Two Sentence Tuesday: A Beautiful Book about Books

I recently had the pleasure of reading The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon, a wonderful story that takes place in Barcelona from 1945 to 1966 and stretches back in time to 1932. The novel is filled with danger and intrigue, seduction and revenge and tragedy and love-- all revolving around the passion of books. Nearly every page has two sentences that captivate the reader. I particularly liked the following two:

A secret's worth depends on the people from whom it must be kept. My first thought on waking was to tell my best friend about the Cemetery of Forgotten Books.

Now here are two sentences from the novel I'm working on:

The fiery edges of the setting sun angled sharply over the distant peaks while lingering slivers of orange flew across the landscape like a bettor homing in on a hot table. The scorching orb that had claimed the Strip all day, sharing the wealth of its white-hot light no longer had the juice.

Would love to know about anything you're working on. Post a link or your words in the comments, and we'll update this post throughout the day!

• Terry Odell has intriguing forgotten evening sentences in the comments

• Barbara Martin also has sentences in the comments, these on Canadian history

And The Winner Is...

The winner of our giveaway is Helen Kiker! Helen, please email me (laura.kramarsky [at] womenofmystery.net) your mailing address, and I will get your books out to you! Sorry...no help for getting to the Great Wall of China, though.

My Town Monday: The Burren, County Clare, Ireland

In the comments section on Laura’s latest book giveaway , Kar mentioned that she would love to see the Burren in Ireland. It seems Kar’s mother speaks of it in an almost mystical way. And well she should.

The Burren National Park is nestled in the northwest corner of County Clare, Republic of Ireland. Clare itself is located on the west coast of Ireland and, like its namesake our own Clare2e, is renowned for its sheer beauty and dramatic appeal. Clare is surrounded by Galway Bay to the north, the Atlantic Ocean on the west and the River Shannon, Ireland's longest river, to the east.

The haunting landscape of the Burren is a rare karst limestone surface where alpine and Mediterranean plants rare to Ireland grow side by side. You can read all about it here.

To take a remarkable seven minute tour of the Burren, ending at a traditional Irish music session in O’Connor’s Pub in the town of Doolin, click on this You Tube posted by Clarebannerman.

Since we’re in the neighborhood, I thought you’d like to visit the Cliffs of Moher. This thirty second You Tube posted by mgk84 offers a clear vision of the continuous grandeur of the Cliffs.

Listen closely to this You Tube posted by Jwm735, and you will hear the howl of the wind whipping around the lofty overhang.

A few years ago, I walked the Cliffs of Moher on a cold and rainy day. As the wind pushed me to and fro, I decided that none of my ancestors came to America on the coffin ships. They had only to stand atop the Cliffs of Moher and the wind would blow them straight across the Atlantic Ocean to New York harbor.

For more My Town Monday posts, please check in with Clair Dickson over at My Town Monday central.

***********************NEWS FLASH**************************
If you entered to win The Semantics of Murder by Aifric Campbell and Thursday NightWidows by Claudia Pineiro on Laura’s post earlier this week, she will be announcing the winner here later today, so come on back.

Terrie

Buzzing Your Book on Facebook

You've checked your proofs and returned them to your editor. Or maybe you've just finally typed "The End" on the last page of your first draft. Whichever it may be, you're ready to turn your attention to promotion. But what should you do?

Social networking sites are hot right now and are excellent promotional tools for authors--if you know how to utilize them. Publicist Sandra Beckwith knows, and she's offering a teleseminar next Wednesday, November 11, called "Boost Your Book Sales with Social Networking." With the help of marketing expert Dana Lynn Smith, author of The Savvy Book Marketer's Guide to Successful Social Marketing and several other e-books on book marketing, she'll discuss topics such as:

• Why you must be plugged in online
• How to choose the right networks for your book
• The biggest mistakes people--even online veterans--make while networking online
• How to manage your time so you're not overwhelmed
• Powerful profile secrets
• The right (and wrong!) way to attract friends and followers
• Why 1,000 followers could be better than 10,000 on Twitter
• Tips for Twitter tweets that get results
• The crucial difference between Twitter "replies" and "mentions"
• How to use contests and promotions to attract followers
• Why a Facebook profile isn't the same as a Facebook page
• How to use Facebook events for book promotion
• Why you want to start a Facebook group--and how to do it right
• Crucial differences between LinkedIn and Facebook
• The biggest blunder newbies make on LinkedIn
• How to build visibility on LinkedIn with groups and discussions
• How to promote your book in virtual reader communities

"I think social networking is an especially valuable resource for fiction writers," says Sandra. She adds that "the content [of this teleseminar] is particularly relevant to novelists."

A publicist for 25 years, Sandra is the author of two books on publicity. She also publishes an electronic newsletter called Build Book Buzz and keeps a blog called "Build Buzz." Both can be found via her Build Book Buzz website.

