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 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:

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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 January 2021

Happy February

Hello friends!

It's my birthday month! I'll be celebrating 39 years on the 27th! Hopefully, if I'm allowed a cheat day on my birthday, I'll be celebrating with chocolate cake with dark chocolate frosting and vanilla ice cream. I love mashing it all together and making chocolate cake ice cream! It's SO good!

How was your January?!
We went to the Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri as a sort of mini vacation. Stayed at the cutest little motel. But I think they sold my phone number. Ever since we got back, I get half a dozen or more spam calls a day. UGH!

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We finished watching How I Met Your Mother! I still hate the ending but I forgot how amazing the music in that show is. I've been listening through it while I write!

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Oh! And thanks to How I Met Your Mother and, apparently, every cooking channel on YouTube, I started hardcore craving spaghetti and meatballs.

We drastically changed our diet last summer though, cut out all simple sugars and simple carbs. Black bean spaghetti just wouldn't kick the craving. My sweet husband, who loves to cook, allowed us a cheat day to get it out of my system. Look at this beautiful plate of pasta! He's the freaking best!

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I put off creating my February bullet journal spread until the last minute. Still turned out pretty good, I think! For my mood tracker, I'll draw a new conversation heart every day and color it according to my mood. Forgot to add my key before taking the picture. WHOOPS!

Tell me, how was your February?

💕Anastasia

Read in January:

Totally meant to read more in January. Instead, I read one new book and reread a favorite. LOL Gravity was a good taboo menage with a HEA with one guy. 

Credence is as amazing as I remembered. ♥

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

Currently Reading:

These two are on my TBR for this month!

Current Romance WIPs:

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Call of Booty (Saturday Morning Serial, #2) - I typed "The End" on this one! Still need to revise it but that shouldn't take more than a couple of days. It's a shorter story. Roughly 70 pages. More about it's release and cover reveal in the Publishing News section below! 

FYI, those blue triangles with the exclamation points in the picture? Those are the steamy scenes! The red flags are the scenes when the chemistry boils to the surface but they don't follow through.😘

About the story:
A Best Friend's Brother Romcom
(Other tropes you'll love: Friends to lovers, fake dating, roommates to lovers)
  
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 make an appearance.

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

Love on Blake and Main (Love on Main, #2, Fixer-upper) - I've written more but somehow I'm still only about halfway through the first full draft of this one. Now that I'm done with CALL OF BOOTY, I can focus on this. Goal is to get it done before the end of February to gear up for an April release!

Publishing news:

LUKE AND HALEY ARE LIVE!

"This was a fantastic read that I enjoyed! It had a great balance of romance, hot sexy times, and swoon worthy moments. Simply put, this was just a great book to curl up with! I loved Luke and Haley and can't wait to see what's next for this series.

Definitely check out Luke and Main! You'll be glad you did! " - The Romance Reader Gal review (@the_romance_reader_gal on Instagram)

READ FOR F*R*E*E WITH Kindle Unlimited - https://books2read.com/u/bzg2Lj

BLURB:

There’s always been a place for her in the back of my mind. My first crush. The one woman no other will ever live up to, because no relationship will be as good as the one I lived out in my head, with her.

Haley Reed doesn't know I've been in love with her from the moment I saw her. I was the new kid. A lowly freshman that never had a chance at catching the attention of the senior head cheerleader. Now, the owner of the local cafe, my chances aren't much better with the billionaire’s ex-wife.

Having the odds against me is a good excuse not to go after her. However, our meddling friends disagree. Despite their best efforts to push us together, it’s not until we're alone, in the middle of nowhere, that everything changes.

Drunk and frisky, Haley confesses to having dirty dreams about me and tries to make one come true. I stop it before it goes too far but now that I know how she feels, I don’t know how much longer I can keep my distance.

It turns out, a little distance (and some flirty texting turned sexting) is what we needed to bring us together.

How ironic that a text message is all it takes to tear us apart.

This is a steamy, adult read. Contains swearing, some other woman drama but no cheating and a HEA with no cliffhanger! Read all the way to the end for a bonus scene that bridges Luke's book with Blake's!


