Loni Townsend's Blog, page 25

Guest Post – Say WHAT?

Today, I have a guest on my blog. Please welcome, Lori MacLaughlin! She’s always got something to celebrate, and I’m happy to have her here today. Take it away, Lori!

Thank you, Loni, for having me as a guest!

Say What??

It’s no secret that typos are the bane of a writer’s existence. They are for me, anyway. Running across a typo while reading jolts me out of the story every time. While reading The Wide-Awake Princess, a middle grade novel by E. D. Baker, some time ago, I encountered this line: “She had nearly reached the ground when a pain of strong arms wrapped around her waist and lowered her the rest of the way.” The unfortunate typo ruined what should have been a romantic moment.

What’s worse is when I find them in my own writing. It doesn’t seem to matter how many times I read through my stories, I still find things wrong. At least I’m not alone in this dilemma. An Internet search on typos turned up quite a list of published literature with similar mistakes, ranging from simple misspellings and misuses of homophones to incorrect or missing words.

Some examples:

From the Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller, 1961: “Through the cracks in the shutters strange figures peer out at me…old women with shawls, dwarfs, rat-faced pimps, bent Jews, midinettes, bearded idots.”

From The Fiction by H.P. Lovecraft, 2008: “…our vessel was made a legitimate prize, whilst we of her crew were treated with all the fairness and consideration due us as navel prisoners.”

From The Queen’s Governess by Karen Harper, 2010: “In the weak light of dawn, I tugged on the gown and sleeves I’d discarded like a wonton last night to fall into John’s arms.”

From the first printing of The Road by Cormac McCarthy, 2006: “A moment of panic before he saw him walking along the bench downshore with the pistol hanging in his hand, his head down.”

Probably the most famous typo ever — from a 1631 edition of the King James Bible (from then on known as the Wicked Bible): “Thou shalt commit adultery.”

And then there are the made-up words:

From Webster’s Third New International Dictionary, 1934, second edition: A slip reading “D or d, cont./density” was given to an editor with the intent to add “density” to the existing list of words that the letter “D” can abbreviate. However this was misread and a new word, “dord,” was created along with an explanation that it was a synonym for density. The offending word was not discovered and removed until around 1940.

Typos are everywhere, not just in literature. Ads, signs, newspapers — the list goes on…

Typos can leave your reader rolling on the floor. As a writer, I would prefer not to have my work remembered this way. A word to the wise I’ve learned well: have your work proofread. Good proofreaders are worth their weight in gold.

Sources/Image credits:

Abe Books | Hubspot | Cheezburger

Lady, Thy Name Is Trouble

Trouble is Tara Triannon’s middle name. As swords for hire, Tara and her sister Laraina thrive on the danger. But a surprise invasion throws them into chaos… and trouble on a whole new level. Pursued by the Butcher, a terrifying assassin more wolf than man, Tara and Laraina must get a prince marked for death and a young, inept sorceress to safety. There’s only one problem – eluding the Butcher has never been done. Aided by a secretive soldier of fortune, they flee the relentless hunter.

Gifted with magic and cursed by nightmares that are all too real, Tara must stop an army led by a madman and fend off an evil Being caught in a centuries-old trap who seeks to control her magic and escape through her dreams – all while keeping one step ahead of the Butcher.

Buy Links:

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Bio

Lori L. MacLaughlin traces her love of fantasy adventure to Tolkien and Terry Brooks, finding The Lord of the Rings and The Sword of Shannara particularly inspirational. She’s been writing stories in her head since she was old enough to run wild through the forests on the farm on which she grew up.

She has been many things over the years – tree climber, dairy farmer, clothing salesperson, kids’ shoe fitter, retail manager, medical transcriptionist, journalist, private pilot, traveler, wife and mother, Red Sox and New York Giants fan, muscle car enthusiast and NASCAR fan, and a lover of all things Scottish and Irish.

When she’s not writing (or working), she can be found curled up somewhere dreaming up more story ideas, taking long walks in the countryside, or spending time with her kids. She lives with her family in northern Vermont.

