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Monday Musings: Offensive jokes, plagiarism, and paywalls

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flat lay of pink turtleneck sweater, cup of coffee with cream in it and two cotton ball tufts text says:Monday Musings: Offensive jokes, plagiarism, and paywalls

Hello, hello, from the frozen north. You know it’s cold when you have to warm up your car so when you actually have to go somewhere it will start. Of course, you get bonus points if you can do that wearing flip-flops and shorts and a tank top. Only two more months of this business and then hopefully spring will come, though that’s never a guarantee. I was equally inspired and disheartened that so many Minnesotans had to demonstrate in this weather but it makes me proud to live here. I saw a picture of Minneapolis’s mayor and he’s not looking too good. I would imagine he hasn’t gotten much sleep since ICE came into the city. Stay safe and warm, y’all. No matter where you are.

For the past few days I’ve been busy listening to Wicked Games. I find so many missing words and typos that no matter how clean I think my manuscript is, this step will unfortunately be part of my editing process forever. I re-edited Captivated by Her between the last read-through and this listening pass, hoping to keep from getting too bored and zoning out while “Samantha” reads to me. When I’m done listening and I have it formatted, I’ll re-edit Addicted to Her, the second in that duet, while I wait for Wicked Games‘s proof to come. I never used to work on two things at once, but it helps keep my eyes fresh. It will still be a couple of months before Wicked Games is ready for ARCs and I have my duet’s new files uploaded to KDP, but I should be able to start writing my hockey duet this spring. If all goes well, I’ll be done writing them by the end of the year.

Lately I’ve been thinking about paywalls and what the point is. I mean, besides the fact that they make a creator money (and I truly believe certain content creators deserve to be paid). I’ve been scrolling Substack a lot, the reciprocal patting each other on the back and the “you got this” attitude amusing at times. It’s like LinkedIn Lite, where motivation is plenty but solutions to real issues are vague or hidden behind paid subscriptions. What’s really funny is that all I hear on Threads is “Be careful where you put your money” then I’m over on Substack where I could become a paid subscriber until I’m broke. I mean, being a writer with limited funds myself, I get it, the hustle is real, but I also blog and create content, and I guess I just don’t think I have the information or life experience worthy enough to pay for.

That doesn’t mean there aren’t people who do, such as publishing insiders like Kathleen Schmidt and Jane Friedman, or nonfiction writers like Claire Taylor and Becca Syme (if they have paid subscriptions), I’m sure have content worth the cost. But then I see other authors set up a paywall for things that might not be valuable to certain audiences . . . or at all. There’s an author who gives marketing advice behind a paywall, but he’s a trad author, so how would his marketing advice help me? Even if trad authors have to do most of their own marketing, he has distribution channels and connections that I can only dream of as an indie. I saw another author offering a branding class, but he hasn’t published in close to three years, so is his class worth the money? I won’t name these authors because I’ve gotten in trouble for that in the past, and honestly, what they think their experience is worth is their own business. It just makes me wonder how people determine what their words are worth and how everyone else determines if their words are worth the price.

A couple of years ago I tried putting a Ko-Fi link at the bottom of my posts, but it felt kind of icky and I stopped doing it. Every once in a while I’ll get an email or comment that asks if they can pay me or thanks me for not charging for the information I post. I don’t charge because I don’t think my experiences are that valuable. I can tell you what my life is like as an indie author who does everything herself, but that’s only valuable if what I’m doing is working. My .26 cents might impress someone, as it proves a reader saw one of my books and liked it enough to download it and start reading, but I have a hard time believing that my .26 cents is worth your .26 cents.

It’s just interesting to think about, and of course, that’s Substack’s whole reason for existing. They want you to make money so that they make money. That’s not so difficult to understand, but not just anyone has experience and information worth paying for. Not in my opinion, at least. Especially since a lot of what you need to know about the publishing industry is free somewhere. Even if that means stitching together bits and pieces of ten different blog posts to figure out what you need to know. And, I guess it doesn’t need to be said, but just because you pay doesn’t mean that information is correct, either. So, I’ve just been mulling that around. As a writer and an author, you’d hope that what you have to say is worth something, but there are a lot of writers and authors out there. Especially on Substack who are very eager to pat you on the back and tell you to keep going.

Yesterday I was checking my email and came across an email from James Blatch who pretty much took over the Self Publishing Formula after Mark Dawson’s fall from grace. I left Mark Dawson’s Facebook group a couple years ago when he was outed by someone on Reddit for plagiarizing. Mark stepped back from everything that was Self Publishing Formula related, including the podcast. It’s not that I really cared if Mark Dawson plagiarized. I mean, people make mistakes, blah blah, but the fact that he never publicly apologized for it kind of rubbed me the wrong way. Authors get slammed for pithy “apologies” all the time, but even in that case, I’d think something would be better than nothing. So James took over the podcast, and then after a bit shut it down completely. He started up a new podcast with Cara Clare, and that lasted for a while, but in the email I got yesterday, James says she’s stepping back to focus more on writing. He says he’ll have another co-host on the Self Publishing Show, but I have a difficult time thinking that it will be Mark.

I really liked Mark and James’s podcast. They had a lot of informative interviews and their recorded intro, “There’s never been a better time to be a writer” always gave me chills. I don’t know if I’ll give the new podcast a chance. I like staying on top of the indie industry, and listening to a podcast while I did chores or ran errands was an easy way to do that, but Mark’s silence after the plagiarizing thing never sat well with me. Even just a “I’m learning, I’m listening” statement that authors issue when they’ve done something wrong and got caught, would have been better than the nothing he gave us. And, you know, I just kind of feel like he was such a prominent figure in the indie community that he really did us dirty just going underground. If you have the balls to do it, have the balls to own it and apologize.

If you’re interested in the podcast, you can find it here on YouTube or wherever you regularly listen: https://www.youtube.com/@LearnSelfPublishing
James describes the first comeback show as (taken from my email):

Episode 434 (Feb 12th) I will introduce my new co-host! A closely guarded secret until then.
From that episode onwards we’ll alternate between discussing the latest issues and taking your questions with guests. I don’t want to do the type of separately recorded interviews I used to, so guests will join us as a third wheel in a more casual environment. I want the Show to add value to your indie life. If there’s a subject or a guest you want to see, just drop me a line support@selfpublishingformula.com and we’ll respond.
If you used to subscribe to SPS, it’s likely your subscription is still live and you’ll see episode 433 on your feed in two weeks. If not, just search The Self Publishing Show on your podcast platform of choice. I can’t wait to be back in the SPS hot-seat! 

Probably curiosity (and my FOMO) will have me listening just to see what the podcast is going to be like–and who he chose as his new co-host. I’ve been searching for something that I can vibe with, the other podcasts out there not doing it for me. I will keep you posted and report back.

Threads isn’t short on drama, and I saw that author Ruth Stilling was getting slammed for something one of her characters said in the book, Within Range. The character says, “It’s Valentine’s Day, so I came to make sure that you weren’t. hanging from your ceiling.”

social media graphic. blue background. hockey stick and puck. sonogram pictures hockey skates illustrate couple. text on torn paper: "It's Valentines Day, so I came to make sure that you weren't. hanging from your ceiling."
taken from Threads post: https://www.threads.com/@pagesofpassionyxe/post/DT4F8M7jE4i

I like looking at something from both sides, and I can see how, with the right couple and the right set up, this could be potentially funny. We don’t know the couple from just that line. There could have been lots of jokes like this throughout the entire book and someone who hasn’t read it would never know that’s just how they are. On the other hand, I write about depression and suicidal ideation in my books, and in the first book of my rockstar trilogy, before Olivia met Sheppard, that’s how her fiancé killed himself. And I many many years ago, one of my friend’s husbands took his life that way. So, I can definitely see how it can be very tasteless as well.

I don’t think it would be difficult to choose a different “joke” but on the other hand, we can’t censor ourselves because we think we’re going to upset someone. If we truly did that there wouldn’t be horror or thrillers. I suppose you can say that with those genres you’d expect upsetting content and in what looks like what is a romcom, upsetting jokes could come out of nowhere. It really depends on the person. I was suicidal for many years, even landed in the ER once getting my stomach pumped, but that line didn’t bother me and it wasn’t triggering. I just think at some point everyone who writes is going to write something that upsets someone. I know with this blog I’ve made some people upset and there’s no putting yourself out there and avoiding it.

There’s no real answer to this, because for as many people who are bothered, there are going to be just as many or even more who aren’t. I think we’ve all written something and then thought, “Yikes. Maybe I need help.” But then we laugh it off because we’re just over here making shit up. In the way I bought Colleen Hoover’s latest book because I saw some people on Threads making fun of it, I kind of want to buy Ruth’s book to see what all the fuss is about. I’m writing hockey soon. I can call it research. I dug up the link for you if you want to read it too: https://www.amazon.com/Within-Range-Blade-Kings-Book-ebook/dp/B0FTTL3Q4M

That’s about all I got this week. I’m just trying to use every free moment I can to work on my books. Last week it felt like all my free time kept getting eaten up with chores, errands, and little things like getting my hair cut and a dentist appointment. The next biggest things I need to take care of are making us appointments at the post office to apply for our passports and getting my taxes done. I still haven’t added up all my book spend for 2025 yet, and I’m waiting for my work to release our W2s, but hopefully I can take care of that in the next couple of weeks. If life could just slow down for me, that would be great.

I hope everyone is doing okay during these turbulent times. Stay safe out there!

I’ll see you next week!

Ten Years in the Industry. Reflections and Lessons

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pink bokeh background. cupcake with yellow frosting. candles that have one and zero . the text says in script: ten years in the indie publishing industry

This year, 2026, marks the tenth anniversary of the first book I ever published. The Corner of 1700 Hamilton is a speculative contemporary romance told from his and hers POVs–the first novella in his, the second novella in hers. I wrote it specifically to publish, and beyond that, I’m not quite sure what I was thinking. Well, I know what I wasn’t thinking. Genre, building an audience. What my brand was going to be moving forward. I had discovered indie publishing where everything is made up and the points don’t matter. (H/t to Whose Line is it Anyway where their slogan fits what indie publishing used to be pretty accurately.) I made the cover myself in Word and formatted the manuscript using a KDP Word template to get the margins, gutters, and page numbers right. Since then I’ve edited it a couple of times and redid the cover probably about five times now. I always cringe when I see someone reading it and I should probably just take it down since it’s not worth selling–it still has some telling and a strange plot–but I guess it’s not hurting anything. A reader will know real quick if they want to keep going after the first paragraph.

