Adventures in Writing: The Best Things about my Writing Life

What do you enjoy most about writing?

-dayone prompt

Writing is…

Damn. There are a lot of reasons I enjoy writing.

First, if I don’t write the stories that pop into my mind, the characters get very loud.

Also, it’s a great way to express my creativity. I can’t paint. I can’t play instruments. And I sure as fuck can’t carry a tune. Writing is the best way for me to express my creative abilities.

I’m not great with graphic design, but I can create something with direction. Depending on the amount of details, I can create covers and social media graphics, but that’s about it. Nothing fancy here.

Hell, I’m even attempting to do something different with the covers for Maintenance Men, but I’m not sure what to do. The title keeps bugging me, too. I know that’s been the title I’ve been referring to the trilogy for a long time now, but who knows if it will stay that way. When I know, you’ll know.

It’s all about the smut…

Kind of. I started out writing pure smut. Now I’m delving deeper and deeper into the romance and erotic romance pool. I finally started building Revelry Island and its mainland counterpart. I’ve got locations and people and it’s all coming together. I didn’t expect the ideas I had in mind to coalesce into connected series, but they did, and I’m doing my damnedest to keep up with it.

And I’m also trying to write Bound with Beau. I absolutely adore Hayden and Beau and I need to finish their story. Currently, she’s laying down in the faux grass with her arms bound and partially covered with the silk robe while Beau snaps photos. Soon, she’ll be bound and suspended. That’s the next scene goal anyway.

You can read chapter one of Bound by Beau on Substack.

The first three books for the Revelry Island Saga are going to be overlapping timelines, but don’t worry, there won’t be repetitive scenes in there. They have different main characters who, while they interact often with the MCs of the other books, will be sharing different scenarios in those lives.

So, I’ve been trying to write and plot all three books at the same time. I’d say book one is 80% plotted, book two is probably 40% plotted, where book 3 is around the 20% mark. It’s been fun learning about the characters, their lives, and the places where they work and hang out.

One of these days, I’ll introduce you to a cafe I created for the books. If I had the money, I’d create it in real life.

Building a Series

I honestly never thought I’d want to write a stand-alone novel let alone a series of novels. And now I have 9 novels in mind for Revelry Island and 2 novellas that popped up while creating the characters and locations. And now that I’m writing this paragraph and thinking about it, there are three novellas. I’m going to write a novella to be part of a series of novellas with a character who visits Revelry Island to help regain their sexual desire.

I’ve written series of short stories that link from one to another. I wrote a bundle of erotic tales that contained cheating, exhibition, and voyeurism. I never expected to grow into being a novel writer. I’m doing my best. I want the first book drafted and edited by the end of the year and published beginning of next year. Goals.

You can read the Fix-It Fast Series on Medium.

You can read Public Affairs: a bundle of erotic tales by subscribing on ReamStories.

Writing Life Goals

I do have goals and not just writing life related. Yes, I want to make money from my books and subscriptions. Enough that I can be my own boss. I also enjoy offering services to authors who need some kind of help, whether that’s with social media, writing schedules, or cheerleading, I want people to succeed in their writing life, too.

I also love helping authors reach their goals. Helping someone work out a plot or character problem is fun for me. It might be a touch painful for the author… I will ask questions until they get frustrated and then I’ll ask even more questions. I’m digging for real gold, not pyrite. Throwing monkey wrenches at someone else’s characters? Yes, please. I want to coddle mine even though I know I’m expected to throw rocks at them.

And I might end up coddling them anyway.

What’s next?

Honestly? I need to do better about sharing my work in progress on Patreon and ReamStories. I haven’t been posting there and I feel bad about it. I’ve been doing a lot of work. I have officially started drafting the first book for Maintenance Men even though I haven’t finished plotting it. Doing so will help me reach the end.

I’ve been involved in a daily writing group. In fact, I wrote this post during it today. I didn’t even plan it. Sometimes those are the best kind of writing plans.

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What are you working on? Share a link to your latest in the comments!