thisdiscontentedwinter

[thisdiscontentedwinter]

Woohoo!

Yes, you can buy direct from my website and get the books earlier and cheaper! But they'll vanish on Amazon release day, so we can also put them in Kindle Unlimited.

And at some point, everything will also go wide.

We're trying to make it easier for our readers to buy our books whichever way they choose!

Two weeks until I'm done with the day job!

Not panicking at alllllll...

in unrelated news, am I shamelessly spruiking for preorders for the new book that I wrote with @thisdiscontentedwinter?

Yes, yes I am, because I know you guys are the actual best when it comes to supporting our combined chaos.

Danny Hall gets a Lawyer is an MM romance set in Goose Run, a small town full of quirky characters, big personalities, and unexpected romances. Just don't ask about the goose.

You can order from us direct, and real talk, that makes us double the money we get from Amazon, even with selling it to you cheaper. PLUS you get it a week early on July 22nd. What's not to love?

If you prefer, you can also preorder on Amazon for a July 31st release.

[thisdiscontentedwinter]

Other countries: Let's win political influence by gifting gold-plated jumbo jets. Australia: Best we can do is a bandana and a cat treat. Indonesia: Actually, that works for us.

All jokes aside, this is how you legitimately build relationships. It's not bribery, because everyone knows you can't bribe a cat.

[thisdiscontentedwinter]

Fuck’s sake. As someone who writes both fanfic and commercial novels, this shit makes me want to punch a wall.

Plagiarism is vile, and Layla, whoever you are, you’re a shitbag.

🚨 E-BOOK "AUTHOR" IS PLAGIARIZING PILGRIMAGE FICS 🚨

Buckle up, folks, this is gonna be a long one.

Our prolific author, @relicshamecircle (aka EnduringParadox on ao3) has been made aware of an e-book "author" named Layla Moran who has been blatantly plagiarizing her Diarmute fanfics and just changing the names and a few words around. This is absolutely unacceptable. I always like to think of this fandom as a safe haven and an accepting, kind community. But this is disgusting.

These are the three specific works listed on Layla's account that have been plagiarized from EnduringParadox:

This seems to be the work of someone within the fandom, because how else would she have found these fics and read them and decided to pass them as her own? So Layla Moran, if you follow me and you're reading this, you have made Pilgrimage fanfic authors, who are already so few and far between, feel unsafe to post without you getting your greedy hands on them and trying to take advantage of a small fandom for your own profit. Did you think you would never get caught? My advice to you would be to take down the works yourself before this has to get nasty.

To everyone else, I urge you to report and/or leave one-star reviews stating that they're plagiarized from fanfic. Links and proof below the cut:

The summary of The Beauty and His Beast:

Which is CLEARLY An Invitation to Happiness:

Ugh, Everild and Camdyn... what ugly names. But I digress. Here's the link to the GoodReads page if you feel so inclined to leave a one-star review and report.

An excerpt from An Invitation to Happiness, EnduringParadox:

"David hadn’t fought for glory or gold. At the time, he thought he’d stood for God—that the king’s cause, which he so readily made his own, was not only legitimate but justified both on earth and in the eyes of Heaven. More than five years later, carved into adulthood by the sword’s blade, his body a hardened knot of scarred skin, his throat ravaged by his own roars of rage and anguish, David knows better. That he had gone to war simply because he had been foolish. Because he’d been a young man but had still looked at war with a boy’s eyes—half a solemn duty, half a game. Something that would be done and done with satisfaction."

An excerpt from The Beauty and His Beast, Layla Moran:

"Everild Reed hadn't fought for glory or gold. At the time, he thought he'd stood for God--that the king's cause, which he eagerly made his own, was not only legitimate but justified both on earth and in the eyes of Heaven. More than five years later, carved into adulthood by the sword's blade and burdened with the weight of his choices, his body a hardened knot of muscle and scarred skin, Everild knows better now."

--

The summary of The Rancher's Mail-Order Husband:

Which, obviously, is Bluebells and Daylillies and Wild Roses Running Rampant:

Come ON, even naming Diarmuid's character "Ciarán"???? (And misspelling it Ciarian in the summary??) Here's a link to the GoodReads page. You know what to do.

