Ribbons... and Back-of-the-Book Blurb # 97

This week all the sweating (sometimes literally) and toiling and collaborating and printing and rubber-cementing collided. All of the kids' science fair project boards are finished and are now on display. 

One of my 8th graders was thrilled he only got a 3rd place ribbon, because that meant his project would not have to be lugged to the local, city-wide science fair. I know. A middle-schooler who's reluctant to shine in the academic limelight? How odd she said, sarcastically.

 One of the 5th graders, on the other hand, was thrilled with his 2nd place ribbon. His mom came to check out the projects, and he proudly showed off his work.

Last year I only worked with the 6th-8th graders. This year I'm working with the 4th-8th graders. The work I did with the 4th-5th grade teacher this year was not as seamless as I would have liked. Next year, we'll begin our expository writing early--way earlier than the official science fair project work. The students will choose a general topic and then will do the research and writing work so that when they begin their science fair project, the hard part (for most of them) will already be finished.

Lessons learned... always a good thing.

And now onto back-of-the-book blurb business. Look at the photo below. That is the cover of your book. You choose the genre. Is it a coffee table book of fashion trends? Is it a photo collection of mentally-ill patients and their clothing choices? 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. If you'd like to read my review of The Write Man, Lisa's most recent novel, you read it here.  Lisa nudged me into reading her first romance novel... and then I gladly read two more of her books, which is monumental, because I despise romance novels. However, Lisa Ricard Claro's writing is so engaging, she hooks me. To follow Sally Field's example, I like her... I really, really like her (and her writing).

     

          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:

Darryl's Dollies

       Some snarked about Darryl's clothing. He dressed in polyester dress pants, a ruffly tux shirt and high-top tennis shoes--wherever he went.
        Some townies talked more about his behavior. Darryl's mouth's always moving. He never stopped talking. Newcomers erroneously thought there was one of those blue tooth devices hooked around his ear and that he was talking on the phone to somebody. Not so. Darryl's best audience was Darryl himself.
        But if people were invited to Darryl's for dinner, it was the dolls that did them in. 
        They were everywhere. Many were perched on shelves, standing ramrod straight, permanently awestruck--eyes wide open--with happy smiles plastered on their porcelain faces. Dolls seated in miniature rocking chairs. Dolls lined up like soldiers along the walls, standing at attention on the floor.
         What's with all the dolls? Are they memorializing Darryl's mom? 
         Darryl's neighbors plan an intervention to get to the bottom of things... (150 words)

   


And since I'm trying to get back into posting twice a week, here is the photo that will be the cover for the basis for the next back-of-the-book blurb:

St. Patrick's Day, Six Word Memoir and More

photo by Austin Steele
This dog looks confident enough to pull off the beads, the
bandana and the beanie, don't you think?

photo by Austin Steele

Every year a huge St. Patrick's Day Parade goes through my school's neighborhood. This year, I was enjoying the parade from friends' house. They had a room porch and most importantly, a bathroom.

These are photos taken by Post Dispatch photographer Austin Steele.

photo by Austin Steele
This is the crowd in front of my school.

The parade inspired my six-word memoir this week:

Green seas...and rivers of beer-pee.
(I counted the hyphenated words as one word. Arrest me.)

And now onto the "more" part.

Lisa Ricard Claro nominated me (along with other bloggers) for the Sunshine Blogger Award. Here are the grueling requirements:

1. Thank the writer who nominated me. Thanks, Lisa.

2. Answer the questions. (Read the answers below if you need bathroom reading material.)

3. Nominate other bloggers for the award. (See the list at the end of this post.)

4. Write the same number of questions for the blogger who nominated me. (That means 11, guys.)

5. Notify the bloggers I nominated. (I'll send them an email.)

Now, here are Lisa's questions and my answers:

What do you most enjoy about writing/blogging?
As far as blogging, I love being able to connect with people all over the country and the world. One of the writers in my accountability group is living in England (I think). I have a blogging friend who lives in India. Getting to know these people via their writing is delightful.

As far as writing, I love being able to vent through my writing. I also enjoy taking a rough piece and polishing it up until it's kind of pretty and shiny.

Where is the coolest place you've ever traveled to?

I love France (my favorite place is a small village outside of Pau, at the base of the Pyrenees) but the coolest place I've traveled to is the ground. I've been skydiving three times, and looking up and seeing the sky and looking down and also seeing the sky is beyond cool. It's scary and fabulous and energizing.

Describe your favorite snack.

Anything that's both sweet and salty is a great snack, but since I'm trying to stay away from the sugar demon, I'd choose salt and pepper pistachios--the unshelled ones.

What's the best movie you've seen lately?

That's a tough one. I saw The Greatest Show on Earth recently, and I loved it. I saw The Shape of Water a week or so ago, and was enthralled. A couple of months ago, I saw Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri and had a wonderful discussion after the credits stopped running. 

I can't choose. Sorry.

What's your favorite season, and why?

