Hey, Sparkling! Man, we're halfway through the year. This is nuts...I fell like it's going way too fast. I had a bit of a downer June, but I'll try to keep it all positive for you =)
ARC Reader Blitz
Just like last month, I spend a good portion of this month doing administrative and marketing tasks instead of writing. To be exact, here was my breakdown:
And I only took one full day off, so...bad job me. (As I work on a Saturday) I realize as some of you look at this you're going to go "those aren't full 8hr days...what a lazy ass." Well, my dude: "Research suggests that in an eight-hour day, the average worker is only productive for two hours and 53 minutes." So...suck on that. All these hours are actual hours worked and engaged, doing what I'm supposed to be doing, not sitting on the toilet scrolling. I don't know why I feel like I have to jump in front of potential haters and tell them to get rekt, but get rekt haters. I work hard (not as hard as last month or the month before that, but social media and promotion is like 100x harder than writing...)
Okay, anyway, I've been promoting my little butt off, and I really hope 🤞 it pays off for the launch of book 2.
Not as much writing as I'd like
Obvs, from the above chart, you can see that writing was not a big thing on my list. I'm still hammering away diligently at FPE3 while working on the concepts for FPE4 and POR2.
I am excited for some of the cool new scenes I've written and I can't wait to share with my alpha readers =)
Things to Get Excited About: Arts
I've scheduled my commission slot for FPE4 with an artist I absolutely adore, Covers By Christian. He's amazing and I can't wait to send him my art brief soon, for delivery sometime late September.
I've also scheduled covers for book 1 and 2 in the Princesses of Ruin series with MIBL. They have a wide range and really pro looking covers and I'm so excited to reveal the first one in August <3 (oh my gods I need to get started on promo and marketing materials for that first book. Help, I'm drowning...)
I've ALSO commissioned a very special piece of art for The Starlite Heist (if the artist would actually get back to me about July 19th being the delivery date, or the start date >_>) I don't want to say more about it, but you know I won't be able to hold onto it for long before revealing it to the world.
Things to Get Excited About: ARCs
Fae Prison: Earth 2 ARCs are pretty much all a wrap at this point, but (oh my god help I need a VA) ARCs for POR1 Brutal Rival will be announced in August (oh my god help...)
I might be going too fast for a solo act. The juggling is hard. Oh no, I'm being a downer. OKAY MOVING ON.
Books I Read
I didn't get nearly as much reading done this month as I wanted to, and I DNF'd a buttload. It made me really sad.
⭐⭐ Tempted by the Gargoyle
It started off well enough and then...I got to the happy-fun-time scene and by the gods the author used some words and phrases that should not ever be used to describe the acts they were doing. I had to read it out loud to my friends (yes I was reading smut at a party) and we all had a good laugh and then I cried because this book was supposed to get me out of my reading slump, not deeper into it.
⭐⭐ The Maleficent Faerie
Gods, I wanted to love this book so much. I tried. By the gods I tried, and cried. I made it to 76% of the way in and had to tap out. It had so so many things I didn't like. I loved Kenney's "The Sea Witch" and this book sounded NOTHING like that book. The writing style felt completely different.
There was Insta-Love 🤮, Degradation (which I encountered for the first time ever in this book and absolutely hated), a pretty big age gap (76 and 21), absolutely foolish choices, prose that made me feel ick, on and on. I did not like this book at all... Maybe you would. IDK. Fuck.
⭐ Daughter of Darkness
I can't even say much about this book because I didn't make it past chapter 1. The author had posted so many cool vibe videos on tiktok and I got really excited for it.
This was a first time author and it really showed. The prose was very basic and the dialogue was stilted. There was very little to grasp my attention and...man, I feel bad because I want baby indies to keep going. I think this author really could be good, but they need more practice and they need some craft books, and a mentor or a good dev editor. My goodness.
⭐⭐✨ An Insect's Desire
Yep, I read this. It was on a rec from a TikTok friend and yes, it was satire, sure it was like, here's every single trope ever...it still could've been better. I...laughed some...it was short. Whatever, I don't need my time back. Moving on.
⭐⭐⭐✨ From Blood and Ash
Finally, a book that I didn't feel like I was ripping my eyes out to read. It was slower than freaking slow, lemme tell you what. Every single day in the FMC's life is followed.
The slow burn was really good though and some of the banter was absolute fire.
The twist was absolutely not a twist, the foreshadowing was way way way too heavy handed for me and I felt like "HURRY UP ALREADY" for most of the book because I knew how it was going.
Anyway, worth the read, fun, not terrible prose, but LONG and SLOW.
⭐⭐⭐ Monster's Find
This tiny little short story helped me to feel accomplished. FFS, I finished something...
This was my first experience with Knotting and I'm not actually sure if I liked it and OH MY GODS. I JUST noticed the giant silhouette of a dude behind the girl. I thought it was just her in a cave. I only just now noticed the man...hahahaha.
Anyway, knotting feels a little weird to me, and "in heat" feels a bit non-con which I don't like at all... whatever. Moving on.
⭐⭐⭐⭐ Warrior Fae
I FINALLY finished this series. It was fun. The final battle could've been better. They fake killed my favorite character so many times I have fucking PTSD and when they fake killed him so real I almost threw my kindle, I was about a second away from DNFing the whole fucking thing. But after finishing my wine and crying for a bout fifteen minutes, I powered on.
It was a good series and I really enjoyed it. I'll be taking on Zodiac Academy at some point.
Well, that's it my little Sparklings. I've gotta go maybe write my book or fucking something... maybe work on promo videos for my new series that's going to ARCs in August? Promote the book coming in just over 2 weeks? omg. pray for me.
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