I’m a little late on this announcement, but I’m happy to share that I was a Featured Author at the Three Black Cats store in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Three Black Cats is an excellent snarky gift store that started as an Etsy shop and has blown up as a prominent place with its own brick-and-mortar store. In addition to the great items they offer, such as wine tumblers, home decor, clothes, and more, they also display a Little Free Library and provide free books to patrons. This month, I was the featured author and gratefully donated copies of my books, business cards, and bookmarks to share with new readers.
I will admit, the owner of Three Black Cats is a long-time friend of mine, and she is generously giving exposure in her shop to indie authors like myself. I couldn’t be more grateful and appreciative of this opportunity!
I’m hoping this sparks some motivation in me to finish editing some of my new stories. I admit I have opened up the file for my in-progress May-December romance story, “Autumn Fire” and started editing it again. Fingers crossed!
Here are some of the displays from the Three Black Cats store. It makes me so happy that people have taken my books! I am also honored to be mentioned on their widely followed Instagram page.
I highly recommend you check out their Etsy shop. And if you’re in the Albuquerque area, please visit their store!
In 2018, I worked with a small group of independent writers to put out an anthology called Spirits Abound: Ghostly Little Tales. It was a fun group experiment, but despite the joy of collaborating, we all became rather busy, and for me, who spearheaded the anthology, I just didn’t have the time to put together another one.
I contributed a short story called “Deathly Ever After”, which is a gripping horror story of which I’m quite proud.
In the coming months, I’ll release this story by itself as an e-book on Amazon Kindle. Here is the cover I created to launch the ebook. The story is still available in Spirits Abound: Ghostly Little Talesand it’s accompanied by some really great ghost stories. Of course, it’s free on Kindle Unlimited!
I will share the release date soon, and I hope everyone who has not yet read the story will read it if you love horror!
Also – I have some big news coming soon! Stay tuned. I’m hoping to update this blog more regularly.
I confess that I have been doing less writing in the past couple of years than I’ve wanted. I’ve had grandiose plans to work on this Fury series and several smaller short stories, and time has just slipped away from me.
As a parent, I’ve had to make some sacrifices. My only child is now in school (and starting to read – proud mom here!), and I adopted yet another dog, so I have three fur babies, a husband, and a daughter to care for.
I’ve also spent the majority of my time advancing my career in the technology space, and I’ve done well for myself and my family. I love my job and constantly find the motivation to improve and grow.
I haven’t given up writing. I haven’t given up designing either. I dabble in fanfiction if I feel motivated. I still draw on my iPad in Procreate. I’m still voraciously reading and watching shows. I also jump on the spin bike or elliptical regularly.
Life is like that I guess. I don’t have any intention of giving up writing. I know that my stories are still there, waiting for me to share them. I plan on taking 2023 to plan my next goals, to stick to these goals, and do it again in 2024.
My current goals are to release two short stories this year as well as re-release an old story on Amazon. Updates coming soon.
I’m not dead, so that means I can still write. Hopefully soon!
I’ve designed every cover of my stories. I’ve also done some covers for other authors too! I’m always open to working with indie authors for covers. I know that indie authors don’t have much money like traditional publishers working on their books. I have some flexible pricing when it comes to cover creation, but let’s get into that later.
I have over twenty years of graphic and web design experience, which is what I’m doing right now as my day job. I love writing, but I love my day job working on graphics and websites as well! And well, creating book covers, photo-manipulations and banners is one of my favorite hobbies.
Here are some of the covers I’ve done.
The Sinner and the Serpent: Tales of Lilith and Eve
Mod Fury – New urban fantasy series coming soon on Amazon!
And I’ve also worked with indie writer Rebecca Crunden. Her Outlands Pentalogy are some of my favorite covers.
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.
Cherry Magic! 30 Years of Virginity Can Make You a Wizard?! Credit: Crunchyroll.
