Monday, February 11, 2008

You Know It's Time to Quit for the Day When . . .

. . . you're trying to write flap copy for a gorgeous, poetic, brilliantly imagined novel about a 13th-century pilgrimage to Jerusalem, and you find yourself typing this:

In this extraordinary novel, [author's name redacted] reveals a medieval world as rich and compelling as the contemporary world it foresees, and a character who KICKS ASS, baby. READ IT.

Sigh.

17 comments:

  1. I don't know, it sure got my attention.

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  2. I completely agree -- a perfect description!

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  3. I would love to see that on a book jacket.

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  4. Do it, Cheryl!!! Just to see how far it would get!!

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  5. That's brilliant! I'd read it.

    - Dawn

    P.S. It's *almost* as good as Arthur singing "Happy Birthday" to Jane Yolen ala Marilyn Monroe!

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  6. Hahaha. I have definitely had those moments. :)

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  7. I know it's off topic, but I just checked headlines and I know you share this enthusiasm ... Go-bama! Go-bama! Go-bama! Virginia, DC and Maryland!

    I'm in the tank for this guy in a way I haven't supported a politician since, well, EVER.

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  8. I bet it would boost sales!

    (It's a little strange--in a good way--that every blogger I run across seems to agree on Obama. Yay!)

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  9. I'd be all over that. :-)

    And isn't writing getting the idea on paper first and then polishing it up in the rewrite?

    Marilyn.

    PS I saw a handlettered Obama sign even here in completely Republican Orange County. I don't know how it got smuggled in.

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  10. ha ha ha!
    That's like when I was trying to avoid saying "crap" to my mom (who strongly dislikes the word), so I said, "I've got to get my shi ... schtuff together."
    Sometimes the best way to say what you mean is just slightly inappropriate for the context.

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  11. Sheesh, people! Not for this book (though the heroine is just marvelous, and you should read it, as KTBB already has -- CROSSING TO PARADISE by Kevin Crossley-Holland, out this September).

    But you have just encouraged me to try this method on another, more appropriate flap, so watch for it eventually.

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  12. Cheryl, I would like that to be my flap copy. K?

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  13. I'd buy that book. So long as it was a girl. Boy narrators who kick ass bore me. Hence, I share your love for the Robin McKinley books. Also, the Lioness series by Tamora Pierce.

    But my favorite (though I am slightly ashamed to admit it, having looked at her books recently and discovered they were terrible) was Mercedes Lackey. Magic! Heroines! Gays! Horses!

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