Kellyn Roth's Blog: Kellyn Roth, Author, page 31

Orphans of the West: Wrap-Up and Facebook Party!

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Hello ladies and gents! Welcome to the wrapup post of the Orphans of the West blog tour!

There’s a Facebook party starting in just a little bit here, so head over and check that out now! It looks like a load of fun.

But while you’re here … let’s see who the winner is!

An Interview with Faith Blum

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Today we have an interview with Faith Blum! It’s a great interview where Faith provides some answers to questions about Sing a Wondrous Story and her writing process.

While you’re here, remember the giveaway is still running! Be sure to enter now for a chance to win the prize!

On an unrelated note, I have a quick announcement/request at the bottom of this post, like always. (Do I never stop?)

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About the Books
Sing the Wondrous Story

an Orphans of the West novella

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Jason was kicked out three years ago. His judgmental actions and decisions caused a rift and turmoil within his family, especially concerning his sister, Jessamine. Now God is leading him to return home—a home he isn’t certain he will be welcomed back to. The last three years has led to personal growth, he still has a lot to learn. Can he overcome his past mistakes or will he always be the black sheep?

Jessamine has popularity and the attention of many in town except the two men she wants to catch for herself. She lives for those moments of attention and needs to marry a rich man to buy all the pretty things she desires. There are two men who fit that and she will stop at nothing to find a husband to make her life perfect. When Jason returns and challenges her actions, will she be able to let go of her plan? Can she find love in more than herself?

Buy on Amazon

He Leadeth Me

(Orphans of the West, #4)

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Gage was eight when his parents died, but despite that, he has been content with his life. He misses the farm, though, and when his uncle gives him the deed and tells him to go back, he seizes the opportunity.

Almost a full day’s ride, Gage reconnects with his friend, Danny and settles into farm life. Then someone shows up claiming Gage’s long-dead father owed a large sum of money that has accrued thirteen years of interest.

What will Gage do when he learns of his father’s past? Will he let God lead him no matter what happens?

Buy on Amazon
About the Author

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Faith Blum is a small-town Wisconsin girl. She’s lived in, or outside of, small towns her whole life. The thought of living in a city with more than 60,000 people in it scares her, especially after some interesting adventures driving through big cities like Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota.

Faith currently resides in the middle of the state of Wisconsin with her husband and their cat, Smokey. She is blessed to be able to have writing as her full-time career with household work and cooking to do on the side. She loves to paint walls as long as she doesn’t have to do hallways or ceilings.

When not writing, you can find her cooking food from scratch due to food allergies (fun), doing dishes (meh), knitting, crocheting, sewing, reading, or spending time with her husband (yay!). She is also a Community Assistant for the Young Writers Workshop and loves her work there. She loves to hear from her readers, so feel free to contact her on her website.

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The Interview
What inspired you to write a book about Jason, Jessa, and Claire?

I actually wrote this novella after writing the novel. Jessa was in there as a minor character and I decided to explore her backstory a little. I also wanted to do a Pride and Prejudice retelling using a brother and sister, so I tried to combine the two. The first part worked, the second didn’t. I have a couple minor elements of Pride and Prejudice still in there, but not enough to be a true retelling.

What does your writing process look like?

This is a rather broad question, so I’ll try to answer it as best I can. When I come up with an idea, I do an outline. The outline is usually a list of scenes I want to include, but with the knowledge that some of them may change in some way such as being longer or shorter than I anticipate, being moved around, etc.

After the outline, I write the book. How long that takes depends on the length of the book and what else is happening in my life at the time. The fastest I’ve written the rough draft is 32 days for a 60,000 word novel. I’ve never repeated that.

Then my books go through a couple of edits, beta-readers, and then another 3-6 edits before going to my proofreaders. After the proofreaders are done with it, I send the book to my formatters and publish the book about a month later.

Most of your books feature one hymn. Do you decide on what hymn you’ll feature as you’re writing or is it the first thing you come up with or what?

