INtrinSicliValud: Blog

Today marks two more chapters of "Owning My Image" coming your way. My dear sweet Laura and her loving husband Dave are now almost in free-fall, hurtling towards the darkest depths. A fair warning, there is more husband/down in these as they both struggle with the fluctuating power dynamic in their relationship. Will their marriage even survive? And how? Stay tuned. I love them both.

The next chapter of "Aiden and the Ring" should be up as well. He and Mrs. Davis twist and turn towards their destiny. As much as I would love to post multiple chapters, they are taking longer to upgrade than I thought. Any new author will tell you; when you go back to your earlier stuff…. Well, it sucks. Okay, maybe not sucks, but I will not share it in its original state. You deserve better. So it's taking a bit of time to polish and remove some of the cringey-er bits.

Once again, a reminder NaNoWriMO kicks off on Monday. So, I will be slewing my main batteries to engage that 50k word target. Not to worry, the requested sequels are simmering away and I have them on my production schedule. And, knowing me, I will still work on showing some love to Dan and Daisy, Naomi, and even my Hungry Wife. Oh, and The Student. She's such a cutie.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Since this is the end of the first month of posting, I crunched numbers this weekend. As of this morning, you have downloaded my stories 17,907 times, and they have received 317 votes, which is a vote/download ratio of 1.77%. The highest rated stories are "On My Own Terms" and "The Student," which is interesting as both of them were the least downloaded. The average score of all my stories is 6.78.

What does all this mean? While not statistically significant, SOL scores are used to rank stories on the site. With an average score of 6.78, mine do not appear in lists of better stories. Other authors are getting higher scores, so I need to get better. Well, doh.

And that's where the string of "Thank You" above comes into play. For whom am I writing? The c.17k nonvoters? The 317 votes? My followers, love you all? Or myself? The answer was myself before this experiment, so that no longer applies. Which means now… Well, it's all of you. I mean, just shy of 18,000 people have downloaded my stories! Maybe they didn't like them, maybe they did. Maybe they never even read them. But at least they saw them. So, you know what? I am going to keep at it.

And that means a super "Thank you!" to all my followers and those of you kind enough provide constructive criticism. Even those of you unkind enough to negatively comment remind me I cannot please all the people all the time. I'm okay with that. It may be smut, but I write about complex people in complex relationships making complex decisions.

As such, Laura and Dave's twisting journey into darkness and beyond, "Owning My Image," is on track and I will continue to post chapter clusters as they pass final review. That looks like five more Thursdays, ending just before Thanksgiving. Likewise for "Aiden and the Ring." I have the next four chapters prepped for posting, which will take us through about the same time next month.

That may be all from me for a while since November is National Novel Writing Month and I am writing a sexy, sci-fi romance story. I have only this week to complete world-building and character development. Then it's on to crank out a 50k rough draft about a naïve super-soldier and the space princess/corporate woman who loves him. I love 'em both, because…. Well, that's what I do.

So, another massive thanks to all of you who take the time and effort to provide encouragement and positive feedback.

Okay, double chapter drop for "Owning My Image" today. At a remote location, Laura loses more of herself to the new business as Dave struggles to hold on. We are heading towards the tipping point for both my babies-weee!

Meanwhile, Aiden and Gina continue to explore their new relationship in Chapter 2 of "Aiden and the Ring." Yeh, I know. No awards for the original title. and I am also aware, that it's a slow burn, but I am reviewing chapters based on feedback to ensure they are a bit more polished. Not to worry, all 18 chapters are complete. They are just in various stages of being tuned-up. And, uh, things ramp up pretty fast as we head towards Aiden's destiny.

Once more, my thanks to all of you sending me feedback on these and my other tales. You have no idea how much I value reader inputs and comments. My goal is to do better and keep you entertained…and intrigued. I read and respond to all emails. So, keep 'em coming.

The good news first. I launched the heavily revamped chapters of my first MC yesterday. I would have posted his first chapter on Friday, but my brain had melted due to the Romance Writer Week webinars and working on other projects. Those other projects include a second MC's serialized story, which requires a lot of editing to bring it close to my current standard.

An important point - text upgrading is a grind, though I love rediscovering my old characters. In both cases, I am doing my best to polish them, but I'd rather not waste anyone's time. So, once posted, please drop me an email and let me know if they are good enough to entertain you, or if I should abandon the effort. If the latter, I will figure out a way to start new tales, filling in MC back-story where appropriate.

And now for the bad news. In response to overwhelming demand, I worked up a sequel to "On the Highway," with dear Dan and Daisy. And I hated it. It was a true-to-trope sequel with no burn, no angst, and the characters were cut-outs. Yes, it had good scenes to support the tropes, but my characters demand better of me. As such, I am adjusting their tale to have more gooey goodness.

Which is a good time to point out that those of you reading "Owning My Image" are in for a bunch of twists and angst before the pay-off. Some tropes are smashed and mutated, others not so much, but, trust me, I love every single character. I have accepted a drop off in readership due to the husband/down stuff in the middle, but that is the nature of my storytelling-messy and perhaps a bit uncomfortable. Like, uh, life. Anyway, that's my goal, so please stay with it and then judge if I got close to goodness, or not.

Well, it's time to introduce my first MC in what I hope you will find an enjoyable world. As a bit of back story, I began erotica writing with serialized fiction, more like prose-based comics revolving around good old harem stories with a dash of urban fantasy goodness. While I gained experience getting words on paper, I also found each tale an entertaining exploration of various tropes and kinks. After further mashing of words, I decided to buckle down and write a story with a proper character arc.

At the same time, being somewhat of a glutton for punishment, I wished to experiment with multiple third person deep points of view. And, just to make it more fun/challenging, do a twist on the "mind control" erotica trope, which I enjoy reading. However, most of them seem heavy-handed, i.e. smack person with a magic/tech thingee and fuck. What if the doodad is more subtle? What if the MC gains a range of "powers" but is more rational in their choice of how/when to use them? What if they eventually subsume the powers? What if the targets were, rather than controlled, liberated by the "magic"?

Oh, and because it's me - what if there is love and caring as well as raunchy, sweaty sex.

Welcome to Aiden's world, aka The Ring Saga series. In this case, I wrote the first tale before I even knew he would become a central character in his own universe. Nonetheless, I have already written a pair of sequels and he also appears in several other completed stories.

WARNING: The Ring was formed long before the concept of flavored sexuality and there are scenes of Male-Male activities within this story. As Aiden, under its influence, engages with any he finds attractive, flavors/genders/types/kinks be damned.

So strap in, strap on and let's ride.

My intent is to post each chapter(s) as they complete merciless final editing on Thursday, my normal release day.