Tag Archives: Challenge

Jacket Blurb Challenge

I doubt they are best sellers, but these real titles are definitely unique. This week MindLoveMiserysMenagerie’s Sunday Writing Prompt challenged us to choose a few REAL book titles from a list and write a “jacket blurb” in 10 sentences or less. I chose two. If you’d like to give it a go you can find the list HERE.  To make things interesting, I also put together mock covers. As you can see, I had a bit of fun with it. 🙂

He has spent the last 20 years observing people from a 16 square foot, fluorescent lit, glass-framed booth collecting subway tokens, granting access to travelers from every walk of life on their way to destinations unknown. Retired city employee, Albert Morton has seen it all, including what he calls “Magnets”. These oblivious people seem to attract the spirits of the dead who haven’t crossed over.

Morton identifies himself as a “sensitive”. From childhood he has possessed the uncanny ability to see dead people.

“They come to the subway,” Morton explains, “because they’re confused and perhaps a bit lost. They know they need to go somewhere, but they don’t know where, so they attach themselves to unsuspecting travelers.” Morton claims to have helped hundreds of these lost souls find rest.

In People Who Don’t Know They’re Dead: How They Attach Themselves to Unsuspecting Bystanders and What to do About it”, Morton shows you how to recognize the signs of super-unnatural attachments and provides 3 simple steps to get those needy trolls off your back for good!

If you’ve ever felt goosebumps for no reason, you need to read this book!

 

Cherries Jubilee! Créme Brûlée! Bananas Foster! Chef Luigi Valenti shares the secret to creating fabulous flame-kissed gourmet dishes in his sizzling new book, The Pyromaniac’s Cookbook. All you need a blow torch! (…and fresh batteries in your smoke alarm and  um…maybe a nearby fire extinguisher.)

From desserts to main courses, Chef Luigi takes the mystery out of working with fire while providing life-saving tips in blow torch operation with a special chapter on burn first aid using items you can find in your own kitchen! You’ll be brûlée-ing in no time, and, without losing your eyebrows!

Amaze your family and friends at your next dinner party! As Chef Luigi always says, “Everything a-tastes a-better with a little flambé!”

~kat


Sunnyside

“Matilda, my darling girl, you would have loved it here,” he mused as he watched the sun set at river’s edge.

The familiar voices of old friends, Crane, Knickerbocker, Van Winkle, whispered to him from the mist. “Ah, Van Winkle,” he chuckled, “I concur. It is time, indeed, for a long nap.”

The old man leaned on his cane as he ambled to the house, uttering his final words, “Well, I must arrange my pillows for another night. When will this end?”

They would lay him to rest at Sleepy Hollow; the man known as Jonathan Oldstyle, Geoffrey Crayon…Washington Irving.

~kat

100 Words for Rochelle Wisoff-Fields Friday Fictioneers Flash Fiction Challenge, inspired by the photo above by Roger Bultot.

…the rest of the story

Imagine my surprise when I opened the photo and google map popped up on my screen plopping it on the east side of the Hudson River, North of New York City. After zooming in I imagined this could very well have been the view from Washington Irving’s beloved Sunnyside home in Tarrytown on the Hudson. The Matilda referenced in my story is the name of his fiancé who died from tuberculosis at the age of 17. Some believe it was grief, as well as seeking treatment for his own health issues, that launched him across the pond where he would spend decades. He remained a bachelor to his dying day.

Of course, after discovering all of this, I knew I must write about this iconic author, historian and diplomat. If you would like to learn more about Irving, Wikipedia gives a nice summary of his life and works.


Smart as a…

‘Good boy…bad boy…come…sit…lay down…stay’. Humans are so adorable. They think they’re in control when I roll over, fetch, or give them a “high four”…five, if you count my dew claw.

While they’re working to ensure my comfortable lifestyle, I nap. This is the life!

So tell me, who’s smarter? Man or beast?

~kat

52 Words for Sacha’s Writespiration 52 Weeks, 52 Words Challenge. The Prompt: Write your 52 words from the perspective of an animal.


Impenetrable

obstinate castle
stone rook girded by tears
impenetrable

~kat

For Haiku Horizons Weekly Challenge, prompt word, Castle


Misconstrued

longing to be touched
lonely souls barter with brutes
ardor misconstrued

~kat

For Ronovan Writes Weekly Haiku Challenge, prompt words, Touch & Wrong (Misconstrued).