Anyway, I don’t need therapy to figure out why I wrote it or why I keep it up for sale. I wrote it to feel part of the writing community and I keep it on Amazon for nostalgia.

You’d think after ten years I’d have something meaningful to say about it all. Some deep philosophy about writing and passion and how much it means to me that my books carried me through some of the toughest times of my life, namely, a divorce, a health issue that fucked me up for a good five years, and breaking up with a man who said he loved me and wanted to marry me but then treated me like garbage. Writing was the one thing that was with me through all of it, and honestly, I’m a little surprised that I don’t have any triggering feelings toward my pen name. I started publishing under my initials in 2021, a year after I started having health problems, and those problems pressed down on me while I wrote and published every single one of my first person books. Luckily, that isn’t the case, and I can reread my backlist without feeling anxious, only regret that my health issues took away from the experience of writing them.

I’ve seen a lot in the past decade, but no, I don’t have anything deep or profound to say. I’ve made plenty of mistakes, and of course, anyone who does make mistakes wonders what their career trajectory could have been like if those mistakes hadn’t been made. Doing my own covers, not working with an editor when an honest one was a lot easier to find. I’m sure publishing subpar books hurt me in ways that can’t be measured. Even now, though I’ve gotten better at doing covers and self-editing, taking every step of the publishing process upon myself is probably slowing me down. Changing how I do things would take a lot more money and a lot more work now than say, six years ago. COVID changed the publishing landscape in many ways and with AI, finding an honest editor who won’t just run your manuscript through ChatGPT or ProWritingAid is its own nightmare. Then after you find one, or hope that you have, you need the money to pay, and with no money coming in, it’s harder to find the money to go out.

I thought I’d write about all the things I’ve learned in my ten years of publishing, but I’ve written about that in some way, shape, or form, for years and I don’t know if it’s worth repeating those lessons. Mainly, because, well, writing a good book doesn’t ensure success. Writing an amazing book, putting a fabulous cover on it, and writing the most enticing blurb is only the first entry on a very long list to find readers. Luck plays such a huge part in an author’s success, and for a long time I pushed back against that, saying stupid stuff like, “The harder you work, the luckier you are,” and “Be prepared to take advantage of opportunities that may come your way.” Those two things are true, up to a point, but they don’t take into account pure luck, like an influencer getting a hold of your book or word of mouth by the millions. Luck like that happens, we see proof of it every once in a while, but no matter if the stars align or what your horoscope says, you can never predict or manufacture it for yourself.

So, what have I learned during my ten years writing and publishing? I’d say….

Trends last longer than we think. (If you wanna chase vampires or write something like Heated Rivalry to get in on the action, go for it!)
One of the most common pieces of advice I hear for authors just starting out is not to chase trends. Write the book of your heart then figure out the rest later. The problem is, writing a trendy book could be the book of your heart. Every book I decide to write is the book of my heart or I wouldn’t write it. If you want to write something that’s trending right at this very moment, do it! Trends take years and years and years to fade, if they do. E. L. James put billionaires on the map and that was fifteen years ago. Take a look at any top 100 romance list and you’ll see that billionaires still sell. Hockey isn’t going anywhere. It’s not merely sports romance anymore, it’s its own romance subgenre. Write what you want because the more people who pile on a trend, the longer it will stay. Just make sure you include what readers are reading the trend for. Keep up with reader expectations but add your own twist to stand out.

Why I started thinking about marketing before writing.
This one might get some flack too, but it’s true. After you write your book, It’s too late to try to figure out tropes, categories, genre, and who your readers are. You’re not going to rewrite it if you realize mashing four genres together wasn’t a good idea or you have no idea what your tropes are. Or if you think your audience is older but your characters are barely out of their teens. Deciding genre, what tropes you’re going to include, what the ages of your characters are and who they’ll appeal to before you write will help you position marketing efforts once your book is done. Knowing your genre and category will also help you create your cover so it fits in with other books. I understand why this gets pushback–thinking of your book as a product instead of art first puts a bad taste in people’s mouths–but I’d rather think of reader expectations than be disappointed after I publish because no one wants to read it.

What ads taught me.
It takes a lot of honesty and market knowledge to admit when a book isn’t working. The cover’s off, the title’s weird, and the blurb is bland because you were too afraid of revealing spoilers when you wrote it. You don’t have enough social proof–reviews, a series not finished–to make your book look desirable, and you lose money on clicks or even worse, you don’t get any clicks at all, just a low number of impressions that make it look like the ad platform was trying to show your book to someone.

Probably the biggest complaint I have ever seen in my ten years in the industry is people saying, “Ads don’t work for me.” They don’t for a reason but it’s not for reasons anyone wants to hear. I’ve lost money on ads, and I don’t blame it on anyone but myself. The blurb could have been better or the cover wasn’t right. Over the past ten years, I’ve learned that my covers didn’t always hit the genre mark and blurbs need a hook, motivation, stakes, and consequences. Your keywords need to be on target as well as your categories so the ad platform knows who to show your ads to. If your ads don’t work, it’s fixable. You just have to be honest with yourself about what needs fixing and do the work to make the changes.

What people really want when they complain.
If you know me, you know I’m a fixer. I’ll happily redo your cover if my skills allow or help you brainstorm a new blurb or look at your product page and tell you what’s keeping readers from clicking that buy button. Unfortunately, it took a lot of people telling me to mind my own business to realize that when they complain about sales they don’t want a solution, they want validation that their choices are solid so they can blame something else. I see it a lot on social media– “Why aren’t my books selling?” “Why aren’t I being invited into author book promos on Bookfunnel?” “I made this cover, tell me what you think!”–and I have learned to scroll by. I only hurt myself when I try to give an honest opinion to someone who doesn’t want it. I’ve learned to mute perpetual complainers and to keep scrolling past people wondering why their $8.99 ebook isn’t moving. I’m not going to lie to someone to make them feel better. They don’t want to hear the truth so I’ve stopped trying to say it.

You never get time back.
Probably the saddest lesson I’ve learned is that you don’t get time back. You don’t get a book launch back. You don’t get the time back you used helping someone who didn’t appreciate it. Making mistakes is how you learn and the lessons you learn making those mistakes need to compensate for the time you lost. Anyone who hears that I’ve been writing and publishing for ten years and not making a living wage would have a right to be confused and baffled. That’s why there are days I take my success, or what there is of it, so hard. I’ve been consistently writing books and publishing them for ten years. But they weren’t always written to market, they weren’t always well-written or well edited, and they didn’t always have good covers on them.

During the past ten years I’ve moved forward in other ways. I know how to make a nice cover-to-market in Canva now (depending on the genre and what I can find for stock photos). I know how to format with Vellum. I know how to edit–just ask the last couple of people I’ve edited for. I know what goes into a nice-looking graphic. The knowledge I’ve picked up since I started self-publishing is priceless, and the number of people I’ve been able to help writing this blog for the past ten years means a lot in a different kind of way. There are many authors who don’t touch the nonfiction side of indie publishing. They don’t blog about the process, they don’t speak at indie cons like NINC and Author Nation. It wasn’t a path I consciously chose for myself either, but I wouldn’t do it over. If I felt like that I would take my blog down and stop giving my time to it. What I can do is measure my time and use it differently. Use what I’ve learned to put out books that don’t need work after they’ve been published. Choose more carefully who I help. Guard my time and don’t waste it doing things I don’t want to do like post on social media. Don’t watch that webinar if I don’t think I’ll get something out of it.

I like to look ahead and plan, but ten years is a bit out of my depth. I’d like to say in five years I wrote my breakout book that turned things around. Maybe I will. If I do, I’ll have long, nicely edited backlist holding me up.

I’ve had a lot of fun these past ten years and my writing saw me through a lot of turmoil and trauma. Now I’m easing back into a life that’s not so bumpy and I’ll keep writing.

If you just found me, hi, and welcome. Let’s keep learning together. And if you’ve stuck with me, thank you. Let’s hold each other up for the next ten years.

I’d like to thank a lot of people who have helped me in some way, especially at the very beginning. They aren’t all around anymore, some taking their books down and pursuing other things. I’ve lost track of quite a few people who wrote under a pen name then faded away. You can’t keep tabs on someone who never quite existed. But here they are in no particular order and their Amazon links if they’re books still available:

Joshua Edward Smith: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Joshua-Edward-Smith/author/B0144PO138
Jewel E. Leonard: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Jewel-E.-Leonard/author/B01APTIMY6
Alia Stephens: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Aila-Stephens/author/B0775W5X84
Gareth S. Young https://www.amazon.com/stores/Gareth-S.-Young/author/B005L7YH2E
Mollie Wallace (unpublished)
S. Hunter Nesbit (delisted)
Thomas Jast (delisted)
R R Willica (published under a pen name she kept private but is now delisted)
D. D. Syrdal https://www.amazon.com/stores/D.-D.-Syrdal/author/B00VTVDKNS
Lexi Miles https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B0196OSLBU
Brickley Jules https://www.amazon.com/stores/Brickley-Jules/author/B01M1Y9DIB

Then the few that wrote or had social media under pen names I can’t remember or who have disappeared: Al, Holly, Tori, and Mr. Blackthorne whose naughty writing prompt actually inspired what turned into A Heartache for Christmas. SMH.

Thanks for playing!

