Kellyn Roth's Blog: Kellyn Roth, Author, page 14

Hello readers!

As you know, Becoming Miss Knight is coming soon! However, for this launch, I didn’t have quite as much time to prep as I’d like (life got crazy).

For this reason, I’m running a bit behind schedule and won’t have a normal blog tour, etc.

However, I decided I’d still do all the blog tour things – interview, character interview, reviews, guest posts, and so on. I’m just doing them over the course over several months!

Basically, you fill out the launch team form below and decide upon your own post dates – whenever is convenient for you.

The novella is launching on the 23rd, but any time before or after that within the next few months is fine.

Interested?

Check out the Form!

The other thing I wanted to mention is that I’ll have at least two giveaways on my Instagram over the next couple weeks. Be sure to check those out!

TTFN!

~Kell~

IT’S TIME FOR THE COVER REVEAL!

Thanks to Carpe Librum Book Design, I now have a beautiful (perfect) cover for my novella, Becoming Miss Knight, and today I get to share it with you!

(Note: this has largely been copied from my email list! Please consider subscribing to my list to get information earlier!)

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Just scroll down a bit more …

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Isn’t it gorgeous? The pinks absolutely did me in. (I don’t know if any of y’all follow my Instagram, but … you’ve seen my room.)

This novella features both Alice and Ivy, so I begged my poor, tortured book cover designer to help me figure out something to showcase them both (and their personalities) in a meaningful way.

Because my designer is such a pro, I barely had to do more than tell her what it was about for her to create this beauty (no revisions needed!).

I love how she managed to feature the exact scenery I’d imagined when I thought of Pearlbelle Park’s entry into the gardens—combined with a face-forward Alice in her pastel “this is what is proper” gown and a from-the-back Ivy in a less “debutante-ish” outfit.

Suffice to say, though I didn’t know what I wanted when I commissioned the cover, she somehow gave me exactly what I did want, and I was thrilled.

Preorder Launch

With the cover reveal, I must also share the preorder link!

PREORDER NOW

Becoming Miss Knight is now available for preorder on Amazon! Since it’s only a novella, I decided to set the preorder at $0.99 (although the list price after the preorder will be slightly higher).

If you’re interested in reading this novella, consider buying a copy now! It’ll release on the 23rd, so you won’t have long to wait — and those little $0.99 preorders will go a long way toward boosting my numbers.

But regardless, I hope you enjoyed the pretty cover (!!) and the little insight into how it came to be. (Which was, surprisingly, effortless! Sometimes working with a cover designer can mean tons of tweaks—however, I think we’ve figured out a good rhythm. I really do have the best designer ever!)

TTFN!

~Kell~

P.S.

Soooo … do you like it? Also, how’s your day going? What types of posts would you like to see on this blog? (I have two awesome ones coming up!)

Hello folks! Over the course of 2019 and 2020, I posted a number of posts to Reveries Co.’s website. Since that website is now shut down, I thought I’d repost some of them (with some tweaks) to this blog! Especially since a few were really popular.

Today I want to discuss 15 amateur mistakes I’ve seen indie authors make over the years — and some of which (*coughs* most of which) I’ve made myself!

As someone who spent years correcting my amateurish mistakes, a big passion of mine is helping other authors do the same (or simply avoid making those mistakes altogether). So let’s get into it!

1: Self-editing and not getting other perspectives.

This is the number one issue I would see whenever I read indie novels. It’s just not well-edited!

That’s not the author’s fault, necessarily. No matter how many times you go over your book, you’re going to miss quite a lot — and no matter how great of a writer you are, there are some things only a professional would notice.

This is why I recommend getting a professional editor to work on your novel (in addition to beta readers). It will set you apart from other indie authors from the beginning!

2: Designing their own book covers or hiring a poor cover designer.

Book covers are your public representation of the book’s content! A great book cover is probably the most important marketing tool you’ll ever buy. I could go on for posts and posts about how important they are, but take my word for it: they’re vital.

So why are so many authors making their own book covers? Hiring less than professional designers? Whatever the reason, it’s an amateur make-or-break mistake, so do all you can to avoid it!

Book covers should not just be professional and intriguing, but also represent the book’s genre, and more than that, your book’s niche.

3: Abandoning formatting.

Interior formatting is one of the most underrated services available to authors! Yet, time and time again, I’ve removed a book from my Kindle because various formatting errors made it unreadable.

Also, I confess I cannot read a print book in Arial font. I just can’t. I’ve tried, I’ve failed, but every time I’m faced with a print book in Arial, I give up.

Now, not everyone is as picky and appearance-focused as I am. However, you don’t want to lose a reader just because they appreciate sensory details!

4: Failing to create a preorder launch campaign.

I didn’t realize preorders were a thing until way too far into my publishing career, and I really wish I had! Preorders are a great way to get your book out there before it’s published as well as help skyrocket your rankings on publication day.

Preorder launches mean different things for different people, and there is tons of advice on them out there, so I’ll save the full essay for another day. However, this is a vital part of the authoring journey!

5: An unclear, purposeless, unprofessional website.

If they want more of your books, where do they go? To authorname.com, of course, where they look for more ways to interact with you, more books by you, et cetera.

I’ve stumbled upon many an unclear, purposeless, and unprofessional author website in my day.

Unclear websites fail to communicate who you are and what you’re doing.

Purposeless websites fail to give the viewer an absolute “do this” — whether that is a (non-pushy) “subscribe to my email list & receive this ebook” or an invitation to view your blog.

Unprofessional websites tell the reader you aren’t really in it to win it. If they haven’t read your books, they probably will pass. If they have, that might lower their opinions of you as an author.

It’s better to have no website at all, if you really can’t afford it, than an unprofessional website thrown together on a low-grade server like Weebly, Wix, or WordPress.com.

6: Not understanding genre and reader expectations.

I don’t see as many authors studying genre and reader expectations as I should. It’s important to know what you’re writing and for who, or you’ll never get very far. However, this is an easily-ignored part of the indie author career!

Know who you’re writing for and what other authors have done with your genre, as well as what’s trending at the time you publish. This will help you market more wisely and make decisions in your book that will appeal to your target audience.

7: Having no long-term marketing or publishing plan.

Okay, your book’s out and launched. Now what?

It’s important for indie authors to have a long-term marketing and publishing plan so they can continue selling books after the first rush. Finding ways to present your backlog to new readers is an interesting and challenging game, but it’s well worth exploring.

8: Publishing before they’ve built a platform.

I unfortunately did this. It’s very important to have an audience ready to go before you publish for first book, or you’ll launch it to white noise and swiftly lose it to the depths of Amazon.

