Blog on Hiatus

Writing in the Buff is temporarily on hiatus.

My father-in-law (Papa) was hospitalized last Thursday and I'm setting aside anything not pertinent to family at this time. Your kind prayers and positive thoughts will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Lisa

Book Blurb #60: Moon Star

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 my daughter and aspiring photographer, Christina.  My blurb follows.

Moon Star

(150 words)

Brenna James is a country girl who made it big.  She’s a multimedia princess with an Oscar, an Emmy, and a platinum album hanging on the wall. Her life is charmed until an automobile accident leaves her famous face so disfigured that even plastic surgery cannot undo the damage.

Hollywood can forgive anything except the loss of beauty.

Unable to continue her entertainment career, Brenna returns home to the little Southern town of Moon Star, Alabama.  Here she finds the family and friends she left behind, bitter rivalries that rise again, and old wounds that never quite healed. There are lessons to be learned and atonement to be made; and as Brenna comes to terms with her shattered face and ruined career, it is a love she believed long lost that might just be the miracle that redeems her.

A story of loss, love, and the substance of true beauty.

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 #61, provided by the talented Lynn Obermoeller at Present Letters. Thanks Lynn!

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

Social Networking: Necessity or Guilty Pleasure?

This week I have no naked truth to impart. Rather, I’m seeking the naked truth—yours, to be exact—regarding social networking.

I’m fascinated by the pervasiveness of Facebook and Twitter.  Although I have a Facebook account I only visit the site a couple times a week, usually to confirm my blog posts are updating. Only occasionally do I write a specific update on my Facebook page. But there are many who qualify as Facebook junkies (you know who you are!) and I’d like your input regarding what it is you love about Facebook, as well as if your reasons for creating a Facebook page have changed over time or remain the same.

Now for Twitter. I don’t have a Twitter account, but I’m told I’m missing out. My questions here are the same. If you love Twitter, please leave a comment explaining why and what keeps you tuned in.

Part of the reason I’m slow to jump on the social networking bandwagon is time. To make room in my already slammed schedule for Facebook and Twitter I'll have to bump something else, and believe me when I say there isn't anything I can expel.  How do you find the time to be active in the social networking sites without taking time from other worthy/mandatory pursuits, and—here’s the big question—do you consider social networking to be a productive use of your time, or frivolous? Is it a necessity or a guilty pleasure?

I’m seeking the naked truth about social networking. Love it or loathe it, I’d like to hear your point of view!

See you next for Book Blurb Friday –

Lisa

Microfiction: Magic Mower

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, "transport." My stories are below.

 

Magic Mower #1: Beam Him Up!

(137 characters)

Billy wished the mower was a machine that could transport him far, far away. After an hour of hearing him whine, Grandma wished the same.

*          *          *         *

Magic Mower #2: Shoot Him Down!

(137 characters)

Ed learned the secret to turning a beautiful, serene woman into a raging shrew in under three seconds: Mow down her prize-winning tulips.

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 . . . Social Networking.

Have a great week--
Lisa

Book Blurb #59: The Riley Factor

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 Sioux Roslawski at Sioux's Page.

The Riley Factor

(149 words)

Adorable Riley begins appearing on bridge overpasses, billboards, and even in urban graffiti.  The message is always: “Riley was here.”  Where did Riley come from? What does it mean?

Kate Truhorn works at the private think tank, RWH Corporation.  After discovering a secret project named the Riley Factor pertaining to subliminal messaging, she digs for information and learns that the researchers connected to the project are either missing or dead.

Kate confides in Benton Vaughn, her boyfriend and RWH corporate attorney who promises to investigate, but soon Kate suspects she is being followed and her phone is tapped.  Unsure who to trust, Kate goes into hiding, still hunting clues. But whoever is behind the Riley project wants Kate stopped, and soon she’s running for her life.  But she won’t stop until she knows  . . . what is the Riley Factor, and why must people die to protect it? 

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 #60, provided by my daughter, Christina, who last week received notification of acceptance to SCAD (Savannah College of Art & Design) along with an academic scholarship. Congratulations Christy! She's working on her portfolio now and hopes to earn an artistic honors scholarship as well.

 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

Seeking My Blog Topic Zen

Pawsitive Pondering

Rigby and Special Agent McGee.

 Z is for:

Zest + Zeal = Zen

Live every day with a 

Zest for Life and a Zeal for Love 

so you may achieve your 

Zen of Being.

Peace out.

When I launched Writing in the Buff three years ago I had no idea what to blog about. I didn’t particularly want to blog. It was my writing Yoda, the scathingly brilliant Cathy C. Hall, who peer pressured me into it.  Over the course of a week I ran into her at the grocery store twice and Quick Trip once. That had never happened before and hasn’t occurred since. It was like the Fickle Finger of Fate singled me out. And with each Cathy C. Hall sighting, I received verbal pokes.

“Really, Lisa, start a blog you must,” said she.

“I don’t know how,” I said. “What will I write about?”

“Quit whining,” said Cathy C. Yoda . . . er, Hall. “Blog you must, grasshopper.”

(Okay, so I’m mixing my mentorisms. It’s my blog. I’m allowed to do that here. Besides, Cathy is a seriously multifaceted Yoda.)

