If At First You Don't Succeed...

(Or What I'm Learning About Self-Publishing)

Spindle Dreams has only been out for a few weeks now -- a grand total of eighteen days, if I'm not mistaken. I was pretty stoked to release this book to Amazon and the world, considering how long I'd been working on it, and also considering how many years it'd been since I released The Rose and the Balloon. A lot of people had asked for more after reading RatB, and I was excited to give them more.

However, I have had very mixed feelings on this new release. For one thing, I've had incredibly positive feedback from the few people who've read the book. My beta readers were absolute saints to read SD on short notice and tell me what they thought. Some of my readers now gush over how much they loved it, and others tell me that they hate me and I've ruined them from reading an epilogue ever again. Both of those responses tell me that I'm doing my job as a writer correctly.

But that's the thing... only a few people have read the book. We're going on three weeks of being published and readily available to pretty much everyone in the world, and I've not sold near as many copies as I expected to. In fact, my reports tell me I've not even sold five copies of Spindle Dreams -- paperback and ebook combined. SD has five stars on Amazon since I've only gotten one text review on the story. On Goodreads, there's two reviews.

I'll be honest with you. That hurts.

Don't get me wrong -- I wasn't expecting to be a billionaire overnight with this book. I didn't expect a million 5 star reviews. It wasn't nearly that way with The Rose and the Balloon. Debut novels, however, I'm realizing do a lot better than seconds. With RatB, I sold enough copies in the first few weeks to make about $50 in royalties. That blew me away. I didn't expect to do that well with my first book, but I was hoping that I would do half as well with the second. Only I didn't.

What went wrong? I've been asking myself this question for the last three weeks. I advertised. I tried to run a fun blog party with promotion posts here on Lianne Taimenlore. I visited other people's blogs when I could. I promoted the book on my Facebook author page. I ran a countdown on both my Instagram page and my Twitter page. What more could I have done?

I'm learning that the world of being a writer and getting published is not all sunshine and daisies. Spindle Dreams hit so many snags for me that delayed its publication; I was frustrated with the book and just wanted it out and be done with it. And that, I think, was my first mistake. I didn't build enough hype about the book BEFORE getting the cover released and the actual story published. In self-publishing, a HUGE part of doing well is just how much and how effectively you market yourself. And I am a lazy marketer, to put it simply. And people don't buy a book they don't know much about.

Also, as an indie author, keeping your name front and center in people's minds is key. After publishing The Rose and the Balloon, I went three years before I got anything else into the book market. Three years. That may not seem like a long time, but for a reader, it's a long time. This is another part of marketing yourself well. Since you don't have a big publishing house pushing your name out there for the world to see, the way you keep your name hot in this market is to keep it active. The best way to do that is to publish something a few times a year. If you can't do that since you're working with bigger books, keep people excited about what you're working on by keeping active on social media. Which was something else I really didn't do. Plus, I've gone those three years with nada.

Please understand I'm not writing this post to garner sympathy or guilt-trip people into buying my books and writing reviews. I just want to be honest about what's happening to me as a writer. And I know I'm not going to be the only one who goes through things like this. My hope is that what I've learned and gone through with self-publishing can help other indie authors grow as well. Writers need to learn to accept the ups and downs of the self-publishing life. When you hit a snag, you pull yourself up by your bootstraps and try again. 

Self-publishing really is a learning process. There will be moments of extreme glory and excitement. There will also be times when you don't succeed. Just don't let those few failures keep you down.

Just try, try again. 

And that being said, I'm working on book three of the Once Upon a Twist Tales, folks. Diamond: A Rapunzel Story hopefully won't take another three years to complete.

God bless!

What I Stole From Disney: Part One

Or... Disney Easter Eggs in The Rose and the Balloon.

(And just so everyone knows... Spindle Dreams Easter Eggs coming tomorrow!)

Hey, it's Monday! And if you're anything like me, you need today to sit and recover from the weekend. That's the funny thing about weekends -- they somehow end up being super busy and more exhausting than they ought to be. My husband's birthday was this week, and we threw him a party with the two things he asked for: board games and pie. And then Sundays at church with an active 15-month-old is always tiring.

Anyway, it's Monday, so it's time for something fun and not-too-exhausting.

Many of you know that I like making nods toward the animated Disney classics in my retellings. I grew up watching all the best Disney movies, and I'm still a big fan of them. Particularly the fairytales, and particularly the musicals. I have most of the songs still memorized. And it's absolutely way too much fun to throw in Disney Easter Eggs in my books. Funny thing is, I've had people read through my books and not even realize that they're there. So, I decided to give you all a head's up on what to look for.

OR... if you think you're an expert fan on all things Disney, forget reading this post right now, get my books, and YOU tell me where I Easter Egged Disney.

So today, let's examine The Rose and the Balloon.

The first book in the Once Upon a Twist Tales, RatB is my take on a Beauty and the Beast story with hot air balloons and a million roses throw in. Where did I nod to Disney?

One of the things I knew I really wanted to do was mimic the famous scene where Belle discovers the rose. Even though I don't have a cursed prince, Dmitri is very, VERY protective of his rose. When he finds Janelle close to touching it, he (like Adam in the film) gets angry. The scene isn't word-for-word from the film (obviously, I couldn't do that; duh, plagiarism), but there are a few lines that I repeated for kicks.

Additionally, Dmitri forbids Janelle specifically from going into the West Wing. I don't think I need to explain that one any further.

While my retelling doesn't have any magic in it, I still wanted to nod to Disney's magic of animated household objects. Thus, the feather duster was born. While helping the twins pull off pranks on each other, Janelle makes a puppet out of a feather duster and has it dance about on its strings. This was probably my favorite nod to Disney in this book, not because Plumette is a favorite character from the film, but because it mimicked the heart of Disney's film. The household objects play such a huge part in the film that I didn't want to leave them out entirely.

Okay, raise your hand. How many of you knew that the prince's name in the film is Adam? I didn't until I was about 15. I couldn't steal that name for my prince character; THAT would be like stealing Abu's name from the other Disney film and sticking it on a street rat (*cough*Dickerson*cough). Not cool. Besides, my prince was already adamantly named Dmitri. Couldn't go back on that. So, Adam went to a minor character, just to make the real Disney character squeal with pleasure.

Something that Disney is famous for in its film version is THE LIBRARY. So many girls claim Belle as their favorite Disney princess because she loves books. I don't believe the library is a big deal in the original fairytale, but it didn't seem right to retell Beauty and the Beast and not have a library. So, my library, while not a big deal, is the setting for many of the book's key scenes -- namely those between Janelle and Dmitri. I won't detail those; you should read the book to find out.

Dmitri may be the "Beast" character (and is called a beast by Janelle), but he is definitely not beast-like in form. Instead, I decided it would be fun to insert a real beast/monster into the tale with the story Janelle tells Nicoline near the beginning on the novella. Whether this monster truly exists remains to be seen, but he was similarly modeled after the horrific things the Beast is expected to do in "The Mob Song" as sung by Gaston and the mad townspeople in the film.

Finally, any Disney fan would have recognized some of the dialogue in Janelle and Dmitri's reconciliation scene. Just another key scene that I loved from the film and wanted to nod to in the book. But again, can't say too much -- spoilers.

~*~

Did you catch all these Disney Easter Eggs in The Rose and the Balloon? What Easter Eggs are you expecting to see in Spindle Dreams? Comment below!

Important links to remember today:

• I guest posted on a sweet friend's blog here (Six Reasons to Retell a Fairytale)
• Find The Rose and the Balloon on Amazon

God bless!

Free Book, Anyone?

The Rose and the Balloon is officially two years old today! 

I cannot believe that it's already been that long since I sent Janelle and Dmitri off to Amazon. Any writer will tell you that it's an adventure to write a book; an indie author will also emphatically tell you that it's an adventure to publish it yourself.

And the adventure with Spindle Dreams is only half over. The book is in the final stages of being complete, then comes the dreaded formatting stage, and then somehow I have to survive all of the marketing and publishing gimmicks, but I'm excited to share my Sleeping Beauty tale with everyone! It's definitely coming out this fall, but I'm still trying to nail down an exact date. We may be looking at something nearer October, but we'll see.

There are some important links I'd like to share with you guys.

First off, I'm on Facebook! If you'd like to follow my author page there, I'll probably be keeping that page updated more about my writing, books, and publishing news than I will this blog.

And second -- Spindle Dreams is on Goodreads! Be sure to add it to your to-read shelf!

Now, you're probably thinking, Kiri, your title said something about a free book. What's that all about? That's the reason I clicked over here to read this blog post. 

Don't fret; here it is: In honor of The Rose and the Balloon being 2 years old today, my offer for a PDF copy of that novella still stands for a few reviewers. If you're interested in posting a review of this book on Amazon for me, please contact me at liannetaimenlore(at)gmail(dot)com. All reviews must be posted publicly on Amazon (and whatever other sites you please) by September 30th.

God bless!

Mark Your Calendars!

I am excited to announce that Volume 2 of the Once Upon A Twist Tales will be available this fall!

It's been a while since I indie-published the first volume of this series, The Rose and the Balloon, and I can't wait to show this second installment to everyone! I don't have a publishing date set down in stone yet, but once I do I'll be letting you know. I've already been in contact with my cover designer, and Lord willing in a few months Spindle Dreams will be yours to order from Amazon and CreateSpace!

Spindle Dreams is the follow-up to The Rose and the Balloon. We're still in the same kingdom, though only a year down the road. Instead of following Dmitri and Janelle (since they already had their own adventure), we're instead focusing on the tale of a young weaver and her loyal dog, as well as a nobleman with his mischievous horse.

About the book:

Marita Kadlec is the only daughter of Rohesia's poorest – and laziest – weaver. Her father prefers to spend his days gambling in the tavern, leaving the spinning up to Marita. She hates the family business because she's constantly pricking her finger on the spindle. She'd much rather be tinkering on an invention that she hasn't had the courage to show anyone yet. A special invention that will rid her of spinning for the rest of her life. 

Felix is a young nobleman plagued with the same nightmare – a giant machine, twisting and clanking, shrouded in fire, bent on pain and death. He's determined to find out what it means, no matter where the answers may lead him. 

This is Sleeping Beauty with a twist like you've never seen it before.

COMING THIS FALL!

~*~*~*~

BUT WAIT! THERE'S MORE!

We're starting the celebrations off early for this new book! I'm offering a PDF copy of The Rose and the Balloon to a few readers for review to kick things off. If you're interested in getting a copy to review, please email me at liannetaimenlore(at)gmail(dot)com. I'm asking each reviewer to post a review on Amazon (copied to their own blog, or Goodreads, or wherever) by September 30th.

God bless!
 

In Which the Royal Twins Answer Your Questions

We're back!

Greetings, friends. 

Nicoline, that sounds really stiff and pompous. 

Nicolas, it's nice to be proper sometimes.

But "sometimes" doesn't have to be this time.

*huffs* Anyway, Kiri is letting us borrow her computer...

Supervised.

... To write this blog post. A few weeks ago...

Weeks? It was like months ago!

... we asked for a few questions from you readers that my brother Nicolas and I could answer. 

And now we're answering them. Christine sent us a few, so we're going to jump right into those.

Already?

Sure. No sense in wasting time!

~*~ 

If you could do anything in the world, what would it be? (Other than flying in a balloon. *wink*)

I would journey all over Rohesia, and then take a grand tour and have adventures all over the world. 

If you're doing that, then I have to go with you.

Um, no.

Yes!

I have adventures with you here at home, and that's enough if you ask me.

Fine. Then I want to go to an isolated school in a foreign country and learn how to be an assassin. With a black cloak, daggers in my boots, and a lethal sword with a curved blade.


If you were allowed to name yourselves, would you change your names to something else?

Something dashing and daring. Like Redblade.

That sounds like a pirate name. I like my name now, but I wish people didn't have to call me "princess." I'd change that and have everyone call me "captain." Captain Nicoline Wolfking, heroine and adventurer extraordinaire. 

Why can't you make anything simple?


I know the whole kingdom is obsessed with roses, but what are YOUR opinions on them?

No.

I don't mind them, as they are kind of pretty...

No.

I don't like the way they smell.

No.

The thorns are fun to -- well, do stuff with.

NO.


If you could have a pet of any kind, what would you have?

A dragon.

No fair, Nicoline! That's what I wanted to say.

Need to answer faster next time, dear brother.

Fine. Then I'll say a walking and talking candelabra.

That's not an animal.

She said "pet" not "animal." And I can have a walking and talking candelabra if I want to.


What's your least favorite thing to do?

Formal dinners of state. Stiff and boring. Waste of time.

Sleeping.

What?

Sleeping's a waste of time, too. I wish we didn't have to sleep so there'd be more time to go out and have adventures.

You're weird, Nicoline.


What's your FAVORITE thing to do?

One-up Nicolas with a prank.

One-up Nicoline with a prank.

I'm better at it, though.

No you're not.

Sure I am, meatloaf.

... 

...

...

Hello, folks! Kiri here. The twins had a lot of fun answering these questions, but I'm afraid I had to edit a bit out there at the end before I posted this. Nicoline and Nicolas were... very energetic in typing out their last answer above. 

Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed this. The twins are asking me to promote their book again, so I'll offer a link to Amazon. 

And yes, it's available as a paperback and on the Kindle. 

And you should read it.

And share it with all your friends.

And family.

And your enemies, as well.

And yes, I'm also working on the sequel, Spindle Dreams. 

Sufferin' cats, I'd forgotten how bossy and demanding twins can be. 

God bless!

Let's Play Catch-Up

Well, here I am. Kiri back again. And I've finally gotten my blog back under control after a certain pair of pesky royal twins took over a few weeks ago. I will admit, they kept those few days of my novella's promotion quite lively. And yes, I did enjoy reading over their posts. 

I'd also like to thank you all for the enthusiastic response I've received over The Rose and the Balloon. I could say so much on this, how much it all means to me, but I won't gush. I was so afraid to release the book to the world, so afraid of how people would receive it, but this has been nothing like what I expected. Thank you, thank you all for your support. 

The reason I was absent for so long was because my mother had an unexpected trip to the hospital. During the end of July, she was having intense pain in her abdomen, and then on August 2nd, the pain grew so much that she finally consented to go see a doctor. From there, she went immediately to the hospital and had an emergency surgery on her appendix. Praise the Lord, it all went well, but she was in the hospital for a week after the surgery. I am very grateful for the care she received, but it was interesting living a week without Momma at home. And busy for my sisters and I, keeping on top of everything. But we managed all right. 

And now, I am offering a farewell of sorts, since I leave next week to return to school. I'm very excited to start my third year as a Creative Writing major! As always, I don't know how much time I'll have to be on blogger, but I'll do my best to pop on from time to time. 

God bless!

We Share Our Photos... And Ask for Your Questions

Nicolas here.

And the more popular royal twin, Nicoline.

Sorry for being late, random people. Kiri's been really busy, and we couldn't get into her computer before now.

I think she may know now that we're doing the posts for her, but...

She's not mad.

Oh, no! Of course not!

Anywho, since we're so late with getting around to this post...

And we have to get back soon. Dmitri won't be pleased if he finds us here.

Today, we're going to share some photos from Kiri's pinterest board. 

With our comments.

Ready?

Let's go!

Early on, Kiri knew she wanted to include some kind of steampunk inspiration, so hot air balloons suddenly appeared in the sky.
Not that she can remember where they came from. 
No, she just said that she's always wanted to write a story about hot air balloons.
Although, there really aren't any other Beauty and the Beast stories with hot air balloons in them. 
Nope. We're an original.

Kiri loves the Disney film.
Yes, she does.
And with our story, she wanted to make some connections to the film, just for fun. One of the most important was this iconic scene.
You know, I've not actually seen the film.
You should. The music is awesome. Anyway, Kiri wanted to keep this scene in the book as close to the same scene in the movie, so she was very thankful when Janelle had that happen just exactly so.

Roses are a huge part of Beauty and the Beast.
Ha. That's an understatement. They're basically the reason that Beauty and the Beast get together.
So, Kiri knew she had to include them.
The real question though was: How?
Exactly. But she's a rather smart one, when it comes to writers. She decided to put it all backwards - have the Beast's mother destroy the Beauty's roses.
Well, technically, it was the Beauty's father's roses, but...
Just a technicality. And then, of course, our whole entire kingdom had to go and love roses.
Including our mother. If you've ever offered rose petal stew...
Just don't. Don't eat it. This is one of the few things that Nicoline and I completely agree on.

The library is one of the most important places in the book.
No, it isn't. The West Wing is.
No, dear sister, I'm pretty sure it's the library. That's where all the best things happen.
Um, where you tried to trick me? I don't think so.
Ha! That was an awesome prank! Janelle was a genius with that one. Ow! Don't hit.
Let's move on, shall we?

The rose was one of the first things that presented a real problem. 
See, Kiri wanted it to be the glowing rose from the fairytale.
But she doesn't like to write about magic.
So, that was the problem: How to get a glowing rose without using magic? How could you do it?
She used science.
Nicoline, you stole my thunder.
Now, who's the slow twin? *gloats* 
You're a pest.
Enter steampunk into the story. Enter my victory in this post.
In your dreams, sis.

This was the best part!
It was a feather duster.
But you enjoyed it, too!
Nicoline, of course I enjoyed it. But I'm not going to plaster that I liked a feather duster all over the internet. What will that do to my reputation?
Wait, like you have any reputation to uphold?
*grumps*

Now, if you have any questions for the two of us, Nicoline and Nicolas, twin royals of Rohesia, please write them below in the comment box!

Oh, yes! Please ask us all assortment of questions. Whatever you can think of! We'll put together a post and answer them all sometime probably later next week.

And no, this is not an excuse for us to confiscate Kiri's computer again. Thank you, random people!

And good night!

We Just Checked Kiri's Email!

And The Rose and the Balloon is available on the Kindle!

Nicolas, may I please speak first for one of these posts? Why do you get to tell all the exciting news?

Well, I am the faster twin. I just can't help that.

*glares* Anyway, random people, if you're interested in picking up a Kindle version of our story, please CLICK HERE to visit Amazon. 

And enjoy reading the story!

You know we're probably lucky Kiri hasn't seen all of our posts yet. 

Our Favorite Snippets From RatB

Nicolas here again, random people. 

And Nicoline. Why are you calling them random people?

I don't know. They're people, and they're random. It fits.

Anyway, we wanted to take some time here today to share with you all some of our favorite snippets and such from our story. 

Unfortunately, Kiri had her laptop off for a long while today, and we don't know her password so we had to wait for her to turn it on this afternoon to check her email before we were able to get to this post. Hope you enjoy this!

~*~*~*~

A voice spoke from behind him. “It's rather pretty.”

Dmitri turned to smile at the speaker but frowned when he saw only one person standing there. “Nicoline, where's Nicolas?”

His sister shrugged. “I don't know. He said he had a surprise for you.”

Dmitri scowled. Young Prince Nicolas, full of the unfortunate mischief that plagued most twelve-year-old boys, did not usually have very good surprises. Most of them resulted in a mess that Dmitri himself had to clean up. He did not look forward to this newest surprise. Nicoline, however, was not disturbed by whatever trouble her twin was up to now.

“What's with the frown?” she asked. “Aren't you happy?”

“Perfectly.” The word came out in a growl.

She only laughed. “It could be worse. Mother could start off your courtships again.”


Dmitri winced, remembering the fiascoes of visiting dignitaries and supposedly eligible young ladies of rank. Nicoline was right; it could be worse – far worse.

~*~*~*~

“Whoops!”

Janelle jumped at the sudden yell, and something behind her splatted. She whirled to find a smashed cream pie on the floor – right where she’d been standing.

“Sorry, sorry. It slipped. I didn't mean to get you.”

Janelle peeked behind the broad door to see a young boy descending a ladder leaning against the floor-to-wall shelves. His light hair was mussed and he was missing both shoes, although his clothes spoke of his obvious wealth. When he reached the floor and turned, Janelle instantly knew him.

“Prince Nicolas.”

He waved away her curtsy. “Don't bother with that. Did I get you?”

“No, I remain unscathed, Your Highness.”

“That's a relief, but now I have to go back to the kitchen for another pie. I was going to drop it on my sister,” he explained. “I really didn't mean to aim for you. I just thought that Nicoline was early.”


Janelle felt her eyebrows go up. “Do you usually play jokes like that on your sister?”

~*~*~*~

One morning, Janelle found herself hanging over the balcony in the ballroom with Nicoline. She held multiple threads in her hands and looked down to where the girls had tied a feather duster to the opposite ends.

“You think this is going to work?” Nicoline asked.

Janelle smiled. “I used to do this all the time with my cousin. I just hope my fingers remember what they used to do.”

The balcony wasn't incredibly high, but looking down at the duster below them made Janelle's head swim – just a little bit. She shoved the feeling down fiercely. Now was not the time to get dizzy.


“Shh! Here he comes!” Nicoline ducked behind the railing as footsteps sounded below them. Janelle hunched, out of sight, but still able to see everything clearly. Nicolas marched into the ballroom. He stopped short when he saw the feather duster suspended in thin air a foot off the floor, standing upright as if it were a real person.

~*~*~*~

Hope you enjoyed all of those! And no, we did not pick out scenes with us in them on purpose.

Hey, was this a whole post where we didn't actually fight at all while writing it?

Nicolas, we really don't fight all the time, you know.

No, we just like people to think that we do. Helps our reputation as royal twins. 

The All-Amazing Prince Nicolas Talks About Twins

Hello, random people, Nicolas here, again. My dear twin Nicoline isn't here with us today, and I really couldn't say where she is. There was a situation with a cream pie, and... well, she's not here to write the post with me.

So, I just wanted to take the time for a moment to tell you some things about being a twin. First of all, don't ask me what it's like to actually be a twin. Because I really wouldn't know how to answer that. I don't know what it's like to not be a twin. 

Nicoline has been my best friend and my worst enemy... since birth. I really don't remember which one of us is older. I think our older brother Dmitri knows, but he won't tell me. I keep asking, because I'm pretty sure I'm the older twin. But if I was the older twin, that would be awesome. Nicoline would hate it, and that would be so much fun. But Dmitri won't tell us which is older. 

Older brothers really can be a pest sometimes.

But who's the better twin? Obviously, me! I'm smarter, better looking, more popular... only Nicoline probably would never admit to all of that. 

But being a twin really is a lot of fun! I know most of you probably will never understand what I'm talking about, but anyway. It's like having a built-in partner to do everything with. There's always someone to pester. 

But, no. Nicoline and I do not, repeat DO NOT, switch places. That would be highly disturbing. After all, I'm a dashing, royal prince, and she's only my sister. When we were little people used to mix us up all time, but then I thankfully got old enough to wear real trousers, and Nicoline grew her hair out longer. 

And, I don't like to admit it, but we do sometimes finish each other's sentences. It's rare, though, considering that we usually don't like to think the same about things. Every once in a while, we work well together.

The only problem with my twin is that Nicoline is a girl. We used to argue horribly about what we wanted to do, because Nicoline couldn't see the sense of having a sword fight in the ballroom, and I really don't like tea parties. Dmitri used to make us take turns at choosing what we were going to do - one day was Nicoline's and we'd do whatever she wanted to do. Then, the next day was mine, and we'd do all the fun stuff.

But that was before Nicoline and I started our competition. It all began when I hid a toad inside the tea pot during a tea party that I was forced to attend. After that, she coated my sword hilt with honey, and then we progressed to more and more pranks. 

The ultimate goal of our competition is to eventually kill each other. But it's all in fun. I'm going to win, of course, and poor Nicoline just can't agree to that. 

Of course, she's not happy for the stunt I pulled right at the beginning of our book. But it really wasn't my fault that the balloon destroyed Lord Roux's garden. It really wasn't! But, Nicoline is intent on blaming me for everything, and therefore, I am behind on the competition. 

Never fear, I have some plans to catch up, and pull ahead in our competition. I always have a plan. I...

Nicolas, what's going on?

Ahh! Nicoline, don't do that!

What are you doing??

Writing a blog post. Nope! Sorry, can't read it. It's already live.

Um, no, it's not. What did you write?

Nothing important!

Nicolas! Don't publish it before I get to proofread it!

Like I said. I'm the faster twin. Hey, random people, go read our book. 

OUR BOOK IS OUT!

Hey, random people! Prince Nicolas here!

And Princess Nicoline. Why do you get to speak first?

Because I'm faster. And better looking.

Doubtful on both accounts. 

Kiri has officially published The Rose and the Balloon and it is available on CreateSpace! And on Amazon!

So please go visit and purchase!

And love us! Kiri said something about getting a Kindle version up too, but we think that might go through in a couple of days. So, you can get your paperback now, and then get the ebook in a few days. Even though I haven't the slightest idea of what an ebook is. But we'll let you know when that will be available. 

You know, I feel like Kiri isn't going to approve of our advertising.

Who cares? It's too much fun!

Anyway, she has several very fun interviews lined up this week, so be sure to keep an eye out on the blogging world. To give you a taste of what's in store, here's her schedule: 

Monday, August 1st

Interview with Kara at Saved By Grace

Tuesday, August 2nd

Interview with Christine at Musings of an Elf

Wednesday, August 3rd

Interview with Hayden at A Singular and Whimsical Problem

Thursday, August 4th

Interview with Korin at I'm Going on an Adventure

Wow! That looks really official! Where'd you get that?

Nicolas, if I told you all my secrets, they would fail to be secrets.

But we're twins! We're not supposed to have secrets from each other!

You know very well that's not true.

Fine. Random people, we will also be popping on here at Lianne Taimenlore every day from now until August 5th, so be sure to look out for more fun posts from us, the royal twins of Rohesia!

It's probably a good thing Kiri is still distracted. If she knew, she would so have our heads.

She'll probably punish us by not writing us in more stories for another five years.

Ugh. I'd almost rather she took our heads. 

This is Nicolas and Nicoline.

Oh, well, that's a fantastic title. 

Can you think of anything better?

*huffs*

I'll take that as a no. 

So, are you going to introduce us?

I just did. In the title. 

*glares*

You know you're doing an awful lot of nonverbal communication here, sis. *clears throat* Hello, all random people. I am Prince Nicolas of Rohesia, and the vision sitting next to me is my twelve-year-old twin sister, Nicoline.

I'm not a vision!

True, but you are a grump. Ouch! Don't hit.

I only hit if you deserve it. And you completely deserved that one.

Well, anyway, random people, we just wanted to let you know that we kicked Kiri off the face of the planet.

Um, no, we didn't.

Okay, fine. She left her computer unguarded, and we confiscated it. 

See, we're really trying to do her a favor. She's very busy with a lot of stuff at home right now, and trying to get our story published, and then she's also really distracted with writing on The Dragon Tamer again. 

I don't know why she'd want to write about all of them when we're so much more fun.

Nicolas, shh! That's rude. We wanted to help Kiri out by doing the whole blog tour party book release thing for her, so she didn't have to worry about it. 

That's right, we did. And since we're going to take over the party, it'll be epic! We know everything there is to know about The Rose and the Balloon, plus we have the dirty, inside scoop on Kiri...

But we're not going to release all the dirty information on Kiri. *glares*

Well, maybe not. But our book comes out tomorrow! So, random people, get your wallets and credit cards ready, and be ready to buy it off Amazon! Bye for now!

What are credit cards anyway?

Not really sure, sis. 

The Proof is In!

And that's one more step closer to publication, folks! 

I'm very excited to report that the proof copy of The Rose and the Balloon arrived today in the mail! 

Only four more days!! 

God bless!

RatB: The Cover From the Photographer's Perspective

(RatB means The Rose and the Balloon for anyone that's confused.)

Just popping on quickly to share a cool post with you all! Yesterday, I shared my novella's cover, along with my own story about the process of getting it done. Latitude 40 Photography was great in helping me accomplish that, and last night my friend also posted the story from his perspective. 

Would you like to see how the cover came about from the photographer's perspective? Click here to visit the post on his blog! 

Again, the link is HERE. 

God bless!

The Rose and the Balloon Cover Reveal

The countdown is on and we are so close to the release of The Rose and the Balloon! 9 days! I still can't believe that I'm that close to having my first work in print.

Am I excited? Yes.

Am I nervous? Yes.

Is everything in me going everywhere all at the same time? Oh, yeah. 

And... in preparation of that great event in NINE DAYS' TIME, I have the great privilege of sharing with you the anticipated cover. 

But before I do that, let me tell you a little bit of how this little bit of graphic awesomeness came about. 

~*~

Once upon a time, there lived a young girl who desperately wanted to become an author. That girl was me, but I prefer to talk about this in third person. 

Anyway, this girl wrote a Beauty and the Beast story, and was hoping to get it published very soon. On August 1st of 2016, to be exact. But she had no cover to put on the book. She could format all the content, battle CreateSpace, struggle through all the tiny little details, but she couldn't do anything drawing/graphics/artsy to save her life.

So, she set out an SOS (or an SMB -- "save my book") to a good friend of hers. Now, this friend was very clever with things like cameras and films and graphics and images. If anyone could help her with this impossible cover problem, HE could. After all, he was Latitude 40 Photography. 

Now this friend got right down to work when he got the SMB. He braved the dangers of the wilds, blew up bridges, fought off alligators, and crawled through the depths of Tartarus itself (maybe -- I'm actually a little fuzzy on these details, but it all sounds nice) to get the perfect picture. 

But was the Latitude 40 man done there? Of course not. There was still much to do.

He edited the photo and sent it to the girl. She was so delighted with it, but she still wasn't sure what to do with it. She was so worried that she would mess it up and make it look like some cheap, self-published cover art. So, again, Latitude 40 jumped to the rescue. He did more editing, searched for all the perfect fonts, and sent back an absolute perfection of a photo for the book's cover.

And then she realized she'd sent him the wrong text for the cover. She was so upset with herself. 

But he fixed it. And then it was even more amazing than ever.

The End

~*~ 

So, that's more or less how it went. Maybe less than more, but anywhoz. It was my fault that the cover reveal was delayed like it was, but now we're all back on schedule. I am thoroughly indebted to Latitude 40 Photography (which you can "like" via this link to Facebook) and all the other friends who were so good to help me out with this. 

And, without further adieu... 

In a kingdom where fauna and flora are held in higher esteem than breakfast, Dmitri is a prince who yearns for change and plans it in a single daring act that will alter his life forever. However, when his demented mother accidentally causes the destruction of a prized garden of roses, Dmitri is horrified when she proposes his hand in marriage to make up for it. Not only will a wife hamper his glorious plans, he doesn't even want one. 

Janelle has spent her whole life on her father's rose farm, tending the roses and staying simple. But she really yearns for something greater than the flower beds. But now there's a wrench thrown in the works – the crazy Queen Maeva wants her to marry the prince, and all for ruining her father's beloved roses.

This is Beauty and the Beast with a twist like you've never seen it before.

~*~

The Rose and the Balloon will be available on Amazon August 1st! Be sure to add it to your bookshelf on Goodreads or, if you feel so inclined, check out the Pinterest board!

God bless! 

Kirsten Fichter is a twenty-something Christian writer who is trying to find the balance between being one of six kids, a church pianist, a college student, a movie buff, a disaster in the kitchen, and a writing INFP. If you know what the secret is to balancing all of that, she’d be grateful to hear from you. Otherwise, don’t contact her unless you want to send her homemade gingerbread. Or a new piano book. Or an autographed Charles Dickens novel. In the meantime, she’ll be somewhere under a maple tree – trying very hard to finish the seventeen and half other stories she unwisely started all at once.