My 2025 Year in Review

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evergreen tree branches with a couple of christmas ornaments like bulbs, stars, and snowflakes. navy background. gold text reads 2025 year in review

I first started this blog talking about all the hideous things that are happening in the world, but no one wants to read that. We’re all hoping that 2026 will be better. Despite who’s in charge, my year was okay. I’ve been reading some of my old blog posts, like my 2024 year in review, my Word of 2025, and my 2025 Mid-Year Recap to compare how things have been. Last year I sounded kind of sad, and I was. I was letting go of a dream to turn my writing into a career. It’s really hard when the question is, “Other people have done it, why can’t I?” and the answer is, “There’s no reason, it just wasn’t meant to be.” That’s fine. I believe in Karma and Fate and all that good stuff, so this year I made an active effort to let a few things go, not work so hard, and stop spending so much money. Let’s see how things turned out:

Books/Novels/WIPs

Number of Books Written: 2
I wrote Wicked Games at the beginning of the year, and I finished Bitter Love on December 18th. In my other blog posts, I had planned to go in a number of different directions. I still want to finish the series I started a couple years ago. I have two books out of a planned six done, but in the end I was too burnt out to take on a huge series like that. I was also planning to write a hockey duet, and that too, just seemed to be too much. I will still write them, since both books are mainly plotted out, but this year I stuck with standalones, and I’m happy to say that I reached my amended goal of two.

Number of Books Edited and/or Re-edited: 4 + 1
From January 1st to the end of August, I edited Loss and Damages for a September release and re-edited Faking Forever, Rescue Me, and A Heartache for Christmas. They all needed it, since my writing style has changed. I’m learning how to relax and write in a more conversational tone, and I am so happy that I took the time to do it. They sound so much better. Then in September, before I really dove into Bitter Love, I edited a book for a friend. Because of the changes at my work and how long the book was, I needed all of September to get that done. Even though the words aren’t mine, I’ll count it. Time and effort is time and effort.

Number of Books Published: 4
The second half of my King’s Crossing serial released–Shattered Fate, Shattered Hearts, and Shattered Dreams–and in September I released my standalone, Loss and Damages. Going forward, I’ll never have that many in one year again. Even though they were all saved up, I’m just not working that fast anymore.

Royalties for the Year:
I didn’t say how much I made last year, and I’m on the fence with whether or not I should say this year. It’s kind of tacky, but, in the name of transparency, what the hell. There are still two days left before this blog posts, but I normally write ahead and schedule my posts and the unaccounted days won’t amount to much.

Assuming a decrease in the Kindle Select payout, among that, Kindle sales and paperbacks, I made $1,677.89. I continued to run Amazon ads, but even though I kept track of them better this year, I still spent a whopping $713.50. I said somewhere that I wasn’t going to run any Facebook ads this year, and I didn’t. I boosted some Instagram posts which cost $211.22, and that was a lot easier on my nerves. Together, I spent $924.72, but I also spent money to run my business such renewing my WordPress websites, my Microsoft 365, Booksprout (that I have since canceled), and Canva. I also paid for two Goodreads giveaways, one for Cruel Fate and one for Loss and Damages ($198 together), and two Written Word Media features ($225 together) for Cruel Fate and A Heartache for Christmas. I haven’t totaled up the exact numbers–I only do that for my accountant–but it’s fair to say that after all that, I’m in the hole.

I keep saying it’s fine, and it is–or it must be because I keep doing it. I sold 184 books, gave away 4,419 (though that number will rise because I’m in the middle of a Stuff Your Kindle Day), and had 304,169 pages read in Kindle Unlimited. I’ll keep doing what I do because I love seeing people read my books. Last year I gave you a list of my books in order of how well they sold. I’m really grateful that my King’s Crossing serial is at the top of the list this year. I put so much time and effort into those books, it’s really nice to see that people are reading from beginning to end. This is a screenshot from Book Report which is a Chrome extension:

1 Cruel Fate 2 Cruel Hearts 3 Cruel Dreams 4 Shattered Fate 5 Shattered Dreams 6 Shattered Hearts 7 A Heartache for Christmas 8 Rescue Me: A Steamy, One Night Stand Billionaire Standalone Romance 9 Twisted Alibis 10 Twisted Lies 11 Twisted Lullabies 12 Captivated by Her: A Steamy Billionaire Romantic Suspense Novel 13 Faking Forever : A Steamy Fake Fiancé Billionaire Standalone Romance 14 Give & Take: A Steamy Baby for the Billionaire Contemporary Romance 15 Addicted to Her: A Steamy Billionaire Romantic Suspense Novel 16 Safe & Sound: A Steamy Second Chance Billionaire Romance 17 Loss and Damages 18 Lost & Found: A Steamy Friends to Lovers Billionaire Romance

Website/Blog Stats

My Canva tutorial on how to make a full paperback book cover is still the most popular blog post on my website by far. Earlier this year I updated it to reflect Canva’s glow-up and I chose a different book because I didn’t end up using the cover I demonstrated with.

all-time stats: Updated! creating a full wrap paperback book published june 13 2022 views: 14.1k 8 likes, 27 comments

I posted 57 times for a total of 94.7k words.

screenshot of wordpress stats: 2025 year in review 57posts, 94.7k words, 272 likes 102 comments

It’s crazy to think that I blogged enough to fill a whole book. I really don’t have much to say about my blog accept that I still enjoy doing it and it’s easier now that I’m feeling better. For a while I was treating my blog as more of a diary, but after I finally figured out everything that was wrong and made changes. I started writing more about what was going on in the indie community rather than how my mental health was making me feel about writing. I’m back on track and saving personal updates for maybe once a month or so and focusing on indie news and scandals and my thoughts about all of it instead.

I gained 27 subscribers this year, which I’m thankful for. I still get anywhere from 50-100 visits/views a day, mostly on my Canva tutorial, but my IngramSpark tutorial is a close second and also people still like to read about my thoughts on K. C. Crowne. From what I can gather from my stats. indies are searching for instructions on how to do things and also for information that’s based on fact. I see so much misinformation online, and I’m happy to share my experiences and what worked for me.

I paid my renewal fees up until 2027 for both sites so I don’t plan on going anywhere. I like writing about the industry and where I think publishing is going. Sharing keeps me in the loop and it’s always good business to know what’s going on even if you don’t think it concerns you.

I’ll try to find more authors to give interviews and write guest posts in 2026 since people seem to enjoy them. A. K. Ritchie was a particular favorite, and I’m glad I reached out to her when I saw her response to a particular post on Threads. I’m excited to keep blogging, so if you haven’t subscribed, you should. I blog every Monday and some Thursdays if I have extra thoughts to share. I am a writer, after all.

Health Update

I’m okay, better than I have been since all that dryer sheet nonsense started five years ago. This year I stopped drinking our tap water, and that made a big difference. I used to be able to drink it without a problem but I guess my body started being sensitive to the chemicals in it. I’m not on any medication now except the skin cream for the lichen sclerosis that I’ll have for the rest of my life and my vitamins and magnesium. I have nerve damage and scar tissue from my hysterectomy, but on good days I barely feel it. I would still like to lose a bit of weight, but with my job the way it is, I have to be really choosy with what I do with my free time and that will probably always be writing or napping because every once in a while I need to catch up on my sleep. This will probably be my last health update. Nothing health-wise is impacting my writing anymore. Now that my physical stuff is under control, my anxiety has gone away. I can think about my book business with a clear mind and accept that a lot of my success, or lack of, isn’t in my control. So, while I’m not perfect, I’m better than I was at this time last year, and every day is a step toward feeling even better.

What’s next for 2026?

What’s next for next year? More of the same, only with a more relaxed attitude. I’m going to have fun and dedicate all of 2026 to my hockey duet. They might take a little while to get done since they’re going to be long and emotionally heavy. Not to mention all the world-building I’ll have to do from scratch such as player and team names and cities. I’ll publish Wicked Games in May and Bitter Love sometime after that but I don’t know when. Either at the end of 2026 or just wait until the beginning of 2027. I need to pace myself so there aren’t gaps between books. Even if that means I publish just one book a year I’d rather do that and be consistent than publish right when a book is finished and then not know when I’ll publish next. I also want to re-edit my Cedar Hill duet, so I’ll be doing that as soon as Wicked Games is ready to go. I already made them new covers, and they look amazing! I’m really excited to blow the dust off them.

As far as my personal life, things are good. With my kids’ help I have money for bills, and my sister, daughter, and I are planning a vacation to Florida sometime in the summer. I haven’t been there for many, many years and we’d like to visit our mother’s grave. I miss the ocean, too. I’m grateful I’m feeling good enough to want to go and my daughter is looking forward to it since she’s only flown twice and the first time she was too young to remember.

We can always want more, and I did, for a long time. More sales, better health. I’m finding that sweet spot where I don’t need more anymore. After the five years I’ve had health-wise I’m so grateful and thankful for where I am now, and it’s the same with my sales. I’m so grateful for everyone who reads my books, and even if that’s only one person a day, that’s one person who saw my cover, read my blurb, and gave my book a chance. That’s all any author can really hope for, and I hope my damaged heroes and courageous heroines keep them coming back.

I don’t have a word for next year nor am I going to share any motivational quotes. Do what you can to be happy. Keep a flicker of hope alive. Don’t let things that are out of your control get you down. Keep the people close who want to be there and walk away from those who don’t. They aren’t worth your time. People will come and people will go, but always remember your worth. It’s always going to be more than you think it is.

Happy 2026, everyone, and good luck!

Last Author Update of 2025

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desk flatlay. black pen. cream book that says last author update of 2025 coffee with cream and plant that looks like baby's breath

I can’t believe the year is almost over. This year has been terrible in a lot of ways (we all know what I’m talking about) but for me personally, this year has been full of small wins that added up to big things. I won’t get into all of that now–I’ll do a proper author recap of 2025 next week–but I did want to talk about what I’ve been doing the past little while and offer my opinions on a couple things that KDP has been rolling out.

First, I finished Bitter Love. At 86,448 words, it’s a little longer than I thought it would be, but I took my time writing the ending, giving Jesse the last chapter/epilogue and then a side character her own epilogue. This is the first book I’ve written where a child has been a prominent secondary character, and though I haven’t had a seven year old for a while now (my youngest is twenty), I hope I was able to portray her accurately. She has the “official” epilogue that’s set ten years later, as I wanted readers to see her family through her eyes and tell everyone how happy she is in her own words. I’m not sure what readers will make of it, since I think doing that kind of thing is getting more into Women’s Fiction/Family Drama territory, but it felt right to write it even if it might not fit the romance genre as a whole. Because I don’t have a proper newsletter, I can’t offer it as bonus material. I mean, I could add a Bookfunnel link to the back of the book, but since I don’t collect email addresses, I think it’s just smarter to add it to the book itself and if readers want to read it they can, and if they aren’t interested, they already have Jordan and Jesse’s story in its entirety.

