Who loves happily ever afters? The Happily Ever After Collective does! That’s why I’m so excited to join with nearly 50 other authors to bring you something that you’re going to love!
Every month the Happily Ever After Collective will deliver exclusive romance novellas from best selling, award winning authors who know how to deliver that HEA romance reader crave. Readers will get to choose as many as four never-before-published novellas each month (depending on subscription tier), participate in live chats with authors, and receive exclusive content. Some of the highlights:
- Four exclusive never-before-published novellas each month that span the romance subgenres with main characters who show that romance is for everyone. Readers will get to choose which novellas they want according to their subscription tier.
- Each month’s novellas will center around the same trope. That trope will change each month so that one month may be fake relationships while the next month is friends to lovers, for example.
- At least one of each month’s novellas will feature LGBTQI+ main characters.
- At least one of each month’s novellas will feature BIPOC main characters.
- Readers can participate in monthly subscriber-only interaction with the authors in the form of Zoom chats and extra content from each author that ties into the novellas.
- Exclusive Happily Ever After Collective digital book covers for each novella, perfect for those readers who are also cover collectors.
- A newsletter with information about each month’s novellas, featured authors and all of the HEA Collective authors’ new releases and sales.
I hope you’ll check it out → www.HappilyEverAfterCollective.com and sign up for the newsletter. Soft launch July 1 with August being the first four story month!
I’ll be chasing joy in the coming months and a part of that is also bringing fun things to all of you. Face to face conventions and book signings are not feasible for me in 2022, so you might be wondering, What’s coming from Piper in 2022?
Good question. I’ve been thinking hard about how I can still give you all a bit of me throughout the year, and friends, I have plans!
- New book! As readers, this is what we love the most, right? Wings Once Cursed and Bound, Book 1 of my Mythwoven series from Sourcebooks, is targeted for release in late 2022.
- London Shifters will be released in print for the book lovers who want a physical copy for their shelves
- My Intergalactic Idol series will continue with An Idol with Luv on Kindle Vella
Specifically for my newsletter subscribers
- I’ll be coordinating with other authors to do free digital book giveaways in my newsletters in the coming year, at least once a month.
- I’ll also be sending you shorter updates, more frequently, so that my newsletters are quick, fun, and not information overloads.
- I’ll be increasing the amount of exclusive story content you get related to my books, like an epilogue for the London Shifters series, for example, and exclusive first reads of excerpts for my upcoming Mythwoven series.
- You might also receive Happy Friday messages from me and Corbin, just for fun and smiles.
(not subscribed to my newsletter yet? No worries! Subscribe now)
Specifically for my Patreon supporters
- Trailhead – More consistent check-ins each month for insight into what’s going on behind the scenes
- Trail Cache – In addition to recipes and the very occasional video, I’ll be sharing more of my foodie adventures like my impressions of Egyptian food during my trip to Egypt in December 2021.
- Trail Buddies – More random quotes from my draft works in progress, more inspiration images and new vision boards, as well as audio samples of my narration for my indie projects, plus early looks at upcoming book covers
- Trail Guides – More material on writing craft, time management, and project management pulled from my course lectures plus access to videos of my lectures given throughout the year
- Trail Magic – London Shifters will be available in print in 2022 and Trail Magic Patrons receive signed copies of my indie titles automatically as they release (includes shipping to US, International Shipping Rates are at the cost of the patron).
(not a Patron yet? Consider supporting me on Patreon)
It’s been a rough year in 2021, and I really appreciate the patience and support of my readers through all of it. I hope you’re all looking forward to What’s coming from Piper in 2022!
Yes, I’ve decided. I’m resurrecting Patreon as one of my platforms.
About time management and project planning…
I’d retired it some time ago until I could regroup and consider how Patreon might fit into what I do between my day job and writing careers. And recently, I’ve had a lot of questions come to me about when I’m going to teach more classes or hold more workshops on time management and project planning, particularly as they could be used by writers. There’s a lot of writers who are balancing a day job career with a writing career. Add in life, and family, and friends and finding time gets complicated.