Be sure to spend a significant amount of time building your readership before you launch your first book. You want a group of people excited about the book you’re about to put out! And you want those people ready to read and share about your book.

9: Not having a purpose with their social media, blog, and email list.

I see a lot of people who don’t know what audience to reach and therefore post everything and anything on their social media and blog, and sharing anything to their email list.

If you’re doing everything, you must be doing something right … right!?

Unfortunately, that’s not the case. It’s important to create helpful, inspiring, and targeted content through all your platforms and know who you’re trying to reach and why.

10: Failing to set up an email list & email list magnet.

Email lists are a big deal. They’re the only audience you really own, and they’re the ones you can turn into your most loyal subscribers.

Unlike with social media, you won’t be the victim of unfair algorithms or not hitting the exact right post time. You’ll be in their inbox no matter what unless they unsubscribe.

In addition to setting up an email list and encourage people to sign up, you also need a great email list magnet, like a short story or later on a first in series to get them hooked. This free incentive will get people who are interested in you as an author to sign up faster!

11: Not being professional — or being too professional!

There’s a balance to be found between posting blurry selfies with goofy captions and being so stiff, formal, and private that no one can get to know you.

Finding that balance is very difficult, but in the end, it’s worthwhile. It can mean something a little different to everyone.

However, I find that focusing on “friendly but polished” is perfect. A mix of my customer service tone combined with the warmth I’d offer a hurt child who came in my office for a band-aid.

Okay, that’s way too condescending, but you get the point. Kind and personable but still looking like you know what you’re doing!

12: Lack of confidence & not acting like they’re an “actual” published author.

I’ve seen indie authors with things like “aspiring author” in their bio. Uh, no. You’re not aspiring. You’re a published author! (Way to give us all a bad name … Okay, maybe it’s not that bad, but still. You need to have confidence in yourself!)

Take yourself seriously, understand that you’ve done a big thing and will go far, and other people will believe it of you. There’s no need to clarify instantly that you’re an indie author or to say untrue things like you’re just “aspiring.”

13: Failing to publish your second, third, fourth, etc. book.

No one hit wonders, please! Once you’ve published, you need to publish again. You can’t give a starving audience a taste of your awesomeness and then rip it away from them!

Really, though, the best marketing strategy you can have really boils down to “write more books.” Put yourself out there more — share more of your content!

Quality over quantity for sure — but that doesn’t mean you can’t have a quantity of quality.

That said, if you published unprepared and need time before putting out another book, take all the time you need to get to a place of preparation. Your audience can wait!

14: Not giving as much as they’re taking in the bookish community.

I’ve seen a lot of newbie indie authors who want to take, take, take … and never give back! They expect people to follow them and interact with them and buy their books and support them just because they want them to.

(They also expect other authors to be their personal Google. Don’t be that author. Before you ask a question, try looking it up.)

Don’t give in to this entitled attitude! Help others, not because you’ll be rewarded, but because it’s the right thing to do. 

15: Giving up too soon.

Don’t give up! Please!

When the going gets hard, the tough get going. Although you may find in the end that indie publishing isn’t right for you, I encourage you not to make that decision simply because it’s more difficult than you’d imagined it would be.

Give yourself time to grow as an author before throwing in the towel. You can do this!

TTFN!

~Kell~

p.s.

Well, those are my best tips! Please tell me that I’m not the only one who made them …? Anddd was this post helpful for you? (I’m trying to decide if I should post writing advice here more or less often.)

As discussed in my 2020 wrapup post, 2021 is a year that is coming (very shortly), and as such, we must prepare for it with the knowledge that there is no such thing as preparation and all hope for the future is a lie.*

I’m not going to begin this post with a long intro and a bunch of ranting – instead, let’s talk about the future in the cheeriest of terms!

*I am obviously joking. Because I’m a Christian, and we’re big on hope.

Expectations for 2021

I mean, I’m definitely ending up in jail at some point.

Okay, maybe not, but I wouldn’t be surprised. I don’t want to end up in jail, but if that’s what needs to happen, I’m chill with that. (I mean, the American judicial system is a joke anyways.)

I think 2021 is going to be a hard year. There was nothing magical about 2020 that made it “bad.” In fact, 99% of the badness was the fact that no one did anything about it.

We’ll start coming to crossroads, both worldwide, in our nation, and in our day-to-day lives, and we’ll have to make hard decisions.

Christians will have to fight for what they believe in America in a way they haven’t to in decades – if they have at any point since the American Civil War/the American Revolution.

There will have to be lines drawn in the sand, and we will have to be very sure we are on the right side of those lines. It will be so subtle, so gentle that we will really have to watch.

I’m not expecting a nuclear war. I’m not expecting anything of the sort! Honestly, I wish we would have something a bit more obvious (even though war is just about the worst thing ever and should be avoided unless absolutely necessary) because … the way America is being consumed by ungodly influences is a great deal more subtle, and it’s allowing Christians to not care.

We need to care.

And, if all this doesn’t come to a head in 2021, well, it will at some point. I don’t know about you, but I’m not quite ready to just let the apocalypse happen – and even if it does, I don’t want to be one of the people who stands before God and says, “I did nothing.”

So yes, I have some dour expectations for 2021. That said, I also think there’s a lot of potential if we’re willing to not whine about it.

I’m so sick of all the cry-babies I’ve been seeing on the internet in 2020. Y’all are kinda wusses – and I admit I’ve been one, too. It’s been very popular to fuss this year.

So here’s hopin’ we choose strength, positivity, and the knowledge that our voices hold value here in America. Because they do, even if it’s been beaten out of you.

Overall 2021 Plans

Writing
More writing
Writing some more

Honestly, though, it’s more complicated than that. I do have some vague-ish plans for 2021, but I have no idea what I’ll be doing by the summer, let alone the fall or winter.

I can’t see much beyond the next couple weeks. Even my work schedule is 50% up in the air right now. I don’t know what I’ll have to do to earn a living wage, which I eventually do want.

I think the main thing I need to do is stay the course. Stick to my beliefs, keep living, work on improving myself, and get lots of stuff done!

But of course, if none of that happens, the most important thing is that I develop some upward growth.

2021 Goals & Dares*

*I’m never sure if I should call them goals or dares these days because I haven’t really been doing dares, and yet … that seems more fun than goals. So we’ll call them both, even though they’re the same thing.

Also, these are a bit up in the air because I plan on going through a mini-course on planning/goals/etc. in January, and I also want to hear back from Brett & Kara (my mentors) on what homework to expect, so I may come back and edit these mid-January.

