Book of the Day (BotD): River's Edge

 Yes, I' know River's Edge isn't a book. It's not even a novella, it's a short story. 

I started writing RE Halloween night two years ago while Aubrey was out with their friends trick-or-treating our neighborhood and I was hiding in the dark from trick-or-treaters. It started as a Thanksgiving story about a guy who comes home for the first time in years and meets the boy he'd fallen for in high school again, and I'd planned for a novella length small town Hallmark-esque story in which the guy buys a vacant building and starts a restaurant and HEA was achieved. But it was Halloween and I was listening to witchy mood music and it took on a darker tone as I wrote.

I know the cover is bad. I made it myself from a picture I bought using Canva. I am not that good with Canva. But I was broke and did the best I could so I could pay for a round of edits.

Anyway, I probably should have changed the Thanksgiving part to a more non-holiday oriented night. But that's the only regret I have with that story. I think of it as a writing exercise of setting a scene and tone and using surroundings to pervert a character's POV. Sometimes I wish I'd written Brick's POV but I don't think it would have had the same effect. I don't think you would have felt River's relief in finding him if you knew Brick was waiting for him. Or if you knew why Brick was there in the first place. I thought to have the epilogue in Brick's POV but it wouldn't have had the same feel than to have it stop and switch to Brick to get the twist at the end.

I thought, that I was being smart in starting it over but with subtle changes... but I think I failed to stick this story at the end.

And yeah, the blurb sucks. I still don't know what else to say about a twelve thousand word story that wouldn't give the whole thing away.

Is it bittersweet? I thinks so? Is there an HEA? I think so. But not a conventional HEA. Did the bulk of the readers understand what I'd written?

Sighs... probably not.

River's Edge

The story of two lovers reunited for one night... and all eternity.

BUY links HERE

Hello October! Where's Autumn?

 I know the world is in shambles right now. I know. Believe me I know. I understand. I am... just not able to discuss any of it. I don't want to. I don't have a grip on my personal shit, I've been walking a line the width and tensile strength of dental floss far too long to have any discussion of bigger picture events.

So, pardon me if I keep this a bigger events free zone and paste on the fakey grin and just let the words roll okay.

That said... IT'S FINALLY OCTOBER!

Which, if you live on the American Gulf Coast, you know means exactly Jack Shit. October is a fall month, it was 90 degrees and hot as crap today. Which leads me to say something about that other Jack that makes an appearance this time of year, that nice Irish fella O' Lantern... yeah it's way to early for him here. You can not carve pumpkins right now, unless you want to watch one roast in real time and shrivel up like some toothless orange demon. Yeah, not a good look. And honestly, I don't have the spoons to drag the Halloween decorations out of the garage right now, so if the two offspring still living at home won't do it, then it doesn't get done this year.

Which is a damn shame.

But I did change the wallpaper up in the banner here, what do you think... cooked it myself, letters and all.

Okay, I didn't design the image. I have a subscription to Creative Fabrica and found an image I like and Plugged it into a banner template at Canva and added some Canva text because I can't figure out how to use the fonts the Creative Fabrica has and, well.... 

HAPPY OCTOBER!!!!

So, what books do I have that are set in Spooky Month?

Hmm...

Entirely?

None. 

Partially?

You know what, I don't even know.

Shift in Time maybe, but I think some of it falls in November. I think Light from the Dark is set in November. Falling Back might start in October but it's set around the time change in November. Blues is set in November. River's Edge is a spooky story, but set in November. Uh... Into the Gloaming starts the day after Halloween and goes through January. The QB Connection might be, but I don't remember much about it to be honest. Under a Crescent Moon takes place over the course of a year, but I can't remember which month it started. Beyond Complicated starts in October, I think. The 51st Thursday... Except for the ending and epilogue, it takes place around Halloween.

And I think that's it. The rest are summer and a couple winter books with a smattering of spring.

Or should I say, Winter and Spring with a smattering of summer. Hell, I don't know. I wrote most of those books more than a decade ago. I don't think about them. Honestly, I don't want to think about them. I just... 

Sighs.

I think I view everything as something I did in a previous life now. I can't explain it. I'm not the same person I was when I wrote most of my stories. I'm a completely different person now. And I don't say that as a positive thing, because I know it's not been a positive change in me.

