This year I’m finishing some WIPs. Some are fanfics, some are short stories, and another one is a longer fic that I just haven’t been able to finish. My goal is to FINISH what I’ve started. It’s hard for me to finish incomplete stories, so I’m hoping this year’s NaNoWriMo will help me change that habit.
Tonight I started writing! It was hard with a needy dog and a wild toddler vying for my attention, but I managed to get a healthy word count in. Yay!
Yay, I’m doing NaNoWriMo this year. I hope I can finish it. I haven’t been able to finish it for a while. I get started, but I never make the word count. It’s been even harder since I’ve become a mom, and I really miss writing so I hope this works out. Now that I work from home, I’m hoping to find writing time during downtime or slow periods and keep up a healthy cadence.
Is anyone else doing NaNoWriMo this year? Add me as a buddy and drop a comment below with your screen name and I’ll add you back. Mine is hkrowe.
Here is another short Japanese drama, Coffee & Vanilla, which is based on a very steamy josei manga. The manga targets young women and is more explicit when it comes to sexual and adult themes. To be frank, the manga is very beautiful with wonderfully drawn characters, and yes, it’s full of a lot of smut.
The show itself is about 10 episodes and does have a bit of implied adult themes, more so than your typical Japanese romance and dramas.
The show follows the premise of a shy, reserved college woman named Risa who is so beautiful she is constantly leered at by any male who encounters her. Sometimes men get aggressive bordering on assault.
She is basically almost assaulted in the first episode at her favorite coffee spot by some random dude (stalker) who insists she go out with him. Luckily she is rescued by a gorgeous businessman named Hiroto Fukami who manages to scare off the flies buzzing around her and save her from possibly being raped or dragged off by men who don’t take no for an answer.
The problem with Risa is she is very meek and does not seem to have the backbone or agency to successfully ward off dudes on her own.
Enter Hiroto, who comes to her rescue and in the end, asks her to dinner. It’s okay though, he’s rich and handsome so he poses no threat, right? It helps that he’s played by Dori Sakurado, Japanese heart throb with a smoldering gaze that would make a table swoon.
Risa is predictably smitten, they have dinner and he’s so incredibly sweet and caring he convinces her to stay the night with him (oh, and she also gets drunk at dinner because she cannot hold her liquor).
Dori Sakurado – smoldering Japanese beauty (photo credit: IrozukouSubs)
I mean, as much shit as I’m talking at “I-have-no-agency-Risa”, I would bang him too. Not gonna lie. No alcohol is required.
The story after this is filled with misconceptions, Risa’s unending insecurities, other men who try to swoop in and break them up and just sugary sweet romantic scenes.
At one point Risa gives up on Fukami, only to come back to him easily which just makes you wonder in the end if she could actually live her life without him. He dries her tears, makes grandiose business plans for her, and gives her this comfortable little “cage” to keep her protected from the big scary world.
I didn’t care for the story itself, but I admit I didn’t mind watching 10 episodes of Dori Sakurado, sometimes shirtless. Okay so I’m trash. I did indulge in the whole series and enjoyed the romance and any scene Dori is in, even when he’s being possessive of Risa. I just got annoyed by Risa’s meekness, which I guess if you could get over, this is a show for you. I just prefer strong or quirky female leads (like Makino from Hana Yori Dango).
I kinda feel bad for the actress Haruka Fukuhara, who played this wet rag of a role. I know she’s awesome after her work on Good Morning Call.
Still worth the watch if you have time to kill and love pretty boys.
Holly says “Hello! And why aren’t you writing right now?”
I’m planning on several big changes for this site soon. There will be more sections added for reviews, articles, and other offerings. I plan on making this a little more active. It seems I say this and nothing happens, but I assure you it’s a lot of planning in my notebook and new posts will be coming soon as well as new stories and more insight and upcoming publications.
So far on the horizon you can expect:
Unbridled the second edition and new cover. I’m finishing up edits for this.
a camping themed short story
NaNoWriMo 2020 project – Hello, Professor – a new romance!
Articles on self-publishing, design and mindfulness
more reviews!
I hope everyone is staying safe and healthy during these crazy times.
I’m going to try to make this blog a little more active, even during this really hectic writing and editing period for me. So on weekends I intend to share something to help out another fellow independent artist or writer. Hopefully, you can check them out, give them kudos or drop a line, or check out whatever event their having and participate. Show some love! We’re all trying to make something of ourselves and do what we love.
The first recommendation is for a fellow writer Rebecca Crunden who is doing a Free Book Giveaway for her stand-alone book about angels and demons called A Game of Wings and Marks. I’m sure lovers of City of Bones would love this!
Comic artist Heather R. Holden is currently open for commissions. She does an online comic called Echo Effectand is working on her next comic The Undeath of Me. She is looking for Patreon patrons and freelance commissions. Please check out her Commissions Blog Post here.
Creatives thrive off making some extra money and starting a legitimate profession from their talents and endeavors. I hope you can help these talented ladies!
One of the hardest things as an independent writer is updating my blog with writing “things”. I’m definitely writing, yet some periods are slower than other, but this summer is one of the busiest writing times for me. I have multiple projects going on at once.
Come Halloween, I’m going to have two short stories in anthologies with other indie authors. One of the anthologies I’m organizing with other writers I’ve known for a long time, so it’s exciting. Though organizing it and keeping a schedule is the hard part! But it’s going well. Then, there’s another anthology I joined and I’m working on a story for that.