Finish my synopsis, outline, and write my second project for the YWW Author program.

This one will be called “My Fair Marchioness,” and I’m really excited about it.


Launch my “pop-up” business for Author and get my first paying customer.

I’m most likely going to launch an author virtual assistant service. The next step is conducting some interviews, but … I’m waiting until after the Christmas holidays to do so.


Finish At Her Fingertips and Beyond Her Calling.

One way or another, this has got to happen.


Exercise, exercise, and exercise some more.

More specifically, I want to exercise at least twice a week, though I’m going for every day.


Keep a careful tab on my spending.

I can be such a spendthrift. I mean, I do great for months and then suddenly … I’m a spendthrift.

Hopes for 2021

How are expectations different from hopes?

Well, I’m what I’d call a pessimistic realist. I stick to reality, but I don’t particularly expect reality to be happy. Because it seldom is. We live in a sin-filled world, after all.

But hope is different than expectation.

“For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.“

— Romans 8:24–25

My expectations are based on reality. On things that I see (I mean, foresight is a thing). I can’t see my hopes; I don’t know how they could happen or if they could happen. I’m afraid to believe they would happen!

So they are hopes. Dreams, if you prefer, but a bit firmer because I know (at least with my head) that there’s no way I’m going to miss out on anything I’m not meant to miss out on.

I hope …

That I’ll find a way to move out or at least develop a new trajectory for my life that feels a bit more structured/less self-contained.
That I’ll legitimately learn and grow as a person in Christ.
That I’ll be able to spend more time with my friends, particularly Bailey, and that we’ll be encouraging to each other.
That I’ll develop new friendships – or at least stability in the friendships I have.
That Americans will begin to grow a pair and stand up for what is right.
That people all over the world will turn to God in the fray.
That God will extend grace to my country, even if we don’t deserve it.
That I’ll look back at 2021 and go, “Wow, I really filled that year well!”

And that’s it for today! I’ll see you soon with … another post. I honestly don’t know what I plan on doing right, but we shall soon see!

TTFN!

~Kell~

P.S.

What are your hopes and dreams for 2021? And, of course, what are your goals? Expectations? And so on? How do you tend to view the future/planning?

Well, 2020 was a year that happened. Technically is still happening. And I think, at least according to my 2019 wrapup, I might have cursed it a little?

I mean …

[W]hen I think about it, at least I know now what I can’t do – and I know that I can weather a storm. Or 50 storms. In fact, y’all are welcome to throw storms at me (please don’t), because I can take ’em as long as God exists! (Which He always will.)

This is what comes of ASKING people to THROW STORMS AT ME. Like, I’m sorry, y’all. I really am. I didn’t mean to curse us.

All joking aside, 2020 has at least been an interesting year (for most) if not a tragic one (for some).

Almost everyone has been laid-off and labelled “non-essential.” Depression and anxiety are sky-rocketing. Suicide rates are rising. Our economy is crashing, our education system has been upturned, and our churches have been closed.

The government has taken unprecedented control of our daily lives, going so far as to restrict constitutionally-secure activities taking place in our own homes. And it’s scary. And all Americans need* to stand up against it.

*It’s no longer an option if you want to continue experiencing any type of personal freedom.

Better yet?

If you protest, you’re selfish because, guess what? These huge things are just “an inconvenience.” And if you say, “It’s more than an inconvenience; it’s literally my entire life being ripped away!” … you’re a conspiracy theorist.

If that’s not gaslighting, I don’t know what is!

But all politics aside, let’s talk about 2021. Let’s talk about the future. And hope. And all that good stuff that no one can take away from us – even if it just means the knowledge that there still is a battle to fight!

My 2020 Goal Wrapup

Set up a great welcome sequence for my main email list.

Okay, so this didn’t happen. I did get a bit closer to getting organized, but I’m not quite there.


Organize my email list as is so that everyone is categorized properly, and growth will be more controllable.

I’m … in the process!


Organize my street team and make it private (e.g. no more people getting in).

I did, but now I’m starting to regret that decision. So it might just go back to the way it was before!


Publish Ivy Introspective.

YUS! I did!!! And that was a hard goal for me to make, so I’m super glad.


Prepare to publish At Her Fingertips and Beyond Her Calling.

Okay, well, if you count writing up the outlines and starting At Her Fingertips, yes.


Write at least one original work from start to finish.

I did! The one that comes to mind is The Duke’s Twin. From concept to first draft, I did it!


Keep learning Spanish.

HAHAHAHA. Okay, so I actually gave this up. *facepalm* I swear, all y’all picked up a new hobby in 2020, and I dropped like 50.


Have a certain amount of money in my bank account.

I DID IT! Though I also spent an outrageous amount of money.


Host at least three big writer events online over the year to focus on my backlist.

I didn’t …


Get to 900 followers on Instagram.

Check! And a few more than that, too.


Attend an organized writing event in person.

I tried, but um … *cough Covid cough*


Read the Bible twice a day.

I mean, I did occasionally, but most of the time, no. For the first five months or so, I did read the Bible at least once a day! And nowadays I’m doing it a couple times a week.
But I’ve discovered I really struggle with my relationship with God 


Pray … a lot.

I tried! I think I’ve gotten a bit better, too. And Bailey and I are hopefully making plans to meet up every week and just pray.


Take Paisley on a walk with the girls.

Nahhhh … I mean, it’s just been … crazy.


Eat healthily with some regularity.

This is an unreasonable expectation of moi.


Exercise sometimes.

I mean, yeah. I exercised once a week or so for the first bit of 2020, and then it slowly faded, and then I picked it up again, and then it faded, and then … you know how it goes.


Live a little.

HAHAHAHAHAHA.
I mean, yes, but no? I did some fun things, more than I would’ve done if it weren’t for Covid-19 (because if y’all gonna tell me it’s illegal to go outside, guess where I’m going every weekend?). But other than that, not really.


Read more.

I mean, no. But on the other hand, I have read more in this last week or so! So that’s something.


DON’T DROP THIS BLOG AGAIN!

I mean, again, yes but no …


And don’t force this blog to be something it’s not again.

Yes.

Writing Updates

Honestly, I could not remember what I was working on all through 2020 … but after scouring my blog, my documents, various update threads, and so on, I think I’ve got a pretty good wrapup going!

Published Books

I put out the latest drafts of The Dressmaker’s Secret and Ivy Introspective, as well as audiobook versions. (The IvIn audiobook will be coming in the next couple months!) You can check out everything about those here. (Suffice to say, these are my proudest accomplishments!)

