It's 2024! And I Solemnly Swear That I Am Up To No Good
Well, you know me. I'm always up to something. ;)
Actually, I’m really just popping in to wish my favorite Book Monsters a Happy New Year! How is 2024 treating you so far, friends?
As I write this, the house is fairly quiet. I’m sitting here, sipping coffee and gathering thoughts in my head on what tasks to tackle today. Do you ever just have to sit there and think to yourself, “Okay, what exactly do I have to get done? What am I going to accomplish, here, in the near future?” I do it all the time. If you ever see me at a full stop, staring into space like my robot battery just ran out of juice, this is what’s going on. The lights are on and I’m definitely home, but the idea squirrels have the run of the attic.
Lately, those little brain critters of mine have been throwing in some pretty good story ideas, so I’m not going to complain. I’m hoping that 2024 will be a very creative year for me, and am looking forward to sharing more fictional pursuits with you here in the lair. (And, yes, I do have plans to write more on the Ice Mage story! If you haven’t read that one yet, here’s the link to my last post.)
This all brings me to my latest batch of schemes. See, I am up to something! It really is all good, though, I promise.
First off, I’m going doing a little housekeeping. Initially, I had fun setting up a couple different sections for this newsletter. You can find the Inspiration Den and My Mystical Mood Reads tabs on my homepage . It all looks nice, but the reality is that I haven’t added many new posts in either of those places lately, and traffic has been nominal. So I think, going forward, whenever I have a beautiful quote or a book mention to post, I’ll just put it here first so you can see it without any hassle.
Second, I’m pulling down my paid subscription page that I connected to this newsletter a few months back. I’d been wanting to try putting out some stories in serial form for some time, and while it sounded like fun, this just doesn’t feel like the place. Don’t get me wrong, I’m loving this site, and the great feel of our book lover’s lair. I just didn’t like the opening up to operator errs (like when I accidentally turned off public commenting. I’m still kicking myself over that one.) And reading other Substacks, which I do a lot of because there are sooo many awesome writers here, I noticed the pop-up feature and the automated, push for readers to upgrade. Now, I see the value in this for a lot of Substacks, and I don’t generally mind them, myself. But, I got to thinking, I didn’t really want those banners and buttons popping up in our particular space. So, I took it down. Buuut, that doesn’t mean the brain squirrels let me forget about all the fun to be had with serialized stories…
Which brings me to some exciting news! I’ve just now (moments ago, in fact) launched my very own profile on Ream!
What is this Ream you speak of, Amanda, you’re probably asking. Are you muttering jibberish again? Have the squirrels gone mad?! No and no, well not entirely. Reamstories.com is a wonderful place for readers and authors that I recently discovered. I only just found this little oasis for fiction lovers a few weeks ago and have been researching it and its creators ever since. There’s a lot going on over there, despite the fact that it’s only a year old. The developers have a lot of exciting things they’re working on. I’m not going to give you an in depth run down in this post—that would take to long. In a nutshell, Ream Stories is the merging of a serialized reader model with a built in social community. With so many folks leaving social media and retailers acting quirky, I think we’ll see more niche sites like this one popping up in the future. That’s just my prediction.
Anyway, Monsters, I’ll probably put up a full article on this topic, with more information for you in my next post. I want to give you some more insights since it’s a new, shiny thing and it seems to have a lot of offerings in the steamy fantasy and PNR genres that we love so well. :) In the mean time, I’d love it if you checked out my profile!
I had a lot of fun creating it. I think you’ll get a kick out of the tiers I made. *Spoiler alert: I used one of my favorite reader nicknames for you. Hope you don’t mind. I wanted to make my page over there a cozy, familiar place for my favorite book lovers in the whole world. And I really hope you’ll all join me in hunting down great stories over there. If you’re so inclined as to give me a follow on this new, new site where I know absolutely no one, I’d love it! Following is completely free, btw ;) If you’re already using Ream, do let us know about your experience down in comments.
With that, I’m off to shovel some snow out of the way for the chickens. They aren’t all that thrilled about walking in the cold, white stuff. Know that I’m wishing you a very happy start to the new year from my neck of the woods. And I’m looking forward to making more story michief with you here, in the lair.
What all do you have planned for 2024? Are you excited to be leaving last year behind? Will you be going on any adventures? Tell me what you’re up to down in comments. I love hearing your news!
Till next time, Monsters…
Stay in the magic!
Ream sounds interesting, and I wish you luck with it! I'm also digging out of the snow right now; otherwise, 2024 is off to an ok start. Fingers crossed!