Kellyn Roth's Blog: Kellyn Roth, Author, page 42

The Back to School Tag (+Free Ebook!)

[image error]

Hi, everyone! Today we’re doing something a little different … a blog tag!

I know, I know … I’ve done blog tags before. But this one is Mine Own Blog Tag. Which makes it different. *nods*

As you can see, I’m still fooling around with HTML, and so things look a little strange up in harrr. *fails to do an Grumpy Old Miner impression* But it shall improve!

I mean, anyone can create a blog tag, right? It’s not just a privilege for super special people. It’s a free country (er, blogiverse). So … here goes.

Step One: The Rules

As with every blog tag, this one comes with a set of rules. They’re hard rules. Extremely hard rules. And, without further ado …

Thank the person who tagged you. (#shamelessselfpromo)
Answer the questions.
Post new questions. (Or a blank copy of the old questions, if you’re too lazy to make your own (or you just love my questions))
Tag as many (or as few) people as you want. (Try to make sure they’re still doing school!)
Wear something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue. (I can’t confirm this, BUT I’LL KNOW IF YOU LIE, OKAY? MAGICALLY!)
Don’t die. (Death is terrible for the complexion, dearie)

And those are the only rules. *bows*

Step 2: The Questions

I made a big ol’* list of questions for the people I nominate to answer. And … you’re welcome to answer as few or as many of these as you want. (There aren’t that many; I have illusions of grandeur.)

*I don’t know why I’m being so creepy today …

I tried to include of mixture of questions for homeschooled and publicly-schooled peeps, so … this should be good for most everyone? If a question doesn’t apply to you, don’t answer it.

When’s your first day of school?
What do (and don’t) you look forward to about entering the realm of the dead? Uh, I mean the learned?
Homeschooled, public schooled, or private schooled?
What grade are you going into? (if you’re okay sharing)
How many more years of torture do you have to endure learn?
What are your goals for this school year?
What’s your favorite season to school in? Fall, winter, or spring?
How is schooling going to effect your blogging?
What’s your favorite school subject?
Your least favorite?
What subject are you best at?
What subject are you worst at?
What extra-curricular activities are you planning this year (if any)?
How are you preparing for life/college this year (on a conscious level)?
Do you play any sports in school?
Is there any way that schooling is going to help your blogging endeavors? Or how has it helped your blogging skillz in the past?
How much time a day is school going to take for you?
Are you looking forward to seeing friends more often during the school year?
Are you dreading or looking forward to the event (or did you, if it’s already happened)?
What are you most looking forward to about school?
How are you planning to fit actual life in with your school schedule?
What are your overall thoughts on school?

Okay, that was only twenty-two questions … which isn’t loads and loads, but still quite a few!

3: Tag Some Folks

I tagged a few people, although I didn’t want to go too crazy (and tag everyone and there be no one left to tag). I hope most of you are able to eventually do this, and if not, don’t feel like you have to!

I Tag:

Grace @ Grace Matlyn Buckner
Live @ Liv A Little
Zielle @ My Homeschool Notebook
Maddy @ Maddy’s Digital Diary
Violet @ Vibrantly Violet
H.G. @ H.G. Reilly
Jordy @ Jordy Leigh
Paul @ Project Blank Page
May @ Forever and Everly
Megan @ A Barefoot Gal
Charis @ Charis Rae
Angela @ The Peculiar Messenger
Sari @ Penumbra Reviews
Selene @ Hearth
Lana @ The Music of Words
Abi @ The Freckles Fashionista
Megan @ Simply Megan Joy
Molly @ A Sparkle of Light

And … that’s “it.” (hahaha)

Now that I’ve disposed of all the formalities of setting up this blog tag (which I thought would be a fun way to kick off a new school year? Even though I don’t start until September 6th), let’s talk a little about me.

Because that’s basically all we do around here.



So, I’m out of town right now working at a coffee shop for the weekend. I mean, not this instant – I’m scheduling the post ahead of time, and therefore it will take me awhile to notify all the people I tagged; probably until Monday.

So that’s why I’m not currently replying to comments, etc.

[image error]

The Promised Free Ebook

The Lady of the Vineyard is free today only on Amazon Kindle! You can grab your copy here. It’s also on Kindle Unlimited, so if you have that, you can read it anytime. (And, if you want to share the link around a little, that’ll be nice. I had this set up before I knew I was going to be out of town, so …)

Enjoy!

Arrivederci!

~Kellyn Roth~

Facebook | Goodreads | Bloglovin’

p.s.

Are you interested in doing this blog tag? (Consider yourself nominated, if so.) Does it look fun? Is going back to school the torture for you that it is for me? Actually, feel free to answer any of the “back to school” questions in the comments! Did you download The Lady of the Vineyard?

