Book Blurb Friday #57: Provenance

For those of you who asked what happened to my Wednesday post, the answer is simple. I never wrote it! On Monday I went one way and my back went the other, and I've spent the ensuing days recuperating.  I'm still not 100%, but definitely feeling better than earlier in the week.  And so . . .

TGIBBF!

Welcome again to Book Blurb Friday.  If you're a newbie, here's the scoop so you understand what follows.  Please click HERE or click the tab under the blog header for details of the Book Blurb Friday meme.  This is the shortened, abridged version:

Write a book jacket blurb (150 words or less) so enticing that potential readers would feel compelled to buy the book.

Below is this week's "book cover," offered for our creative blurbs by the multi-talented Sandra Davies at Lines of Communication.  My blurb follows:

Provenance

(150 words)

Artist Simone Ravenelle is declared legally dead six months after her plane goes off the grid. Simone soon becomes, posthumously, the darling of the art world, thanks to the antics of:

Francisco Delicioso — owner of Los Artistas Restaurante, he will display only Simone’s paintings in his famous Hollywood restaurant.

Mitzi Boobreeze — sexy star of TV’s #1 show, “The Real Hookers of Hollywood,” she battles over the purchase of the painting titled “Easy Breezy,” believing herself to be Simone’s inspiration.

Horace Henchman — US Senator who briefly dated Simone; intends to secretly sell her artwork to fund his presidential campaign.

As art collectors vie for the works of Simone Ravenelle, Simone herself relaxes incognito in an Italian villa, intending to prove an artist needn’t be dead to achieve fame. But not everyone is pleased with her reappearance, and Simone faces the grim reality that she may be worth more dead than alive.

To be sure that others can read your blurb, please put your name and link in Mr. Linky, below, if you are participating in Book Blurb Friday. If you have no blurb to share, please do not install a link. It will be treated as spam and removed. Thanks.

Please scroll past the Linky widget to see our "book cover" for next week.

Here is our "book cover" for next week's Book Blurb Friday #58, provided by the generous and talented Kathy Matthews at Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy.

Thank you for participating in Book Blurb Friday. If you have any photos you think would be appropriate as a "book cover," please send them to me via email (writinginthebuff@hotmail.com).

See you next for Monday's microfiction. Have a great weekend!

Lisa

Microfiction: Alpaca Bag for Hollywood

Welcome to today's microfiction!  

Grandma's Goulash graciously hosts Succinctly Yours, the wonderful meme for those of us addicted to microfiction. The trick is to write a story in 140 characters or less using the photo below as inspiration. To add to the challenge is the word of the week, "tempestuous." My stories are below.

Spittin' Image

(140 characters)

Tempestuous Hollywood star Ava Avan abandoned her career to raise alpacas. “Unlike my last co-star, they spit only when angry,” she quipped.

*          *          *          *

It's All for the Bust

(134 characters)

Movie mogul Ima Llama's newest film is a saga about family life on an alpaca farm and stars Dolly Parton. The title: Alpacas or Bust.

I wasn't sure if the photo is of llamas or alpacas. I know that llamas are bigger than alpacas, and these guys look small to me, so I chose the latter. As I fretted over it, my husband reminded me that this is fiction, after all, and I may call them camels or giraffes if I so choose. I hate it when he's right!

To read the microfiction stories of others participating in this meme, please click HERE.

Thanks for visiting! See you on Wednesday for the naked truth about . . . Potluck.

Have a great week--
Lisa

Book Blurb Friday #56: Tail of the Tiger

TGIBBF!

Welcome again to Book Blurb Friday.  If you're a newbie, here's the scoop so you understand what follows.  Please click HERE or click the tab under the blog header for details of the Book Blurb Friday meme.  This is the shortened, abridged version:

Write a book jacket blurb (150 words or less) so enticing that potential readers would feel compelled to buy the book.

Below is this week's "book cover," offered for our creative blurbs by the talented Scott Liddell.

