I Need Your Help…

I love my daughter @PanKwake. For so many reasons. One of them being her absolutely brilliant, out-of-the-box brain. My fourteen-year-old multiply neurodivergent daughter, who is so severely dyslexic she is illiterate, is a writer. More accurately, a storyteller like her Mom. So, we have some really cool conversations about the creative process. Like yesterday…

She has discovered Wattpad and is really into fanfiction there. How, you ask? Wattpad is one of the platforms that work with text-to-voice technology such as Siri. It allows her to be a reader in the truest sense of the word, despite her challenges with written formats. But anyway, we were discussing this new writer she adores. Evidently, this person has dozens of ongoing stories. Some with a hundred chapters, but only one if complete.

So, our conversation went something like this…

@PanKwake: Mom, do you have to finish all the stories you write?

Me: My readers wish.

@PanKwake: How many have you finished?

At which point, I started to actually count them…

• Ægir’s/Njörδur’s – 3
• Sergeant Mike’s Miracle Tour – 3
• Apocalpyse – 2
• Nothing Done In Love – 1
• Night Walker’s Woman – 1
• Plus a handful of novellas.

Ten! I have actually completed ten, 10, TEN stories. A couple of those were mega novels of more than 100K words.

For someone, who thinks only of her incomplete manuscripts, that was a shocking revelation. Ten novels are more than some writers complete in a lifetime.

That revelation goes right along with a couple other things that are happening in my life…

I am so *F*ing excited about this Trouble Texas Style series. I know some of you are going to be angry with me, but I will probably end up spending the rest of this year writing almost exclusively in that one series.

I might *might* be able to finish No Strings Attached as it ended up woven into this series. Hint: Look for Jon’s brother in Chapter 1 of Ready to Run.

As I write, readers keep making comments about the stories being so good I should find a publisher or an agent. I do appreciate your sentiment. But I am an arrogant purest and control freak. I would have trouble surrendering my word babies into the care of others. Mind you, I would love to see some of those turned into television shows.

But in terms of books, my goal is simple…

To share my writing with as many people as I can.

I have been writing almost exclusively at @literotica for over a decade now. I appreciate the following I have there and the team, especially Laurel. I really appreciate how she has taken a risk with the controversial subjects that are enmeshed in Ready to Run and Goodbye Earl. I know that decision was not easy for her considering some of the guidelines. And I will continue to write and release things at Literotica first.

But, what happens to my stories once I do finish them?

That has been a question that I have struggled with for at least the last seven or eight years, once I got good enough that my writing was not garbage. What many/most people don’t realize is that I have completely edited, revised, and sometimes re-written manuscripts of most of those ten stories.

I gave Amazon a try. But do you have any idea how hard it is to get noticed when there are over 8M, yes, eight million ebooks on one site? Oh, and that number was from years ago, they no longer even show you how many books are available in their library. And yes, I do still have stories there. And might as well add more of them since I have them.

The thing is that I suck at marketing. And it can take big bucks invested into advertising to make those Top & Best Seller’s list. And like any other small business, there are no guarantees on your returns.

As for updating or republishing at Literotica? That is more complicated than it sounds.

So, the other day, someone contacted me about sharing my stuff at their site. It is something that I have toyed with for months now. Expanding my distribution beyond just @literotica. But the issue for me is always time.

I am the mother of a beautifully #ActuallyAutistic teen. I am happily married to the love of my life, who I did not meet until I was fifty. Our home is twenty-three or twenty-six rooms, depending on what you count as a room. It is a one-hundred-fifty-year-old work in progress all its own. I have started an #urbanfarm & #homestead. I quilt. I am learning photography.

In short, at fifty-five, I sometimes wonder how the hell I’ll ever finish half of the stories in my Crazzy brain.

Let alone publish them at a dozen or more places.

But I do, I honestly do, want to share my vision for a better world with as many people as I can reach. Yes, I do have a message. As my editor once accused me:

Why do you keep ruining good porn with that shit?

But considering my message is simple:

1. Life sux.

2. Love is the only thing that makes it worth living.

3. Great sex is a wonderful way of showing love.

4. Nothing Done In Love can ever be wrong. (***CONSENTING ADULTS***)

I don’t find those a conflict. Although with one of my WIPs, even #3 is questionable. (No more spoiler alerts, but yes asexual love can and does exist.)

Personally, I believe in my message. And like any good preacher/priestess I want to share it.

So, long story short…

I am now publishing my completed, edited, rewritten stories at other places. And I am for once pleading with my readers, for you are at any of these places, or even just want to help a girl out…

Please go to these sites and:

1. Read/re-read – Some of them are actually retitled and vastly re-written/improved. For instance, The Arrangement has been retitled Solid Ground to keep with the theme of geological events in the Apocalypse series. If you thought it was good @literotica, wait until you see it now. Especially the first few chapters that have loads of new material. Just views and reads will bump me up the lists at these other sites. But…
2. Please hit the Like button while you are there. That bumps me further up those Top stories list. And…
3. Comments are golden. Not just because they bump me further up the list, but because they let others know why they should my crap. I bet you did not know, but I am one of those people who actually does look at comments before I try out a new writer. Besides…since I am not making money of these, those comments are my paycheck.
4. Follow me, too. As with Literotica, by following me you will receive notifications when I publish new stuff.

One thing…most of these sites are just as FREE as @literotica. I am incredibly blessed to be in a position now where I don’t need to trade creative freedom for money. So, this truly is about getting stories that you love enough to read this stupid blog into the hands of other readers.

I am begging you to help me do that.

So, details…

1. Booknet – This one is the smallest of them, but that is good. It means that my stuff gets noticed easier. I am getting close to hitting the Top 10 in a couple of categories with Nothing Done In Love. If you only have time to do one thing for me, PLEASE go there. You may need to set-up an account to vote. But that is free, too. And the versions of Njörδur’s Captive and Solid Ground that I am releasing there are the NEW UPDATES. It may well be worth your while to check those out.
2. Inkitt – This one comes with the option of being ‘published.’ I have just begun with the UPDATED Solid Ground but will add more this weekend.
3. Wattpad – I am dubious about this one. Most of its readers are way younger than my niche audience. BUT I like the fact that it makes ‘reading’ possible for those like @PanKwake. And besides, it is well known enough that those television producers’ assistants actually look there for new projects. Yeah, that would be my dream come true. Which you would like to see on the small screen? Sergeant Mike? Apocalypse? Or my latest Trouble Texas Style?

I’m not one of those types that like to plug her stuff all the time. That’s my biggest problem. But this once, I am begging. Please go to one of those and read/re-read, like, comment, and follow. This is not about me, but about my word babies and getting them into new hands.

PLEASE!

I will be updating my contacts and book pages over the next few days to reflect those options too.

Goddess bless and thank you,
Tara