Ah ‘blurbs’…those nifty endorsements you see on the back cover of books and one of the rites of passage for a first time author. As a newcomer (essentially a publishing nobody), I was pretty nervous about the whole process of getting quotes for my novel. I talked things over with my editor, we came up with a ‘wish-list’ and she sent out the manuscript and went to bat for me.

It was hard for me to imagine that another writer would be willing to read my manuscript, let alone take the time to say a few kind words about it. After all, writers are busy people…we live in our heads much of the time and breaking the rhythms of imagination, memory and creativity isn’t something we take lightly. I’m guessing that reading an uncorrected proof of a new writer’s first offering isn’t a priority for most established writers.

But, I’m happy to report that I am no longer blurbless. In fact, I’m thrilled-to-bits that four amazing Canadian writers whom I admire – Marjorie Anderson,
Joan Clark, Christy Ann Conlin, and Beth Powning – all took the time to read my work and to say some pretty wonderful things about it. (If you want to read what they had to say, click the link below)
advanced praise for The Birth House

Thank goodness I didn’t have to resort to using John Warner’s “Blurb-o-matic”.
John’s the author of Fondling Your Muse: Invaluable Advice from Published Author to the Writerly Aspirant. While I wasn’t asked to write a blurb for his book, I was sent an advanced reader copy by John’s publicist. There are grains of truth in the tiny tome, but much of it simply laugh-out-loud, tongue-in-cheek fun. It would make one heck of a gag gift…think, Fondling Your Muse : an aspiring writer sending out her first queries, as Edible Underwear : a bachelorette at her wedding shower.

The blurb-o-matic is available on John’s web site. Here’s what it came up with for me:

A striking record of love and despair that will leave you destroyed!
A fuzzy adventure of the human spirit that will leave you itchy!
An expansive chronicle of robot love and despair!

Try it, it’s fun…
The Blurb-o-matic