Writing: Monthly update for April 2021

HAPPY MAY!

Hello friends!

It's official! Spring has sprung! We have a garden! Well... Actually, my husband has garden. I don't dare touch it because I have the blackest thumb ever. I killed a cactus, for cryin' out loud!

But I love flowers! I wish so much I could keep them alive. I'd have every color of Gerber daises, ranunculus, and 4 O'clocks. They're so pretty ♥

BULLET JOURNAL SPREADS!
Speaking of flowers... Check out my May bujo spread! I think this one is my favorite, so far, this year.

I'll fill out my mood tracker with different color petals depending on my mood that day.

How was your April?

💕Anastasia

COVER REVEAL

It's here! Feast your eyes on our cover for Heating Up the Holidays: A Year of Steamy Celebrations! Like this cover, this anthology is going to be !!

Heat up your holidays! Join us for a year of steamy celebrations and go home on New Year's Eve, Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, 4th of July, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas with seven different, sexy book boyfriends.

This anthology of steamy contemporary stories is packed with your favorite tropes.
Age gap with older woman, younger man
Brother's best friend
Fake relationship
Roommates to lovers
Friends to lovers
Enemies to lovers
And, of course, happily-ever-afters for all!

Heating Up the Holidays will be available for a limited time! Don't miss the party! Pre-order your ebook today! → https://books2read.com/u/49le1X

Add to your Goodreads TBR → https://bit.ly/3q5Ery5

Follow the authors on Instagram: @gemmasmithwrites @authoraschuh @anastasiaaustinauthor @hattielouwriter @heatherblair.author @mindymckinleyromance @authorbreehowland

Read in April:

I've been trying to keep up with my friend, Mimi's new releases. These 60-ish page stories are so much fun and super hot! As long as she keeps writing them, I'm gonna keep reading!

What did you read in April? Find any new favorites?

Currently Reading:

Started both of these but haven't finished them yet. At Last made me cry already and Mark of the Dragon is fun but it's also a little bit of market research. *wink wink* More about that in the next section ;)

Current Romance WIPs:

Love on Blake and Main (Love on Main, #2, Workplace romance) - We're almost there! ARC's are out and release day is in 2 WEEKS! I can't wait for you all to read Blake and Parker's story!

BLAKE'S PRE-ORDER IS AVAILABLE NOW! - https://books2read.com/u/bojDK9

Love on Oliver and Main (Love on Main, #3, Age Gap) - I'm chipping away at this one! Loving Oliver and Blue's chemistry. They're trying so hard to just be friends but it's not working out so well. LOL

The HookApp (Kindle Vella romance) - In April, Amazon announced a new platform called Vella. It's, basically, a competitor to sites like Wattpad and Radish. Intended for serial stories or stories released chapter by chapter. However, I'm going to do it a little differently.

If you've been following me for a while, you're probably familiar with my Meet Cute Monthly. One of my MCM's was about a couple who met through a dating app called HookApp. Much like my MCM, I'm going to release a short story, 5K words or less, to Kindle Vella about couples who meet through this app or this app in some way affects their relationship. Not sure how often the stories will be released but I've already written the first. It's the rest of Kyle and Nicole's date from the November 2020 Meet Cute. It's super steamy and so much fun!

This platform is not yet available to readers. Amazon hasn't announced an official release date. I'll keep you posted!

Skin and Scale (Paranormal dragon shifter romance/erotica) - This is something I've been throwing around for a LONG time but now, I'm actually drafting it. I'm not very far into the first one but I know it's going to be short. I also know it's going to be menage, MFM. I’ve also started a MeWe group for the pen name I’ll be publishing these books under, Staci Embers. Join Staci’s Haven here! https://mewe.com/join/stacishaven

Lucky One (Heating Up the Holidays anthology St. Patrick's Day romance) - This guy needs to move up my list of priorities! I'm thinking I need to make a point to write one scene a week on it. Love the characters, I just have so many irons on the fire right now, I've fallen behind on it.

Heat up your holidays! Join us for a year of steamy celebrations and go home on New Year's Eve, Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, 4th of July, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas with seven different, sexy book boyfriends.

This anthology of steamy contemporary stories is packed with your favorite tropes.
Age gap with older woman, younger man
Brother's best friend
Fake relationship
Roommates to lovers
Friends to lovers
Enemies to lovers
And, of course, happily ever afters for all!

Heating Up the Holidays will be available for a limited time! Don't miss the party! Pre-order your ebook today! → https://books2read.com/u/49le1X

Add to your Goodreads TBR → https://bit.ly/3q5Ery5

Join our Street Team and apply to review and ARC! → https://forms.gle/kEyNMv7skEZQzEGs8

Follow the authors:
https://gemmasmithwrites.com/connect
www.adriannaschuh.com
https://www.theanastasiaaustin.com/newsletter
https://www.facebook.com/hattie.lou.90
https://heatherblairauthor.blog/
https://www.mindymckinley.com
https://www.instagram.com/authorbreehowland/

Publishing news:

So... I’ve been busy since redesigning the ebook covers for my Fate series, I’ve been chipping away at the paperbacks! All the covers are done and this is the first proof copy I ordered needs some adjustments but I flipping love it!

