L.E. DeLano's Blog, page 36

Another Giveaway! Check Out My Guest Post On Dark Faerie Tales!

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Many thanks to Bridget from Dark Faerie Tales for hosting my guest post today about the many alternate worlds of TRAVELER!

Here’s a bit:

TRAVELER is one wild ride, and with Finn watching her back, an immortal dream god giving her direction, and her family and best friend as stabilizing forces, Jessa uses her wits and acquired skills to figure her way through this tantalizing and tilted new landscape with a writer’s eye for unfolding adventure.

You can read the whole post here – and I’m happy to say that Dark Faerie Tales is also hosting my giveaway! Here’s your chance to land a free signed copy of TRAVELER! Head over to the site for details!

My fingers itch to slide the pen from where it’s clipped to the journal . . .

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. . . to open it up to a crisp, white page and work out everything that’s inside me with swirls of ink across the paper, but I still can’t do it. I don’t think I can, anyway.

#1lineWed

Topic: “Black” / “White”

Tidbit Tuesday: A Bit Of DREAMER And Jessa’s Surprising Performance

One of the admittedly fair criticisms I’ve sometimes heard about TRAVELER is the complete lack of female friends for Jessa. That’s actually by design in the first book – Jessa is an incredible introvert, choosing to live in her stories until Ben becomes a steady buddy and a potential love rival for Finn. I won’t apologize for my love triangle. I love love triangles and mine is not your usual sort of love triangle.

Anyway, I seeded a female friend for Jessa into book one, but she really blooms in DREAMER. So here’s your re-introduction to Olivia, in one of Jessa’s many alternate realities. . .

Olivia finally releases her death grip on my hand and gives me an enormous shove from behind, as an older guy hands me a microphone. A spotlight hits me right in the face and I squint as my eyes adjust. I finally notice the crowd, and they’re all staring at me.

The pieces begin to fall into place.

Oh my God. I’m singing karaoke. In front of people. A lot of people.

I don’t sing.

I mean, I really, really don’t sing.

My panicked eyes find Olivia, and she’s doubled over, laughing, the traitor. I narrow my eyes back at her as the memory trickles in.

She bet me that I wouldn’t score as high as her on my pre-collegiate interviews today. She was right. I didn’t even come close, and I’m really perturbed about it, too.

And now I have to sing here at Martinetti’s open mic karaoke night, as my loser’s price.

“Liv . . .” I mouth, pleadingly.

“Sing!” She shouts back, and the crowd – many of whom go to school with us – echoes loudly behind her.

I let out a groan as the music comes blaring over the speakers.

My eyes widen and I give her a searing look.

“Oh, you did not do this to me . . .” I grumble under my breath.

I am in no way, shape or form qualified to sing Somebody to Love by Queen. Or anything, for that matter. But a bet is a bet, and my memories assure me that Olivia will never speak to me again if I don’t honor our agreement. Dammit.

I open my mouth to sing, and nothing comes out. I swallow, and try again. Something comes out this time, and I focus on the words scrolling on the video prompter in front of me. Hey, I’m doing this! I’m singing!

Then I look out at the crowd, most of whom are staring at me like I’m up here strangling a frog. Because that’s what my voice sounds like. Like I’m strangling a frog. Oh, God.

I shoot another panicked look at Olivia, and she’s smiling and shaking her head as if to say, You’re not getting out of this.

I go back to looking at the prompter, and the irony of singing about dying a little when you wake up each morning isn’t lost on me, the girl who’s been murdered in more realities than I can count.

And with that thought, the tears rush to my eyes, and I blink them back furiously as I stare at a spot on the floor and try to pull myself together. My voice falters, and I’m really not sure I’m going to make it through this. My eyes swing back to Olivia again, but she’s not there.

Instead, I feel her arm come around my shoulders from behind, and her hand wraps around mine on the mic as she starts to sing with me, and wow, can she wail. Her voice is amazing, and the crowd is singing along. So am I, for that matter, and I don’t need my memories to tell me why I adore this girl. We end to thunderous applause, as we join hands and take a bow. Then I hand the mic off and walk right out of the restaurant.

The cold hits me in the face, and a moment later, a blast of warm air as Olivia comes through the door, carrying my coat and my backpack.

“Hey,” she says. “You did better than I thought you would.”

“That’s because I had you.”

She bumps my shoulder with hers. “You’ve always got me. But damn, you really can’t sing.”

Liv always tells it like it is, and you’ll be seeing more of her in DREAMER –  coming Feb 2018!

That’s Right – Its A New TRAVELER #Giveaway

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You’re reading that correctly! I’m running a giveaway for this awesome pack of goodies:

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

And how do you get your grubby mitts on all this awesome, you ask? Simple!

