Chaotic Array

Shadows is about to hit 40k reads on Wattpad soon! :) Couldn't help but share.

What it takes to write a book:     Yup, that's it. Coffee, and cookies, and my butt in a chair. That last one is the hardest part. Especially since these dogs want to distract me so, so bad... I'm babysitting my brother's dog Otis. (Follow him on Instagram here .) He's adorable, but don't let it fool you, since we've got him he's eaten 3 dish towels, a $600 dollar cheque, a blanket, 2 chew toys, 2 footballs, and more. We can't keep him out of anything, and he has a bad habit of jumping onto the kitchen counters and grabbing anything out there. He's a cuddlebug, though, even when he's biting at you. I'm determined to finish the new edition of Shadows within the next few hours, though, so I can publish it already!  I'm hoping I can head up to the she-cave today and record some music in there, since I have no privacy in the house while everyone else is on vacation. I really want to put out a new EP today. Too ambitious? ...

I'm hopping back into writing and being productive. I'm putting out the new edition of SOSAS in a few days so I'm trying to finish it tonight so I can write a short story before morning. Today I'm recording a couple new tracks or even an entire EP. I'm slowly getting the hang of cutting and enhancing vocals, so that's nice, and I'd like to apply it and put out something that feels more professional than my last few EPS. The other day I went wild and bought like 15 or 16 new stock images and made a bunch of new book covers and I'm in love with them, so I have to do something with them. 2018 has not been half as productive as I hoped it would, so, I have to do something about that... Hopefully I can update later today and say the new edition of SOSAS is publishing!

Can we talk about how iconic Iggy Azalea's new EP is? It's a bop. I've also been listening to a lot of Sky Ferreira's cover of Voices Carry; Truly iconic! She needs to put out a new album pronto. I do appreciate that the photo she used for this track is totally taken from Huji Cam, because, damn, do I relate. That app saved my life. (And aesthetic. Which is arguably more important.) Honestly I've been putting off writing for days to work on music. I'm working on a novella about gargoyles right now, but God knows when that will be out. I still fully intend to publish the new edition of Souls of Salt and Seawater this month, and update the current edition of Shadows with a clean, firmer round of edits. However I probably won't be able to put out the special edition of Shadows until next month. It's pesky to wait, I know, but I'm juggling a lot and I don't want it to feel rushed or sloppy. These characters deserve better. I have s...

Remember when Grimes put out the best album ever? Remember how we've been waiting for new material ever since and it hasn't happened?  Remember a couple months ago when she posted shady Tweets about her label and gave us some tea? The only new music she's put out since then is a snippet of a new bop in an Apple commercial: It sounds like a bop for sure, but we need it now, not later. I'd love to hear the full version. I'm glad more artists are going independent. Even if it means lower budgets at least it minimizes situations like this with shitty labels. It happens in publishing too, people get fucked over by their labels and publishers and management all the time. There are shady business practices and betrayals and drama. It makes my head spin. I was watching an Emma Blackery video (I'm waiting for her new album too!) earlier where she talked about a chain bookstore basically blacklisting her and refusing to list her book or promote it because she...

Y'ALL. LOOK AT THE PRETTY STUFF: I AM IN LOVE WITH THIS COVER! I CAN'T EVEN! I designed this cover for Wattpad, because I wanted to see if I could attract some new reads by changing up the face of the book. I love it so much, though, I might end up putting out a paperback edition of it at some point. I'm working on buying stock for book two so I can have a cover in this style for that as well, with Hunter on it. I've already made one but I don't know if I love the model for Hunter, so I'm gonna re-do it once I buy the new pictures. Anyway, I'm back to working on Dru Frost book 2! Which also has an amazing cover. I can't share that with you until I have a draft though, so...

Hey y'all! A while back an interview I did went live at Book Reader Magazine and I don't think I ever posted it! You can read it here! I know in my last post I promised an update soon, and I will write one, but tonight I'd rather be working on a story I can publish soon. No offense or anything. :P I'll try to post info about my next project soon! I have a lot of things planned.