Website/Blog | Goodreads | Facebook | Pinterest | Twitter

I’m already digging into Lori’s book. How about you?

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Signing Recap and a Chance to Win

Whooboy! I think I’ve finally gotten a breather.

My house is clean, my family’s illness has reduced to the occasional sniffle and cough, and my husband fixed the leak beneath the bathroom sink that was threatening to flood our downstairs.

Life is good.

The signing last Thursday was fantastic. I met a few new people, missed a few people, and saw some familiar faces from last year’s signing.

This year, there were six of us who pitched in for the event (three more on top of the three of us from last year). It brought the venue and appetizer costs down, and it attracted more visitors. That, combined with the brand new anthology from The Seven, added to the success.

I came prepared this time. Last year, I took and sold 11 books. This year, I sold a total of 29 books. That paid for the cost of all the books (not just what I sold), as well as my part of the venue costs. I even came out $10 ahead, with books still on hand. (Anyone want a signed copy of This World Bites, Thanmir War, or The Ancient?)

No major road blocks popped up. I had cash change, my business partner’s card reader worked, and people liked my swag. I gave away a lot of pens, and had several people impressed that I had temporary tattoos. The tattoos probably would’ve been more popular with a younger crowd, but a good number of people exclaimed that it was a great idea.

My husband made me some really cool poster-sized printouts of my book covers! I’m going to frame Thanmir War. I already gave This World Bites to Dani (my cover model).

I should’ve ordered business cards, but it was something I didn’t get done before the signing. Ah well.

I tried to make a video, but the upload appears to have made it super choppy. I don’t blame you if you flinch and turn it off:

Okay, that’s it you’ll hear from me about the signing.

So what’s this “Chance to Win” deal I mentioned in the blog title? The Seven are looking for reviews. We’ll give you a free review copy of The Ancient, and if you send me a link to your Amazon review between March 15th and April 1st (though we would appreciate other review sources as well), you’ll be entered in to win a $25 Amazon gift card, or a rare copy of The Ancient signed by all seven authors (not something you can get unless you’re willing to travel from the west coast to the east in order to track us all down).

On the non-writing front, I got to do a craft of cracked marbles with my daughter the other night. A quick trip to the dollar store, 20 minutes of 500 degree baking, and then some old nail polish made these beauties:

I thought about reviving my Featured Photo Fridays. I have a few pictures I’m willing to post, but finding content in a busy life seems to be tough. My posting wouldn’t be consistent. So you just get the occasional artistic take on something I thought was nifty.

Have you done any signings? Would you like a review copy and a chance to win? What do you think of the marbles?

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Life’s a beach, and then you… #IWSG

I love puns. There’s nothing better than a corny joke to send me into a fit of giggles. And when I’m giggling, I’m not fretting over my insecurities.

If you haven’t seen by now, I’ve got a book signing tomorrow. Eeek! Will I have enough books? Will I sell any? Will people like my swag? Plus The Ancient is coming out. And we had a meeting with The Seven, in which we discussed changing the release order of the novellas. Lust, my deadly sin, has been bumped from last to first. I need to get writing on that, but my mind won’t stop thinking about Isto. AHHHH!

Yeah, I’m kinda in freak-out mode.

Lucky for me, I’ve got Elizabeth Seckman on my blog today, sharing some of her funnies to distract me from all of this. I had the drums and symbols playing in my head, and I hope you do to.

And now, Elizabeth and her jokes:

What fish’s offer can’t you refuse? The Cod Fish

What’s the best day to go to the beach? Sunday

Where do fish go to borrow money? Loan Sharks

What happens when you throw a red rock in the black sea? It sinks

What does Cinderella wear in the ocean? Glass flippers

What fish plays the best music? The tune-a-fish

Did you hear about the red ship that collided with the blue ship? They were marooned

Why don’t oysters give money to charity? They’re shellfish

(Loni) AHAHAHAHAHA! That Marooned one was my favorite. How about you?