Comment on this post
Like or Comment on this post on Facebook
Like or Comment on this post on Tumblr
Like or Comment on this post on Instagram
Retweet my giveaway Tweet for a DOUBLE entry

Winner will be announced on May 15th! Open to all, so spread the word!

 

 

Teen Reads Reviews TRAVELER!

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Happy Friday! Hop on over to TeenReads.com and check out their stellar review of TRAVELER! Here’s a bit of what they had to say:

“I was overwhelmed by the beautiful descriptions in this book, and I felt as if I could see each and every world that Jessa traveled to. Each world was uniquely different, simultaneously so outlandish, yet intriguing, that I wanted a new book based in every place.”

You can read the full review here. Many thanks to Jessica K for reading and reviewing!

Does TRAVELER Have A Playlist? Of Course It Does!

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I’ve been asked on more than one occasion if there’s a playlist for TRAVELER – and the answer is yes, of course there is! I had even planned to blog about it but just about the time I was ready to do that I got a request from the publisher to do a guest blog at Kindle And Me on the subject as part of a multi-blog tour, so I sent it off that direction along with my other posts and I honestly forgot about it in the whirlwind around the book launch.

Anyway, Kelly and Anjana have a terrific review blog and were kind enough to host my guest post about the TRAVELER playlist and you can read all about it here.

I’m finalizing DREAMER now, and oh, the playlist on this one! Just wait till you hear it!

Do you find that music helps you inhabit your story? Do you have it on while you write or does it run through your mind in the downtime?

What’s Up Wednesday – I’ve Been Busy!

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So I’m polishing off the final, final (I hope) edits on DREAMER, and dabbling here and there on the next two projects that have been warring in my head for prominence, when in strolls a third story. A glorious story!

Oh, story . . . leave me alone. Not forever, just long enough to let me put a lid on one of these other stories.

Sometimes, the discipline side of being a writer can be a real pain in the ass.

Anyway, in addition to that, I’m trying to line up a couple of more book signing events – details on those when I get them cemented, and I’m going to have another giveaway! Look for the details on that here on the blog on May 1st!

That’s all the news there is to print for today. Stay tuned tomorrow for the TRAVELER playlist!

“He’s the guy in charge. . .”

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“I’m just the guy who tries not to  get killed.”

“How’s that going?”

“I’ve only died twice today.”

#2bitTues

From: WIP

Topic: “Respect”

Sometimes You Have To Step Away From The Keyboard & March For What Matters

I didn’t get a lick of writing done on Saturday, because I was slogging through the mud and getting soaked to the skin at the March for Science in Washington D.C. I got to hear Bill Nye and a host of others shout out the wonders of science and the hope for a clean, sustainable planet – it was amazing just being part of it.

Despite the muck and the misery, we were all in great spirits, and the camaraderie and enthusiasm made it an experience I’ll cherish for a lifetime. Here’s a picture dump of the day – enjoy!

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TRAVELER Deleted Scene: Jessa Had A Secret

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TRAVELER has gone through many revisions on its road to being a published novel. A lot of is was polished and re-arranged, and two subplots were cut completely. One of them I felt a little torn over, but the editors felt it was too much – considering the plot arc of that character.

So here’s what the original scene looked like, the first time Jessa stepped through an antique mirror and met Pirate Finn . . .

“Jessa? Is something wrong, love?”

I open my mouth and close it again, shaking my head. “You sound kind of…Irish.”

“Well how d’you expect me to sound?” he asks, confused.

“I–I don’t know. I guess the Irish is fine.” Actually, it was sexy and it made my stomach flutter, is what I really want to say to him, but maybe it’s just the aftermath of that kiss.

I glance around. “Love the ship.”

“Well, I would hope so. It’ll be your home soon enough.”

“But I’m en–” I break off as the rest of the memories fill my head. I’m not marrying Boyce. I’m running away. I three weeks, I’ll be running away with Finn. He pulled into port four months ago, and told me I was a Traveler. We’d become romantically involved shortly after. And we are leaving town, sailing away together.

Because I was pregnant.

Suddenly, entirely too many memories are filling my head, and I step back, putting a little room between us. My hand goes instinctively to my belly.

His eyes show his concern, and he steps forward, placing his hand over mine across my lower stomach.

“Are you all right, love? Is it the babe?”

That’s right – in the original version of the story, alternate Jessa and Pirate Finn were running away together and planning to elope in order to head off the coming scandal. And now you know why he had to loosen her corset strings at the ball later – it wasn’t just because she was constricted – she was worried about the baby.

I thought it was an interesting exercise to see Jessa experience being a teen mom, and there were a couple of lovely, tender moments between her and Finn because of it. Unfortunately, it really did put an entirely different spin on the epilogue that the editors thought might be too dark.

So there’s that tidbit – expect more scenes from the cutting room floor in the future!