BREAKING NEWS!!

Author Mayra Calvani announced early this morning that the Spanish version of her book, CRASH! is now available. To learn more, visit her book's page at Guardian Angel Publishing.
Congrats Mayra. We wish you much success!

Want to learn more about Mayra Calvani? Her next stop is the Daily News in Chatel Village!

A CRASH! Course on Author Mayra Calvani

The first day of the Bounding for Books Blog Tour is here. Author Mayra Calvani stopped by and shared all on her latest book CRASH!

Be sure to stop by her blog www.crashthepuppy.blogspot.com
and leave a comment. At the end of the tour one lucky winner will receive an autographed copy of the print version of CRASH.

Multi-genre author, reviewer, dog lover and animal advocate Mayra Calvani hails from San Juan, Puerto Rico. She's a regular contributor to Blogcritics Magazine and Suite101. When she is not writing, she enjoys reading, playing the violin, interviewing other authors for her blogs and newsletters and watching too many reruns of Gilmore Girls and I Dream of Jeannie. She’s the author of the picture book, The Magic Violin, also published by Guardian Angel Publishing. She's also the Latino Books Examiner for Examiner.com:
http://www.examiner.com/x-6309-Latino-Books-Examiner


Mayra Calvani's book, CRASH! is a must-read for dog fans. We follow along as Marcelo tries to pick out the "perfect" name for his new, furry friend. The colorful, realistic illustrations done by Anna PylypchuK completes the book. Many reviewers enjoyed the CRASH! as well.

Since I will be hosting such successful authors as Mayra Calvani on this tour, I'm asking each one of them some questions. Check out what Ms. Calvani had to say:

Jennifer Gladen (JG): Tell us more about CRASH!

Mayra Calvani (MC): Crash is a humorous and heart-warming story about a little boy and his
first puppy. The boy learns the responsibilities that comes with owning a dog, and finds out that choosing the perfect name for a puppy
can be a very hard job! Readers can find all about it at
www.crashthepuppy.blogspot.com. The book will be available in Spanish
soon. I’m also donating 50% of my royalties to a golden retriever
rescue and sanctuary.


JG: Where did you get your idea for the story? Did something inspire you?

MC: Yes. Several years ago we had to give away our first golden retriever
puppy because my daughter was allergic and got very sick. His name was
Crash. Writing the book was a healing experience and helped me come to
terms with his leaving. A book is a very powerful thing.


JG: Yes, it's sad to lose a pet. I'm glad writing the book helped heal you.
What is the best trait about your main character? What is the worst?

MC: The best? I’m loyal. The worst? I’m not as hardworking as I’d like.

JG: Describe the world through your character’s eyes. What do you see,
hear, feel and think?

MC: As Marcelo, the little boy in the story, the only thing I see, hear
and think about is CRASH!

JG: Do you have any upcoming books or projects you are working on?

MC: I have three other children’s picture books coming soon from Guardian
Angel Publishing. I’m also working on various works in progress in the
adult, young adult and children’s categories. In addition, I have
several finished manuscripts doing the publisher roundup. I keep
myself pretty busy!

JG: I’ve started offering tips on my blog to other authors. What is one
can’t-live-without-tip you have for beginning authors.

MC: ‘Leap, and the net will appear.’ You have to believe in yourself and
your dreams; you have to keep trying; you have to ‘just do it’. Don’t
talk about writing the novel or story. Just sit and write it. The only
person who can start the wheel moving is YOU.

JG: Excellent advice, Mayra. Thank you for visiting us! Good luck with all your projects!

Think you might want to buy CRASH? I have great news for you. Mayra Calvani is donating 50% of her author royalties to Almost Heaven Golden Retriever Rescue and Sanctuary

Purchase info:

Crash!
by Mayra Calvani
Illustrated by Anna Pylypchuk
Guardian Angel Publishing
Tel: 314 276 8482
ISBN: 1-933090-54-5
April 2008
Paperback, 32 pages, $10.95
Picture Book, Ages 2-6

The Spanish Version is coming out this summer. Watch for it!

Links where you'll find Mayra:

*Pets and Their Authors: www.petsandauthors.blogspot.com

*Mayra Calvani is the Latino Books Examiner
http://www.examiner.com/x-6309-Latino-Books-Examiner

*Blog for Crash! www.crashthepuppy.blogspot.com


Crash! isn't the only place you'll see Mayra's love of animals. Check out these articles on dogs:

http://ezinearticles.com/?Finding-the-Perfect-Name-For-Your-Puppy&id=1252779

http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Responsibilities-of-Owning-a-Dog&id=1252771

http://dogs.suite101.com/article.cfm/great_online_resource_for_dog_owners

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.

Jen's Writing Tip# 6 Top Ten Questions to Ask Your Character

When writing a story, it's important to know your character. It's been said you should know your character as well as you know yourself. One way to do that is to "interview" your character. You aren't going to use all the information you come up with, but you will have a rich background of information to choose from.

How do you interview a character? Put yourself in the frame of mind of your character. What would she say or do in response to the questions? Before you know it, your character might not be able to stop talking.

Here are my top ten questions I ask my character:

10. Where do you live?

9. Who is in your family?

8. Do you get along with your family?

7. Who is your best friend and why?

6. What do you think of school? Is it fun, boring, horrifying?

5. What is the best thing that ever happened to you? Worst?

4. What do you like to do when you aren't in school or with your friends?

3. What do you do when you get upset? Do you have a special place you go, or a routine you follow?

2. What do you think of boys/girls?

1. Tell me one interesting thing that your best friend doesn't even to know.

I'm sure you can come up with even more questions. Once you get an idea of who your character is, you might end up with pages of questions to ask them. That's okay. The more you know, the better your readers will enjoy your character.

Happy Writing!

Article featuring My Light Magazine

Author Mayra Calvani interviewed me about My Light Magazine and my books that are under contract with Guardian Angel Publishing.

In the article, we discuss what My Light contains, our contents and our submission policies. Don't miss the book descriptions at the end about my upcoming picture books: A Star in the Night, Teresa's Shadow, and Angel Donor.

Click here to see the article on Suite 101.
You can also visit Mayra's blog here. Check out her pet blog also. You don't want to miss out on the fun over there!