Not sure when I’ll hit publish on all the new covers but if you need to finish out your set of the current paperback covers, do it soon! And stay tuned to find out when these babies will be available

Fake to Fate paperback- https://www.amazon.com/dp/1091548714

Word Count:

Look at all the pretty colors! So many different writing projects going! I love them all so much and wish I had more time for them.

Look at all the pretty colors! So many different writing projects going! I love them all so much and wish I had more time for them.

Binge my books!

Sharing is Caring

PROMO ENDS May 29th

PROMOS END May 31st

The End

Thanks for reading! Keep moving forward!

Join me on Facebook! ♥ And MeWe!

Writing: Monthly update for March 2021

Happy April!

Hello friends!

We sat on the porch and didn't freeze to death! Every year, it seems like spring will never come. It teases us with sunshine but the temps are still freezing. Or it gets warmer but is cloudy, windy AF, and raining. But finally, we have sunshine and warm! How's the weather where you are?

And of course, now that it's warm, I have one more inside thing I'd rather be doing. LOL If you've been wondering why I haven't made new stickers for Love on Luke and Main or Running Into Trouble, it's because my old Wacom drawing tablet stopped working several months ago.

But check it out! I have a new one now and I've already started drawing! If you remember, Haley gets drunk on margarita's and gets a little too handsy with Luke in his truck. That is the inspiration for their sticker! Isn't it cute?!

BULLET JOURNAL SPREADS!
This was a fun month to put together. Love the colors and the rain drop mood tracker should be cute when it's finished!

How was your March?

💕Anastasia

COVER REVEAL

LOVE ON BLAKE AND MAIN
A steamy workplace romance coming May 18, 2021

BLURB:
Blake
I can't promise I'll never get into another fight, but I can promise the only girl I'll ever fight for, from now on, is Parker Rose.

Parker
Hiring Blake Anderson to oversee my co-op to coffee shop renovation is the best—and easiest—decision I’ve ever made. But inviting him to rent my spare room might just be the worst.

He’s my contractor. I’m his client. We should not be living together. But when he gets kicked out of his friend’s place for fighting, I don’t take no for an answer. After all, Blake fought for me.

This arrangement has disaster written all over it.

We have nothing in common. Blake is a kind, professional Jekyll by day and a broody, violent Hyde by night. While I’m just a silly girl with a furry purse who is failing miserably at passing herself off as an entrepreneur.

There’s a good chance Blake will demolish my heart. But like he says, “It gets worse before it gets better.”

I hope he’s right.

PRE-ORDER today! - https://books2read.com/u/bojDK9
Add to your Goodreads TBR! - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/56026080-love-on-blake-and-main

If you'd like to help me promote Blake's book before the release or apply for the chance to receive an ARC (advanced reader copy) of his book, please fill out this form!
Street team/ARC application - https://forms.gle/qnSdPyaJdQ9LJWTK6

Read in March:

OMG! I loved Tied! It was a slow burn between two tortured souls. I can't write stories like this but I LOVE reading them. All the angst and drama! Strongly recommend this and the first book, Torn.

Lucky Dog was a short, erotic read. Super steamy but light on story and character. 

What did you read in March? Find any new favorites?

Currently Reading:

Still trying to make it through A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire. This book is SO long and chapters are even longer LOL (That's what it feels like.) Not that I'm not enjoying it. It's just every time I sit down to read it, I swear it gets longer.

Hitching the Cowboy has been fun, so far. Just haven't had time to read in a week. :(

Current Romance WIPs:

Love on Blake and Main (Love on Main, #2, Workplace romance) - Need to do a final edit and proofread before it's ready to publish! So excited for you to read this one. Blake and Parker were difficult characters to write. You'll see when you read it :P

Love on Oliver and Main (Love on Main, #3, Age Gap) - I'm well on my way with this one! Over 10K words written in March. These two are SO cute! It's been a while since I've had characters that don't hide from me and a story that begs to be written. Can't wait to get back to it tonight!

Lucky One (Heating Up the Holidays anthology St. Patrick's Day romance) - I haven't made much more progress on this. I did make this aesthetic though! She's a musician. He's a mechanic. There's a small age gap. Not more than about 6 years but she's only 18. Plus, it's brother's best friend. A bit of forbidden for ya!

Heat up your holidays! Join us for a year of steamy celebrations and go home on New Year's Eve, Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, 4th of July, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas with seven different, sexy book boyfriends.

This anthology of steamy contemporary stories is packed with your favorite tropes.
Age gap with older woman, younger man
Brother's best friend
Fake relationship
Roommates to lovers
Friends to lovers
Enemies to lovers
And, of course, happily ever afters for all!

Heating Up the Holidays will be available for a limited time! Don't miss the party! Pre-order your ebook today! → https://books2read.com/u/49le1X

Add to your Goodreads TBR → https://bit.ly/3q5Ery5

Join our Street Team and apply to review and ARC! → https://forms.gle/kEyNMv7skEZQzEGs8

Follow the authors:
https://gemmasmithwrites.com/connect
www.adriannaschuh.com
https://www.theanastasiaaustin.com/newsletter
https://www.facebook.com/hattie.lou.90
https://heatherblairauthor.blog/
https://www.mindymckinley.com
https://www.instagram.com/authorbreehowland/

Publishing news:

RUNNING INTO TROUBLE

Avaliable now! - https://books2read.com/u/4jLk1Z

RUNNING INTO TROUBLE is an age gap romance about a girl just starting life as a sous chef after college and the early 40’s, stubborn, but super sexy potter she runs into at the supermarket. After offering to help him cook dinner for his teenage daughter, they try to keep their distance but no matter how hard they try, they just can’t stay away from each other.