Fall is my favorite season. The trees change color (take that, Lisa! Those palm trees never change, do they? ;) and there's a special crispness and smell when autumn arrives.

Do you believe in ghosts?

I've never seen a ghost, but my husband has experienced something, so who knows. I do know we only use 10% of our brain's capabilities, so people reappearing after they're dead, well... I wouldn't say it couldn't ever happen. 

What advice do you give but don't take yourself?

Reach for the stars. I've had a writing idea for close to 20 years--a screenplay based on one of my favorite books. However, it seems so impossible (to get permission, for one) so the idea has just gotten dusty.

If you had to choose one color, what would it be?

Green would be my color.

When was the last time you laughed?

My husband (frequently) dances around, imitating Channing Tatum or Jason Momoa. Each time we laugh together. (I might laugh a little louder than he does, but it is a hilarious moment we share.)

Do you prefer a tablet or an actual book while reading?

When I travel on a long trip, and I can bring it, I love to take a tablet. However, I fall asleep with a book in my hands most nights, and what I have as my bathroom reading are books, so actual paper and binding books are what I prefer most of the time.

If you could have one wish granted, do you know what it would be?

I'm going back and forth between a couple of possibilities, so no, I'm not sure which one it would be.

Here are my nominees:

Val the Victorian
Donna Volkenannt
Lynn Obermoeller

Here are the questions for my nominees:

1. What was your first singer/movie star crush?
2. If you could live anywhere else in the world, where would it be, and why?
3. What was the riskiest thing you ever did?
4. What great TV show or movie have you seen recently?
5. If you had a theme song (like Ally McBeal did), what would it be?
6. If you could have dinner with five famous people--either living or dead--who would be sitting at the six-top with you?
7. What would make up your favorite meal? In other words, what dishes/foods would be on the table for your favorite breakfast/lunch or dinner?
8. What book have you read recently that you would recommend?
9. If you had to "travel" to another era to live, which one would you not choose, and why?
10. Describe a "brush with greatness" you had.
11. What do you most enjoy about writing/blogging?

            Enjoy the rest of your week.

Monday Memoir... And a Bit More

Well, this was a busy week but I feel like I accomplished nothing. At work, it was science fair project crunch-time. On our floor we had 41 science fair projects to get finished. Sadly, half of them need to get completed today and tomorrow.

"What do you mean, I need a journal? What's a journal?" 

You know, those diary-like entries we worked on, where you kept track of everything you did for your science fair project. You even printed some of them out to get assessed.

"Oh. I deleted those when I organized my Google docs."

Other students said, "Background--what's that?"

You know, your research paper. We each did an outline, with an attention-getting beginning, the terms you need to explain, the scientists who studied your topic, why it's an important subject to study, and a concluding paragraph. Pull out your outline, and I'll help you with your background paper.

"Oh. I didn't do an outline."

I've sniffed a lot of rubber cement this past week (thankfully, I love the smell). I I've done no writing this week. However, I saw two of my students receive a gold ribbon in a speech competition. They did a duet, and that's the hardest category to get a gold in, since there are two performers, which means both of them need to do an excellent job. They were thrilled, and rightly so.

And now my whining is over. Here's my six-word memoir:

    My writing surrendered... "Real" work won.

                                


    Here's another one:

   Sometimes I get terribly weighed down. 

    The above picture was taken when some reptile guy came to our school. Several of the teachers were terrified--one even left the gym and wouldn't come back in--so when the kids started shouting, "Mrs. R! Mrs. R!" they had no idea I love snakes. (I think this was an albino python. I'm sure Val can help me out if I'm wrong.)

    Hopefully this will be a better week, writing-wise... even if St. Patrick's Day is Saturday, a huuuuuge deal in our school.

Monday Memoir... and More

I know I've been absent from the blogosphere for a while. I've read some of your posts but then snuck out without leaving a comment. (Shay--I loved your 10-year celebration.)

I honestly can't say why I've been lazy about posting. Hopefully it's the end of my laxness.  

I thought I would post a 6-word memoir every Monday. I just got back from a writing retreat, and since it was a full weekend, I'm including two this week.


     Ate too much, accomplished not enough.

                                                          and

      I didn't know: synopsis-writing sucks.

Today, as I sat facing a whole wall of windows and stained glass (at the retreat), my laptop propped up on a low window seat, I saw a ladybug. Or what I think was a ladybug. It was red and looked like it had spots. But hey, I'm a writer-reader kind of gal. Science is not my bag. 

Then I saw a second one. This one was more orange-ish. Then a third one appeared. (I couldn't get a good shot of that one--it kept hiding behind the blinds.) Because of these insects, I came up with a 3rd 6-word memoir:



        Saw three ladybugs... thought of Val

And finally for today, I got a great new book. It's going to help me revise my writing every time. If you'd like to know what it is, read my post.

