L.E. DeLano's Blog, page 33

Just A Small Public Service Announcement

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HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!

Clearly, I Am Not Meant To Write On Vacation . . .

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That, my lovelies, is an elbow. My elbow. Yeah.

And that’s just the inside view. The other side of my arm has bruising that goes down to my wrist.

It all happened on Wednesday. I was camping with my kids and I took my bike to the bathhouse that morning to get a shower. As I was leaving, a family pulled up in a golf cart. I had to crank my bike pedal around and fumbled a bit (c’mon, it was early) then I took off riding, completely forgetting that my towel was slung over the handlebars. It snagged in the wheel (of course) and I flew over the handlebars and hit the road hard. As I rolled painfully to my feet to detangle everything, golf cart Dad turned to his kids and said, “drunk.”

So that was awesome. Anyway, within an hour my left elbow was an enormous purple grapefruit, and my right wrist was badly sprained and I couldn’t make a fist. We had tickets for an amusement park 45 minutes down the road, and I drive a stick shift.

I soldiered through, bought a wrist brace and took some Advil and here it is Monday and the wrist is still sore (but a bit better) and the elbow looks horrific but feels much less so. And I lost a couple of days of writing to all this nonsense.

Last year on vacation, a kid cannonballed into the pool so hard it swamped my laptop from ten feet away, and killed my MacBook, losing me a ton of writing time (not to mention money). I am simply not fated to write while on vacation. It is not meant to be.

And now I’ll just cue up my Harry Potter marathon and chug some more Advil while I peck tentatively at my keyboard, wincing away. Hope your holiday week is going better!

 

See You Next Week – I’m On Vacation!

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That’s right – I’m outta here! Not going to the beach this time – I’m taking my kids camping! So no internet (well, not much anyway), no TV, just pool time, firelight, and lots and lots of writing. I am determined to finish my first draft of the next book by the end of the week, so while they’re funning and sunning I’ll be mashing my brainmeat. It’s all good.

See you after the 4th!

Cover Reveal For DREAMER – And It’s Amazing!!

Check it out, my lovelies!!

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And then check out my guest post on the Swoon Reads blog today, all about this amazing cover and what you can expect from DREAMER!

So It Turns Out I Repeat The Same Repetitive Phrases Repeatedly

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I just finished slogging through the last of the copyedits for DREAMER, tidying up the occasional continuity question, and addressing all the places I have a repetitive phrase or word.

Oh, Lordy.

I have a problem. Ladies and Gentleman, I am here to confess I have a serious problem. How many times can someone sigh and lean back on a table? Or roll their eyes? Or “snap” when they say something?

Lots, it turns out, if I cooked them up in my obviously deranged brain. Talk about a cold, hard slap of editorial reality. And I was so pleased with myself for having eliminated so much of that crap in my writing already. Yes, it used to be worse. There’s a sobering realization. It’s annoying now, but it used to be worse.

Guess it just goes to show you that a good writer always has room to be a better writer, especially if she has a great editor and editorial staff who call out her nonsense.

Harumph.

Back to the rough draft of the next book, which I am now viewing through a hyper-critical eye.

Tidbit Tuesday: A Little DREAMER Q&A

The cover announcement for DREAMER breaks on Monday, and I am so freaking excited!!

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The final copyedits are done, and now we wait for the ARC. And I know you’re all just burning with curiosity, especially after the way I left off in TRAVELER.

I can’t tell you too much (without TRAVELER spoilers, anyway) but I can share some insights. So here are some of the most frequently asked questions flooding my Instagram, Twitter and Facebook message folder:

Will the love triangle continue? Short answer: yes. TRAVELER presented a very unique sort of love triangle, one that Jessa didn’t have much control over. This time, Ben puts it out there and Jessa makes thoughtful and considered choices – which get completely upended by an unexpected arrival and then, of course, the real fun begins.
What’s new? You’ll see some new realities (one of which will take your breath away – it was honestly my favorite scene to write), and the villains will enact part of their plan to devastating result (seriously – that scene had me bawling like a baby). You’ll also get to travel into the dreamscape and step into the dreams of a couple of characters – that’s all kinds of fun.
Will Jessa finally get some friends? One of the recurring criticisms of TRAVELER (and I think they’re fair in saying so) is that Jessa has no friends other than Ben and Finn. That was actually by design – Jessa was closed up in her own little world of words and stories and in DREAMER , we see her actually getting out there. We’ll meet a recurring character who becomes a bestie, and most importantly, we see all the Jessas begin to interact with each other, bouncing suggestions and advice off each other and working together as a team when it counts.
Does Jessa keep up with her dancing lessons? Yes! She even performs!
(I’m quoting this verbatim:) Pirate Finn? Please? Pretty Please? Yes, Pirate Finn. Oh, yes.