I think it’s fun to play with epilogues like that, and I did it with my rockstars. The books were about Sheppard, Eddie, and Brock, but the epilogue at the end of the last book was told in Dalton’s, the band’s manager, point of view. I haven’t gotten much feedback so I have no idea if readers enjoyed it, but I think it adds a little extra and helps wrap up the story in a way readers might not expect.

I was going to re-edit my Cedar Hill duet, but since I’ve announced to my small newsletter (who’s left, anyway) and on other social media, that Wicked Games will be out in May, I suppose I better get Seth and Avery ready first. Time can go by so quickly and editing can take a couple months at least–editing the Word document, listening to the manuscript, and then proofing the proof–so I think I should start on that to give myself extra time for ARCs if needed.

As I said in a previous blog post, I’m not using Booksprout anymore. I’m not even sure what I’m going to do for reviews. Putting the Bookfunnel link in a Facebook ad was a total failure. I mean, not in terms of people being interested and downloading the book (I gave all my available copies away), but in terms of getting reviews as a result. I think it’s necessary to publish with a few reviews at least, but I have to admit, not using Booksprout anymore makes me a little scared of the number of reviews I’ll have during launch month. Still, there’s no point in paying for something that’s not delivering, but it’s too bad that punishing the many also punishes the few who did enjoy my books and left honest, legitimate, reviews. I can only hope that my true fans on that platform are following me other places so they know where to get future ARCs if they want them.

So that’s my plan for the next little while–get Wicked Games‘s cover finalized and blurb written so I can do the “reveal stuff” while I’m editing, get it formatted and make ARCs available, and then after the ARC period closes, put it up on preorder. I hope that doesn’t take me until April, but who knows. With the changes at my job, everything I do takes me twice as long, so I wouldn’t be surprised if it does.

I’m going to start 2026 with a clean slate, and I decided to redo the logo for my Coffee & Kisses Press imprint. I’ve been publishing under that imprint for ten years, and when I first created it when I bought my first batch of ISBN numbers, my son and then-fiancé made it for me. Back then we were told to draw our own so it’s “ours.” I understand that a graphic made in Canva doesn’t belong to me, but I bought the stock images from DepositPhoto and the font is a free-for-commercial-use font. I changed the colors and added an element that I also purchased from DepositPhoto. I bought the standard license for each photo because I don’t plan on selling merchandise with that logo on it. I think that will be good enough, though my son would probably draw me something else if I asked.

Mostly, I just wanted to get my ex-fiancé’s name off the copyright pages of my books. We haven’t been together for a long time now and it’s funny and a little aggravating that I’m still scrubbing him out of my life. At least I can get his grubby paws off my books and Wicked Games will be the first book to use my new logo. I like what I came up with and I’m glad I decided to do it.

white coffee cup on black background. heart made out of the steam. coffee & kisses press written on saucer

Now that I got my updates out of the way, I wanted to talk about two of the things that KDP has rolled out recently. One is allowing readers to download ePubs and PDFs of our book after they purchase a copy. This requires DRM (digital rights management) to be turned off and you have to go into your bookshelf, click “edit book content” of each ebook, and select the box that tells them you understand that you’re allowing readers to do that.

I saw a lot of opinions about it online, everything from authors being happy their readers can keep copies of their books to authors automatically assuming that readers are going to pirate their books or give their books away. In my ten years of publishing, I have never enabled DRM on my books. I’ve always known that DRM won’t stop my book from being pirated and it’s just an inconvenience to readers who want to read across their devices, say from the Kindle app on their phone to their Kindle, to their iPad that has the app on it. DRM traps them to one device, and maybe there really is only a handful of readers who read across multiple devices, but I didn’t want to inconvenience them. What bothers me about the whole thing is how little I see authors trust readers. There’s a hostile suspicion that I can’t understand, and maybe I never will. Because when it comes right down to it, how terrible is it really, if someone loves your book and innocently emails their friend a copy? It’s not any different than passing around a paperback. So, I don’t know. The second I read that email from KDP, I went into my bookshelf and checked the boxes to all of my first-person books and made them available to download.

The only thing that gave me pause was wondering if they were going to do a full review of each book since they’re making you resubmit to publish. I know that some of my older books have keywords they don’t allow now, like KU and Kindle Unlimited, and I didn’t want an unpleasant surprise of having a book stalled because of that. But each book only took about forty-five minutes to be approved, so I can only assume they acknowledged I checked the box and moved on. There are going to be a lot of authors either enabling DRM for the first time or checking the box, so hopefully they did what they could to streamline the process.

If you have naughty keywords, I wouldn’t worry about it, but I also wouldn’t change anything else while you’re in your book’s contents. Simply check the box and publish again. Save changes like a blurb refresh for another time. I hate messing with my books after they’ve been published. KDP is so finicky you never know what could cause them to flag your book. I mess with them as little as possible.

Going forward I’ll always check the box and let my readers download and keep what they paid for. Trying to restrict reader movement is fruitless and in the end, I believe you’ll come across looking stingy and hostile. Especially when you blast your choice all over social media pointing fingers at innocent readers. In these days of AI, appearing sincere, friendly, and trustworthy will go a long way in earning reader trust.

The other thing Amazon did was add an “Ask About this Book” feature to Kindle ebooks. If you’re not familiar with it, you can read about it here: https://writerbeware.blog/2025/12/12/kindles-new-gen-ai-powered-ask-this-book-feature-raises-rights-concerns/

I don’t have a lot of opinions about it other than no matter how you feel about AI, it’s here to stay. While I have been straddling the fence on this blog, neither fully condemning it nor fully embracing it, I do have personal moral and ethical lines I won’t cross. I don’t use it to write. I don’t use it to generate pictures. I see the usefulness in using it to write ad copy and hooks. I see the usefulness in it for organizing thoughts and creating checklists. No matter how you use it or don’t use it, the best thing you can do for yourself and your book business is to not make any sudden decisions because you’re angry. I see a lot of authors jerking their books off Amazon because they don’t want AI anywhere near them and they might regret that later.

The thing is, AI is everywhere and even if a book platform isn’t using AI now, they will eventually. Kobo put out a disclaimer in May saying that they will never use an author’s books to train AI, but even they say they use AI to “identify and quarantine books containing hate speech, child sexual abuse, or other harmful content that violates our guidelines.” So AI, even of their own creation, is processing books put on their platform. When every distribution platform uses it, authors will have nowhere to go and they’ll be right back to their biggest earner anyway.

Amazon is all about customer satisfaction, and they must have some information that put “Ask About This Book” into motion. We’ll never know what that information is, but Amazon never does anything without a reason. I don’t fully trust them, but we’ll see what happens. I’m not going to pull my books down. I don’t have the mental energy go to wide again and I don’t see the point when other platforms are going to be doing the same if they aren’t already.

This will be my last “Favorite Things” segment since my 2025 recap is usually pretty long and I don’t need to make it any longer. There are so many tools and services in the indie space and I’ve tried to highlight a few of the books and things I like best. So, for this last one, even though you probably know about him already, I’m going to mention Dave Chesson’s Kindlepreneur. He has three FREE services I’d like to share and they are not affiliate links:

QR code maker. I’ve used this before, and I love it. I think it’s especially cute you can add a logo or picture in the middle of the code. https://kindlepreneur.com/qr-code-generator-for-authors/

Barcode creator. There’s not a day that goes by when I’m not seeing someone asking about barcodes to go with their ISBNs. There’s no need to buy them from Bowker. They don’t have anything that Dave’s barcode creator won’t do. https://kindlepreneur.com/isbn-bar-code-generator/

Amazon Ads Class. If you need a free class that will teach you the basics, then this is for you. Not all people use ads the same way, and through trial and error you’ll find a combination of bid, daily budget, category or auto ads that will work for you. https://kindlepreneur.com/courses/free-amazon-ads-course/

That’s all I have for this week! Make sure you check back next Monday when I go over my 2025 recap. Thanks for reading this far. Have a great Monday!

Monday’s Author Update

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thanksgiving flatlay. pumpkin green gourd gold ribbon silver and gold silverware. text says. monday's author udpate

Hello, hello! We are nearing the end of November, and US Thanksgiving is this week! I have everything I need except potatoes, and I’ll grab them during my usual grocery run on Wednesday. When my schedule at work changed, I had no idea how much I depended on my routine and I probably will always have to grapple with when I can get stuff done while still trying to write as much as I can. Anyway, some weeks are better than others, but that’s life in general, and despite those changes, things are okay.

WIP Update
Even though my writing time being severely cut, I’m still making great progress on Bitter Love. I’m 59,000 words into it and I am so happy with the progress I’ve made this month. I joined ProWritingAid’s Novel November, but I haven’t been keeping track of how many words I’ve written so far. My only goal was to get this book done by the end of the year, and I think I can do that. I have the last third of the book plotted out, which is the hard part, in my opinion, so writing the rest should be easy enough. I was going to jump into my hockey duet, but I’m going to put that on the back burner again, and in January re-edit and re-cover my Cedar Hill duet. That will take me a month or so, and then when I’m done with that, I’ll get Wicked Games ready to go for a May release. (I already announced it so I don’t want to lie to the few people who were listening.) I’m struggling with whether or not to do ARCs considering that my attempts in the past have had lackluster results. People take but don’t review, so there’s really no point in handing them out. I canceled my BookSprout subscription because the quality just wasn’t there for the price I was paying. I listed some other alternatives in a previous blog post, so I might try something new, if just as an experiment so I can blog about it later.

Then once Wicked Games is off my plate, I have a cute story idea about a woman who inherits a bakery she doesn’t want and a billionaire who wants to buy it. She can’t sell because of some stipulations in her grandma’s will, and he can’t work around them because of his own obligations. With some of the dialogue that’s already going through my head, it might be more romcom, if I can find my funny bone, and the characters already have names which means I will definitely be writing them in 2026.

