Loretta Marchize's Blog, page 4

Becoming Miss Knight Cover Reveal

Hey everyone! Today coming a day early to share Kellyn’s Roth new novella, Becoming Miss Knight. I had the pleasure of being a beta reader for her earlier this year and I absolutely loved this little novella. It’s the perfect length for an afternoon read.

The blurb:

Becoming Miss Knight is no easy task, but surrender is not an option.

Alice Knight’s debut is in less than a year, and everything has to be perfect. Of course, she’d rather be riding her horse or playing with her younger siblings than learning to curtsy. But, with her mother in France for a holiday, the care of the house falls to her—and what better time to learn what it really means to be a lady?

Ivy, her twin sister, has other things on her mind. Namely, the endless conundrum of why she promised to keep an eye on her younger siblings while her parents are gone. She’s the least-qualified person to take care of them, but, bound by her word, she’s determined to try.

Even with all the guidance and advice available, becoming Miss Knight isn’t proving to be easy for either of them. However, any amount of work is worth keeping a promise to their mother.

This short novella, set between Ivy Introspective and At Her Fingertips, is the first Alice and Ivy novella to launch.

And of course, here is the moment you’ve been waiting for, the cover itself!

I’m very excited for this novel, and you should definitly all check it out! Here’s Kell’s bio and links:

Kellyn Roth is a Christian historical women’s fiction & romance author from North-Eastern Oregon who has independently published multiple novels, the most notable being The Chronicles of Alice and Ivy series. You should definitely call her Kell.

Kell lives on family-owned property outside an unmemorable but historical town with her parents, two little brothers, arbitrary cat, precious border collies, a dozen cows, and lots of chickens. She also possesses a classic, vintage aesthetic which does not at all speak to her country girl side, but such is life.

When not writing, Kell likes to blog, teach writing to her various students, have day jobs which allow her to keep her car properly insured, and spend lavish amounts of money on Dairy Queen french fries. She also likes to talk about Keira Knightley and her own books. Just … way too much. You’ve been warned.

https://kellynrothauthor.com https://instagram.com/kellynrothauthor https://facebook.com/kellynrothauthor/

You can preorder it here!

As always, remember to like, comment, or share, whatever floats your boat! Until next time!

New Year Resolutions- 2021

Hello everyone! I’m back! I went on a mini hiatus over the holidays because they were extremely busy for me. We went on our spring vacation the last day of winter break, and I already had other obligations to fulfill before we left.

This being said, I have some plans for the new year! I’m starting an Instagram account, which is NOT public yet, but will be soon. There I’ll be posting pictures of my bullet journal and sharing some of my techniques. I’ll also be sharing some pictures of my novels, and some other surprises!

So today I’m sharing some semblance of new years resolutions and my personal opinion on them. Later this year I’ll share a little on how much I accomplished with this and at the end of the year I’ll be sharing a wrap-up post! All credit for this idea goes to one of my favorite bloggers: Kellyn Roth. You should go check out her blog, Lilacs and Reveries!

My Thoughts on Resolutions

For years I’ve poo-pooed new years resolutions, and really resolutions in general. I mean, we all know how they end up, right? Tossed out the window in a few months. Now, I still hold to that general opinion, but that being said I have since realized that goals themselves do not need to be tied to resolutions and can be more reliable. I particularly like the SMART goal method, which I learned last fall.

Now, all that being said, I’m going to share a few of my goals for this year!

My Goals

1. Become a more Godly young woman

I have a lot of little parts to this, and I’ve been working on it since this fallvery personal so I’m not going to share everything!basically I’m going to be diving into the bible a lot morepraying as much as I possibly can- 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

2. Work on Marketing/blog stuff

some mini goals inside this goal, this is the broad versionI’m hoping to reach 300 followers, 350 would be amazing, but like they say aim low and overachievemaybe that’s just my dad who says that. but. nonetheless I’m going to host a giveaway at 300 and hopefully give away some gift boxes… we’ll see what happens!this also includes starting an Instagram account (!)and publishing my next novel on February 11th- more on that later!

3. Bullet Journal

this really doesn’t deserve it’s own category but I don’t know where else to put itthis year I’m hoping to get some new markersalso be more consistentand creative, whatever that entailsbasically since I finally have the whole bullet journal figured out and this is my second year, I want it to actually look good

4. Personal

this includes spending less time on social media (hello, app timers!)singing!! you might not know, but I’m in my school’s show choirexercise! for obvious reasons. also track season.