This depends on the book. Some of them have been easy to pick the hymn, others are harder. Most of the time, once I figure out the theme of the book, I can easily find at least one hymn with the same theme. There have been a few times when I have changed the hymn after writing the rough draft, but that’s the exception rather than the rule.

What’s one thing you really love about Sing a Wondrous Story?

That would probably have to be the one main element I kept from the Pride and Prejudice retelling aspect. The part where I reworked the first couple of lines of Jane Austen’s book. It was hard to rework, but when I finished it, I really, really liked it. And from what I’ve seen, particularly during this blog tour, other people have liked it, too.

Thanks for having me on your blog, Kellyn!

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Follow Along!
We have two weeks of amazing blog posts culminating in a fantastic Facebook party on the 26th, 1:00 to 2:30 PM CDT!

Wednesday, September 12th

Intro Post // Kellyn Roth @ Reveries

Sing the Wondrous Story Spotlight // Faith Blum @ Writings, Ramblings, and Reflections

Author Interview // Germaine Han @ The Writing Mafia

Thursday, September 13th

Book Spotlight // Kaylee @ Kaylee’s Kind Of Writes

Saturday, September 15th

Book Spotlight // Angela R. Watts @ The Peculiar Messenger

Monday, September 17th

Review of Sing the Wondrous Story // Abigail McKenna @ Novels, Dragons, and Wardrobe Doors

Wednesday, September 19th

Author Interview // Maddie Morrow @ What a Novel Idea

Guest Post // Medomfo @ Writings from a God Girl

Thursday, September 20th

Guest Post // Rachel Rossano

Friday, September 21st

Book Spotlight // Amanda Tero @ With a Joyful Noise

Saturday, September 22nd

Author Interview // Kellyn Roth @ Reveries

Monday, September 24th

Review of Sing the Wondrous Story // Grace Maples @ Proclaiming His Excellencies

Tuesday, September 25th

Review of Sing the Wondrous Story // Chloe @ Purely by Faith Reviews

Wednesday, September 26th

He Leadeth Me Spotlight // Faith Blum @ Writings, Ramblings, and Reflections

Review of Sing the Wondrous Story // Hanne T @ RockandMinerals4Him

Wrap-Up Post // Kellyn Roth @ Reveries

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Giveaway Info

Enter the giveaway! The winner will receive a notebook, metal bookmark, and a paperback copy of one of the books (their choice).

Click Here to Enter!

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And that Brief Announcement

A traditional publishing house recently hired me to host not one, not two, but five blog tours for them!

Now, I’m confident I can do it, but of course I need some bloggers to make it happen. In particular, I need some for the tour coming up first for Chad Pettit’s Fate of the Watchman, a Christian thriller novella.

This tour will run from October 1st through October 6th, so we’re running on rather short notice. I’d love to have a couple more bloggers join the ranks!

Click Here To Join!

It would be a huge favor to me and to Ambassador International (the publisher). Blog tours help get the word out about new releases!

TTFN!

~Kellyn Roth~

Goodreads · Facebook · Twitter

p.s.

Did you enjoy the author interview? Have you entered the giveaway? (Excited much?!) What does YOUR writing process look like?

The post An Interview with Faith Blum appeared first on Reveries.

5 Times You Can Sneak Writing In

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Today we have a video that includes a vlog which you can watch here. (It can also work as a podcast; that’s how I filmed it, haha.)

When you’re super busy, it can be hard to find time to write! I know as a recent high school grad with a part-time job, lots of volunteer work, and some non-writing hobbies, it can be hard to budget my sit-down-stare-at-the-cursor-blinking minutes in.

But sometimes I just need to think outside of the box! So here are 5 Times You Can Sneak Writing In.

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#1: Early in the morning.

If you’re an early bird, this may be something you’re doing already, but getting up before the sun cracks the sky and the rooster crows is one way to get some extra words in.

Set your alarm for super early and creep over to your laptop before the kids are up, the dog wants out, or your day job calls (or all of the above)!

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#2: Late at Night

I’m a night owl, so this is especially practical for me. I stay up until all hours to pound out those extra words!

