daily post – Page 8

Doubting the quality of your book blurb?

If so, you’re not alone. Many authors hate writing blurbs. However, a good blurb will give your book its best chances for a sale.

Even with the best cover, a bad blurb will send potential readers running away screaming, never to return. On the other hand, a good one lets the reader know why they should be interested in the book and piques their curiosity without giving too much away.

It’s worth the time spent learning how to write a good one. A blurb is great to have for many reasons. You use it for your book page, for your ads, and you can use it on any handbills/bookmarks/etc, in full or in part. You can use it author interviews, query letters, back cover matter, ads in the back of your books, you name it. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve copied and pasted mine, or parts of mine, for various purposes.

We all know what looks bad. It’s easy to conjure visions of terrible book blurbs. Bad ones are filled with misused or misspelled words, poor grammar, poor punctuation, run on sentences, choppy sentences, and more. You can do better!

So, what makes a good blurb, anyway?

It should quickly summarize your book and introduce the plot. There should be no repeated information. An interesting sentence at the beginning, to use as a “hook,” is great too.

Something like

“The World will end on a Saturday.”

“Winged horses may be common, but not if they can talk.”

“Everything seemed normal until I noticed the dragon under my bed.”

“The contagion is coming.”

If you can hook your reader and make them wonder, that’s a good step. Your cover and your blurb work together to draw your readers in. It can take ten or twelve rewrites until you’ve written a good one. The best way to learn is to practice, while reading as many other blurbs as you can. Notice what works. Notice what doesn’t. Notice how others in your genre are writing them.

Here are some basic tips for creating a good one.

Identify the main character by name.
Tell a bit about where they are.
Mention their primary goal in the plot.
What challenges do they have to overcome?
What are they doing to overcome them?
What is at stake?
Keep your blurb short. 3-6 sentences works well.

Here is an example of a blurb I wrote, with the help of some fine folks at a Goodreads writer’s group. It’s not a perfect example, but essentially follows these rules, including the one for length.

Before the fateful phone call, Daphne’s greatest worries were limited to making rent, making art, and what to feed her finicky Siamese. During an otherwise unremarkable shift, a particularly hateful voice coming through her phone line unleashes shadowy horrors that threaten her sanity, her workplace, and eventually her entire city. Daphne and two unlikely companions, a tattooed metalhead and a ditzy nurse, must find a way to free themselves from the curse or face a world of endless fear, blinding fog and deadly phantoms!

Bios

If you mention bios, many authors will groan.

A good bio is much easier to write if you approach it like a blurb. Cover the essentials, pique readers’ curiosity, and communicate who you are and why people will find your work interesting.

Basics for bios:

Your name
Brief history of accomplishments.
Brief discussion of your interests.
A line or two about latest work, if appropriate.
Keep it short, just like in the blurb.

Rohvannyn Shaw has been an avid reader for her entire life. Raised by two writers, a love of literacy permeated her childhood. With this background, it was inevitable that she would eventually turn her hand to the family trade. She has written several novels and edited both fiction and non fiction books. Apart from paying the bills by working in a call center, she is also an artist and illustrator, and happily soaks up the Arizona heat with her partner. She is currently owned by a fluffy calico who graciously allows her to maintain her Mindflight blog.

Now, get out there and do better than that!

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/doubt/

via Daily Prompt: Doubt

A Centered View on Healthcare

Healthy Living

Afraid of losing the ACA? It’s not a disaster.

I work in the pharmaceutical industry and help people with their insurance. As the ACA passed, I saw premiums go up, sometimes more than doubling, I saw copays go up, I saw prices go up in general. Yes, it’s true, women had free contraceptives and free preventives.

I’ll tell you a secret. Those contraceptives and preventives were usually the ones you could buy for less than $30 a month without ANY insurance. If you think about how much more the premiums cost, though, you are easily paying for more than the value of the “free” items you are getting.