"Sumatran Tiger" photo by Scott Liddell.

Tail of the Tiger

(150 words)

Computer whiz kid John Bonner grew up watching the world famous team of Stromheim and Ayo wow tourists around the world. John didn’t mind not sharing the spotlight; his passion is computers, not performing with the big cats as does John’s Uncle Strom.

An electrical storm blows the power at the Stromheim compound and the back-up generators are suspiciously inoperative, plunging the facility into darkness. When power returns, the compound is empty of every living creature . . . except John.

While the police explore physical leads, John hacks into his uncle’s computer for clues, only to discover that Stromheim is not just a stage performer, and Ayo isn’t just any tiger. And when Ayo turns up bloody and pacing outside the compound, John knows he must find a way to rescue his uncle and protect the big cat from those who would use him for their own evil ends.

To be sure that others can read your blurb, please put your name and link in Mr. Linky, below, if you are participating in Book Blurb Friday. If you have no blurb to share, please do not install a link. It will be treated as spam and removed. Thanks.

Please scroll past the Linky widget to see our "book cover" for next week.







Here is our "book cover" for next week's Book Blurb Friday #57, provided by the generous Sandra Davies at Lines of Communications.

Thank you for participating in Book Blurb Friday. If you have any photos you think would be appropriate as a "book cover," please send them to me via email (writinginthebuff@hotmail.com).

See you next for Monday's microfiction. Have a great weekend!

Lisa

Choices: Mental Contortions

One of my best friends, Carrie, is someone I admire for many reasons, not the least of which is her ability to make snap decisions. She is smart and sensible, her choices aren’t random, and they are almost always spot on.

Me? Indecisive. I over-think everything and view options from so many different angles my brain holds a degree in contortionism.  I have a PhD in the “what, if, then” scenario, and play each one out in my mind to its bitter end.

Interestingly, this problem rarely plagues me in business. I’m a think-on-her-feet kind of woman, making decisions as necessary and usually with excellent results. It’s in my personal, every-day life that I vacillate. What gives?

Carrie isn’t wishy-washy in her business or personal life. Her analytical mind bridges the gap with ease. How the heck does she do it?

A number of years ago our families met at a local water park. I stood on the concrete walkway debating the options for where we should plant our paraphernalia for the day. As I considered the beach vs. the wave pool vs. the little nipper’s slides, Carrie said, “The beach!” and she was off. No muss, no fuss, and we scored a huge beach umbrella under which to stash our stuff.

This was not a life and death situation, buttercup. This was a “pick a place, any place” scenario. Why did I complicate it? Why, oh, why?

As usual, I have a theory.

In business, most decisions adhere to company rules or protocol. Even never-before-seen dilemmas where (forgive this trite phrase . . . I’m cringing as I write it) out-of-the-box thinking is required, there is still a touchstone of prior practice from which to draw; after all, if you don’t know what “in-the-box” is, how will you know if you’re out of it? In personal life, the variables are less concrete. For us type-A personalities, the nebulosity of day-to-day stuff requires organization and cataloging. My endless debates of pros and cons aren’t wishy-washiness (okay, sometimes they are, but it isn’t my fault; I’m a Libra). They are my attempts to organize information so choices made will offer the most positive outcome.

When I put it that way, my indecisiveness sounds almost noble, doesn’t it? And now that I understand my mental contortions, maybe I will meet more of my writing goals, too. My internal debates regarding plot and character are tools for organization.

Are you a debater like me or an immediate decision maker like my pal Carrie? Or are you both, depending on your environment? And—the big question—does my theory of organization make sense, or is it just rationalization for being indecisive?

See you next for Book Blurb Friday –
Lisa

Microfiction: One Tip, Too Tipsy!

Welcome to today's microfiction!  

Grandma's Goulash graciously hosts Succinctly Yours, the wonderful meme for those of us addicted to microfiction. The trick is to write a story in 140 characters or less using the photo below as inspiration. To add to the challenge is the word of the week, "renew."