LOVE ON LUKE AND MAIN (universal link) -> https://books2read.com/u/bzg2Lj
Amazon.com US -> https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08RZFD36K

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

Newsletter Exclusive Announcement:

The Saturday Morning Serial will return on Saturday, February 6th, 2021 with CALL OF BOOTY.

Check out that cover! I spent the better part of a day putting it together and am thrilled with how it turned out! I even made it my phone wallpaper 🤣

LAST CALL FOR RUNNING INTO TROUBLE
With the start of the new edition of the Saturday Morning Serial, comes the end of the last edition.

The download for RUNNING INTO TROUBLE will expire on Monday, March 1st, 2021. You have all of February to get it for F*R*E*E before I publish it on Amazon in March!

SIGN UP TODAY!

Word Count:

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My goal for 2021 is to be consistent. Starting with writing at least 500 words every day. I think I averaged that in January!

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

PROMOS END FEBRUARY 28th

The End

Thanks for reading! Keep moving forward!

If you'd like to chat with me, please join my Facebook reader group! I would love to see you there♥

If you'd like to chat with me, please join my Facebook reader group! I would love to see you there♥

Writing Monthly Update for December 2020

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

How was your holiday? Mine was exhausting! I had so many great plans and didn't accomplish any of them. Except to spend a lot of time with family! We played lots of games. The big hit was Trial by Trolly, the Cyanide and Happiness game. The scenarios are so funny and it's a riot seeing where your families morals and priorities lay. LOL

trial by trolley.jpg

We finished our play through of GTA 5. The story is as awesome as ever! We rewatched The Mandalorian season 1 but haven't started season 2 yet. :( Soon! We did knock out a couple seasons of How I Met Your Mother, though.

I loved everything I got for Christmas. New bullet journal supplies, a sewing machine, a new blanket that's SO comfy! But as much as I love and appreciate all those things, the gift that blew me away was the one my mom and dad gave me. We haven't done gift exchanges with my side of the family for many years, so I wasn't expecting anything. I certainly wasn't expecting this! My grandma's set of crochet hooks. The ones she taught me how to crochet with. God, I cried! I just assumed they were gone but my mom found them when she visited my aunt and snatched them up for me since they had just been sitting in a box for years.

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After family went home, I started working on my 2021 bullet journal. I love it! Hubby helped me pick out colors and did a fantastic job! My goals are set for the new year and I'm ready to make them happen!

How was your holiday? Do you have any goals for 2021? Let me know!

💕Anastasia

Read in December:

Jessa Kane again. Are you surprised? LOL Still love her stuff! I got into the holiday spirit with my reading. Sharing Noelle is a forbidden menage. Read at your own risk! Definitely pick up Naughty on New Year's! This was written by a friend of mine. Her first erotic story. It's sexy and sweet!

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

Currently Reading:

I started these two in December, just haven't finished them yet. Still haven't finished Kingdom of Flesh and Fire either. I'm struggling to get into fantasy books lately. Which sucks, because I want to be into them! Ugh!

Do you ever have that problem?

Current Romance WIPs:

Love on Luke and Main (Love on Main, #1, Unrequited love) - Release day is January 19th!! Currently proofreading and preparing to get the ARC out to my reviewers! Cover reveal coming tomorrow!

Love on Blake and Main (Love on Main, #2, Roommates) - I'm about halfway through the full first draft of this one. Fingers crossed I can finish it by the end of January.

Call of Booty (Saturday Morning Serial, #2) - Still drafting this. I'm hoping to get it done and start the Saturday Morning Serial up again in February. In case you missed it last month, here's a little blurb about the story...

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.

Word Count:

So, I think you can see what the holidays did for my productivity. LOL I was on vacation the last 2 weeks. Totally intended to get a TON of work done... Didn't happen xD Whoops!

So, I think you can see what the holidays did for my productivity. LOL I was on vacation the last 2 weeks. Totally intended to get a TON of work done... Didn't happen xD Whoops!

FATE SERIES BOX SET:

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

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

Thanks for reading! See you tomorrow with the LOVE ON LUKE AND MAIN cover reveal!

Writing: Monthly update for September 2020

Happy October!

Hello friends!

We finally made it to fall! We've still been enjoying days sitting on the porch but now we get to wear sweaters and it's so much better!