Because I rewrote and rewrote IvIn during 2020, I’m counting about 60k as part of 2020’s word count despite the fact that it was a rewrite. (It was just a really big rewrite.) (Even so, I can’t 100% give myself that, so I’m calling it 60k not 72k.)

At Her Fingertips is … Complicated

After I finished Ivy Introspective (published in July), I turned my sights to book 3, which I’d originally intended to publish this last autumn.

That plainly didn’t come to be as my first rewrites were less than spectacular. About 35k in, I stopped and reevaluated. It just didn’t feel right. I had some unrelated readers (e.g. readers with no previous series experience) read the first couple chapters, and I hit on some issues.

April 2020 (Camp NaNo 1)

33,533 on Ivy Introspective, Thou, My Soul’s Glory, and The Midwife’s Daughter. I never broke down how much was on what, but one way or another, in 2020 I wrote 7,410 on TMSG and 9,831 on TMD, so the rest was probably on Ivy Introspective.

Give or take a few thousand – I think I started TMD earlier, but I’m not sure how much I kept.

July 2020 (Camp NaNo 2)

25,141 on At Her Fingertips, primarily. Suffice to say I was dealing with a lot this month.

Pre-NaNoWriMo 2020

So I wanted to start early and maintain a longer thread of consistent writing time, so I did.

Starting on October 15th and going through October 31st, I wrote 38,035 on The Duke’s Twin. The novel was finished mid-November at 59,093 words. (That means in those 46 days, I wrote 102,624 words! #proud)

My plan is to keep experimenting with longer periods of consistent, tracked writing. I’ve done a month and a half … how about two months now? And then three?

Can I eventually spend half the year doing NaNoWriMo and half not? Who knows! It’s certainly worth trying.

NaNoWriMo 2020

In November 2020, I wrote 64,589 words. My breakdown of on what?

The Duke’s Twin
21,085


Becoming Miss Knight
11,400


At Her Fingertips
32,104

Look how pretty that is! So basically, I finished The Duke’s Twin, wrote Becoming Miss Knight, and started At Her Fingertips.

I mostly wrote a lot of random stuff?

By that I mean snippets, self-fanfiction, mini short stories. I probably hit 30,000 words on so on all these mini projects, but they were useless, and I shall not count them as part of my word wrapup for this year.

Her Lord’s Book Club is a new thing

In April or May, I had an idea for a series that a friend and I spent a long time plotting out. Basically, they’re Regency-era comedy romances that involve lots of bookishness and misunderstandings and just … goofy stuff. It’ll be great.

I ended up using the idea for book 1 as my Author program project #1 – The Duke’s Twin. (I also wrote a prequel, Firstborn, at 22,983 words.)

Wrapup?

I wrote a lot, but not nearly as much as I’d have liked to! At the beginning of this year, I think I wanted to write up the McAllen Brothers series as well as At Her Fingertips and Beyond Her Calling, and that just didn’t happen.

Still, it could’ve been worse, especially since I stopped mid-year and started working on other random projects. *sighs at self*

My word count total is, give or take, 254,281 words!

(Note: I’ll hopefully write a bit more before the year’s out, but I’m not counting those. Because that’d be hard.)

Just some random 2020 thoughts now, mates:

As you can see, I had a lackluster year in many ways. It wasn’t ever quite what I wanted. A lot of things changed that meant my life didn’t have as much growth as I wanted.

I talked a lot in my 2019 wrapup (which is still a post I really enjoyed rereading, by the way) about how my 2019 was just a very rough year for me to live through, and with 2020 having echoed said pattern, I admit to a lot of discouragement.

I feel like I’ve lost my ability to barrel through. In 2018, I was so numb I couldn’t think straight, and in 2019, I was emotionally volatile and just wrecked.

Actually, though, in some ways this set me up well for 2020 because I had gone through enough in my own mind that I was just like, “Eh. Who cares?” (Personal opinion: half of the world hasn’t suffered enough, so they can therefore not take anything. We have a very weak generation here in America, and probably in some other countries that aren’t facing actual issues, and it’s quite sad.) (Like, y’all, kids in the 1940s didn’t have time to be anxious about their test scores because they were literally dying.)

Anyways, all that aside, to quote said wrapup post:

I’m still trying to figure out my 2020, and even then I can’t guarantee it will go that way. If I’ve learned anything from 2019, it’s that NOTHING WILL HAPPEN THE WAY YOU PLAN most of time, so be ready to make the most out of what God gives you instead of whining that, somehow, your plan was better than His.

I admit that I am a bit scared of having another 2019 – an ongoing lifetime of 2019’s. I feel too weak, too tired, too emotionally bankrupt to take another 2019.

But God knows where my limits are, and I trust Him to take me there and no further. If I feel like I’m being taken further than I can go, well, I’m wrong.

Oddly perfect, isn’t it? Honestly, I never referred to it until this month, but it definitely fits! I wish I’d reread it a bit earlier.

Another 2019 … and another … and another …

I started 2020 not trusting that I would ever be better – emotionally, spiritually.

I didn’t trust the state of the world (and my trust is even more lost now) – I didn’t trust that anything would go well at all, really.

Yet even at the end of 2019, I had hope points. Little sparkles and shines. At the time, I was dating a guy who I thought was pretty great (turns out, he was like 110% not right for me, and has mildly destroyed my desire to ever invest in a serious relationship, which was unexpected, but you have to try certain things to know you don’t like them), so that was encouraging. I also had a plan for my life, which I no longer possess – and I had friends.

I lost a lot of friends in 2020. I lost a lot of my faith for my future – and certainly a lot of my plans. But I also came to gain friends (or, more often, find out who my true friends were!), and I’m learning to be okay with not having set plans because, let’s be honest, when have my plans ever worked?

Hello folks! It’s time to be updating you on my stories! I meant to do this a bit earlier in the month, but I decided not to. ‘Cause I got sick. (So it wasn’t a decision, but shh. Leave me my illusions.)

But now I’m here to update y’all on my projects! Let’s get right into it.

Becoming Miss Knight

Currently discussed on my WIP page (so check out the longer description there!), this novella is the in-between book between book 2 and 3 of The Chronicles of Alice and Ivy.

It’s currently with beta readers, and I’m getting some great feedback! Which means … the story will probably come out in January!

Wow. Pretty soon, right?

I’m really excited for that! The idea of this novella is to introduce new readers to the series as well as remind old readers of what they’re missing.