My Most Used Writing Apps

Now, I always write my first draft by hand, and plot with pen and paper too. But I thought I’d share some of my favorite apps that I use later in the process!

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Evernote

I’ve mentioned this in previous posts, I think. I use evernote to store my blurbs, dedications, quotes, and general plans and notes that I have. I like it because it has the option to put notes in folders, which is nice when you have multiple series.

Google Keep

I use keep for three things: name lists, author bio, and checklists. I store the things I need more long-term here, and my day-to-day work lists.

Google docs

Technically this isn’t an app, but it’s worth mentioning. I use docs to share my documents with betas and editors, and I use it to edit myself. I store all my novels in google drive as well. It connects really well with google keep, so that’s a feature I like.

Fast Pencil

This is something new I’m trying out. I’m not sure if I’ll keep using it, but I’m working on formatting my novel The Runaway Princess, and this is what I’m trying currently. I’ll tell you guys more about it if I decide to stick with it. I’ve also used Reedsy’s book formatting but it’s too simple for me. I like a little more control over formatting, but it’s a really good free resource for first-time authors or those who don’t like formatting!

I hope you find one of these useful, and maybe find a new favorite writing app! I’m still looking for some better way to store plots/character arcs, so if anyone has any ideas for that please leave a comment and let me know what you use!

As always, remember to like, comment, or share, whatever floats your boat! Until next time!

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My Favorite Pens

Technically I’m sharing my top favorite pens, pencils, and markers today, but that’s too long of a title! These are all the pens I use for my bullet journal, which I’ll be sharing pictures of at a later time. I am linking back to where I bought all of these pens, mostly from Walmart, but nothing is an affiliated link or sponsored!

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Regular pens

For an every day pen, and most of my bullet journal as well, I use the Paper Mate Ink Joy Gel pen in the size 0.7 I buy them from Walmart, but I think they are on Amazon too. They come in color too, but I’ve never bought the colored ones.

I love how smoothly these pens write, and the best part is there’s no bleed! There is a little bit if you are planning to write on both sides of a regular notebook paper, but I still write on both sides anyway.

Mechanical Pencils

I absolutely love mechanical pencils! They last forever, are super durable, and my favorite part is that you can write thinly. I have very messy handwriting, and these help me keep it a little more readable. My favorite ones have cute patterns and are designed to look like regular old pencils, but they were a gift and I don’t know where she bought them.

I also use the Bic 0.7 mm and the Pen + Gear brands, but I would recommend the Paper Mate Clearpoint for students. They are super durable, easy to grip (good for younger kids), and last forever.

Markers

I’ve used a lot of different markers over the years, but my favorite are still the Crayola Super Tip markers! I love their durability, nice wash of color, and they are perfect for bullet journals because there’s no bleed. I’ve used the Cra-Z-art brand as well, and although they are a nice substitution if you can’t get Crayola, they don’t quite measure up. The ink doesn’t spread as well, there’s a tad bit more bleed.

CALLIGRAPHY Pen

My absolute favorite calligraphy pen is the Tombow Fudenosuke pen, which I got in a set of brush pens from Barnes and Noble, but you can also get from amazon. I love this pen for adding simple caligraphy on my bullet journal or letters to people. It has a lot harder tip, which is better for beginners and smaller lettering.

Editing pens

For editing on paper, I always use the Pen + Gear 0.7 pen in red or orange, if the red runs out. I also find that these are really nice for underlining in bibles, as they have very little bleed and don’t smudge easily. I do stick to lighter colors like purple and pink for my bible.

My mom got them in a pack of colors off of amazon, but I can’t find them anymore. It’s a fairly simple ballpoint gel pen, so I’m sure there’s a similar pen out there. If anyone figures out a similar pen or has suggestions for editing/bible pens, I’d love to know because I’m almost out of ink in this one!

Detail Pens

For my bullet journal I use a silver gel pen, just a standard one from a set, this is a similar one. I also use micron pens in the sizes 005, 02, and 01 for my smaller detailing. They blend well with my standard Paper Mate pen and my Tombow.

I hope you found this useful, and maybe even found a new favorite pen! Most of these can be found at Walmart or on Amazon, and in different colors too, if you prefer blue instead of black ink. If anyone has any pen recommendations, please comment and let me know what your favorites are. I always love discovering new pens!