Of Typewriters and Flowers

[image error]I am so dissatisfied with this graphic that it’s not even funny. But I’m running late. So.

Hello ladies and gentlemen! Welcome to another post on my blog (*doesn’t know what else to say*). We have a couple exciting announcements at the bottom of this post, but before we get around to that, other stuff is happening.

Which … is ridiculously vague, but there you have it.

OTHER STUFF IS HAPPENING.

Hopefully, by this point, you are ridiculously excited. You’re sitting there at your laptop*, screaming and jumping up and down**, and everyone is giving you weird looks, but you ignore them.

Because there’s no such thing as normal. Moving on.

*Or … holding your iPhone … or however the kids are doing it these days.

**while you’re sitting. I honestly don’t know how this works.

The title may have been kind of confusing until you spied the graphic. “Oh, she’s acquired an old electric typewriter and is now going to brag on it … how fun ….”

Well, no. Well, yes, actually. I am going to brag a little bit because IT IS SO FREAKIN’ COOL GUYS I CAN’T EVEN!

[image error]

However, the main portion of this post will consist of me talking about what I’ve been doing with that typewriter (along with some incredibly blurred photos; I still haven’t learn how to use the new camera I got for my birthday).

Now, flowers have always been something I’ve admired and liked … but I’ve never been obsessed with them. Sure, I use them on my blog (and so do many popular bloggers), but … I’m not specially attached to them. I just like them because they’re pretty and feminine and romantic.

But … I know someone who is kinda obsessed with flowers. And that is my very own Adele Collier (or Kee, depending on where she is in her life).

As some of you may remember, I wrote a sequel to The Lady of the Vineyard for Christian readers only (Flowers) and published it on my blog. And obviously it needed a lot of editing, but y’all were fairly supportive.

And … kinda just put it aside.

And it was put aside.

Until this July.

As you know, I was on an enforced hiatus throughout much of July and part of this month, and I was bored stiff.

So … I got out the typewriter.

I’d kind of known it was up in the closet, but I’d never actually been curious enough to find it and drag it down.

[image error]

But there it is! In all its typewritery glory. The sound it makes is so awesome, and it’s … it’s just fun. I feel old-fashioned (even though it’s electric; my mom kept it from when she was little or something like that?) when I type on it, which is very satisfactory for me.

So. We’ve laid out all the basics. And here’s what I did with that typewriter.

[image error]

That’s right! I typed up the entirety of Flowers! I made some revisions while doing this. I think the book ended up worse off than when I started (as you can see, my typing skills, minus backspace, are none too perfect!), but it was fun.

Now I’m working on typing it up on the computer.

What will happen to Flowers after that?

Glad you asked, Clyde! (That’s your name now. I want you to start introducing yourself as “Clyde” to everyone you meet. Because that’s your name. Don’t worry; it’ll catch on …)

After I get it all typed up, I’m going to be publishing it!

So … eventually I will need beta-readers. Stay tuned.

Keep in mind, though, that it’s good ol’ Christian fiction (unlike TLOTV), so it’s definitely not everyone’s cup o’ tea … even more so than historical fiction. (Which most people dislike for some reason? *says the girl who basically just reads hifi*)

I’ve yet to decide on an official publishing date for this novelette, but it may be sometime this winter. I won’t be doing a blog tour or anything, though. Maybe just a one-day blog party or something.

This is more important!
I HAVE A NEW WEBSITE!

That’s right. Weebly didn’t end up working for me, y’know? I’m just a WordPress girl. Nothing else works the way I want it to.

Without further ado …

The Official Website of One Kellyn Roth, author

Eventually, I’ll be buying a custom domain and theme, but right now it’s just kellynrothauthor.wordpress.com, which I admit is ridiculously similar to kellynroth.wordpress.com (Reveries!).

Hopefully not too many people will get mixed up by this, though. *clears throat* Yeah, lots of people are gonna get mixed up by this …

Anyway, it’s still a work-in-progress. I’ll be making some improvements over the next couple days, though, hopefully.

On that note …

If you see links to my old Weebly website floating around, let me know! I want to get rid of that link and replace it with the new one ASAP!

An Additional (Last) Announcement

I have a Twitter account!

Okay, I don’t have a Twitter account. I’m not allowed to have a Twitter account. But I did create one, so I’m prepared for when my parents (miraculously) give me permission. Which may be sometime after 2020. *nods*

So … it’s there? I can’t use it and it’s useless, but it’s there?

I’m such a goof sometimes.



[image error]

Arrivederci!

~Kellyn Roth~

Facebook | Goodreads | Bloglovin’

p.s.