This Japanese drama was AMAZING. It is based off the Japanese manga with the same name, which is also cute, but the drama has its own appeal. The actors Keita Machida (Alice in Borderland on Netflix) is the handsome and popular Kurosawa and Akasa Eiji is the shy and socially awkward Adachi. Adachi is turning thirty years old, and he’s never been in a relationship or had sex. As a virgin, there is this urban legend that on your thirtieth birthday you acquire powers, and this happens to Adachi on his birthday. He can read minds when he touches people, and the magic turns his world upside down.
Adachi deals with intense social anxiety already. He doesn’t think he’ll ever be loved. He’s very introverted and finds pleasure in reading, his job at the stationary company and food. He doesn’t like to be touched or even to be approached. He’s too kind to his superiors and will work overtime to do other people’s work (just to keep the peace).
Since he’s hearing the thoughts of everyone he touches, he changes his morning routine and goes to work early so he has to touch less people, and he ends up hearing the thoughts of one of his coworkers, Kurosawa Yuichi, who is handsome, charming and seemingly perfect. Immediately, Kurosawa’s thoughts show that he’s overjoyed to meet his work crush in the morning. Adachi has no idea who it is until the elevator fills up and people push them together in an awkward (and defining) moment where Kurosawa is thinking about how lucky he is to be this close and he hopes that Adachi doesn’t hear his racing heartbeat.
The defining moment. GIF credit furuba on Tumblr.
Soon, as they all exit the elevator, Adachi realizes that HE is Kurosawa’s crush, and at first he doesn’t believe it. He thinks he might be wrong. Thus, he starts to have more encounters with Kurosawa that proves that Adachi is indeed whom Kurosawa likes. He not only likes Adachi, but is deeply in love with him, and Adachi can’t understand it, but through the series, Adachi likes being cherished and he gets to know Kurosawa more. He finds out that Kurosawa is not “perfect”, he has anxieties and fears too, and Adachi starts to fall for him as well.
However, this is all new for Adachi and hearing Kurosawa’s thoughts and confessing to him is overwhelming. I would even say that his “Anxiety” is another character in this show, even more so a villain.
Under some odd circumstances, Kurosawa stays with Adachi at his place for a bit, but it’s basically torture for Kurosawa (because he wants to be intimate with him). He finally confesses to Adachi and doesn’t expect Adachi to return his feelings. Adachi…takes some time to process things, pretty much a day, and he realizes that his thoughts are filled of Kurosawa, he likes being with him and he ends up running after him after work to confess. The two start dating and Kurosawa has the presence of mind to know that Adachi will need to take it slow. Everything is his first experience, and Kurosawa is more than thrilled to be there with him.
Kurosawa is a bit of a lady killer too. MeOWWW. GIF credit – tianphupha on Tumblr.
Eventually, as they continue to date, Adachi’s anxiety gets the better of him, especially after telling Kurosawa about his magic, not feeling like it’s fair to keep it from his boyfriend. He breaks up with him, and both men are just heartbroken. They even had a date set up for Christmas Eve, which basically eats at Adachi as he realizes he made a mistake.
The ending is satisfying. The scenes between these two men are sweet, fluffy and a slow build romance. The touches, the thoughts, the fantasies from the mind reading, and the confessions are swoon worthy and worth the watch.
There’s a side plot to Adachi and Kurosawa that is…kind of a let down. Adachi’s best friend Tsuge also becomes a wizard when he turns 30 as a virgin, and his reactions to the mind reading are a bit over the top. The acting is…um, well, cringe worthy. He starts to have feelings for a delivery person who warms up to him because Tsuge adopts a stray cat.
The cat is cute. The delivery guy is cute and enduring, and Tsuge means well, but he acts like a complete psycho.
I watched Cherry Magic twice through the 12 episodes and second time around I mostly skipped through the Tsuge scenes. He annoyed me too much.
There is also this adorable Ace supporting character named Fujisaki who cheers to the two main leads on. I kind of wished she would have more screen time than Tsuge. Her story was way more interesting.
This is BL (boys love) but it’s not explicit, just a tender romance with two adorable leads and a great story around social anxiety and not judging people by their looks. There are also a lot of lovely moments worthy of GIF reuse.