So dose up on caffeine and pick a couple nights a week when you don’t mind not being aware of life all of the next day, because we’re drafting!

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#3: In the Car

Unless you get super carsick, this is one option for you! I’ll always bring a notebook or my Kindle or something to write on wherever I go, and oftentimes I’ll sneak a few words in during a road trip.

Also, be sure you have some way of writing on your phone! This simplifies things as you have your phone with you almost everywhere. If you must resort to texting your story to yourself bit by bit, do it.

Note: please don’t write if you are the one driving your car. Unless you’re narrating into a recording device, of course.

September 2018 Dares

Guess who totally forgot about her monthly dares until just now? (I’ll give you a hint: it wasn’t you.)

It has been a very busy month thus far, between setting up Reveries Co., editing, writing, and planning (lottttsss of planning!), and some things have just slipped through the cracks!

However, here I am with my dares post! Yay! Now we can truly be in September!

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August 2018 Dares

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Reading

Get through at least most of your review copies. Failed.

Eh. No.
Look, I read like … one and a half.
Reading has not been a priority.


Don’t accept any more review copies. Check.

Well. Only just the one. 

My Experience at the OCW Summer Conference

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Hello all! Now, you remember back towards the end of August, I attended the Oregon Christian Writer’s 2018 summer conference. Now, quite a few people were like, “TELL ME ALL ABOUT IT!”

Because I didn’t get to go the whole time*, I thought, “Eh, I’ll not talk about it; didn’t get the whole experience, y’know.” BUT I forgot many of you haven’t been to a writer’s conference, and it was all new to me, too, so why not share about it?

So, if you’ve been to a writer’s conference, you’ll have to read this post just because you love me. (No, there are no excuses for not reading this post. Don’t be a silly snuggleuffigus.)

*I’ve gone into more detail elsewhere, but basically my grandpa had a stroke/brain aneurism/some scary thing, and I rushed home to be with the fam!

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Now, I think the best way to tell this is by just … starting at the beginning!

Oh, right, when you left for the conference, say you.

NO. I mean ages before that. Hold your horses, Jack.

Deciding to Go to Le Conference

Basically, I started really wanted to attend a conference last year, and this need arose and became greater in February. I’d hoped to attend a writer’s retreat with some friends, but it didn’t work out, and I was super disappointed.

THEN the lovely Ivy Rose sent me a message. I refuse to scroll back six months or so in our chat thread to get a quote, but basically she was like, “HEY, OCW has a conference in August, wanna come? You can hitch a ride with me!”*

Then I was like, “HECK YEAH! Wait, lemme ask my parents …”

And, after loads of negotiating,** I decided to go and signed up!

*I’m sure she didn’t say it anything like that, but whatevs.

**Getting away from my family is like getting out of a hostage situation. (translation: they love me and don’t want be to be murdered or anything)

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Pre-Conference Prep

If you ever go to a conference, be sure to prepare ahead of time! I’m so grateful I did, or I really would’ve been lost.

Here are some things I did:

Researched about conferences.

I’m a member of YWW, and there are some great resources on there for first-time conference attendees!
I did some Googling and read blog posts by other writer’s conference knowledgeable people, too.



Talked to some conference pros.

Other than Ivy, who was super sweet and helpful, I also talked to Kara Swanson, Brett Harris, and other folks on YDubs.
Even if you don’t have the fantastic resource that is YWW, though, you can totally talk to some conference-wise folks; they’re not hard to find.



Actually sent in a “mini submission” for Once a Stratton!

A bit more on that later.
But I was so proud of myself for meeting the deadline.

But mostly I just waited … and waited … and WAITED for August 20th!

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And Then It Was Time

At 1-ish on Monday the 20th, Ivy Rose pulled up in her family’s van. (SQUEEE!) And I got to meet this fantastic lady!

I admit I was a little nervous because I’m very awkward until I get to know someone, and this manifests as stone-faced aloofness, or so I’m told, and I didn’t want Ivy to think I hate her.

Orphans of the West, Blog Tour: Intro

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I was hugely honored to be allowed to host the blog tour for the last two stories in Faith Blum’s Orphans of the West books! It was fun to set it up and work with Faith, and I’m super excited to see how it goes!