Jo Leigh Harper comes from a long line of trouble-making, white trash stock.

Tanner Coulter comes from a longer line of wealth-creating, blue blood stock.

Jo graduated college top of her class, moving toward a future full of possibilities.

Tanner dropped out of college, trading a law degree for drinking games and one night stands.

A family crisis throws the rich party boy and the poor genius girl together. The attraction is immediate, though neither one is a heart-in-the-sand-drawing believer in true love. But as the summer sun heats up along the shores of the Outer Banks, so does the connection between them. Maybe, just maybe, they can win at love by defying reason.

Elizabeth is a multi-published author of books for people who are believers in happily-ever- after, true love, and stories with a bit of fun and twists with their plots. The mother of four young men, she tackles laundry daily and is the keeper of the kitchen. She lives along the shores of the Ohio River in West Virginia, but dreams daily of the beach.

Facebook/ Blog/ Website/ Buy Link

About Insecure Writer’s Support Group



You can find the sign up for the IWSG here. We owe Alex J Cavanaugh a huge thank you for thinking this blog hop up.

Which joke was your favorite? Do you have any good jokes to share? When was the last time you visited a beach?

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Pre-Orders and Outlining

Life at the Town’s End is whirlwind. My family and I are still sick (going on 3 months of rotating symptoms now), but since time doesn’t have a pause button, we’re carrying on as usual.

I want to say next week’s book signing is first and foremost on my writing mind, but unfortunately, it’s not. Instead, my focus has been Isto, Thanmir War’s sequel. I’m outlining! Yes, I, the pantser, am outlining. And I’m pretty darn excited about it.

Okay, so this isn’t my first attempt at outlining this book. In fact, I’ve tried it about 3 other times, including making a spreadsheet that’d make Liz proud. (See Liz, I did have something…)

I actually did have pretty good luck with my spreadsheet which is appropriately called “Figuring Out Events”. But when it came to translate those events to something readable in story format… Doh! It didn’t go over so well.

With four POVs, I wanted to have a nice flow with logical spacing between POV scenes. I didn’t want to have 16K of one POV, followed by 400 words of another, and then back to the first. But that’s what I ended up with. The timing that worked on the spreadsheet wasn’t working in the story. I started over, this time in a word doc called “Storyline”, writing out the scenes as I saw them fitting naturally in the story. (Aren’t I so creative with my names?)

I may end up being the only one capable of making sense of my jumbled mess, but it’s working so far. I’m up to 18 pages and I’m not done yet. I’ve had to cut out several “days” in my timeline. What was taking 20 days is now down to 16. The characters only have to survive a few more days at this point.

You might think, but Loni, don’t you already have a lot written toward this book? Sadly, it’s true. I have 190K written actually. And quite a bit of it is going into the trash. But the good news is that I’m totally pantsing my outline! I’ve dropped scenes, changed roles, connected plights, and even added/removed/readded a handful of characters. And that makes outlining fun (previous attempts at outlining have not been fun). Yay for fun! I even figured out why the second born between a full-blood elemental and human winds up being a jesper and why Jebaliah is even more powerful than her jesper half-brother. Granted, that explanation doesn’t make it to print, because nobody wants an infodump that doesn’t drive the plot, but hey, I have it in case anyone wonders.

Even though I’ve been consumed with my outline, I’ve still managed to get things ready for my book signing next week. (If you’re in Boise, ID on March 5th, come and visit me downtown!) My books should arrive any day now, as should my pens, and I’ve already got some temporary tattoos.

I was thinking of doing some based on my elemental clan symbols, but a friend pointed out that This World Bites is my intended primary seller at the signing, and those clan symbols don’t really mean anything until the later Ninier books.

Even so, I’m mighty tempted to get some challenge coins engraved with the clan symbols, though those are probably too expensive to use as book-signing swag. I thought wooden nickels might be a good substitute, but I’m running out of time.