At Her Fingertips

Book 3 in The Chronicles of Alice and Ivy is comin’ along! I got about 32k in November (the rest of my NaNo count was from Becoming Miss Knight and The Duke’s Twin, both of which are finished) – and I’m picking away at in now in December!

I hope to finish it up this December! (Even though this sickness has got me delayed!) And after that, I’ll be moving on to beta-readers … and then prepping for publication.

I’m super excited for this new draft, as it’s changed and improved in ways I wasn’t even expecting!

Semi-Related Updates

Y’all, I’m launching two mini book boxes for Christmas!

These are exclusive, one-time-only goodie boxes – one for The Dressmaker’s Secret and one for the entire Kees & Colliers series (all three books included in that one!).

Both contain various themed items, some specially designed stickers, unique Christmas ornaments, and just a bunch of awesome stuff that any fan of the books/series would love!

They’re a great Christmas gift idea for any book lover – and they can be enjoyed by anyone aged 14-92, so there’s a lot of options for who to give the box to: daughter, mother, grandmother, best friend, cousin … the list goes on!

If you’d like to find out more about them, check out book one or box two. I had so much fun putting them together, and I just know they’re going to bring a smile to your face!

I even included a unique note from Adele or Troy in the Kees & Colliers book box. Which was loads of fun to write! (It’s been too long since I’ve written from their POVs!)

Interested?

Check Out My Shop

TTFN!

~Kell~

P.S.

ARE YOU AS COOLED OUT BY THE BOOK BOXES AS I AM!? (It’s like ‘freaked out’ or ‘grossed out’ but for cool stuff.) I certainly am excited! Also

Months back, I can’t remember exactly where, I saw a meme to the effect of “bloggers need to NOT do their 2020 wrapups this year – we don’t want to see it.” I thought it was funny, but as I think back to it, I disagree.

And though I’m sure, as always, there’ll be a mix of people who do wrapups and people who don’t … I want to encourage you to wrapup your life.

I want to encourage you to make a “paper trail” in blog format – or on your social media, or in an email, or wherever it is that you post wrapups. I want to encourage you that your life is still worth sharing about it.

Even in spite of 2020. In fact, maybe BECAUSE of 2020.

Why should you share about your year?

Well, there’s not any one, definitive reason, but here’s why I still plan on posting a 2020 Recap at the end of this month.

Because you’ll want to look back on this time in ten years – or even one year!

Am I the only one who looks back on my yearly wrapups again and again? I’ve always enjoyed doing them, and I’m very glad that I have them to read over!

Why would this be any different in 2020? We all know that trying to forget our past is not a healthy way to deal with it.

Besides, the hardest years are often the wrapups I enjoy the most! It may be difficult to look back over the year, especially if it was disappointing to you, but I believe that not memorializing 2020 will be a mistake you’ll regret.

Because there are unique facets of your story.

I know, I know. You’re probably like, “Why should I post a wrapup of 2020? My story is literally the same as everyone else’s. I stayed inside for a year.”

Well … no. That’s not true. Trust me, your experiences with 2020 have been unique.

I mean, I managed to get an eye infection and break up with my long-time crush/short-time boyfriend and bid the best piece of my childhood family property goodbye and … Basically, 2020 has been a year.

But I also wrote a lot, organized my life, had some great work experiences, learned the true strength of my character (I ain’t gonna give up my beliefs even if everyone else disagrees, suffice to say!), and had a lot of growing experiences.

I’m sure you have stories, accomplishments, and so on to share! You won’t know until you sit down and try to write them out.

Because sadness needs to be discussed.

Okay, let’s assume for a moment that you only have negative stories and experiences from 2020. Let’s assume nothing happy happened all year.

Well, that still deserves to be talked about! Because in sadness, you grow. In sadness, you get to choose your reaction – it can be positive or negative – and that choice is what makes you a stronger person.

Because we need to acknowledge our losses.

I’m sick of being told that the only losses this year were either “someone died of an illness” or “someone was mildly inconvenienced.”

This is not true. The losses were much more manifold this year, and though many of them were directly or indirectly related to the shutdowns, most of them did not have to do with the loss of life due to Covid-19.

This is more than “either someone dies or someone is mildly inconvenienced.” We’re talking mental health. We’re talking growing suicide rates. We’re talking broken families. We’re talking destroyed economies. We’re talking lives ruined.

And we need to stop looking the other way! We need to be honest about what we have lost. Because if we do not admit that there are problems with our current system, change will not happen.

Because we need to look back on 2020 so we can prepare to have a better 2021.

This may look different for everyone. For me, it means steeling myself to rebel.

It means preparing to go to jail if I must – because I would rather continue to fight for a country where I can have the rights of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” none of which I’m being granted.

Because I want to be able to worship as I please. Because I want to be allowed to meet with like-minded people where and when I please.

Basically, everything we rebelled against England for has been unceremoniously ripped away from us, and we’ve not made a peep. And I’m not going to back down.

However, for someone else, this might just mean preparing to go through another year, whatever it brings. And that’s important!

Because it’s what you’ve always done.

Normalcy is a tricky thing. In general, I say it’s different for everyone, and it’s not the government’s job to enforce it. In fact, “normal” shouldn’t be enforced. It should be a matter of personal definition.

When it comes to our blogging … I personally believe that changing what you normally do just because the year threw different things at you doesn’t make sense.

However, it’s up to you. Is it more comforting for you to adjust your blogging schedule to reflect a year that was just too different? Or is that same old wrapup going to help you feel more grounded, more normal?

The choice is, of course, up to you!

As a sidenote, I’m switching the day that my bi-weekly blog post is coming out on! Obviously. And, of course, trying to make my “bi-weekly” post more bi-weekly. (Though honestly this month we might end up with more than two posts, depending.)

I think Wednesday is a good day for a post, but we shall see if this shifts over time!

Also, I got an announcement:

I’m part of a giveaway!

“We want you to have a chance to win 45+ of books or a $500 Amazon card to buy a ton of books yourself in the Celebrate Lit 2nd Annual Merry Christmas Giveaway!”

Click here to enter: https://promosimple.com/ps/102df/2nd-annual-merry-christmas-readers

TTFN!

~Kell~

P.S.

So what do you think, folks? Are you doing a year wrapup wherever you previously did a year wrapup? Or is that just not your thing?

Henry Talbot should be shot.

In this essay, I will break down the reasons Henry Talbot of Downton Abbey should be shot, explain where and how many times I would like to shoot him, and further expound on my personal reasons for said gruesome murder.

Please read on if this is something you wish would happen, too. (No, this is not serious.) (And not meant to be taken seriously.)

