Blog Blurb

What I did in 1980

The seven-year old pushed the cart full of food, I pushed the cart full of kids and the nine-year-old pushed the stroller. An old friend rounded the end of the aisle and we stopped to catch up. "What do you do now?" he asked, as I grabbed random boxes of cereal being taste-tested and then restocked on the shelves. "I'm just a mom," I said. "Oh, so you don't work?" he said.

All the way home I simmered. "Of course I work! He doesn't have a clue . . ." I was boiling now. "Oooo, I'd like to tell him what I do . . ."

Life as a non-working mom

Actually, I'd had my chance but I'd sold myself short. What I needed was a blurb: "I'm a professional mother," would have shown pride in my career choice, and said I took it seriously.

Kids grown and flown, I needed a new blurb. "Just a wannabe writer" I murmured when asked— wimpy. Finally one day I said with authority, "I'm a writer." "What do you write?" "A blog," I whispered. A few days later somebody asked, "What's your blog about?"

How could I explain that? I didn't know from day to day what it would be about. Time to create a blurb for TravelinOma: A collage of things I've learned and things I'm learning.

A blurb is a short statement or a slogan that condenses a message into a few words (like an elevator speech.) Think of an answer you'd like to have ready. Write out the message in a paragraph. Then shorten it to 100 words. Edit it down to 25 words, and now make it 10 words or less. Here's an example.

"What's your book about?" I need to be prepared with a blurb that's adaptable in length. See what you think.

A frontier woman sacrifices her innocence to raise her son. (10 words)

-or-

Son of a Gun, the story of Ruby who gave up her innocence to raise her son, and Leo, the man who discovered the truth. (25 words)

-or-

Ruby had always planned to tell JJ the truth about his father, and the truth about herself, but as the years went by it was easier to let him think he knew the truth. Besides, she’d never actually lied to him, although the lie was there, every time she said his name. Son of a Gun is the story of Jack Smith, a Texas cowboy, and Ruby, the beautiful farm girl who gave up her innocence to raise their son. And Leo, the man who discovered the truth about all of them. (92 words)

-The Original-

JJ is the illegitimate son of Ruby, being raised by his step-father, Leo. Sacrificing her innocence to raise her son, Ruby took work in a saloon owned by Sam where she met a decent rancher who fell in love with her. They combined families and Leo took her to his large Texas ranch. Together they raised two sons, in spite of the hatred Sam shows Ruby for leaving his saloon as a dancing girl. JJ recognizes early his skill with a gun, and begins to put together rumors he's heard. Could he be the son of the greatest gun fighter in the state? The story centers around JJ discovering who his real father is, and deciding whether he would prefer a father set in the ways of peace, hard-work and family; or a father, who rides, gambles, fights and kills for a living. Conflict and challenges complicate his search for his father, including gunfights, a cricket scourge, a death and a devastating fire.

Now it's your turn:
What's your blog about? Answer in ten words or less.