The most action we saw in September was my car eating up all our savings. UGH! The road noise was getting unbearable, so I got new tires, but then the road noise didn't go away. Turns out a bearing went bad.

I'm took a vacation first week of October. We were going to drive up and down the Mississippi river in our Miata, with the top down looking at the pretty fall leaves. It's become a bit of a tradition for us. Unfortunately, because of Covid and finances, thanks to my car, we opted out. Instead, we kicked back and relaxed for the week.

How was your September? What are you looking forward to in October?

Thanks for everything!
💕Anastasia

Read in September:

Flock and Exodus are a duet of angsty romances. I loved the first book and most of the second but was a little disappointed with the ending. I was expecting a really big twist, based on all the hype, that I didn't get but really wanted! I think if I hadn't been looking forward to that twist, these would be in my top 5 or maybe 10 books this year. I still highly recommend them. Just steal your heart because it's a wild, naughty ride!

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

Currently Reading:

I'm still reading From Blood and Ash. About halfway through. It's getting SO good. I can't wait to finish it! Just need more time in the day!

Current Romance WIPs:

Running Into Trouble (Saturday Morning Serial) - This is done! The first chapter of Running Into Trouble will be sent to my newsletter subs on October 17, 2020! There is a scene involving a pottery wheel you do NOT want to miss! So HOT!

Love on Luke and Main (Love on Main, #1 A Small Town romance series) - I’m so excited to get back to my small town romance series! I’m about halfway done drafting Haley and Luke’s story! I made good progress on this and am roughly halfway done drafting. I plan on finish drafting it this month!

Meet Cute Monthly (October) - The Meet Cute Monthly is almost done too! It’s a father’s best friend, age gap meet cute! Again, you have to sign up for my newsletter to receive this on the third Monday of the month!

Word Count:

I wrote almost every day in September! Consistency!

I wrote almost every day in September! Consistency!

Binge the Fate series today!

The End

Thanks for reading! Keep moving forward!

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♥

Please sign up for my newsletter to receive this exclusive content!

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 August

FaketoFate_MarketFighting Fate 3D paperback
After my Mini Cooper, Benny pooped out and one of the places I tried to purchase a new car from tried to screw me over lying about the title not being a prior salvage and swindling me out of a $100.00 to hold the car, I finally have a cute new car with hardly any miles that runs great! Everyone? Meet Nermal! IMG_1831IMG_1832IMG_1833
Yes, she's purple! Grape metallic ice to be specific. QOTD: Have any of you had a bad experience with a car dealership or salesman?

Current Romance WIPs:
FIGHTING FATE - It's alive!!! And doing well! Thank you for all your support. If you've read it, I hope you loved Katie and Isaac's story. If you haven't, I hope you give them a chance. They are such a sweet couple. Get your copy today!
Love it or hate it, please rate it♥

FACING FATE or ARRANGING FATE [Title might change] - Book 3 in the Fate series! This book decided to give me some trouble. To be fair, it was mostly my fault. When I started writing Jake and Amber's story, I completely forgot to ask them what they wanted from each other. So there I was, 33K words in, not even close to the middle of the book, and their relationship was going nowhere!  After going back and asking the question, I have reoutlined, organized, and now these two are ready to turn up the heat!

PLUS ONE - On the back burner.

SECOND CHANCE - On the back burner.

Romantic Fantasy WIP - Considering picking this up after Jake's story is finished. It's an old story I'm resurrecting and making romance a huge part of the plot. I have two words for you... MATING BONDS!

Word Counts:
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Previously, on Word Counts... "God willing and the creek don't rise, I'll have a first draft [Jake's story] done at the end of September!" HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Yeah... that didn't happen. It's extra funny because we got SO much rain in September, the creek did actually rise! lol Even though I didn't finish Jake's story, I did write on FOUR different projects. Most of those words were for the outlines of two projects and the other was a short film script but words are words! It's all progress!


Publishing News:
With the release of FIGHTING FATE on September 17th, I also saw a boost in sales for FAKE TO FATE! Such a nice surprise!

