REPOST 9/23/2006 Writing blurbs...

Am I the only one who likes writing blurbs? It feels like it some days. I wrote an entire article on it that you can find on my site. This post really isn't about that, since you can get all the information I usually give people on the subject there.

So, what is this post about? Actually, it's about the BEST time I've found to write blurbs. When I'm exhausted, believe it or not.

Think about it. What happens when you get exhausted? Well, barring going to sleep (which rarely seems to happen), you get punchy. Your mind starts making connections it didn't before.

It's a proven fact that the harder you're trying for something creative (and blurbs ARE creative), the more detrimental it's likely to be to the end result. When you're exhausted and punchy, you don't care anymore. What happens then?

You make the most amazing connections, things you've never thought about before. The intuitive/creative is closely linked to the subconscious, and the subconscious is often drowned out by the noise of the conscious mind. When you're too tired to think coherently, sometimes the creative/intuitive takes over completely, making you more effective than you were forcing something through the conscious mind.

Sometimes, you end up doing something really quirky that works well. I find that the blurbs my editors like most are written when I am dead-out on my feet, bar none.

Sometimes, I write them as a joke. Well, when you're punchy, you will do something ridiculous like that, right? The strange thing is, every blurb I've written as a joke has been raved about as a masterpiece.

I mean, I wrote a nursery rhyme-style 50 word for Marked that went over swimmingly. I wrote a couplet dark poem for NOBODY that did the same. In fact, what I wrote and posted as a JOKE is used on all the promo gear for the company for it.

So, if you're fighting with a blurb, maybe the best idea is to leave it until you're dead out and just play around without hope of actually getting anything usable out of it. Just a thought.