BLURB:
Daniel
When I run into Riley, who does not look old enough to buy the wine in her grocery cart without a fake ID, the only thing I should exchange with her is an apology. After I tell her about the gumbo dinner I’m sure to ruin, we end up exchanging phone numbers. And boy, am I glad to have the hot little sous chef in my contact list when my roux goes up in smoke.

Riley expected my call but I didn’t expect it to go so well. To be taken in by her and not want to let her go.

She’s half my age. Better off being friends with my eighteen-year-old daughter or out hiking with her college-age friends than dating me. Riley has her whole life ahead of her. Between my age, my college football injury, and my addiction to my pottery wheel, I’d only hold her back.

I have to let her go. Don’t I?

This is a steamy, 18+ read with a happily ever after!


RUNNING INTO TROUBLE (universal link) -> https://books2read.com/u/4jLk1Z
Amazon.com US -> https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08WJHQ7J1

Add the book to your Goodreads TBR today!
Running Into Trouble ➜ https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57041459-running-into-trouble

Word Count:

Not as consistent as I'd like to be but I got a lot accomplished, so I can't be too upset about it.

Not as consistent as I'd like to be but I got a lot accomplished, so I can't be too upset about it.

Binge my books!

Running Into Trouble is a standalone age gap novella!
Link to Amazon listing

The first full novel in the LOVE ON MAIN series is Live!
"Small town matchmaking shenanigans, which cracked me up. Slow burn, but when these two finally give in...whew. A sweet epilogue and a hea. Next book please. #SubtleLikeAMackTruck" - BookSnobSue Review
Link to Amazon listing

Reunited is a standalone prequel novella to the Love on Main series!
Link to Amazon listing

Read the Fate series in this order!
Fake to Fate - Amazon Listing
Fighting Fate - Amazon listing
Facing Fate - Amazon listing
Forcing Fate - Amazon listing

Sharing is Caring

PROMO ENDS APRIL 19th

PROMOS END APRIL 11th

PROMO ENDS APRIL 30th

The End

Thanks for reading! Keep moving forward!

Join my MeWe group! ♥

Join my MeWe group! ♥

Writing: Monthly update for February 2021

Happy March!

Hello friends!

February was great! My husband and son made my birthday, on the 27th, amazing! 
On Friday, our 16-year-old made seafood pizza with homemade crust and homemade kitty biscuits for biscuits and gravy the next morning!

Hubby made breakfast on Saturday! Biscuits and gravy, scramble, French toast, and burnt bacon (my favorite!) And my cake. OMG! My cake! I love unicorns. So, yeah. This cake was everything! Even the sprinkles!! It was a great day of binge watching most of season 5 of Gilmore Girls and eating way too much sugar.

BULLET JOURNAL SPREADS!
This month's theme is kind of obvious but also goes with an announcement I'll make later in the newsletter. Keep reading for some exciting book news! Also, I used washi tape for the first time. But only because I made a mistake too big to fix with whiteout lol

I started using MeWe this month. Mostly because Facebook has threatened to delete my group by way of policy changes. They are going to show you posts from groups less often and start deleting groups that post pics of shirtless men aka my book covers.

MeWe lets me post whatever I want! PLUS, they have the group chat function. This has opened up a new line of communication with my readers that I am in LOVE with! Live writing updates!!

The image below is an example of what we get up to during my writing sessions. We also just chat about books and life and whatever. It's fantastic! I would love to see you there!

MeWe Stowaways group -> https://mewe.com/join/anastasiasstowaways

Tell me, how was your February?

💕Anastasia

ANTHOLOGY ANNOUNCEMENT!

Heat up your holidays! Join us for a year of steamy celebrations and go home on New Year's Eve, Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, 4th of July, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas with seven different, sexy book boyfriends.

This anthology of steamy contemporary stories is packed with your favorite tropes.
Age gap with older woman, younger man
Brother's best friend
Fake relationship
Roommates to lovers
Friends to lovers
Enemies to lovers
And, of course, happily ever afters for all!

Heating Up the Holidays will be available for a limited time! Don't miss the party! Pre-order your ebook today! → https://books2read.com/u/49le1X

Add to your Goodreads TBR → https://bit.ly/3q5Ery5

Join our Street Team and apply to review and ARC! → https://forms.gle/kEyNMv7skEZQzEGs8

Follow the authors:
https://gemmasmithwrites.com/connect
www.adriannaschuh.com
https://www.theanastasiaaustin.com/newsletter
https://www.facebook.com/hattie.lou.90
https://heatherblairauthor.blog/
https://www.mindymckinley.com
https://www.instagram.com/authorbreehowland/

My story, LUCKY ONE-> Her brother's best friend takes her home from a St. Patrick's Day party to sober up after she unknowingly pinches his butt for not wearing green.