Have you ever typed on an old typewriter? Typed a story on an old typewriter? What (creative) things have you done when you’re off technology? Are you excited for Flowers? Did you notice my graphics? That I messed with HTML? (It’s all May’s fault.) On that note, am I imitating you too much, May? I feel like I am. But … I liked pink first?

DIY a Cover via Canva

[image error]

A couple months ago, Perry Elisabeth, a talented designer, posted on Wordquill, an amazing blog. Like, seriously, Wordquill has some of the best advice for writers and authors and a lot of fun freebies.

No, that wasn’t just a random, general statement. This post was How to DIY a Stunning eBook Cover without Photoshop. It’s a great post chock-full of useful information for this Indie author who sometimes wants to create her own cover without the help of fancy tech.

Unfortunately … I don’t even have the slightly-less-fancy-tech required to make a cover using her instructions, such as PicMonkey. Mostly because I can’t afford it.*

However, if you do happen to have PicMonkey (or Photoshop or GIMP or even a cheap/free photo-editing program), you can head over to that post and make a cover using Perry Elisabeth’s instructions. There’s a video and everything!

(Remember, you have to sign up for the Wordquill newsletter – worth it! – to get the freebies password and download the template.)

*see Wednesday’s post
However, I use Canva …

And though almost everyone hates Canva, I love it. And I wanted to use it to create a gorgeous cover even though I’m bad at designing.

After watching Perry’s video, I realized that the covers you can make with her template are soooo pretty, and though I probably am going to continue having my professional covers done by a professional designer, I want to use these as a WIP covers.

Some I’ve done so far (using Canva + one part of the Book Cover Design Kit) include …

[image error] [image error]

[image error] [image error] [image error]

See? Pwetty. Okay, I guess some of them are a little weird, but I really enjoyed making them, and they’re not half-bad, and that’s what matters.

So here’s how I’ve did them.

[image error]

Once you get on your Canva account (signing up is pretty simple), click on the ‘eBook’ design. That’s how I do it usually. Sometimes I use custom dimensions, too.

[image error]

So up comes the above screen. You have all kind of options. The first step is to upload two images (or just one, depending on how you’re going to do this) that are great for your novel. (And yes, that’s the hard part, but I won’t advice you on it here.)

[image error]

I just used morbid pictures from Canva, though. However, you shouldn’t do this ’cause the Canva images are lame.

[image error]

So grab two images (that you uploaded … not got from Canva … like a good little child …) and place them kinda like that. You could do lots of different things here, but this is the simple way.

[image error]

Anyway, upload the “whitetwoimage” (it’s basically a clear layover that … becomes white in the middle …) from your downloads or wherever you saved it, and place it in the middle of the cover, like above. (You were supposed to download that earlier, remember?)

[image error]

… and then add text! And you’re done!

[image error]

So now you know how to do that.

That was possibly the dumbest thing I’ve ever done on this blog, but I hope a couple of you benefited from this in a small way. Or maybe a big way. I know most of you are amazing designers – especially my blogger friends; you guys are good! – but … for the non-designers.

This post is for you.

And for myself. Because this forced me to do a little extra designing and practice some. I really do want to do this sometime as a grownup. I enjoy this so dang much.

But, in summary, let me just say …

I’m sorry for doing a post 98% of you won’t enjoy, but I am a Canva-lover, unashamedly, and I don’t care. My blog. My rules.

Arrivederci!

~Kellyn Roth~

Facebook | Goodreads | Bloglovin’

p.s.

Did you enjoy this post? Do you use Canva or hate it? Are my covers pwetty? Or simple pretty? Do you ever use babytalk when you’re being silly? I just do to annoy my brothers. It makes them roll their eyes. Definitely worth it.

Money + Plans for Money + Other Stuff

[image error]

I was just thinking along, minding my own business, when suddenly, it hit me.

I’m going into my last year of school.

After I’m finished, I intend to get a job, save money, and take some community college courses for the first year. And … those are honestly my only plans.

I mean, I want to be an English lit teacher, assuming some amazing guy doesn’t walk into my life (magically) before then, but … I’m not 100% sure that’s really what I want to do with my life.

There are so many options nowadays. Sometimes I wish I were Alice, heading off to her Season, with only one thing she could possibly do – marry. And I don’t in any way think women – or anyone – should be forced to do something they don’t want to do … but in my case, I really want to get married, so …? Nobody’s forcing me. *coughs*

Maybe I can switch places with a debutante who wants to be, I don’t know, a lawyer.

All jokes aside, I’ve decided I need to start being serious about saving money for college and other things. I don’t intend to leave my home right away (I have a pink bedroom; what more could a girl want?), but … I feel like I need a game plan.

I’m big into game plans*. I recently put one together for my other blog, Reveries Reviews. This basically consists of updating it and posting something other than reviews**, but at least it is a plan.

