Book Blurb Friday #4: Paranormal Passages

Welcome to Book Blurb Friday!  Please look to your right and see the new badge for BBF. Go ahead.  Ooh and aah.  I'll wait! 

I'm so excited that I got the darn thing to work! It took me two solid weeks to figure it out because, as you know, I'm a technodweeb. Anyway, there it is! If you feel so inclined, please copy the HTML code below the badge and use it to install the BBF badge on your own blog.  I won't be insulted if you don't, but I'll surely love it if you do.

If you're new to this meme, please click on the tab above under the blog header for details, and play along.  The photo below represents the cover of this week's fictional book, and my blurb (150 words or less) is right below.  Here goes:

Paranormal Passages

 

Blood Cemetery; Aquia Church; Tower of London; Chillingham Castle.  All are known for unexplained auditory emanations, ghostly sightings, hauntings. . .

But none compare to the Hôtel Fantôme d'Avignon, site of the unsolved axe murders of six tourists in 1963.  For years, hotel employees and guests claimed to see bloodied apparitions walking the narrow halls.  Sightings began to include violent physical manifestations, and the hotel closed its doors in 1987.

Dr. U.B. Grimm and Dr. Ima Reaper, paranormal researchers with the Gravestone Institute for Paranormal Studies spent decades documenting paranormal activity around the globe. In a courageous effort to unravel the mystery of the Hôtel Fantôm, Drs. Grimm and Reaper resided alone in the hotel for two weeks. The terrifying events they detail will horrify you.  Prepare to start looking over your shoulder. Long after you turn the last page, you will be haunted by these bone-chilling Paranormal Passages. (150 words)

If you are participating in BBF, please remember to add your link below so others can find you and your blurb.  Thanks for playing!  Please scroll past Mr. Linky to see the "book cover" for next week's BBF.






 Here is next week's "book cover." Have fun with it!

I can't wait to read your blurbs! Thank you so much for playing along.

Til next time -
Lisa

Book Blurb Friday #1

Woo-hoo! Book Blurb Friday at last! This is BBF's maiden voyage and I am:

1.  Hoping that. . .I didn't screw up the Mr. Linky widget. My technical expertise is 0 on a scale of 1-10.  You've been warned.

2.  Hoping that. . .You take the ideas from your book blurbs and turn them into bestselling novels. (No point dreaming if we don't dream big, right?)

3.  Hoping that. . .Everyone has as much fun writing their blurb as I did.  I'm excited to read the other blurbs!

Now, without further ado . . . .my first ever BBF offering, 150 words or less to entice you to read:

 **Book Title:  The Gateway 

Eyes are the Gateway to the soul. . .

Eve Bannon has a rare gift.  Born a Gateway Empath, her eyes look into yours and see what the world cannot. Your very soul. . .

A valuable asset to America’s top security agencies, Eve works covertly, using eye contact alone to assess a subject’s threat potential.

Cain Devlin is a technological genius. He is a solitary and enigmatic man with a secret so volatile it can never be shared.

During a chance encounter, Eve’s eyes meet Cain’s.  The impact of his true self chills her to her core.  But she sees something else, too; and as she struggles to understand it she must determine if his life’s purpose is so evil it must be stopped, or so sacred it cannot fail. Was he sent to lead mankind to Heaven, or through the Gateway to Hell?    (word count 145)

** FYI - I did not count the book's title as part of the blurb.


So what do you think? Would you buy the book? My first draft of this blurb was twice as long and I had a tough time cutting it down to size. I'm hoping I get better as I go along!

If you are participating in BBF, please remember to post your link so others can go to your blog and read your blurb.  Scroll down to see next week's "book cover."







For information on Book Blurb Friday please click the tab under the blog header. I hope you'll join the fun!


Here is next week's "book cover":

Book Blurb Friday - It's a Go!

Book Blurb Friday is on! Official start date:  

Friday, March 4th.

In case you missed my initial post on this original meme, here's a recap:

Every Thursday evening I'll post a photo that we'll pretend is the cover of a book. In 150 words or less (length of the average book blurb) write the blurb that you think belongs on the back of the book. You create the story, decide the genre, fiction or non, etc. You'll post your blurb on your site with a link from/to this one so others can find you or come here to participate.

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

The above photo is our first Book Blurb "book cover." Please do not post anything yet---our kickoff date is next week, Friday, March 4th.  I posted the picture now so we'll all have a week to ponder our blurb.