And THIS ONE she's making money off of. You can buy it for $2.99 on Amazon.

Here's a link to the Amazon page, please report.

An excerpt from Bluebells and Daylillies and Wild Roses Running Rampant, EnduringParadox:

"David had almost joined their company. He’d gone nearly the entire war without being shot and damned if near the end of it all someone hadn’t gotten him right in the leg. The surgeon had told him they needed to take the entire limb. David had grabbed his collar, pulled him close until they were nose-to-nose, and gritted out that he’d break every one of his fingers if he tried it. He kept the leg, earned a limp, and found later, when he was beset by memories and the scent of blood and gunpowder, dizzy, pulse racing, that he’d gotten what they called the soldier’s heart, too."

An excerpt from The Rancher's Mail-Order Husband, Layla Moran:

"Graham had come close to joining the dead himself, narrowing surviving a gunshot wound to the leg near the warn's end. The surgeon wanted to amputate, and Graham, fueled by desperation, had snarled at him through gritted teeth, threatening to break his fingers if he so much as tried. He kept the leg but earn a limp that followed him everywhere, along with something the doctors called 'soldier's heart'--a condition that left him shaking, sleepless, and burdened with memories of blood and gunpowder."

--

And, finally, a summary of The Warrior and The Monk:

Which is just Temu how rich the earth, how bright the stars:

Here's a link to the GoodReads. Rate, report.

An excerpt from how rich the earth, how bright the stars, EnduringParadox:

"One morning, strangers in longships stepped onto the shore. Their arrival was no surprise. Along the sea's coast they drifted, slow, languid, in their monstrously large and narrow vessels with their monstrously large, woven sails dyed in bright, garish colors, a beacon to all that saw them, telling them—as their longships loomed like a pack of wolves stalking their prey—that they were coming."

An excerpt from The Warrior and The Monk, Layla Moran:

"One early morning, strangers in longships silently stepped onto the shore, their presence casting a heavy weight upon the land. Their arrival had been anticipated for days, maybe longer, and was no surprise to those who dwelled in the monastery overlooking the coast. The ships had been visible for miles as they drifted slowly, languidly, along the sea's edge, cutting through the waves like beasts with a purpose. They moved in their long, narrow vessels, which seemed both too large and too lean, with sails woven from thick cloth and dyed in bright, garish colors that stood out against the pale sea and sky. The sails themselves were like beacons, drawing attention,"

--

This is all so blatant and egregious. Shame on Layla. EnduringParadox is a kind and dedicated person writing all of these wonderful stories for our small fandom for FREE and Layla has taken advantage of that. We are small but we are mighty and protective of our own. Let's make Layla regret fucking with Pilgrimage.

[thisdiscontentedwinter]

Murderbot is such a neurodivergent power fantasy. It can

- store unlimited media and watch it privately

- turn down sensory organs that are bothering it

- look at stuff without its eyes

- cross reference its data storage when it doesn't know what to say

- program "human-like behavior"

- super duper kill the shit out of anyone that fucks with it

[thisdiscontentedwinter]

The thing that I think really sets Murderbot apart from a lot of other robot media (particularly mainstream entries like the I, Robot movie) is that bots and constructs aren't a uniquely oppressed class, and humans aren't a uniquely privileged one. A lot of robot media rings a bit hollow because it portrays humans as all living a lavish, comfortable lifestyle, free from the burden of physical labor or control by their corporate overlords, and it's like. I think if the rise of generative AI has proven anything, it's that corporations and billionaires have absolutely no interest in making life easier for anybody, but will gleefully use new technology to make life infinitely worse if it means an extra buck in their pocket.

We are shown over and over again throughout the Murderbot Diaries that humans are mistreated just as badly as (or sometimes, in MB's own opinion, even worse than) bots and constructs. We see humans stripped of their rights, reduced to corporate assets to be bought and sold, sent into suicidal situations, abandoned and discarded as things. We see humans trapped in multigenerational labor contracts -- people born into an indentured servitude that requires them to pay back their food and lodging to the same company that will not let them leave.

None of these are hypothetical scenarios. These are all things that happen to real people in our world today.

And that is a huge part of why it resonates so much. The overarching theme of "capitalism is hell" actually means something because it isn't only applied to the fictional dynamic of bots vs humans. The theme is constantly reiterated through the humans themselves.