There are a few who were helped by the ACA, whose premiums were subsidized by the government. That means they were subsidized by your higher premiums, by the way. Meanwhile, millions of working families saw their insurance costs double, saw their deductibles skyrocket, and could no longer afford care – or much of anything else, for that matter.

I could tell you story after story about people who were making a several thousand dollars a month, had a good plan with fair copays and coverage, and saw their premiums go up by hundreds every month. They didn’t get better coverage either. Their cost increase came with a corresponding loss of coverage! Many of the examples I have seen were low income people, who had either a self funded plan or one they had through an employer, and lost with the ACA.

Before the ACA, I could have chosen to buy insurance. Now I can longer afford good coverage. If I had an ACA plan, I could afford to learn what was wrong with me but couldn’t afford to fix it. The claim that millions now have insurance coverage who never did before, really means nothing if they aren’t substantively helped by it.

Free preventives? Most of them could be gotten for four dollars if you just use an in-house pharmacy discount plan. Without insurance, mind you. They’re available at several of the major pharmacies. The people who drafted the ACA knew what they were doing – most people seem to turn their brains off when they see the word “Free.”

I will not be sad if ACA goes away. A single payer health care system isn’t the answer. Countries who have it tend to have long wait times and substandard care. There’s a reason why Canadians used to come to America for their medical care – even though they had a single payer, universal coverage healthcare system.

Except for in a few isolated situations, you’re better off exercising, watching your diet, and avoiding high fructose corn syrup than shelling out money for an ACA health plan. Meditate, learn about the medicine of food, and stay centered.

On the bright side, there’s no reason to fear the ACA being repealed.

via Daily Prompt: Center

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/center/

Views of Arid-zona

Photography

A post made especially for me, it seems!

via Daily Prompt: Arid

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/2017/02/25/arid/

An Unexpected Match

Photography

I’ve known cats who liked strange things

Like a Birman who loved cantaloupe and green beans

Or a cat who, with a guinea pig, enjoyed kitten dreams

but the strangest of all is my calico…

who loves Romaine and other greens!

via Photo Challenge: A Good Match

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/photo-challenges/a-good-match/

Quail kerfluffle captured in a blur

Photography

Some quail visited my parking lot yesterday, drawn by gray weather and plenty of things to eat. They were temporarily driven off by a local hawk who cruised by, but soon returned. The last photo was posted yesterday in “City Wildlife.”

quail-1-1000 — Tasty stuff under this truck for sure.

quail-2-1000 — If I’m under these bushes, you can’t see me, right?

quail-1000 — Immature and mature Gambel’s quail

via Daily Prompt: Blur

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/blur/

City wildlife – against the odds

Photography

I live in a fairly large city in the middle of a desert. A person might think there wouldn’t be many animals around, right?

Right?

Think again…

I hear owls, coyotes, coy-wolves, mockingbirds, grackles. I see hummingbirds, hawks, pigeons, falcons, doves, quail, lizards of several kinds, butterflies, rabbits, and many other things.

Here are pictures of some of them. Apologies if the quality is poor but many of these are done at extreme zoom using a Nikon Coolpix 8300. A fun camera but without many of the fancy features other cameras have!

hawk-on-power-pole-1000 — Hawk on the power pole

pigeon-butt-1000 — Dove in the olive tree

grackle-grackling — Male grackle, grackling up a storm

cicada-1200 — Dried cicada at the end of the season

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/photo-challenges/against-the-odds/

How Gaming Translated Into Personal Success

Personal Growth

I’ll be perfectly honest here. I didn’t learn much about perseverance while in school. I also didn’t learn much about successfully finishing projects. I learned those things later, when I got into online gaming, particularly breeding sims like Aywas, LioDen, Horse Isle, and yes, that granddaddy of all games, the one that started it all for me, Howrse. It sounds silly to me, but it’s really true.

The biggest lesson I’ve learned is that consistent effort is more important than a large amount of effort that is sporadic. I have achieved great things in online games by just doing something a little every day and setting good goals. Whether that’s earning game currency, building experience, or collecting items, it doesn’t take long before that effort adds up. That has translated into novels, complex pieces of art, a better job, a paid off car and a much nicer apartment that I had to save up for.

