D.E.L. Connor's Blog, page 4
December 1, 2014
Want to Polish Your Prose? Meet Harmony Kent
One of the common questions I am asked as an author is this: How do I publish my manuscript?
My response? Please get an editor, or a friend, or anyone who knows something about writing to help you. If you can’t afford an editor, look into a book that helps with the art of editing. Trust me, a well edited and written book is essential to any published book! 
Harmony Kent has written a wonderful book designed to help you with the editing process. It is called Polish Your Prose and it is filled with pertinent tips to help you in your writing career.
Meet Harmony Kent:
Hi there! Thanks for joining me on my awesome fourteen-day blog tour with 4Wills Publishing and my fantastic host for today! You can find details of my other stops here: 4Wills Author Page.
I published my first book, THE BATTLE FOR BRISINGAMEN, in May 2013. I soon followed this up with the award winning mystery/thriller THE GLADE in November 2013, and my first Young Adult fiction book, ELEMENTAL EARTH, in July 2014.
Today, am promoting my latest work, POLISH YOUR PROSE. This is my first non-fiction book, and is a powerful new guide that gives essential editing tips for authors.
Lots of books have been written on the art of writing, and here—at last—is a guide that will teach you the essential techniques of editing your own book. This will help you turn a promising manuscript into a published novel. And, it does this without the jargon. You don’t need to know all the grammatical terms in order to make use of this book. You don’t need to know the definition of a split infinitive, a comma splice, or a ‘to be’ verb, as this manual explains these in detail in easy to understand terms, and a lively and engaging style.
Chapters on Passive Writing, Tense, Point of View, Dialogue, and other techniques take you through the same processes an editor would go through to polish and perfect your manuscript. Good writing is nothing without good editing. Learn the secrets of good editing and writing with this essential author reference, which offers so much more for so much less.
As well as being an award-winning author, I am an accomplished editor and proofreader. My passion is helping Indie Authors to successfully achieve their goals and dreams.
Excerpt from Chapter Eleven: Diversification, Repetition, and Emphasis …
“The word ‘thesaurus’ (The|Saurus) originates from the late 16th Century and means ‘storehouse/treasure’. In modern usage it denotes a literal storehouse/treasure of words.
There are usually a lot of different ways to say the same thing, without tedious repetition. Unfortunately, the way our brains like to work is by association. This means that once we have phrased something a certain way, our brains will try and replicate that same way when we need something similar later on. We have to be very careful to not let it get away with that, but instead find an alternative. In short, we need to diversify.”
Link to Youtube book trailer movie.
You can pick up your copy of POLISH YOUR PROSE here:
Links for my other books:
You will also find me in the soon-to-be-released Rave Reviews Book Club Anthology: RAVE SOUP FOR THE WRITER’S SOUL, and the All Authors Magazine Anthology: CONCORDANT VIBRANCY.
My website is http://harmonykent.co.uk
I’m also on twitter: @harmony_kent
Thanks for stopping by!
“This tour sponsored by
November 25, 2014
When you book is not REALLY your book but rather a Gift of Faith!
A funny thing happened at a book signing at Barnes & Noble in Lubbock, Texas. A really nice librarian who was purchasing one of my books, handed me a book out of the pile on the table. I grabbed the book and it looked like this:
Pretty huh? I open the cover to sign my name and I see this:
I close the book and look at the cover. It is indeed my book, but inside it is a book called The Gift of Faith published by In the Arms of Mary Foundation. The cover of the book is supposed to look like this!
Here’s my face when I realized my book had turned into The Gift of Faith, which might not be a bad thing! Turns out this book has a higher Amazon ranking than mine.
Now I’m wondering if somewhere out there in the cosmic universe, there is a Gift of Faith book cover with my book inside it! If anyone finds it please let me know. Wouldn’t that be awesome?
In case you were wondering, we checked the rest of my books and this was the only one. Now I wish I had bought it to keep for good luck. I think someone is trying to tell me something! SHHHH I’m listening.
November 9, 2014
Meet Aoife Marie Sheridan author of Hunters
I am excited to host a fellow Young Adult author, Aoife Marie Sheridan. She wrote an amazing book called Hunters. Aoife is sharing her character profiles for Abigail and Daniel. I am in love already!
Back cover blurb
Abigail is nineteen. Her job, she hunts demons.
Her life so far has been tough. She’s been taken in by a priest, who believes her when she says that she sees ghosts. Father Peter trains her as a demon hunter with three other members, one being Daniel, who isn’t what he seems.
But when a possession goes wrong, and ghosts start to attack Abigail, the tight rope she has on her emotions soon starts to loosen. Abigail draws the unwanted attention of the Reote, and she finds out a lot more than she was willing to learn.
Knowledge is power, but for Abigail, it’s her undoing, and the only thing keeping her together is Daniel.