And that's also why it's so important that MB demonstrates empathy for and solidarity with humans who are themselves victims of the system. Because ultimately, that's one of the main things the series is about. It's about what it's like to be simultaneously a product, and victim, of a corporate hellscape.

That theme simply can't work if the humans aren't also forced to navigate that issue. If the story can't acknowledge that right now, in our own world, there are humans facing these same problems, and that these human rights matter quite a bit.

[thisdiscontentedwinter]

What's the one thing you could say to someone on a phone call so they'd know you were being held against your will? Fandom edition.

I'll start.

"I've been rewatching Teen Wolf, and you know, Scott really isn't that bad."

[thisdiscontentedwinter]

"My son has been brutally killed and I seek revenge," said the Queen. "You have my sword." proclaimed the Hero. "And my bow," added the Archer. "And my magic," intoned the Mage. "And my gun," quipped the Ranger. "AND MY AXE!" exclaimed the Warrior. "And your son!" replied the Necromancer.

[thisdiscontentedwinter]

Dark Space the Graphic Novel is for sale!

I found this in my drafts, and don't remember if I ever posted it, lol.

If you read using the Kindle app on your tablet or phone, the books will look something like this:

But please be aware if you have a Paperwhite or an older Kindle, obviously your mileage may vary in regards to whether or not they will be in colour, or have that dynamic view. 

For those waiting for the paperbacks, here are some sample pages to tide you over! 

My awesome artist is Mpauw, and you can find her on Insta!

[thisdiscontentedwinter]

Cowriting. A non system.

Recently, I’ve had a few people ask me about cowriting, and how it works when you share the process of turning an idea into a book. And the obvious answer is that firstly, it’s different for everyone. I know that some authors take a character each and write chapters in alternate points of view, and I have done this in the past. It’s a great system! But the most enduring system (thanks, potential ADHD) for me, is the one that to most people seems the most chaotic.

There are no rules. 

“Hey,” one of us will say. “I have an idea. Want to write it with me?” 

And that’s how it starts. 

I wrote the first scene of The Amazing Alpha Tau Boyfriend Project. Then, because I had a bunch of other projects on the go (thanks, potential ADHD) I put it aside and ignored it for months. Then I rediscovered it, and contacted Sarah and said, “Want to write the rest with me?”

And we dived in and did it. 

We don’t have separate chapters or characters. Hell, we don’t even have separate paragraphs. With both Sarah and JA, sometimes we’re adding to the document at different times, and sometimes we’re both in there writing at the same time. Which sounds like chaos, and it probably is, but it works for us. 

Can’t finish a sentence? You’ll try a few times, then suddenly your coauthor’s cursor is right there, and they’re saying it better than you could! 

Have a visitor drop in unexpectedly? Take a break, then come back to find the story is two pages longer.  

Don’t know what happens next? Don’t worry about it—your coauthor does! 

That’s not to say we’re totally directionless. With both Sarah and JA, we might run a few ideas past one another, like “Okay, where does this chapter need to take us?” But it’s rarely more in-depth than that. We’re all pantsers—this system wouldn’t work otherwise!—but when it comes to cowriting, the secret, as well as I can work it out, is that we are all open to negotiation. 

What if I wanted Character A to have a meet cute in a coffee shop? What if that was the way I’d pictured it from the start? And then what if my coauthor said, “You know what? I think this would work better if it was set in a mechanic’s garage.” 

Um, excuse me, what? It was supposed to be a coffee shop! 

But the trick with cowriting is to actually be open to the idea of the mechanic’s garage. Your cowriter has equal ownership of these characters and this story, and, now that you think about it, there’s no reason the scene wouldn’t work just as well, or even better, in a mechanic’s garage. 

There are no hills worth dying on in cowriting, or at least none that I’ve discovered yet. And every day there’s negotiation. If I let them have the mechanic’s garage today, then tomorrow they’ll let me give the character the dog, or the particular job, or the tragic backstory I want them to have. You get the picture! 

It goes without saying that your cowriter has to be the right person for you. It’s all about the vibe! I consider myself incredibly lucky that I gel so well with both JA and Sarah, because writing is fun, but it can also be incredibly frustrating at times, so you need to find the right person (or people!) to do it with. 

