Okay, so A Year with the Potters is actually published, but I really want a logline for it. I have a really, really, hard time telling people what it's about. I've read (and really enjoyed) Jordan Smith's book and it was really helpful for my other logline, but this book is a collection of short stories... that I have no idea how to condense into one sentence. It would be like trying to write a logline for The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, instead of one of the short stories. So, does anyone have any ideas how I can go about this?

Here's my synopsis, in case that's helpful to anyone: In April they met new friends, in August they got a kitten, October they learned about Martin Luther, November brought a pet Black Widow, and January gave them a Biblical lesson in perseverance. What else is in store for the Potter family? For Amanda, Jackie, Emmy, Grace, and their parents, there's no such thing as an ordinary month! Not only that, they are always pulling their friends into their adventures too. Why is there a kitten creeping through shards of glass? What is he after? And why is there a jar hiding in the kitchen cupboard - with a spider living in it?

You probably could...it might be more vague than specific, but if you take, say, something like this line from your synopsis, "For Amanda, Jackie, Emmy, Grace, and their parents, there's no such thing as an ordinary month!" and play with it, you might be able to get a reasonable logline.

I'm hardly an expert, though, not having managed to write any loglines of my own, so take my advice with a grain of salt.

Hmmm... I wonder if I could come up with something from that... I know it's going to not be a "proper" logline, but as close as possible would be nice.

I'm hardly an expert either - I've written one full logline that I liked so far and that's it.

This is probably the same concept as writing a logline for a series. You'd have an over-arching logline for the collection as a whole, then possibly one for each story itself.

So, kind of pretend that each story is a book in and of itself, instead of viewing it as one book that needs a logline?

Oooo... a logline for each story... That's a thought. Hmm...

Right. Am I gathering correctly that this follows the adventures (as it were) of one family? Because if that's the case, your logline could be as simple as…

"The everyday happenings in the lives of an [adjective] family as they [something something something]."

I don't know what goes at [something something something]. Maybe nothing. If you have a common theme between the stories, you could put it there…

Yes, all one family - well and their friends, but it's always from the Potter's perspective.

Hmm... theme... What about this:

The everyday activities in the life of a homeschooling family as they learn lessons, study nature, and grow in their faith.

Is that too... boring? It almost seems too descriptive? Hmm... And technically they do have one chapter where they learn about Martin Luther, but the rest of their studying seems to be on the natural side.

No, see, that's what it is, so that's what it should be.

Remember, with something like this, this is your jumping off point. What you want to do from here is figure out the pitch. So if someone asks what your book is about, you tell them that logline, then move into a little more.

You have my book, you said? Is it the 2nd edition? I went into building a pitch from a logline in the final chapter.

I'm sorry I didn't respond sooner...

I actually have both editions of your book on my Kindle app - but I haven't finished reading the second edition yet. So, I use a logline to build a pitch? I'll get back to reading the book then.

Thank you so much for helping me! You have no idea how long I've been putting this off...