Back-of-the-Book Blurb Friday # 3

        This challenge can be as easy or as sweat-producing as you like.  Your mission--if you choose to accept it--is to write a book blurb for the cover photo below. And you only have 150 words (or less) to do it.

• You choose the genre of your prospective novel. Is it a mystery? Chick lit? A romance? A sci-fi story? (Well, probably not, with this picture.)
• Post your blurb on your post... and then link your blog, using the charming Mr. Linky below. (It's really easy. If I can do it, your golden retriever can do it.)
• Make it enticing. A book blurb is crafted to seduce the reader into buying the book.
• Check out the other linked blurbs, and leave a comment. You'd be surprised how different our inspiration is, given the same photo. 

      The photo for the next week is also included, so you have some think-time...

       Usually, I start one and think it's going to be easy, but I end up having to condense and delete and tighten. And making your writing tighter is always a good exercise to engage in.

       Here's the photo for this week:       

       Here's my blurb:

The Trek

Marie and Jeanne had been friends for over ten years. Babies. Divorces. New Love. New love gone sour. They'd been through it all—together.

For months they'd planned this: a trip to the South of France. Pau, Toulouse, Contis and all the tiny villages and beaches in between. Marie was into all kinds of wine. Jeanne had never met a loaf of bread or a hunk of cheese she didn't adore. They were going to eat, drink and laugh their way across the country.

This vacation-of-a-lifetime was going to end with a three-day hike in the Pyrenees. The two women wanted the mountains to be their last memories of France.

But one of the women has a secret... a secret she's had buried for seven years. She's hoping the serenity of the hills will soften the blow.

Because on their final day in France, she's finally going to talk... (148 words)

      And here's the photo for next week:

What Makes You a Writer?

,

          This is a sign that hangs in my classroom. The sign, the construction tape, the hardhats--they go with the theme.

           For me, deconstruction is an integral part of the writing process. I write, I delete, I pare down, I rearrange, I tighten.

           Which leads me to what I think is necessary for a writer. A writer must be willing to cast off words/lines/pages. They have to be able to do the work, to get the writing done... and then, to delete parts of their WIP.

           They also need a thick skin. If a writer really and truly wants to get better at their craft, they have to ask fellow writers to be honest. 

Does this suck or is it any good?

Which parts do I need to discard?

Which parts are weak and therefore, need to be overhauled?

           What do you think it takes to be a writer? Delete-happy minds want to know...

Too Much of a Good Thing?

         I've been toiling away on my WIP. A year or so ago, I was worried I wouldn't have enough wordage. Would anyone buy a book made up of one haiku? (I was pretty sure I could come up with 17 syllables. I know at least Shay would buy it, since she loveslovesloves haikus.) If I got the story finished in 13 pages, could it be called a SS novella--a super-short novella?

         Currently it's closer to 87,000 than 86,000. But just barely closer.

A picture of the first page of  my WIP,
albeit  a bad photo...

          Now, I'm worried about something else.  I claimed I would be able to finish this draft by the end of February. February 2016, that is. 

       That means I only have 9 more days.

       Whoops. February has only 29 days, so I only have 7 more days... and today is almost over.

        I'm also worried because I have a bunch of words/sentences/pages written, and I still haven't gotten to a major part of the story. A big something still has to happen (luckily, I know what the something is) and then a substantial loose thread needs to be taken care of. (I know how that's going to get tied up, too.) 

       So, will this WIP end up long and way-too-drawn-out? 

       Or will I end up sucking on my car's exhaust pipe?

       Time will tell...