L.E. DeLano's Blog, page 34
June 12, 2017
He pulls away slowly, kissing the tip of my nose . . .
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“I’ll keep you safe, Jessa” he promises. “Anywhere you go.”
“I want to go home.”
#LoveLines
Topic: “Vow”
June 9, 2017
Looking For A Good Summer Reading Plan?
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Check it out! It’s the Date-a-Book Summer reading challenge! A reader passed this along to me and I think it’s a terrific way to expand your summer reading horizons. Anybody in?
June 7, 2017
What’s Up Wednesday: In The Muck Of Marketing
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I’ve actually got a career background in marketing and sales courtesy of various day jobs over the years, and that’s really come in handy with the writer stuff. But it’s also a complete pain in the ass.
Part of the reason I don’t work in marketing and sales anymore is that while I was really good at it, I. Hate. It.
I hate selling. I hate convincing anyone to have to buy anything. I hate feeling like I have to do a song and dance to get you to notice me, especially if the product is good enough to sell itself.
But this is the biz, guys. My book is good, but there are a lot of good books. And “good” in a clutch of good books floating in a sea of mediocre books washing over a steaming pile of bad books just doesn’t get noticed much on its own.
And since I don’t have piles of money or a rich spouse to pay for a marketing service or a bunch of ad campaigns, I have to get creative. It’s time consuming, which makes it hard to get the next book written – and as we all know you’re only as good as your next book.
So if your writer friend looks frazzled, do them a solid and tell someone about their book. Take a picture of yourself reading their book and post it on social media. Stop in your local bookstore or library and inquire about the book – even if they don’t have it in stock, it may pique their curiosity. Then call your writer friend and tell her you can’t wait for her next book. Which she should be writing, since you just did some marketing for her.
Then buy her a bottle of wine. It helps.
June 6, 2017
“You’re not jesting with me?” He asks.
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“You’re a girl named ‘When’ and I’m taking you to an island named ‘If’ – is that correct?” “Yes. But you mustn’t ask questions.”
#2bitTues
Open Theme
From: WIP
June 5, 2017
My Bazillion Outlines
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I’m in the construction phase of the latest story, and that involves multiple outlines in multiple formats, snippets of scenes written down as they come into my head, lists with bullet points of important stuff that needs to happen, and eventually, only half of all of this will be of use. If I’m lucky.
This is where you grab a handful of metaphorical seed and scatter it, hoping it grows. Later, I’ll add fertilizer, walk around in the field, mow it down a bit, dig up an area or two to overturn it and re-seed, and perhaps even find something fascinating that scattered on the wind and now grows between the rocks.
But right now – it’s all just about the scattering. Because seeds are precious and few.
Fertilizer, however, I have no shortage of. Ever.
Metaphor, baby. Keepin’ it real.
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June 1, 2017
Guess What’s Coming In The Month Of June???
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That’s right – something big is on it’s way! I just got word that the cover reveal for DREAMER will be on the Swoon Reads site on June 26th!! Cue the happy dance!
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Okay, maybe not that happy dance.
I was sent the cover about a month ago and it’s absolutely KILLING me that I can’t share it yet!
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Just wait till you see it! On June 26th!!
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You’re going to love it, I promise.
May 31, 2017
So many stories . . .so many far-off lands . . .
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His life was out there, and he reveled in it. Nothing could
match the freedom of the open sea and the sun on his sails.
#1lineWed
From: TRAVELER
Topic: “Freedom”
May 30, 2017
Oh, That Wonderful “What If” Moment When You Write
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I was hammering away at my first draft of my next book over the weekend, and let me tell you, it felt like hammering. Like there was a big rock in my brain and I was just aimlessly chiseling away without a whole lot of real direction.
And then it happened – the “What if?” moment.
I was writing out a scene that I was pretty sure was going a certain direction, when suddenly, my brain wheeled about and said, “Wait a minute – what if she did this instead of that?”
Ohhhhhhh. The possibilities! And while we’re at it, what if we kept her doing what she’s doing, but what if he was hiding something?
All of a sudden, my stream of consciousness turned into a handful of tributaries and a whole lot of bubbling rapids that tossed me from the boat a good half dozen times and soaked me with new ideas. Oh, it was glorious!
Now I get to figure out how to make it all work. Or if it will even work. And once I do, I’ll probably come back and cut and rework a lot of it. But at least it’s there, and every “What if?” leads to a whole lot of “Surprise!” and that is writing gold, if it’s done right.
Oh, please let me do it right.
Onward.
May 29, 2017
“Ah, Jessa,” he murmurs . . .
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“When it all comes together, I’ll be here. I’ll be here with you. I swear it. I’ll love you to the end of it all and beyond.”
#LoveLines
From: DREAMER (Feb 2018)
Topic: “The End”
May 23, 2017
Tidbit Tuesday: He’s Been Alone Too Long
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In this scene from DREAMER (the upcoming sequel to TRAVELER), Jessa has just had an argument with her mother, and a certain reality-traveling pirate tries to give her a dose of perspective . . .
“Don’t fault your mother for being concerned when you aren’t yourself,” Finn says.
“You don’t understand.”
“I do. But I think you’re inflating things a bit.”
“Inflating!” I pull away from him, raising my arms and slapping them down at my sides in frustration. “Look you don’t have a mother like that, so you can’t really understand–”
“No, I don’t have a mother like that,” he snaps, and I can see the hurt in his eyes. “I grew up without any mother at all, but I believe I can still offer some insight.”
My face reddens with chagrin. “I forget what it’s been like for you,” I say by way of apology. “Don’t you ever get to have a complete family?”
He smiles slightly. “Here and there. But never for very long. There always seems to be something to pull me away or pull them away somehow. The only real constant in the vast majority of the realities I’ve seen is you. So I presume you’re as close as I get.”
There it is again, that swelling warmth inside of me that no one else can seem to tap into. I don’t like the idea of him being alone. He’s been alone too long. And if I’m the one who makes him a little less that way, I’m glad.
Finn is a wonderful, wandering soul, and Jessa is a girl with a thirst for adventure. We only scratched the surface in TRAVELER – just wait till you see where DREAMER takes them!