[image error]Megan @A Barefoot Gal did this for me … she’s fantastic, am I right?

And you know what? It stinks that I pay less attention to real life than to my secondary blog.

*even though I never follow them …
**Which is a bad idea for any book blog, to be honest. Boooorrrrrriiiiiinnnnngggg!!!
So what now?

We’ve (haha, WE! Oddly enough, we’ve kinda missed we …) already said that we needs a game plan. What’s the game plan gonna be?

Here are some awesome (ha …) steps to the game plan.

1: Spend less money.

This is the obvious one. Although, before this month, we haven’t really bought anything since Christmas? Most birthday presents came out of we’s allowance. XD

2: Earn some money.

We’re going to be working at a coffee/deli for a weekend (25th, 26th, and 27th), but we need to find a way to put away a little more money semi-consistently. We know we probably won’t be working until 2018 at the earliest, at least not at the job we have in mind, so yep, we need to find a different way.

This is the hardest one.

3: Actually budget.

We hate the very idea of budgeting. We’ve always been very relaxed about money and spending money in general, mostly because we don’t care, and, since we don’t have any expenses, we don’t have a reason to care.

But now we need to develop a budget and stick to it. (Although … honestly, if we wanted, we could not spend money except for Christmas and birthday presents? This thing with actually buying stuff is new to we. Normally we’d just not buy anything …)

4: Figure out if you actually need to do any of this.

Like we said, we’s backup plan (unless Handsome Princess + White Charger shows up) is to go to college, but … the Backup Plan doesn’t necessarily have to be put into swing? We could work for a little longer. We don’t see a need to go to college anytime soon, and we is fine with not schooling anymore than we have to.

Soooo … all this may be null and void? We’re not sure. We don’t think college is necessarily in the stars for we, and if it’s not, we’re essentially saving for the point when we’s parents lose their fortune and can no longer support we.

We feel like we’ll probably get married before they kick we out.

Probably.*

*We don’t know any boys now, and we’re not particularly interested in them, soooo …? We don’t even have the slightest desire to date. It seems like all we’s goals are attacking each other. WHY IS IT THAT WE HAVE TO BE ALL UNMODERN AND NOT REALLY WANT A NICE NORMAL EASY CAREER THAT WE CAN JUST GET IF WE WORK HARD ENOUGH?!?!

There. We have now discussed something so personal that we is incredibly afraid to push publish. We may not. We’ll see how this post goes later on. *mysterious waving sounds*

Back to me. Like, away from we. *glares at we for invading*

|A Couple Updates|

Finally submitted Part 2 of Quiet! You can read more about that here. I also finished Part 3 and am working on Part 4. I don’t know how many parts there will be. I need to re-outline, as I’ve taken the story in a new direction.

[image error]

Added a couple of my books to Goodreads. At Her Fingertips and Quiet are both add-able now. If you want to mark them as to-read, I won’t stop you …

I Am Sixteen (Goin’ On Seventeen)

[image error]

Last year I did a post on my birthday which was mostly excited and random and unintelligible. I did some blog tags and then spouted a bunch of random ‘facts.’

However, there was also a ranty section at the bottom where I discussed how my birthday was going awry, how depressed I was, etc. And yes, it didn’t turn out like I’d planned, which was really sad.

However, I’ve decided not to be so pouty (spellcheck says that’s not a word …) about my birthday this year.

This year, the DMV has decided to delay me getting my license until September 6th because it’s “busy.” (And yes, it probably actually is, but I’m pretending that the DMV is doing this on purpose just to break my heart.) And my dog is dying*.

*Which is true, but totally unrelated to my birthday.

However, I really need to stop whining when things go wrong. It’s a bad habit of mine. So … today I’m going to be positive.

AND THERE IS SO MUCH TO BE POSITIVE ABOUT!

Even though the DMV is going all crazy on me, that’s okay. I’m chill with it.* I mean, at first I was furiously angry (I’m still a little peeved), but I feel like if I’m mature enough to get a license I need to be mature enough to not let this ruin my special day.**

*AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH
**What? You thought a girl’s “special day” was her wedding? Well, not for me. I actually dislike weddings with all their emotions and dysfunctional AC units.

What matters is that awesome stuff is going down*. Right here. Right now.

*And, y’know, cake + presents + awesome party with friends + cool party with family + etc.

First item on the list …

|Favorite Posts|

Before they realized I was talking about my birthday, not my blog’s birthday, some friends of mine suggested I talk my favorite blog posts.

And even though it’s not Reveries’s birthday, I’m going to go ahead and talk about some of my faves. Because I’m a #rebel

(And … these aren’t necessarily my all-time favorites. They’re just a couple posts that I remembered being proud of in these last couple months.)

