Zetta Hunt's Blog, page 6

Cover Reveal

Finally, after all this time, I'll soon have another story out!

This is going to be story #1 in a series that I'm still trying to figure out a name for, but right now I'm thinking the series will be called Holiday Wishes, but nothing is certain yet. Don't worry, each story will be a stand alone story, which means you don't have to read them in order.

So I present to you the cover for the first story in this series - Her Secret Santa. I'm busy putting the finishing touches on the story and hope to have it out in a couple more days.

I took a break from it yesterday to do a cover. I do my own covers and I'm finding that I really enjoy making them. I guess all those art classes I took in the past are not going to waste after all.

While I did study art at one time, I don't have any graphic design skills. I won't lie, it really worried me if I could make decent looking covers myself. I discovered that many authors used a free online tool called Canva. So before I started this whole self-publishing adventure, I decided to play around with it and see what I could do.

To my surprise, I made something that didn't look too bad. At least I didn't think it looked too bad. My two Office After Hours stories were made completely in Canva. When it came time to do Her Holiday Fireworks, I knew what I wanted the cover to look like, but I was limited with what I could do with the free version of Canva, and I didn't have the income to afford the paid version. (Which obviously you can do more with the paid version)

Since I'm a nerdy Linux user, I already had Gimp on my computer. For those who don't know, Gimp is a free and open source software similar to Photoshop. So after watching a tutorial on YouTube I managed to make a cover that I couldn't have done with the free version of Canva.

I knew how I wanted this cover to look also. Since so much time had elapsed since I made my last one, I had to re-watch the tutorial and after a couple of hours of work, I must say, I was pretty satisfied with the results.

I still did the text in Canva, because I find it easier to do in there, plus they have a nice selection of fonts to choose from. I'm sure in time I'll just do everything in Gimp. But for now the process works for me.

Anyway I need to get back to those edits. When the story goes live I'll be sure to post it on here with a link, so keep checking back.

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What's Coming Soon - Christmas!

Well, here it is the end of November already. I had planned to get at least one story out this month, then that nasty thing called a day job got in my way. Such is life.

Once the day job settled down, I realized Christmas wasn't far off and I really wanted to work on some stories for the holiday.

I also realized how unorganized I am. I've tried in the past to manage my time better and be more organized with pretty much my entire life, but I soon fall off the wagon and go back to flitting my time away. It happens. But as we near the end of 2020 (already!) I reflected back on this past year and my writing goals that I didn't reach.

So I did something that, I'll confess I'm not very good at, I reached out to a friend for help. I have an awesome friend who is good at planning and organizing his time and stuff. So with his encouragement, I put together a rough plan for the remainder of the year.

With Christmas coming and all that entails, it'll be a time crunch for sure, but with my new plan in hand I'm confident that I'll make the best of what's left of the year.

So what does this mean?

It means I've got some Christmas stories coming your way very soon. I had a few ideas floating around my head that I wrote down, came up with a publishing schedule and a plan for getting it all done.

I'm determined to stay on the wagon this time.

The current story I'm working on will be more romantic than steamy. I can't help it, I'm a sucker for Christmas love stories. But don't worry there will still be plenty of sexy steam to fog up your e-reader.

So check back soon, or subscribe to get my posts emailed to you. I should have a cover reveal within the next few days and a new story out shortly after.

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Don't Worry, I'm Still Here

  I logged into this site the other day and realize I hadn’t done a blog post since August. Where did the time go? I’m sure there is a logical explanation for it, like maybe something happened in the time-space continuum, or nasty little gremlins were causing mischief in the time-line. I’m certain it was something along those lines. If that seems unbelievable then I’ll just blame this darn pandemic. After all, that’s what all the cool kids blame stuff on these days.

 

But in reality, I guess I just got busy with other things.

On September 1st I had finally had enough of letting myself go and started working out again. Only this time, I tried not to push myself so hard, so maybe I’d stick with it this time till it became a daily habit. Which is has. Here we are in mid-October and I’m still working out daily. I feel tons better overall and I have more energy and a clearer mind.

But speaking of mind, also in September, I suffered a head injury. After a trip to the ER, the doctors confirmed I had nothing up there to damage. Seriously though, I had quite the sore spot on my head for a few weeks, yes weeks, and for the first week I suffered some mild mental issues. Mostly dizziness or vertigo, and my mind would totally blank, usually when I was talking to someone. Luckily, all of that has passed now. So moving forward.