As always, remember to like, comment, or share, whatever floats your boat! Until next time!

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Top 3 Online School Tips

Welcome back! This week I’m going to share some school tips for those students who are going virtual or who are virtual and are struggling a little bit. Some of it can also be applied to working online as well!

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I’m going to provide a little explanation first about how my school works this year, so we’re all on the same page. I’ve been going in-person two days a week, and the other half of the school goes the other two days (Mon-Tues vs Thur-Fri). Wednesday the whole school is virtual.

Tip #1: Set a schedule

Personally I have to zoom in at 7:55 AM Thurs-Fri for my first hour class, so I have to get up early either way. I get up at seven and eat breakfast, then I do a quick workout. Even if you want to sleep in, you should get up at the same time every day, and make sure you’re still getting enough sleep! Schedules help you preform better and stay on top of everything. When you have a schedule it’s a lot easier to avoid stressing!

Your schedule can be as loose or strict as you want, as long as you’re continuing to stick to it and it’s manageable for you.

Tip #2: Keep a planner

In order to stay on top of things, get a planner or use your phone to keep track of assignments! Some students use an online planner, some use google calendar, but I prefer good old pen and paper. This can be as complicated or as simple as you want, just like making a schedule.

Tip #3: Do your school (or work) first

Prioritize getting your school and work done first in the day. No matter how early (or late) you get up, focus on work/school first thing in the morning. Personally I eat breakfast, do a quick workout to wake up fully, and then I start school. This allows me to finish school before lunch, most days!

As always, remember to like, comment, or share, whatever floats your boat! Until next time!

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Bullet Journaling- My Tips

Today I’m going to be talking all about bullet journaling! I have previously talked about this, but only briefly. I’d also like to quickly apologize for being a day late, oops! Next week I’ll be back on Wednesday as usual.

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The first thing I want to talk about is being a perfectionist! I am definitely a perfectionist about some things, but I’ve had to learn not to be when it comes to bullet journaling. There’s lots of things you can do to fix mistakes, but sometimes you just have to live with them.

Now, I’m blessed with enough artsy skills to at least kind of make things look pretty, but if you aren’t there’s lots of different styles you can implement to still make it look pretty! This is an example of a month page that’s pretty simple.

credits: Pinterest

Mine tend to be a little more complex than this, but still very simple! Now, I use my bujo as a planner more than anything, and the first page I always have behind my monthly page is the calendar. I take up two pages for this, right after the monthly page. Mine is very similar to this one, but I don’t have a column on the left, mine is all the way on the right.

credits: pinterest

After my monthly page I have a half page with my workout plan and half a page with my quote/verse/goals etc. for the month. My quote/verse/goals page is pretty different from what anyone else has, it’s kind of a general collection page for everything I need that month. Instead of organizing my life by year, I tend to organize it by month.

For my weekly layout I tend to mix it up every month, I’m still finding the perfect layout for me. I think I found a pretty good one now, but I’ll need to use it for a while. This is a similar one, but my columns on the left have a general to-do list and a weekly SMART goals section.

In the summer when I have less on my to-do list and don’t have homework I use this layout:

credits: pinterest

That’s pretty much about all that I have in the main section of my bullet journal. At the very back I have a few pages for pen testing, a few for passwords, a page for wants/needs list, and a page for finances. That’s it!

If you really want to start a bullet journal but aren’t willing to buy one right off the bat, I recommend using a regular old notebook (it can be lined) for a month or so, just to see if you like it! That’s what I did last year in December, and I loved it so much my mom bought me a bullet journal for Christmas!

As always, remember to like, comment, or share, whatever floats your boat! Until next time!

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More Memes- and my novel!

Today I am, somewhat ironically, sharing MORE memes!

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All of these memes are about my novel, and there’s actually a whole pinterest board with them that you can find here: https://www.pinterest.com/faithhansen04/the-princess-chronicles/

Our first one is about the character Celeste, and remember that you can refer back to this post if you’re curious about who these people are!

Some Writing Resources/Memes

Hello everyone! Today I’m going to share some helpful advice and some encouragement!

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First of all I’m going to share this quote. I really like this one, and it’s a good reminder of what writing is actually about.

