Lend Me Your Brains
Okay, first I gotta tell you that life just keeps getting more and more exciting around here. First my cat flies up a tree, demonstrating his previously unknown superhero skills. Much mayhem followed. Then tonight…TONIGHT I experienced my first earthquake. A nearby town had a small about three weeks ago. But I didn't feel it. I was bummed. So I'm in my office pretending to work writing and I feel this weird shaking. My windows rattled for a few seconds. We've had a week of storms, so my first thought was, “That was some serious thunder.” Then I look outside. Sunny. SO I think, “Could it be? Earthquake?”
I run outside to see if anyone else in the neighborhood was gathering. (Facebook Phenom I've decided to call it. Come on, people! Let's assemble together and make short, pithy comments about our experience!) But there wasn't a soul outside. So I thought, “Obviously this just hit my house and wasn't a quake. Maybe a tree fell on the house.” So I walk all the way around the house inspecting. Nothing. I go back inside to check my garage to see if anything's exploded. Nothing. So I'm thinking either that was a quake or it was a wild, lone clap of thunder.
Fifteen minutes later, I'm checking Twitter…and my loyal, dependable weather man Dan (he makes me snow happy) is giving the news–it was a 2.6 magnitude quake. This is almost freakishly weird where I live. There is a fault line near, but still. Earthquakes just don't happen. I think the earth is angry–angry at BP. (I have another theory that something in the universe got shifted when Kara was added to American Idol and Paula left, disturbing the perfect balance of a pop culture trifecta. And oceanic/continental plates.)
About ten minutes after the earthquake was announced, I got a random update that “Prayer Requests” is now following me on Twitter.
And now we arrive at the portion of the post where I tell you I need your creative brains. Mine is not working. It's on summer break. Some writer friends and I are creating (and by creating I mean someone smarter than me is creating…) an ad to go in a conference book for ACFW in September. The ad will have our individuals pics, a few of our books, and a VERY short tag line. Well…I have no tag line. We had one, and then we lost it. And everything I keep coming up with is lame. Something that conveys the books are not total downers, they're for teens AND lady folks, and if they bought one I'd be their very best friend. (Just kidding on that last part. Because there's not enough room for bribery. I checked.) And it needs to be about 8 words or less. One of the lady's is Romance, Ruses, and Redemption. (I tried to go with “Romance, Ruses, and Redemption, As Well” but the group didn't think it fit my books.) I also thought about just a generic blurb that covers everything like, “Yo momma.” Nobody seems to like that idea either. So….here's where you come in.
Let's do a contest. (Life is short and earthquakey. I need to give away books.) Leave me a comment with your suggestions on my blurb. It needs to allude to humor and I'd like it to NOT sound like I just write for teens because we've had enough confusion over people assuming Just Between You and Me is YA. (I'd also like it to be so magically appealing that my books outsell Twilight and knock out Romeo and Juliet for required high school reading. I know you can do it!!!!)
Can't wait to hear your audacious greatness. You have until Tuesday night, at the closing credits of Glee to enter. If I pick one of the ideas as my blurb, you will get a copy of So Over My Head (or a book of your choice–um, one of mine since they consume my garage). If none are blurb-ready, then I'll just randomly draw. Winner announced Wednesday. Unless the earth cracks open or something.
You can do it. I believe in you.
Blurb like you've never blurbed before.
Jen