The Writing

 

I’m sure what you all really want to know is, where are all the sexy stories at?

They are on the way!

I’m in the middle of edits for the third installment of The Office After Hours series. I’ve also got the fourth story started. Then that will wrap that series up, at least for now.

Also, I have a novella in the works. I wanted to do a longer story with more plot and character development and basically just a stronger story overall. It will be awhile before that one is ready.

I wanted to do a Halloween story, since that is my one of my favorite holidays, but it doesn’t look like that will happen this year. I had a few ideas, but nothing I could fully coax into fruition. Hopefully, I can get started on some sexy stories for Christmas though.

So the writing is going. I should have a cover reveal for you guys in a few days if all goes well.

Other Stuff

If you read my last post, you know I was planning on making some changes to this site. Except, Blogger, where this site is hosted, went on a major overhaul of their platform. Sadly, after many months of them working on it, I’ve found several things still not working like it should and most of what isn’t working is the part to make design changes with. So I’m hesitant to make changes for fear I really screw things up. If they don’t get this sorted out soon, I’ll probably just give up and change platforms completely. But that is much further down the road.

For now, I’ve got steamy stories to worry about. Also, I want to get back to posting on here more regularly.

On that note, I need to get back to those edits. In the meantime, stay sexy!

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Stuff That is Coming Soon

 

I’ve gotten back in full swing of working again. Whatever sort of derailment I had back in July (probably the heat) has lifted, and I’m working on several things at the moment. So I thought I’d do a rundown of all the things I have going on that will come your way soon.

New Stories

First up, I found a story I’d started, I have no idea how long ago, that appeared by accident one day as I was trying to do something else (what that something else was is a story for another time) and I thought, hmm. . . I like this and this story would fit in with my Office After Hour series I started that I sort of fizzled out on.

So a third story in the Office After Hours will come your way. I’m almost finished with the first draft. So far, this one is looking like it will be my longest story yet. It’s another MMF story.

Getting Her Clients, my other MMF story, didn’t do as well in sales. I thought maybe MMF stories aren’t the way to go. But, I like reading those kinds of stories, and I’m having fun writing this one.

While I want to please my readers (I’m a hopeless people pleaser) I also want to write things I enjoy and like reading. Who knows, maybe this story will do better?

I feel good about this story, and if I’m enjoying writing it, maybe someone will enjoy reading it.

Also, I had a spark of other story ideas that I hope to get started on soon. Plus, I want to do another Office After Hours story, before I either stop working on the series, or I at least take a break from it. Who knows, I often feel like I’m just winging it anyway.

Site Changes

I’m also thinking of changing this site some. Mainly the way it looks. Which will probably entail changing the theme completely. While I like this theme, I think it would be better for readers of this site to have full blog posts appear on the home page, instead of the current text snippets I have.

Why?

Well, I read a lot of blogs from other writers. So I’m looking at this from the perspective of a blog reader. Recently John Scalzi changed his site design of his Whatever blog. The first design he chose didn’t go over well with his readers. I read the comments to see what people liked and didn’t like. His blog gets a lot of traffic, so it was a good way to hear what readers like and don’t like when they visit a blog. It was interesting as both someone who has a blog and as a blog reader.

One thing that did and also didn’t amaze me is the amount of people who still read blogs on their computer. Many experts say that the web is becoming more mobile centered. I don’t doubt this but according to my site statistics (who knows how accurate they are), I get very few mobile reads. I also take this into consideration.

I enjoy searching out other blogs to see how others have done theirs. In this process I noticed a few things:

1. When there are full posts being displayed, I’m more apt to take the time to read the posts. Why? Well, I skim down the page, something catches my eye, next thing I know I’m reading the whole post and on to the next one. This saves me from clicking on individual posts in a constant back and forth.

2. I often return to some of those blogs. Because I’ve found their posts interesting, it has led me to read the books these authors have written. Which means I’ve discovered a few new authors this way.

