Guest Post: Rose’s Gold by WB Welch

WB Welch here! I want to start this post by thanking Iseult for having me as a guest and for taking the time to read Rose’s Gold prior to its release. I’m excited to be here and excited to talk a little more about my latest novella. (Giveaway being announced below, but don’t be naughty and skip to the bottom.)

I was considering talking about the inspiration for the story or why I’m writing in a new genre, but I decided to instead talk more about the book’s message and what it means to me personally. Rose’s Gold takes the reader through some complex emotions as Rose is trying to cope with her imprisonment. She’s lost a large chunk of her memory and has no idea why she’s locked away. The isolation and lack of options eats at her. Some who read this story and know of my current medical situation may think that my illness inspired the story, and that’s not the case, though I do believe it helped me to finish it.

The first words for the novella were penned sometime last year, I believe in the fall. The original inspiration hit me hard (which I’ll talk about in the Q & A portion of the blog take over), but I eventually got stuck. There was a certain milestone I’d reached, and I knew (loosely) how it was going to end, but I couldn’t figure out what to do to connect the two. Every time I tried to write, the words were very forced, and they weren’t authentic. I accepted that I just needed some time to sit with the story and put it aside for a while. So how did my recent battle with a chronic illness help me to finish the story? I’m getting there, I promise.

I was hit hard by my condition. As we were slowly coming out of quarantine, I was pushed back into isolation with my lack of mobility. I’ve gone through a grieving process that involved a lot of sadness, anger, disbelief, and stoic avoidance. Those days still come and go, but I’ve overall made my peace with things. But this whirlwind of emotions got me thinking on Rose’s Gold again. Suddenly, Rose’s predicament became more relatable. The lack of control, the frustration, the desire for something that seems so close but it’s completely unreachable…I understood better how to make her woes authentic without making her overbearing. I finally understood how to keep her story going.

The ending itself was a little tricky as well. It took some brainstorming with a couple of very awesome advanced readers to help me finally see how the last chapter needed to go. It’s been a long time since I’ve been so proud of something. (Actually, my son graduated from high school last month, and you can’t top that, but this book comes in a close second). I feel like it’s such a strong story that a lot of people are going to be able to connect with on one level or another, and I hope readers who decide to give it a chance fall in love with it as much as I have.

Enough of my rambling. Let’s get to the good stuff. As part of this blog takeover, I’m going to be giving away one signed paperback edition and five kindle copies of Rose’s Gold. To enter, go to http://eepurl.com/hzWcvb and sign up for my mailing list. Everyone who joins my mailing list between now and July 28th will automatically be entered to win (US entrants only for the Kindle editions). Notifications will go out to winners on July 29th.

If you’re still with me, thank you for reading. I hope you’ve enjoyed this post, and I hope you have a wonderful rest of your day. Thank you all!

~WB Welch~

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Rose’s Gold will be released July 29.

Click here to preorder your copy of Rose’s Gold now.

Click here to find out more about WB Welch on her website.

Click here to connect with WB Welch on Twitter.

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Don’t miss out on a chance to win a copy of Rose’s Gold! Enter by clicking here to sign up to her newsletter mailing list.