Harper Bliss's Blog, page 41

On typing ‘The End’

A quick note to those of you who have been following the progress of Summer’s End. Just before noon today, I typed ‘The End’. The first draft is now finished. It took a little bit longer than anticipated, but it was so satisfying to complete the story. The word count at the moment is just under 34.000 words, so we can call this a proper novella petite novel.

I’m now anxiously awaiting the verdict of my wife. Considering I’ve used The S Word (aka soul) three times, I’m expecting the worst. (She hates The S Word and I do usually try to avoid it, but this story just begged for it.)

Now that I’ve finished the first draft I can confidently aim for a mid December release, just in time for Christmas. Speaking of which… here’s the cover for the Christmas mini-anthology I’m putting together. Just as Sweat, it features stories by the talented likes of Erzabet Bishop, Laila Blake, Cheyenne Blue and Lucy Felthouse.

Like the hat?

I know this is a bit rushed, but I must go to Ikea again…

+ + +

Latest releases: Girls Only: The Collection and I Still Remember

+ + +

Want Hired Help for FREE? Subscribe to my mailing list >>

+ + +

Want more FREE stories? Download Fool for Love (High Rise Novella One), Wetter, All of Me and New Girl

Some other news

No writing today (rarely on Fridays). Instead of getting up early, I stayed in bed until 8, painfully digesting that bottle of wine I drank the night before (aka suffering from a well-deserved hangover). Then we went to our new office to take measurements before venturing to Ikea. We know what we want, but it may take a while to get it all done (aka I will be working form my bedroom/office for a little while longer.)

But, hey, I have a new book out! Let me clarify though. The words in Girls Only: The Collection are not new and this is not a book for those lovely people amongst you who have read most of my short stories. Instead, this collection (of all my short stories I have the rights to) is for people who have maybe read one or two of my (short) stories and want more, e.g. a rather hot bundle of lesbian erotica.

If you happen to be one of those people looking for short and sweet F/F tales, here’s the info:

This scorching hot collection bundles ten lesbian erotica short stories from Harper Bliss. The settings vary from bars to gyms and the characters range from tennis players to cut throat lawyers, but, as always, all these tales feature… Girls Only.

Caution: This title contains graphic language and all sorts of lesbian sex and is suitable for adults only.

The stories in this book have been previously published as standalone titles, in Girls Only Volume One and Two and the Ladylit anthologies ‘Anything She Wants’ and ‘Sweat’.

Table of contents

- Alphas

- Personal Training

- New Girl

- Champagne

- Match Point

- Bar Service

- Wetter

- Fair and Square

- All of Me

- The Client

The only ‘unfamiliar’ story in this TOC is The Client, which I released under a different pen name for A Hotter State. (The idea behind Sadie Spiller was to write some straight stories but I just can’t tear myself away from lesbian erotica (aka my one true love), hence the far from prolificness of Sadie.) (The Client is F/F though! Not to worry!)

Girls Only: The Collection is available from the following retailers (and the slower ones will follow soon, as usual):

Amazon US

Amazon UK

Amazon DE

Amazon CA

Smashwords

All Romance

Kobo

Direct from author

buy

Now, about that boxed set I kept going on about yesterday. What do you think?

For those of you waiting for ‘new words’, I’m currently putting together a Christmas mini-anthology featuring stories by the same wonderful authors who contributed to Sweat. Christmas might be hot this year!

P.S. As always, I have review copies available. Do let me know if you’d like one.

+ + +

Latest releases: Girls Only: The Collection and I Still Remember

+ + +

Want Hired Help for FREE? Subscribe to my mailing list >>

+ + +

Want more FREE stories? Download Fool for Love (High Rise Novella One), Wetter, All of Me and New Girl

My Ten Day Challenge – Day 11

Last night, after I published my blog post, we got a call from our real estate agent to ask if we were available to check out a brand-new-on-the-market flat in the building next to ours. We were the first people to see it, we loved it, we said we wanted it and this morning we signed the lease. That’s how fast things happen in this city. So, in the course of 24 hours we found and secured office space and a new flat. My brain can hardly process.

Because I knew the rest of the day would be a bit crazy, I got up early this morning and started writing at 8 a.m. I managed 2000 words before we had to leave to meet our real estate agent. I’m nearing the end now, but I will have to rewrite and add some scenes in the beginning. I do like this routine of reaching a decent word count before lunch and then clearing my head by doing other things in the afternoon.