So. New Blog theme. Again. The old one wasn't really fitting for an author blog; this one has a simpler layout and I feel like it will make it easier for people to browse old posts, so for ease of access (and aesthetic needs) here it is. I have a lot to do tonight, including writing two new short stories and a bit of fanfic, so I'm just going to keep it short and say I have new content coming soon. I'll post a new blog later today or tonight about what I've been up to--I've been playing a cute new game I found and binge-watching The 100 so it's nothing too exciting, but it's something. Later, y'all!

I have a new (kind of new) mailing list! It looks prettier than my old one. You can find it here . Right now I'm starting work on a new project, and all I can say about it is: dragons. It also has a beautiful cover. I'm having a lot of fun with it, unlike other projects, where I've been dragging my feet in the mud for weeks. I really wanna write a Blood of Midnight sequel soon, and I have to rewrite Storm of Masks entirely to republish it as Fated Bites, so the next Liesmith book may get pushed back to 2019 or even 2020...but now that I say that it sounds ridiculous and no way am I waiting until 2020, lol. I'll just have to work my ass off and cram. Right now I've been listening to a lot of Doja Cat and QVEEN HERBY while I write, but I've also been producing some new stuff of my own :) You can listen to Trap here . I make original instrumental music, and I started posting some of it under the banner of my IMVU avatar, Mila. Because of course. I went...

I think the title explains itself so I'll just leave you with a bop, lol. Hopefully I start hating the shape/size/positioning of my desk less in the near future. It doesn't help that this house is built on a big hill and is inevitably a little slanted, because of course it is. 

I posted an EP on SoundCloud earlier this month that I never talked about here. It's a little ambient/instrumental EP. And yeah, that's lil me on the cover. I think that's when I was five or six. Anyway, I'm sorry I haven't been active here much; I'm planning Shadows book 2 so I can start writing it very soon, but I have to reread the first book before I get too far into outlining. I'm also balancing two novella projects on the side. So, yeah, I have my hands full. You can listen to  THE APRIL EP  here... I'm going to try and get it up on Spotify in the next couple of weeks, but it's a real dick to get the file conversion right for my distributor, which is why I never posted any of my old music there. Either way, you should check it out if you like relaxing synth sounds and pop stuff. I'm going to come back here and redesign this blog soon because it needs a new layout. Or I might do it tonight while I procrastinate actual work... ...

The new Marion Hill song is amazing. All their music is, but this is just...wow. I'm gonna play this on repeat while I work tonight :)

Last night I complained about marketing being too much work. I complained about writing being hard. I wrung my hands in frustration because every word I put on the page felt like I was stepping in mud, and it was weighing me down, and I'd never be able to finish another book. Then, I took a break. Counted to five. Opened my wip. And I wrote 6000 words, almost without stopping. There are good days. You can power through writers block. It just takes a lot of willpower. And lots of coffee. And maybe the chapter you put down isn't your best, but it has something special to it, some little flair you love, that's keeping you excited for when the time to edit comes. Sometimes that can be enough. Rewards are little things when you write all day. We work alone. It's stressful, and tiring, and sometimes the best feeling in the world is knowing you hit the 6k mark, and that tomorrow might be a little easier.

Marketing is torture. Seriously. It's the worst part of being self-published. My books won't sell if I don't push them on people, but my anxiety refuses to let me. It also makes writing painful sometimes. Like tonight. Which is why I'm writing this blog post instead to rant about it. Sometimes when I'm writing it feels like I'm flying, and I hammer out like seven thousand words in a sitting and walk away glowing, feeling like a boss. And then sometimes, like tonight, literally nothing sounds more painful than writing. I'm struggling to put down a single chapter, let alone more than a thousand or two words. It's uncomfortable and it has me on edge. Normally when it isn't flowing, I just do something else. Tonight I'm forcing myself to keep going, because I'm determined to put out two novellas next month, but I have to be honest, every word feels painful. Even this blog post is giving me difficulty. Sometimes I can sit down and write ...

