self published writer

atthequillsmercy

Today’s Workout: Kettlebell for the stress…

Since I have to work this weekend (cries softly in the corner), I decided that my runs will be Mon, Wed, Fri and do weights on the off cardio days. 

The stress? Not having to work the weekend (although that is a contributor) but I learned today that Draft2Digital, where I self-publish all my books, has aquired Smashwords… After I went through all the *@&%@&$%@-ing trouble of manually adding all my books there…

I guess I’ll just use D2D going forward (since it’s SO much easier) but this couldn’t have happened in a more ironic way since I just released my NaNoWriMo project on both platforms. When I’m 18 total titles deep at this point…

Moving forward, I guess I’ll just use D2D and manually add books to my profile? Heck if I know. I’m tired.

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atthequillsmercy

Today’s Workout: Week 3 Day 3

After doing what I should do around my birthday, whatever I want, I’m back to my running! And since I haven’t given up on my desperate attempts to not lose my house by supplementing my dismal income by selling my writing, I put Shelley up on the teadmill and I was able to do a little bit of writing during the walking portions of c25k. I could only type with one hand since I have to hold the phone to count my steps on the app, but hey, any words cound as progress.

And you’re damn right I’m 41 and have stickers. Let me enjoy things.

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atthequillsmercy

Writing Update: Current Project and What’s Next

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Right after my newest release, I started work on the third and final part of my Dahlia series. Even with an outline, I floundered a bit with the introduction but things are moving along. I can’t give an estimated release date yet but I am having fun working on this series.

What I really want to do next is another installment of Go Away Girls. I already have an idea for it, I just need to outline it before I start it.

Right now, my sales are not in a place where I can take time to work on really long projects; like the next installment of my vampire series. I’m getting there VERY slowly but I’m keeping my projects short so I can publish more books more often. I have 18 total titles under my belt and I’m pushing for 30 or more before the end of the year. I am looking into bundling these shorter works together. I just need to figure out how I want the covers to look.

For sneak peeks and earlier news, check out my Patreon!

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atthequillsmercy

NaNoWriMo Day 22

I am behind. And, I don’t really feel bad about it because over the weekend, I was doing chores and writing until almost 3 am. Last night, I decided getting some halfway decent sleep was more important.

Only to be woken at 3 am because my nose decided breathing wasn’t important anymore but, whatever. I need to whip out the humidifier…

As as I’ve stated before, I think this story is going to be under 50k words overall. I have the one big fight scene and the conflict resolution and I’m done. As, I’ve said, I may end up adding more words in the editing process (since I have been reading back over what I’ve written and a TON of descriptions need to be filled in and/or fleshed out) and I’m looking forward to that process! I want what I’m picturing in my head to be clear to others when they read it.

I think what I look forward to most about all this is when it’s done, I can start working out again. I sneak in words all day, I go home for a really fast dinner, fast shower, then I’m back at it for a few hours.  This has consumed my brain and time. It’ll be nice to take 30 minutes for a quick run to clear the stress of the day, then go write some more. Or maybe do some reading; since I’m behind on my reading goal for the year. I also need to keep doing needlework so I can use up all the yarn I bought. I guess December will be as busy as November even without this challenge.

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atthequillsmercy

NaNoWriMo Day 19

It is so adorable that in October I thought I would be doing daily updates like it would totally fit into my day while I try to furiously write, work full time, function as a mom, and also a human being all at the same time. Ah, how young and foolish I was a few weeks ago…

Anyway, I beat my word goal today! If you’ve been following me on Instagram, Twitter, or Tumblr, you’ve probably seen me express my prediction that I won’t meet my word goal; not because I won’t hit the 50k word goal on time, but because the way my story is playing out in this rough draft, I may reach the conclusion before I hit that word count. Does that count as a win? Because I think that counts as a win. It’s just how I planned for the story to turn out and I am not going to pad the story with extra words to hit this goal. After editing, it may be longer (because I’ve been reading through my Freewrite drafts to make suure I keep character names straight and things like that) since I know there are places where descriptions can be expanded so the reader knows what the fucking hell is going on. I want this to be a good story, not a 50k word manuscript that will be a good story if I bash my head against it enough.

I am enjoying this story. I like working in this world and it’s characters. I think I may have something pretty cool here and I don’t want to fuck it up with restrictions. So, as I sit here at almost 11:30pm, I think I have a good thing going. This is harder and easier than I thought it would be. I suppose coherent thoughts about all this will have to come together around December 1st.