Current Romance WIPs:

Love on Blake and Main (Love on Main, #2, Fixer-upper) - I'm SO close to finishing this. Should get the first draft done in just a few days! This is my main focus until it's done.

Lucky One (Heating Up the Holidays anthology St. Patrick's Day romance) - I have a decent outline done for this. Brother's best friend takes her home from a St. Patrick's Day party to sober up after she unknowingly pinches his butt for not wearing green.

Love on Oliver and Main (Love on Main, #3, Age Gap) - This will be next on my list. Didn't actually work on it in February. Just wanted to let you know where I'm at!

Publishing news:

Fate Series Makeover!

You'll see the covers updated for the ebooks on Amazon and Goodreads now. Paperbacks will come later. If you want to get the paperbacks with the current covers, do it soon!

Fake to Fate Paperback -> https://www.amazon.com/dp/1091548714

Fighting Fate Paperback -> https://www.amazon.com/dp/168686308X

Facing Fate Paperback -> https://www.amazon.com/dp/B084QD65TQ

Forcing Fate Paperback -> https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08FP9Z7Y6

Fighting Fate EBOOK is F*R*E*E this week!

RUNNING INTO TROUBLE

Available on amazon.com on paperback and in Kindle Unlimited March 16th!

Pre-order the ebook today! - https://books2read.com/u/4jLk1Z

Paperback will be available soon!

So proud of my book baby reaching the number 3 spot on the featured page of the ENTIRE Amazon store when you search for "age gap romance"!! Apparently, I'm on Amazon's good side! Hope it can stay there a while!

BLURB:

RUNNING INTO TROUBLE is an age gap romance about a girl just starting life as a sous chef after college and the early 40’s, stubborn, but super sexy potter she runs into at the supermarket. After offering to help him cook dinner for his teenage daughter, they try to keep their distance but no matter how hard they try, they just can’t stay away from each other.

BLURB:
Daniel
When I run into Riley, who does not look old enough to buy the wine in her grocery cart without a fake ID, the only thing I should exchange with her is an apology. After I tell her about the gumbo dinner I’m sure to ruin, we end up exchanging phone numbers. And boy, am I glad to have the hot little sous chef in my contact list when my roux goes up in smoke.

Riley expected my call but I didn’t expect it to go so well. To be taken in by her and not want to let her go.

She’s half my age. Better off being friends with my eighteen-year-old daughter or out hiking with her college-age friends than dating me. Riley has her whole life ahead of her. Between my age, my college football injury, and my addiction to my pottery wheel, I’d only hold her back.

I have to let her go. Don’t I?

This is a steamy, 18+ read with a happily ever after!


RUNNING INTO TROUBLE (universal link) -> https://books2read.com/u/4jLk1Z
Amazon.com US -> https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08WJHQ7J1

Add the book to your Goodreads TBR today!
Running Into Trouble ➜ https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57041459-running-into-trouble

Word Count:

IMG_2657.jpg

Kitty legs! lol Also, a pretty consistent month of writing. Weekends are obvious!

Binge my books!

The first full novel in the LOVE ON MAIN series is Live!
"Small town matchmaking shenanigans, which cracked me up. Slow burn, but when these two finally give in...whew. A sweet epilogue and a hea. Next book please. #SubtleLikeAMackTruck" - BookSnobSue Review
Link to Amazon listing

Reunited is a standalone prequel novella to the Love on Main series!
Link to Amazon listing

After you read Fake to Fate, download this box set and read the rest of the Fate series!
Link to box set

Sharing is Caring

PROMO ENDS MARCH 24th

Join my MeWe group for live writing chats almost every weeknight!
Click to join!

Writing: Monthly update for November 2020

Hello friends!

Who else is ready to put 2020 behind them? *raises hand* But first, Christmas! We still haven't put our tree up. Kind of hesitant. Our kitty Harper likes to destroy things. lol And because she's my hubby's little princess, she gets away with it. xD

Not much happened in November. We consumed a TON of media and started our yearly play-through of Grand Theft Auto 5! The story is so freaking good and part of me wants to write some fanfic about the strip club, Vanilla Unicorn, the guys use to plan "the big one!"

vanilla-unicorn.jpg

Just to let you know how big of a fan I and my husband are of this game. I made this from the cover of my book REUNITED after my husband saw it over my shoulder and said it looked like a GTA5 loading screen. LOL I think I was channeling it at the time because we had either just finished or were coming to the end of our play-through when I designed that cover.

If any of you have any connections with Rockstar games, tell them we need a publishing imprint for romance books based on this game called Grand Theft Auto: Erotica LOL (All credit for that title goes to my husband. He's REALLY good at titles!)

My design, left. Actual GTA5 loading screen, right.

How was your November? Watch any good movies? Are you ready for the holiday? Or leaving your shopping to the last second like me? lol

💕Anastasia

READ IN NOVEMBER:

Kingdom of Flesh and Fire and Truth or Dare are the only books I didn't finish yet.  The rest of them, I read and loved. Jessa Kane remains the top of my to-do list. But I also really want to finish Kingdom of Flesh and Fire! 

What did you read in November? Find any new favorites?

Currently Reading:

I'm sure I'll read other things but I'd like to finish this in December!

Current Romance WIPs:

I'm focusing on getting Love on Main ready for its 2021 release. Also, working on keeping up with delivering the Saturday Morning Serial. 

