L.E. DeLano's Blog, page 35

“You’re stuck with me,” he says . . .

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“I’ve saved your butt too many times. And I’m fixing to save it again, if I have to.”

From: TRAVELER

Favorites Friday – Ray Bradbury Was A Master

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I’ve made no secret of my deep and abiding love for all things Bradbury. The man could paint with words like Michelangelo. He was amazing. Today, I’m going to share one of my favorite passages, from “The Martian Chronicles:

There was a smell of Time in the air tonight. He smiled and turned the fancy in his mind. There was a thought. What did time smell like? Like dust and clocks and people. And if you wondered what Time sounded like it sounded like water running in a dark cave and voices crying and dirt dropping down upon hollow box lids, and rain. And, going further, what did Time look like? Time look like snow dropping silently into a black room or it looked like a silent film in an ancient theater, 100 billion faces falling like those New Year balloons, down and down into nothing. That was how Time smelled and looked and sounded. And tonight-Tomas shoved a hand into the wind outside the truck-tonight you could almost taste time.

Can’t you feel it? Smell it? Hear it dropping down on hollow box lids? I recently visited Stonehenge for the very first time, and I paid extra (a lot extra) to do the private tour, and be allowed to walk and stand among the stones. This passage kept playing over and over in my mind as I wandered between them, the sheer timelessness of the place.

That’s the kind of power words can have, to transport and transform, to paint and to play across your mind.

Amazing.

Oh, The Little Extras . . .

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I’m working on one of the funnest parts of the book (at least when you publish with Swoon) – the extras!

In my extras for TRAVELER, I added a recipe for Glitter Mousse (courtesy of a fabulous chef who was up to the challenge of recreating it), and for DREAMER, I’m going to write a bonus scene.

I can’t tell you what about, because that would be a spoiler, but let’s just say it’s about continuing someone’s story. And that’s all I’m gonna say about that.

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Can you believe the ARC’s for DREAMER will be out in a few months? Where did the time go??

 

Reviews, Reviews, Reviews – I Love ‘Em!

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Today is an auspicious day! TRAVELER now has 50 reviews on Amazon! Cue the confetti! This is it, the world is my oyster!!

Actually, it just means I have one more review on Amazon than 49, but I’ll take it. I have well over a hundred on Goodreads now, and scattered reviews across other bookseller sites, and so far (knock wood) they’re predominately good.

But that doesn’t mean I disregard or shrug off the bad ones – and there have been a few. Some have valid criticisms that have made me better, some chew over a point just to chew it, one made a claim that literally made my blood boil (oh well, whatta ya gonna do) but all of them taught me something about my writing, my personal stumbling blocks, and the nature of the writer biz. I wouldn’t trade a single one of them.

Most of all, I’m grateful for them. Reviews are a valuable tool for any reader – both the good and the bad. And yes, I like to see a mix of both when I go hunting for books. It makes the author seem more “real” if there are a few dissenters – like they didn’t just have an army of friends sticking up glowing reviews to stack the deck. Getting a well-rounded view of the pros and cons of any book is incredibly helpful.

So if you’ve reviewed my book – thank you! From the bottom of my happy-dancing writer heart, thank you! You are the unsung hero of the reading world, and you deserve all the praise I can heap on you.

You are what keeps me going some days.

 

 

And the #Giveaway winner is . . .

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@LifeWthnThePgs, courtesy of Twitter! You, my darling get the whole package!

Signed copy of TRAVELER
Personal Journal
Glitter Mousse scented candle from the Nox To Lumos Candle Co.
Set of Antiqued Pirate ship and TRAVELER- themed mirror bookmarks
$25 Amazon Gift Card

As for the rest of you – don’t despair! All is not yet lost!!

Since the grand prize winner ended up being from Twitter, I’m giving a consolation prize to Instagram user @megabunnyreads,  Tumblr user @xcyansparksx and blog commenter, Meigan ! You all get signed books!

Thank you to all who participated! I’ll have one more giveaway of goodies over the summer, and then in the fall – look for the ARC giveaway of DREAMER!!

Last Day For My #Giveaway – Act Now!

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Last Chance! My giveaway closes at six p.m. EDT (US) tonight! Just head over to the original blog post for the giveaway and leave a comment, or comment on one of the social media links in the post.

Just a reminder that this giveaway includes:

Signed copy of TRAVELER
Personal Journal
Glitter Mousse scented candle from the Nox To Lumos Candle Co. (If you haven’t read the book yet – Glitter Mousse is a serious addiction!)
Set of Antiqued Pirate ship and TRAVELER- themed mirror bookmarks
$25 Amazon Gift Card

Go forth and retweet, reblog and spread the word!

There’s Still Time To Join A TRAVELER #Giveaway

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That’s right – there’s still time to hop on the giveaway train! And you’ve got two different ways to win!

First, head over to Dark Faerie Tales and read my guest post about the many worlds of TRAVELER – you can enter the giveaway to win a signed copy via a link at the bottom of the page. This giveaway closes in 6 days!

Second, scroll back to my original giveaway post and comment there (or on one of the other social media links provided) to win a goody package that includes a signed copy of TRAVELER, a personal journal, a set of antiqued bookmarks, a “Glitter Mousse” scented candle from the Nox to Lumos Candle Company, and a $25 Amazon gift card! This giveaway closes on Monday!

Good luck to everyone who enters. Have a great weekend!

These Are The Moments That Make It All Worth It

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That, my friends, is a fan letter. And it’s not from a on old friend, or a family member, but from someone who only knows who I am from buying and reading my book.

And she just made my day.

I can’t show you the whole letter, since it discusses some spoilers, but oh, I love that she laughed and cried and shrieked and fist-pumped right where I wanted her to.

This kind of stuff makes it all worth it – all the hair pulling, the forehead hitting the keyboard, the lying awake at night with my characters yelling at me, the brainstorming sessions in my car on the drive home from work, the late nights and the second-guessing.

Thank you, McKenna, for reading me. And for reaching out.

And With One Line, It’s Decided

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As I’ve mentioned, I’ve had the battle of the books running through my brain lately. It started out as three different stories picking at my grey matter, then I dropped one and it became two that were consuming me, pulling me in two different directions in a creative tug-of-war.

Then a sneaky little tendril of a story started weaving its way in, seducing me with it’s subtle background music, and somehow it took root and started to grow.

So I’ve been throwing out a line here and there from each of my budding projects, and seeing which ones scored with various Twitter/Facebook and private beta readers. I tossed out one of the stronger bits today from the new story – which is utterly unlike TRAVELER or DREAMER (and one of the other stories is kind of in the same vein and it was winning over the other remaining story). And people are liking it. Even loving it.

And I love it. A lot.

It’s pure fantasy, and magical and mystical and throwing me into a wild rollercoaster ride of emotion already, and that’s just the outline!

Oh, you’re going to love this one. You’re just going to love it.

 

 

I have my face against his shoulder . . .

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When I look up at him, something in his eyes changes – a shifting within us both that steals the breath from our lungs.

#LoveLines
From: “DREAMER”
Topic: “Change”