Want to learn a little bit more about me? There is an interview with me on the Awesome Gang’s website. Check it out!
About Me
The Last Days of Summer
It feels like I have been on radio silence for a several days. It’s been a while since my last post, but I have been busy, busy, busy. With the cover for Dead and Kicking finalized (LOVE IT!) I have been busy updating all the various platforms with the final version of the manuscript and making sure the cover files are updated. October 2nd is fast approaching and there seems to be a lot of things to get organized. Press releases, promos, blog tours, launch party…these are a few of the things on my plate.
You might have noticed a new addition or two here on the website. First, I played around this weekend and created a book trailer. You’ll find it here. I have to say, I think it turned out pretty good. What do you think?
Second, I added individual detail pages for each book in Harry’s trilogy. Just click on the book covers to take you to each page. Speaking of book covers, now that the cover for Dead and Kicking is done, my designer is hard at work on book two’s. Watch for details in the near future.
It hasn’t been all work though. I spent the weekend at the cottage. My absolute favourite place to be. It seems summer isn’t quite ready to let go and the weather was beautiful. I love the cool, crisp, starry nights out there. Sitting in front of a bonfire with the sound of the lake in your ears and the stars overhead. Life doesn’t get much better than that.
This picture is from a couple of years ago. Looking over the beach on a gorgeous evening.
Do you like piña coladas and getting caught in the rain or have I just dated myself?
In a previous post, I compared the book blurb to a dating profile. I thought the comparison was pretty apt, but nothing is more like a dating profile than trying to write your author bio.
The author bio is yet another important, but often overlooked, element of not only your book but any of a multitude of author pages (for example on Goodreads or Amazon) as well as your own website.
Like a dating profile, you need to sell yourself to your readers. Your goal is to make a connection with them, showing who you are as a person. You want to come across as the type of person who would write a book they would want to read.
You really need three versions of your bio:
1. A version to put inside your book as part of the end matter. This can be a little bit longer, but still brevity is key.
2. A version to put on your website or author pages. Again this could be longer. It could even be the same as #1 above.
3. A shorter ‘blurb’ type bio for the back of your book. Keep it short and sweet. 150 words or less.
Just like when writing the book blurb, your author bio should grab the interest of your reader. It should make it easier for your reader to relate to you. Above all else, be honest. The last thing you want to do is come across as someone you`re not – in this electronic age, it would be pretty easy to get called on fudged credentials or accomplishments.
To help you with your author bios, here are a few websites I found useful:
6 Secrets to Writing a Killer Author Bio
How to Write a Great Author Bio That Will Connect with Readers
Tips for Writing Your Author Bio
I hope I managed to accomplish some of these goals with my bio. I guess I`ll have to let you be the judge. Feel free to let me now how I did.
As an added bonus, here`s a few things you may not know about me (and probably will never end up in my bio):
- I think a movie without popcorn is just wrong
- I can’t ride in the car with the radio on without singing out loud
- Spiders ick me out
- I can drink a coke slurpee at 3 am when it’s -30 C outside
- I can curl my tongue (it’s a genetic thing, I learned that in grade 9)
- I think that pineapple on pizza is a waste of perfectly good pineapple (and pizza)
- I can’t sit in front of a bonfire without poking at it with a stick
- I’m not a big drinker, but have become a bit of a beer snob (I’ll take a good Belgian beer thanks)
Monday Morning Chuckle
If a picture is worth a thousand words, this is how I feel today 🙂
Things That Make Me Go Hmmmm
I’ve just come off a week’s vacation. The first weekend was almost unbearably hot and humid, and not once but twice, I overheard someone mention the ‘dog days of summer’.
Hmmmm….So why do we call the hot, sometimes dry-sometimes sticky July/August weather ‘dog days’?
The expression dog days of summer refers to the sultry days of the northern hemisphere summer that coincide with heliacal rising of the constellation Sirius. This constellation, also known as Orion’s Dog or the Dog Star, is the brightest star in the night sky. It can be seen almost everywhere on the Earth’s horizon and at this time of year, in the Northern Hemisphere, it rises in conjunction with the sun.
The ancient Greeks observed that the appearance of Sirius heralded the hot and dry summer, and feared that it caused plants to wilt, men to weaken, and women to become aroused (woo hoo!). The Romans knew these days as dies caniculares, and the star Sirius was called Canicula, “little dog.” Homer even referenced Sirius in the Iliad when describing the approach of Achilles toward Troy, associating it with oncoming heat, fevers and evil:
Sirius rises late in the dark, liquid sky
On summer nights, star of stars,
Orion’s Dog they call it, brightest
Of all, but an evil portent, bringing heat
And fevers to suffering humanity.
Because Sirius is so bright and rises and sets with the sun at this time of year, the Ancient Greeks and Romans believed that its heat added to the heat of the sun, creating a stretch of hot and sultry weather. They named this period of time, from 20 days before the conjunction to 20 days after, “dog days” after the dog star.
Today, the dog days of summer occur during the period between July 3 and August 11. Although it is certainly the warmest period of the summer, the heat is not due to the added radiation from a far-away star, regardless of its brightness. The heat of summer is a direct result of the earth’s tilt.
Fun Friday
Yeah, that pretty much sums it up for me.
Have a great weekend everyone!
Monday Morning Chuckle
Yeah, this is me this morning.
You May be a Book-a-holic if you….
I’m busy working on edits. As I have said, editing is a chore, but one I’m willing to do (over and over and over) because I’m committed to giving future readers of my book the best quality read I can. Right now I feel I need to apologize profusely to my poor early beta readers. It seems that I had forgotten how to use the comma in one of my earlier drafts.
Since I’m busy editing, I haven’t had time to plan anything to blog about, so here’s a little insight into me and my addiction to books. I was a reader way before I became a writer (as it should be).
Cheers!
Lisa
lisa emme 