There’s a really neat giveaway as well as some fun book-quotes and of course the tour schedule in this post. Today’s other posts include a book spotlight at Faith’s personal blog that will no-doubt contain the author’s inside scoop and an interview with Germaine Han!

And … that’s about it for now! I snuck a couple minor updates in at the end of this post … because y’all know weird stuff is happening here, and I want to keep you in the loop!

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About the Books
Sing the Wondrous Story

an Orphans of the West novella

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Jason was kicked out three years ago. His judgmental actions and decisions caused a rift and turmoil within his family, especially concerning his sister, Jessamine. Now God is leading him to return home—a home he isn’t certain he will be welcomed back to. The last three years has led to personal growth, he still has a lot to learn. Can he overcome his past mistakes or will he always be the black sheep?

Jessamine has popularity and the attention of many in town except the two men she wants to catch for herself. She lives for those moments of attention and needs to marry a rich man to buy all the pretty things she desires. There are two men who fit that and she will stop at nothing to find a husband to make her life perfect. When Jason returns and challenges her actions, will she be able to let go of her plan? Can she find love in more than herself?

Buy on Amazon

He Leadeth Me

(Orphans of the West, #4)

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Gage was eight when his parents died, but despite that, he has been content with his life. He misses the farm, though, and when his uncle gives him the deed and tells him to go back, he seizes the opportunity.

Almost a full day’s ride, Gage reconnects with his friend, Danny and settles into farm life. Then someone shows up claiming Gage’s long-dead father owed a large sum of money that has accrued thirteen years of interest.

What will Gage do when he learns of his father’s past? Will he let God lead him no matter what happens?

Buy on Amazon
About the Author

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Faith Blum is a small-town Wisconsin girl. She’s lived in, or outside of, small towns her whole life. The thought of living in a city with more than 60,000 people in it scares her, especially after some interesting adventures driving through big cities like Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota.

Faith currently resides in the middle of the state of Wisconsin with her husband and their cat, Smokey. She is blessed to be able to have writing as her full-time career with household work and cooking to do on the side. She loves to paint walls as long as she doesn’t have to do hallways or ceilings.

When not writing, you can find her cooking food from scratch due to food allergies (fun), doing dishes (meh), knitting, crocheting, sewing, reading, or spending time with her husband (yay!). She is also a Community Assistant for the Young Writers Workshop and loves her work there. She loves to hear from her readers, so feel free to contact her on her website.

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Follow Along!
We have two weeks of amazing blog posts culminating in a fantastic Facebook party on the 26th, 1:00 to 2:30 PM CDT!

Wednesday, September 12th

Intro Post // Kellyn Roth @ Reveries

Sing the Wondrous Story Spotlight // Faith Blum @ Writings, Ramblings, and Reflections

Author Interview // Germaine Han @ The Writing Mafia

Thursday, September 13th

Book Spotlight // Kaylee @ Kaylee’s Kind Of Writes

Saturday, September 15th

Book Spotlight // Angela R. Watts @ The Peculiar Messenger

Monday, September 17th

Review of Sing the Wondrous Story // Abigail McKenna @ Novels, Dragons, and Wardrobe Doors

Wednesday, September 19th

Author Interview // Maddie Morrow @ What a Novel Idea

Guest Post // Medomfo @ Writings from a God Girl

Thursday, September 20th

Guest Post // Rachel Rossano

Friday, September 21st

Book Spotlight // Amanda Tero @ With a Joyful Noise

Saturday, September 22nd

Review of Sing the Wondrous Story // Kellyn Roth @ Reveries

Monday, September 24th

Review of Sing the Wondrous Story // Grace Maples @ Proclaiming His Excellencies

Tuesday, September 25th

Review of Sing the Wondrous Story // Chloe @ Purely by Faith Reviews

Wednesday, September 26th

He Leadeth Me Spotlight // Faith Blum @ Writings, Ramblings, and Reflections

Review of Sing the Wondrous Story // Hanne T @ RockandMinerals4Him

Wrap-Up Post // Kellyn Roth @ Reveries

Giveaway Info

Enter the giveaway! The winner will receive a notebook, metal bookmark, and a paperback copy of one of the books (their choice).

