The Pyrenees---Southern France

The Pyrenees---Southern France

Saturday, October 7, 2017

A Dog's Dream Come True... and Back-of-the-Book Blurb #79

         One night Winnie's dream came true.

          Winnie is a three-year old golden retriever from Turkey. She's been living on her own for most of her life, probably. She's had at least one litter of pups, and came to the U.S. starved. She's been here a week. (You can feel all her ribs, and every time we open the refrigerator, her head is inside the fridge, nosing around. When we open the dog food tub, her head in buried in the food, in a helpie-selfie all-you-can-eat-in-two-seconds buffet.)

         Winnie's eating three meals a day in an attempt to get some meat on her bones.

         One night this week I was filling the dog food tub. I guess I wasn't quite calculating (correctly) where I'd cut the bag open, because a couple of cups of dry dog food spilled out onto the floor. The pieces skiddled all over the place.

         Winnie was on clean-up patrol immediately. Since I was about to feed her dinner anyway, I let her enjoy herself.

          As far as Winnie's concerned, it was a perfect night... And now onto book blurb stuff.

            Look at the photo below. That is the cover of your bookYou choose the genre. Is it a love story about a feline and the bus driver? Is it an insider's tale, exposing the horrors of the lives of feral cats? Is it the true crime story of a cat stalking Morris the cat? You decide.

         Write an enticing blurb--150 words or less. (The title doesn't count in the word count.) Blurbs are those enticing bits that prod you into buying the book. Sometimes they're on the back cover of the book. Sometimes they're on the inside front cover. What they always try to do is lure you into purchasing the book. 

          Lisa Ricard Claro was the original creator of this writing challenge. She moved to Florida, and is too busy to host a weekly book blurb. Her first romance novel, Love Built to Last, just came out as an audio book. Her newest project? A writing retreat center on the beach. Writers rent beach cabanas, unlimited drinks are included, and the cabana boys either look like Viggo Mortensen or Jason Momoa. Therefore, Lisa doesn't have time to host this anymore.

          Okay, back to book blurb stuff.
     
          Include your blurb in a blog post. Include a link to this post. Also, link your post to Mr. Linky. Mr. Linky is easy. If you've never done it, you'll be impressed with how simple he is. And then, check out the other blurb(s). It's interesting to see the different directions writers take, given the same photo.

        Here's the book cover, along with my blurb: 


Enough is Enough is Enough

Marvin Hall’s wife needed him. If he wasn’t around, she’d feel useless.
He left dirty dishes in the sink. She enjoyed scrubbing the plates after the food had turned to concrete. He dropped his towel onto the bathroom floor showering. Melissa, his wife, would invariably pick up the towel and hang it up where it belonged. Marvin’s slobby ways made the little woman felt necessary.
His favorite thing to do, however, was to smear his fingerprints all over the windows. Each time Mrs. Hall saw some smudges on the panes of glass, she’d get out the vinegar and start wiping away.
Ahhh. Making a woman happy is easy… Or so Marvin thought.
One morning, a message on the bathroom mirror, written in lipstick, greeted Marvin.
“I’ve had enough. I’m not gonna take it anymore.”
How will life change for Marvin? Will he ever see the light? (146 words)


And for those who need an entire week to come up with hilarious reviews, here is the photo for the next blurb:





Monday, October 2, 2017

Winslet (Winne), Whine...Whine... Whine, NaNoWriMo and Back-of-the-Book Blurb # 78





            It only took a few hours, but Winslet (Winnie), one of Love a Golden Rescue's newest Turkish dogs, learned what "sit" means. She's also learned that if she does something outside (poop or pee... sniffing and walking the perimeter of the yard doesn't count), she gets a treat. And quickly, she connected the sound of the treat jar lid coming off with the necessity for her to sit (pretty).

