self published writer

atthequillsmercy

WIP Wednesday! A lot to cover… Maybe not a LOT.

It’s been a while but I’ve been a busy bee. Let’s not waste any time and here are the word counts:

  • Smut: 13,290
  • Kinktober: 37
  • Dewey: 14,909

“Gosh what happened to Kinktober?” (which I will give a different name at some point) Whelp, I finished the first 4 prompts I chose, and it topped 10k words. I separated them into the individual stories to start editing to make my life easier. This means the word count resets to zero for the time being. The editing process is about halfway done, and I should be able to get one out before the end of the month. I cleared out that part of Shelley (the Frewrite Traveler) to start fresh with the 5th prompt. My goal is to keep writing prompts and release the finished ones at least once a month while I work on the longer stuff here and there.

You’ve also probably noticed I’m posting reviews again. I have 60 or so finished reviews ready to go. I just have to type them up and keep up with my ARCs. I keep putting them off to write and end up having to read 10 or more in one day. I also have library books to return and other physical books that have been orbiting my life to either gift, donate, or sell. They’re not all graphic novels, so they’re taking longer to get through. I’d also LOVE to review some of the books I’ve backed on Kickstarter. I’m pushing to release more content in general and be more active. Time to get back to it!

Follow me on BlogLovin.

atthequillsmercy

WIP Wednesday: Normal. I am completely normal.

(Image Source)

I am being totally normal and not a nutjob at all about Hazbin Hotel starting up again. Yup. Not weird about it at all…

(Image Source)

I doubt I’ll ever have anything I’ve made hit it that big so, I may be living vicariously through her right now. I’m fairly certain I can count my fans and have fingers left over but it is so awesome to see Viv made it big. But enuffa that. Can’t have fans if you don’t make something to fan over. So, here’s the word counts:

  • Smut: 13,172
  • Kinktober (can I still call it that after October is over?): 4,269 (prompt 3 finshed)
  • Dewey: 14,489

There’s always a part of me that sees the success of others I admire and it makes me want to work harder. I’ve plotted out how I want Dewey and the smutty book to go so it should write up MUCH faster. I think once the smutty one is finished, I’ll get back to working on the next book in the First Brood series. Kinktober prompts will feed the erotica pen name for quite some time and I kinda feel guilty for putting it aside AGAIN in the name of making some tiny bit of royalties to help keep the lights on. If you wanna see the prologue, it’s on my Patreon for free, but you will be lost if you don’t know the first three books. Chapter one of Dewey is there, too if you wanna check out what that is. I may not win awards but, I sure hope you enjoy!

Follow me on BlogLovin.

atthequillsmercy

WIP Wednesday: Another one done.

I have not been focused, to be honest. I’ve been flitting between my three WIPs. I’ll start work on one for the day, write a couple sentences, switch to a different one, then do the same. I seem to be stuck on the smuttier one but the other two are chugging along.

  • Smut: 13,172
  • Kinktober: 3,480 (2 prompts done)
  • Dewey: 14,325

Not much. October is always wild and I have been FLYING through my ARCs. I had a goal of reading 150 books this year and I’m at 184. I have almost 60 reviews written for me to type up. I’ve also been knitting to try and get rid of more yarn and decluttering my room. Resume appointments are kicking up at work (yeeaaaahh, that’s not a good sign… I hope I’m helping) and I’m still after my now adult child to get his ass moving to get his surgery.

I am happy to see that a couple of books sold. And print copies at that! I never think those are gonna sell since the ebooks are cheaper, but yay for me! I certainly hope they enjoy it and leave a nice review. I hope this means things are turning around. Fingers crossed.

Follow me on BlogLovin.

atthequillsmercy

WIP Wednesday: This isn’t fair.

(Image Source)

When I tell you being in your 40’s is just a shitshow sometimes… Perimenopause and PMS just doesn’t feel fair. This fucking meat sack I’m in charge of needs to pick a struggle. I can’t sleep without meds, still have trouble staying asleep, then I want to sleep all day but can’t, and have to power through with espresso and Death Wish coffee. How I’ve managed to deal positively with the public at work, I will never know. It’s not fair that I can only be fully functional for 2 weeks out of the damn month.