I’ve learned patience as well. Usually, in online games, there are tedious tasks that you must do over and over in order to get some kind of reward. In games, as in life, patience usually yields good results.

I’ve learned to be a bit more comfortable with measuring myself against other people. I’ve also learned about leadership as I’ve come up with ideas other members of my gaming sites have enjoyed, and set up small events such as forum threads. That has taught me much about taking the initiative. I’ve also learned about communication and negotiation.

I’ve also learned a surprising amount about economics from games. I’ve learned about finding what people want, offering it at an attractive price, researching the competition, and keeping up with the trends. I’ve learned that the way to make money is to stay abreast of trends, recognize opportunities, and jump on them when they come. Then know how much things usually are going to cost, price just under that but not far below. This is especially important for freelancers. You want to be attractive to your clients, but not ruin the market by pricing so low that you devalue the service you provide. We see this in art – I could have a book cover created for $5, a task that used to cost hundreds.

Finally, I’ve learned about ways to make my offerings more attractive to other people. I’ve learned about wording, ad copy, creating interesting and eye-catching graphics.

These lessons have caused me to put effort into my various projects, such as writing books or blogging, a little every day. I’m far better able to work at it without expecting immediate success or payoff. Consequently, my work is higher quality than before and I produce a lot more of it. I credit much of that to learning patience and persistence from online games.

(Sometime I’ll write another article about how useful tabletop role playing has been!)

Horse Herd.PNG — Screenshot from Horse Isle II

via Daily Prompt: Translate

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/translate/

A Juicy Friday Story – Dawn of the Temples

Books and Stories

“We’d better wear linen and gold to impress these rubes,” said Seth. “They seem like the linen and gold type.”

“How can you tell?” asked Hathor, rearranging the beads in her luxuriant fall of black hair.

“I can just tell,” said Seth, leaning forward to look at the holo-viewer. On it were scenes of the local population at their chores, utterly unaware that these members of the Ahn were watching them.

Somewhere, far below, a small drone was buzzing around the dusty landscape, pretending to be a local beetle. So far, none of the primitives had noticed that the iridescent scarab was actually made of metal and plastics. Nor had they seen that its tiny, faceted eyes concealed cameras. The feed was visible on the bridge of Nighthawk, Osiris’s ship.

“I’ll forward my analysis to the Captain,” Seth stated, after another long look at the natives in their primitive daily life. He’d rapidly tired of watching people building bricks of mud and tilling the soil by the side of a big, wide river. At least the scenery was halfway interesting, and the girls were pretty in a common sort of way.

Nighthawk and her sister ships had arrived at this system just a few tendays ago. Initial surveys had revealed a lush, imminently exploitable world, as well as two worlds and several moons that could potentially be made so. There was also a large population of sapients, but that was really no bar. The exploration group had more than enough firepower to wipe out the locals, it was true, but that was expensive and left them without servants. Long ago, the Ahn explorers had learned that it was far better to perpetuate the idea of godhood, with themselves in that exalted position. One planet usually had many groups of natives, so the different crews divided themselves up, each taking a territory and creating a different “pantheon.” Nighthawk specialized in desert regions. By now, it was like performing an old, well remembered play.

“I hope these locals at least have some decent offerings,” said Hathor derisively.

“Remember the last place, where the greatest delicacy was a particularly spicy breed of worm?” She shuddered. “Eugh.”

“For myself, I’m hoping for a better standard of beauty,” said Seth. “In case they offer me maidens.”

Hathor stretched, cracking her spine and displaying her lithe beauty. “Well, on with the linen, I suppose. Hope you washed that kilt.” She walked off the bridge, finding her way down long familiar corridors to her personal cabin.

Hathor palmed open the hatch, relaxing into the scent of incense and smiling as she entered the opulent chamber decorated with the riches of a hundred worlds. Fine silks and furs covered her bed and other furniture, jeweled silks enrobed the cold bulkheads. Over the years the prosaic quarters had gradually taken on the form of a lavish queen’s pavilion.