Also, that boost put FAKE TO FATE in the top 200's of the comedy category! Image may contain: text

Read in September:

Found (Brides of the Kindred, #4)Revealed (Brides of the Kindred, #5)Pursued (Brides of the Kindred, #6)Fighting Fate (Fate, #2)Most Irresistible Guy (Most Valuable Playboy, #0.5)

Thanks for reading. Keep moving forward!

Buy the first two books in the FATE series today! Thank you!
FaketoFate_MarketFighting Fate 3D paperback

Writing: Monthly update for August

August happened... Seriously, where did the month go?! On top of that, where did the last fifteen years go? Our son had his first week of high school and I'm still not sure how I feel about that. Did any of your kids hit a milestone this year? How are you handling it?

At this point, we're just taking it one day at a time. Hoping for a good school year!

Now, not only did our son hit a big milestone in August, I did too! A writer dream come true. One of my favorite authors, Mary E. Pearson (The Kiss of Deception, Dance of Thieves, and more from the Remnant Chronicles) released the second book in the Dance of Thieves duology, Vow of Thieves. On August 8th, my husband and I went to her signing event in Minnesota.

Before we went, my husband encouraged me to take a copy of Fake to Fate, just in case. I did, thinking it wouldn't come into play but when it was my turn in line for Mary to sign my copy of Vow of Thieves, this happened...

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Last year, when I went to the same book store for her signing of Dance of Thieves, I told her how much The Kiss of Deception inspired me to throw out my worry over writing the "correct" way and start writing my way. 99.9% of that book is written from 3 different POV's. All from first person, and the identity of two of the characters are hidden for most of the book. Then, close to the end, she had one chapter from a completely different POV and it was only like 2 pages long. WHO DOES THAT?! lol When I told her how much I loved that and it changed my life as a writer, she let me know that she had worried about including it in the book and hearing how it had impacted me validated her decision! And this is what she wrote on the first page of that chapter...

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This year, I reminded her of the previous event and told her I took that sentence to heart. I followed my own rules and self published my first book in April. She got so excited and asked if I had a copy. When I told her I did, she asked me to sign it for her! It was the first book I signed that someone ASKED for my signature. REVOLUTIONARY moment! I'm still flying high from it! 

It never would have happened if my husband hadn't encouraged me to be bold and own my accomplishments. Thank you, Tebs! It also wouldn't have had near the impact if I couldn't then share it with all of you! Thank you for reading and for your support! ♥

Current Romance WIPs:

FIGHTING FATE - All the things are happening with this one! 

  1. Release day is September 17, 2019! Pre-order the ebook now!

  2. There will be a paperback version available early. I should get the proof copies today. After I read through and make necessary corrections, it will be ready to go! Stay tuned for the announcement!

  3. Reviews are coming in and they're great, so far! Visit the Goodreads page to see what people are saying about Fighting Fate and add it to your TBR!

PLUS ONE - You'll see in my word count tracker that I did add to this book in August. Then I made the decision to continue with the Fate series. PLUS ONE has become the book I chip away at when I have the time to spare. Eventually, I'll have a finished draft and can commit time to publishing it. 

FACING FATE - Book 3 in the Fate series! This is Jake's story and OMG I love it so much! We learned so much more about him in FIGHTING FATE and I'm learning even more spending this time with him now. I can't wait to share his story with you!

SECOND CHANCE - While brainstorming one day, because I couldn't work on anything else, I came up with a plot for a second chance romance. It's plotted/outlined and I love the story but the female's backstory is a bit darker than in my other books and it plays heavily into the plot. Not sure how I feel about that, since I love how fluffy my other stories have been. We'll see what happens when I start drafting it. Not sure when that will be. I want to finish the Fate series before picking up a new one. Plus, I have ideas for a couple other series that I've been sitting on longer that I might want to write first. WHO KNOWS?!

 

Word Counts:

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Quite a lot of revision and editing for FIGHTING FATE happened in August. Though, I still think it was a darn good month for words! Several days went off the chart!

The 6th and 7th look a little wonky because I screwed up and forgot to change colors when I switched from drafting PLUS ONE to FACING FATE. LOL

Currently, I've written over 20K words on FACING FATE! God willing and the creek don't rise, I'll have a first draft done at the end of September! Looking to publish it before the end of the year!

 

Publishing News:

Got some new reviews for FAKE TO FATE! Sold a copy of the ebook and had some page reads!

