Bounding for Books Blog Tour

We have an exciting two weeks coming up! The Bounding for Books Blog Tour is underway June 1, 2009. Follow along the tour. You'll hear from authors Mayra Calvani, Donna Shepherd, Kim Chatel, Margot Finke, Shari Lyle-Soffe and Jennifer Gladen. Learn more about these authors and their books published by Guardian Angel Publishing.

We also have a special guest along with us. Joy Delgado, publisher and illustrator of Zooprise Party/Fiesta Zoorpresa


The tour includes:


Donna Shepherd, author of Dotty’s Topsy Tale, http://www.topsyturvyland.com/

Jennifer Gladen, author of A Star in the Night, http://www.jgladen.blogspot.com/

Joy Delgado, http://goingbeyondreading.blogspot.com

Kim Chatel, author of A Talent for Quiet, http://www.kimchatel.com/H1A_Daily_News/H1A_Daily_News.html

Margot Finke, author of Rattlesnake Jam, http://margotfinke.blogspot.com

Mayra Calvani, author of Crash!, http://www.mayrassecretbookcase.blogspot.com/

Shari Lyle-Soffe, author of Nothing Stops Noah, http://sharilyle-soffe.com


What to expect:

Visit everyone's blog from June 1 through 14th! Every author will host another author three times a week during the tour, namely Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Please be sure to check everyone's out. Some blogs are offering prizes:


Donna Shepherd - A copy of Topsy Turvy Land (print copy in the U.S. ; PDF outside the U.S.)

Kim Chatel - A signed copy of A Talent for Quiet

Margot Finke: At the end of each week Margot will give away 3 FREE AUDIO links. Each link has Margot reading one of her stories + illustrations. These will go to the 3 readers who add that week's most unique comments.

Shari Lyle-Soffe - A Signed copy of Nothing Stops Noah

Jen's Writing Tip #8: This, That and the Other Thing

Looking to cut words in your manuscript to meet the word count? After you review it for unnecessary sentences, do a search through your document. Search for the word "that." It's a word we use without realizing it. Many times, it just clutters up the work.

For example:

It made Tammi mad that Alice took that book.

Aside from having unnecessary words in the sentence, it's also hard to visualize what is going on. Now take a look at the same sentence without "that." (Plus a better adjective in there couldn't hurt.)

Tammi scowled at Alice for taking the book.

See how the second sentence flows better? You also have a better visual of what's going on. In this case the sentences have almost the same word count, but again, it's more clear as to what is going on.

Here's an example on how eliminating "that" can shorten your sentences. There are often times more unnecessary words to accompany "that."

For example:

I found that reading the story reminded me of my childhood.

Which words would you cut to make the sentence more appealing? Now take a look below:

Reading the story reminded me of my childhood.


Which sentence did you enjoy reading more? Which one sounded more natural?

For your next manuscript, make sure that that is left out ;)

Jen's Writing Tip #7

Watch "ly" words


We've heard it before. Editors don't like words that end in "ly". Sometimes they are necessary and even make your paragraph better, but most of the time they get in your way of a clean cut manuscript. I once was guilty of this writing sin. I had about 4 "ly" words in one paragraph. A critique partner pointed out how it slowed down the flow of the story. As I thought about it, losing all those words helped with the word count goal I tried reach. So before you hand in those manuscripts to your critique group or a publisher, read through that work. As you come across each "ly" word, see if your sentence can go without it.