Anyway, the point is, I came into the Blogosphere dragging my feet, and it isn’t a lie to say that after three years I still suffer an identity crisis. What is my blog about, besides the obvious and very broad topic of writing? I have fun with the Monday and Friday memes (they’re like play time for writers), but aside from that, what I am doing?

See, that’s the thing. Writing is a BIG topic. And lately I’m feeling the squeeze to zero in on my Zen and find my focus.  As I pull back the layers to discover exactly what that is, I promise to write about it, and only the naked truth because as a writer, I’m shortchanging myself and my readers if I don’t build my words from an honest core. Even fiction exposes the truth, one way or another.

So how about you? Why do you blog and what got you started? Did you begin with a clear vision, or has it developed over time?  Is your blog the result of organized planning, or is it a meandering miracle? Please share how you started and if you know where you’re going . . . have you found your blog-writing Zen?

Thanks for visiting.

See you next for Book Blurb Friday –

Lisa

Microfiction: What the Duck?!

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, "inspire." My stories are below.

Frosty Fowl

(136 characters)

“Why do my pals look so surprised?” Larry wondered, until he joined them in the icy lake and his tail feathers froze. Question answered.

*          *          *          *

The One (Who makes bath time so much fun!)

(131 characters)

Ed stared at his idol and inspiration, Rubber Ducky, immortalized in song as The One. “He’s so much shorter in person!” Ed thought.

Ernie from Sesame Street sang the Rubber Ducky song, as most parents will recall. How many of you sang the song to your kids and still remember the words and tune? I sure do. Do any of you still sing it, either to one of your little ones or to a grandchild? I'm sure I'm not the only microfiction participant this week who has included a video of Ernie's rendition of "Rubber Ducky." This sure brings back memories.

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 . . . Blog Topics.

Have a great week--
Lisa

Book Blurb #58: Moonlight Monsters

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 blurb follows:

Moonlight Monsters

(146 words)

Gracie Porter wants to be a writer. But she’s so busy talking about her stories that sometimes reality and fiction smoosh together as easily as her favorite banana-and-pickle sandwich, making it difficult to tell if something is true or a story from Gracie’s busy imagination.

So when Gracie claims she saw something “kooka-bazooka-crazy” on the night of the full moon, no one believes her. And when she insists that the thing she saw is now prowling the halls of Wolfe Middle School disguised as the new principal, Ms. Lycan-Thrope, her friends think she’s written too many scary stories.

But when students sent to the principal's office start disappearing, Gracie’s two closest pals begin to think Gracie may be onto something. Together with Gracie they devise a plot to spy on Ms. Lycan-Thrope and prove she’s the wiliest of monsters—a hungry werewolf in the perfect disguise.

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 #59, provided by the talented and funny Sioux Roslawski at Sioux's Page.

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

Today's Potluck!

For today’s blog post, I chose the Potluck title because I have varying “dishes” floating around in my mind and couldn’t decide on which to focus. The answer became clear the other day as I sat at the Women’s Imaging Center waiting to have “the girls” squashed flat for a mammogram. As if Monday mornings aren’t bad enough.

Anyway, while awaiting the dreaded “mammy whammy,” as my pal Linda O’Connell calls it, I stumbled on an issue of More magazine. I read an interview with Kathryn Stockett, the author of “The Help.” She had lots of nifty things to say, but the one that jumped out at me is this: Her manuscript for “The Help” was rejected a whopping 60 times before she found an agent. She simply refused to give up.

My curiosity was piqued, so I hunted down a few more authors who didn’t give up. Take a look:

• The William Golding classic, “Lord of the Flies,” was rejected 20 times.
• Richard Hooker’s novel, “M*A*S*H*,” made famous in film and on T.V. received 21 rejections.
• “Carrie” by Stephen King garnered 30 rejections.
• Margaret Mitchell’s “Gone With the Wind” earned 38 rejections.
• Frank Herbert’s Sci-Fi classic, “Dune,” received 23 rejections.
• The first “Chicken Soup for the Soul” edited by Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen is the winner today, with 33 rejections the first month and—drumroll, please—140 total rejections.

This isn’t news. We’ve seen it before, heard it before, and filed it away. But it bears repeating:  Never. Give. Up.  What if Kathryn Stockett had dumped “The Help” in the bottom of her desk drawer after agent #60 said no?  She would never have connected with agent #61, and that was her magic number.   

So what’s your magic number, or mine? The one that gives us a YES! It could be #4 or #104. We won't know until we make it happen. Maybe you've already made it happen. If so, what is your lucky number?

Do you know the name of a famous author whose work received multiple rejections? Please leave a comment about it. A little inspiration goes a long way. 

Hope you enjoyed today’s Potluck. See you next for Book Blurb Friday!

Lisa

Microfiction: She's Got Game!

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, "bounce." My stories are below.

Game for Anything

(137 characters)

Red Lobster’s new “Catch-It-Yourself & Save a Bundle” promo was a big hit with the snorkeling team at the Young at Heart Retirement Home.

*          *          *          *

Game for Almost Anything

(136 characters)

A photo of Aunt Gertie wearing goggles? Amusing. A photo of Aunt Gertie after a jumping minnow bounced into her snorkel? Priceless.

 



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 (last Wednesday's post that wasn't) . . . Potluck.

Have a great week--
Lisa