Plus, I’m still tapping away at War Fury, and the editing for Killer Orange has been a bit quiet. Most of the editing is in my head for ideas on how to improve it.
I’m also working on a couple side short stories – romance/erotica just to get more works in my library.
So here’s the list of my current projects:
Three Times Dead – my short story for the Ghosts anthology slated for Halloween
Little Girl Lost – another short story for a Halloween anthology
War Fury – the next book to Mod Fury
Blazing Heat – short story romance one-shot
outlining of Circle of Whispers, my series about Reapers
various editing of Killer Orange, fan works, and a couple of older short stories that might turn into something.
So yeah, I’m busy! I hope to be able to share something, as well as publish, soon!
The Free book promotion for Unbridled is over and I’m happy to say the book had a total of 223 downloads!
I appreciate everyone who took the chance to download my book. I hope you enjoy it!
I’m currently still working on a few projects, like War Fury and Killer Orange, and starting a couple new short stories. I will update everyone soon with the next published novel!
War Fury is the second novella in my Avenging Sisters Series. The first prequel short story, Mod Fury, will be released this Spring 2018.
The bad man had deprived her of this childhood with this wonderful woman and wonderful man, and now she had another life to live as she made a bargain with this goddess. Whatever that entailed, her future would never compare to the life she could have had with her mother.
“Come, we must go now. Your parents need their rest. After all, your mother is going to bring you a brother soon,” Nyx said.
The news startled Shana and she lifted up her head and wiped away tears and snot from her face. “What?” She met Nyx’s swirling starry eyes.
“Yes, your parents are going to have a baby. They will never give up searching for you, but they will never give up on their love either.”
“I’m going to have a brother?” Shana asked and though she felt joy, she almost felt jealous of the boy too. She didn’t mean to, and Nyx had read her emotions again.
“Do not worry about your future. I will take care of you, and you may see your family any time you wish, as long as it does not interfere with my duties,” Nyx said to her.
Shana sniffled and nodded once. “As long as I can see them someday…”
“Yes,” Nyx said. “Despite what is written about me, I am not a cruel goddess.”
Shana’s curiosity piqued at that statement, but she would trust this goddess. She had no choice. Nyx had saved her from a terrible fate from the bad man, and she gave her the gift of seeing her parents again.
You would think this blog is dead, wouldn’t you? But it’s not. I assure you. Don’t believe me? Well, I can’t help that.
Writing status:
Mod Fury is on it’s very very very last edits. I promise!
I signed up for Camp NaNoWriMo for April to work on War Fury, the next story. I started it back in November and plan to finish it for camp. Honest!
I have plans to update/organize The Sinner and the Serpent. SOON.
I have not given up on Killer Orange. Edits are going on. Voices won’t shut up. More scenes and rewrites are imminent.
Book Cover status:
I worked on a book cover for a fellow indie author Rebecca Crunden for her book Haze. I will post links and pictures when the book is out. I’m rather proud of it honestly.
I’m hoping 2017 will be good for me to do some spring cleaning. I have already begun my Great DeCluttering of 2017 and 2018, where I’m making goals for myself – read all the books and empty one bookshelf by end of 2017 and sell the books. Unfortunately I tend to accumulate more books. I don’t know how that happens…
I did clean out one shelf so that’s good. If anyone is my friend on Goodreads you’ll see a mass addition of “read” books in the coming year. Next I want to clean out closets again, especially the baby’s as she grows out of clothes, and then start on the kitchen with dishes that we don’t really use. My friend and I intend to have a garage sale soon, so I’m gathering up stuff in boxes in a place in the garage for when that happens. I just hope the weather gets nicer so I can go out and start pricing things.
Speaking of kid’s clothes, I have another friend who’s expecting a boy soon and she’s always lamenting how boys clothes are not at cute as girls clothes, and it’s funny because I’ve kind of felt that both clothes are cute, and I’ve wanted to buy my daughter boys clothes before, and we have, but clothes with dinosaurs, super heroes, and power rangers on it were cute too, and made me miss having a boy as well. I love my daughter, but maybe some day I’ll be able to have a boy? I know it’s not really up to “me” if that happens, but I would love a little boy to buy clothes with dinosaurs and lizards on them, as well as play outside in the mud with him, find toads and earth worms — I guess I can do that with a girl too. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not limiting what my daughter can do either…
We definitely bought this boy’s onesie for our daughter. Because this is totally her. You can find this at Target.
But maybe I feel cliche as a mom that wants to have one of each. I’d love to see my husband bond with a son like I do with my daughter, and hope that he has a relationship with a son that he had with his father.
Oh, and yeah, I’m sure he wants to buy our future son dinosaur shirts too.
No matter what, if we have girls, a girl and a boy, or just one girl, I hope we can take them to Gatorland like we did for our Honeymoon in Florida. No matter what gender you are, they have to enjoy seeing big crocodiles, pythons, turtles and all the other kinds of animals they have there. That’s my hope anyway.
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In other news, I’m still working on the short stories. I was looking for stock art for covers the other day and enjoyed it very much.
There is this stock photographer that I follow at DeviantArt that has a lot of book cover contests with her art. Sometimes I vote on them, but I also think in the back of my mind that I can do a better job. I know that’s rather pretentious of me, so I kind of thought if I think that, why don’t I do it? I can’t be all talk. I have to show that I can do it. So I looked at her current contests and downloaded the images and plan on entering. Fingers crossed!
H.K. Rowe 