Click Here to Enter!

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And that’s about it for Faith Blum’s tour … until our next post on the subject, that is!

Goldfish Secrets Is Launched! (+announcements)

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Guess what? Goldfish Secrets is officially launched! You can now purchase it on the following online stores.

So what? say you. Well, there’s a giveaway that everyone can enter, and of course y’all should just be glad that I published a new novel. *gives you a weird look* *because you obviously don’t care about me*

Now, I’ve also got three important announcements. So hang tight for those, y’all. It’s going to be a packed but brief post!

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Let’s just start with the thing I know you’re waiting for.

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ENTER THE GIVEAWAY!

Exciting, right? I can’t wait to see who wins!

*squealing because even though it’s a short story, Goldfish Secrets is so cute, and I’m excited for people to read it!*

And here are some announcements …

First of all, TIME TO ANNOUNCE MY NANO NOVEL(S)!

I’m actually writing three novellas and a short story for NaNoWriMo … and not at all in the traditional sense. Whoops?

This is the first time I have not written a complete novel during November in the traditional sense since 2015! Crazy, right?

I wrote The Dressmaker’s Secret in November 2014.

Ivy Introspective in November 2015.

At Her Fingertips in November 2016.

Beyond Her Calling in November 2017.

The most logical step would be to write Alice Unanswered (Book 5 of The Chronicles of Alice and Ivy) in November 2018! But I’m not going to do that.

In November 2018, I’m going to go for more in a month than I have ever written … 100,000 words!

Here’s how it plays out:

SOULS ASTRAY (prequel): 30,000 words

THE LADY OF THE VINEYARD (rewrite): 30,000 words

FLOWERS IN HER HEART (rewrite): 30,000 words

FROM NOW ‘TIL FOREVER: 10,000 words

The Lady of the Vineyard and Flowers in Her Heart will be rewrites, as I noted, but with a great deal added to them (getting those word counts from 15K/10K to 30K will be interesting!).

So no … this year I am not doing traditional NaNo! But I’m doing something better – making progress in my goals.

Second, I’ve almost decided what to write next year!

I announced that I’m writing 5 books next year, but which shall they be? I’m almost 100% sure now!

Sail Away

The romance of Cassie O’Connell, Alice’s best friend.



Water Against the Rocks

Set in my hometown, this is the story of Zion Oglivy and Linda Anderson.
Zion needs somewhere to leave his daughter with until the war’s over. Linda seems the best candidate, but she hates him. What could possibly go wrong?



Word of Honor

Post-WW2 romance set in Ohio.
He made a promise to her husband in the middle of a battlefield to take care of her. She’s determined to keep her independence.



Alone in Berlin

Two Nazis commit suicide in imitation of their beloved Führer. Their daughter escapes this fate … but now she’s alone in Berlin.
Now that the war is over, Em and Clay just want to get married, but they’re stuck in Germany until further notice. #patienceisavirtue



All Made New

Kirk Manning’s romance! Yay!
He doesn’t believe he can love again. She knows she can’t leave her family. Can anything come of their friendship?

Made all of those myself, though now I’m tempted to redo them.

How Much Does Self-Publishing Cost?

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I’m a proud self-published author and will probably continue to be for the rest of my life! I love the control it gives me over every element of my book—from final decisions about plot and characters to editing.

But with great power comes great responsibility! You’re taking everything on your shoulders with self-publishing—from the editing and proof-reading of your book to cover design, from the actual publishing project to marketing (e.g. selling your book).

One of the questions I get asked most often is, “How much does self-publishing cost?” Today I’m going to try to answer that question.

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How much does self-publishing cost?

The simple answer is “Nada.”

You should never pay to publish your book (and that applies to self-publishing!). The only sites/so-called “publishing houses” that request you do that are either scams or “vanity presses.”