So my plan is:
*Finish Bitter Love
*Revamp my Cedar Hill duet
*Get Wicked Games ready to release in May 2026
*Write One Tough Cookie
*Jump back to Bitter Love to get that ready for release maybe at the beginning of 2027 or the end of 2026, whichever works out

It’s nice to have so many plans and an idea of what I’ll be doing for the next little while, but it also makes me kind of sad too. I’m not doing this for anyone but me, which, I know, that should be the only reason a writer does anything–for themselves first–but it can be disheartening after a while and it doesn’t seem like there’s much I can do to fix it.

Deleting TikTok
I mentioned in a previous blog post that I was having fun with a reader account on TikTok, and I was even getting a few views above the 200 view dungeon a lot of people seem to get stuck in. Then they started suppressing my carousels and labeling them as AI. This ticked me off for two reasons: one, they weren’t AI. I used stock photos from DepositPhotos (that were not AI) and two, there actually is a lot of AI on TikTok they aren’t flagging and the hypocrisy drives me insane. So, I deleted my accounts. Both my reader one and my personal one I started a long time ago.

The hit to my mental health was just too much and I don’t have the bandwidth to put up with it. It’s too bad because I was getting into a groove posting, and doing slides is a great way to learn how to pull hooks out of your books and write ad copy. But maybe I’ll just try to post more on Instagram. I barely post there and even though Facebook keeps telling me that my author page is getting views, I haven’t posted there in three weeks. I saved all my carousels in my Canva account, and turning them into Reels would be easy enough, but I’m not sure if I really care that much to do the work. Posting on social media is something I struggle with anyway, though I do like talking about my books to the handful of people who see my posts.

Black Friday Promo
I wasn’t sure if I was going to buy a promo for any of my books this holiday season, but I went ahead and bought a promo in the Red Feather Romance Books newsletter and set my Christmas novel to free for three days around Black Friday. I’m not sure what else I’m going to do, if anything, because while I think giving away books can be beneficial if you have a plan, I have no plan, and don’t really care either way about giving books away. Mostly, all I think it does is create high hopes that it will finally do something and then it never happens. Chances are 100% I won’t make back the $135.00 I spent on their fee, but I’m really proud of the changes I made to the book when I re-edited it a couple months ago, so I wanted to give it another push. But A Heartache for Christmas is getting old, so maybe one day I’ll write another Christmas novel, if I can think of a plot.

The Future of this Blog (It’s good!)
I had to renew my plan for this website, and they gave me a discount if I paid for two years instead of one, so I’m locked into this website and blog until the end of 2027. I suppose that was kind of optimistic, though I have no plans to go anywhere. I enjoy blogging very much, and having all my things in one place has been nice. I get why people write on Substack, but having a WordPress plan isn’t very expensive and having a main hub where readers can find you is less confusing for everyone. Granted, blogging on my author site isn’t the same as having a true newsletter, and even though I regret not having one, I still don’t think I’ll ever try that again. My author website is also locked in until March of 2026 and that auto renews every two years as well. I pay $156.00 for those two years and I think that is a decent price for a site that only has about 100 visitors a month.

That’s about all I have for this week. As part of my “Favorite Things” section of my blog I have going until Christmas, I want to tell you about this free crossword puzzle maker that I used to make a romance crossword for my Facebook author page. You make up the questions and answers, and the website spits out the puzzle. It’s fun, and you can find it here: https://crosswordlabs.com/

Here’s the one I made with the answers. You can steal it if you want. I don’t mind.

crossword puzzle overlayed on faint pink hearts. text says. contemporary romance fun
Crossword clues Across 5. The one person meant to be with you 7. Symbol of love 9. Emotional tension that keeps readers hooked 11. The obstacle or competing love interest 12. Romance shorthand for a happy ending 13. A big question that changes everything 14. A charming or quirky first encounter 16. Intense romantic or physical attraction 18. The magic connection between two lovers 19. When estranged lovers find their way back Down 1. A romance that takes its time building 2. Playful back-and-forth dialogue between lovers 3. The central female character in a romance 4. What every romance promises in the end 6. A break of trust between lovers 8. A spark that often changes everything in romance novels 10. A dominant hero archetype 12. The leading man of a romance 15. A recurring theme in romance stories 17. Hidden truth that complicates love
crossword key KISS A spark that often changes everything in romance novels HEA Romance shorthand for a happy ending CHEMISTRY The magic connection between two lovers TROPE A recurring theme in romance stories HERO The leading man of a romance HEROINE The central female character in a romance ANGST Emotional tension that keeps readers hooked SLOWBURN A romance that takes its time building ALPHA A dominant hero archetype MEETCUTE A charming or quirky first encounter BANTER Playful back-and-forth dialogue between lovers RIVAL The obstacle or competing love interest SOULMATE The one person meant to be with you HEART Symbol of love PASSION Intense romantic or physical attraction PROPOSAL A big question that changes everything SECRET Hidden truth that complicates love BETRAYAL A break of trust between lovers REUNION When estranged lovers find their way back FOREVER What every romance promises in the end

Happy Thanksgiving to all those who celebrate!

I’ll talk you you next week!

Monday Author Update and a Quick Glimpse into 2026

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You all know i have a terrible fear of missing out, and it was triggered this week by the announcement that Flodesk, the newsletter aggregator, is going to stop their unlimited pricing structure at the end of the month and you need to lock in that plan before it goes away. This shouldn’t concern me because for one, I don’t have a newsletter anymore, I blog on my author site, and two, I probably will never have the number of signups that would require the need for an unlimited pricing plan.

screeshot of a flodesk ad. the text is black and says flodesk...now is the itme unlimited emails, unlimited subscribers, subscribe before november 28th sign up bar in purple
This ad popped up in my Instagram feed

But that didn’t stop the “what ifs” from running through my mind. What if I ever wanted to start up a newsletter again? What if I pushed my business to the next level and I needed that unlimited plan? WHAT IF I’M MISSING OUT ON THE BEST DEAL OF MY LIFE?

Cue the panic, right?

But this made me stop and think about where my business is and where it’s going. As of right now, I don’t have a book business. While I have money going out and money coming in, I have more money going out and I consider operating in the red more of a hobby than anything else. That reminded me I probably shouldn’t take on any more services that would dig my financial hole even deeper than it already is. Because if I paid for Flodesk, I would have to pay Bookfunnel for integration because I wouldn’t stop giving my reader magnet away. I already did that once with MailerLite, and while I did build up my newsletter to close to 1,000 subscribers back when I was trying, that is just more money than I want to spend for where I’m at and where I’m going.

So far, I’ve been able to eke time out in the week to keep this blog afloat, and surprisingly, it’s been easier than I thought. I do have a little free time on the days I work, but it’s not conducive to fiction writing, so I’ve been able to blog and make carousels for my secret TikTok account. That’s been a huge relief because when my work did all that changing up, I was really worried about having to cut back on this blog. I enjoy writing it and it gives me a place to put my thoughts about what’s going on in the industry and where I am in my indie life. So, unless work decides to mix things up again, or cut me loose all together, I think I can confidently say that I can keep writing my blog posts every Monday.

I have lost a lot of writing time though, and adding a “real” newsletter when my publishing schedule is taking a hit doesn’t make much sense–especially since I already pay for my WordPress website–so I might as well use it, even if it doesn’t have the same functionality as a newsletter aggregator. That doesn’t mean that from now until November 28th every time I see that ad I won’t think I’m making a huge mistake not signing up. That’s just the way I am. And I’m sure with Black Friday right around the corner there’s going to be more deals and steals I’ll have to say no to because I already have what I need to write and publish books. (I’m looking at you, AppSumo DepositPhoto sale when I already have 358 downloads available.)

I signed up for ProWritingAid’s Novel November, but I’m behind, or at least, I think I am. I’m not keeping track of the words I’ve written so far, but I’m 46k into Bitter Love, and if I can keep up the pace, I should be able to finish by the end of the year like I want. I’m at the point now where I go back and read from the beginning so I’ll be taking a couple days to do that, fix any plot points that got lost as the story developed and make sure the ending’s on track. I’ll have to add slow-burn to the list of tropes because this story needed so much setup, but a lot of secrets had to come out so hopefully even if the characters take their time hopping into bed it’s not boring or slow.

Besides that, I really don’t have much else. November is always kind of busy with my daughter’s birthday, Thanksgiving, and my birthday rounding out the month, but I’m not doing anything this year (I turned 50 on Thanksgiving Day last year and I think all that excitement will hold me over for a couple of years). I lucked out with my work schedule and I have Thanksgiving Day off, so that’s a nice break, and my daughter is still deciding where she wants to eat her birthday dinner.

Overall, things are okay, nothing bad happening, which I’m thankful for. Pim is doing great, but I’m trying to turn her into an internet star and that’s not working out. The last photo I posted of her on Threads only got 82 likes, but I’m probably lucky she got that since I think I post there maybe four times a month and the algorithms have no idea who I am.

tuxedo cat hiding under piece of brown perforated paper. face is visible along with her two front white paws.

But, I started a reader/book profile on TikTok, as opposed to my personal one and that seems to be doing better in terms of views. I didn’t tell anyone about it so I can’t “taint” the algorithms, but I didn’t use a VPN or anything. Just my personal iPhone using a gmail address I don’t use for much else. At least I broke out of the 200 views dungeon for a lot of my carousels, one getting over 3k views, but I haven’t gone viral . . . yet. I’m getting better finding hooks and writing ad copy, and I’m staying away from sex which always got me in trouble on my other profile. So far going for angsty instead of spicy has been serving me well, and now that I’ve slowed down with the writing, I’m making more time to post there. We’ll see how it goes.

