Announcement: Preorder Available

 This is a quick post to inform you that DCW's latest anthology is on pre-order status for Kindle. The book edition isn't available yet. Click HERE to be taken to the pre-order page on Amazon!

This book releases on November 28, 2023, less than 3 days from now. 

Nanowrimo 2023 - Mood Board

Today was day 1 of Nanowrimo 2023. I killed the word count today - 4290. Ten words shy of 4300. I am okay with that number. As soon as midnight hit, I put down only 367 words. Throughout the day, I spent the moments I could writing. One of my writing friends asked if someone would be available for writing sprints and I joined, logging almost 3,000 words for the 3.5 hours we wrote (and talked). 

In between, I started working on my Cristie Noll website. It is in a work in progress, so it isn't ready for publishing yet. It is getting there, and is giving me ideas for my other website.

What I wanted to share with you is something new for me - a Nanowrimo mood board. Who would have thought to do something like this? I know some people make playlists, but a mood board? Well, here it is.

Here's my #NaNoWriMo mood board. I am feeling it for sure. Romance Anya Hunt Lucas O'Connor Where they meet You already have access to the description of this book. I can tell you that so far it is going well. Working on chapter 2 already.

Nanowrimo 2023 - Lucas and Anya

 Hello readers!

First, let me wish each of you a Happy Halloween. I hope that your day is safe and full of delicious candy. I will be handing out candy and waiting patiently for November 1 to roll over. Zero plans to dress up, because who has the time or effort. I am too busy planning.

The start of Nanowrimo is less than a day away. I haven't shared much about my project, so I will do that now. My Nanowrimo project is a story about Anya and Lucas. Because this is a new idea (and not one I have been planning for some time), the following information can change anytime. I will probably keep the names of the characters. I like them!

So far, this book is untitled. BUT it will be a standalone modern romance in South Crosse. The inspiration for the city is Columbus, Ohio. That is currently where I am living. South Crosse is a fictious city. I am unaware (hopefully) of any town by that name in America. If there is, well WHOOPS!

Here's the initial description:

Anya Hunt is a cafe barista by day and an aspiring author by night. Recently divorced, she tries to understand all the insane changes happening to her and find a way to trust herself to be in a healthy, productive relationship. Finding herself amid all the trouble, Lucas O'Connor walks right into her life and heart.

Lucas O'Connor wasn't looking for a partner. He is happy with his life until he meets Anya. As a stable, ambitious software developer who loves literature, he is intrigued by Anya's budding writing career. Despite his disdain for coffee, he finds himself returning to the same cafe each and every Wednesday to hang out with her for a few hours. When she doesn't show up one week or the next, he starts to worry he did something wrong. And then she arrived in tears. Now he realizes he will do anything to make her happy. And he means ANYTHING.

Will Anya trust herself and allow Lucas in? Will Lucas be able to be satisfied with the slow-to-react Anya?

What are your thoughts? I am more in love with this story as I build the ideas and scenes. I cannot wait for this to be written and published!

Untold Stories - A DCW Anthology

Hello readers! It has been quite a while since I posted on my blog. I simply got too engrossed in writing my upcoming release. All my energy went into that. With Nanowrimo right around the corner, I wanted to share some fantastic news.

The writing group that I participate in (and who have helped make me a better writer) puts out a curated anthology each year. I submitted a piece and was accepted to be included. The piece I wrote is called Rosalyn Von Drawn. It is a fiction piece with a hint of the supernatural. This piece also made me want to write a collection of short stories. So that may be happening at some point! (NO PROMISES)

The title of this anthology is Untold Stories by the Dublin Creative Writers (and friends).

Sometimes the greatest stories, the truest stories, are the ones that nobody hears. Tales that would shock or delight or horrify you, if only you knew how things really were. Truths that have lain undiscovered beneath the surface, behind the mask, beyond the history books, or just around the corner . . . until now.

 Featuring:

A. Howitt, Anne Johnston, Chris Vannes, Cliff McNish, Daryn Wilde, e rathke, Franco Amati, Gabrielle Gold, James Hancock, Jean-Louis Trudel, J.H. Schiller, Kristen Whitney, Liam Hogan, Lorina Stephens, Marilia Bonelli, Martin Vian, Michael Whitfield, Rebecca Grubb, Sarah McHatton, & Thomas Brown

The book will be released on November 28, 2023 on Amazon as an e-book and a print! I cannot wait for you to read it. There are some AMAZING authors in this bunch. 