Released the pre-order for FIGHTING FATE. Already seeing reviews from ARC readers!

Read in August:

Thanks to my dear friend, Bree, I've become obsessed with the Brides of the Kindred series. LOL Not for the faint of heart! Super steamy and a little odd. Love it!









 

Thanks for reading. Keep moving forward!

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

Pre-order the ebook for FIGHTING FATE on Amazon and get it delivered directly to your device on September 17th!

Thank you!

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!

Writing: Monthly Update for May

It's another late one! Still trying to get into the swing of this writing with the intention of publishing quickly thing. But it's HAPPENING! Getting closer everyday to book 2 of my romance series being ready!!

May was my husband's birthday month and I took a few vacation days and did a crap load of cleaning. Still finished drafting a book! May was awesome!

Querying:

Not Querying for the foreseeable future.

Current Fantasy WIPs:

All fantasy WIPs are on hold while I get my self-publishing feet underneath me.

While the above is still true. I MAY have dipped my toe into my dragon shifter book again. And POSSIBLY reoutlined it after having a pretty big breakthrough with why it's not as good as it could be. So... MIGHT be working on that again in the near future.

Current Romance WIPs:

Untitled FATE Book 2 Now has a title! FIGHTING FATE - I finished the first draft on the first of the month! I started revising by printing, reading and noting all the inconsistencies. And, WOW, were there a lot!

I finished the read-through yesterday and started transferring my notes into my Scrivener document for ease of access when I start the writing revision tonight or tomorrow.

Not sure how long this is all going to take. I can't even guess at this point but it's going to be at LEAST two weeks before I can even think about calling for beta readers. Which means I won't be looking at announcing a publishing date until mid-July or so.

PLUS ONE - This has been set aside while I finish FIGHTING FATE. I know what the next book in the FATE series will be and will need to at least outline that really well before I come back to this. But the PLUS ONE draft is already over 14K words (half-ish-way done.) So that's awesome!

Word Counts:

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Did much better on my word counts in May! Went off the chart TWICE! One of those times was a 4000 word day!

You also get a glimpse into the identity crisis FIGHTING FATE had. lol That's not even a third of the names I tried out for this book. I'll tell the story sometime but it will have to wait until after I write the blurb.

 

Publishing News:

FAKE TO FATE:

Celebrated one month of publishing on the 30th of May by announcing a free weekend for the ebook on Amazon.

91 copies were claimed! Since then, people have read 647 pages!

Thank you, everyone for your support.

 

Read in May:

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Thanks for reading. Keep moving forward!

 

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

Writing: Monthly Update for April

Sorry this is so late! After publishing, I needed a break from things. Back on track now! Back to writing, going to get some giveaway's going soon. I designed and purchased some SWAG; bookmark and stickers! Lots of things to do and catch up on. Can't wait!

Current Romance WIPs:

FaketoFate_Market
FAKE TO FATE - PUBLISHED!!
On April 30th my book baby was born!

The pre-order went well for my first book, with little to no promotion.
Sold 8 pre-orders and 3 ebooks on release day!

Also, it currently has a 4.21/5 average star rating on Goodreads with 24 people already rating it!! WHAT?!

Add FAKE TO FATE to your Goodreads "TO READ" list! On Amazon, it has a 4.4/5 stars from 13 ratings!

Remember, if you have Kindle Unlimited, you can read for free! I'm so happy with how it's performing and can't wait to publish again!

Untitled FATE Book 2 - I've put this on hold for now. I need to outline again. The characters weren't working and the plot fell flat. I'll get back to it soon!

PLUS ONE - I wouldn't say writing is going well on this one, but it's going. I'm making progress, just not daily. I broke down and outlined and I think that's going to help me get the draft done much quicker. Also, I have a cover design but I'm waiting to come up with a tagline to put on it before I reveal it! So, COVER REVEAL COMING SOON!

Word Counts:

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See what I mean about the writing not going well, but going? LOL April was the first month I ever published. I had to learn a lot and fumble through that process. With all that and being out of town 2 weekends last month, I didn't do too poorly. May should be better. *Fingers crossed*

Read in April:

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Thanks for reading. Keep moving forward!