I’m starting to think about promos for the holiday season, and I forgot that I have a nice four-book series set in the winter around Christmas I could promote if I wanted to. There’s a big author-driven book blast taking place next month but I don’t think I’ll officially put a book in it. It’s not that I don’t think free books are worth it, because I still think they can be if used strategically, but I’ve kind of given up hoping promos like will build into anything that lasts. So rather than take space from authors who are trying to use the blast to their advantage, I could just put a book or two free and piggy-back off the momentum of the day and see what that does. Or I could pay for something, but I doubt I would make my money back, so I would have go into it know that and being happy that people were just interested enough to download a copy. I’m not sure yet. Books are a dime a dozen, in every way that means, so what I do or don’t do won’t have any effect on me or my book business. It’s just something to do if I feel like it.

My Favorite Things
I’m going to end every Monday blog post from here until Christmas with something that I’m liking in the author space, be it a writing resource, tool, or service that I find especially helpful. Today’s feature is the Trope Thesaurus series by Jennifer Hilt. I have the romance trope book, and I have to admit, when I’m feeling down, I get out my copy and flip through it. There are so many tropes out there I haven’t tried and it gets me really excited for all the books I haven’t written yet. There’s one for horror and fantasy/sci-fi and it looks like just a general one as well. Check them out here (this isn’t an affiliate link): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BFYR9L4Z

book covers on black background: the trope thesaurus (general) (all colors lettering) the trope thesaurus horror (orange lettering) the trope thesaurus romance (red lettering) the trop thesaurus fantasy and science fiction (yellow lettering)

That’s all I have for today. Thanks for reading, and I will see you next week!

Moving the Goalposts: The Feeling of Not Doing Enough

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toy soccer ball with toy goalie net. green background. text says: moving the goalposts. the feeling of not doing enough

Years ago when I saw someone say being an indie author felt like always having homework, I laughed, but I didn’t quite believe it. When I was in school, I hated homework. Back in high school, anyway. College was a little different, and when I went to tech school to get my HR degree, I actually enjoyed homework and group assignments. I suppose age could have played a part in that, because I think as we get older we just naturally appreciate things more and I was grateful to have the resources to go back to school.

Anyway, so when it came to my writing and all the stuff that went along with it, I didn’t compare homework, a seemingly endless, joyless, task, to what I had to do to write, publish, and market my books.

But, when I wrote my blog post for last week, I realized that no matter how much an indie author gets done, there is always going to be more to do, and instead of being excited for the next cover design, formatting job, or editing sweep, it turns into a version of Groundhog Day that we can’t escape. That infinity loop also sucks the joy out of the past accomplishments, and something to be proud of, like a book release or the cover of a book that comes together perfectly, is just an item on the list that needs to be checked off.

When I really thought about why we never feel like we’ve done enough, a few things came to mind.

Because we’re indie: We control everything — writing, editing, marketing, covers, social media — there’s no external validation from a boss or coworker nor is there a stopping point we can work toward. There’s always going to be another social media post to create to keep your profiles from stagnating. There’s always going to be a newsletter to send out. Another ad to create. There’s always a WIP to work on because we all know that writing the next book is the best marketing and front list sells backlist.

Moving the goalpost: We hit one milestone (a release or a finished draft) and immediately reset the net. I think this one is what I was particularly feeling writing my blog post last week. No matter how much I accomplish there will always be more to do. Another goal to score, another game to win.

Comparison culture: We see other authors posting “I just hit 10k sales” or “my preorder is live,” and that fuels the sense we’re behind. This one is particularly triggering for me because I have a terrible fear of missing out. I don’t want other authors to be doing something I could be or should be doing too.

The creative push to keep moving forward: Creatives are wired for “what’s next?” The next book, the next painting, the next drawing. That desire to create makes us prolific, but it can also burn us out. This one I understand 100% because once I start thinking about characters for a new book, they don’t leave me alone until I set them free on the page. I mean, that’s a great place to be in–I never have to worry about writer’s block or what I’m going to write next–but it’s also draining because I don’t let myself properly rest between projects . . . or celebrate something I just achieved.

Lack of (what you consider) success: This one probably hit me the hardest because with all the books I have out, with all the hard work I’ve put into my author career in the past ten years, I don’t have the sales I hoped I would have. So I’m always reaching for that next book, that next social media graphic, that will get me there.

The indie hustle culture: This kind of goes along with comparing yourself to other authors. We see on social media what other authors are doing, but at the same time, there’s an underlying feeling of not doing enough and getting judged for it. You see it on Threads when people start their posts with, “It might not mean much to some . . .” or “It might not be a big deal to a lot of people here but . . .” We are constantly afraid that we’re being judged for our successes and achievements, and while a lot of people will tell you to stop worrying about what others will think because no one is watching you, for as many people who don’t care what you’re doing, there are just as many who do and are judging you. “You’ve only written one book this year?” “You’ve only made fifty dollars this week?” “You don’t post on TikTok? How do you expect to sell books?” “When is the rest of your series coming out?” The hustle culture online is real, you can see evidence of it every day, and it’s just another reason why you can never be happy with what you have because it will never feel like it’s enough. And it will never feel like that so long as someone you see online is doing more than you.

So, what can we do to combat this? It’s a question that I’ve been dealing with since the beginning of 2025 when I came to the conclusion my books would never be a business and that I would never make any meaningful earnings from it.

It was a disappointing and disheartening realization to come to, but it was freeing in some ways. I stopped my Facebook ads. I took time to go into my backlist and re-edit a few titles. I don’t stress about the fact that I have written only one book this year. I don’t let myself feel bad if I don’t feel like writing and would rather watch a show instead. Do the low sales numbers bother me? Sure. I think any author who publishes to a site where readers have to pay wants sales. But I just remind myself there is a lot of content out there and I can’t be, and don’t want to be, everywhere online. Creating content when you don’t feel like it is just as stressful as forcing yourself to write when you’re not in the right headspace.

But, no matter how many times I remind myself to loosen up or brush away those pesky feelings of inadequacy, they always manage to pop up, which is why I wrote my blog post last week to begin with. I needed the reminder that yes, I have accomplished a lot this year, and more than acknowledging it, I should celebrate it. Even if I closed my laptop today, after I schedule this post, and don’t open it again until January first, my 2025 year in review would still rock and it really has nothing to do with how much I’ve made this year and if I managed to break even with all that I’ve had to pay for to keep my hobby afloat.

I wrote a book I’m proud of. Maybe it won’t make me any money, but I wrote it with my whole heart, and I love Seth and Avery. I wrapped up five years’ worth of work when the last of my King’s Crossing serial released, and I doubt I’ll ever write anything like that again. I applied what I learned and re-edited three of my standalone books. I’ve helped hundreds of authors make their own book covers using my Canva instructions. I edited for someone who couldn’t afford to hire out and helped her get that much closer to publishing her next book.

It’s easy to forget even your biggest accomplishments when the to-do list never ends. Give yourself credit for everything you’ve managed to do–this week, this month, this year. Being an indie author really does feel like having homework sometimes, but maybe it’s time we start grading ourselves on how happy we are with what we’re doing, not on our output or the outcome of it.

And stop moving those goalposts. Run past them and don’t look back.

What I’ve Done This Year: Beating Up Imposter Syndrome

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red boxing gloves hanging in front of black and grey background. Text says what i've done this year: beating up imposter syndrome

Sometimes you can look back and not feel especially productive. I feel like that this year since I have only one book written so far. But feeling like you haven’t gotten anything done is actually a form of Imposter Syndrome and instead of letting it win, I thought I’d pick apart my year and document everything I’ve done that moved my writing business forward.

January
According to older blog posts, I started editing Loss and Damages in January. I don’t know when I decided to release that book, but it had been written for a couple of years already. I spent the last four months of 2024 re-editing my Rocky Point Wedding series, so I was feeling a little burnt out. But I didn’t stop to rest, no that would be silly, and jumped into getting Loss and Damages ready for a September release.

I also kept up with this blog and wrote my four posts that I published on Mondays. But I must have had a lot of thoughts because I gave you seven posts instead of four. I feel like that might have started my year off on a good note, so let’s see if I kept that going.

**Shattered Fate released January 20th, 2025, but that seems like a very long time ago now.

February
I started writing Wicked Games on February 4th, 2025

screenshot of statistics of Wicked Games. Seth and Avery.docx Properties General Summary Statistics Content Custom Created: Tuesday, February 4, 2025 at 9:09 PM Modified: Wednesday, September 24, 2025 at 9:54 PM Printed: Last saved by: Vania Rheault Revision number: 8138 Total editing time: 15712 Minutes Statistics: Statistic name Value Pages: 331 Paragraphs: 3048 Lines: 7917 Words: 98569 Characters: 414891 Characters (with spaces): 510958 Cancel OK

Besides my King’s Crossing serial slowly releasing around that time (they dropped six weeks apart), that was the biggest thing I did that month. Doing so much editing made me miss writing and I was excited to get back into it.

I also kept writing on this blog, and I must have had more to say that month as well since I wrote six posts instead of my regular four.

March
March seems like it was the same old, same old for me. I kept working on Wicked Games,(though I hit a bump with lack of motivation) kept posting on this blog, and Shattered Hearts, the fifth book in my King’s Crossing serial, published on the third. March can be really dreary in Minnesota too, so I was probably just waiting for the snow to get the hell out of here and for it to warm up. But, every little bit counts and releasing a book is a pretty big deal. I shouldn’t brush it off, even if SAD was probably getting me down.

April
According to a mid-month check-in blog post, I finished Wicked Games the first week in April. Getting a book done in three months tracks, so I’m not surprised that despite writing a whole blog post the month before about how “stuck” I was, that I finished a short time after. What else did I get done?
*I didn’t give myself a break and did another round of edits on Loss and Damages.
*I blogged four times.
*The last book in my King’s Crossing serial, Shattered Dreams, released.
Looking back, April was a pretty big month for me. I finishing writing a book and that series wrapped up five years of hard work. I was also working on a book that would turn out to be my next release. It was a good month but I doubt I took the time to celebrate anything. That’s just how I am.

May
May was a slow month for me. I was listening to Loss and Damages and thinking about what I wanted to write next. I’m amused because in my author check-in for May I was thinking about the book I’m writing now, Bitter Love. I hadn’t named it and only had the idea of a plot, but I guess that’s what happens when a story won’t let you go. I remember feeling burnt out still, and while I was considering diving into hockey, even started doing some research, that kind of project felt like it was too much to tackle.