3. While my stats on my blog say I’m getting a small amount of daily traffic, I have some posts that have no page reads at all. For example, when I released Her Holiday Fireworks, according to my dashboard stats (again who knows if they’re accurate) that page recieved no reads at all. Which saddened me a bit because I’d written some witty stuff about the story that I didn’t put in the description on Amazon. Granted, that is my best-selling story so far, so it didn’t affect sales, but still. . . I’m a writer, and it makes me happy when I put something out in the world and people actually read it. (Yes, that's my writer ego talking)

4. The other post that didn’t get any reads was my Happy Independence Day post. I think the reason it didn’t get any reads is because of the way it was presented on the main blog page. I didn’t put a photo with that post, but where the text snippet ended, it looked as if that was the whole post. It wasn’t.

5. I’m lazy. And I know there are other lazy people out there too. (To those of you denying this, I’m giving you the stink eye LOL!) Meaning that when I go to a site, I don’t want to have to click forever on the screen to see everything I want. (And don’t get me started on pop-ups!!!! Grrr...) Meaning, when I visit a blog it’s nice to have things on the home page to draw me in. I don’t feel my home page really draws people in to my site.

So what does this all mean?? Well, on the Blogger platform (which I enjoy using) it means to get full blog posts on my home screen, I’ll either have to do some in-depth html work or revert to a theme that is not as mobile responsive as my current theme. The latter is the route I’ll most likely take at this point, mainly because I don’t have the time to play with html right now. I could search for a 3rd party theme, but again, I don’t have that kind of time at the moment.

Back when I first decided to blog (under a different name) I put a lot of time into how the blog looked before I put it out in the world. In fact, I learned I spent WAY too much time on that. The important lessons I learned after were that content is still king no matter what (in my case a really sexy king ;-) and also, a blog is a constant work in progress. Meaning it will change and evolve, or at least it should.

Anyway, sexy readers, I’m sure I’ve rambled on enough for one day (and I wonder why people don’t read my posts). So that’s all for today as I must get back to my steamy writing. Till next time, stay sexy!

No Ideas, No Problem

So my last post I talked about how it felt like my idea well had gone dry. After I wrote that post, I got to work and discovered an idea I’m jazzed about. So I’m back to work on another story.

Two days after that I was sorting through some clutter and I came across the July/August 2018 issue of Writer’s Digest that featured an interview with George Saunders. I couldn't remember if I’d read that interview or not. So I took the time to read it. (This is why I never get any cleaning done.)

In the interview he talked about being wary of outlines and how he tried to know as little as possible (about the story) at every step, so you’re open to the actual energy coming off the page.

Well, gee, where was this advice two weeks ago when I needed it? I mean seriously, here is a guy who’s won a Man Booker Prize, and he starts out knowing as little as possible. Here I am, a producer of smut, trying to brainstorm as much as I can before I start.

Yes, yes, I noticed the difference too.

I’m not out to win awards, or anything like that. I know for a fact my stories are not as well written as George Saunders, or as deep and meaningful as his might be. I’m just doing what I love to do. Still, I pondered about my process, or lack of, or that I’m still trying to find it. I wondered if I’d have sat down, opened a new document, and started typing away what would happen?

But then I sort of know what would happen. I’d produce what they call in the literary world — a hot mess. I know this because I have many hot messes lingering on the hard drive and usb sticks. Still, I experienced pure joy while writing most of them. Some of them are salvageable. . . well, maybe they are. Others. . . yeah, not so sure about the others.

I think writing fiction is a strange and mysterious process. You’re creating something from nothing. Yet, you have to approach it with mundane workman like approach — you sit down and get the work done. Whether you plan everything in intricate detail, or you type whatever kind of words flow out of you in the moment, the work has to get done.

And maybe it’s not supposed to be shoved into a neat production process. It’s supposed to come out a hot mess, you know, to cause the writer pain and grief so it feels like hard work. Maybe that’s the secret, who knows.

But writing is a constant learning process. I accept that. I think what worries me most is forgetting that. I try to push myself further along with each new story. I know I’m still lacking; I know my stories aren’t perfect. I know there are many areas I need to improve in, and I am trying.

The other day I was talking to a friend of mine who’s been writing longer than me and had some measure of success in traditional publishing. He said, “The more you write, the better you’ll get.” I know this, because I’ve uncovered some of my earlier efforts, and marvel at how far I have come.

Then again, I’ve uncovered some early efforts and think, “Wow! I wrote that? This isn’t half bad. Did I really write this? I don’t remember writing this. Was I drunk? In possession of aliens? Who the heck wrote this? Hmm. . . That is my handwriting. Why the hell can’t I write this good now?” Oh well.