Love on Luke and Main (Love on Main, #1, Unrequited love) - Sent a copy to my beta readers! Already go some feedback and it's good! Here's what one of them had to say:

"So excited for this series! ... I really liked the characters and it had everything you want. Drama. Friendships. Relationships. Hot men. Lol!" - Lindsy F.

Love on Blake and Main (Love on Main, #2, Roommates) - I finished a SUPER rough draft of this. Blake and Parker are so cute! You're going to love watching Parker, the little pixie, tame big bad Blake.

Love on Oliver and Main (Love on Main, #3, Age gap) - This is roughly outlined. I'm still trying to figure out Oliver and Blue's journey. 

Call of Booty (Saturday Morning Serial, #2) - My husband came up with that genius title! lol As you can probably guess, this will be about a gamer. Here's a little blurb about what you have to look forward to after the conclusion of Running Into Trouble! 

Josh is starting his dream job as a game developer but his apartment isn't going to be ready for a couple of weeks. In the meantime, he's staying with his sister and her best friend, Gwen. The girl he's had a crush on since they were kids. Gwen needs to get an overzealous co-worker off her back. When Josh volunteers to be her fake boyfriend at her company picnic, things get a little too real.

This story is connected to the Fate series! Katie, from Fighting Fate, is Josh's supervisor at Asteroid Studios. She and Isaac will make an appearance. Make sure you subscribe to my newsletter to receive this story first and for free! (It will be published to Amazon eventually.)

Publishing news:

In case you missed the announcement email, there is a release date for LOVE ON LUKE AND MAIN!
JANUARY 19TH, 2021!

Cover Reveal will be January 5, 2021! So be looking for that email!

Add the series to your Goodreads TBR today!
Love on Luke and Main ➜ https://bit.ly/3m04Yvw
Love on Blake and Main ➜ https://bit.ly/33cq3LR
Love on Oliver and Main ➜ https://bit.ly/2UX3PJ7
Love on Apollo and Main ➜ https://bit.ly/2IWmgeS

FATE SERIES BOX SET:

Treat yourself this holiday season! You deserve it!
$0.99USD or read now with your Kindle Unlimited subscription!

NEWSLETTER EXCLUSIVE CONTENT:

Things are heating up between Danny and Riley in the Saturday Morning Serial, RUNNING INTO TROUBLE. There's a pottery wheel scene coming up that puts Ghost to shame!

The Meet Cute Monthly for December will be Christmas themed! MacKenzie (from Running Into Trouble) comes home to the new family her mother eloped into without telling her. Things are already tense but get even more so when she meets her new stepbrother and his adorable six-year-old son, Henley.

Sign up before December 21, 2020 to receive this Meet Cute!

Word Count:

I worked on so much in November I had to add another color to my chart! Love seeing the productivity represented like this. Keeps me motivated!

I worked on so much in November I had to add another color to my chart! Love seeing the productivity represented like this. Keeps me motivated!

Sharing is caring!

Click this image to see a list of free books from this Bookfunnel promotion!

Click this image to see a list of free books from this Bookfunnel promotion!

New and Exciting Things are Happening!

BIG ANNOUNCEMENT ABOUT FREE, EXCLUSIVE CONTENT! (Link to sign up is at the bottom of this post!)

======================

MEET CUTE MONTHLY

If you've been in my reading group, already sub to my newsletter, or follow my blog, you have already seen a couple of these in my Monthly Updates. As a refresher, a meet cute is a single scene showing the moment our couple meets for the first time. Usually, in an unusual or sudden way. For example, they both grab for the last box of their favorite cereal and instead of either of them having to give it up, they go to the park and share it. SUPER CUTE, RIGHT?!

The heat level for these scenes will vary. (See the end of this post for how I will label the heat levels.)

Going forward, the Meet Cute Monthly will be sent exclusively to my newsletter subscribers on the third Monday of every month!

====================

SATURDAY MORNING SERIAL

This is the BIG ONE!

Starting October 17, 2020 I will be sending, exclusively to my newsletter subscribers, a chapter a week of a brand new story! These stories will contain steamy scenes, just like my published books. Each week, I will include a heat level rating to let you know what to expect. Keep in mind, if you opt not to read the higher heat level chapters, you may miss out on plot and character development. Though the sex scenes I write are open door, they are not without substance.

The Saturday Morning Serial goes out every Saturday morning, 8:00 am (Chicago time.)

Note: These stories will eventually be published to Amazon but you can get them first and completely free by signing up!

================

STILL INTERESTED?

If you've been with me a while, you might remember me talking about an age gap romance called Running Into Trouble. This will be the first Saturday Morning Serial!

Here's a little blurb: I'm trying so hard not to get involved with a woman half my age but when all she wants to do is help make my father-daughter dinner the best it can be, how can I say no?!

===================

TOO HOT TO HANDLE!

Look for the flaming hearts! I'll be using them to indicate the heat level of each chapter of the Saturday Morning Serial and the Meet Cute Monthly.

I think the easiest way to explain them is to use the baseball analogy. The bases do not directly relate to the number of flames but hopefully, it still makes sense. lol

1 flame = Up to bat. No physical contact beyond holding hands or face touching. Maybe a dirty thought or comment on physical appearance.

