ghostwritten: Blog

Hello readers,

A little late this week but it will be a quick one. I have to be honest, I'm feeling a little unmotivated to write right now. I think it is a combination of Ashley's Education doing so terribly and just cyclical tiredness (I wouldn't call it burn out, less than that). I've still been able to get something written this week, but I don't think I'll be able to turn out the two chapters a week that I'm usually able to do. This isn't a woe-is-me post, so don't worry about that. I know I'll get back into it after a little breather, it just means there might just be one chapter per week in July for a while. It kind of sucks because I was hoping to follow Snowed In's conclusion with the follow-up chapter right away to maintain some momentum and show what the episodic format would look like going forward.

What I have been able to work on to replace Ashley's Education after it runs it's course, is more Jane Finds Herself. I know, it wasn't the most popular thing I've written but it did have a fairly vocal readership who asked for more. The last chapter also did really well view-wise, which also helped push it over my self-imposed threshold. So, in July you can look forward to (or dread) more chapters of that.

This next week is more of the same, with a new Snowed In on Wednesday. In this upcoming chapter, we head to the library to see what happened to Quinn and Andrea. I'm curious what people think of this 'room' idea. I'm sure readers would prefer to follow a couple of characters and just follow them for a journey but since I wanted to build a bigger roster, I thought splitting them up this way was the best approach. The follow-up, Aftershock or whatever I title it, will be more of a standard linear story as will the rest. On Saturday, we have more Ashley's Education. Thank you to those of you who are enjoying it.

That's it for this week. Thank you as always for reading and everyone who have been encouraging me as I go.
-ghostwritten

Hello readers,

Well, that was a wild week of surprises both good and bad.
The Good - The first chapter of Snowed In (plus the intro) has surpassed my highest expectations for downloads, so thank you to everyone for that. I hope people are enjoying it and look forward the remaining 4 chapters of this episode of the story. I'm still not sure how this style of story will be received once it transitions from Snowed In to the Episode 2, Aftermath. I might fudge the title a little bit adding something to indicate they are all part of the same story, like Science Club: Snowed In or something to that effect. Let me know your thoughts if that makes sense.

The Bad - This seems like my bad actually, but Ashley Education... yikes. I guess I hoped there would be an interest in continuing Ashley's journey but nope. That's on me. Normally when a story bombs, I'll ask for suggestions to improve or something like that. It's usually crushing and feels bad but in this case, I think I just misjudged the whole thing and I'll just let the 5 chapters play out and then drop it (unless there's a dramatic turn around). It sucks, but that's how it goes. I'll need to come up with something to replace it once the written chapters are posted. I've got some planning to do.

Outside of that, not much else to discuss. Next week has a new chapter of each story, with Snowed In moving into the Gym with Darius, Miguel, and Maggie. After that, Ashley's Education continues with Ashley and her roommate getting to know each other more.

That's it for this week, a shorter blog I suppose. Thanks for reading, commenting, and messaging.
-ghostwritten

Hello readers,

This will be a big one, so let's get right into it.
First off, let's start with this past week. Jane Finds Herself has wrapped up its five-chapter run and thank you to everyone who chose to read it. Views for this final chapter peaked out as its' highest ever, which was a nice way to close it out. You may have noticed several setups for future chapters in the text and the jury's still out on if it will come back. I've enjoyed writing this one, it was fun and different to view things from a girl's first-person perspective. Jane, Riley, and Riley's dad Curtis have an interesting dynamic which could be fun to explore again. If it does come back, I'll likely move it to Wednesdays in the future, as I think it might grow better. I don't know if there's a 'best day' to post stuff here on SOL, but I view my Saturday releases as 'Primetime' stories and this one just hasn't captured people on this day. I'll see how my writing schedule goes once things open up again for me and maybe there will be room for another batch of chapters. Please let me know if you want more, it honestly does help let me know there's an audience for things.

Second, this was also the end of Sister's Servant, which has been my longest running story to date. This strange little story barely survived its' initial 3 chapter posting, with lackluster views and uninspired review scores. It was only after a few people reached out that I decided to do another few chapters and then more followed those. As I said, if there are people championing and pushing for more (and I have ideas), then it increases the chances of more chapters. So, thank you to everyone who helped make this story happen.

Now here's the next question to the Sister's Servant fans out there, would you like more? I'll say this right here, this one is done and no more chapters will be added, BUT... what if there was a Book 2? I had a few ideas for a follow-up, catching up with Addie, Corey, and Tina, a few years down the road in college. Would there be any interest in something like that? Please let me know, I'll modify the end-caption on the story asking the same question so let me know in the comments of the story or via email.

To the future! You're probably asking what's with the title of this blog, well last year in June (the 15th to be exact) I posted my first chapter here on SOL. It was the first chapter of Ashley's Awakening, a riff on someone else's very old story (Downtown with No Money) from another site. My goal all the way back then was to post one story/chapter each week until the end of August. It seemed an ambitious goal back then, having not done any creative writing since high school more than 20 years ago. I posted my first blog outlining this goal and was welcomed by many members of the community here. Well, here I am almost a year later and I've not missed a week. Hell, half the time I've posted twice a week with the added Wednesday story too.

I've had a wild time, writing things I've had in my head for over a decade (The Creek) and just weird things are likely funny only to me (The Winter's Bite series). There have been triumphs, like the Clitorides Award nominated Peeping Tammy (thank you to everyone who nominated it!) and some failures like Teacher's Pet. Throughout the whole thing, it has been so crazy to sit down and write whatever comes into my messed up brain. I'd like to thank all the people who've reached out over the past year to offer suggestions, praise, criticism, and support. I would also like to thank my editor Checkmark50 for his great work cleaning up my written messes.