On Thursday evening next week I'll re-post the above photo with my own book blurb of 150 words or less, as well as a Mr. Linky widget where you can leave a link back to your blog.  I will also post a new "book cover" picture to be inspiration for the subsequent Book Blurb Friday.  Please post your book blurb on your blog next Friday, March 4th along with the photo above and a link back here so your readers will have the opportunity to link to the book blurbs of other participants, or perhaps join in the book blurb fun. (Don't forget to enter your name in Mr. Linky after you post so others can link back to you!)

If you already participate in Microfiction Monday, hosted by Susan at Stony River, then you are familiar with how this works. If you are new to the meme game, please feel free to post your questions in the comment section here or email me at writinginthebuff@hotmail.com and I'll respond straightaway.

That's it! I hope Book Blurb Friday will be fun for everyone and generate ooh-gobs of story ideas for each of us. Thanks for playing along.  You have a whole week to write your Book Blurb (based on the above "book cover" photo) for the official kick-off date, Friday, March 4th.

Til next time -
Lisa

P.S.  My blog contest ends tonight at midnight, so there's still time to enter. For details click on the tab above just under the blog header. The winners will be announced on Monday!

Book Blurb: Your Opinion is Requested!

Thank you everyone for your support of my goal to reach 100 followers! As I write this, I am only three readers short of the magic number. Wow! I am truly appreciative, and continue to be amazed by the support provided by fellow bloggers.  What a talented and generous community of people you are. Thank you!

My blog contest is still open for anyone who wants to enter. Click the tab above under the blog header for full details. 

I need your opinion!

As you know, I'm addicted to Microfiction Monday. I love writing the 140 character stories and linking back to read those written by others. In fact, I enjoy it so much, I'd like to host my own meme. Here's how it would work:

Every Friday I'll post a photo that we'll pretend is the cover of a book. In 150 words or less (length of the average book blurb) write the blurb that you think belongs on the back of the book. You create the story, decide the genre, fiction or non, etc. You'll post your blurb on your site with a link from/to this one so others can find you or come here to participate.

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

So, what do you think? If I get it started would you participate? Or are there already too many of these things floating around and taking up your time?  Yes, no, maybe? I'd love for you to leave a comment, but here's a poll to make it easy for you to render an opinion:




Thanks for your feedback!

Lisa


Web divider clip art courtesy of webweaver.nu.

Paying Markets and Microfiction Monday

Clip art courtesy of hasslefreeclipart.com.

Greetings on this wintry Monday morning!

For my writer friends: Something to warm the creative nooks and crannies of a writer's heart is a publication market that pays in real dollars because, let's face it, earning even a paltry monetary sum for your work along with a publication credit beats zero dollars any day, wintry or not.

To that end, I added a page (see above) titled: WRITERS - Paying Markets. This is a short list of markets that pay real dollars for your writerly work. I will add markets as I find them, and if you know of one that should be included please tell me. What you will not find here are the huge national magazines/publications that accept only queries from agents or require you to have multiple clips from other ginormous national magazines. The Paying Markets page offers viable markets with links to submission pages. I hope you find it helpful.

Now on to Microfiction Monday! Yay! If you've visited before then you know I love this meme, hosted by Susan at Stony River. Visit Susan's blog and click to the other participants; the stories are many and varied, and there are always a lot of fun reads. Here are my two offerings, each 140 characters or less:

Misty morning rises from the water, 

silent as death. 

Our fears drift upon each infinitesimal drop, 

sequestered 

in the shadowy sea of sky.  

* * * * * * * *

“Why call it swimmin’ wit da fishes? Cuz he ain’t. 

Not in dem cement boots.” Said Irv.   

Leo shrugged. “It’s apoxymoron: a term dat stuck.”

Enjoy your Monday!


Til next time -
Lisa

Microfiction Monday: Word Playground

Microfiction Monday is here---a whole story in 140 characters or less.  Thanks, as always, to Susan at Stony River for hosting this fun meme!  My stories are below:

 Dreamscape

She awoke, gasping. The dream recurred---heart pounding, the scrape of brick on brick; uncertainty. 

Was she being imprisoned or set free?

Solid Advice

"Why?" She cried. 

"The king said you asked to pray solitary." 

"I asked to play solitaire!" 

"Were I you," he advised, "I'd learn to do both."

I wish everyone a great Monday! 

If you didn't read yesterday's post, please scroll down and have a look. I am proud to have been included in the WOW-Women on Writing blog tour to promote the awareness and prevention of breast cancer.

See you next time -

Lisa