2 flames = First base. They've started kissing and are hinting at stealing second. Partial nudity, no touching.

3 flames = Second base. Touching has progressed to above the waist, maybe under the shirt but they still have their clothes on.

4 flames = Third base. They've moved below the waist. Probably in their underwear by now or are partially nude.

5 flames = Home run. Full nudity and/or intercourse/penetration.

===================================

HOW DO YOU GET ALL THIS AMAZING STUFF?!

Sign up for my newsletter! When you click submit, you are confirming you are 18 years of age or older and consent to receiving fictional scenes of a sexual nature to the email address you use to receive my newsletter.

========================

SIGN UP NOW -> https://theanastasiaaustin.com/newsletter

Thanks everyone! Hope to hear from you soon!

============

About the artwork: All photos and the flaming heart icon were licensed from depositphotos.com

All cover designs were created by me, with the help of my husband (thanks, Tebs!)

The scenes were sourced from bookbrush.com

Writing: Monthly update for July 2020 + short story (sort of)

Hello friends!

July was pretty laid back. Watched a lot of shows, read some books, spent a lot of time with the husband and son.

It's been a long and short summer all at the same time but I'm ready for fall to get here! I don't know about you, but I can't wait to get out my sweatshirts and scarves! 

Thanks for sticking with me!
💕Anastasia

Read in July:

Wow. I did not read a single thing on my TBR in July LOL. But I did enjoy what I read. Especially, HUSKY. It's short and definitely more on the erotica side but so much different than what I expected. Self conscious, husky (obviously) hero with a heart of gold. Love that! The alien romances (Choosing Theo and Draekon Mate) were fun reads. Can I Come Over was alright. Didn't blow me away but wasn't bad. 

What did you read in May? Find any new favorites?

August TBR:

Since I'm going to start drafting in August, I'm not sure I'll get a lot of reading done. I started reading We Shouldn't and Yet... (Forbidden age gap romance) and Hosed (fireman romance) I'll turn to these when I do take the time to read. 

Word Count:

July was the death of my word count goals 🤣 I took an intentional week off after finishing the beta reader copy. There were a few days of outlining the new series but I decided not to count those words. Then my brain was too full to start drafting …

July was the death of my word count goals 🤣 I took an intentional week off after finishing the beta reader copy. There were a few days of outlining the new series but I decided not to count those words. Then my brain was too full to start drafting the next book, so I put some words to something else for a day there at the end of the month. More about that in the next segment. Or join my Facebook group, Anastasia's Stowaways to read the scene.

Meet Cutes:

I love meet cutes! That first spark is my favorite part of writing. For Stephanie and Roland in Fake to Fate, it was her wrong number and him answer making obscene noises. For Katie and Isaac, it was him coming up behind her and melting her with his words. For Jake and Amber, it was when Evan introduced them at a bar and Jake didn’t think he had a shot in hell.

These moments are what inspire me to tell a couple’s story but I have so many of these moments in my head I couldn’t possibly write them all into full novels. Or at least not fast enough for my liking. I want to share them with you too much to wait for their books to be written.

So, to give my brain a little relief from all the couples up there shouting at me to tell their story, I’m letting them share how they met with you!

I hope you enjoy♥

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Current Romance WIPs:

Forcing Fate - Release day August 20, 2020! This will be a live release, no preorder. So be on the lookout for the release day announcement with a link to the Amazon listing! 

Check out my Facebook post for more information and enter a Giveaway (Amazon gift cards) ending on Friday the 7th of August, 2020!

Love on Main (Small Town romance) series - This is a new series of four books connected to the Fate series and to Reunited. 

These are all about people falling in love on the Main Street of a small town. At least one of the main characters owns a business or works in a business on Main Street. 

Book 1 will be Haley's story. Lia's friend from Reunited. 

Book 2 will be the story of a side character you'll meet in Forcing Fate.

Book 3 and 4 will be all new characters

I hope to have more information (titles, tropes, character names, all that good stuff) about this in next month's update. After I have a chance to get some drafting done. 

The End

Thanks for reading! Keep moving forward!

Read now!

Writing: Monthly update for November





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Annnddd... we have another cat. We think she was dumped outside of town. She followed my husband home from a city council meeting. We called around and found out she'd been hanging out at city hall for several days. No one was looking for her and the shelters were all full. The snow and freezing weather was coming, so we took her in. Meet Harper! She's about 5 months old now and about 5.5 pounds. And a real stinker! We love her so much!




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She's getting along great with our nearly 3 year old Cricket...





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And the cantankerous 10 year old Caillou wishes the youngsters would leave him alone!





November didn't slow down after the cat drama.

Thanksgiving festivities kicked my butt! Hopefully all of you in the states are recovering better than I did. 

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December 1st, we put up our little Christmas tree. We have two cats who haven't yet experienced Christmas. So, we thought we'd use the little tree to train them. Already found ornaments on the floor and little Harper is a chewer. lol Here it is all lit up!


Now for the writing...

Current Romance WIPs:

FACING FATE - After last month's drama, I'm happy to announce this is ready for revisions! I'll be getting to it soon but I would first like to finish drafting the book I'm currently writing. More about that below. 