So what's coming up now, you ask? Well, first off on Wednesday you'll see the long delayed Snowed In. This one was stopped initially due to the potential rule change issues a few months ago. Everything seems to have calmed down and returned to normal so it seemed like it was safe to post this now. Snowed In will be the first episode in series following a group of students and one teacher who stumble upon gas that overstimulates the brain and causes the user to sexually lose control. I know, you've read a number of stories with this type of plotline. My plan though is this will be episodic, like a television show (think Buffy, Supernatural, etc.). Each episode will be 4-5 chapters long and will deal with the aftermath of this gas and the ramifications of its' use. I think it will be fun and different. Give it a try, you might get addicted!

After that on Saturday, I thought that in honor of my one year anniversary here I should return to where it all started, Ashley's Education. This story follows Ashley, now free from her controlling parents, in her first year at college. She has to manage her classes, modeling, work, and all new relationships. There will be new faces and returning friends along the way. Fun will be had, mistakes will be made, and experience is the best education.

I've wanted to continue this story for a long time and finally thought this was the right time to do it. If you haven't read the original Ashley's Awakening, you should. It is a high sex story if that is something you are adverse to, but there some character work in there as well. It was the first thing I wrote, so it might be a bit rough now. Try not to rip it apart too much, but I hope you enjoy its' sequel.

Thank you to everyone who's made this year writing on SOL so memorable. I look forward to another great year and many more stories to share.
-ghostwritten

Hello readers,

I'd first like to thank everyone who reached out and provided their thoughts regarding last week's blog on writing from a female first-person perspective. I had a lot of great feedback, personal thoughts, and differing viewpoints. Generally, it seems to be split with some people enjoying it while others do not; others said to just do whatever I wanted. I would really like to say an extra thank you to the reader who offered suggested readings of some female writers to help with understanding that perspective, that was really nice. I'm going through some of the suggestions and it has been helpful.

As for the story itself, I'm not sure when you'll see something you can actually read; I'm hoping July (the current story planned for June has been extended to 10 chapters from 5) but it is hard to know exactly. I want to get this one right and do a good job on it, so I don't want to rush it too much. As I've said, it will be quite different from anything I've written thus far and would have likely been put on the 'ghostwritten after dark' account. I want this one front and center though on the main one here.

As for current writing, this week was kind of a waste. Due to some personal stuff, I'm losing a lot of the key writing time for the next few weeks. It's nothing bad. but it chips away at an already tight timeline. It won't affect much now but may lead to a few single chapter weeks in the future. We'll see, maybe I can make up the difference somewhere.

What coming up this week? It starts with the final chapter of Sister's Servant on Wednesday. How will the rest of the night go for our trio of Addie, Corey, and Tina? Will there be any long-term ramifications from these events or will this be a one-night affair? After that, it is the final chapter of Jane Finds Herself. It is Jane's last night camping and it is a memorable one. What will become of her new friendship with Riley? Jane and Curtis hook-up one last time, can Jane fulfill one of his fantasies? Where do things go from here?

I'll keep this week's blog short and end it here. Next week, I'll have a MUCH longer one discussing the ends of both Sister's Servant and Jane Finds Herself. I'll talk about any future plans for the characters, if there are any, and a little discussion about each. After that, I'll introduce what I have and what I hope you'll read in June, as well as a few other things.

As always, thank you for reading, commenting, and the messages. They mean a lot and help drive me forward.
-ghostwritten

Hello readers,

Another weekend, another blog.

I'll start off with a question for my dear readers, do you like or dislike stories from a female first-person perspective? I know that seems random to ask, but I'm in the planning stages of future story and would love different opinions. I'm seeing drops in readers for Jane Finds Herself and I am hesitant if it is the perspective view that people don't like or something else. The story I'm planning (which is a ways off from the writing) seems like it would be best served from that view, giving a slightly more confined and worrying viewpoint for the protagonist. But if it is something readers don't like, then it could be switched in advance. As I said, it is far from starting but I'm working on world-building aspects and characters when I have a free moment.

As mentioned above, I'm seeing declines in views for some of my stories. I think it is time to re-evaluate my priorities when it comes to who I write for. I would write for what I thought was the widest audience, trying to make everyone happy (most of the time). Now, maybe I should just write whatever I feel like if I have a decent idea. If I find an idea fun, should I just continue it even if few people read it? Those are the questions I am looking at now. Maybe turn towards a niche writer instead of general audiences. I don't really know, I have plenty of time to think about it. But why is that?

The story I'm working on currently (REDACTED), which I previously mentioned was giving me trouble, has expanded in scope. Planned as 5 chapters with possibility for more will now move to 10 chapters. Why? Well, first it is fun to write. Second, it alleviated the problem I was running into. It felt like I had to cram too much stuff into a short timeframe, which made everything feel rushed, hollow, and withdrawn. Now things feel more dynamic and I can do more with the characters. We'll see the return of REDACTED in June, so I hope you stick around to read it.

Next week, well it is more of the same. There's the penultimate chapter of Sister's Servant on Wednesday. How will the plan of Corey play out that will help him with Addie and Tina? Can he solve all his problems in one night? Following that on Saturday is Jane Finds Herself, which sees Jane and Riley get closer while Jane progresses her relationship with Curtis, Riley's Dad.

That's pretty much it for this week. Again, please let me know your thoughts on the female perspective thing. It really does matter since I'm in the planning stages. Thank you to everyone who's read something of mine this week, whether new or old.
-ghostwritten