The Dos and Donts of Naming Characters
How to Use Pinterest as an Author
When You Feel Like Giving Up
Ten Things You Need to do to Survive as an Author

Those aren’t really my all-time favorite posts. I don’t even know how many of them make the top ten. But … I’m on a bit of a time-rush. And it’s my blog. I can post links to random posts if I want …

|Things I’ve Learned|

I thought I should share some of the awesome things I’ve learned in my sixteen years I’ve existed on this earth. Granted, I haven’t learned a lot … but I feel like I need to share my little bits of wisdom with y’all.

Cartoons should not contain lessons. Unless that lesson is that if you shoot someone it won’t really hurt them. *nods*

Six-year-olds are sometimes better conversationalists than sixteen-year-olds. Like, seriously. They’re smarter and generally don’t talk about boys.

Accepting every review copy* sent to you is probably a bad idea. AAAAAH!!!

*I just came up with a great idea for a story! Picture this: an evil website collects ARCs from faithless bloggers and sells them to exorbitant prices to smitten fangirls!

Unless challenged, you probably should avoid shouting your opinions/beliefs. Even then, you should be gracious and kind, not shoving your own thoughts and feelings on certain subjects on other people.

Crying is totally underrated. I used to think crying was for weaklings only. But I was wrong. Teen girls should learn to cry to get their way. I haven’t mastered it yet, but someday … *wistful expression*

Border collies are so awesome that their awesomeness is just overwhelming awesome. #redundant

No one really deserves anything from anyone else except life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. I just call it like I see it …

By the way, it was originally ‘life, liberty, and property.’ WHY COULDN’T THEY JUST LEAVE IT THAT WAY!?! You can’t define ‘the pursuit of happiness.’ Property, however? Yep. Pretty definable.

Boys just aren’t worth it until you’re older. Because I felt like I had to have some sort of an opinion on dating. I do want to date someday, but just not yet, y’know? (Ho, that’s not at all ’cause I just don’t know any boys who I’m remotely interested in … why do you ask such a silly question?)

A spanked child is a happy child. And I won’t hear your silly opinions about ‘violence not solving anything.’ It’s not violence. It’s a parent delivering due consequences to the little person they’ve been given the care of.

And yeah, that’s all I’ve learned except school stuff and things that aren’t that excited and have been said fifty times, like religious convictions and such.

And … yep. That’s all I’ve learned.*

*Okay, maybe it isn’t. Though I am pretty dumb sometimes … okay, most of the time …
Accomplishments

Although I know you don’t believe me, I’ve accomplished lots of things in my sixteen years.* And I’m going to tell you about them.

*Lots may be a teensy-weensy bit of an exaggeration …

Written three 50K+ novels (TDS, IvIn, and AFOP), a novella (TLOTV), and a novelette (Flowers; I’m editing it, and it got longer!) as well as several short stories (I think six or seven, though I’m not going to give it serious thought) and dozens of poems.
Half-written a novel (Once a Stratton, 40K so far) and many, many, many other novels (which have been trashed/put away for later).
Published two novels and a novella.
Read at least 551 books; reviewed over 300 of those on Goodreads.
Published two blogs. Am still writing in them.
Kinda-sorta have a vlog? At least I tried, haha.
Survived 3 NaNoWriMos and 4 Camp NaNoWriMos.
Fluent in Looney Tunes.
Actually, fluent in a lot of different things that have no meaning …
#CartoonsHaveNoMeaning
#ButTheyreStillAwesome
Watched waaaay too much Rhett&Link, Studio C, and Film Theory.
Is just a little obsessed with the following fandoms:
Gone with the Wind (I can’t help it, okay? And I swear Scarlett O’Hara is me as an evil selfish brat who needs Jesus …)
Jane Austen (although … I don’t know, am I the only one who doesn’t like Sense and Sensibility as much?)
Downton Abbey (am I the only one who feels like Mary sometimes? Like an awesome ice queen?)
The Paradise (I actually am a little irritated with Moray and feeling bad for Katherine at the minute, though.)
Psych (*maintains eye-contact* *refuses to be ashamed*)
Gilmore Girls (^^)
How to Train Your Dragon (movies and TV shows … yep …)
Phineas and Ferb (I CAN’T HELP IT OKAY IT’S SO CLEVER!)
John Wayne (I don’t want as many of his movies as I used to, but darn, he’s good!)
Most old movies (some of my favorites include Bringing Up Baby, Arsenic and Old Lace, His Girl Friday, Rebecca, The Philadelphia Story, Notorious, The Thin Man …)
The Marx Brothers. I’m not appologizing.
Cary Grant (what?)
Keira Knightley (I’m sorry; she’s just so good! And Pride and Prejudice 2003 is soooo awesome! I’m sorry; I don’t get 1995. The Elizabeth isn’t nearly as good …)
Pirates of the Caribbean (I AM NOT ASHAMED! Especially the first and last one …)
Most old musicals (Guys and Dolls, The Music Man, The Sound of Music, Hello, Dolly!, High Society, West Side Story, My Fair Lady, GiGi, Singin’ in the Rain … shall I go on?)
Hitchcock thrillers (Vertigo is my all-time favorite, but I like Rear Window, Charade, and To Catch a Thief, too … and Rope, oh my word …)
Practically all the music in the world except the songs I don’t like.
And I have yet to back down about my love of country music. So that’s something.
And a lot of other things. Because I’m pretty well-balanced. (Okay, I’m not at all, but whatever … #AllIDoIsWrite)
Has gone through two years of high school. (Only one to go!)
And eight years of school before that + kindergarten + preschool.
Has two little brothers. Neither are dead yet.
Just kidding. I would never kill my brothers.
Or would I?
Faced down three bees, multiple spiders, two snakes, and an angry momma cow.
Never really played video or computer games. Just wasn’t into it. *shrugs*
Hasn’t exploded from all the plot bunnies + character whispers.
Ooh, I got my food-handler’s certificate Wednesday! I can now handle your sandwiches and smoothies. Legally.
Won three or four first prize ribbons for knitting. Because it’s not hard at all and basically anyone can get a first prize ribbon by not making mistakes.
I did have my slippers sent to state fair and win first prize again, though. So there’s that.
I’ve been riding a horse these last couple weeks! I swear I’m going to remember to take pictures soon. He’s such a dear. The lady has me off the lead now, weaving in and out of cones and that kind of thing. It’s super fun!
World Champion Chocolate Eater.
Well, World Champion Sugared-Food Consumer, at least.
I have half a dozen amazing friends in real life who are so incredibly sweet and supportive.

