter this place, to earn my place among these people. But it is no hardship for me to strive for this. I can already feel the knowledge, sense all the secrets about the human body that will be unveiled to me. There is power here. Not military power, like those of our oppressors, but the power to take someone back from the grasp of death. This is power that I would kill for.
The next morning, I go to the hospital with the master healer, where the hospital administrator is waiting for me. “I’ve heard of you,” he said. “We are quite interested in having you work for us.” He looks at me with fascination, and I am glad to see that he is willing to treat me as an equal to his other students. “You will, of course have to be tested beforehand. Whenever you are ready, I can administer the tests.”
I am introduced to the other students. They are nice. Some are haughty, others just looked at me curiously. I look different, with my long braided hair and dark eyes. I think they don’t know what to make of me. But the doubts fall away once we get into the questioning. I studied long for this. Perhaps not for this test, but I know the human body like the back of my hand. We are in a group, and each is asked about different body parts, their functions. Though I can tell that the emphasis of their instruction is slightly different, I can easily keep up with them. I also get the impression that most of the students have not had any first-hand experience with the body. Their knowledge is from books, but I from working with animals since I was old enough to hold a knife. I’ve dissected snakes, sewn up livestock after injury. My knowledge is from my hands, from my memory.
I finish my testing, and go back to my assigned room. A day later, someone I recognize as the head physician knocked on my door and shakes my hand.
“Congratulations,” he said. “You performed well in your testing. Welcome to our school.”
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How interesting to have so much good material, and then choose to go in a different direction. They say no writing is wasted, and you’ve just proven that by sharing some great prose here.
I know! I can’t wait to read this.
Love this YA Scavenger Hunt! and getting introduced to all these authors is really awesome!
That’s generous. *crosses fingers*