I'm trying so hard, but I can't even muster a shred of enthusiasm for the holiday right now. I've been drowning so very long that I wouldn't know how to just tread water. 

Yes, I'm typing this from a place absolute pain.. Pain that I can't discuss even if I wanted to. Pain that... well, it is what it is, and it's not in my power to change it, so I just... grin and pretend and that's about the best I have.

That said, and I know by speaking this to the world, that I'm jinxing it, but the plan for October is to resume sharing the old books every day. Maybe I'll talk about the history of writing them. We'll see. 

But for today, the first day of Spooky Month, let's just take a moment of silence for the world at large and hope for a better future.

And as always~~

PEACE,

Mercy

It's Spooky Season!

 Well, for me, it's been Spooky Season for a while now. I like Halloween. I like goth and dark academia décor. I like dark cottage core. And I like pastel spooky too. Love me some pastel ghosts.

But I know that most of you wait until late October to start thinking about Spooky Season and that's cool. You do you, Boo.

So, let's kick off the book promoting a few days before the official start of Halloween month, with my monster dark gothic paranormal romantic suspense novel. Free to read in Kindle Unlimited for the entire season.

and as always, all Amazon links come with a Disclaimer: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases from all direct Amazon links on this blog

Into the Gloaming

The ADHD Strikes Back

 So, after my last post about the craft blog things went about as well as you can expect, considering I'm me.

As in, no I didn't get to work on getting the new blog started. Instead, I decided to inventory my craft supplies, and that led to needing to organize, which led to I have no room in my office for all this shit. Which led to I hate my office. Which led me to Home Depot for paint. Which led me to strip half my office of everything in it. 

AND!!!

Now I need more paint. By the time I finish just this room I think I'll have spent nearly a hundred dollars on just paint and supplies. YAY.

Sighs.

I did not have to paint. I know this. We all know this. THIS IS KNOWN! I could have gone on with the ice blue walls for another few years. I did, however, really need to organize my craft shit. Why am I still storing craft stuff that I'm never going to use again? 

Better question, why did I buy those particular craft things to begin with? Like the hammering letters into soft metal crafts that I just HAD! to do. I mean I liked it. But the sound of the hammer striking metal on metal contributed to my chronic headaches. So, I still have about two hundred bucks worth of that craft, including unopened blanks. 

I spent a fortune years ago on a Cricut cutting machine. Why? I don't know. I thought it would be fun to cut letters out and glue them to t-shirts. Honestly, it is kinda fun. But the software you are required to use is buggy on my computer and it's just frustrating to complete any kind of project. I can't afford a new computer or, ideally, a new iPad, that would handle the software better, so, it's just a paper weight. I have a small amount of vinyl still, so it's not like I have a ton of that stuff lying around wasted. I do have other Cricut things that don't need the software to work, but honestly, there's better non-Cricut brands out there.

I have a whole ass sublimation printer. Okay it's not a sublimation printer, it's a basic Epson Ecotank that I converted to a sublimation printer. I didn't buy that, it was a gift. But while I had intended to use it to, once again, make t-shirts, I find that sublimation on t-shirt material is a pain in the ass and I ruin more shirts than I don't. I do like to do mugs and tumblers tho, so I'll keep the printer. The problem is, there's not much interest in the mugs and skinny tumblers. And too many people are already doing that, it's a saturated market.

Honestly, I've thought about selling my Cricut. It is registered to me and Cricut can remotely brick the damn thing so it will be tricky, but it can be done.

And while I'm here basically writing an adult version of If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, I should probably talk about writing stuff.

So, I took 12 books from sale on non Amazon sites and put them back into Kindle Unlimited with hopes, on August 25th. It's almost a month and so far I've managed a little over five thousand page reads... which is about twenty-two whole dollars.

SIGHS!

BUT!!!!! I haven't sold a single damn book on Kobo, only one on Barnes and Noble, and a whole 2 on Apple of the books remaining.... And right now, Kobo plus is reporting no page reads for August, which I hope is a mistake and they haven't put in the actual numbers yet.

