Tiger Blogging
Dear Reader,
I want to dedicate this post to blogs and newsletters. They have become an essential component of the ever-expanding experience that is the Draoithe Saga.
As writing and publishing the Draoithe Saga tales slowly transformed into creating the dream experience, I came to realize I needed multiple blogs. Like spectators driving slowly by the scene of an accident, readers feel the need to check out the behind-the-scenes insanity of world-building. I needed to organize the crazy. So first Payhip happened, (see Payhip as a Website) then three blogs and a newsletter emerged.
*Ophelia Kee Speaks is the blog for all the behind-the-scenes information, excerpts, updates, etc. This is where I chronicle my author's walk. It's the unadulterated truth, no matter how ridiculous or inept it makes me look. In this blog, I write about what I've learned as I navigate self-publishing as a pure Indie author, and I plug my stories as I offer sneak peeks inside the books. I'm having fun with the world I'm building. I hope you'll enjoy it with me. Welcome to the dream...
*Wanna Read? is a place where I post serialized stories in an episodic style. Some are permanently available to read for free. Others are temporary and shared as I experiment with AI Audio, Video Books, and extra features like research videos, character art, playlists, charts, graphs, images, references, etc. Once I finish those stories, they come down to be published as complete tales in the saga. I hope you'll stop in and have a read. I welcome feedback.
*Video Exclusives is the home for all the book trailers, research videos, and inspirational film bits. As I wrote the stories, I realized I was amassing piles of research notes into myths, legends, and fairytales. It's no secret I love folklore, old wives' tales, and paranormal stories. I decided that was as much a part of the world-building as the characters and their love affairs were. So video production increased.
I'm currently working on re-crafting the trailers to reflect new book covers for the earlier miniseries, and I plan on putting together a dragon research video soon. Visit and watch a few of the videos, and come back later and see what else I've added.
I usually post a blog article once a week on the weekend. I still have to contend with the day job. It's real and ensures I can still write. Sometimes when the workload gets heavy, I miss a weekend.
I don't recommend that for anyone who is seriously trying to build an audience. Readers dislike it when they don't get to read. It also paid for all the computers, programs, and character art.
So the tiger works around the day job and hopes readers will read enough to know that I do what I can when I can and will enjoy my stories enough to appreciate the humanity behind writing them, even if I am a tiger.
Once I write the blog post, I add it to Medium for more exposure. I also post the video version to Blogger, so it will auto-feed to my Amazon Author Central and my Goodreads. Sadly, Payhip doesn't offer an RSS feed. But it's easily corrected. Payhip is super cool and is home to the Draoithe Saga.
On a side note, I want to create and offer video versions of the books to those who purchase my stories directly from me. I'll try to create at least one or two free versions and then add the links to the stories as I create them. Basic AI audiobook-style versions for a few stories exist now, but I want to do something a bit more immersive. I hope you check in from time to time and see how it's going. I want to start it with the free trilogy Mystic Dark. That story is going to be free for my newsletter subscribers someday. As soon as I finish writing it. I'm about a third of the way in on the second tale. Time to write is always lacking.
*The Newsletter links to the latest blog post. It goes out once a week (or not depending on my work schedule), usually on Tuesday mornings, and offers subscribers a direct link to check out whatever is going on in the dream and get free goodies, secret discounts, exclusives, and more. I use Email Octopus because it's free and integrates with Payhip well. (Full disclosure: I bought my domain name and my business email account from Namecheap, but I had to get help to set those up.)
I recently seriously began building my newsletter. A few people have hung around since I first learned about subscribers, but couldn't get it off the ground. My hat is off to those who've stuck with me all this time. I hope the stories were worth the waiting, and I apologize that the day job keeps getting in the way, but it is what it is. I haven't given up on being a full-time author, but it's a lot for an old tiger to learn. The time to stay focused on it is lacking, so it's taking me even longer. There's also the pesky issue of money. Y'all pray I hit the lottery (I don't play), so I can learn to do the writing, publishing, and marketing better.
Shameless Self Promotion
November Payhip Discount!
Use the Coupon Code: YGBZKG9HXI
and take 20% off
Lyons Gate Complete Miniseries Boxed Set.
Only for newsletter and blog post subscribers!
Thank you for reading and supporting the dream!
Have you seen the Book Trailer for this one book? I need to create a new one. Until I do, if you want to see what the old covers looked like, check this out. You might also want to check out the Druid Research video to see the inspiration behind the creation of characters like Lazlo Greyson.
Story Snippet
From Nightmare Escape, a Lyons Gate Tale by Ophelia Kee. Meet Estelle Realtree, a hard luck case, a broken young woman attempting to escape from a dark past.
Estelle
How could she run out of gas? In the middle of the night? Did that even happen to real people?
Estelle had goosebumps. The entire scene felt like something out of the horror films she refused to watch.
There she was, sitting on the side of the road. Her second-hand car was an older Mazda. It didn’t have a low fuel warning signal.
Lenny’s blacked-out Lincolns were luxurious with bulletproof glass. They had all the bells and whistles. She was long past being desirous of luxury, but now things like that seemed as if they were more like necessities.
She’d bought the Mazda for only a thousand dollars. She was damn near flat out of money within six weeks of leaving his sorry ass. It had been all she could afford.
