Here is a copy of my September 12, 2024 E-Newsletter, “Love Through the Eyes of Faith”. (It’s a bit blurry because I enlarged it for this post. However, when you receive it, you should be able to enlarge it to read, if you need to, without any issues. I haven’t had any complaints from those receiving it.) It is a monthly newsletter that I send out the 12th of each month. If you’d like to receive a copy of my newsletter in your email inbox on the 12th of each month, click on my email address under “Contact Me” on the right sidebar and send an email to me so I can add you to my list. This post will remain easy to find under the tab: “My Books & Publishing News”.
Two weeks ago, I mentioned changes that were to come here on my website. I’m sure you’ve already noticed a few: new landing page, only four tabs at the top of the page, and some new posts.
All of this is happening because I am about to publish my first novel. Therefore, I am no longer accepting any requests for book reviews. Hence, that button has been removed from the top of the page. The “Home” page exhibits a photo of me, as well as photos of my books. Right now the books shown are two that each include one devotion that I wrote. They will soon be joined by a photo of the cover of my first novel — AFTER my upcoming Cover Reveal!
I have updated my “About” page, which explains my love of books, writing, and a few other things.
On the “All Things Books” page, you will find more information about those devotional books, and the devotions I wrote in them, that you see pictured on the landing page. In the future, that is where you will find the Cover Reveals, Release Dates, Book signings and appearances I will make, and other tidbits about my novels as they come out.
Finally, the “Blog” will now have four posts each week, starting next week. I will post about things I enjoy and hope many of you enjoy as well. Mondays will be “Monday Musings” and I will share about books I read; movies I watch; my faith and scriptures that I’m studying as well as my favorite scriptures; occasional poetry that I either write or read, and anything I find interesting at writing conferences I attend. Tuesdays will be “Tuesday’s Tea Time” and I will share photos and information about different teas, tea pots or cups, useful, or cute, tools for making tea, and tea party recipes. Wednesdays will continue to be all about my beloved black Labrador Retriever as I will continue “The Harper Chronicles”. Thursdays will be photos and musings about the “Outdoors and Nature”, which will feature places, plants, or animals.
I look forward to sharing these things with you and hope you will enjoy them too.
First, I want to apologize to those of you who have been following For Adora here on my blog. I have been very busy finishing the final edits on my first novel. Therefore, For Adora will remain unfinished because I will be making changes here on my blog/website. I’ve been working on my first novel for six or seven years, and during that time, this blog has had no real direction.
However, now that my first novel will soon be making its public appearance and I am already in full swing writing my second novel, I have decided it is time to make some changes here to the blog — to be more intentional in the things I post.
I hope those of you who have been following me will continue to do so. I hope you will still find things of interest and enjoyment here.
Changes will begin to appear within the next week, until the new intentional posts begin. I’m excited about it, and I hope you will catch my excitement!
Now that you’ve heard and seen the video for Jodi Essex’s latest single, “Fearless”, join me tomorrow for my interview with Jodi about her EP, titled “Fearless” which releases tomorrow. It’s an interview that will inspire and encourage you. Don’t miss it!
A haunted house children’s book in Shakespearean Metre. To be released next Friday!
Master Axel, a sturdy, steadfast rabbit, finds a terrified person named “Person” living in a house full of hideous horrors. Master Axel wonders which of the many monsters is the reason Mr. Person is so terrified, but it turns out to be more of a mystery than the exploratory rabbit expected…
Mr. Lauser also created the cover. Here is how he says he did it:
Everything on the cover is hand-drawn, including the text and the gradient around the edges (done with sponges). It’s just cleaned and arranged on the computer (to get the texture, the title is in fact zoomed in on tiny writing).
Patrick Lauser will be releasing his book trailer for this book tomorrow and I will either share it or a link to it here. I’m sure you won’t want to miss it.
Patrick Lauser is releasing his first children’s book soon and tomorrow is his Cover Reveal Day. I will also be sharing in his Cover Reveal, so be sure to stop back tomorrow to see Patrick Lauser’s Cover for “What Does Mr. Person Fear?”
In the first part of this article, previously posted here, I mostly addressed why a Christian writer should write well, though I also touched on some ways we can do that. In this article, I will address more ways in which we actually can write well.
In the first article, I mentioned learning. What do we need to learn? Every writer should have a fairly good knowledge of the basics of writing: spelling, grammar, punctuation, sentence structure, and how to know when to begin and end a paragraph. Every writer should also know how to properly write dialogue. These are the mechanics of writing, and if you find any of these items difficult, you can still be a good writer. How? You will need to hire an editor. I will address editors more in depth later in this article.
When your manuscript is complete and you are reading over it looking for errors, remember to read aloud. I mentioned this in my last “Self-Editing Tips” post, but now I’d like to add that you may have to read aloud through your manuscript more than once in order to catch all of the things I am sharing in these posts. But remember, the more errors you can find and fix on your own, the less you will have to pay an editor to find, and the less will end up in the final published copy.
So, what are you looking for this time?
I want to mention a couple more grammar items here. One I mentioned in the last “Self-Editing Tips” post, (click on editing in Categories to find all my posts about editing and self-editing), is a very common error in the use of the words lie and lay. I am going to ask you to read a post on another blog that explains this very well, along with one or two other common grammatical errors, so click here. This post was written by a writer friend of mine on a blog that a group of six writers, including me, post on.
In addition to the grammar you just read on that post, I would like to address who and whom. I continually see writers using who but never using whom when they should.
Who is used as the subject of a verb or as a complement of a linking verb. For example: It was Sara who baked the peach pies. When writing a sentence, first determine what the verbs are — was and baked. Next, find the subject for each verb: Sara and who. Because who is a subject, it is correct. Who won the fifty yard dash?
Whom is used as the object of the verb or as the object of a preposition. It’s an objective pronoun. For example: Jason took whom to the prom? In this sentence, the subject and verb are “Jason took”. The pronoun that follows the verb is the object of the verb. Therefore whom is correct. Example: She’s playing tennis with whom? This pronoun is the object of the preposition with, so whom is the proper choice.
However, you need to be careful. Sometimes the prepositional pronoun in question can also be a subject — if it is, you need to use who. For example: Princess Liana cheered for who exhibited the best character. Even though the pronoun follows the preposition “for”, it is also the subject of the second verb “exhibited”. When used as a subject, always use who.
Kelly F Barr 