The 90-minute teleseminar costs $29 and is scheduled to get underway at 7:00 pm EST. For more information and to register, click here.

Bee cartoon courtesy of Image Envision.

Selected Shorts Program & Writing Contest

I love learning something new every day, so I was thrilled to read Terrie Farley Moran’s recent post, “Talk Radio,” about “Selected Shorts,” a program at Symphony Space in which short fiction is read by actors in front of a live audience, which is recorded and broadcast on radio. You can download the current program after they post them on Monday evenings - follow the instructions here.

I’m active on Twitter (follow me @katcop13) and I read an RT (re-tweet) by Symphony Space from Selected Shorts: “This week’s radio show: Mary Stuart Masterson, Campbell Scott and Marian Seldes - Tales That Surprise,” along with a link to the PRI (Public Radio International) Station and Program Locator.

I’m glad that Symphony Space re-tweeted the message from Selected Shorts. I immediately began following @SelectedShorts, and guess what? I learned something new. Symphony Space is sponsoring a short story writing contest: The 2010 Stella Kupferberg Memorial Short Story Prize, with guest judge Nathan Englander. “The winning submission will be read as a part of the Selected Shorts performance at Symphony Space on April 7, 2010. The story will be recorded for possible later broadcast as part of the public radio series. The winner will received $1000.” The winner will also receive two tickets to attend the performance in which their piece will be read!

The theme is “Apartments and Neighbors.” Submissions must be titled and no longer than 750 words. Entries must be received by January 29, 2010. There is a $25.00 fee to enter the contest, either online or by snail mail.

I know many of you are busy with NaNoWriMo this month, but maybe it’s something to consider in December.

The contest page describes the impressive background of the guest judge: Nathan Englander is the author of the PEN/Malamud Award and American Academy of Arts and Letters' Sue Kaufman Prize-winning short story collection For the Relief of Unbearable Urges and the novel The Ministry of Special Cases, winner of The Harold U. Ribalow Prize. His fiction has appeared in The New Yorker, The Best American Short Stories, The Atlantic Monthly, and The O. Henry Prize Stories. Englander has been a Guggenheim Fellow, a Fellow of the Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers, and was selected as one of "20 Writers for the 21st Century" by The New Yorker.

Thanks to Terrie, Twitter, Symphony Space and their Selected Shorts series, for contributing to my daily dose of new knowledge!

Don't forget: there's still time to enter the Semantics of Murder giveaway - leave a comment on Laura K. Curtis's post. You have until midnight Sunday night.

Happy National Bookstore Day

A few weeks ago, Lois tipped us all to the first National Bookstore Day. You can read her post here.

Hooray! Hooray! Today's the day!

While you are out doing your weekend chores please stop by your local bookstore and treat yourself to a bit of time browsing the aisles. Before you leave be sure to wish the proprietor a Happy National Bookstore Day!

And yes, I did steal the graphic from Lois' post.

Terrie

Wright to the Rescue

This week I was in need of a pick-me-up.

One, I'm off in a minute to undergo a procedure that required a really fun prep yesterday. (If you don’t know what I’m talking about, never mind. You don’t want to.)

Two, half the people I know have flu - both the seasonal and barnyard variety - and I’m weary of avoiding crowded rooms. I had long ago scheduled my own (seasonal) flu shot. On Tuesday I showed up at the doctor’s office for my injection, only to learn he had used his last vaccine on the patient before me (!) and had no idea when his stores would be refreshed. As for H1N1, he expects his supply in a couple of years.

Three, I was panting to provide you here with the news of my discovery of Pandora Radio, a website with a single platform: “To play only music you'll love”; and they do, they really do (try dropping in “Neil Young” and see what you get). Then I realized I was the only person on the planet who was unaware of Pandora’s Music Genome Project; imagine my embarrassment if I’d actually published a “guess what, you guys!” post....

So you can understand why I turned to Steven Wright for solace. Besides, to read Steven Wright one-liners (though admittedly not as fun as watching his stand-up performances, which you can do here) offers a fine dose of the giggles and is the perfect prescription for what ails me. Note, as well, that his last name is “Wright” so the subject is pertinent for this blog. Furthermore, to read his witticisms is a study in the art of writing humor. (I’m repeating the remedial class.)

So...although it took awhile to come around on the guitar... here are my selections. Please note that each is relevant to the Women of Mystery. Please savor each one - imagine Wright's droll delivery - and let the line roll around in your brain:

“When I die I’m gonna leave my body to science fiction.”

“How do you tell when you’re out of invisible ink?”

“Why is it a penny-for-your-thoughts, but you have to put your two cents in?”

“I got contacts, but I only need them when I read, so I got flip-ups.”

“Curiosity killed the cat, but for awhile I was a suspect.”

If these aren’t enough to cheer you, you can always turn to Slashdot for Fruit Bats Have Oral Sex Too.

- Lois