Hathor stripped off her shipsuit, tossing it aside. The server robots would take care of it. Fully nude, she walked to her wardrobe, regarding the variety of costumes inside it. Finally, she chose a fine linen sheath dress with jeweled clasps and selected a gold pectoral collar to go with it. She smiled as she slid a gold serpent bracelet up one slender arm. She slipped the dress on, twirling in it, admiring herself in a full length mirror. Moving to the head, she stroked the light panel to full brightness and began applying her make up.

Perhaps I’ll go with something dramatic, she thought. Triangles on the cheeks, perhaps? A nice brow band? No, I’ll do cat eyes. That’ll be perfect. Besides, they have felines here, they’ll recognize the symbolism. Perhaps I can talk Horus and Seth into it, maybe even Re. They’re such sticks. I just know Bast will be interested in the idea. Humming, she carefully brushed on the eyeliner and the accent colors, finishing with a sprinkle of gold body powder. A bit of ruby lipstick and she was done. She smiled at herself in the mirror and blew herself a kiss.

“I do make a proper goddess, don’t I?” She made a final adjustment to her gold collar and swept out of the head, and her quarters, with all the style of a Queen.

“It’s too bloody drafty,” said Seth, looking morosely down at his short linen kilt, which was flapping gently in front of one of the conference room’s many ventilation ducts.

“Aren’t you glad you work out?” asked Bast, secretly wanting to giggle at his discomfiture. He was so silly. The last population they’d Indoctrinated had lived in a frigid region, and Seth had only been too happy to wear the rich furs of his godly station. As for Bast, she was looking forward to warm breezes and palm trees.

“Yeah, that’s good at least,” said Seth. “Nobody wants a potbellied god. I wonder how old Ganesh is going to fare? He’s put on a lot of weight since the last world.”

“I know what you mean,” said Bast, and this time she did laugh. “Hey, where’s Hathor?”

“Hathor’s right here,” said she, lounging against the wall, near the entrance to the room.

“Would you stop that?” asked Seth, feigning anger.

A melodious laugh was his only answer.

“Anyway,” continued Seth, “the others will be here soon and we’ll hear the traditional speech from Osiris.”

“As if we haven’t heard it a thousand times before,” said Hathor.

“It’s tradition,” said Bast.

More Ahn entered the room, most dressed in linens, gold, and newly bronzed bodies. Most wore the same eye makeup that Hathor had suggested. Chattering animatedly, they seemed cheerful at the prospect of this new world and posting. The servant robots moved to and fro, carrying trays of sweetmeats, juicy bits of fruit and goblets of nectar. Soft, enlivening music played and the room was filled with the buzz of conversation. As the Ahn mingled, there was no end of discussion as they admired each others’ varying costumes, speculated about the planet, and made bets about how many fine things they could collect before missions end.

At long last, the Captain arrived. A tall man, Osiris was wearing a new helmet with a solar motif, a spreading golden collar heavy on his shoulders. An orb-headed staff completed the outfit. His first officer, Horus, paced half a step behind. He had a cunning hawk’s helmet on his head.

“I, Osiris, Captain of Nighthawk, greet you,” he intoned.

“I think godhood has gone to his head,” whispered Bast to her best friend Nuit, but the other woman hushed her.

Osiris stepped up on a low stage at one end of the conference room. He looked at his crew and smiled, his perfect teeth bright in his tanned face. His muscles rippled as he spread his arms.

“Crew of the mighty Nighthawk!” He paused a moment for effect, and to let the conversation die down.

“Once again, we make landfall on a virgin world. Once again, we stand ready to fulfill our duties as loyal citizens of the Ahn Imperium. And once again, we educate and Indoctrinate a planetary population and make them fit to serve the Ahn, bringing greater glory to the Empire!”

The cheer was slightly less rousing than it might have been, considering that everyone had this speech memorized.