 

I Believe In Giving Credit Where It’s Due

Yesterday, I tweeted (and posted to FaceBook) an outstanding Harry Potter-themed cartoon that someone had shared on Reddit.

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Hilarious, right! So I tossed it out on Twitter and somehow, I wasn’t the eleventy-billionth person who’d seen it and it got retweeted a metric buttload of times. Which is swell, but the author should be credited. A few people were kind enough to tweet out the source (and I have since retweeted the source twice myself and corrected my Facebook page to reflect the source, as well) but I honestly feel bad that I didn’t think to hunt down the author before I passed it along. I’ve never claimed it was my work, and I assume most people realize that, but credit should be given where it’s due – and up front, if you can.

I’ve seen a couple of my short stories and even long excerpts from my books posted on websites and writing forums before, and it’s flattering, but I wish they’d put my name on there. I worked hard on that stuff. And this artist has worked very hard on those comics – and a whole lot of others.

Seriously, check out the artist’s site! Hysterical fun, and she has lots of great Harry Potter stuff. My apologies to the artist, and thank you, for sharing your work with us!

A Fan Encounter From Across The Pond

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An old high school friend and her family are vacationing in Europe, and just happened to be riding a train yesterday with a young girl who was reading my book. My friend reached out via Facebook Messenger to let me know:

This is Elizabeth. She is reading your book while we are our vacation. She wants me to tell you that she loves it!!! She was floored that I knew you.

“No!” She heard him shout . . .

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She closed her eyes, sinking deep into the color and the smell of autumn, wrapping herself tight within it as winter began to creep in from her fingertips, where she felt his hand no more.

#1lineWed

From: TRAVELER

Topic: “Sorrow”

Tidbit Tuesday: Jessa & Finn & A Story

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In this tidbit from DREAMER, we see Jessa fine-tuning a story she’s written for a scholarship contest, and second-guessing herself, as usual. Finn’s having none of that, of course . . .

“What are you working on now?” he asks, taking off his headphones and moving the DVD player off his lap.

“It’s another story,” I say. “I’m thinking about entering it in a Flash Fiction scholarship contest.”

I can already see the question forming so I answer it before he can ask. “Flash Fiction is a short story that’s usually 500 words or less. You have to tell a lot in very few words.”

“And you could win a scholarship with that?”

“Yeah. It’s for Connecticut College. They’re a private school, and not very big, but their writing program is one of the best around. If I win the scholarship, it’s almost a guarantee that I’ll be offered admission, as long as I keep my grades up.”

“That sounds like a fine idea,” he says. “May I?” He gestures down to my journal and my hand covers it reflexively.

“It’s not very good yet…”

“Rubbish.” He reaches over and pulls the notebook onto his lap and leans back against the headboard next to me. I fidget with my pen and gnaw my lip as he reads, but after a moment I find myself studying his face again, the way the light plays along the line of his nose, the way his oh-so-long eyelashes fan out, the curve of his lips. I move back up to his eyes, and then flush hot red when I meet them dead on. His mouth quirks up into a smile.

“It’s all right, love,” he says. “I was staring at you the whole time you were writing.”

“You’ve known my face longer than I’ve known yours,” I remind him.

“Ah, but I don’t know you, do I?” he says. “Not entirely. I get bits and pieces. Like this story.”

“It’s not about me.”

“I can see that. It’s about me. Or I should say, your Finn.”

I start to tuck my hair nervously behind my ear, and he reaches out to help me. I feel the flush of my skin where his hand touches.

“This story is kind of a first for me,” I confess. “I usually write from my memories – both here and other places. He – you – told me once about the tree. I just went from there.”

“And with only that to go on, you’ve captured us well. All of us,” he says. “That’s quite the gift you have.”

Jessa and Finn have some very real struggles finding their real selves among all the selves they visit in their alternate universes. It makes for one adventurous ride! DREAMER arrives next Spring!