One Tip

(134 characters)

The anonymous tipster said the clue was in a barrel. Detective Jones counted the kegs and sighed. “Everybody’s a comedian,” he groaned.

*          *          *          *

Too Tipsy

(139 characters)

Ed renewed his effort, but focusing was tough. He should’ve known better than to perform beer tasting and barrel inventory on the same day.

To read the microfiction stories of others participating in this meme, please click HERE.

Thanks for visiting! See you on Wednesday for the naked truth about . . . Choices.

Have a great week--
Lisa 

Book Blurb Friday #55: Dangerous Waters

TGIBBF!

Welcome again to Book Blurb Friday.  If you're a newbie, here's the scoop so you understand what follows.  Please click HERE or click the tab under the blog header for details of the Book Blurb Friday meme.  This is the shortened, abridged version:

Write a book jacket blurb (150 words or less) so enticing that potential readers would feel compelled to buy the book.

Below is this week's "book cover," offered for our creative blurbs by the talented Kathy Matthews at Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy.  My book blurb follows.

Dangerous Waters

(149 words)

Journalist Tracy Sanborn has earned the right to cover hard-hitting stories, so she’s unhappy when her new assignment is coverage of a fishing tournament in a remote coastal town in Oregon.

Tracy struggles to turn the fluff piece into worthy reading and finds it hopeless, until millionaire playboy Rand Bourdeaux enters the tournament and lands dead in the water—literally.

Tracy dogs the local sheriff, Hugh Danna, hoping for a scoop. Understaffed and overworked, Hugh agrees to a deal: If Tracy shares any information she uncovers, Hugh will give her the scoop on the official investigation.

But Tracy’s snooping dredges up old town secrets and buried scandals, muddying the investigation and leading into dangerous waters. Tracy calls on Hugh, and together they connect the past with the present, finally setting bait to catch a desperate killer who has no intention of being reeled in, and doesn't mind killing again.

To be sure that others can read your blurb, please put your name and link in Mr. Linky, below, if you are participating in Book Blurb Friday. If you have no blurb to share, please do not install a link. It will be treated as spam and removed. Thanks.

Please scroll past the Linky widget to see our "book cover" for next week.






Here is our "book cover" for next week's Book Blurb Friday #56, provided by Scott Liddell. I discovered Scott's considerable talent while perusing photos on Morguefile.com. I sent Scott an e-mail to thank him for use of a photo and told him about Book Blurb Friday. He very graciously granted approval for use of any and all of his wonderful photographs. Please click HERE to visit Scott's site. You'll be glad you did!

"Sumatran Tiger" photo by Scott Liddell.

When you post this photo on your page for BBF please credit Scott Liddell as the photographer. Thanks!



Thank you for participating in Book Blurb Friday. If you have any photos you think would be appropriate as a "book cover," please send them to me via email (writinginthebuff@hotmail.com).

See you next for Monday's microfiction. Have a great weekend!

Lisa

Hocus-Focus

Photo courtesy of Scott Liddell (www.scottliddell.net).  Great stuff!

If you’ve visited before then you know I sometimes grumble over the ways in which my mental acuity changed after I hit middle age.  It isn’t that a trapdoor opened and all my brain power dropped out. No, the brain power is still safely ensconced in my noggin, thank goodness, and the ability to stuff new information in there continues to exist. The problem has to do with how everything is stored.

My brain used to keep everything alphabetized and compartmentalized. No more, buttercup. Like a roomful of unsupervised kindergarteners, it’s a free-for-all in there!

Focus. That’s what’s missing.

Focus is what glues my butt in the chair to write or get the bills paid on time. Focus is a skill I once possessed in abundance and wielded with ease. Nowadays, focus isn’t something I command, but something I hope and pray will appear. Sometimes it does; more often it abandons me to my random thoughts and wildly divided attention.

What I’m learning is that this whole focus thing is not unique to me, and that any number of people find that their ability to focus becomes compromised after a certain age.  (Ha. That’s a diplomatic way of saying “we’re old baggers.”)  So what to do?