Speaking of time, I should get physical copies of The Ancient the day before the book signing. Woot! The e-book is available for pre-order on Amazon, ready to go live on March 2nd.

Egads, I feel busy.

How are you doing so far this year? Do you have any exciting events coming up? Are you working on a project that you’re totally jazzed about? If you outline, what method works for you? What is the coolest swag you’ve seen at a signing/convention/event-where-someone-gave-you-free-stuff?

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This World Bites Blog Tour Winners

Whooboy! I still haven’t caught up with everything I need to do, even after my blog tour ended. But during the tour, people had a couple of opportunities to win a free e-book of This World Bites if they guessed correctly when I lied.

First was at Melissa Maygrove’s:

1. After graduating high school, I planned on moving to New York to pursue theater. After looking at the statistics (less than 2% of the people who go into the field actually make it) and analyzing my personality, I knew I wouldn’t be successful in that field and switched to studying computer science instead.

2. EverQuest 2 was the only computer game my husband convinced me to play, after which, we played together for five years before our daughter was born. I was a top-level warlock named Risu (Japanese for Squirrel), who I have since turned into a character in an unfinished Cera Chronicle.

3. I hero-worshiped Sailor Moon while growing up, and spent hours in the bathtub pretending I had my own magical powers and could summon water to do my bidding. It was the magical-girl concept that inspired me to write my stories in the first place (and one of the reasons why Cera has the ability to manipulate water).

The lie is… #2!

I spent most of my early years with my husband playing World of Warcraft with him and our friends. My character’s name was indeed Risu, and I was even raid master for our guild before I quit. Truthfully, I was never much of a gamer, though my husband tested many games on me. When it came down to how I wanted to spend my time, I’d rather be writing.

I did actually intend to pursue theater just out of high school. I’d been in all of the high school plays, and I enjoyed presenting characters on a stage. But my logical (and frugal) side got the better of me. Though I miss immersing myself in that culture, I do enjoy bossing computers around more.

Sailor Moon was a huge part of my development while growing up. I sewed my own sailor skirts, flung water around in the pools and bath tubs, and pretended I had my own magical talking pet. The intelligent Ami (Sailor Mercury) with blue hair and water power was my favorite, and I knew my female character would be based in water. It inspired me so much, I ran with the idea of boy-loves-girl, boy-dies-protecting-girl, girl-uses-magic-to-send-boy-to-another world.

The winner chosen by random number generation is… Cherie Reich!

The second set of truth and lies, I told to Crystal Collier:

1. I’ve dyed my hair every color from midnight blue to Tostito yellow to fire-engine red. I saved purple for last because I held the opinion only old ladies had purple hair. Occasionally, I change my hair color just to match my outfit for the day. It currently has silver, pink, and blue highlights.

2. My two favorite cassettes growing up were New Kids on the Block and The Ninja Turtles’ soundtrack (the latter, I stole from my brother). You could find me singing “Hangin’ Tough” and “Turtle Power” at the top of my lungs in my bedroom.

3. I have an uncanny sense of direction. It really saved the day when my car’s oil pump went out and the engine seized. I had to walk 3 miles along the freeway to get to the closest off-ramp and gas station, and then deliver directions over the pay phone to my dad.

The lie was… #3!

I have a terrible sense of direction. Even now, I can’t tell east from west, unless I’m looking at a map and think Never Eat Soggy Waffles while rotating my finger clockwise.

I have dyed my hair every color that I can think of. Tostito yellow did NOT look good on me.

My current personal Facebook profile picture is an instance of me dying my hair to match my outfit.

And yes, I did hold the opinion only old ladies had purple hair and saved purple for last. When I was in high school, there was a fad going on where all the older ladies would dye their hair a weird plum color. I decided that when I dyed my hair purple, I’d be acknowledging my age. I went purple late last year. My favorite has always been blue though, which earned me the nickname Azul when I worked in an orphanage in the Dominican Republic back in 2001. Plus Sailor Mercury had blue hair…

The music probably isn’t tough to believe, considering the rest of my personality.