Then, after lunch, for some reason I became obsessed with boxed sets. Check the Amazon top 100 and it’s full of them. So, I decided I wanted my own boxed set. I’m a writer and my brain does not work in 3D, but I then became obsessed with making a 3D book cover boxed set of the 7 novelettes I currently have out. I will reveal the result soon, but I did get great satisfaction out of successfully creating ‘A Super Sexy Lesbian Romance Boxed Set’.

Currently, my eyes are killing me and I will need to step away from the computer shortly. We’re going out to celebrate the double lease signing and I may not check in tomorrow as I have out-of-the-house things to do most of the day. (And on Saturday we’re ‘celebrating’ Hong Kong Pride.)

This is our new office with nothing inside.

I’ll post an ‘after’ shot when we’ve decorated it.

P.S. Are my blog posts less bitter now that my Mrs is back?

The numbers:

Day 1: 1000 words

Day 2: 3600 words

Day 3: 2400 words

Day 4: 0 words

Day 5: 6000 words

Day 6: 5000 words

Day 7: 4500 words

Day 8: 4300 words

Day 9: 1700 words

Day 10: 2500 words

Day 11: 2000 words

Total: 33.000 words

+ + +

Latest releases: I Still Remember and Sweat (Five Sporty Tales of Lesbian Lust)

+ + +

Want Hired Help for FREE? Subscribe to my mailing list >>

+ + +

Want more FREE stories? Download Fool for Love (High Rise Novella One), Wetter, All of Me and New Girl

My Ten Day Challenge – Day 10

I can’t call it a Ten Day Challenge without Day 10. So here it is. I started working on Summer’s End again this morning, after taking a delicious four-day break from it. And I was feeling it. I started at 8.30 (not so much a morning person when the wife is home) and wrote 2500 words before lunch. Taking the overall total to 31.000 words. Once I crossed the 20.000 words mark I knew this novella petite novel would never end at 30.000 words and it hasn’t. I have a few more chapters to add and I think the first draft will finish somewhere between 35.000 and 40.000 words.

Also, to my big surprise, I started to miss blogging on a daily basis. It feels so good to vent on here a bit. Seriously.

After lunch we continued our search for both a new flat and a Ladylit office. No luck on the flat front just yet, but… we’ve signed the lease for an office! In fact, we already have the key. (Nothing moves as fast as real estate in Hong Kong!) We can start decorating (aka go on many trips to Ikea, which is conveniently located at walking distance from our home) already. I’m so excited about this. By Hong Kong standards it’s a fairly big, lofty space and it will be ‘such fun’ (sorry, I watched too many episodes of Miranda recently) to move out of my bedroom/office.

Meanwhile, the first draft of Summer’s End isn’t finished yet, but it does already have a cover (which may get tweaked a little along the way.)

I so wish it was me in that picture

I’ve made a deal with myself that every day I’m working on Summer’s End, I will blog about it. So, hopefully until tomorrow (unless I spend the day at Ikea.)

The numbers:

Day 1: 1000 words

Day 2: 3600 words

Day 3: 2400 words

Day 4: 0 words

Day 5: 6000 words

Day 6: 5000 words

Day 7: 4500 words

Day 8: 4300 words

Day 9: 1700 words

Day 10: 2500 words

Total: 31.000 words

+ + +

Latest releases: I Still Remember and Sweat (Five Sporty Tales of Lesbian Lust)

+ + +

Want Hired Help for FREE? Subscribe to my mailing list >>

+ + +

Want more FREE stories? Download Fool for Love (High Rise Novella One), Wetter, All of Me and New Girl

My Ten Day Challenge – Day 9

Although I didn’t reach my word count today, I will NOT be complaining. In fact, I’m sitting here in a rather perplexed state because of the fact that the little press my wife and I founded a little over a year ago has officially sold more than 25.000 books. On the first of very month I ‘do numbers’ and that’s the number that showed up. And all I want to do right now is distribute 25.000 kisses to every single one of you who bought one of our/my books. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! (And to think that one of the more common misconceptions in publishing is that F/F erotica doesn’t sell…)

Anyway, on to the business of today. I got up at 6.30 so I could start at 7 a.m. and I managed to write 1700 words before I had to leave the house. Ran some errands, read some submissions at Starbucks (I only drink their tea), had lunch with a friend (all caught up on the latest gossip), and arrived back home around 2 p.m. From the minute I set foot in my bedroom/office, I knew it wasn’t going to happen anymore today and I wasn’t going to reach my 2000 words goal.

