Venis Nytes Writes

 It's been a while since I put up a blog and for that I truly apologize.  Life likes to throw curve balls at me. The latest is having to go back into the workforce full-time.  Something I thought I would not have to do. This has put a damper on my writing and practically shut down my wedding business.  But I persist. My published books are now also available on Barnes and Noble, Goodreads, and Rakuten Kobo; in (addition to Kindle an KU.). You can also purchase my books by using the links on my website. Paperback is not available yet, but perhaps in 2023 when more stories are available and you can buy the majority of the series, I will see where sales are. Beef Witch You  More stories are coming from Forestdale. Kissing in the Rain  I have 2 more stories in the works for my Forestdale series with possibilities for more. I have started working on a new series that I have teased on IG and Twitter which will be at least 3 - 4 books in the series.  Ginnie T...

  It's November,  my birthday month and the anniversary of the day my brother died. Both are just a day apart. The first week of November is hard for me and I having been mourning every year since that fateful day when he gave his life to save someone else. 💔 I was just getting to know him and then he was gone. It's also Nanowrimo. The writers fast track time of the year. This month writers are expected to write 50k words or what is considered a complete book. Social media is filled with anxiety, depression and some proud moments of meetingb thy he daily goals or crushing them. I don't take part. For the last two years that I even knew about it, I did the large chunk of my writing in October knowing, November is a rough time. So I'm hashtagging  #nanowrimounofficial or #unofficialnanowrimo when I post word count goals. I set up a kdp account earlier and have been considering writing on Vella. I have two new wips I am working on. The first is a holiday themed story base...

  This month, has been full of doubts and depression. I got a few good reviews for some of my stories but then all of a sudden, Wattpad takes down Kissing in the Rain.  I had just over 1600 reads which was the first time I had reached over 1k reads on any of my stories.  I even had an overpriced book cover made.  That whole situation really stung. But I decided to wear it as a badge of honor and put the entire story that was better edited on Inkitt where I am almost up to 600 reads in under a month. I didn't edit the last story. I will before publishing.  Here's two encouraging reviews. I  am getting reads and votes, but I wonder if people aren't leaving a review because they don't want others to know they are reading erotic short stories.  Do other writers of erotic works have the same problem?  Anyways, Beef Witch You is done just need hard edit and formatting. I want to publish more than one book at a time because I want the freedom of writing ...

  Good gravy!! It's already September. Half of the month is gone by. Hi, my lovely readers!! I did it yall!! I finished my first draft of my novella Beef Witch You .  To type the words The End.    Life changing. I completed something that was not on my list of life things. I have written 2 complete novellas.  Kissing in the Rain: an erotic short story collection  Beef Witch You   (it's a semi-light hearted fun witch fantasy) I  still have a bit more editing, but I created the book cover myself and found a pro to make a promotional video for the story. I think it turned out nice.  Did you know that I have a Spotify playlist for Beef Witch You?  I paid for some advertising last month, but it didn't help as much as I expected.  I made a tiktok page but I don't want to be in front of a camera. I have no desire to attempt any of the latest trends and since I am a new writer...not a new actor, I wonder how it will help me gain exposure fo...

  The editing debate...  I am in the category of broke writers. I invested in grammarly premium, under $200 (after using it several times, I can see the difference and now I catch more errors while writing) I also had a lot of stomach aches, frustration and tears, trying to figure out how to rewrite something that I thought was fine; but with editing sounded better. I sometimes worry that I will lose what I think is the originality of my voice. But then I  think, do readers really care about my voice or just want to read a great story.  On grammarly, I don't stop editing until I get that 100 score, then go back like the rebel I sometimes am, and change a word that they said would be too difficult for knowledgeable readers. Which drops my score to 99. As a person who likes getting the best score possible, it's a constant source of anxiety for me. Grammarly offers structural editing pros.  I checked the price for one chapter of one of my current wip novellas. I ed...

  Writing marginalized characters This was posted on @mpiper_writes on IG I think it's a wonderful piece of advice and a great discussion as a fledgling writer.  I have an Egyptian Trans character, a bi male, a gay female and an asexual character in my wip Ginnie Transformed. They are all side characters. I focused more on the personality than trying to tell their story, but wanted diverse representation in my story.  Just like when I used to read romance growing up and never saw a woman of color represented as a love interest. I like seeing the pieces of a character that aren't perfect and more authors are incorporating this aspect into their books. But mentioning sometimes is better than writing as the premise because looking from the outside in is a whole different perspective.   I am a black woman married to a white man. My father's second wife was white, and the brothers and sister I was raised with are biracial which came with its own set of challenges....

  So August is upon us. I set some lofty goals for the month. I posted this on some of my social media sites.  Here are my writing goals for the month of August: I have completed half of Chapter 6 of my ongoing story Beef Witch You  and hope to be ready to start Chapter 7 midweek while I finish up and edit Chapter 6. That is how I have been able to post between 3500  to 3700 word chapters weekly. Beef Witch You will be a novella. Eventually I  will write a novella for each sector of Forestdale.  They will be free and published on Wattpad and Inkitt. I think it's a good way to practice and improve my writing while slowly building an audience.  I invested a little into some marketing efforts to drive readers to my books on Wattpad. The effect over all,  has been minimal at best. I have gained some very loyal followers of the story which makes me happy.  I have also tried jumping on some writerslift or writerlifts on Twitter but again, it's slow...

  It's late July my lovely readers, and I am once more sick.  I got fully inoculated in June and still got sick. Ain't that some B.S! Yep, got fully vaccinated and did my first larger wedding. This was originally booked in 2019 for 2020 so it was a long time getting to this point and they were an amazing couple from New York. I brought masks with me but proceeded unmasked as were pretty much everyone except the food staff. We had to wait under the large gazebo for almost an hour for the rain to stop and guests complaining. The wedding was a smashing success on my end, earning me another stellar review and 5 star rating, Woo-Hoo!  But less than a week later I am in the emergency room, now on steroids, antibiotics and something for the coughing up bloody yellow phlegm. Feverish one minute, Freezing the next. Had to wait two days to get the correct antibiotic ordered, cause once more doctors don't listen. My throat was so raw, I could barely speak so leaving several voicemai...

  Hello wonderful readers and followers. I haven't posted anything since the latter part of June, so I thought I would check in and let you know that I am still alive and breathing. My writing journey has been a bit of a go-no-go over the last few months. As many of you know, I lost my birth mother at the end of March this year. I took it surprisingly harder than I would have imagined. For most of April, I  marathon read my way through the days to keep from dealing with and suffocating my emotions. Luckily some amazing authors wrote equally fabulous alien sci-fi stories to truly take me out of this world. Authors Honey Phillips, Luna  Kingsley, Presley Hall, and Madison Savage. Here are just a few: In other news on my writing progress Beef Witch You has a 3500-word first chapter. I just finished writing a second chapter yesterday, another 3500 words.  Writing each chapter exactly 3500 words even after editing is my little personal side challenge. Why 3500 words? I...