They’ll steal your money. I cannot tell you how many people I’ve heard moaning about how awful it is to go with a vanity press (or of course be taken in by a scam).

So, simply, if someone asks you to pay for the actual publishing process, say, “No!” Nopety nope nope nope.

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I go through Kindle Direct Publishing and Createspace (which are now merging into one shortly) to publish my books. I also use Draft2Digital for expanded distribution in ebook (e.g. Nook, Apple).

All of these services are absolutely free. No start-up fees. They take a small commission of your book’s royalties in exchange for having it up on their platform, but that’s it.

So, self-publishing itself costs nothing at all.

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However, I haven’t begun to tell you about expenses that go along with independently publishing your novel!

There are two things I’d recommend to every Indie published author, and I do believe they are a must.

The first is hiring a professional designer to do your cover.

If you find yourself unable to at least pay for this, I suggest saving up your money until you are able to. Do not publish with something you threw together on Paint! You will not sale books this way.

But Kell! you say. That’s over $300 at the least for a pro cover!

Au contraire, my skeptic!

None of my covers have been $300. I’ve paid an average of $40 for each of my covers. Though they’re not amazing (I’m redoing the covers for The Lady of the Vineyard for that reason), they’re good for what they are.

Do your own research on this, ask for recommendations, etc., but here are some of my favorites:

Willowy Whisper

She’s the designer for my Chronicles of Alice and Ivy books as well as Baby Mine (coming soon!). I just love her!
Comes to about $30 ebook, $40 front/back, $50 full wrap.



Victoria Lynn Designs

Made the old cover for Flowers.
Her services come to $25(+) for ebook and $65 for paperback.



Reveries Designs

2019: Year of the Relaunch

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It has been forever since I’ve had a post where I got to ramble about my future plans. Since I always have future plans (even though they’re not quite organized enough to be un-rambly).

So … let’s talk about 2019! I know that seems like a long ways away, but I’ve got some shocking announcements.

Okay, they’re not super shocking, but you know what? I don’t know how else to define them. So. “Shocking” works.

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Redoing The Lady of the Vineyard

I’ve always meant to redo my Lady of the Vineyard series. Tighten it up, hire an editor, get nice shiny covers that portray the genre and era, be proud of it for exactly three months before I learn more writing skillz.

But now I’m making that a reality.

I’ve hired a designer to redo the whole series of covers … including making covers for a couple unpublished stories. There will be a total of five books when I’m done.

What are those books?

These books are …

The Lady of the Vineyard

Y’all know this one. I’ll be doing some basic edits be relaunching (just to smooth up the writing style), but nothing super major. The story will stay the same.

I hope to add a few thousand words to it. If I could get it to a 20K novella, that’d be super nice.

Flowers in Her Heart

This will be Flowers only with a bit of polishing! I want to add some extra details as with The Lady of the Vineyard. Hopefully it’ll come out to almost 20K (which means double what it is now), though we’ll see.

From Now ‘Til Forever

This is a book I haven’t talked about yet, but I’m hoping for it to be about 20K once again. It’s about Troy during WW2. And I’m not sure what all else. (I’m outlining.)

Goldfish Secrets, of course

Nothin’ changin’ except the cover. 

Writers: Push Introversion Aside for a Day

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Hello writers! I’m not the only introvert here, am I? I thought not. Extroverted writers exist – and in fact, I know quite a few! – but they’re less common than introverts.

That’s because writing is a solitary sport. For that reason, it’s not really a big deal if writers are introverts. In fact, it’s a career that really fits introverts well.

However, there are some cases in which introverted writers must, well, try to be extroverted. And I know that sounds impossible, but hear me out …

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It’s Hard Being an Introverted Writer

I’m an introvert who likes experience everything I do before I do it. Since this is impossible, I’m not really one for trying new things. Even when I do try something new, I want to have done my research before hand—and prepare myself mentally, especially if this “trying new things” involves dialogue.

Talking to people is hard.

This year I was given an opportunity to attend a writer’s conference. As an Indie author who is prepping to pursue traditional publication, this was a fantastic opportunity for me.