That month was a breakthrough for my health though, and I stopped drinking our city’s tap water and switched to bottled spring water. That has made a big difference in how I feel. I’ll always have my lichen sclerosis and nerve damage from that hysterectomy I agreed to in desperation, but I’m closer to normal than I have been in the past five years. So May might have been quiet writing-wise, but it turned out to have a big impact on my life.

My blog had a good month: I had five posts, and one was an author interview. I like adding new voices occasionally since different perspectives are interesting to read and keeps things fresh. It’s tough finding people who will give you time though, so I only get to do that a couple times a year.

June
I was making some small progress in June. I got the proof of Loss and Damages in the mail and did some light editing of my rockstars. I was still debating on what I was going to write next, waffling between writing Bitter Love and hockey. That’s probably about as relaxed as I get. But I can tell while reading past blog posts that I lost a lot of the urgency I was feeling in previous years to move, move, move.

Blog was good. I wrote five posts.

July
I re-edited Rescue Me and I’m happy I did. I found a timeline issue that I’m glad was easy to fix and just eased up on my dense prose. I think I got rid of about 1500 words and updated the formatting, and I ordered two proofs to make sure my changes looked okay. I uploaded new files at both KDP and IngramSpark. We also adopted my son’s friend’s cat and she’s been a nice addition to our family so far, her need for attention aside. (That has nothing to do with productivity, unless you count her helping me.)

tuxedo cat sitting on chair in front of black laptop. small pumpkin gourds in foreground.

My blog was still chugging away–I had four regular Monday posts.

August
August was more of the same. I re-edited Faking Forever, which was a chore and a half, then moved on to A Heartache for Christmas. I ordered proofs of both of those books and updated the files with KDP and IngramSpark. Though at the time it felt like I wasn’t going anywhere, overall I’m satisfied that I took the time and with the results of those several weeks of re-editing. It was a crash course in readability, and all three books sound more conversational and not so stuck-up. I plan to do my Cedar Hill Duet after the New Year. I want to redo the covers after doing another edit. Those are good books but they can be better. I’ll have a little time after I finish Bitter Love, so that’s the next project on my list.

September
I started Bitter Love, but my friend was ready for me to edit her book, so that’s what I did for the majority of the month. Because of changes at my job, it took me a little longer than it has in the past, so I didn’t get much done on anything else.

Loss and Damages also released on the 15th, after trying to do a proper launch that included a cover reveal on IG, sending out ARCs, and a Goodreads giveaway. It didn’t hit big, most people who took an ARC didn’t leave a review, but I’ve sold two ebooks and have had the equivalent of eleven books read in Kindle Unlimited. It’s a long and character-driven book. I didn’t expect it to do much better.

Blog was fine–I published five posts.

Looking back, I’ve done a lot with my year so far, and I’m not sure why I don’t give myself more credit. I finished releasing a six-book series. I released a standalone. I re-edited three books and started a new WIP. I think one of the issues is that when you’re an indie author, there’s always something more to do so you don’t get the chance to feel like you finished anything or are any closer to your goal. There’s always another book to write, another book to edit, another TikTok video to make.

And think this is especially true when you haven’t gone viral, you haven’t earned an orange bestseller tag on Amazon, haven’t reached the number of followers you were hoping for. I think I might want to do a separate blog post on why goals never seem obtainable, even if you have reached milestones you should be proud of, so I’m going to leave that there for now.

Of course now the only thing that I’m thinking about now is getting Bitter Love done but I’m taking it easy and enjoying the process. Jesse and Jordan have been fighting inside my head for a few months now and it’s a relief to be putting them on the page. Motivation is the key to getting things done and getting things done is the only path to success, no matter what your definition is, but we also need to celebrate the little wins or everything we accomplish will feel hollow.

Be proud of yourself for sticking with it. Not everybody does. And if you’re reading this and thinking you haven’t done much this year, try making your own list. You’ll probably surprise yourself.

And that’s worth celebrating.

Have a great week!

Monday’s Author Update

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higher view of a state park in autumn. browns dull greens and oranges over a hilly field. lake to the left a murky green water.
Maplewood State Park, Maplewood, MN October 2024

It’s cooling down in the evenings and the leaves are just beginning to change colors, which is lovely. We’re tiptoeing into my most favorite part of the year, the yummy months when it isn’t summer but it isn’t winter. In Minnesota, no one can accurately guess how long that time will last, but I’ll enjoy it for however long it stays.

My editing and proofing is done!
I finally finished proofing my Christmas novel that I was re-editing in time for the holiday push. I ordered a second proof just to make sure the formatting is still okay, but I’m not reading it over again. I changed a lot of word choices and phrasing, just like I did for Faking Forever, and going forward I’ll be trying to sound more conversational while staying true to my voice.

One of the things I had in the back of my mind when I re-edited those three standalones (Rescue Me, Faking Forever, and A Heartache for Christmas) was those books not sounding like me if I made too many changes. But, I’m trying to lighten up because since I’ve been reading a little bit more I’ve noticed that popular romance books just don’t get too deep with the prose and vocabulary. Whether this is a conscious choice of the author or just their own light writing style, I’m going to try to meet in the middle. I can only write how I write . . . but I can be mindful of word choices and syntax and maybe my books will be a little easier to read. I wrote a blog post on the changes I was making in A Heartache for Christmas and you can read it here: https://vaniamargene.com/2025/08/18/when-dumbing-down-your-writing-isnt-dumb/

I’m going to set up an Amazon ad for it, I think, and maybe set up a Facebook ad for it at the end of October. I really let up on the Facebook ads this year, and the only ad I’ve purchased was for getting my ARCs of Loss and Damages seen. I did manage to give away quite a few ARCs of that book through the ad, but since I gave them away on good faith (meaning no Google form to fill out and no email collection), I doubt much will come of it.

Goodreads giveaway update.
My Goodreads giveaway is doing well, though I guess I don’t have a gauge to tell. I have 1,150 entries at the time of this writing, and I’m pretty happy with that. Like the ARC giveaways through my FB ad, I doubt much will come of it, but if you don’t get your name out there somehow, no one will know who you are. It’s especially true these days with so much content to choose from.

New book and new editing project.
I’m 6,563 words into Bitter Love, but I’m going to have to table that for now. One of my friends I edit for has the next book in her series ready for me, and I’ll be putting Jesse and Jordan aside to take care of that. Because of the changes at my work and just basic free time slipping away, it will take me a while to get that editing project done and I probably won’t get Bitter Love finished this year like I wanted. My day job has just been stressful overall, and I’m at the point where I’m not sure what would be harder: staying and toughing it out or finding something new after twenty-four years. All I’m grateful for is that I’m feeling better physically every day, so if/when I decide to jump into the job search I can at least handle the change. It still won’t be easy because change is hard, but at least I won’t have the physical stuff to deal with if it come to pass.

Posting on social media.
I’ve still been trying to post on socials, and though I’ve pulled way back on FB ads, I’ve been boosting posts on IG a little more. That hasn’t translated to sales as far as I can see, but I have gained a few followers pushing me close to 500 after having the account for thirteen years. I only post graphics, not reels, so I don’t know if growing my IG account will do anything for me, either in the long or short runs, but I think I prefer posting on IG rather than my FB author page. I have come to realize I hate that page. I have three friends who like all my posts and besides that, reach is non-existent. I wonder if it would be smart to start over, but I’ve had that page for almost as long as I’ve had Instagram so I have no idea where that link is out in the world. I hate broken links so I’ll keep it up and just repurpose my IG posts for it. I started a new TikTok account and just named it something generic that has to do with books. I’m testing to see whether a “book” account will do more for me than an “author” account, like my reader page on Facebook I run ads off of when I bother. It doesn’t seem so advertise-y, so we’ll see what comes of it. Content creation is still the main issue, but I’m good with Canva and just try to juggle creating on my laptop and posting on my phone (I have the Canva app). Even if I’m stuck in what’s considered the TikTok dungeon, the low views (my last carousel got 353 views) still beats what I get on FB and IG combined, even when I boost a post on IG. I don’t want to try to be everywhere, just where I can have the most eyes without a lot of work.

Blog cleanup.
Speaking of broken links, I’ve been cleaning up my blog posts and trashing some of my older ones I did with other authors who have since flaked out or have changed their own links (or even author pen names!) making the post useless or obsolete. I didn’t like doing that, but some of my relationships with those authors have gone so far south I didn’t like having them on my blog anymore anyway. So if you happen to run into a link that doesn’t work anymore, you weren’t missing much and there’s a reason why the post no longer exists. I’ve also gone back and updated a few older posts that kept getting hits even though they were six, seven, or eight years old. Back then I had no idea what I was doing and the posts are only getting hits because my SEO on this site is actually pretty good. So, I updated those older posts with actual relevant information and now I won’t feel bad when people are reading them to find out about something.

Library distribution of Kindle Select books.
There’s been a lot of talk in indie circles about KDP letting ebooks into libraries even if you’re enrolled in Kindle Select (the author side of Kindle Unlimited).

I didn’t jump on this bandwagon for one simple fact: you still have to be selected by a librarian to be in a library. Your books don’t just automatically show up there because they’re available. And with the deluge of indie books now being available, your chances of being selected are that much worse. So, no I didn’t go upload all my books to Draft2Digital to use their site as a distribution service to libraries, and I probably won’t. My paperbacks have always been available through IngramSpark and as far as I know a library has never purchased one of my books. Like being in a bookstore, being in a library has never been a dream of mine, and I just don’t care. If you care about being in the library system and want to take advantage of that for your Kindle Unlimited ebooks, you can make an account with Draft2Digital and when selecting storefronts, select library distribution only. This article gets a little more detailed: https://newshelves.com/kindle-unlimited-authors-can-now-distribute-to-libraries/

What’s on the blog next week.
I was going to get into if writing a long series anymore is a good idea and talk about some current information I’ve run into that has possibly proved that it’s not. But right now, this blog post is already eight minutes long, so it’s probably better if I wait to talk about it another day.