You have to trust your cowriter and their ideas. You have to be open to taking the story in directions you hadn’t considered. And, most importantly, you have to enjoy both the process and the end result. And if you can manage all of those things with a cowriter (or two!) then you’ve stuck gold!

Happy reading and writing! 

Looking for more writing tips? Check out the free Patreon I share with Sarah Honey (aka @bunnywest) and J.A. Rock. We can't promise our advice will work for you, but at least it's worth what you pay for it!

(Plus, we do giveaways and fun stuff too!)

[thisdiscontentedwinter]

My niece was talking about the subset of Yowie fiction where they have outlandishly big hands, Apparently an unfeasibly large hand can hold two cocks at once.

I then realized she had said Yaoi.

Only in Australia does this make sense. Even then only a subset of people in Australia. Everyone else is just going to be really puzzled why I laughed.

DW: Not gonna lie, my brain went here first: 

Then it went to the actual creatures... and I honestly don’t know which one is worse in a two-dicks-in-its-hand scenario???? 

Then I got to the rest of your ask and I was like, “Oh! Yaoi!” 

Oh yeah, that’s totally different! 

#straya

[thisdiscontentedwinter]

Adding on to this:

Bunnywest and I have a Patreon, shared with J.A. Rock, and we're going to start putting writing advice there so it's all in one place.

Here's the ink:

It's free to join. There are no paid tiers. Everything there is for everyone, and we certainly have no plans to change that at this time, or for the foreseeable future.

Our writing advice comes with the caveat that we are not experts, but we're willing to share what has and hasn't worked for us. And if there's a topic you want to ask about, you can leave a comment on the Patreon, or ask in the chat over there!

Today I saw someone on threads who said they’re “a best selling author with years of marketing experience” offering marketing advice.

Friends. This person has one book out. It has been release for two weeks and is already free, which is why it’s number one in an obscure category on Amazon. It has “award winning” on the cover but we don’t know which award it was. Could have been a cookery class when she was six—but I digress.

And this persons marketing advice? Spend big on PR firms and ARCS. She sent out 2000 advance copies and 100 special edition book boxes, and hired seven companies to promote her book. SEVEN. That’s not marketing advice. That’s privilege and an over inflated ego.

I’ve seen other patreons around that purport to offer writing advice but most of the updates are links to free resources or tumblr posts. So you’re getting zero value for your dollars.

Anyway my point is, be careful who you’re listening to and who you’re giving money to. I know it’s tempting to sign up to that marketing course or that writing advice patreon, but check the credentials of the person running it.

As an aside, @thisdiscontentedwinter and I have been writing and publishing together for five years now and winter has been doing it for more than a dozen, so if you have any self publishing questions, we’re happy to help if we can.

For free.

[thisdiscontentedwinter]

[thisdiscontentedwinter]

Oh, yeah.

Listen, our advice always comes with the caveat of "this is what worked, or didn't, for me." But at least it's always free!

Today I saw someone on threads who said they’re “a best selling author with years of marketing experience” offering marketing advice.

Friends. This person has one book out. It has been release for two weeks and is already free, which is why it’s number one in an obscure category on Amazon. It has “award winning” on the cover but we don’t know which award it was. Could have been a cookery class when she was six—but I digress.

And this persons marketing advice? Spend big on PR firms and ARCS. She sent out 2000 advance copies and 100 special edition book boxes, and hired seven companies to promote her book. SEVEN. That’s not marketing advice. That’s privilege and an over inflated ego.

I’ve seen other patreons around that purport to offer writing advice but most of the updates are links to free resources or tumblr posts. So you’re getting zero value for your dollars.

Anyway my point is, be careful who you’re listening to and who you’re giving money to. I know it’s tempting to sign up to that marketing course or that writing advice patreon, but check the credentials of the person running it.

As an aside, @thisdiscontentedwinter and I have been writing and publishing together for five years now and winter has been doing it for more than a dozen, so if you have any self publishing questions, we’re happy to help if we can.

For free.

[thisdiscontentedwinter]

Hey all! Wanna read about Friends to lovers, Oblivious best friend, Pining, Coming Out, Bisexual awakening, Awkward first times, and Found family?

then you should grab me and @thisdiscontentedwinter's new book, Road Trip!