And also this meme, which I very much relate to:

Some great websites include https://www.onelook.com/reverse-dictionary.shtml which is a great website that helps you remember words you’ve forgotten! We all know that struggle of forgetting something simple like the word throw pillow.

For those of you who have questions about the appropriate way to write someone of color, Writing With Color is my favorite place! When I got about halfway through my first draft of The Runaway Princess I realized I needed to do some serious research for one of my characters. This website helped a lot!

This is a lengthy PDF with all the information you need to format a novel in LibreOffice, but it also has been helpful for google docs formatting.

For those of you who are Christian authors, Kingdom Pen is a great website. They have a ton of resources and blog posts about pretty much everything you’d ever ask. They also have a form with some very helpful people, if you have a more specific question.

That’s all for today, I hope something from this was helpful! Go forth and write beautiful stories!

Remember, if you want me to review your novel (on Goodreads and my blog), you can sign up here!

As always, remember to like, comment, or share, whatever floats your boat! Until next time!

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A Step Through The Empty: Review

This debut novel I read a few weeks ago just took my breath away! I absolutely loved it!

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5 Stars



prose: 5/5



Romance: 5/5



Characters: 5/5



Plot: 5/5



Prose:

Very well written and descriptive! While this wasn’t necessarily the best part of the novel, it was very enjoyable and I liked reading it.

Romance:

Very sweet! Believable but still subtle and sweet. I definitely ship the main romance thread in the story! Another cool aspect of this is the way the author portrayed the already married couples in the story, too often you don’t get to see this in fantasy novels. Definitely a slow-burn romance.

Characters:

Probably my favorite part! Shad and Bry’s constant snark, Stori’s determination, and Lawr’s grumpy curiosity were all very well executed. I enjoyed every bit of it! All of the side threads and different character relationships tied in very well to each other.

Plot:

Very engaging! While I suspected some of the book’s ending, there was a lot of it I didn’t expect at all. I enjoyed reading it, and it definitely kept me hooked!

Overall:

A great read! I highly recommend it for those of you looking for a new fantasy world to get into. It’s definitely a fun one, and I read it almost all in one sitting. I couldn’t put it down!

Content:

Mentions of battle, blood, death. Mentions of men taking advantage of women (and not). Mentions of illegitimate children and a (married) couple talk about consummating their marriage. One woman talks (repeatedly) about how a queen’s job is to have an heir for the kingdom. These things are shown as wrong, but definitely there. A light kiss (very brief, not described).

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. 

Remember, if you want me to review your novel (on Goodreads and my blog), you can sign up here!

As always, remember to like, comment, or share, whatever floats your boat! Until next time!

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Cover Release!

Hey everyone! Today I’m going to be sharing a few things about The Runaway Princess, my next novel!

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Here’s the blurb for the novel, and you can find out more about it here on Goodreads.

Celeste Nightingale has no friends or family except for her cat, but she’s happy that way. She stays isolated in her tower, and she considers it paradise. When an unlikely duo show up at her door looking to set her free- can she take the risk?

Queen Abigail Villn didn’t mean to murder her husband, but life happened and now she’s trying to make things right. All she wanted was to protect her daughter, but are her actions doing more harm than good?

Princess Ivory Villn ran away after her mother’s betrayal. But she can’t run forever, and when old friends bring news of new trouble she must make a decision. Face her mother or stay hidden?

Three women, their lives more entangled than they’ll ever know, must make their choices and face the results. 

The official website for the book series is located at princesschroniclesnovels.wordpress.com, and it launched on Monday. Feel free to go check it out!

The most important part of this blog post is the long-awaited cover release. I’ve been working on the covers for this series since September 2019, for almost a year now. Technically speaking I’ve been working on them since 2017 if you include the previous editions. They’ve gone through a lot of change but I’m excited to finally reveal them!

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*squeals*

I think this is one of my best works yet, and I’m super excited about it- and the following covers! I wish I could share all of them with you now, but you’ll have to wait. Please feel free to share this on all your social media!

I also want to share this book trailer I made! 

I’m super excited about all the progress I’ve made with my writing. I’m currently going through the second round of editing, and it’s set to release… (dun duh dun)… February 11th!

After I finish round 2 of editing I’ll share the first chapter on here!

Remember, if you want me to review your novel (on Goodreads and my blog), you can sign up here!

As always, remember to like, comment, or share, whatever floats your boat! Until next time!

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