Wow, I sure listed a lot of fandoms up there … but to be honest, I’ve just been waiting to tell you all that, soooo …

Gosh, we’re already at 15 hundred words! Unbelieveable. Well, let’s add some more words to that rapidly-growing number!

|Giveaway|

That’s right! I decided to do a giveaway. It’s a somewhat boring giveaway, but you can enter anyway. Basically, the winner gets an ebook copy of each of my published novels, The Dressmaker’s Secret, Ivy Introspective, and The Lady of the Vineyard. You can view these books here.

Enter the giveaway!

By the way, my books are now on expanded distribution which means they’re available on quite a few sales channels. Check them out!

The Dressmaker’s Secret

Ivy Introspective

The Lady of the Vineyard

See? Now you can get on practically any sales channel and grab a copy. Wouldn’t that be a great birthday present?

On Being Third

This is a post I wrote for Send the Light, the Christian blog I co-author on. If you’re a Christian, check it out! If not … carry on.

Summer Goals + Updates

[image error]

Hello ladies and gents!

First, I’m going to have to ask my friend Lana to forgive me for using her beautiful illustration without her permission. I quite frankly forgot to ask. I did credit her, however. So … am I forgiven?* I’m a terrible person.

Second, this is a kind of random post with a bunch of different stuff in it. There will be some writing updates, some life updates, and some random ramblings. AND, of course, I’ll be having some Summer Goals. Because I came up with another batch. #CantDecide

*No, I don’t actually expect you to forgive me, Lana. You can hate me forever … if you want ….

Okay, let’s start with my summer goals. (Becausewe’rekeepingthismovingalong! #speedy)

|Summer Goals|

I do realize we’re already over halfway through the summer … but it’s never too late to make some goals. Am I right? Okay, maybe I’m wrong, but whatever …

Go to bed and get up at a decent time consistently.
Get your driver’s license and keep practicing.
Make a semi-decent sum of money via hard work.
Finish writing Once a Stratton.
Write Adae.
Finish first round of revisions of At Her Fingertips.
Outline Beyond Her Calling.
Continue to promote your published works.
Read North and South and Little Women.
Read Northanger Abbey and The Hunchback of Notre Dame.
Finish off review copies.
Review as many books as you possibly can.
Ride horses.
Visit your grandparents regularly.
Volunteer at the museum. Learn lots of history.
Feel as if you’ve accomplished something at the end of every day.
Practice your clarinet, saxophone, guitar, and piano.

See? Lotsa goals! I’m not going to talk about them because that would make this post unnecessarily wrong … but now you know what I’m intending to do with the rest of my #summer. (I don’t know what’s up with the #s …)

|It’s a Horsie!|

I got horse-riding lessons! HOORAH! I literally just had my first today. His name is Peppy. Not the riding instructor. The riding instructor’s name is Cathy. But we care more about Peppy than Cathy at this point.

Juuuust kidding. Cathy’s important, too … because she’s telling me what to do on Peppy.