Some kind people over at GoodReads have been trying to convince me that I’ve done more than enough, and I chose to believe them. This novella petite novel will also not be finished once it reaches the 30.000 words mark, so it will require a few additional writing days next week, anyway. On top of that, I really, really, really needed a break from it. I know I can come back to it with renewed energy next week, so I’m going to take the weekend, have a few tonight (celebrating the Ladylit milestone without its co-founder), go for a hike tomorrow and on Sunday I’m going to the Gay Day at Disneyland.

I may or may not check in tomorrow (Hong Kong hikes notoriously end with too much beer), and in case I don’t, I do want to say that I’ve enjoyed blogging every day a whole lot and I want to thank everyone who left a comment (here or on GoodReads) and everyone who sent me messages of encouragement. No matter what happens this weekend, Summer’s End is scheduled for release around Christmas, so I’ll keep you posted on that.

Meanwhile, have you watched Concussion? Last night, I watched it for the third time in one month’s time and I still enjoyed it every bit as much.

Hands up if you want a Laila Robbins/Robin Weigert spin off!

The numbers:

Day 1: 1000 words

Day 2: 3600 words

Day 3: 2400 words

Day 4: 0 words

Day 5: 6000 words

Day 6: 5000 words

Day 7: 4500 words

Day 8: 4300 words

Day 9: 1700 words

Total: 28.500 words

P.S. Good luck to all the brave people starting NaNoWriMo today!

+ + +

Latest releases: I Still Remember and Sweat (Five Sporty Tales of Lesbian Lust)

+ + +

Want Hired Help for FREE? Subscribe to my mailing list >>

+ + +

Want more FREE stories? Download Fool for Love (High Rise Novella One), Wetter, All of Me and New Girl

My Ten Day Challenge – Day 8

One night maybe a year ago I was at a gay bar and I started chatting to a random guy and the conversation landed on The Voice (as conversations in gay bars do). I confided in him that I l.o.v.e.d. The Voice but couldn’t stand Christina Aguilera. He looked at me in disbelief, got up, walked away and never talked to me again.

“Well, that’s a little bit exaggerated,” I thought, because I really couldn’t see the appeal. Until this season of The Voice when Christina Aguilera started dressing as a lesbian.

Thanks for undoing the tie already, Christina.

I see it now. And I apologise to every gay man I’ve ever offended by saying unkind things about Xtina. Why am I going on about this? Well, I need a picture in this post for on Facebook and I also suspect I may be losing my mind. Almost 20.000 words (19.800 to be exact) in four days will do that to a person.

It’s too much, and if it hadn’t been for this challenge, I would have taken a break this afternoon. (But I have my pride and I’m stubborn enough to want to finish it.) It’s not the numbers of words per se (although today I had to resort to Write Or Die to get them done), but all the living in my head that comes with it.

I wanted to make up for failing to reach 5000 words yesterday, but I failed again. I did my 3000 words before lunch (hunger is a good motivator, I just don’t allow myself to eat until I’m done), but only managed 1300 words in the afternoon. I was in massive procrastination mode and couldn’t snap out of it (corgi videos are so addictive.)

But, between all the whining and procrastinating, I am actually only 3200 words removed from my 30.000 words goal. I’m getting there. The wall I spoke of yesterday was just fatigue and I know where my characters are going (to bed, with toys). Today was the last full day I could work on it, though. I have out-of-the-house stuff to do all morning tomorrow (and morning is obviously my best time to write) and on Saturday I’m going on a desperately needed hike.

But, of course, I’m not going to stop now. I’ll just get up extra early tomorrow and try to get some words in before I have to go and try to amp myself up (aka severely abuse my nespresso machine) in the afternoon to make it to 2000 (the official goal for tomorrow) and then I’ll try to finish it all off on Saturday before the hike (for which I only have to leave at 10 a.m., but it does mean no wine on Friday evening, oh no.)

And now, I’m going to watch Concussion again (I’ll take a picture.)

The numbers:

Day 1: 1000 words

Day 2: 3600 words

Day 3: 2400 words

Day 4: 0 words

Day 5: 6000 words

Day 6: 5000 words

Day 7: 4500 words

Day 8: 4300 words

Total: 26.800 words

+ + +

Latest releases: I Still Remember and Sweat (Five Sporty Tales of Lesbian Lust)

+ + +

Want Hired Help for FREE? Subscribe to my mailing list >>

+ + +

Want more FREE stories? Download Fool for Love (High Rise Novella One), Wetter, All of Me and New Girl

My Ten Day Challenge – Day 7

As Harper Bliss, I’ve never written a work longer than 21.000 words (Fool for Love is the longest). I’ve written two novels, one out there under a different name (ask nicely and I’ll tell) and another one shelved away on my hard drive because, well, that’s the only place it deserves to be.