As stated in my intro, I am one of many (I’m sure, though I’ve never heard it expressed like so) that believes that Henry Talbot, a character from the later series of the BBC drama Downton Abbey, deserves to be shot.

Specifically, I would like to drag him out into the street and repeatedly plaster his ugly, stringy, way-too-English body with bullet holes until he bleeds out.

Now, before we go any further, I would like to clarify that the actor is not related to Henry Talbot.

There is an actor — whose name I cannot remember and will not look up — who plays Henry Talbot.

Deepest respect. You had an unenviable part, English Actor Dude. Because no one is or ever will be Dan Stevens — and more than that, no one else will ever be Lady Mary’s husband. Not really.

Deepest respect to the actor, I say. It is simply the fictional character who I would like to kill. So, dear English Actor Dude, do not be offended. You done did good. Your character just shouldn’t exist.

Furthermore, they basically boxed you out of the movie, and I must say, even you should be grateful for that. Because we just didn’t want to see you on screen. No one did.

It’s not about you. It’s about the character.

Moving on.

Henry Talbot should be shot.

I’ve said that before, haven’t I? But have I expounded? No. I shall do so now.

Simply put, they introduced Henry Talbot to be a love interesting for Mary Crawley because … she needed a love interest. For unknown reasons. (Ick.)

Personally, I was fine with there being a host of “Mary’s men” and her never deciding to be with anyone. Perhaps she could’ve, I don’t know, actually deepened her relationship with her family — her child, for instance — instead.

Or perhaps she could’ve chosen one of her more interesting suitors. I liked Evelyn Napier and Tony Gillingham, and also that one dude with the pigs. Any of those options would’ve interested me!

Particularly the pig dude. Let’s all have a moment of silence for the pig dude. He was super cool and would’ve added so much to the show.

*a moment of silence*

I won’t even begin to get into my actual ship, though. I started to go into a rant about this here, but I confined it to a point below. And since most people don’t seem to like that ship, I’ll, um, keep it there.

Suffice to say my ship, listed below, is the only acceptable ship.

But instead, Downton Abbey brought forth Henry Talbot.

He was boring. He pretended he had real depth but simply … didn’t. He didn’t seem real — it was like he was copied and pasted from another show and suddenly was trying to fit in in a place he didn’t belong.

He was awkward. And uncultured. And he didn’t fit with Mary. He just didn’t.

Let’s talk about some of the ways I hate Henry Talbot most.

1: He and Mary have no chemistry. None.

Like, every time I look at them, I wonder why the creators of the show believed I would believe they really want each other???

With Matthew and Mary, you could feel it. Down deep in your bones, you could feel that they wanted each other — physically, yes, but emotionally and intellectually, too.

They fit. They fit so well! Almost from their first moment on-screen, there was this delightful play and chemistry.

Even when they hated each other (which, let’s face it, was often!), you could still feel it, y’all. I could feel it, and I’m the least emotionally sensitive person in the world.

Talbot? No. You can’t feel it because there is nothing there. Mary and Talbot don’t work together.

Remember how cringey their reuniting-thingy scene was? It was so cringey. The truth was, Mary wasn’t “trembling at the touch of his hand.” She awkwardly was like, “Yeah, sure, I’m into you.”

But it didn’t ring true. Honestly, no matter what they said, no matter what the actors tried to portray (and talented they are), there is no way they have a passionate marriage. I refuse to accept it. I do.

Ah, pig guy, where are you when I want you!?!

2: He and Downton Abbey have no chemistry.

I’m a pragmatist at heart. I love a good romance, yes, but I also like a nice neat little bow.

I wanted Mary and Matthew to be together for the sake of Downton Abbey as much as for themselves (though I’d have been fine if they burnt Downton to the ground to be together but semantics).

But Henry Talbot and Downton Abbey? Downton Abbey and Henry Talbot? Hownton Tabbey, if you will? I don’t ship it. I so don’t ship it.

Like, can you see them together? Plainly not because he’s rarely at Downton Abbey, and they basically remove him from the movie altogether as if to say, “Henry Talbot is not worthy of the Motion Picture Event that is Downton Abbey.”

I just can’t ship Hownton Tabbey, y’all. I can’t, and I won’t.

3: does anyone in the whole family think this is a good idea!?

I mean, they do eventually, but if they were to use their Thinky Hats (e.g. their brains which they seem to occasionally lose), they would not approve.

Robert must see that, if Mary marries, she should marry someone focused on protecting the estate — not on his own needs. Yes, she has Tom for that (more on that later), but Henry Talbot is no true partner for Mary.

Who could see that more than Carson? Carson must know this is horrible. That he won’t work for “his Lady Mary.” That their marriage is doomed for failure from the start.

Violet naturally doesn’t approve! Sure, she fakes it to make Mary “happy.” But she must be going senile in those moments, because anyone with even a bit of intelligence would see that Talbot could never make Mary happy.

I’m not going to go down the whole cast, as it is rather lengthy, but suffice to say, I don’t think anyone in the family should support this union.

Cora might not care but then she is American. You can’t trust Americans.

4: Everyone keeps telling me he’s perfect for Mary. Therefore, he is not.

During that whole last painful season (when, in my opinion, only Edith was really rewarded properly), everyone and their uncle is like, “WOW YOU AND HENRY SHOULD BE TOGETHER YOU’RE SO GOOD TOGETHER.”

Like even Tom, who I would have previously considered utterly uncorrupted and amazing in every way, buys into it. (See below my possible thought process on this.)

Anyways, everyone is all like, “Gah, Mary, stop ruining your own happiness!” and “Gah, Mary, just marry Talbot already. It’s even in your name. ‘Mary’ him.”

Here’s my conclusion about this: it’s all a conspiracy.

As a Christian in the modern world, I consider it my duty — nay, my calling! — to be suspicious of anything anyone tells me.

The fact that every character in the show is telling me that Mary and Henry should be together CONCLUSIVELY proves without a SHRED of doubt that they are NOT meant to be together.

I don’t know how I can be any more reasonable or clear than that. I just don’t.

5: There is only one acceptable ship here, plainly.

That ship is Mary and Tom.

Okay, okay, before you get all up in arms, hear me out. They would be really good together. And I cannot hear any other ship pre-movie.

After the movie, um … I really, um … I really love Tom/Lucy. But Lucy would’ve found herself another hunky Irishman if Tom were already married to Mary at that point.

So since the whole situation wouldn’t have come up, let’s just go ahead and ignore Lucy when it comes to this ship.

Tom and Mary are perfect for each other. They share similar life experiences. They bonded over losing Sybil and then over being single parents and then over running the estate together.