INFINITELY ENDLESS (aka Plus One) - The (VERY) rough draft of this is done! It will need a lot of revisions. I'm not sure if I will do this one after FACING FATE or wait because it is so rough. That's what happens when I take long breaks in my drafting process rather than writing straight through.

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RUNNING INTO TROUBLE (an age gap romance) - Started drafting this toward the end of the month. I flipping love it! Daniel and Riley are quickly becoming my favorite characters. I'm roughly a quarter of the way through the rough draft. Hoping to finish it before Christmas!

Here's a little blurb: He’s trying so hard not to get involved with a woman half his age but when all she wants to do is help make his father-daughter dinner the best it can be, how can he say no?!

Word Counts:

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November was better! Though, can you see the impact Thanksgiving had on me? lol

Total for the month was 20,667! Not NaNoWriMo but still a solid month!




Publishing News:

Nothing to report. I'm hoping to publish FACING FATE in late January/early February. Will keep you updated!

Read in November:

Warning I wish I'd had: Sweet Liar is NOT a standalone. It's a part 1 of 2. Literally only the first half of the story. I was quite upset when I finished and found this out.

Magnificent Bastard is a lot of fun though. :D





Thanks for reading. Keep moving forward!

Buy the first two books in the FATE series today!

Thank you!

New WIP. Who dis?

Earlier this week, I started writing Daniel and Riley’s story. Only one scene done and I already love these two.

He’s trying so hard not to get involved with a woman half his age but when all she wants to do is help make his father-daughter dinner the best it can be, how can he say no?!

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I have no clue when you’ll see this book. I’m just so excited about it, I had to share!

♥♥

Writing: Monthly update for October

Current Romance WIPs:

FACING FATE - Oh, the drama... So, this book had been moving at a snail's pace even though the word count kept rising. I mean, just look at my word count tracker for October! It wasn't until October 30th that I realized why I couldn't find the end of this book.

I'd already passed it.
Here's what I posted in one of my writing groups after it happened...

"I wanted to scream last night but was in a library. Don't think they would have appreciated it. So, I've been frustrated with how long my current WIP is taking to finish. Turns out, I blew past the ending! UGH!!!!!

I sat down last night and wrote a sort of synopsis for the book, ignoring the fact I'd already written most of it. I allowed myself to let things happen that felt right, whether they existed in the book already or not and to come out in whatever order they flowed naturally. Doing this, I discovered I was chasing the wrong ending, things were happening out of order, and I'm missing some key character and plot moments. 😭😭😭

On the upside, I've already written the climax of the story. So, to "finish" the book, I just need to back up and write the resolution.

Downside, this thing is going to need some serious revisions and I'm probably going to lose several thousand words in the process."

As of, November 2nd, I'm done drafting FACING FATE! And now I'm going to take a break from it for a couple of weeks.

INFINITELY ENDLESS (aka Plus One) - This is what I'm drafting while I take a break from FACING FATE. It's coming along nicely! Hoping to finish it this time around.

Word Counts:

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Got a lot of words written in October, but didn't make a whole lot of progress. UGH!

November will be better!




Publishing News:

Nothing to report!

Read in October:

FYI: Most of these are short reads. Just Roommates is the only full novel on the list. A couple are more like teasers, which I didn't know going into them (Rock Hard, Snowed in with the Ranger, and Lightning Strikes)






Thanks for reading. Keep moving forward!

Buy the first two books in the FATE series today!

Thank you!

Fighting Fate Pre-order and Preview

OMG! I can't believe it! My second book, Fighting Fate, will be coming out September 17, 2019!

There were times I wasn't sure this book would ever be finished. Now, I'm so excited for you all to read Katie and Isaac's story. It's been a labor of love but so worth it! Though it took some time for Katie and Isaac to open up and show me their story, when they did... OH, WOW! They had quite the story to tell!

You can read the first four chapters of Fighting Fate and pre-order the ebook for $0.99 today!

If you bought the ebook of Fake to Fate from Amazon, you should be able to update the file on your e-reader now and see the preview and pre-order link for Fighting Fate at the end of the book!

If you have not yet purchased Fake to Fate, now is a good time. Though, these books can standalone or be read in any order, I believe it's a more pleasurable experience to read them in publication order.

Buy Fake to Fate

Please visit mybookcave to claim the file type of your choice. (epub or mobi) Note: mybookcave will ask you to sign up for my newsletter before you download. Thank you in advance for jumping through the hoop to read ♥


If you'd like to jump straight to the pre-order click here!
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07WYVNCWC

The paperback copy of Fighting Fate will be available closer to the release date. I'll send another email letting you all know!

A little writing update: I started drafting the next book in the Fate series. WOOT! And there will be at least one more book in this series after it. I'm absolutely loving all the characters in this world. The more time I spend with the them, the more I realize how hard it's going to be to leave them behind for a new cast someday.

Thank you all so much for sticking with me! 

Writing: Monthly update for July

I finally fought my way out of revisions!

Current Fantasy Romance WIPs:

So, I included this in my update last month without considering whether or not readers of contemporary romance would also be interested in fantasy romance.

If you wouldn't mind, I'd love your help deciding whether or not I should publish Fantasy Romance under a different name.

Please respond to the following questions with your thoughts.