Now that I’ve reached the 22.500 words mark in Summer’s End, I seem to have hit a wall. I breezed through 3000 words before lunch (1200 before I even had a coffee, straight out of bed and in front of the computer) (some days it’s so handy to have an office/bedroom) and was smiling all the way through my lunch break (not easy when you live in Hong Kong where hardly anyone ever smiles back), enjoying the sun etc., believing this was going to be an awesome day of writing, and then… the wall.

I’m sure it has to do with nerves of writing something longer than I’m used to (I usually stop long before I have a chance to get stuck) and it doesn’t help that my characters have worked themselves into a bit of an impasse. Before I started this novella petite novel, I always envisioned it as a story in two parts and I’ve now reached the end of part one and part two is not sprouting from my fingers the way I had imagined it. My strategy at this moment is just to try again tomorrow morning, when my brain is fresh and roaring to go. I did manage another 1500 words this afternoon, for a total of 4500 words today, which is not bad at all. So, as always, we’ll see tomorrow. But, in general, today was much better than yesterday, I just need to figure some things out.

Apart from that, I’m sick of living alone. I’m not a person who does well alone. I’m one half of a twin and, quite literally, from the day I was born, someone else was always there.

(Have you seen this video, by the way? I’m sure my mother will say this could have been my sister and me 35 years ago.)

I do have a dinner date tonight (and a bunch of plans for this weekend, some healthy and some not), and, at the end of the day, it does look as though I’ll make my word count by my self-imposed deadline, so I really can’t complain (but I do it anyway, I can’t help it.)

Meanwhile, here’s the view from my other office/bedroom window.

Some buildings

The numbers:

Day 1: 1000 words

Day 2: 3600 words

Day 3: 2400 words

Day 4: 0 words

Day 5: 6000 words

Day 6: 5000 words

Day 7: 4500 words

Total: 22.500 words

+ + +

Latest releases: I Still Remember and Sweat (Five Sporty Tales of Lesbian Lust)

+ + +

Want Hired Help for FREE? Subscribe to my mailing list >>

+ + +

Want more FREE stories? Download Fool for Love (High Rise Novella One), Wetter, All of Me and New Girl

My Ten Day Challenge – Day 6

I often joke with my friends that ha, ha, ha, I write lesbian porn (they’re mostly gay men so they don’t have a clue). But, of course, I don’t write porn. I write romance. Extremely erotic romance, yes, but definitely romance. And writing romance takes quite an emotional investment, because the emphasis is never totally on the sexual actions, it’s very much on what the characters are feeling. I can’t just sit down and put some words on paper (screen, actually) without feeling what the characters are feeling. In fact, if I’m not feeling it, I may as well not write it because then it might as well be porn. Half of the time, this is an easy process which I often breeze through with a smile, mentally fist-pumping and generally being happy for my characters because, well, they’re getting some a lot. But today, unlike yesterday, it was not easy.

Today it felt as if I had to fight for every word. I never entered ‘the zone’ and I was so riled up by 5 p.m. that I put on my running shoes and had to go work it off in the park. But hey, I reached my word count nonetheless. Started at 8 a.m. and got 3000 words in before lunch and then, while hanging on by the skin of my teeth, pounded out another 2000 between 3 and 5 p.m.

The reason why I managed to write 5000 words on a severe off day was because, quite possibly, this is now going to turn into a 9 Day Challenge and I couldn’t afford to waste time and, well, I’m a writer. And writers write. It’s what separates me from non-writers. It’s what I do, so I did it. It really is that simple. Obviously, this is not my first off day, and while I do sometimes throw in the towel early (and focus on more publishing-related tasks for Ladylit and A Hotter State instead) I do know that, despite having to struggle for the words, this doesn’t necessarily mean they end up worthless. And it’s always good to power through, even when it’s difficult.

But hey, the weather was nice today.

The view from my office/bedroom

To make things better (because my wife’s not here and she usually makes things better for me), I listened to this song on repeat and discovered lyrics that go perfectly well with this novella.

Hot summer nights

Mid July

When you and I were forever wild

Well, Summer’s End is set at the end of August (hence the title), but you catch my drift. I’ll stop moaning now because tomorrow can only be better.

