What Would Your Jacket Cover Say

It's no secret....I LOVE BOOKS!  It is also no secret that I desperately wish to write a book...at some point.   Truth be told (oh goodness...I am cringing) I actually wrote a book in the 8th grade.  There we go....the secret is out!  I spent the better part of 6 months NOT paying attention in class (sorry Mom and Dad) and ferociously penning what I thought would be the next great, adolescent, angst-ridden, terribly dramatic, slightly inappropriate novel.  Of course....I was the troubled heroine sitting at the apex of a wicked love triangle....I was the object of the affection of two "men."  (You know this is fiction because nothing so glorious has ever happened in real life!)  Anyhow...I digress.

One of my favorite "parts" of the books that live in my house is the "jacket cover biography."  In four or five short lines I feel I "know" the author simply because how and where they live and work is revealed to me.  And EVERY TIME, WITHOUT FAIL, I experience the tiniest pang of jealousy.

I've been thinking about this for a few weeks.  What would my jacket cover....IDEALLY say?  What life, what location, what circumstance do I think would be the "perfect" blend and combination to inspire daily writing?

Warning: The following are grossly out of proportion with reality; but are fun to consider and go swimming in the "what if" pool of ultimate fantasy....

Patricia Vela received her Ph.D. in both the classics and English literature from Oxford University.  She is currently the chair of the English department at the University of Texas.  In addition to writing several novellas, memoirs, books of fiction and a Tony award winning play, she is a regular contributor to Vanity Fair, Harper's Magazine, Texas Monthly and The New Yorker.  She lives on a working farm between San Antonio and Austin where she tends to her lavender, chickens, goats, two large dogs and any cat that comes to her door!  When she isn't at home she can be found in her Airstream visiting the Texas coastline.

Wow....I just smiled and laughed out loud...talk about a fantastic life!  I can't top that one with anything else.  I am not even going to try.  I know I promised "several examples" but that one just summed it up!  That would be my ideal jacket cover!

As for the book from 8th grade....I eventually got tired.  I had over 200 wide ruled (no college ruled paper in middle school) handwritten pages stuffed into a blue flimsy binder with no conclusion in sight.  See....I have ALWAYS been long winded!

What would your jacket cover say?  And is it impossible to think that even one fantastical line of your jacket cover is actually within your grasp?