The Dreaded Blurb: An Open Book blog hop post

Welcome to Open Book Blog Hop. You can find us every Monday talking about the writing life. I hope you'll check out all the posts: you'll find the links at the bottom of this post.

We've talked blurbs before. Do you have any tips for writing blurbs? 

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Ah! That great joy in the life of a writer: the writing of the blurb.  

It's easy right? Just take everything you've spent months or years turning into a novel, and present it in a paragraph or so in such a way that every who reads the blurb will want to read the book!

I'm joking of course. 

Even writers who have mastered the task get a sort of haunted look in their eyes when they talk about blurb-writing. 

It's a high pressure piece of writing. 

In a very small space, you need to tell enough about your book to arouse curiosity, but not give it all away, and inspire folks to want to read the rest. 

Honestly, I'd rather just write another novel. 

But I do have a few tips for how to do it, now that I've been through it a few times.  

1. Remember that the blurb is not a synopsis. Do not try to describe all that your book is. Piquing curiosity is better that being fully descriptive in this case. 

2. Try to match the tone of the book. Is it funny? Then your blurb should also be funny. Is it heartwarming and sincere? Snarky? Serious? Inspiring? Reading the blurb should give the reader a sense of the tone or feel of the book. 

3. Workshop it. If you've got beta readers, critique partners, or friends who've read your work, they can be a great resource. It's easier to blurb someone else's work than it is to do your own, so I always ask for help when it's blurb writing time. 

So, yes, definitely one of the great challenges of a writing life, but so important! The cover and the blurb are the two best tools you have for helping a reader decide if your book is one they'll enjoy. 

What attracts or puts you off in book blurbs? I'd love to read your thoughts in the comments! 

Blurb for Going Through the Change, book 1 of the Menopausal Superhero series: 

“The Change” is difficult for everyone, but for these four women, the transformation is bigger than they ever imagined!

They all led completely normal, and completely different lives, with two things in common: they used natural products made by the same small company, and they were all going through menopause. Now instead of finding her hot flashes under control, Helen shoots fire from her fingertips! Patricia’s thick skin isn’t nearly as metaphorical as it used to be – now she’s bulletproof! Jessica’s mood lightened, but so did the rest of her! And Linda’s gone through the biggest changes of all, but she doesn’t have any trouble opening the pickle jar anymore!

Four ordinary women suddenly living extraordinary lives, with one common thread – there’s one person in common in all their lives. Now the Menopausal Superheroes are looking for the woman responsible for taking their “change” to the extreme!

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I wish I could…An Open Book blog hop post

 

Welcome to Open Book Blog Hop. You can find us every Monday talking about the writing life. I hope you'll check out all the posts: you'll find the links at the bottom of this post.

What skill do you wish you had, either as a hobby or a career builder? 

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I wish I could sew. It comes up a lot--repairs and alternations to clothing, making useful household things. Sadly, I just don't have the hand dexterity (arthritis) and these days, the eyesight isn't what it used to be either. 

When I was a kiddo, my mother made all my clothing. I later learned that this was as much out of saving money as it was out of love, but, as a kid, I just knew how special it made me feel that I had unique items crafted just for me. 

I guess the good news that I'm not dripping in remnants of fabric and bric-a-brac, trying to figure out how to fit my hobby in my house like some of my friends who sew are! 

How about you? What do you wish you could do? I'd love to hear about it in the comments below. 

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Misshapen Crayons, an Open Book Blog Hop post

 

Welcome to Open Book Blog Hop. You can find us every Monday talking about the writing life. I hope you'll check out all the posts: you'll find the links at the bottom of this post.

People are like a box of crayons. Which crayon would you say that you are? 

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This seems like one of those Barbara Walters interview questions. Do y'all remember her? I might be dating myself…

I have trouble choosing a color. I mean…this is what I look like: 

Photo by author's husband,
on a trip to Puerto Rico, March 2023

See? I can't even choose a single hair color! So if I'm a crayon, I'm one (at least one, maybe more) of the bright ones. Maybe a nice green or purple, maybe a blue or magenta. 

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I'm probably also one of the crayons in the box with the wrapper mostly missing, a little misshapen from having gotten too warm at some point, pointy still, but slanted because it had gotten dull and someone "sharpened" it by coloring for a long time on one spot. 

I'm no pristine crayon still perfect in the box. I've seen use. I've been loved. But, I've still got beauty left to make. 

So there you go, Barbara Walters, I'm an old magenta crayon with most of the wrapper missing, bent at the middle in the shape of the hand of the kid that loves me. How's that? 