Do you only wish to read contemporary romance and would not like to get updates about fantasy romance? Or would you like to know about everything I write, regardless of genre?

Thanks in advance for your input! 

Current Romance WIPs:

FIGHTING FATE - I DID IT! I finished revising! Today, I will contact my beta readers and ask for feedback to be returned within two weeks. After that, I'll revise again, considering their feedback. Then, it's off to ARC readers before publishing!

Release day is not set yet but I expect it will be mid-September.

Can't wait for you all to read Katie and Isaac's story! They fought me just as much as they fought the feelings they had for each other. But it was worth it in the end! I hope you all love them as much as I do. 

PLUS ONE - I will pick this up again in about a week. My family and I are going on a trip to Minnesota next week to an author signing event for the release of Mary E. Pearson's new release, Vow of Thieves and I have to finish reading her ARC!

Word Counts:

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You'd think this was a drafting month, not a revision month based on those word counts! 

I suppose it kind of was. I added over 20K words to the "first" draft, that was really more of a zero draft.

Really excited Fighting Fate will be a full novel now that it's over 50K words!

 

Publishing News:

Nothing to report on Fake to Fate.

Fighting Fate should come out Mid-September. I'll let you all know the official release day when I know it and include a pre-order link!

Read in July:

I feel like it's worth noting, this book was a gift from my wonderful, supportive husband. 

Thanks for reading. Keep moving forward!

Buy FAKE TO FATE! Ebook and paperback are on Amazon now. Thanks!

If you would like more frequent updates, please follow me on Instagram. If you're as impatient as I am, you can get some of the information in my updates when it happens rather than having to wait for the monthly update!

Writing: Monthly Update for June

You know... I should just accept that these updates will happen as close to the beginning of the month as my schedule will allow. LOL #BUSY

Querying:

Not Querying for the foreseeable future. Why? I love self publishing. There may come a project someday that might benefit from the hassle that comes with traditional publishing but at this point, I want to self pub all my projects. Fantasy too.

Current Fantasy WIPs:

Which leads me to this.

I might change the title of this section to ROMANTIC Fantasy because I LOVE writing romance. And now I have a series (or it might be a serial. Not sure) I've started outlining!

The series is 12 novellas inspired by the world and characters of my short story UNDER THE AMETHYST SKY. You can read that short, but keep in mind, Kaia's and Theo's story will be a little different when I turn it into a novella. The world building has evolved a bit in the last week or so while outlining the first book.

I'm really excited to start this project but I have a few contemporaries I need to finish first.

Current Romance WIPs:

FIGHTING FATE - YIKES! It has been a real fight to finish this book. And I'm still not done. But I am further along!

I'm closing in on the end of the first revision. When that's done, I will read through it again and make final edits before sending it to beta readers.

It's happening! Slower than I'd like but it is happening!

PLUS ONE - This guy is waiting for me to finish FIGHTING FATE revisions. I'm getting there, little buddy!

Word Counts:

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I feel like I was a lot more consistent with my writing this month. I missed several days of words but not because I wasn't writing. Words are not always added when revising.

Really wish I could have been drafting in June. Oh, well. July is looking up!

 

Publishing News:

FAKE TO FATE:

June was a slow month. Still had just over 1000 page reads!

Can't wait to see what releasing a second book will do.

Thank you, everyone for your support.

Read in June:


Thanks for reading. Keep moving forward!

Buy FAKE TO FATE! Ebook and paperback are on Amazon now. Thanks!

Just Writing Things - 1

This month has been nuts!

Even though I took a vacation from work, I don't feel rested at all! And don't have nearly enough writing to show for it.

But, hey! At least I got some spring cleaning done!

As far as the writing goes. It's going! And I hope I've found a way to keep writing even when I hit writer's block!

After I finished writing FAKE TO FATE I tried jumping straight into the next book in that world following one of the side characters. It did NOT work.

I LOVE using placeholders when I draft. If I don't know a character's name or a place name or if I don't feel like writing a certain scene, I'll put a thought or reminder in brackets [] to come back to later.

Well... That book ended up being pretty much nothing but placeholders. I wrote over 6000 words and had already hit the middle plot twist of the book! Terrible!

So, I put it aside and started writing something else. That something else turned out to be PLUS ONE. The drafting of this book was going really well. I was on track to finish it by the end of May. Then, I had an epiphany on the way to work for the second FATE book.

There I was, 14,000+ words into the PLUS ONE draft and all I could think about was the book I knew I'd have to start over from ZERO to make it work.

What do you do?!

Write what must be written!

I put aside PLUS ONE and started over on what it now called CAN'T PLAN FATE. Not sure the title will stick. What do you think? Should I keep it?

Anyway, I've been drafting CAN'T PLAN FATE for a couple of weeks and have over 18K words and just wrote the midpoint plot twist! I'm all caught up with over half the words I had at this point the first time around! ANNNDDD I have 14K words of PLUS ONE waiting for me when this is finished!

Now, here's what I'm hoping to do to keep up the momentum. Write two books at once. Or, at least, have another book to write when I get stuck on the first. Sometimes, things just need to simmer in the subconscious for awhile. That's okay!

♥

Thanks for reading!

 

Buy FAKE TO FATE on Amazon! Paperback and ebook available! You can also read for free with Kindle Unlimited!