However, it was also somewhat scary. Thankfully, I had a lot of opportunities at my fingertips for learning more about this.

I was attending with a veteran friend, which was nice, and I am a proud “YDubber” (member of the Young Writer’s Workshop) who had access to several lessons on the subject and experienced mentors ready to advice.

So I did all the preparation for the event that I possibly could. I even steeled myself to possibly meet with editors or agents to give a pitch. I thought I was ready for anything!

Things Changed

At the conference, I decided to push myself one step further and make an appointment with a “mentor.”

Now, I had absolutely no idea what this was going into it. All I knew was that I had a appointment at 2:30 on Tuesday to meet with a more experienced author and … talk? About what, though? I was quite confused.

Of course, I was intensely awkward going into this conversation. Thankfully, the mentor-person (Karen Barnett) was quite understanding and sweet.

We didn’t spend the whole thirty minutes being super professional. We talked about favorite authors and genres and other things relatable to writing, which was nice.

However, I did learn glean some valuable tips from this meeting, especially as relates to attending conferences, making connections, and pursuing traditional publication. I was also given some much-needed encouragement.

It Helps To Be Extroverted Sometimes.

I won’t go into all the details of this meeting as it isn’t relevant here, but I do want to say this … almost every time I have pushed myself out of my comfort zone as an author, it has been rewarding.

I’ve learned new things.

 Become more confident.

Gained insight.

Writing is a introverted business. We outline by ourselves, draft by ourselves, edit by ourselves, blog by ourselves, and, as Indie authors, publish by ourselves!

Yes, we’ll interact with other folks on the internet, but that’s not quite the same as face-to-face … and even on the internet there are things that are difficult for us introverts!

It can be hard to introduce yourself to a new Facebook group. Maybe not after a couple times, but the first one or two? Daunting.

What if you sound painfully awkward? What if you say something wrong? What if you’re breaking the rules? What if you don’t fit in here? The questions pile up, your anxiety won’t let you answer, and you don’t do it at all.

And you miss out on that first connection.

So Push Yourself!

Look, introverted writers. I get it. I’m an introvert! But sometimes you have to make a decision as to which one is more important … your introversion or your writing?

What? you grouch. I can’t just switch my introversion off! It’s a part of me!

Well, you can’t … and you can.

I know it may seem impossible, but sometimes you need to type up something quickly and push “publish” without thinking.

Stumble into a meeting room and talk to an agent and not look back.

Bring up your writing around the family dinner table.

Maybe the first couple times you’ll have to do some prep to get to this point.

Pace up and down the room a couple times because you post on that Facebook group.

Think out carefully what you’ll need to say before talking to that agent.

Hem and haw a few times before getting to the point of things at the dinner table.

But Keep Trying!

I’m willing to bet it’ll get easier with time! After all, “practice makes perfect.” You will never stop being an introvert—and there’s nothing wrong with that!—but you will get better at doing what you need to do as an introvert.

Until then, hang in there! Being an introvert is hard when much of writing—from marketing to getting feedback to making all those important connections—is extrovert work.

However, it can be done—and you’re just the writer for the job!

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Things I Need Help With

Before I go, let me bring up a couple of things I need readers, bloggers, etc. for!

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Reveries Blog Tours will be hosting the last two of Faith Blum‘s Orphans of the West novels! But we need bloggers to make this happen!

Sign up here!

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I already discussed this a ton in this post, so check that out if you want more details, but I need reviewers for Goldfish Secrets!

Sign up here!

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Get Notifications of New Tours!

Are you a blogger? Do you enjoy being featured in blog tours?

Sign up now to get notifications every time Reveries Blog Tour Hosting runs a tour!

By joining the “Bloggers of Reveries” team, you are NOT committing in any way, shape, or form to participate in future blog tours. You’re just signing up for notifications!

I want in!

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Subscribers to my email list now get a freebie ebook, Plot Bunny to Novel! It’s a fun little how-to guide for writers and authors of all shapes and sizes.

Join my list to get the book!

And yeah, that’s all the self promo for now.