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Long Writing Sessions, and other mythological creatures: an open book blog hop post

 

Welcome to Open Book Blog Hop. You can find us every Monday talking about the writing life. I hope you'll check out all the posts: you'll find the links at the bottom of this post.

How do you get ready for a long writing session?______________________

Well, first I get down the suitcase. 

I kid. 

Well, sort of. 

I'm a writer with a day job, two rescue dogs, and a teenager still at home. It's a struggle to get writing time, and I do a lot of my writing work in 10-20 minute stretches wherever and whenever I can shoe-horn them in. 

So a "long writing session" feels like some kind of mythological creature to me most of the time. 

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A long session at home is maybe an hour, so really, my preparation is closing the door and making sure I brought a cup of tea or glass of water in there with me. 

Most summers, though, I do manage a writing retreat of several days. My critique group and I rent a house together and share the meal prep so that all of us can get lovely, long swaths of writing time. So, preparation for that does begin with getting down the suitcase. 

Writing on the deck in 2019 with one of my critique partners.

I feel so spoiled when I'm able to get three or four days in a row where my main responsibility is the creation of words on the page. And you can bet I make full use of that time! I understand the sacrifice my husband is taking on in managing all our busy household all alone for the interim. 

You know what, though? Even when I have all day, I still write in one hour chunks…I just have more of them! 

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Inspiration, Perspiration, and Determination: An IWSG post

 

Welcome to the first Wednesday of the month. You know what that means! It's time to let our insecurities hang out. Yep, it's the Insecure Writer's Support Group blog hop. If you're a writer at any stage of career, I highly recommend this blog hop as a way to connect with other writers for support, sympathy, ideas, and networking. If you're a reader, it's a great way to peek behind the curtain of a writing life.

Our Twitter handle is @TheIWSG and hashtag is #IWSG. This month's co-hosts are: Joylene Nowell Butler, Ronel Janse van Vuuren, Meka James, Diane Burton, Victoria Marie Lees, and M Louise Barbour!

May 3 question - When you are working on a story, what inspires you?

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The initial inspiration for a story is usually sort of a flash of insight, wonder, or delight for me. I have a thought and I like it. Maybe that thought came about because of something I saw, read, or heard, or maybe I don't even know why I had that thought, but I'm glad I did, and I start to noodle on it. 

The Menopausal Superhero series, for example, began with a quip about how if hormones cause superpowers, menopausal women should have the corner on that market. I was just trying to make my husband laugh, and here we are, eight books later. 

A lot of that kind of inspiration takes the form of a "What if?" question for me. 

• What if the things you see out of the corner of your eye are really there? (The Mind Plays Tricks Dark Recesses 27 April 2022) 
• What if a harpy had a male child? (Boy Chick on Apex & Abyss 1 October 2021) 
• What if my daughter had never been born? (The Beginning of You. 34 Orchard. 10 November 2022. )

But initial inspiration has never been my problem. I have more ideas than I have time to develop. 

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The kind of inspiration I need is the keep-going-kind, the come-back-and-finish-this kind. 

It maybe looks a little more like perspiration and determination than inspiration. 

For me, that stick-with-it kind of inspiration comes from remembering how happy I felt the first time I finished a story, when it came out the way I wanted it to. 

Of course, I love praise--awards, good reviews, and paychecks for my words are all more than welcome--but the real reason I keep going is a deeper kind of satisfaction than that, a feeling of having set myself a challenge and then achieving it. 

So even when it's hard, even when the characters seem determined to thwart me or when my initial idea proves not to hold water as well as I'd imagined at the outset, I take inspiration to go on in my hopes for what might be. 

Where do you find inspiration when you need it? I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments! 

The moral of the story, an Open Book blog hop post

Welcome to Open Book Blog Hop. You can find us every Monday talking about the writing life. I hope you'll check out all the posts: you'll find the links at the bottom of this post.

Does every book have to have a moral? 

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The short answer: no. 

Really, "every" and "have to" aren't words I like to see paired with works of art. Art is about self-expression, and sometimes the creator might have a point to make or an axe to grind, but sometimes they might just have a cool idea they want to explore. 

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If we want to expand the idea of "moral" from life lesson to something more like having a point or a purpose, I can see that more easily, but I can still think of works I've read that I can't identify any grand purpose for. 

"To entertain" probably isn't a moral. But it's the purpose of many books. 

Sometimes having an obvious moral actually makes the book heavy-handed and pedantic and then I don't want to read it. 

I do like seeing writers take on meatier topics and exploring moral questions…but I'm a big girl now, and don't need anyone to try and tell me what to think. 

How about you? Do you like a moral message in the stories you create or enjoy? 

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