       A whirlwind trip to Chicago, and all the stuff that preceded it, kept me from posting on Friday. (I know. It was a different excuse last week. Hopefully this Friday I will be able to post on schedule.) Thursday night I had to bake for our 8th graders' bake sale this past weekend. Two batches of muffins and deluxe brownies. The brownies became a gooey hot mess. At 9:00 on Thursday night I dropped off the muffins. (The brownies were too unsightly.)

        Friday morning--I finished laundry and packed for the Chicago trip. Then I headed off for a day of professional development with the hot-mess brownies in hand for our table of teachers. 

        Friday afternoon we gathered for a three-vehicle caravan trip to Chicago. After waiting for everyone to get off work, we left by 4:30, stopped a couple of times and got to Chicago a little after 10. Three volunteers to a room (I slept on the floor in our room) and up at 5 for a quick shower so we could get to the cargo building of the airport by 6. The plane was on time, on time, on time... the plane was delayed. For more than two hours.

        When all the dogs were uncrated and fed and watered and walked, when all the crates were cleaned and dismantled and stacked (our rescue group was in charge of transporting the crates so they could later be shipped back to Turkey), we headed back to St. Louis. 

        Thankfully, Radar has been a gentleman (so far). Winnie got a bath (she was covered in poop from the plane trip), she's gotten some much-needed sleep, she's gotten too-many-to-count treats, she's begged and pleaded for pizza/bagels/a turkey sandwich or anything we're eating/anything from the refrigerator or whatever's loose on the counter but has been unsuccessful in snagging anything unintended for her (so far). Hopefully the time she's with us as a foster will go just as swimmingly has her first night.

         A quick note: NaNoWriMo begins in a month (from yesterday). My students and I are going to begin with some talks and some brainstorming and some peptalks before November 1 rolls around. I think I know what I'm going to write about, but I'm not 100% positive yet. Being a pantser (I fly by the seat of my pants) I still have oodles of time to land on something for keeps.

       Also, if you think you might be afraid of success, check out my post on The Muffin.

      And now (three days late) is my back-of-the-book blurb stuff.

          Look at the photo below. That is the cover of your bookYou choose the genre. Is it a love story about a feline and the bus driver? Is it an insider's tale, exposing the horrors of the lives of feral cats? Is it the true crime story of a cat stalking Morris the cat? You decide.

         Write an enticing blurb--150 words or less. (The title doesn't count in the word count.) Blurbs are those enticing bits that prod you into buying the book. Sometimes they're on the back cover of the book. Sometimes they're on the inside front cover. What they always try to do is lure you into purchasing the book. 

          Lisa Ricard Claro was the original creator of this writing challenge. She moved to Florida, and is too busy to host a weekly book blurb. Her first romance novel, Love Built to Last, just came out as an audio book. She's busy with a new book (or a new series, probably), she's got an editorial business so she's waaaay too busy to do this anymore (although she did post each one on time).

          Okay, back to book blurb stuff.
       
          Include your blurb in a blog post. Include a link to this post. Also, link your post to Mr. Linky. Mr. Linky is easy. If you've never done it, you'll be impressed with how simple he is. And then, check out the other blurb(s). It's interesting to see the different directions writers take, given the same photo.

        Here's the book cover, along with my blurb: 



On the Road Again… Forever?
People wondered. Some even gasped in surprise. “A cat got on the bus. What’s a cat doing on the bus?”
The regulars never even looked twice. They knew Sam. He didn’t ever pay a fare, but he also never played loud music nor did he bother the other riders in any other way.
Sam began riding the bus as a baby. His owner, Bobby, would sneak the tiny kitten into his jacket pocket or backpack. Then they’d make the rounds.
The shelter in the morning. The strip of hoity-toity restaurants after the lunch crowds left. The soup kitchen at night.
When Bobby died, Sam didn’t know what else to do except stick to his routine. He had friends (mostly) wherever he went.
But things are stirring inside Sam. Could he ever leave his traveling ways behind and become a house cat? Could Sam find a forever home? (147 words)


And for those who like to work ahead (or at the very least, on time) here is the photo for the October 6 book blurb:


Google image