Not to make any excuses, but October is a big month in this house. Not just because I’m a Pagan Witch and come alive in spooky season, it’s also time for Samhain/Halloween activities and NYCC. I’m gonna do my best and get these stories done. Here’s the word counts so far:

  • Smut: 13,131
  • Kinktober: 1,617 (Prompt 2 50% done)
  • Dewey: 14,145

Now things are really getting to the meat and potatoes of these. I’m kinda having fun with the Kinktober stuff. I can write about things I’ve never written before and push just a bit out of my comfort zone. Dewey I’m being careful with because I don’t want it to be too preachy. It’s going to be interesting to try and get something finished and edited this month but hey, I’ve been spending WAAAAYYY too much money supporting things I’m into (Knights of Guinevere, The Moon Woke Up, Hazbin Hotel, Elvira… Not to mention way too many Kickstarter’s I’ve backed) and it’s about time I put out some content that made me some sorely needed money.

And D2D now has a minimum payout sooooo, I need to hit that to make anything to pay any bills. Yay for me…

Follow me on BlogLovin.

atthequillsmercy

WIP Wednesday: One down!

I can overthink things, but I am rolling right along with these! Well, two of these because I’m a little stuck with Dewey. Usually, reading it through shakes something loose. I’ll get there. I’m busy with other things (work stuff, life stuff, being the only one who does the chores in the house… I’m not bitter about that at all, no sir). One of the big things I did was move some heavy stuff around again, and that’s put a crimp in my running. Hey, that’s what the desk bike is for! I can burn calories and word counts at the same time, baby!

Omg, I can’t pretend I have energy. I’m exhausted.

  • Dewey: 14,092
  • Smut: 12,255
  • Kinktober: 1,001 (Prompt 1 complete)

I am not sure if every Kinktober prompt will be released separately. I’m just going with the flow on these and not sticking to a word count. It’s all just a wild and fun experiment to see what I can come up with based on the prompts. The smutty one has been fun to work on because the characters are genuinely enjoyable, but I can tell I need to flesh it out. I’ve been committing the cardinal sin of reading reviews on the work under that pen name, but hey, one reader legit had some constructive criticism that I’ll take into account. Just because I write these to make money doesn’t mean I can completely slack off on quality. I can tell when something isn’t my best work, and I just stopped fussing with it because I needed to get that project off my shoulders and move on to the next thing. Unlike the nasty review I got, I appreciate it, and I’m gonna make sure the next few stories are better crafted.

Follow me on BlogLovin.

atthequillsmercy

WIP Wednesday: Myyyy Eyyyyeezzzz

(Image Source)

I haven’t even watched Schitt’s Creek yet. Aside for anything Hazbin Hotel, The Good Place is what I’m fixated on right now. Honestly? I am honestly concerned about how much media input I am currently absorbing since I’ve already blown through my reading goal for the year on Goodreads and my ‘Watch Later’ playlists on multiple platforms are testing the limits of their respective sources. Did you know there are upper limits to those? I am totally the person to find those as I will add something that strikes my fancy in that moment and get back to it… Whenever. What that comes with it is what my eye doctor will fucking hate. I have clogged eye things somewhere (look, I am tired and canNOT even bother to give medical terminology) and I intermittently remember to do a hot eye mask to ease that discomfort. That means a hot compress for 20+ minutes twice daily to avoid surgery… Something I remember to do 30+ minutes a couple times a week because the thought of sharp objects near my eye are terrifying. But this isn’t a trauma dump. You’re here for the word counts.

  • Dewey: 14,079
  • Smut: 10,234

I am also 12 prompts deep into Kinktober. And while I’ve been very loosely outlining them, I will be starting the writing process for those this week. As someone trapped between Gen-X and Millennials I… Don’t like to work on 9/11. I just don’t. I like to powerfully dissociate from my trauma instead! Perfectly healthy. Not an odd coping mechanism at all… And I’m not gonna lie, I started Dewey with the best of subversive intentions but there are times it just feels too fucking real. It’s hard to work on. I’m gonna power through because it’s important.