She had less than a hundred dollars to her name, and she had almost no hope of getting into Dallas in the morning for the job interview for the position she desperately needed. Not without a gas can and some help, anyway.
She’d get over the embarrassment. She needed help to get a job and a different life. If begging was her only choice...
It was only a personal assistant position, but it would feed her. That was better than stripping or bartending. That was never happening again.
Estelle refused to give up. She’d made it that far. She’d simply made a wrong turn somehow. It was still fixable. She’d worked with no sleep before. As long as she didn’t need to stand still all day, she should be fine.
Estelle looked around her to get her bearings in the forest. There was nothing except trees for miles and miles on either side of a road that only had a double yellow stripe down the center. It seemed to go on forever into more forest in both directions. On the left, the fencing along the road looked newer. It was the only sign of civilization.
She pulled up a map of the area on her phone as she shrugged into a light sweater and saw a rather extensive building set behind the fencing. She walked back.
If it wasn’t too far, she’d make it. Maybe someone would be there and take pity on her. Her leg would ache, but she’d get over that. She’d passed a pretty ornate gate. Surely she could find someone who might help her at that big house or building. Servants, groundskeepers, security guards, or something.
She stepped out of the car. It was eased off the road far enough that it wouldn’t cause an accident. She’d made sure all the lights were off, and the windows were rolled up, then she locked the doors.
Estelle looked both ways as she pocketed the keys in her jeans before she crossed the street. She began walking along the road back the way she came, hugging herself. It was quiet.
There were no other cars on the road, just her footsteps and the crickets. Her phone read the time as a bit after one in the morning. She turned off the screen and pocketed it with her keys.
It was her fault. She should’ve never gotten involved with Lenny. Two months after escaping that monster, Estelle was out of money, out of ideas, and nearly desperate. She refused to crawl back to him.
He expected that, but she was through being beaten and abused. She’d find a way or die trying.
There would be no more emergency room visits. She’d always lied about what happened. No more lies.
She’d likely never walk properly again with the damage he’d done to her right leg. Running was for damn sure out of the question. Lenny had his pound of flesh from her. That was all she was willing to give.
Lenny told her repeatedly that she wasn’t worth anything. He’d told her she’d never make it if she left him. In the end, Estelle realized she’d die if she didn’t leave him.
She had no actual skills. Hell, she’d barely finished high school. Still, life had to have more to offer than being a punching bag. If it didn’t, then maybe it wasn’t worth living.
She put the negative thoughts behind her as she walked. Her limp was catching up with her after a few minutes, and she kept looking around her.
It felt as if she was being watched. It had to be the eerie woods. Estelle shivered.
What if there were bears in the woods? She stayed firmly on the road, hoping the wild animals stayed within the trees. Who would willingly choose to live out in the middle of nowhere?
Estelle almost laughed at herself. She should be happy someone lived so far outside of town because she needed help. Roadside assistance had been more money than she could afford to pay.
Truth to tell, the car insurance had lapsed after the first month. The money she’d scraped together hadn’t lasted long. She’d gone into hiding at first, trying to figure out what to do. Then, as the money dwindled, she began looking for a job.
She’d needed to look far away to get a job. Too bad she hadn’t realized that sooner. The devil you know versus the one you don’t.
Lenny blackballed her from any menial jobs in Longview. He knew everyone in town. No one would hire her. One bar manager even told her to go find Lenny and get him to lend her the money she needed.
The strip clubs refused her. The scars Lenny left on her were a turnoff to the patrons. What else did she know?
Dallas seemed like the best option. A big city. A new start. She could just be no one and blend in.
No more ties to Lenny or her old life. She could reinvent herself. She was only twenty-four. Surely it wasn’t too late.
A personal assistant position, a nine-to-five day job. Estelle could be a proper adult and stand on her own two feet. She only wished she’d realized that idea before she was down to her last few hundred dollars.
That seemed laughable as she walked, or rather limped, down the deserted road. She couldn’t even remember not to run out of gas.
Where was that gate? It seemed much further walking than it had when she was driving at fifty miles an hour.
The creepy darkness was bothering her. The feeling of being watched was getting to her. There were too many stars for a city girl and far too few neon lights.
In the cities, the bars hadn’t closed yet. It wouldn’t seem so lonely. On the empty roadway, everything was still and dark.
In the distance, a car’s headlights came around the corner toward her. She moved off the street toward the tree line and the fence. It was late. She didn’t trust the driver at such a late hour.
Whoever they were, they could be drunk or sleepy. There was no curb or sidewalk. The closer to the fence she got, the worse the feeling of being watched felt. She honestly hoped she was alone on the road, and the car went by.
She wasn’t so lucky. The car slowed down. It stopped on the road next to her. There were two men in the car. They didn’t look like the kind of men Estelle wanted to speak with.
Lonely was better than some kinds of company. She was through with low-lifes and street-rat types. She wanted nothing more to do with thugs or mafia members.
She didn’t want their help either. The house behind the gate still seemed the safer bet. The unsavory types in the car reminded her of the life she was fleeing.
I've got to run off and get some stuff done. Thanksgiving is just around the corner. I hope you enjoy at least a part of the holiday with a good book. Until we meet again, as always when you read, please leave those kind and sincere reviews.
Be careful!
Happy Reading,
Ophelia Kee
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