I do teach at least once a year, maybe twice, at various conferences. But not everyone can attend those conferences or the workshops/panels that I might be presenting due to scheduling conflicts. I get a lot of requests for online courses or even asked when I’m going to write a nonfiction book on the topic of time management and project planning for writers.
I don’t have the bandwidth to offer those things and still be able to meet my deadlines for the fiction I love to write. So Patreon came to mind as a platform that would be great for sharing this kind of information in bite-size pieces throughout the year.
And writing via dictation…
I am also learning to find a new normal in my life due to medical challenges and the need to drastically change the way I write… anything. I started to try learning dictation earlier this year, just about the same time I started physical therapy. So I got the basics down. But as soon as the physical therapy started to help me get back my functionality with my hands and I could type again for short periods of time, I went back to typing my manuscripts.
That’s not sustainable.
I will experience flareups in my future and my physical condition will deteriorate. So I really, really need to learn how to dictate now, not later.
Wonderfully generous people have given me their advice, their insights, and some great tips and tricks. I need to practice in order to incorporate what they shared with me. I need to make dictation and writing via dictation a habit. And writing via dictation, for me, means retraining my brain. Patreon becomes the perfect platform again for my adventures in learning how to dictate. It’ll be a place where I can be accountable while I share my trials and tribulations, what works for me and what really doesn’t.
So. There we have it. I’m resurrecting Patreon and I will be sharing information in two major categories:
- Time management and project planning for writers, particularly with the day job to balance with their writing.
- My progress as I learn writing via dictation, the tips and tricks I pick up along the way, and lessons learned.
If you’re interested in what I have to share or would like to join me on this journey, I hope you’ll subscribe to my Patreon. I’ll see you there.
I spent yesterday folding Japanese paper stars with Joyfully Reviewed as part of my gifts to the readers sitting at my table for the upcoming Barbara Vey Reader Appreciation Weekend, specifically for the big Saturday luncheon.
The ribbon these are made of is particularly fun because the writing glows in the dark. They’ll be going into the base of my table decorations at the event and hopefully go home with the readers I meet at my table. Aside from being extremely cute, there’s a story behind these stars and a cultural practice from my childhood in these.
Story Behind Origami Lucky Stars
Should we start with “once upon a time”?
There was once a little girl in Japan named Hoshi. She loved the stars in the night sky and would lie on the grass at night,staring at them. As hours went by, she would wonder how the tiny stars could shine so bright, remaining suspended in the air for so long.
One night, the stars fell out of heaven in a shower of light. So many fell, Hoshi was afraid there would be no more. Saddened, she ran to her home and found herself an empty glass jar. She took up paper and folded one paper star for each spot she’d seen fall. Within the night, the little girl folded perhaps a hundred paper stars.
And yet, she was still saddened because many more stars had fallen fro the sky and she hadn’t been able to fold a paper star for each of them.
The next night, she saw only a few stars in the night sky. She ran and knocked on all the doors in the village, asking all the little boys and girls to come out. She explained to them her worry and each of the children wanted to help. That night they made two thousand stars. Every child placed their own stars in their own jar.
As they watched the sky the following night, more stars appeared in the night sky and the children cheered. After such a magical achievement, Hoshi was inspired.
“These stars are lucky because of us. From now on, these paper stars will be called lucky stars.”
She also looked up at the stars in the night sky and said,
“Whenever a lucky star is made, a falling star is saved.”
~ story paraphrased from Secrets Behind Japanese Origami Lucky Stars and origamiway.com.
Paper Stars and Piper’s Childhood
My grandmother taught me to fold paper stars for luck during my childhood summers in Thailand. This is a Japanese folk tale, but the practice spread to Thailand and other countries. I was taught to pick a pretty glass jar, fold stars of colored paper, and present the filled jar as a gift.
I fold them now to wish luck to those I meet and gather the tiny paper stars in a jar to give as a gift.
It’s a gesture that’s about effort and consideration, wishes for luck and thoughts of friendship. I very much hope the readers at my table will enjoy them.