They work together constantly, and in perfect sync, and just … they’re soooo good together.

But the reality of this is iffy, right?

Wrong.

Speaking of the whole “Talbot is so good with you” conspiracy, Tom played into this, right? So he doesn’t want her if he’s suggesting she marry other men, right?

NOPE.

So there are a couple reasons Tom might hold back.

First of all, Mary is really cruel. So Tom probably didn’t want to deal with that drama of working through all her bitterness to find her soft side. He might’ve wanted to — might’ve seen that softness at times — but the show itself didn’t allow him to.

Also, with Mary being fairly traditional, she probably remembered that until 1907, it was illegal to marry your dead wife’s sister. So that might have caused issues with the family.

Still, who are Mary and Tom to be held back by antique traditions? Both of them, in their individual ways, have rebelled against the status quo again and again.

What better way to make that final rebellion than to cause dear Violet to faint (and then after she recovers she’ll probably be super into it because, like me, Dame Maggie Smith would be sure to recognize a great ship when she saw one)?

And I’ll say this: Tom has the chemistry with Mary (just look at their little fights here and there), he’s good for her, he’s good for Downton Abbey, and they have just … so much in common?

Talbot isn’t good for Mary like Tom is. Tom is just such a good influence on her! They level each other out.

And yeah, maybe Mary doesn’t give Tom an outlet to express his political views. But who’s to say Lucy does?! Lucy literally works directly under a woman whose only job is to TAKE CARE OF THE QUEEN, soooo yeah? Royalist much?

And anyways, politics isn’t everything. Even Tom admitted it when he broke up with Miss Conceited McSnottypants.

So just think about it. It works better than you’d imagine, doesn’t it?

Here’s further proof: the writer played with it but decided it wouldn’t work. For STUPID SHALLOW REASONS that I do not agree with. (See here.)

Like that would be the perfect character growth for Mary, my dear sir?! HOW DARE YOU!!?!?!?

But before I get carried away, let’s talk about my final reason for wanting to shoot Henry Talbot.

6: I JUST DON’T LIKE HIS STUPID FACE.

Like, look at that stupid face:

How dare he be with my Lady Mary?!

Look at the presumptuousness! I didn’t give you permission to be touching her, you jerk!

He has a stupid face. I don’t like it.

And that’s it.

That is why I would like to riddle the bleeding carcass of Henry Talbot with shotgun shells.

So. Can we agree that Henry Talbot should be shot?

Further Reading

I advise reading this excellent article written while the last several episodes of this lovely show were still airing. It basically recaps all my frustrated feelings over the way they dealt with the last bit of Mary’s arc.

I also ~somewhat~ approve of this one which is not one, not two, but TEN people Mary could’ve married instead of Henry. Yeah. (NOTE: this does, somewhat tongue-in-cheekily, suggest Anna (& another woman), but … I forgive it because its heart was in the right place. To quote the article, “Those moments in front of the mirror were more intimate and meaningful than any scene Mary shared with Henry.” I quite agree.)

TTFN!

~Kell~

P.S.

If nothing else, you can’t say that my blog is ever boring, exactly.

Have you ever watched Downton Abbey? Or will you ever watch Downton Abbey? If you have (or, I guess, if you haven’t), do you hate Henry as much as I do? WHY DOES HE EXIST THAT PASSIONLESS WELP OF A MAN GAH!

Hey folks! So today I’m just gonna briefly tell you what my NaNoWriMo and KDWC projects are and also probably ramble a bit too much (Without spoilers! Don’t worry!) about these projects because … I AM EXCITED!

Basically, the long and short of it is that I’m doing KDWC for the first half of it (October 15th-November 1st) and then NaNoWriMo for the entire duration (November 1st-November 30th).

So best of both worlds! And because that’s more than 30 days, plainly I had to have more than one project. Allow me to explain.

I was going to use KDWC to do my second project and NaNoWriMo to do my first … but I GOT EXCITED and now I’m doing … the reverse. Except that KDWC (or what I’m doing of it) isn’t enough to finish my first project.

Which means I’ll be doing half of it during KDWC and half during NaNoWriMo. But, because that’s kinda confusing, I’m phrasing it as, “I’m doing one long NaNoWriMo.” Ish.

Anyways, all this background info aside, let’s talk about two projects … my secret project (now about to not be a secret!) and my novella which I haven’t talked about but which was technically not a secret.

My first project is the secret one …

The Duke’s Twin

a novel-to-be by Kellyn Roth

Lady Effie Adley would love nothing more than to settle in the countryside and write books. Sadly, her father’s disagreeable cousin has inherited the family estate, and she must find a safe situation for herself and her younger sister. Her last chance lies in an old friend’s brother, the Duke of Ridgewell. To save Florie, she’s willing to do anything … even marry a reportedly disagreeable duke who she has never met.

Lord William Harriot isn’t the duke; he’s just the awkward, bookish younger brother. His twin brother Philip has been leading the Ridgewell family toward bankruptcy for years, and now it seems ruin is unavoidable. Philip believes that he might be able to leverage their mother’s Scottish estate for a loan – but he needs William to be him for a few weeks to keep up appearances. Reluctantly, William agrees, not knowing how complicated this simple ruse will soon become.

When Effie arrives in London and meets who she assumes if the Duke of Ridgewell, she is soon charmed by his surprisingly sweet temperament, his hard-working nature, and his best kept secret: a love of romance novels – and her novel, published under a pseudonym, is his absolute favorite.

Of course, between Philip’s scheming and a series of misunderstandings and half-truths, William and Effie have a lot to sort through. Which is why I’m writing a whole book about them.

TL;DR — I am not able to fit all the elements into this summary, and I’m not sure when/if I’ll be able to, but IT IS A COMPLEX BABE with a lot of moving pieces and fun nods.

The outline was such a beast! Special thanks to all my YWW Author peeps for helping me sort it out. Took me long enough!

My second project is the novella …

Becoming Miss Knight

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.

And those are my two projects!

TTFN!

~Kell~

P.S.

What are you working on for NaNoWriMo/whatever equivalent you’re doing?

(Bear through my depressed mumblings and you’ll be treated with some delightful reveries on Jane Austen. I promise.)

There’s so much I could choose to be depressed about this year.

No, not the tyrannical impositions our government has placed on its people. Not the riots. Not the lies of various political parties and not the insistence of many reasonable people in believing the lies.

I’m one of those people who explores these things to the best of my ability and then arrives at the conclusion that worrying about it too much is a waste of my life.