If this were a fancy-schmancy blog I’d offer New Age strategies to harness one’s brain power and wrestle it into submission. I’d talk about meditation to find one’s personal foci and chi. I’d discuss feng shui and soothing lavender teas and aromatherapy. And I'd do it all with a British accent.

Sorry, buttercup! This is Writing in the Buff, where I’ve promised only the naked truth. So here it is, as clearly as I can state it:  Old baggers do not excel at focusing.

Being an old bagger myself, I have a few suggestions that might help you feel better as you either speed along the highway toward Old Baggerdom or claim the banner as one who has already arrived. Here you go, free of charge:

·       ***  Chocolate. Chocolate contains flavonoids which help reduce blood pressure, and a healthy blood pressure makes it easier to focus on stuff. So eat plenty of chocolate.

·       ***  Foot massages. I have a theory that gentle pressure on the feet sends blood to the brain which enhances focus. There is no correlating scientific proof, but if you bring me chocolate and rub my feet I bet I can find a way to prove my point.

·       ***  Hire a maid. Think about how focused you’ll be on important stuff when you are no longer responsible for cleaning the commode!

Please share your recommendations for improving focus and brain function. If it involves wine, days at the park, or movies starring Johnny Depp, count me in.

See you next for Book Blurb Friday!

Lisa

Blogger Boogered Up

Hey y'all. This is a quick message for those of you who visited and saw only the post from last Monday's microfiction. There are two subsequent posts, one on the 9th for Book Blurb Friday and a new post for today's microfiction (03/12/2012).

For some reason, Blogger is leading a few of you to the old post from the 5th and not displaying the two later posts. I can't explain it. Just another Blogger Booger. Try clicking the "home" tab under my blog header and see if that fixes it for you. Sorry for the mix up, and hope it fixes itself soon.

Lisa

Microfiction: Tom and Rocky's Reality

Welcome to today's microfiction!  

Grandma's Goulash graciously hosts Succinctly Yours, the wonderful meme for those of us addicted to microfiction. The trick is to write a story in 140 characters or less using the photo below as inspiration. To add to the challenge is the word of the week, "serendipity."

Tom’s Plan

(138 characters)

Sly street cat Tom knew wearing the mask was a brilliant plan when he was mistaken for his old nemesis, Rocky, while ransacking the trash.

*          *          *          *

Rocky’s Revenge

(140 characters)

Wily Rocky chortled when his archenemy Tom walked right into a raccoon trap, leaving the way clear for Rocky to pillage the trash with glee.

*          *          *          *

Granny’s Solution

(138 characters)

Granny had no patience for cats or raccoons. She called her favorite TV personality to handle the problem:  Billy the Exterminator.

*          *          *          *

Serendipity!

(140 characters)

Billy the Exterminator knows a gold mine when he sees it and turns Tom and Rocky into reality TV stars. And that, my friend, is serendipity!

To read the microfiction stories of others participating in this meme, please click HERE.

Thanks for visiting! See you on Wednesday for the naked truth about . . . Focus.

Have a great week--
Lisa 

Book Blurb Friday #54: A Clear View

TGIBBF!

Welcome again to Book Blurb Friday.  If you're a newbie, here's the scoop so you understand what follows.  Please click HERE or click the tab under the blog header for details of the Book Blurb Friday meme.  This is the shortened, abridged version:

Write a book jacket blurb (150 words or less) so enticing that potential readers would feel compelled to buy the book.

Below is this week's "book cover," offered for our creative blurbs by the talented Sandra Davies at Lines of Communication. My book blurb follows:

A Clear View

(144 words)

Gus Germaine is New Orleans’ most celebrated homicide detective, but he’s caught in a nightmare. A woman pushed to a violent death from her bedroom window is the wife of Congressmen William Wade; she also happens to be Gus’ long-time lover.

