L.E. DeLano's Blog, page 40
February 17, 2017
Guest Blog: How My “Useless” Theatre Degree Made Me A Better Writer
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Even though I haven’t landed on Broadway (yet!), I’ve never regretted my Theatre degree. As a writer, it’s become even more invaluable. I cannot tell you how many scenes I’ve blocked out for logistics, acted out for emotions and beats, and recited aloud for pacing and inflection. If you’re holding my book in your hand, you’re holding a performance piece – a very carefully rehearsed performance piece.
And if you’ve never had an acting class and you’re a writer, you might want to consider it.
February 16, 2017
New Review Up At Tales of the Ravenous Reader
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Many thanks to Christy at Tales of the Ravenous Reader for her glowing review of TRAVELER. Much appreciated! And I had to laugh a little at this:
“This is one of the first books I left HUNGRY because the author did such a fabulous job of describing glitter mousse, a dessert from an alternative reality. Lucky for us, the author included the recipe to make it in THIS reality and I am SO down!”
Ah, Glitter Mousse. Food of the gods. My mouth was watering every time I wrote about it – so much so that I called my nephew – he’s a chef – and demanded that he find a way to make it for me, and he did! And it is utterly TO DIE FOR.
The recipe is just an added plus when you buy the book! And that’s on top of flirty Irish pirates, daring adventures, sadder but wiser souls and great nerdy snark!
February 15, 2017
When You Make A Book Boo-Boo, They Always Find It
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A lot of work went into my book. A lot.
Writing. Rewriting. Editing. Rewriting again. Lather, rinse repeat. Then on to my editors, and more rewriting. Spellchecking, of course. Grammar, of course. Continuity – oh, you betcha!
Then on to proofing for a fresh set of eyes to catch every typo or slip in tense. They got nearly everything. (One little typo came through but it’s barely noticeable).
And then a reader pointed out my big ole idiot of a boo-boo.
Ugh.
Here’s the thing: I’m a single mom who can’t afford a ton of cutting edge technology for my kids. And I’m not a gamer. Neither is my daughter, really – she plays games on her phone but never got into gaming consoles much.
The gamer of the house is my son, and he is absolutely nuts about Mario Kart. So I wrote the character of Danny (who is based on my son, also a person with autism) and had him playing Mario Kart.
Here’s where I screwed up. Our gaming system is a Wii. Not a Wii U. A Wii. It’s seven years old – which is antique by technology standards – and we can barely find games for it anymore, but it still works and my kid uses it all the time. At his Dad’s house, he has an X-Box. But with me, it’s the Wii.
When I started working on edits for the book, I was afraid that having a character gaming on a Wii would make it seem dated, since the Wii is pretty much a dinosaur in gaming technology now. So I did a find and replace and subbed in “X-Box” everywhere it said “Wii.”
Easy-peasy. And now the character of Danny plays Mario Kart on his X-Box! Yay!
Yeah, I’m an idiot.
Mario Kart is, of course, exclusively Nintendo property. You can’t play it on X-Box. I should have inserted Playstation or PS2 or something. It didn’t even occur to me, even though I know that. With all the other edits going on, it wasn’t even a thought because it’s really not integral to the story in any way.
But it sure does irk a reader (who’s also a gamer) to read it, and understandably so.
Mea culpa, my readers. I promise, I’ll do better next time.
February 13, 2017
Check Out My Author Interview With Adventures In YA Publishing!
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If you haven’t yet discovered Adventures in YA Publishing, you seriously need to check them out! Not only do they have great giveaways and promos, they have terrific author and want-to-be-author content, as well as mentors, workshops and insider tidbits that are well worth your time to read.
And this week, they interviewed me about TRAVELER! Read it here!
February 10, 2017
New Review For TRAVELER Up At The Windy Pages
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A great big thank you to Kimberly at The Windy Pages for her recent review of TRAVELER! I’m so glad you enjoyed it – and thanks so much for not spoiling the ending (even if it threw you for a loop)!
Here’s a little bit of what Kimberly had to say:
“There is something so right about this book…The book is very creative, carefully explaining how they can jump and what repercussions the characters have on the other timelines. I really liked how different Jessa was in each dimension and how the worlds were vastly different. I really liked Finn and Ben, and especially pirate Finn.
February 9, 2017
Check Out The Swoon Blog For A Little About My Book Journey
I’m guest posting on Swoon Reads today since this is my pub week. Learn a little about my journey (and my book’s journey) in
Oh How Far We’ve Come, My Book And Me
And get a glimpse of my newest aesthetic – featuring tidbits from the book!
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February 8, 2017
Scavenger Hunt #Giveaway Going On For TRAVELER At YABC!
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Whew! What a pub day, huh? Thank you all so much for your good wishes and shout-outs yesterday. I felt like Cinderella in a sparkly dress and killer glass stilettos all day!
And that’s only the beginning – lots of stuff still going on this week!
Today got a guest blog up at YA Book Central – so hop on over and check out my 5 Reasons Why My Story Had to Be YA.
And while you’re there, be sure and sign up for the Scavenger Hunt giveaway for Traveler!
February 7, 2017
Happy Pub Day To Me!! Yeah, baby!!!!
It’s here.
Today is finally, finally here. All the work, the sweat, the frustration, the joy, the tears, the wadded up papers and post-it notes, the dead laptops, the edit letters, the beta readers, the sleepless nights . . . all have reached a culmination, and now my baby is out there navigating the world. I am a published YA author.
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I cannot begin to tell you how good it feels. How thrilling. And how. . . terrifying. There will be good reviews. There will be bad reviews. They happen, and I know that one person’s lousy read is someone elses’s favorite book in the world.
I took a huge (I mean really, really huge) chance on the way I ended the book, and it won’t fly with everyone. But the early reviews for TRAVELER are showing promise that most people are on board (heh. That’s a pirate reference) for where I’m going with this, so it’s my job to keep the momentum going with DREAMER.
I’ve still got some work to do on that one, but today. . . today is all about my baby. I hope you all enjoy TRAVELER as much as I enjoyed writing it. I am so desperately in love with these characters, and I can’t wait for all of you to meet them.
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And don’t forget – the Fierce Reads giveaway for TRAVELER is still going on (today’s the last day!) over at Goodreads!
February 6, 2017
Announcing The Winners Of My TRAVELER Giveaway
Congratulations to Instagram user tyesmoon and Twitter follower TaylorTree_Read – you’ve won signed, first-run copies of TRAVELER! DM me your address and it’s on its way!
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Don’t forget – there’s still a chance to win a copy through the Fierce Reads giveaway on Goodreads! You have one more day, so enter now!
TRAVELER Book Trailer Reveal!
Mad props to Rachel Bostwick for her work on this. I just love it to death. The link is here if you want to shout it out.