If I were to pick something to be depressed about, I would pick things a lot closer to home. Friends moving away—other friends lost. Life moving on … and I’m not quite sure I’m moving on with it.

I hate the transience of life, but I also hate moments when things are not moving at the rate I’d prefer. Generally the things that are shifting and changing are the things I want to stay firm … and the things that refuse to budge are the things I want to change.

I’m not a bestselling author yet, and I’m not able to make much headway in that direction. However, other elements of my life insist on changing—friendships, jobs, chores, the very way I live my day-to-day life.

The places I go. The things I do.

Will anything ever, ever settle down?

My laptop has been out for weeks now … and it looks like to make it run optimally I’ll have to send it out again. I don’t like the sound of that.

I also feel like there’s always something to do … thousands of things to do … and thousands of requests for more of my time.

Time is just about all I have right now—though of course I realize I can’t technically say, “I’ll have time tomorrow” because I could just up and die, but theoretically, I have time. But I’m not a very good steward of my time. At least, I never quite use it as thoroughly as I’d like to!

Mostly I have worse luck following a schedule than our puppies. Our puppies actually do a really great job following a schedule!

That said, I do get stuff done. As I’m writing this, it’s about half a week out from when I plan to post it (I, um, missed last week—sorry, y’all!), and I have a lot of stuff to do to prep for NaNoWriMo (and KDWC).

But I have done some things. I made some plans for maintaining a healthy lifestyle—I tried to figure out where to fit my various tasks in. I’m trying to make a loosely structured schedule for me to struggle, but of course I’m so distractible these days that it’s not really happening.

Basically, I’m fine, it’s fine, I’m all fine.

[image error]

A lot of things I planned for the past week didn’t happen. The blog posts, the emails, the planning, the extra work so I wouldn’t have to do it later.

However, I also did get this blog post scheduled (presumably, if you’re reading this!) — and a couple emails written — and a bunch of Instagram planning done!

Given that I didn’t have my laptop throughout most of that time, that’s pretty decent! Besides, life has just been making me unfocused and stressed lately, so getting things done can be a big deal.

I love the sense of accomplishment after achieving a big task.

Which, because I’m a huge Jane Austen fan, got me thinking about what it means to be an “accomplished woman,” a concept Ms. Austen frequently pokes fun at, most famously in Pride & Prejudice.

An Accomplished Woman

“Oh! certainly,” cried his faithful assistant [Caroline Bingley, Continually Crushing on Mr. Darcy and Getting a Lot of Bad Rap for It #hypocritereaders], “no one can be really esteemed accomplished who does not greatly surpass what is usually met with. A woman must have a thorough knowledge of music, singing, drawing, dancing, all the modern languages, to deserve the word; and besides all this, she must possess a certain something in her air and manner of walking, the tone of her voice, her address and expressions, or the word will be but half deserved.”

My, my, Caroline! As Elizabeth retorts, “I am no longer surprised at your knowing only six accomplished women [Mr. Darcy’s claim]. I rather wonder now at your knowing any.”

So to be accomplished, I must:

Know about:

Music
Singing
Drawing
Dancing
The modern language (so probably French and Italian as well as English)


Also have a:

Certain something about my air and manner of walking
Certain something about my voice, my address, and my expressions

Honestly, I’m doing better than you’d think! I certainly know a great deal about music and singing, enough that I could perform (which, I believe, is Caroline’s principle meaning).

I don’t speak French or Italian, but I have enough “knowledge of them” through my study of Spanish and Latin to get by.

I can’t draw, but I imagine with practice I could do something to catch up …

And who knows about my airs and my voice and all. I try.

That said, these are, intentionally, all very vain, shallow accomplishments* – or at least the way they are used is doubtless very vain and shallow.

*don’t get riled up, musicians and artists and so on, before you read the next sentence!

So what then? What makes someone accomplished?

Actual Accomplished Women

according to Jane Austen

My first thought when my brain started wandering down this rabbit trail was, “Did Mr. Darcy think Elizabeth was accomplished? Was he trying to smoothly compliment her?”

I don’t think so. In fact, though I think Mr. Darcy was #majorcrushing on Elizabeth at this time, I find it more likely that he was stating his reasons for not being with her out loud.

“Keep it together, man. She’s not even accomplished. You should marry someone like Caroline – *involuntary shudder* – and make your dead parents proud.”

#MrDarcyisBatman #SpreadtheWord

Actually, I need to take some time to further explore this Darcy/Batman theory, but I’m not talking about that here so let’s move along.

ANYWAYS, as I was saying, at this point, we know that Darcy is still fighting himself because he states later that “he can fight it no longer” and so on.

“I don’t understand,” indeed, Lizzy. I must agree! This is the type of thing that must be puzzled out after the fact.

This whole scene is a marvel – in the book, but especially in the movie! – and it proves conclusively that Darcy does NOT think of Lizzy as all he wanted in a woman.

Neither does Lady Catherine de Bourgh, of course.

But Darcy proposes to Elizabeth AND THEN (and this is so important) ADJUSTS HIS VIEW OF HER AGAIN POST-FIRST-PROPOSAL BASED ON WHAT SHE SAYS ABOUT HIM AND HOW SHE TURNS HIM DOWN (note: this both makes him think about her words about his actions – see his letter and subsequent actions – AND makes him thoroughly realize she is NOTHING like her mother/sisters).

this is the face of a man who is questioning his very existence

So Darcy didn’t believe she was an accomplished woman when he made those little snarky comments. He didn’t believe she was an accomplished when he proposed (well, probably that she was #superhawt and #supercute and #supersmaht and #kindadecentatplayingthepianoiguess, but I don’t believe that accomplished really played into the decision at all).

However, at the first proposal, his grasp on what is important to him in a wife – e.g. accomplishments, e.g. Caroline Bingley *insert another involuntary shudder* – have slipped. Are disappearing. He thinks that he’s simply given up his standards.

Nope. Darcy isn’t giving up his standards. They are shifting. By the end of the book/movie, he does not like Elizabeth “against his better judgment” – he loves her because he knows she is the right woman to marry.

This scene, to me, says that he’s now seeing the real her … and really liking what he’s seeing. But whoops, she doesn’t even want to go walking with him! (From his POV, for obvious reason!) Still, I can see that adjustment in his thinking between the rain proposal >> the letter >> this scene.

Now, I don’t know about you, but when I think about classic Regency women, I think of Elizabeth Bennet. I think of her as being a woman who is what one should (minus the lessons learned!) have been in her era.

can we get a whut whut for this woman being 10000x more classy, spunky, amusing/amused, and beautiful than any other Elizabeth in the history of the earth?