June Wrapup + Hiatus

Wowza … July already? I know I’ve said this practically every month, but time flies. Time is like the jet plane of flying. I dislike time mightily …

I feel like I didn’t do a lot in June, but I did publish two books. So that includes a lot of formatting and sweat and blood and such. #NoBloodNoGutsNoGame #OrNoBook*

Anyways, let’s move on! Well, actually, we’re moving back ’cause we’re reviewing June. Which reminds me of how much reviewing I need to do. *shivers*

*My friend Bailey told me that I need to capitalize the first letter of #hashtags with more than one word so it’s easier to read. Like #IDontKnowWhyImHashtagging But no punctuation. ‘Cause even I won’t break that rule …
|June is Gone?|

(The answer to that question would be, “Yes. Yes, it is.”)

[image error]

Let’s review our June Dares.

Reading

Read fifteen books. Check! I read seventeen if you count TDS. I also read IvIn through twice.
.Two must be classics. Failed. Unless you want to count When Hope Springs New as a classic (I thought not …), I didn’t even attempt to read a classic. BUT I SHALL! SOON! I’m in the middle of three, actually – Northanger Abbey (whoever thinks this is not equal to the rest of Austen’s works is crazy!), Uncle Tom’s Cabin (really boring so far; I wonder if it’s only popular because it’s groundbreaking …), and North and South (though I’ve been reading this since … I don’t know … ten years ago?).
Three must be review copies. Kinda. I could count The Whimsicals, A Place Called Lonesome, and A Question of Courage as review copies. Technically I was alpha-reading aQoC …
Five must be from your summer reading list. Failed. I read The Elite, which was on my summer reading list. And I think that’s the only one …
Two must be to-be-read books. Check! An Uncommon Courtship, The Lost Heiress, When Hope Springs New, To the Farthest Shores, It Happened at the Fair, After a Fashion, All in Good Time, and A Lady of Esteem were all to-be-read books … XD

[image error]

Writing

Publish TDS and IvIn. Check! I actually succeeded at something, guys! *dancing*
Write up to 35K of Once a Stratton. Failed. I’m only at 30K now, I think …
Brainstorm for a Snow White retelling. Check! I think I’ve got a pretty good idea where I want it to go.
Organize my snippets, plot bunnies, and other to-be-writtens. Check! I got a binder now … it’s pwetty. *goofy grin*
Outline that story I’m not telling my readers about yet. Failed. Well. I guess you still won’t be told, then …

TDS and IvIn Blog Tour: Wrap-Up

[image error]

That’s right … we’ve finally reached the end of the blog tour! Two winners have been chosen (one for USA, one for International) and a name will be drawn from my list of newsletter subscribers for their choice of an ebook.*

Before you see who the winners are, I have a few (other) announcements.**

*This will be announced in my newsletter later today.
**Because obviously you need to know who won, but I like to be infuriating. Even though you’ll probably skip ahead like the bad person you are. #SinNature

First, you should know that you can still do the following …

|Clickety Click?|

Signup here to receive notifications whenever I have a blog tour signup open. The next one will probably be sometime next spring, just so you know.
Interested in reviewing my books? You can sign up here.
You can now order a signed paperback copy of any one of my novels. Do that here. Copies of either TDS or IvIn will cost $9.99 and a copy of TLOTV will cost $7.99. This does include shipping.

These forms will be open for at least another week if not more.

|The Complete Schedule|

Tuesday the 20th

-Lana @ The Music of Words (book and character spotlight)

Wednesday the 21st

-Faith Blum @ Bookish Orchestrations (author interview)

Thursday the 22nd

-Leona @ Great Books for God’s Girls (review of IvIn, author interview)

Friday the 23rd

-Jordy @ Jordy Leigh (author interview)

-Tonya @ Literary Musings (reviews of TDS and IvIn)

Saturday the 24th

-May Everly @ Forever and Everly (author interview)

-Zane Jones @ Simple Impossibilities (author interview)

Sunday the 25th

-Dani Eide @ Perspective of a Writer (character interview and spotlight)

Monday the 26th

-Anika Joy @ This Journey Called Life (review of TDS and IvIn)

-Maddy @ Girls Living for God’s Glory (book spotlight)

Tuesday the 27th

-Heather @ Frozen Books Blog (guest post)

Wednesday the 28th

-Jesseca Wheaton @ Whimsical Writings for His Glory (author interview, book spotlight)

-Jaylee Morgan @ Jaylee Morgan Writes (character interview and guest post)

-Zielle @ My Homeschool Notebook (review of TDS, review of IvIn)

-J.C. Buchanan @ Beyond the Amethyst (review of TDS and IvIn)

Thursday the 29th

-Sari Briel @ Penumbra Reviews (review of TDS and IvIn, author interview)

Friday the 30th

-Sel H. @ Hearth (author interview)

-Angela R. Watts @ The Peculiar Messenger (author interview)

-Lainey @ Direct My Paths (review of TDS, character interview)

|And of course …|
Buy The Dressmaker’s Secret: books2read.com/thedressmakerssecret
Buy Ivy Introspective: Amazon
|Vlogs|

In case you missed one (because the internet has been delaying uploads for hours upon hours), you can find all the vlogs on my YouTube channel. A couple of the Q&As have yet to be uploaded, but they will be coming out soon.

|Giveaway Winners|

So now it’s time to announce the winners!