You can visit their website here: https://www.dublincreativewriters.com/

Stay tuned for more information on the release date and any future submission requests. They are looking for new writers.

Into the Unknown - Progress and Check in

Into the Unknown is the third book in my Running Rampant series. I am currently editing it, but it should be available in the coming months. What I thought I would do is share with you the description and the cover. 

I used the same amazing artist as I did with the other two cover. Unfortunately, I haven't updated my blog at all in a few years so I have a bit of catching up to do. I will be sharing those as well.

Into the Unknown isn't available to purchase now.

Keiran Hyde, the ousted leader of the Shadowtail pack, wanted something more. A life of peace. A family and a future. When Alisa begs him to take her children because of a threat to their lives, he finds out that he has been a father for years. Shocked, he saves his children by taking them to Roaring Fork, TN only to be greeted by someone from his past. Someone he has always loved. Someone who still has his heart. And now, he is faced with more secrets.

Michelle Gibson didn’t expect to come face-to-face with the only man she had ever loved. Meeting him again opened a lot of closed doors, revealing secrets that she tried to keep hidden. Faced with the brutal honesty of her heart, she will do anything to keep Keiran in her life. Even through the pain of the revelation that Keiran was a father to her daughter Desiree.

When the threat of old enemies forces both of their hands, Keiran and Michelle are thrust into a plot to take down the Seattle Elite forever changing family ties. The only thing keeping them going is the truth that they are better together and will do whatever it takes to stay together. Even with a new threat on the horizon. The Resurrection of the Sisters of Twilight.

Royal Road is Perilous

I finished my novel - Into the Unknown. I am ecstatic. In my excitement, I decided to try something new before publication. I was going to release it chapter by chapter on two web-novel sites. One of those was Royal Road.

Let me preface this with the fact that I know the genre I write in has stigmas. I find them ridiculous because romance writing has a huge market where women are the main readers. I am extremely proud of what I write. I do not and will not be shamed for it. I am also capable of writing other forms of writing. Even some of the most experienced writers have problems writing intimacy and sexual content. I can. I do. And I am okay with the fact that I can.

My series Running Rampant is set in the modern world in a ficticous town of Roaring Fork, TN. This series is about Werewolves who turn into normal wolves and not some Hollywood created half man/half wolf. It has very little content where wolves are actually wolves and not humans. And it has zero wolf-on-wolf sexual content.

Whether it does or not, doesn't mean the content I wrote has less value.

So figure me surprise when I find that my story has been denied because the moderation team "believes" I have sexual content in my books. 

Wait...what? The website that has no less than 2500 HAREM stories where one individual keeps and entraps tens and hundreds of women to use at his pleasure? The website that has the ability to have sexual content and mark the story as having sexual content?

The reputation on this website is BRUTUAL. The readers are destructive toward authors and each other. There is so much negative behavior. And that is on stories that do not have sexual content.

Look, I am not saying I don't write erotic stories. I am not ashamed of that either. I am freaking good at writing sex. I am freaking forty years old. But Into the Unknown has around 2-4 chapters out of 30+ chapters that have sexual content. It is less charged than my other content.

You can say I am salty if you wish. I am not. I already have my content available on another website. What I have a problem with is the stigmas that exist for romance writers. What I have a problem with is that I am looked down upon because I write romance or "smut" as people call it. From my friends. From other writers. From random people who have no intention of writing...and from some people who don't even read.

If I write content that even the most seasoned writers have no ability to write, why is this a problem?

Romance writing is ZERO different than the same hours and hours and hours spent writing sci-fi or fantasy, or lit-rpg, or horror, or fiction.

I, as the writer, take the time to plot, plan, write, edit, and toil over my manuscripts. I am creating a world. I am creating characters. And I do it because women should feel intimate and sexually charged. They should feel wanted and appreciated. They should have fantasies. And if I can be a part of that mindset that frees a woman from the bounds that are put on her...heck yeah!

And the sad part is...even with writing this I know the stigma will continue. And that makes me sad. I was denied an opportunity today because someone allowed their own bias to make a snap decision based on zero evidence. The chapter I submitted had violence. It had fighting between two werewolves, one with the intent to kill. And still, the content was denied because of an assumption and bias on sexual content.

Thank you, Royal Road moderators. You made sure I won't use your website. As a writer. As a reader. I hope that you do better for future writers, but I am fairly certain that won't happen. If you allow the destruction you do with readers and what they are allowed to post in the comment section and to each other...you don't actually care about the writers that create the content.

It is a sad, sad world.