The numbers:

Day 1: 1000 words

Day 2: 3600 words

Day 3: 2400 words

Day 4: 0 words

Day 5: 6000 words

Day 6: 5000 words

Total: 18.000 words

+ + +

Latest releases: I Still Remember and Sweat (Five Sporty Tales of Lesbian Lust)

+ + +

Want Hired Help for FREE? Subscribe to my mailing list >>

+ + +

Want more FREE stories? Download Fool for Love (High Rise Novella One), Wetter, All of Me and New Girl

My Ten Day Challenge – Day 5

If only every day were like today. Awoke at 7 a.m., started writing at 7.30 and by lunchtime I’d written 3700 words of highly dramatic lesbian erotic romance. I took a long lunch break because I thought I deserved it and watched The Good Wife (best show on US network TV, hands down… this episode was so good, I may have to watch it again tonight) and Homeland (not too shabby either but I always get very stressed when Carrie stops taking her meds!) Then I took a nap while ‘watching’ Elementary, which is actually a show I quite enjoy, but somehow it has the same effect on me as a sleeping pill.

I sat back down to write at 3 p.m. and wrote another 2300 words to reach today’s grand total of 6000 words. Needless to say, I’m quite ecstatic. I’ve never before written more than 4000 words in one day and today I broke my record by a really nice percentage (I’d tell you exactly but my brain is not really working anymore at this point.)

I’m in the middle of the story now (13.000 words in) and I’m enjoying it so much. It’s been a while since I wrote something of novella-length and it’s quite satisfying to take more time to delve into the characters motivation and (troubled) past. Also, when you write 6000 words a day, you enter what is called ‘the zone’ and there’s nothing quite like it. It’s a kind of rush that propels you forward and gives your fingers a life of their own. I am the very definition of a pantser (which is why I usually don’t write very quickly because I really do make it up as I go along and that requires a lot of gazing through my window) and when the story starts flowing it’s such a buzz.

I wish this was my window (also, I must stop taking pictures of my TV)

You must wonder how a self-proclaimed internet addict stays focused though (or maybe not, but I’ll tell you anyway). It’s with the help of this little (and cheap) piece of software called Anti-Social. You see, it turns the internet off for as long as you like (except dictionaries and Wikipedia, which are quite handy tools when writing.) I usually choose 45 minutes and then take a 15 minute internet break. I’m telling you, it’s magic!

I wish I could say I left the house today because it would make me look like a saner person, but I haven’t. (This is why I need my wife. She makes me leave the house!) But I’ll go out tomorrow, I promise.

So, an excellent writing day. Let’s see if I can repeat this tomorrow.

The numbers:

Day 1: 1000 words

Day 2: 3600 words

Day 3: 2400 words

Day 4: 0 words

Day 5: 6000 words

Total: 13.000 words

+ + +

Latest releases: I Still Remember and Sweat (Five Sporty Tales of Lesbian Lust)

+ + +

Want Hired Help for FREE? Subscribe to my mailing list >>

+ + +

Want more FREE stories? Download Fool for Love (High Rise Novella One), Wetter, All of Me and New Girl

My Ten Day Challenge – Day 4

This ‘morning’ when I opened my eyes for the first time at 11 a.m. I instantly knew it wasn’t going to be a writing day. Sometimes, you just know. And that’s okay.

Yes, I stayed out too late last night, but I had a really good time doing so. It may have severely affected today’s word count, but it was good for my soul (I’m only writing this so my wife can have a good chuckle when she reads this.)

Rolled out of bed around 11, had a banana and a double shot of espresso for breakfast. I sent some e-mails and arranged some things for a truly great A Hotter State release (if you like your erotica historical and tongue-in-cheek, please take a moment to meet Faustina). Skyped with my wife and the family back home. Watched all remaining episodes of The Fall again (I still stand by my earlier opinion. Best TV show in years!) Went grocery shopping and prepared a super-healthy vegan meal (instead of accepting another wine-laden dinner invitation.) And like that, the day just passed.

Let’s all blame Gillian for my laziness today.

Tonight I’m watching Adore (yes, I adore Robin Wright!) and I honestly don’t know of a better way to end the weekend. I’m well aware that I’m going to need a few 5000 word days in the coming week if I want to make it to 30.000 by next Saturday. But hey, bring it on. I had a good rest and I’m ready.

I hope to bring better news tomorrow.

The numbers:

Day 1: 1000 words

Day 2: 3600 words

Day 3: 2400 words

Day 4: 0 words

Total: 7000 words

+ + +

Latest releases: I Still Remember and Sweat (Five Sporty Tales of Lesbian Lust)

+ + +

Want Hired Help for FREE? Subscribe to my mailing list >>

+ + +

Want more FREE stories? Download Fool for Love (High Rise Novella One), Wetter, All of Me and New Girl