Unable to admit his relationship with the congressman’s wife, Gus feigns objectivity. But as the investigation gets underway, clues point to Gus as the murderer.  He becomes tangled in a web of deceit, breaking every rule he is sworn to uphold.

After burying key information, Gus goes underground in pursuit of the truth. What follows is a heart-pounding race to catch his lover’s killer, but Gus ultimately realizes he is a pawn in someone’s high-stakes game. Gus must expose every lie and secret he’s struggled to hide, or risk being the next victim of a killer who has nothing left to lose. 

To be sure that others can read your blurb, please put your name and link in Mr. Linky, below, if you are participating in Book Blurb Friday. If you have no blurb to share, please do not install a link. It will be treated as spam and removed. Thanks.

Please scroll past the Linky widget to see our "book cover" for next week.

Here is our "book cover" for next week's Book Blurb Friday #55, provided by my generous pal,  Kathy Matthews at Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy.

Thanks for participating in Book Blurb Friday. If you have any photos you think would be appropriate as a "book cover," please send them to me via email (writinginthebuff@hotmail.com).

See you next for Monday's microfiction. Have a great weekend!

Lisa

Memory Madness: Dazed and Confused, Redux

Wednesday greetings, y'all!

Today I'm offering a post first seen here at Writing in the Buff several years ago. Since every word is still painfully true, I feel no compunction about the re-post. Here's what prompted it.

For my daughter's recent birthday I had the bright idea to gift her with a 2-photo frame that would display a picture of her and her two siblings when they were little, and a second photo of the three of them taken recently.  I knew exactly the photo I wanted to use from when they were little, and spent better than an hour hunting it down, to no avail. I looked behind other framed photos; I went through every loose photo--literally hundreds--in storage. I corralled my husband and older daughter to help me. After all this time and energy, my brain decided to give me a break and realization struck. The elusive photo was on my desk at work, in a lovely frame, where I've been enjoying it daily for almost five years. Oy.

It isn't a lie to say I scare myself sometimes.

Anyway, as this is still a very pertinent topic for me--and showing no signs of improvement--I offer the following re-post from February 2010 originally titled, "Dazed and Confused."

Memory is a remarkable thing.  One minute you have it and the next—poof!—it runs off to play hide and seek.  As you might guess, I have a theory about this.  We’ll call it “Biology by Lisa” because that sounds trendier and more scientific than “The Old Bagger is At It Again”. 

See, when we are youngsters, the gray cells aren’t really gray.  In "Lisa's World” gray cells are more along the lines of bunny-nose-pink or robin’s egg blue.  Something cheery.  As we age, the cells morph to gray, and everyone knows that gray denotes old which equals things like skin tabs, stray chin hairs, and the dreaded Memory Vortex.  I know old can equal happy things, too, but I forget what those are right now. 

The Memory Vortex is familiar to everyone over the age of forty.  It is that whirling mass of nebulous energy that draws into its center every bit of important information you swore you would never forget.  C’mon, admit it.  You have a Memory Vortex all your own.  I’m so familiar with mine I named it Manny.  Manny is the black hole in my gray cells that sucks in pertinent information and spits out trivia.  How is it I can recall all of the words to Bobby Vinton’s “Blue Velvet” yet forget, for two weeks straight, to return my library books? 

Manny is a twisted, Machiavellian, gray cell creation. 

When my brain cells were bunny-nose-pink they had terrific recall.  My memory was so keen edged my husband quaked in fear whenever I said anything that resembled, “I remember when. . .”  He called me “his little elephant” which, now that I think about it, is not quite the compliment I supposed it to be.  He needn’t fear, however; by the time I post this Manny will have sucked the whole memory into his belly and spit out something I didn’t know I knew. 

Barbra Streisand’s “The Way We Were” played on the radio the other day.  Why do I remember that Warren Beatty was first offered the part of Hubbell Gardner in the movie which was eventually played by Robert Redford, and that when Redford vacillated about it Ryan O’Neal was considered as an alternative?  Why? Why do I have this stuff stuck in my brain? I don’t care about Hubbell Gardner.  I want to remember to mail birthday cards on time and how to do algebra. 