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atthequillsmercy

It’s here!

Dahlia Part 2 releases today! You can click that link or head over to my store to purchase a copy!

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atthequillsmercy

Open for Business!

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My store is ready! I’ve got most of my short stories ready for sale and I’m thinking of moving the longer books there, too.

I’ve still been doing some needlework, that I sell here, and I may post them in the store here as well but I kinda like my existing needlework shop. But, we’ll see how much I can get done.

For now, I’m going back to prepping for NaNoWriMo and I’ll be posting more consistent workout updates.

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atthequillsmercy

Get bent, Bezos

Ok, even the possibility of my stories being available on Simily for free (you get 4 free reads before you have to pay) is enough for Amazon to flag them. So, I pulled every single one of my short stories that were on Simily off of Amazon and I’ll be setting up an ebook shop page on this site. I’ll be offering my short stories in multiple formats; including .mobi – the file type for Kindles. This will give people a chance to support me directly rather than going through any vendor but you can go to Barnes and Noble or Kobo if you want. If you go to my website, there are even more options. Just click on the Books2Read link to see all available retailers.

For now the Amazon links are still up on my website but I’ll be taking them down once I have the store set up. My longer works will still be available on Amazon since Simily only takes short work. You may ask why I’d ditch such a large retailer but Amazon is a terrible company that abuses it’s workers, dodges taxes, and has a history of stealing ideas to make a cheaper version to undersell the original creator. Not only that, but my last payment from Simily for just the last couple weeks was ten times as high as what I got from Amazon; which was literal pennies. They won’t miss me and I won’t miss them.

I won’t judge anyone who shops there. This is a stance I’m taking because I have the privilege to take it. Just like with Walmart, I have my stance and choose not to spend my money there because I have options. If you still shop at Amazon, that’s fine and is why I will be making the .mobi files available to people who have Kindle readers or apps. I have no intention of shutting those people out.

In addition, I am thinking of adding my stories to Smashwords as another platform to sell. When that’s done, I’ll update you all. The wider I cast my net, the more likely I can cobble together a livable wage from doing what I love.

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atthequillsmercy

New Release! Dahlia 2

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On the heels of Amazon playing games with me, I have a new release! The next part of the Dahlia trilogy is currently in pre-order and will be released on October 26th! You can support any of your preferred retailers by clicking here, and all my books will be available via my blog as I am in the process of building a store here. I’ll probably end up selling more than just my ebooks but we’ll see how much I can get done.

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atthequillsmercy

Oh, Amazon thinks they’re funny…

This morning, I wake up to this lovely email:

Hello,
 
Amazon blocked your book titled Fruit of the Dead – Season One: Episode One stating they found it freely available on the web.

They are asking for proof of rights, rights reversion letters, or contractual statements showing you have the complete rights to this work. As part of the sign up to add content to Amazon through this site, you were notified that no portion of your book can be posted freely available online, as it causes Amazon to question the copyrights. I will include Amazon’s email below for you to read through.
 
Amazon only gives us a few days to comply with these requests. Please immediately respond to this email with any documentation you have available as proof of copyrights and confirmation that the content posted on https://simily.co/all-stories/fiction/lightinash/fruit-of-the-dead-season-one-episode-one/ belongs exclusively to you. You will need to sign (physically sign) and send us a form that states this that we can forward to Amazon. 
 
This is some bullshit because Simily, while offering 4 free stories for a user to read, is a paid subscription site. Meaning my story is NOT freely available and I’ve made more money from Simily in the last month than I have from Amazon. My only reply was to say Simily isn’t a free site and that’s it. They can take their documentation and shove it.
 
If they decide to be a giant fucking bully and pull my books, I will have no fucking problem selling the digital copies direct from my blog. I’ve been thinking about putting a store on here for awhile and every day we find out how shitty Amazon and Jeff Bezos are. I’ve been actively shopping at alternative places and I only buy from Amazon if I have no other choice and I get gift cards from Swagbucks or any other of my points sites. I’ve had ethical debates in my head of having my books on there at all because I dislike them so much. So, not that they will give a shit, but I don’t care if Amazon pulls my stuff. Call my bluff, guys. Ya’ll won’t miss me anyway!

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