Well, sexy readers, that’s my ramblings for the day. Another steamy story is taking shape. So I better get back to work on it. In the mean time, stay sexy!

Procrastination Came by for a Visit

This is me in the hot weather!

I’ve been slacking. I think part of it is the hot weather; I don’t do well in a heat wave. At least that is the excuse I’m using right now.

First off, I want to give a big thank you to everyone who read “Her Holiday Fireworks.” I hope you enjoyed it. It did better than I thought it would. That story was a spur-of-the-moment thing. Seriously, one day I thought, I should do a Forth of July story, got an idea and Bam! I was off writing. I’d cut it really close to get it out before the holiday, but I did it.

Of course, while I wrote it, a million other things needed my attention. After I published the story, I thought I’ll just take the holiday weekend off. After that, other commitments reared their ugly heads.

Then I was like, okay, I need to start another story. I’d sit down at the computer and type something. Delete it. Try again. Then I thought, well, where am I going? Am I going to write the other two stories in “The Office After Hours” that I was planning on? But if you read my other post here, you’ll know that I’ve sort of lost steam on that. It happens. I struggled with those two stories. Honestly, “Her Holiday Fireworks” was a breeze to write compared to those two stories.

Basically, I felt lost.

Flailing and Falling

During this time, I thought, gee, I need to do a blog post at least. But even then I felt a loss for words. Then I decided, well, maybe I need to set my computer up differently to get a better workflow going. Maybe I just need to redo my whole operating system.

Side note: I’m a total Linux nerd. I can change operating systems on a whim. But I'll not bore you with all that nerd speak.

Then I thought, maybe I need to use a different app to write with. Maybe something more suited for writing. I’d written the first two stories in LibreOffice. The holiday story I wrote in a Markdown editor (basically a plain text editor with specific markup for headings and such) and I’d outlined that story first. But instead of sticking with that, oh no, I thought I should look at different apps. Luckily, being on Linux, the number of apps is limited. Meaning I couldn't waste too much time procrastinating.

I’ve also sort of let myself go since I started this self-publishing adventure. The needle on the scale was going in the wrong direction. The advantage of a plague going on is I could just blame it on that. But in reality, I’ve always exercised at home anyway, so it really wasn’t an excuse. I was sitting way too much writing. Or in recent days lack of writing and just wasting time on the computer.

Finding Balance

Ever since I buckled down and said, all right, I’ll finish something and put it out there, I’ve felt off balance in a way. My health was declining, my mental health probably wasn’t that much better, and I was all sorts of frustrated with not coming up with an idea for a story.

This past week I’ve done yoga daily, I’ve gotten back to using a to-do list for daily things that need done that I always forget, and I redid the operating system on the computer because, you know, I freaking can. (‘cause I’m a nerd! ;-)

I feel like I’m coming back together. Which means another story will come your way soon.

I’m certain I was suffering burn out. When I said, okay I will do this at long last, I’ve felt like I’ve been on go, go, go ever since. I was trying to get stories out as quickly as I could like everyone else. But I’m not everyone else. I’m me. And that’s okay.

So now it’s time to get back to what I love, writing. I’ve got ideas churning in the old gray matter again. I’ve got this blog post written. I’m back at it. But I’m trying to maintain more of a life balance this time.

And in case anyone is wondering, did I think about giving up during this time? No, not once. Writing is something I have to do. During these past couple of weeks I’ve done a ton of journaling, which helps to sort out my little noodle brain. I still have tons of stories in me, somewhere.

I knew starting out that this would be an adventure of sorts, and that is part of why I’m sharing all of this with you. Because maybe one of you is on the same adventure, maybe you are hitting bumps in the road too. We all do. It happens. I’m not perfect. I’m just doing the best I can like everyone else.

Well, sexy readers, that’s all for now. I will get another story out, hopefully soon. I’ll also try to keep this blog updated better than I did the past two weeks. So stay tuned and stay sexy!

Have a Happy Independence Day Weekend!