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

 

.

.

.

.

Keep scrolling.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

And the winners are …

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Heather Johnson and Victoria Minks.

Congratulations, ladies! I’ll be sending you an email shortly so we can figure things out.

TDS and IvIn Blog Tour: Day 11

[image error]

Welcome to the last day of the blog tour! Aren’t you excited? I sure am! We’ve got a couple great posts for you and three Q&A videos.*

Tomorrow morning I’ll be announcing the giveaway winners (and some other exciting stuff), so stay tuned! I’ll also be including an excerpt of The Chronicles of Alice and Ivy, Book 3 … because obviously y’all need another one.**

*Though they may appear a little later; uploading takes forever!
**… even though I posted like fifty during NaNo …

|Today’s Posts|

Sel H. published an author interview.
Angela R. Watts published an author interview.
Lainey published a review of TDS and a character interview

Three amazing posts by three amazing girls!

Sel published an author interview, complete with great replies and comments. Besides, she’s just so sweet to me. ❤

Angela also published an author interview. She asked me some thoughtful, amazing questions. My favorite was, “Which character from The Chronicles of Alice and Ivy do you feel most resembles you?”

 Lainey published a review of The Dressmaker’s Secret and a wonderful character interview with Alice Chattoway. Both were amazing! She was so complimentary in the review, and she asked Alice some great questions.
|Schedule|

Tuesday the 20th

-Lana @ The Music of Words (book and character spotlight)

Wednesday the 21st

-Faith Blum @ Bookish Orchestrations (author interview)

Thursday the 22nd

-Leona @ Great Books for God’s Girls (review of IvIn, author interview)

Friday the 23rd

-Jordy @ Jordy Leigh (author interview)

-Tonya @ Literary Musings (reviews of TDS and IvIn)

Saturday the 24th

-May Everly @ Forever and Everly (author interview)

-Zane Jones @ Simple Impossibilities (author interview)

Sunday the 25th

-Dani Eide @ Perspective of a Writer (character interview and spotlight)

Monday the 26th

-Anika Joy @ This Journey Called Life (review of TDS and IvIn)

-Maddy @ Girls Living for God’s Glory (book spotlight)

Tuesday the 27th

-Heather @ Frozen Books Blog (guest post)

Wednesday the 28th

-Jesseca Wheaton @ Whimsical Writings for His Glory (author interview, book spotlight)

-Jaylee Morgan @ Jaylee Morgan Writes (character interview and guest post)

-Zielle @ My Homeschool Notebook (review of TDS, review of IvIn)

-J.C. Buchanan @ Beyond the Amethyst (review of TDS and IvIn)

Thursday the 29th

-Sari Briel @ Penumbra Reviews (review of TDS and IvIn, author interview)

Friday the 30th

-Sel H. @ Hearth (author interview)

-Angela R. Watts @ The Peculiar Messenger (author interview)

-Lainey @ Direct My Paths (review of TDS, character interview)

|Free Stuff|

[image error]

You only have a little more time to enter the giveaway. Like, seriously. This is legit the last day. *nods*

|Things To Click|

Signup here to receive notifications whenever I have a blog tour signup open. The next one will probably be sometime next spring, just so you know.
Interested in reviewing my books? You can sign up here.
You can now order a signed paperback copy of any one of my novels. Do that here. Copies of either TDS or IvIn will cost $9.99 and a copy of TLOTV will cost $7.99. This does include shipping.

|Things to Buy|
Buy The Dressmaker’s Secret:

Amazon, Goodreads, Barnes&Nobles, Createspace, Kobo, iBooks, and Inktera

Buy Ivy Introspective:

Amazon and Goodreads

|Vlogs|

Today we have (not one, not two, but) three Q&A blogs!

(COMING SOON!)

There. I think that’s all the questions. Thanks for asking! ❤

~Kellyn Roth~

Facebook | Goodreads | Bloglovin’ | Pinterest | Amazon | Google+ | Newsletter

p.s.

Did you enjoy Angela and Sel’s interviews? What about Lainey’s review and character interview? I thought they were all awesome!