There should be a way to dye brain cells from gray back to Easter egg pastels.  If I ever figure out how, I’ll let you know. 

Aw, who am I kidding? Even if I do noodle it out, before I can share the revelation Manny will suck it up and spit out the lyrics to Led Zepplin’s “Dazed and Confused”.  He’s got a real sense of humor, that Manny.

Til next time –

Lisa

Microfiction: Old Friends

Welcome to today's microfiction!  

Grandma's Goulash graciously hosts Succinctly Yours, the wonderful meme for those of us addicted to microfiction. The trick is to write a story in 140 characters or less using the photo below as inspiration. To add to the challenge is the word of the week, "saturate." 

I know many of you look forward to visiting Writing in the Buff on Mondays for a morning chuckle. This week's photo struck a different chord in me. I hope you won't be disappointed with the serious tone of today's offering. My stories are below.

Old Friends: Melodious Memories

(105 characters)

The city’s clamor saturated the air, but the old friends heard only the sweet melody of distant memories.

*          *          *          *

Old Friends: Colorful Memories

(134 characters)

Winter’s sky, saturated with sunset, reminded the old friends of their colorful past. “How terribly strange,” they agreed, “to be 70.”

You may recognize the above quote from the lyrics of "Old Friends," recorded by Simon and Garfunkel in 1968 for their album "Bookends." I was a child when I first heard the song, but even then the poignancy of the melody and lyrics touched me.

For your enjoyment, click below for a live version of Simon and Garfunkel performing "Old Friends." The album, "Bookends," was released in 1968 when both men were 27-years-old.  It is noteworthy that both Simon and Garfunkel will turn 71 this year, in October and November, respectively. 






To read the microfiction stories of others participating in this meme, please click HERE.

Thanks for visiting! See you on Wednesday for the naked truth about . . . Memory Madness.

Have a great week--
Lisa

Book Blurb #53: Pekoe-Boo Baby

TGIBBF!

Welcome again to Book Blurb Friday.  If you're a newbie, here's the scoop so you understand what follows.  Please click HERE or click the tab under the blog header for details of the Book Blurb Friday meme.  This is the shortened, abridged version:

Write a book jacket blurb (150 words or less) so enticing that potential readers would feel compelled to buy the book.

Below is this week's "book cover," offered for our creative blurbs by the talented and generous Kathy Matthews at Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy.  My book blurb follows.

Pekoe-Boo Baby

(147 words)

Earline Greyson inherited Pekoe-Boo Baby from her Aunt Isadora. The shop is a must-visit on Savannah’s famous River Walk, but not for its teas and spices. Legend claims a ghost is in residence, but Earline believes in the here and now, not the hereafter.

Her disbelief is tested with a teacup that disappears and reappears, a shelf of spices that refuse to stay alphabetized, and a pot of tea that brews itself.

Forced to acknowledge something bizarre is afoot, she grudgingly contacts well-known ghost hunter Milo Fogg, who arrives with his cynical grandson, Gavin.

While Milo hunts the ghost, Earline and Gavin pair up to uncover a logical explanation for the eerie happenings.  But the answer isn’t simple and the deeper they dig, the worse things become, until it seems likely that Aunt Isadora was brewing something much hotter to handle than a simple cup of tea.

To be sure that others can read your blurb, please put your name and link in Mr. Linky, below, if you are participating in Book Blurb Friday. If you have no blurb to share, please do not install a link. It will be treated as spam and removed. Thanks.

Please scroll past the Linky widget to see our "book cover" for next week.





Here is our "book cover" for next week's Book Blurb Friday #54, provided by the multi-talented Sandra Davies at Lines of Communication.

Thanks for participating in Book Blurb Friday. If you have any photos you think would be appropriate as a "book cover," please send them to me via email (writinginthebuff@hotmail.com).

See you next for Monday's microfiction. Have a great weekend!

Lisa