Happy Release day to Janiera Eldrige and help her celebrate the release of Dark Expectations!
Synopsis:
With Ani taking her place as queen, there are some enemies lurking she
could never imagine! There's a secret compound in California that wants
to know the secrets to making a vampire or werewolf. When they kidnap
Ani during a trip back to California they might actually get what they
want. Her sister Dana, her lover Diego and other vampires do everything
they can to get her back. If they don't succeed,they face being
controlled completely by the human race forever! Dark Expectations is
the exciting sequel to Soul Sisters that's full of adventure, danger and
what it means to be queen!
Happy Black Friday, good people of the blogosphere! Today, I'd like to talk about that pesky word woman and the plural form women. I see this mistake so often, it's all I can do to not rip out my hair and bang my head on my desk. So, please be so kind as to read on and save me from uglification (holy crapballs, that's a word!).
Woman is the singular. Women is the plural. When you confuse the two, you look uneducated. Period. Grammar Nazi or no, you need to not confuse the simplest parts of speech if you want people to take you seriously as a writer.
Woman - Examples of correct usage:
That woman left her kids in the car all day with no air conditioning!
Would you please tell a woman today how beautiful she is?
Woman, bring me another beer!
Get that woman a mop, because she needs to clean my floors.
Note the word woman generally follows the word a or the word that. Singular. Not they, them, those, we, or otherwise.
Women - Examples of correct usage:
Those women need to buy a clue; that dude isn't interested.
We have five women here today to speak on behalf of our project.
Hard working women are God's gift to the lazy men of the world.
Women, as a collective, need to be kinder to one another!
Note the use of those, are, collective, and five. All of these words give you a clue that we're talking about more than one woman.
Incorrect usage:
That women left her kids in the car yesterday while she went into work!
Would you please tell a women today how beautiful they are?
Those woman are hard working.
I'm hoping you're getting my point. Please please try and remember the difference. An easy way: Men is plural for man. Easy peasy.
What confusion drives you batty?
Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!
Happy Thanksgiving, good people of the blogosphere! Today, a post about thanks. Buckle in and have a few laughs and a few tears with me!!
First off, let me begin by thanking people:
The Best Boyfriend in the World - Thank you for believing in me and encouraging me every day. It means the world. Your advice is always spot on and I love you more than words. I know I'm a giant pain in the ass sometimes, but you're still here! I'm thankful for you every day.
My Mom - You've always been such an advocate of me, no matter what I was trying to do with myself. Your support has carried me through some very dark times, got me off my ass and made me try harder, and given me strength when I was weak. Your words, "We don't give up. Ever." meant so much to me. Thank you for being an awesome parent.
My Kidlings - You guys always make me think outside the box. You make me clean, too, but that's a good thing (at least we have a tidy house). Without you five in my life, I would be a lazy buggar. Thank you for every hug, every "I love you, Mom." and every smile you deign to pass my way. I love you all.
My Peers - Thank you for your encouragement, comments, following, and all around awesomeness. I wouldn't trade this community for a million bucks. You guys ROCK.
My Readers - Without you, what would I be? A person hitting keys without direction. You make me a success with every review, kind word, and display of excitement when I have a new book coming out. Thank you for taking a chance on an unknown author and letting me know your opinion of my works. Even when they're bad, they're awesome. Why? Because you took the time to let me know.
My Friends - Some of my peers have become my friends. They know who they are. I look forward to reading your comments on my posts and reading/commenting on yours. I thank you for all your feedback on my books, artworks, and posts. Those of you that have joined forces with me in one way or another: THANK YOU so much for taking the time to get to know me and letting me get to know you.
Now, I'll thank corporations:
Amazon - Thank you for creating KDP publishing! Smashwords - Thank you for giving me a distribution platform! Rafflecopter - Thank you for giving me a way to handle promotions! Blogger/Google - Thank you for the web space and for being such an awesome host!
Well, that's all for today, folks! HAPPY THANKSGIVING! Until next time, WRITE ON!
Good morning, lovely people of the blogosphere! Today, I bring you a guest post! Please enjoy.
Hello there everyone, Paul R. Hewlett here. I'm a children's book author and today I like to discuss what it's like writing chapter books for children. First, I would like to than Jo for having me and Kathy at I Am A Reader Not A Writer for hosting the Got Great Giveaways Hop. Thanks also go to Candace at Candace's Book Blog and Lori at Pure Imagination for hosting the Saturday Situation Giveaway linky. I'm currently on theLionel's Christmas Adventure blog tour, for a full list of dates click here. For a sneak peak at what the books about, watch the trailer below. Make sure to enter the Rafflecopter below for your chance to win a $25 Amazon gift card and a 3-pack of my ebooks.
Writing for the children's/middle grade age group that the Lionel's Grand Adventure series targets can be a challenge. One doesn't want to talk over their heads, but you don't want to dumb things down too much either. This age group is actually quite amazing. On one hand they are perfectly willing to accept magic and fantasy, but on the other hand they do not like having things explained over and over to them.
Another thing about this age group, in some cases the older reader might need things explained to them and are willing to accept and even expect it. This age group, not so. They are remarkable, particularly those that seek out reading, in their ability to make leaps without a lot of explanation. They are able, or at least more willing to do this than older readers.
The middle grade, and even the lower YA age, are really eager to be bigger and more grownup than they are. They really want to experience grown up things. I know that I loved Encyclopedia Brown books growing up for that very reason. Here was a boy my age that was working as a detective, solving grown up crimes. This age group really want to experience grown up things. It's important to use your main character for this. Kids usually relate to and want to read about characters a bit older than they are. As an example a nine year old will be happy to read about a twelve year old, while a twelve year old probably won't be interested in the adventures of a nine year old (unless it's Harry Potter of course).