I mean... I'm in a fucked or fucked dilemma here. I can pull everything from wide and put everything but Moon in KU and make 22 bucks more a month or... I can just pull everything and say I had a good run, but I'm tired of trying to figure out how to make this work. So very very tired.

Why yes, I haven't written anything new in two years. I know this. No one read the last three books I published, at least not in a way in which I got paid. Yes, this is about money. It costs money to publish. I'd like to make back more than I spent at the very least... or... you know, it's just over and I am too old and not savvy enough to play the game and should stop trying.

Like with the other hobbies, after a while, you have to know when to quit, and since I won't clear enough this year that the IRS will downgrade me to a hobbyist, that's where I am. Clearing out the craft supplies I will never use again.

I just didn't think it would be writing. 

So, tomorrow, I go get an eye exam because desperately need new glasses. And then I go buy more paint if I have anything left. And then I put back what I'm going to keep.

And then I'll figure out where to go in October. Because this shit ain't working. The book world fiscal year changes at the end of October for Amazon and Kobo. That's when it will all likely go away. I'm not going into another year with a failing business.

And that's about all I have to say about that. 

Of course, my ADHD might decide differently, capricious shit that it is.

Peace,

Mercy

Oh, and Happy first day of Fall

Y'all

New Blog

 No, I'm not leaving this blog. I will still be here as writer Mercy. I'm separating crafter Mercy to her own... well, crafter Marcia who is me... sighs... back when I still went to book cons I sometimes referred to myself in the royal way... it's confusing to have a name that isn't yours be the one most people know you by..............

ANYWAY!

As I have been meaning to do for a long time, I've started a new blog here on Blogger under my Mercy umbrella, strictly for my crafts. Right now there's nothing to see there, but I'm still trying to figure out how I want to go with it. I can't make a decision about my Etsy store. I'm still there, barely, I have a few items that are just riding out their listings but... if Etsy worked right, it is the best place to showcase crafted items. I mean, I could use one of the many self selling sites like my Payhip store, or the store on Ko-Fi. Or I could sell directly from the blog through Paypal. But, all of those options have fees. AND I would have to deal with collecting and paying taxes. I do not want to do that. The pro of Etsy is that they do pay the taxes for you. The fees are roughly the same. Sooo.........

BIG BIG SIGH! The con of Etsy is that you have to drive your own traffic. It didn't used to be that way. Etsy used to actually help small sellers in search. And that is THE problem with Etsy.

So, what used to be my side hustle to make up for the loss of book income that became my main hustle joined the books in the loss department.

SOOOOO! 

If you are curious and want to follow Crafter Mercy at January Moon Crafts then you can find me

HERE!

If not, that's okay, I'll still be here. 

Will talk at you later.

Peace,

Mercy

BLARGH!

 Don't mind me, just post tropical storm hangover.

It's been a long time since we've had something tropical crawl up from the gulf. We, fortunately, did not get the hurricane part of the hurricane, but we did get the feeder bands. It was... meh... I guess. When you've been through Ivan and Katrina they all tend to pale in comparison. 

The new dog, Nico, however, wasn't as blasé about it all. Bubba didn't like the weird rain and wouldn't leave the house. He's not afraid of a little rain. And that's what it was most of yesterday, just a little rain, sometimes heavy but mostly just a constant drizzle. Nothing we haven't had before in his two years with us. But something about this rain stopped him cold. He noped out of all outside offers. Ebil and Dawg went out, and sat on the porch to watch it rain. They seemed to enjoy the cool weather. Nico did not like that either. He thinks he's the boss and protector of his elder siblings. He's really just a scardy cat... er, dog. 

Now I'm tired, with post low pressure sinus issues and not much sleep because the worst of it chose to come through last night and early this morning and I still had to get up at 8 to take Aubrey to class. 

So... BLARGH!

Just BLARGH! I'm hungry, I need a nap. And after an hour of trying to get on and then off a college campus to get my kid after their last class with every exit being closed to non-football traffic I'm about ready to scream. If only I drank. I'd love a double rum strawberry daiquiri right now.

Shut up... don't judge my liquor choices. 

Instead, I'm making grits in the instant pot, going to fry some eggs over easy and have bacon and sliced tomatoes for supper. 

And figure out how to start this mess over again in the morning.

Peace, 

Mercy