It's out on either March 28 or April 11 depending on where you buy it, and it's all about baby gay Matt who's madly in love with his best friend, despite knowing that Jacob is straight—Jacob is straight, right?

Right?

Anyway, you can get it direct from winter's website and save a couple of bucks and download it early, or if you'd prefer you can pre-order it on Amazon.

Winter's website is here: https://www.lisahenryonline.com/shop.html

And the Zon preorder is here: https://books2read.com/rdtrip

[thisdiscontentedwinter]

Fandom really never changes, does it? Or at least the level of reading comprehension for a significant part of it is always going to be poor.

Since my new BFF yslbby blocked me on AO3 so that I can no longer reply to the comments they left in my comment section, I thought I'd reply here instead.

Here's the comment that started it all:

For someone who doesn't gaf, they sure made sure to tell me they didn't gaf, right?

Reading comprehension on full display here.

Yslbby, if you're reading this, please try to actually read it.

I didn't once say "it's okay to be pedos irl" because "underage" is not simply a synonym for "paedophilia." And, without getting into the weeds too much (of either the clinical definitions or the legal ones) in many places an age gap of 16 and 19 is not considered underage. To be clear, you can be skeeved out all you like at the thought of a 16 year old having sex with someone over 18, and that's your right. You can attach whatever moral judgment you want to that. But it's still not paedophilia, and calling it the wrong thing dilutes the meaning of that word.

To everyone who reads this, no, I wouldn't usually bring AO3 comments to Tumblr, even ones as ignorant and rude as these, but if you're going to comment like a troll on my fics and then block me so I can't respond, then yes, I absolutely will.

And I'd still love to know why my fic got this comment from my new BFF, but the 185 other fics tagged as "underage" in their bookmarks didn't. I mean, usually I'd dismiss this as anti bullshit or baby puritan's first day on the internet, but 185 other underage fics? I mean, I think my fic is pretty special too, but I didn't know how special! So thanks, boo.

And as for the repeated "idgaf cuz I said what I said," sweetie, I know. That's your cross to bear. And given the combination of your stellar reading comprehension, your eloquence and the way you put yourself out in the world that all meets in a place that's uniquely you, that cross must be feeling pretty heavy indeed.

If anyone else would like to be morally outraged by the fic in question, here's a link:

https://archiveofourown.org/works/3377438

Most people really seem to love the story, but hey, I guess most people aren't as insightful as yslbby.

[thisdiscontentedwinter]

We also have some of our audiobooks up for direct sale!

Is there a way I can buy books from you directly? Like the ebooks?

Yes… and no? Kind of.

Long story short, my books are in kindle unlimited because that makes around 70% of my income and since I’m aiming to make this a full time gig at the end of the year I kind of need to leave them there.

BUT.

The Adventures in Aguillon series (Red Heir, Elf Defence, and Socially Orcward) is wide, so that means you can get them from @thisdiscontentedwinter’s website!

What we’re trying at the moment is releasing our books early on the website before the KU exclusivity clause kicks in, because that way we get a bigger slice of the pie. So Road Trip, our next book, is available for a dollar cheaper than Amazon right now, and you’ll get it two weeks earlier.

Obligatory link in case anyone else wants to support an indie author-https://www.lisahenryonline.com/shop.html

[thisdiscontentedwinter]

Writing can be a job, but who wants a job where you can't have fun at work?

My writing coworkers are lots of fun!

What an amazing couple of years it's been. April 2023 I released Viking Ink and couldn't have believed how things would go from there. I have written three Tewsbury Daddies books and was invited to write in an amazing Christmas Collab with eight of the coolest writers I know. I've gotten to go on a writing retreat and RARE in 23 and this year I will be attending both GLO and RARE as an attending author. This blows my little mind. The concept that I wrote four freaking books still makes me blink a lot ha. I wouldn't have gotten this far if it wasn't for the Bunny Squad and @bunnywest and @thisdiscontentedwinter Frozen Rabit publishing is the best hahah. This year my goals are simple keep writing books I love and just have fun because at the end of the day suffering for our writing is all well and good but having fun is the bomb. peace love and all the happy to you all