It's important not to use too sophisticated of words. It is okay to use bigger words, but in that case it's best to define them within the sentence and story. If you can't do that effectively, it's probably too big of a word. I personally like to keep the sentence structure simple. I think that is goes without saying that 6-12 year olds are much more mature these days than I was at the same age, but I still don't see the benefit of complex sentence structures. One thing that I feel goes over particularly well with this age group is similes. Using the description "like" really brings things to life for this age group. Compare the following sentences.
"Well you better...hey! What are you doing with Ma's yardstick?" asked Feeney.
"Well you better...hey! What are you doing with Ma's yardstick?" asked Feeney, his jaw sticking out like a cash register.
Certainly in the first sentence it's obvious that Feeney is unhappy, perhaps even angry, but in the second sentence he is indignant, even outraged. It's simple things like this that are often overlooked when writing for older readers that really make the pages come alive for middle grade readers.
These are few of my thoughts on writing chapter books for children. I
think my favorite quote, from the Russian writer Maxim Gorky says it
best, "You must write for children the same way you write for adults,
only better."
I'd like to thank Jo once again for having me on her blog. Make sure to pick up your copy of Lionel's Christmas Adventure, available now on Amazon in paperback or ebook. If you haven't read any of Jo's books, make sure you take a look at them all here.
My next stop on the tour is tomorrow at Kindle Book Promos. Now onto the giveaway. As a thank you to the reader's, I'm giving away a
$25 Amazon gift card and 3-pack of my ebooks. Be sure to leave a comment!
Happy Tuesday, good people of the blogosphere! Time for my NaNoWriMo check-in!
As of today, I'm sitting at 40,193 words. HOLY MOLY! It's been a great time. Sadly, my story must begin to end. There must be a final battle and resolution of some kind. It probably won't happen until next week. I have family coming in for the holidays and won't be doing much writing while I'm busy being thankful for those I love.
While I'd LOVE to give you all an excerpt, I'm not sure I can do anything without giving away some of the great surprises that await you in The Bird. But wait! I do have the first of three covers to put out here. Remember, this isn't a sure thing and I always ALWAYS do three versions before I choose a favorite.
Without further ado:
As you can see, this one is all about strong typography.
The next one will be more focused on imagery.
The last will be completely different from the first two.
Good morning, lovely people of the blogosphere! Today, I'm gonna tell you about something exciting going on over on Facebook. A group of authors have gotten together and donated books that are being auctioned for Hurricane Sandy relief efforts. ALL proceeds go to the American Red Cross.
Interested in learning more? Keep reading!
There are bundles of books over there:
Childrens
Fantasy/Paranormal
Erotica
Romance
Horror
Those are being bid on by the BUNDLE and every bundle has at least seven books in it.
There are three more categories where items are being bid on individually:
Misc.
Misc eBooks
Printed and Autographed copies
There's some GREAT stuff in there ranging from brand new shoes to a KINDLE!
BUT! Bidding ends today! How is the payment/pickup going to work? Good question!
You bid via comment either on the bundle/album or the individual item. Once you're announced as the winner, you must use PayPal to make a donation to the Red Cross. When you send the moderator your receipt, she then lets the author know to send you the book.
Easy peasy!
So get your booties over there and place your bid!
If you're interested in lending a hand, copy/paste this into a tweet: Hurricane Sandy Relief Auction! http://on.fb.me/TSCGQg Scads of books and other items up for bid! RT and go bid! #hurricanerelief #auction
Then go bid.
Did you do it?
Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!
Happy FRIDAY, good people of the blogosphere! At the bottom of today's post, I'm gonna list all the fantastic rafflecopters I have going on my blog so you can enter to win! First, I'm going to address something not many people may know about: writing from life. So grab those pens/pencils and notebooks and let's get going!
Most of what we writers put on the page comes from life. We can't help it. If you find a particularly good book, you'll know the writer pulled it right from life and was honest on the page. Characters that seem amazing and well rounded were likely based on someone the person knows in the real world.
Pulling from life may seem like a risk. For some, it's a huge risk (especially when it's an expose) but they're willing to take it. Why? Not to make a million bucks, that's for sure. If you're an author, you know that's a one in a couple hundred thousand shot. They do it because they want to share their story, the people they know, or because their imaginations can't be contained.
Yes, they do really see you with purple skin, six horns, and an eye in the middle of your forehead when they look at you. Calm down, it's not a knock!
They write because they're compelled to write. Something inside of them pulls them to the keys where they simply must tell the story their brains have created. It all comes from life. If you end up as a character in a fiction novel, shake the author's hand; they thought you were interesting enough to write about. If you're the villain, maybe you need to look in the mirror...
Most of us write the truth as we see it. Sure, there's a fictional twist here and there if we're fiction writers, but you'll find that your true self will be exposed if you end up in the pages of a book.
Many of my characters have my personality flaws. As I write, I work through some of them. Others, I adore and want to keep. After all, to be human is to be flawed. However, there's a good chance that reading a book someone has written with you as a main character will teach you how to interact with that person or give you insights into your life you never considered.
Writers are students of human nature. We watch, examine, listen like hawks, and throw in a little fiction before writing it down. It's writing right from life at its finest.
If you're a writer, talk to people, observe them, get them to open up to you in ways you only imagined possible on the pages. You can do it; everyone likes to be listened to. Keep in mind that you shouldn't judge and before long you'll have a notebook teeming with profiles for great, rounded characters.
Now, without further ado, the rafflecopter widgets:
