Let's Talk Diamond... Again

4:30pm on the tenth of September, in the year of our Lord 2019...

Not that this moment will go down in history, but it was definitely a big moment for me. Because I finally finished the first draft of Diamond!

I feel like this book was tougher emotionally for me to write than either of the first two. The Rose and the Balloon was mainly fun and, while incorporating some danger and intrigue, didn't have a lot of heart-wrenching scenes for me. Spindle Dreams was definitely darker, with harder themes, but it, too, didn't make me feel like I was gasping for breath when I wrote the end.

Diamond, however... this story has taken me on an emotional roller coaster ride from day one. For anyone who's read SD's epilogue, they know I had some serious issues to cover with this story. Rapunzel, in many ways, has a lot of darker themes about it that other fairytales don't have. Writing "The End" this afternoon was like stepping off a roller coaster of emotions. It's going to take me a while to recover.

For now, though, my plan is to let the story sit and simmer for a while there in the rough drafts folder, and then I'm going to pull it out and begin the tough process of editing.

Some stats, though, before I leave?

My initial goal was to complete this story with the Rooglewood contest limits -- 20,000 words. Not that I was writing this story for a contest, since they are no more (*all the sniffs and tears*), but since that was my goal with the other books, I figured I should stick to it.

The final sentence of the book made it out to be exactly 23,000 words. Not 23,001 or 22,999. EXACTLY 23,000. Don't ask me how I did that.

Overall, I think this story was the fastest to write. RatB I finished in one summer for the Rooglewood contest (and never entered it), and SD took some months with some years' hiatus stuck in the middle. I don't remember exactly when I started Diamond, but it was sometime early this year. Some of the questions that had been floating in the back of my head from finishing up writing SD finally came with answers. It was then that I actually wrote the epilogue for SD and began penning up the first chapter for Diamond. I hit a few snags with the writing process, trying to figure things out. Once I really began writing, though, it came quickly.

Quickly, but rough emotionally. There's so much of me right now that wants to expand Diamond's story to explore everything I can't in 20,000 words. But I'll restrain myself. And stick to my plan. And maybe re-visit her in a short story.

Ha. Take that, Little Writer.

Anyway, I'm still alive. Diamond is rough but finished. And I'm ready for a nap.

How's your day going?

God bless!

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!

It's Here -- And 5 Reasons To Read It

Spindle Dreams is now available!! 

Unfortunately, Amazon is still in the process of reviewing and approving the files for the paperback, but the Kindle copy is all set to go! So, if you're in the mood for a cheaper, instant-gratification copy of Spindle Dreams, click here to get yours! I will let you all know once Amazon gets the paperback out.

[Update: The paperback version is now live and available to order! Link here.]

I still can't believe we're already to this day. It's been a long process, but I'm super excited to share this story with you all.

But why should you care? Why should you read it?

Oh, I'm so glad you asked.

Five Reasons to Read Spindle Dreams

1. It's a quick fairytale packed full of Sleeping Beauty elements.
Most of you have already read my post on the Disney Easter Eggs in Spindle Dreams here. But I had a lot of fun including more than just nods to the animated film. My goal with this series is to spin a tale that's dedicated to the charm and style of the original fairytale but twists things up just for fun. There will be much of the Sleeping Beauty you know and love, but I still have a few tricks up my sleeve. I mean, they don't call it a retelling for nothing. And since it only comes in around 26,000 words, you can easily read it in a day or two.

2. It's (mostly) a standalone novella.
Meaning you don't have to read The Rose and the Balloon to understand what's going on. There are some characters from RatB who make some fun cameos in SD, but the main cast is brand new. My qualification for (mostly) standalone is that SD does contain an epilogue that links it to the third book in this series. I've already had some hate mail concerning the epilogue, but that just means I'm doing my job as an author right. If you really want the book to remain standalone or if you wish to remain sane, don't read the epilogue <-- wise words from my readers.

3. It doesn't contain any magic. 
Have you ever wondered how a fairytale could come to life without magic? Wonder no more, for it is done! By mixing in some science and steampunk-esque elements, this novella is now my second fairytale retelling without magic. Personally, I like to see heroes get the upper hand and win the day without having to dabble with or against magical things.

4. It has a sweet and clean romance. 
I'm not a big romance writer, but I can't help when my characters fall in love. That's just part of life. I can, however, monitor what goes on the written page so the story doesn't get packed down with a lot of mushy dribble. (If you're looking for a book dripping with rippling muscles and passionate kisses, that ain't me, folks; I prefer real narration.) I enjoy romances with a good dose of humor, credibility, and intrigue. And Felix is just the sort of cinnamon roll to get the job done.

5. It has Samson.
Ok, yes, and Merryweather, but for me, Samson's the one who stole the show. You remember how mischievous and stubborn the twins in RatB were? That's Samson in this book. He was meant to be a horse in the background, but he was not content to stay there. I've had my stories torn from my grasp on countless occasions by my characters before, but never by a horse. And despite my better judgment, Samson became my absolute favorite. Pretty much of all time. And Merryweather is the fluffiest, cutest, most loyal sidekick a girl could want.

~*~

Important links to remember today:

• Kara interviewed me on her blog!
• Get your Kindle copy of Spindle Dreams
• Or your paperback copy

For those of you who have beta-read or are influence readers for Spindle Dreams, please consider copying your review onto Amazon now that the book is live. I would be so grateful!

God bless!

Cover Reveal: Spindle Dreams

At long, long last, I am delighted to finally share with you the cover we've been slaving over. I cannot begin to describe what a process this has been. My original hope had been to publish the book last October, but so many setbacks pushed the publication until now. As of right now, I'm still working on formatting the Kindle version, but happily, the paperback is all ready to go.

But you didn't want to know about that since the book won't be coming out until next week. You're just here for the cover. I know, I know.

To keep the REAL cover off your preliminary sneak peek, here's the original mock cover I put together when I began working on this story way back in 2015.

It was a good start, but I'll be the first to admit it wasn't the ideal cover that I wanted. Besides, I didn't own the copyrights to the photo, so using that at all was against the rules. I just wanted to have something on hand to inspire me to get the story done.

And guess what? The inspiration worked; the story's done, and we're now publishing it for the world to read!

So, I won't tease you any further, because I know you want to know what cover we came up with. And here, I am very happy to present to you my Spindle Dreams.

Maybe later this week, as part of the promo for this book, I'll do a post detailing what hurdles we had to go through for this cover. My husband was the main hero behind it all; I can only take a small amount of credit for its final look.

~*~

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.

~*~

Be sure to come back often this week to check out this blog (as well as my other social media sites) for book updates, cool posts, and general promotion fun! I'll be popping in onto a few other blogs and I'll share those links as they become available.

For now, please share the cover and add Spindle Dreams on Goodreads! 

Additionally, the first book in the series, The Rose and the Balloon, is available on Amazon Kindle for $.99! 

God bless!

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. 

GUESS WHAT??

I'm finally getting around to doing something I should have done months ago. 

I'M GOING TO BE PUBLISHED!

And before you start the confetti cannons, I am going to just say it: No, I am very sorry, but it's not Secret of the Hazel Tree. Not just yet. I am making progress and moving closer to publication with that one, but there's still too much to do to hope for that publication this summer.

However, I am very excited to announce the upcoming publication of my Beauty and the Beast short story. 

Promotional/working cover -- not final cover.

The Rose and the Balloon

Further details will be coming soon, so be on the lookout!

God bless!