Too many adorable moments between these two. GIF credit sushishorts on Tumblr.
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 know it’s been awhile since I last updated this blog. My writing has been… scattered, and to be perfectly frank, I haven’t done the amount of it I’ve wanted. I wanted to work on War Fury, the sequel to Mod Fury, as well as my other WIPs and short stories. I have plans, but time has been limited. Being a mom has taken up most of my time.
Back in mid-March I lost my full time job, a job which I loved, to the COVID-19 hardship and have been job searching ever since. In the meantime, I’ve been catching up with projects, freelancing, learning new skills and updating my portfolio website.
I am also a full-time mom now, as our shelter-at-home decree have forced the family to stay home, that means my daughter is not attending daycare as much. Taking care of a three year old is a full time job. I’m teaching her baking, painting, and we’ve mastered riding a bike! Being able to be with her during these pivotal life moments is a priceless treasure I wouldn’t trade for anything.
However, as job searching is starting to slow for me, I’m starting to shift back to my writing projects. There are a couple of projects in the pipeline:
Protector, a short story part of an anthology. This has been on hold as only half the group have turned in stories. I’m one of the authors behind… It’s in the editing process at the moment.
Blazing Heat – Just a short story romance story, almost finished.
Unbridled – 2nd version, with a new cover and some more editing.
I’m hoping to keep up with these, as well as begin to work on some of the other stories that need heavy editing and drafting.
I hope to keep the blog more updated and active. I’ve been thinking about posting some articles on various topics, like navigating the self-publishing world, as well as give some insight on some of my processes.
I became inspired to do this when a friend came to me to ask me where I published my book, and she seemed surprised that I did most of it myself, albeit with the help of freelance editors and betas, but as for the artwork, fonts and layout, that’s all me. She was surprised because a friend of her used a professional publisher to publish her children’s book, paid a hefty sum of money on it, and the artwork and layout of the story is terrible, the pictures are too dark and the font choice was COMIC SANS (RAGE), and it was not only used on the titles and sub titles, but also in the actual story.
No professional worth their salt would ever do the things this publisher did to this woman’s story. It was supposed to be a cute story about a dog, and it’s a huge mess.
No design student would use Comic Sans. No design student in MIDDLE SCHOOL would use dark pictures on dark backgrounds. Nor would they draw the main character in the CREASE of the binding.
I was appalled. This poor author saved up her money to have this half ass book made for her, a children’s book that was soft cover, no less, like something you get printed at Staples, and she has 3 reviews on Amazon.
I cannot stand predatory vanity publishers. Every time I see the commercials for publishing companies on TV peddling their book packages to new authors, I cringe. You can do the hard work and send queries and get an agent and have a big boy publish your work, or you can self publish and utilize the tools out there, do your own marketing, and build a network of freelancers, reviewers and betas to help with your book. Both situations do not promise a bunch of bullshit for a large fee and then you end up getting a subpar product.
So something must be done about this. I hope with some of my guidance and experience, I can help.
Take care, everyone, and stay healthy. See you next time very soon!
I know that I haven’t been around here in some time. Unfortunately, we lost our dear beloved dog Malachy this last month, and things have been rough for me to get into any sort of writing or creative endeavors. His health had been failing for some time, so taking care of a senior pet up until we had to make that tough decision really takes a toll on you.
We adopted Malachy in 2007. He was three years old, so he was a part of our family for 13 years. It almost seems unreal that he’s not with us anymore, that he’s not at my ankles following me around, or that I can’t put my hand down and feel his cold nose sniff me as he rubs his scruffy head against me.
It’s rough. He was family and now adjusting to his absence is very painful.
So writing has been on a pause. I finally finished up a short story for an anthology and sent to my beta reader. Hopefully that’ll be polished for publication soon.
NaNoWriMo is coming up and I’m going to attempt to do it in order to make progress on my Avenging Sisters series.
If you have pets at home, give them a big hug for me. Treasure every second with them. They don’t have as long as we do, and their love is irreplaceable.
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!
H.K. Rowe 