Peak leaf-looking season will be coming in a couple of weeks and I’ll be taking a day off to go to a state park near here with my sister and daughter. We went last year and I took some amazing pictures. It’s nice to spend the day outside in cooler temperatures and then we go out to dinner after we get back into town. Things will change a lot for me if I have to get a different job, but change doesn’t have to be bad. It’s the getting-through-it part that’s uncomfortable, but with my health issues, the past five years have been hellish and maybe finding a different job will be a piece of cake after that. Anyway, I will keep you posted on all that as I know more.

Next week, let’s say I’ll write that blog post on whether or not it’s worth an author’s time to invest in a long series. With attention spans dwindling and a reader’s need for instant gratification, I feel the old advice of writing a long series is slowly becoming as obsolete as some of my old blog posts.

Chat more about that later! Have a great week!

murky photo of a lake through dark brown and black tree branches. brown and orange trees off in the distance
Maplewood State Park, Maplewood, MN. October 2024.

Monday Musings: Editing, Book Launches, and the Rest of 2025

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Editing Update
For the past few months I’ve been trapped in editing hell. A hell of my own making, but hell nonetheless. Anyway, I’m happy with the choices I’ve made, especially since I’ve sold a couple copies of Rescue Me since I updated the files. At the time of this writing, I’m waiting for another proof of Faking Forever to come because I forgot to add the “About the Book” section to the front. I also made a couple additional edits, but because you can edit a book forever and ever, after this second proof comes, I’ll just page through it and mark it done. Even if I happen to miss something, it will still sound 1000% times better than what it did, so I’ll consider that a win.

I’m still going through my Christmas novel and I’m hoping to be done with it by the end of the month. It’s a little slow going because I’m trying to avoid having to read through it again, but I guess I’ll skim the paperback proof when I order one. Of course there’s always a risk of editing in mistakes, but I’m not the only one that happens to, so I’ll just make peace with the fact that all the books I’ve edited in the past several weeks sound better than they did. I did a blog post on some of my changes for A Heartache for Christmas and you can read it here: https://vaniamargene.com/2025/08/18/when-dumbing-down-your-writing-isnt-dumb/

Loss and Damages Launch Activity
I haven’t been doing much for it except buy a Goodreads giveaway and run an Amazon ad to the preorder. At first I felt bad I spent the $99 dollars on the giveaway because other than exposure, like when I bought one for Cruel Fate, I won’t get much out of it. Comparing the two books might be worthless since Cruel Fate is the first in a six book serial and Loss and Damages is a standalone which (in my mind) makes it much more likely to be read, so chances are outcomes will be completely different anyway. But, I get paid three times in September, so after realizing that, I shrugged and moved the Goodreads receipt into my 2025 Book Spend folder to give to my accountant next April. All that being said, I’m at 832 entries and the giveaway ends the day the book is live, on September 15th. Since those free books are added to my sales dashboard, maybe they’ll count as “sales” and they’ll give me a little push that day. Who knows. If you want to enter, you can here: https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/419642-loss-and-damages

Book Giveaway For Loss and Damages Loss and Damages by V.M. RheaultLoss and Damages by V.M. Rheault (Goodreads Author) Release date: Sep 15, 2025 Thank you so much for entering the giveaway for Loss and Damages! I appreciate your interest and look forward to hearing from you! I'll never be the man she needs me to be . . . Dominic I’m the most hated man in the city. In business with my father, I do his dirty work to make him ha ...more Enter Giveaway Format: Kindle book Giveaway ends in: 23 days and 16:01:03 Availability: 100 copies available, 832 people requesting Giveaway dates: Aug 16 - Sep 15, 2025 Countries available: U.S.

The Amazon ad isn’t doing too much but it’s just another way to push my book out there, and for now, it’s low-cost. My ads going to other books are doing well, but my sales aren’t keeping up with ad spend so I may have to reassess them at the end of the month. For now, the ad has resulted in one pre-order. I usually get none, so that’s a small win all around.

snapshot of Amazon ads stats for Loss and Damages. 6422 impressions, three clicks, cost per click is .35 cents.

I have four paperback copies I ordered since my paperback is scheduled and I can order them without the proof stripe on the cover. I was thinking about maybe offering them on IG to a few bookstagrammers or something, but time is slipping away if I want to do that because half the appeal is getting the book and reading it before it releases. I have less than a month to do that now, and with shipping, even to the United States, I’m cutting it close. Still, it never hurts to put up a post, so I might be doing that sooner than later.

Overall, I don’t have other plans for it. Most times I forget I even wrote it and that I should be pushing it. I have a terrible habit of moving on before I really should be moving on, but I’m always thinking about the next thing, and being stuck in editing makes me antsy to write something new.

What subgenre in romance is hot right now:
If you get the K-Lytic’s marketing trends research newsletter, you’ll know that Cowboy and Western Romance is on the upswing. I never was one to care about cowboys, even if Glen Powell portrayed a pretty sexy one in Twisters (that I have seen approximately 100 times). Ranch and farm life is a bear to get right if you’ve never lived on a ranch or a farm. Tacking a horse incorrectly will get you skewered by readers who actually know how to ride, and that is a level of research that I just don’t care to do. Especially since the last, and only, time I rode a horse was back when I was ten and went to summer camp. The last time even I saw a horse in person was two winters ago when we went on a sleigh ride (“sleigh” being used loosely as there wasn’t much snow that year and we were actually on wheels) and I got to pet one before we set off. That, unfortunately, does not qualify me to write a cowboy romance, and neither does living in the middle of farm country. But, it’s interesting to note that Cowboy and Western Romance is having a moment. This is the snapshot that Alex Newton shared in his K-Lytics email.

graph on left showing uptick between 2020 and 2025 of cowboy romance. on the right, a sexy cowgirl and sexy cowboy both wearing cowboy hats

If you want to buy Alex’s newest report, you can find it here. In the past they were $37 and now they’re $57, I believe, but he offers a lot of information. This is not an affiliate link: https://k-lytics.lpages.co/western-romance/. I like watching them but I have a Mafia report from two years ago that I haven’t watched, so it’s pretty obvious I don’t make the time and shouldn’t waste the money.

Authors Guild Webinar
There’s a free Authors Guild webinar that looks interesting that also popped up in my email. It’s called How and Where to Find Your Readers and it’s on Wednesday, August 27th, at 2pm EST. Someone on Threads asked me if there would be a replay, and though the information doesn’t say that there will be (that I could see), they usually put a lot of their content on their YouTube channel. Here is the registration link if you’re interested in attending the webinar: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_z9jduvBMTL-wsm77dcFMjg#/registration You don’t have to be an Authors Guild member to attend.

You can also subscribe to their YouTube channel as they have a lot of content there as well: https://www.youtube.com/@AuthorsGuild

The Anthropic AI Lawsuit
You all might have heard that Anthropic was found to have legally obtained thousands of books and other work from pirate sites such as LibGen and Library Mirror. There was information going around that if your books were included that you could join the class action lawsuit. If. If you had filed a copyright for your work with the Copyright Office. That little piece of information was hidden in the Threads posts and other bits and pieces I read about it, but Craig Martelle was very upfront about it in his Facebook group, Successful Indie Author. I realized it’s because it’s just one of those things people assume an indie author will do. [Cue the Chrissy Teigen meme where she’s grimacing in the audience.]

Applying for copyright was something I planned on doing when I started my pen name and then, I guess you can call them excuses, I lost focus because of COVID, my health, and other things going on at the time. Not to mention price. After paying for what we have to pay for, adding another expense, and one that didn’t seem imperative, was a lot, and I just . . . didn’t. Now I’ll be paying for that along with many, many, many other authors who don’t bother because if whoever is behind this class action lawsuit wins and damages are paid out, they won’t be paid out to us. It’s really a “coulda woulda shoulda” moment, and you can’t go back to retroactively submit your copyright because you have to do it within three months of your book being published. And I don’t even mean that in a skeezy way of trying to become a part of the lawsuit, just simply going back to fix your mistakes. Along with having a membership to the Alliance of Independent Authors, paying for your copyright is probably a good idea. There are so many scammers and thieves out there now. Authors need all the protection they can get. If you want to read more about that, you can find it on the Authors Guild website here: https://authorsguild.org/news/anthropic-ai-class-action-important-information-for-authors/

What’s next for the rest of 2025?
It’s a little early to be thinking about the end of the year, but September is just around the corner, and once the holidays hit, it’s game over. So, in recognizing that, I’d like to try to write another book. I have Bitter Love pretty much plotted out in my head. I’ll have to fill in some blanks as being a “planster” that’s expected, but I know the major plot points. How it ends right now could go either way, not the HEA part, but where they end up, you know. When I write my small town romances, sometimes they stay and sometimes they don’t.

If I can start on Bitter Love September first, I’d have to write 5300 words a week to write a 90k word book. That actually sounds pretty doable, considering in the past I’ve been able to write 5000 words a day, but now with changes at my work, I’m not sure what kind of word count I’ll be able to produce. I have a really difficult time writing on the days I work–my ten hour shifts don’t leave me a lot of time and by the end I’m exhausted anyway–and the days I don’t are filled with chores, errands, and other pesky things that make up life. So, while that 5300 word count cheers me because it doesn’t sound that bad, I’ll have to see what reality lets me do. But that is the goal so we’ll see what happens. Especially since this book might not be that long. There’s no mystery in it, just a bunch of garbage my characters have to deal with, so maybe it would be a nice change if my book came in at 75k words or so. I won’t know until I write it, but I’m not put off by the idea.

I guess that’s all I have for this week. Overall things are good. Health is hanging in there, nothing bad is happening with my car. Pim is a little jerk (I mean that very affectionately) and she hates being alone, but I think we’re all still getting used to each other and there’s a chance yet she could quiet down. I hope she does because having to feed her breakfast around 4am isn’t awesome, and sometimes, like on the days I know I have to get up for work, I can’t always fall back asleep. My son has been good with getting up with her, too, and sometimes when I finally get up, he’s asleep on the couch. Not great, but I love having a cat again, so you just have to deal.

Here’s Pim for the pet tax. She loves that piece of packing paper.

Enjoy the last little bit of August, and I will talk to you next week!