Follow me on BlogLovin.

atthequillsmercy

WIP Wednesday: I think we’re back?

(Image Source)

After my Saxenda break, I think my brain is firing on all cylinders again. I’ve been steadily working on both projects; including reading through them and realizing what needs to be cleaned up. And also making name charts. Because man, I can get indecisive with names or forget them outright. That’s gonna be fun to edit later… Anyways, on to the word counts:

  • Smut: 7,802
  • Dewey: 13,947

I’m writing this in the late afternoon so, those counts will change. I’m working on getting more reviews posted, running, prepping for NYCC, and also working on my yarn stash so, there’s not the most impressive increase in numbers. I’m also working on a series of prompts for “Kinktober” that are more for for artists than writers but some of the prompts were interesting enough for me to want to try them out. Maybe I’ll get inspired by one of them that will turn out not to be smut, you never know. Even the one I’m working now is turning out longer than I’d thought. I try to keep them under 3k-5k words.

Hopefully, now that I’m back in a proper flow, the next time I update will have a bigger increase.

Follow me on BlogLovin.

atthequillsmercy

WIP Wednesday!

(Image Source)

I know, I’m shit at regular writing updates. But now that I’ve gotten my brain back from the Saxenda (I’m back on it, but at a much lower dose), it has been so much easier for me to think. I’ve also taken on the project of cleaning out my Google Drive (it was at 79% full) by printing out the writing prompts and little bits of inspiration I’ve collected over the years and putting them in a binder. This way if I ever have a block or can’t decide what to work on next, I can flip through it or blindly pick a random page and use that for a new project.

Anyways, here are the word counts as of this morning:

  • Smut: 7,453
  • Dewey: 12,548

I’ve probably said this already, but Book 4 of First Brood is on indefinite hiatus until I’m making more money with other things. I am one unexpected expense from not being able to pay the mortgage. I gotta do what I gotta do.

Follow me on BlogLovin.

atthequillsmercy

July 2025 Smashwords Summer/Winter Sale!

It’s that time again! My books are now on sale at Smashwords here and here. Some are even free! Thank you for checking them out, and I look forward to finding some awesome titles myself!

Follow me on BlogLovin.

atthequillsmercy

First June Writing WIP Update and a note on AI

(Image Source)

June is always a crazy month. It’s the month my kid was born, so all his checkups happen around this time. Either way, I’ve been plugging away at my projects, and here are the word counts:

  • Dewey: 11,524 words
  • Other Pen Name: 1,041 words

I’ve been focusing on these two. That’s why Emma’s book is not on the list. I’m having that problem of feeling super inspired until my fingers hit the keyboard and then my brain just locks up. Not only that, but I’m trying not to go overboard on the naughty stuff. It’s supposed to be short and quick stories for like $0.99, but then it blooms up to a novella that I didn’t mean to happen. I’ve noticed people are less willing to take a chance on more expensive books, and I price my books by word count: The longer the book, the more it costs. It’s only fair. I do this in whatever spare time I have, and that time is still worthy of some sort of compensation.

Aside from that, my inspiration has seemed to strike at the oddest times. I’ve fallen asleep on Shelley (I named my Freewrite, remember) a couple of times this week or taken her out to stare at the screen. And since AI is a legit concern these days, I am taking a moment to say no AI is involved in the creation of my work save for whatever bot powers Grammarly. They didn’t used to use AI and I still use the free version. I even make sure the covers I buy aren’t AI at all. I am very against people using it in place of their human creativity. That is a shortcut I will never take and I stand on that. Authors are leaving whole ass prompts in their books! I get paranoid when I put “eye color here” because I might forget to remove that.  I can’t imagine leaving AI text in my work like that, let alone using it to copy another’s writing style. Allegedly. In Minecraft. I’m not trying to get sued, accusing people of anything, but yeah, the industry is trippy right now, and I’m just a tiny indie author. I just wanna tell fun stories, not have a robot write for me.

Follow me on BlogLovin.