“As you all know, Indoctrination is the very soul of creating a good slave population. Properly Indoctrinated slaves rarely rebel, they work hard, they breed rapidly, they make good janissaries, and best of all, they serve out of love intermixed with fear! We few have been entrusted to complete Phase One of Indoctrination. We will gently but firmly inculcate the native population with religious ideals. We will establish ourselves as gods. We will inspire fear and bless them with order. We will shape their thoughts, their wills, their hearts. We will show them that they do not need arms, but only the benevolent protection of their gods. We will teach them to feel instead of thinking, so that they will not plot. Then they can never stand against us.” The Captain looked around the room, meeting everyone’s eye, and even the most jaded crewmember felt a little of the old magic.

“As you know, this is a temporary process. Later, others will come to administer Indoctrination Phase Two, which is instilling the concept of OneTrue, and they are depending on your good work to ensure their success. Your hard work brings life, health, and eternal domination of the Ahn Empire!”

The crew cheered then, and even Bast lost her smirk as she clapped with the rest.

Osiris stood still for a moment, basking in their approval, then spoke again once they had settled a bit. “I, Osiris, Captain of Nighthawk, am proud to serve with you.” He bowed, humbly, and got even more applause. Once this had faded, Osiris turned and headed out the main hatchway from the room. Everyone knew where he was headed. They quickly finished drinks, gulped the last of various snacks, set the dishes in the server robot’s hands, and went after him.

A strange, large man stood on the sandal-beaten square at the center of a little village made of mud brick. He spread his arms wide, making his golden jewelry gleam in the midday sunlight The curious residents came out from their huts and from under the shade of palm trees, braving the merciless heat so they could see this newcomer who had descended in the heavens in a shining sky boat. They felt no desire to worship, being only curious and more than a little wary. Some of the men kept their hands on their copper daggers, wondering if he was something real, or a dream. A dog barked in the distance. They all wondered the same thing. Who is this stranger? Why is he here? Where did he get those bright garments? And where did he come from, in that strange craft? They looked at him and his companions.

“I am Osiris,” he said, “and I am your god.”

via Daily Prompt: Juicy

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/juicy/

Beyond Meow – How to Talk With Your Cat

Healthy Living

Sometimes, we all wish our cats could talk. Then they could tell us where it hurts, where the annoying bug on the wall is, and what flavor of cat food they REALLY want for dinner.
Though we’ll probably never get cats to use more than a few words of human speech, we can talk to hem – and encourage them to communicate in return. Awareness of their communications styles can go a long way.
The number one thing you can do is talk to your cat, meaningfully. Cats are very intelligent and pick up on words fairly easily. At the same time, pay attention to their body language and look for signs of understanding. Make a fuss over them when they show they understand. Use relevant words when you are doing things – like talking about the kind of food you are setting down, pointing out the brush and talking about it when you are about to groom them, pointing out different body parts when you are petting them. “Here are your paws. Here are your ears. Here is your pretty tail.” Cats can be trained in much the same way you’d teach a baby.

Whenever possible, give your cat opportunities to communicate back. Demonstrate to them that they can make a difference in your behavior by communicating. For your part, pay attention – sometimes cats are very subtle. Look for significant glances, postures, gestures. Cats communicate a lot through body language.

I knew someone who encouraged her cat to communicate – she was in chimp language research and used the same techniques on her cat as she had with the chimps. By teaching her cat that communication mattered, and he could get what he wanted by communicating, she achieved a remarkable level of understanding. He even had modified sign language “words” he would use to talk back.

For example, my own cat will lick her lips and stare at me when she is hungry. That means “dinner.” So if I say “Are you hungry, Nezumi-chan?” and she doesn’t lick her lips at me, I know she doesn’t want to eat.

She’ll also reach up and pat my shoulder (from the surface of a table) when she wants my attention. Or she’ll boop my nose when she’s feeling playful. Sometimes she’ll gesture to things with her tail, using it like a finger. She’s learned more and more signals as she’s gotten older.