I hope everyone has a safe a happy Independence Day this year! I know for many of us the celebration is going to be different due to the pandemic. So please remember to keep social distancing and please wear your masks. We're all in this together.
So stay safe and have a Happy 4th of July!
And don't forget if you need some extra fireworks, to pick up a copy of Her Holiday Fireworks from Amazon! (Yep, that's me making a shameless plug for my story ;-)

New Release - Her Holiday Fireworks

Greetings sexy readers, Zetta has a new steamy tale for you today! And just in time for the holiday weekend here in the U.S.
The Fourth of July is always a fun holiday. Picnics, cookouts, spending time with loved ones and ending it with a fireworks display in the evening. I have some truly great memories of Independence Days past.
Sadly, with the pandemic going on, most fireworks displays have been cancelled. Those of us wanting to keep loved ones safe, will not have picnics, cookouts or any of the other festivities this year. It is sad for sure, but I'm confident that this too shall pass, it'll just take awhile.
In the meantime, why not read a sexy hot Fourth of July holiday story!

Her Holiday Fireworks is ready for your steamy enjoyment! So get ready for a big hot dog and some fireworks (he!he! Sorry I just can't resist saying that).

WILL THEY GET FIREWORKS THIS FOURTH OF JULY OR JUST ANOTHER DUD?

Lindsey

I hated working holidays. I wanted to be out having a good time with everyone else, not serving up coffee on a hot July day. But when Gavin comes in and invites me to his place to watch the fireworks, I worry that instead of seeing sparks fly, I'll just end up with another dud.

Gavin

When I found out that Lindsey, the sexy barista at my favorite coffee shop doesn't have plans for the evening, I waste no time inviting her to watch the fireworks with me. I plan on showing her how to make real sparks fly, and not just for this holiday, but for all of them.

If you're looking for a big hot dog and some fireworks this Fourth of July, then this story is for you! This is a short steamy summer holiday story with a sweet little HEA. Get ready to find a way to cool off after this one!

Available from AMAZON

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Fireworks are Coming

It’s that time of year here in the U.S. Time for picnics, hot-dogs and fireworks, the big birthday celebration of our great country.

Sadly, with this virus mess going on, many people won’t be enjoying the holiday like normal. So I decided to heat things up for you. That’s right, I’m doing a steamy Fourth of July story.

I’ve always been a sucker for steamy holiday stories, but Christmas is still several months off. So I thought, the fourth is nearly here,  why not do a story for that? I mean come on, a story with a big hot-dog and plenty of fireworks, how could I resist? Right? Right!

I’m in the finishing phases of the story now and hope to have it out within the next couple of days, just in time for Independence Day.

In other news . . .

I’ve got some more stories in the works. I had started on the next Office After Hours story, but it was turning into an ugly beast that wasn’t too pretty or sexy. So I took a short breather from that story, and possibly the series for the time being. That’s when it hit me to do a holiday story. These things happen and that’s just the way it goes.

This has been a learning process for certain with plenty of ups and downs. But overall, I’m really enjoying myself. To my surprise one of the funnest things for me has been doing the covers for my stories. I’ve had an interest in drawing and painting for a long time and have taken several classes. Now I feel like that is all paying off, even if I’m doing it all digitally. Digital or not, the concepts of composition remain the same.

Anyway, I need to get back to those edits. So stay tuned for the release of my next steamy sexy sweet story.

New Release - Getting Her Clients

The second story in The Office After Hours Series — Getting Her Clients is now available!

After much hard work, the story went live on Amazon this morning. I hope you enjoy this super steamy hot story and it gives you the much needed escape that I'm sure we all can use right now.


Getting Her Clients: The Office After Hours 2
A MMF Steamy Short Story

What happens in the office after hours . . .

Vanessa

When my co-worker doesn’t show up for an important after hours meeting, it’s up to me to make sure the owners of Elistar Tech sign on as clients, or else I’m out of a job. The owners are two men who are hot as sin, but I learned the hard way to never mix business with pleasure. Guess I’ll be looking for a job tomorrow.

Dustin and Jake

When Vanessa shows up alone for our meeting, the last thing we really want to discuss is business. We’ve both had a serious attraction to her since we met her. Now the three of us are alone in an empty office. We’ll become her clients, but we’re going to make sure she becomes ours.

If your looking for a short, steamy, sexy read with two hot men and one lucky woman with a cute HEA this story is for you. This is the second story in The Office After Hours Series. It can be read as stand with no cliffhangers. Just lots of sexy times in the office after hours!
It's available on Amazon for only $.99 and free through Kindle Unlimited.

Here's the link for Amazon US: AMAZON
Enjoy!