The winner of the second e-book is… Jenni Enzor!

Congrats to both winners!

And now I leave you with this:

TURTLE POWER!

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This World Bites – In Conclusion

Today is the last official day of the This World Bites blog tour! I’ve still got a couple of posts related to this new release coming up, but for now, I’ll just send you on over to Beth Ellyn Summer’s to read about injecting emotion.

Want to play catch up? Here’s the entire list!

Alex J. Cavanaugh – Zombie Influences

Melissa Maygrove – Can you tell when I’m lying?

Sarah Foster – Killing Darlings for the Sake of Success

Town’s End – Silhouettes

Elizabeth Seckman’s – Top 10 Awkward Moments

C.M. Keller – Passive Zombies

Aldrea Alien – Excerpt

Liz Blocker – Keeping it Short

Julie Flanders – Excerpt

Christine Rains – Review

Ava Quinn – Sea Monkey SAT

Holly Sinclair – Interview

Lori MacLaughlin – Bucket List

Stephanie Faris – Am I Funny?

L. Diane Wolfe – Hindsight

Crystal Collier – Truth or Lie Game

Beth Ellyn Summer – Show Me You Care

Wow. That’s a long list. Sheesh!

I hope you enjoyed the tour. Check in next Wednesday to see who won the copies of This World Bites!

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This World Bites – Another Chance to Win!

Today, I’m at the blog of an author I share the pages with in Of Mist and Magic! I told Crystal Collier two truths and one lie about myself. Test your lie-detecting skills! If you guess correctly, you might win a copy of This World Bites.

Can you see through my straight-faced expression? Do you know when I’m lying? Have you checked out Of Mist And Magic yet?

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New Magic

We take a break from the This World Bites blog tour to talk about other exciting news.

Of Mist And Magic

Samantha Redstreake Geary teamed up with Really Slow Motion to compile reimagined fairy tales in a new epic collection. Proceeds from the Amazon-exclusive Of Mist And Magic go to the Elevate Life and Art Studios.

It was an incredible honor when Sam asked me to participate. My track on the album is I Will Burn Your Ships.

Piper is the story it inspired in me.

Piper wiped his face with a hand, and then he spat as mud rubbed off his palm and into his mouth. His raft hadn’t survived the collision with the rocks. He had, somehow, but now he was late for the extermination.

Please check it out! Amazon

Of Mist And Magic by Really Slow Motion

The Ancient

Among my other projects, The Seven has a release date for our first compilation called The Ancient.

How much do you know of the original Aladdin tale?

Have you ever made a wish?

It seems like such a simple, fanciful thing.

But what if your wish came true?

Come March 2nd, you can dive into seven what-if scenarios. My story, Smokeless Flame, will be the first in the collection. Be careful of what you wish for…

Book Signing

Last on my list of announcements today is a book signing! If you want to meet me in person and get a signed copy of Thanmir War or This World Bites, you will have the opportunity on March 5th. Join me and five other authors in downtown Boise, ID for First Thursday. We will be in the banquet room of Berryhill & Co. located at 121 N 9th Street.

First Thursday is a monthly event where you can sample wine, listen to live music, and indulge your artistic side with Boise’s night life. If you’re in the area, stop by, because I’d love to meet you face to face.

Have you picked up your copy of Of Mist And Magic? Are you looking forward to the Ancient? I hope I get to see you on March 5th!

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This World Bites – Two Guest Posts

We’re into the last week of the This World Bites blog tour, and today, I’ve got 2 guest posts going on! On Stephanie Faris’s blog, I ask a question that haunted me throughout my writing. And at Spunk on a Stick’s Tips, I share my experience with different Print-On-Demand options.

Have you ever written humor and wondered if you’re funny? Have you tried different Print-On-Demand options?

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This World Bites – Bucket List

TGIF! Today’s stop on the This World Bites blog tour is Lori MacLaughlin’s! Head on over to see my top 10 bucket list!

What’s on your bucket list?

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