Character Profiles For Hunters
Name: Abigail Thornton
Height: 5 foot seven
Hair Colour: Black
Eye Colour: Brown
Age: Nineteen
Job Description: Demon Hunter
Gifts: Can see ghosts
Guardian: Father Peter
Family: Deceased
Name: Daniel Angelo
Height: Six foot
Eye Colour: Blue
Hair Colour: Black
Age: Unknown
Gifts: Ability to Heal
Job: Demon Hunter and Protector
Family: Unknown
Purchase Links:
Amazon.co.uk – http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hunters-Demon-Book-1-ebook/dp/B00NLRMJ5S/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1411466580&sr=1-1
Createspace: https://www.createspace.com/4652900
To contact Aoife you can email her at aoifesheridan101@gmail.com
Website: www.aoifemariesheridan.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/Aoifemariesheri
Blog: aoifesheri.wordpress.com
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6551996.Aoife_Marie_Sheridan
Twitter: https://twitter.com/aoifesheri
Google Plus: https://plus.google.com/+AoifeMarieSheridan
Linkedin: http://ie.linkedin.com/pub/aoife-marie-sheridan/66/760/942
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/aoifesheri/
Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=ntt_athr_dp_sr_1?_encoding=UTF8&field-author=Aoife%20Marie%20Sheridan&search-alias=digital-text&sort=relevancerank
“This tour sponsored by4WillsPublishing.wordpress.com“
November 5, 2014
New Authors: Find a book blogger and support them
As a new author I had absolutely no idea how to publicize my book. I knew nothing about author platforms. I had a personal Facebook page, and well that was about it! In the course of several months I made a blog page of which you are reading from, joined Twitter, made an author FB page, joined Goodreads, joined Pinterest, joined Instagram, joined Snapchat and…
Well you get the picture. I was overwhelmed with things to check and I had run out of memory on my iphone to add any more apps. I was starting to see book bloggers on various websites and somehow I ran across Rosie Amber in the U.K. I sent her an ARC (advance read copy) of book 1 Spirit Warriors:The Concealing and held my breath.
She loved it and promoted it like crazy. She put it in a book review column that she writes in a local paper and now she has added book 2 The Scarring to her book review column (see pic below). She does amazing free book tours. Right now it is #MysteryNovember, last month it was #RomancingSeptember.
Rosie took me under her wing and showed me how to market books like a lady. She showed me positivity and encouragement. Funny thing is, she does it for hundreds of authors. For FREE. Yes you heard me. For Free.
She wrote some wonderful advice for new authors in these two posts. READ THEM. It will help you learn your way around the marketing side of authorship.
http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-5Qq
http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-5R8
You can’t bombard people with tweets and posts asking them to buy your book. They won’t, but when it comes from a friend, and bloggers are friends, you start to know people. People buy from people they know and like.
Find a book blogger, make a friend, support their blogs and the authors they promote. Then sell some books.
Now please take a moment and comment on who your favorite book blogger is and share their blog, twitter or FB. Let’s all band together to show them some likes on their blog, FB, etc.
Blessings to Rosie Amber! You rock!
September 24, 2014
Five Banned Books that Changed my Life
This week September 21-27, 2014 is Banned Books Week. Take a look at the top 100 banned books
http://www.ala.org/bbooks/top-100-bannedchallenged-books-2000-2009
Read on for my favorite banned books.
Five Banned Books that Changed my Life
As I contemplated about banned books on the list, I thought about the books that I love. Some of these books I read as a child or an adolescent, or a young adult, or even as an adult. I love each of them for the emotions they evoke in me. I love that the words on the pages make me feel strong, brave, and better than I really am. They make me think outside of my world and allow me to experience different cultures.
I grew up in the rural beauty of Montana, where television was sketchy and required aluminum foil over the antenna to work. Bad weather routinely brought down the electricity and we were left in the dark. It was dark by 4:00 PM in the winter. Books were my salvation. I couldn’t believe that the places described in books really existed! Did people really dress up in expensive jewels just to eat supper? Did castles really have moats? Did the South really have mansions with towering white columns?
I can’t imagine a world without the books that I love; yet routinely I see them on the Banned & Challenged Book List published by the American Library Association. At least five of my most treasured books are on the last decade’s list (2000-2009). One of my five faves is number one! Can you guess what it is? Yes Harry Potter!
1. The Harry Potter (series), by J.K. Rowling is number 1 on the Banned and Challenged Book List. Hard to believe that a book that touched so many lives, and created a whole new genre of books is number one. J.K. Rowling opened the door for a legion of new Young Adult writers, myself included. Without her, my stories would have gone unpublished, lost in my mind, and deemed too dark for children.
2. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain is number 14 on the list. I read and loved this book in grade school. Huckleberry Finn was wild, vulgar, and free, and ran around with people who were socially and racially different from the general population. I wanted to think that I could be that carefree, even though I knew I couldn’t.
3. The Color Purple, by Alice Walker is number 17 on the list. Oh my gosh! I love that book and Celie. She is the beaten down woman that finds her inner courage and changes her life. She makes her own happiness. Who couldn’t love Celie?
4. To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee is number 21. I read this book in High School. I love the innocence of Scout and the integrity of her father Atticus. The message? Even when you know you can’t win, you still fight for what is right. The message still resounds today.
5. Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret, by Judy Blume is number 99 on the list. I rented this book from the library for a solid three months when I was young. My body was changing, I had emotions I couldn’t understand, and I felt different from everyone else. Fortunately for me, Margaret had all of the same problems! That book got me through puberty. Judy Blume is a mover and a shaker, discussing personal things in a way that adolescents and children can understand.
Here is the website for The American Library Association’s Banned and Challenged Books list. If you are so inclined, they accept donations to help oppose censorship.
http://www.ala.org/bbooks/top-100-ban...
Which of your favorite books are on the list?
I’m just curious. What is the book that you are most surprised to see on the list?
Read on! Banned or otherwise.
D.E.L. Connor
September 5, 2014
EXCITING NEWS!
I am pleased to share some exciting news with my fans and loyal followers. This week my publisher, Booktrope entered into a new business relationship with Amazon, beginning with a mutual licensing deal that deepens ties with Amazon to a much more significant degree. This licensing deal directly impacts me because I was one of the authors selected for this opportunity. What this means is the digital version of my book (Spirit Warriors: The Concealing) will be reissued under Amazon Publishing as an e-book and or audio book under Amazon’s imprint while still crediting Booktrope. This agreement covers 15 of Booktrope’s nearly 300 titles. I am so excited for this opportunity and wanted to share it with my fans first. If you would like to learn more about this new relationship, here is the link to the official Booktrope announcement: http://booktrope.com/2014/09/05/breaking-news-booktrope-and-amazon/ Thank you for your continued support of my writing and I will keep you posted as this unfolds.
July 21, 2014
Happy Launch Day
Happy launch day to my second book, Spirit Warriors:The Scarring WOOHOOOOO
Rosie in the UK has featured me on her blog today. She posted an excerpt from book 2 that is one of my favorite scenes in the book.
Don’t forget to leave some love for Rosie by clicking on the like button after you have finished reading.
http://rosieamber.wordpress.com/2014/07/21/spirit-warriors-the-scarring-by-d-e-l-connor-july-21st/
Also, you can register to win 1 of 5 free e-copies of book 2 The Scarring. How much better does it get? Well I guess it does get better. Log on to Facebook tonight from 7-9 CST to win free copies of both 1 and 2 or free swag like bookmarks, keychains etc.
https://www.facebook.com/events/348246738660667/
Happy Launch day to Spirit Warriors:The Scarring
July 20, 2014
Party Time! Prizes and Free Books
You’re invited to the Facebook Spirit Warriors:The Scarring Release Day party on July 21, 2014. I will be giving out free books (book 1 and 2) and also some other fun stuff. Come join in the fun. You don’t have to be present all the time, prizes will be given out throughout the evening. Get in your jammies, grab a refreshing drink, and join in the fun.
Click on the link below for information.
July 11, 2014
Party Time! Prizes and Free Books
You’re invited to the Facebook Spirit Warriors:The Scarring Release Day party on July 21, 2014. I will be giving out free books (book 1 and 2) and also some other fun stuff. Come join in the fun. You don’t have to be present all the time, prizes will be given out throughout the evening. Get in your jammies, grab a refreshing drink, and join in the fun. :)
Click on the link below for information.
https://www.facebook.com/events/348246738660667/
June 24, 2014
It’s hereeeeeee! Preorder Book 2 of the Spirit Warrior series The Scarring!
“One of us would finally end what had been started by the machayiwiw so many years ago. I would have to kill him. It was just that simple. I never thought I would want to kill anybody or anything, but maybe I never had anything worth killing for before.”
-Emmeline Rima Belrose, The Scarring (Spirit Warriors, Book 2)
In the majestic beauty of a Montana summer, Emme and her friends celebrate her near-drowning survival and their defeat of the powerful evil spirit, the machayiwiw. But even as they rejoice, things are amiss. Emme watches helplessly as her family divides, and her friends struggle to hold their relationship together. Worse yet, the love-of-her life, Charlie, announces that he will move back to the reservation, without Emme. New nightmares take over and Emme realizes she must fight and kill- or watch those she loves be killed. New friends from the reservation reach out to Emme and show her what evil can steal from her. Emme believes that evil can never break her bond with the Spirit Warriors or the love she shares with Charlie. Or can it?