A is for... Accountability... F is Fun With Students... and Back-of-the-Book Blurb # 96

    In case you didn't know, I'm now part of an accountability group. Ten writers are in it, and we're off to a wonderful start. My first goal was tiny--edit the first 25 pages for tense consistency (Halfway through my manuscript, I changed my mind what tense my story was going to be told in. I figured I'd made some screw-ups along the way.)

   Just setting a goal and then making my goal public--it's a wonderful thing. I've accomplished my first goal, and plan on keeping the momentum going for the remainder of the week. (I'm hoping to finish the whole manuscript by the time Monday rolls around.)

What writing goal do you have right now, and what are you doing to accomplish it?

   Earlier in the week my students had fun at my expense. One of my 8th graders looked up my name on the internet, and up popped all sorts of photos. Photos of me at book signings. Photos I've used on my blog (like the one below of the rat family). In a second, several of the computers in the lab had the same pictures. Somehow, the sickness became contagious... without a single word being exchanged.

Oh, how they laughed because every day is a bad hair day for Sioux... and the camera always does a fantastic job of capturing each catastrophe.

And now onto the business of book blurb stuff.

Look at the photo below. That is the cover of your book. You choose the genre. Is it a coffee table book of fashion trends? Is it a photo collection of mentally-ill patients and their clothing choices? 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. If you'd like to read my review of The Write Man, Lisa's most recent novel, you read it here.  It's a great read (and that's saying a lot, since I don't read romance novels).

     

          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:

Rats! Rats! Everywhere There's Rats!

      Elsie loved Nigel... which meant Elsie had to learn to love rats.
      Growing up, Nigel had trouble kids his age. His pointed nose, his furtive glances, his habit of squeaking when threatened--it all resulted in more torment from his peers.
       When he found a trapped rat and then nursed it back to health, he found what he'd been yearning for for years: a friend. Jerry (thankfully, there was no Tom in Nigel's childhood home) slept with Nigel and even spent every day in Nigel's pocket during the day.
       Then Elsie came along. When they first met, Nigel had only 3 long-tailed friends. He kept them separated so there was no baby rats. But while basking in the glow of love, he got sloppy... and the rats got busy. Three became 168.
       Will Elsie stick with Nigel? Or will she gnaw off her leg so she can escape this sticky situation? (150 words)




And for anyone who still reads by blog, here is the photo for the next book blurb:

      

Funkytown... and Back-of-the-Book Blurb # 95

I wish I could figure out why my blogging has dwindled down to not-even-a-trickle.

In the past, I posted twice a week. It was fun most of the time. Certainly I didn't consider it a chore. This is a busy time of the year--work-wise--so I can use that excuse, but some of that "work" is a joy. For example:

• I shared my "Listen to Your Mother" story to a group of 400 women at a "girls night out" in a local church. Then, I shared a memory map the audience members could use to unearth their stories. That was a blast.

• I'm facilitating a writing retreat for the Gateway Writing Project in early March. That's involved creating a flyer, sending out loads of emails, keeping my fingers crossed, and keeping track of replies. That hasn't taken up much time or energy at all.

• Beginning this month, I'm launching an accountability writing group. That already involved actual sweat, because I had to build a google site. For most people, it would take a few minutes but since I'm technologically such a nincompoop, I had to drive to Festus so a friend could walk me through it, step by step, over and over, because I couldn't remember the steps to insert a page and make it all linked and embed the doc and make each one able to be edited and so on. That was not fun. However, it's done.

• Then there's the normal stuff. Grading papers and lesson plans and board meetings and an open house (at my school). I could continue to whine, but I'm already tired of it, so I know you are.

If I knew why I've been in such a funk when it comes to my blog, perhaps I could do something to fix it. Or maybe I'm just pushing the limits when it comes to Val, to see if she can craft a funny blurb and some hilarious reviews in just a day's time?

Look at the photo below. That is the cover of your book. You choose the genre. Is it a coffee table book of fashion trends? Is it a photo collection of mentally-ill patients and their clothing choices? 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. If you'd like to read my review of The Write Man, Lisa's most recent novel, you read it here.  It's a great read (and that's saying a lot, since I don't read romance novels).

     

          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:

Fashion Forward... All the Way to the Insane Asylum

Wearing bras as a top. Clothing made of meat. Jeans that are bought new from the store... and they're already patched or sliced up. Jimmy's tired of the crazy clothing fads.

"Jimmy doesn't go for nutty stuff. Jimmy likes tried and true clothing. Those man skirts? Don't even think about it. Jimmy don't like those."

But eventually, Jimmy needed to fight back. He wanted to make a statement. And he did.

Jimmy started wearing a noose as a tie whenever he went to a fancy restaurant like Taco Bell. He didn't have enough hair to achieve a man bun, so he took the cat hair off his couch, wadded it up, and made a bun that he bobby-pinned onto his head.

Will Jimmy end up changing the fashion scene? Or will he end up a classic character in some sitcom about nothing? (142 words)



And Val--I know you can work magic with this photo. It's the next one.