House of Ink is finally out! The pre-order was only ten days, but it felt like forever. I mean, like, ages. Please go give it some love on Amazon if you can! I love this book, y'all. It's short, sexy, simple. It's giving my Cosmo Knox pen name some much-needed attention, because I feel like I haven't published anything steamy there in a while. I'm going to be doing some book reviews in the future (under the post moniker Curious Compass Reviews) so keep an eye out for those posts! It will mostly be m/m romance reviews, with other fantasy titles thrown in here and there for good measure. That's all I really got for y'all today. Please, PLEASE (with double cherries on top) go buy and/or borrow House of Ink on Amazon, and hopefully post a review. You can get the story HERE.

House of Ink ARCS are available now on InstaFreebie! I'm super excited for people to read this. It's fun and hot and fluffy, and I still can't stop drooling over the cover...   *Swoons*  If you do grab an ARC, please post a review on Amazon when you're done! I'd love to hear what people think of this one :)

I did an interview over at AwesomeGang the other day, and it's live :) You can check it out here! I also just posted a new Cosmo Knox book for pre-order; House of Ink is the first book in a series of the same name, featuring erotic gay romance novellas with inked hunks and the twinks they love. :) I'll post links when it's live! It's out on March 5th, if this pre-order is approved! Here's the cover:

Title from the song 'Good Good' by Lo. So. I'm here. Still alive. Still writing. I'm launching a new erotica pen name so I can bring in more income. I used to write and pub erotica before I launched my Apollo Blake & Cosmo Knox names, and I can't afford not to go back to it now, it's just too profitable, and I'm not bringing in enough cash from the books I feel truly passionate about. These are still fun and fluffy to write, but not what I really, really /want/ to write. I look at it as more of an exercise or practice. And it does help nail down crucial author skills. Still, once I pop out a few fun, cute erotic romances, I hope I'll produce a steady stream of income to focus on, in this order: Gaze of Starlight (BoM book two) Riot of Souls (Deadheart book two) Whispers We Let Die (Liesmith book two) I know people REALLY want a sequel to Liesmith, but it will take a while. I wrote book one in 14 days, but then I let it sit for nearly a ye...

A lot of people liked Rogue One. We don't know why they liked it, but they did. I've seen them talking about it. A lot. In my opinion, it's the worst Star Wars film, or at least tied for last with Phantom Menace. I know it's popular to hate on Phantom Menace, but whatever, I'm jumping on the bandwagon. The best, IMO, is The Force Awakens. Rogue One, though? Rogue One is just...I mean, it's Pompeii in space. Minus Kit Harrington's abs. Which is always a great disadvantage to start at. I haven't seen The Last Jedi, because I'm poor. AKA I'll be waiting the entire sixth months until it arrives on Netflix. I've heard it's a hot mess, though. I'll reserve judgement until I see it, but I have seen Rogue One. I mean, I've seen parts of it. Like the first hour, I think. I can't power through your movie when a cgi robot has more charisma than your entire human cast, people. I'm sorry, I just can't. Especially when...

They made a Suicide Squad movie before a Gotham City Sirens film. How much of a jackass do you have to be to do that? Dozens of people had to approve this at various levels, right? Can we fire them? Gotham City Sirens will be better than Suicide Squad, AKA, A 2-Hour Commercial. Mark my words. Nothing will ever be as iconic. Nothing. I mean, Margot Robbie doing that elevator run in heels in Suicide Squad without a stunt double kinda rivals it. But only that. I'm also really excited for Marvel's Runaways. I haven't started it yet, because I want to binge. Also because I'm not willing to pay for Hulu. I mean, I really feel like Hulu used to have a free, ad-supported version, did they not? I might be hallucinating. Or they might've just removed it. The only reason I was ever interested in Hulu before was for the Delirium movie, but that sucked.* * Sorry Emma Roberts. You just didn't do the thing, sis. There's also Black Lightning and The Gift...

Here's a song, just for you. Yeah, you. And it's a bop. You're welcome.

You guys can have this... It's a link to my Medium! I'm posting there now, and I love it. I'll be cross-posting stuff from this blog there, but it will also contain original content and posts you can only find on that site. :) If you're wondering when new material is coming out... SOON! Right now it's time to update my old ebooks, publish new editions with new formatting and updated social media links, and then, THEN, I have two stories in a new series called Island of Gods coming out as my first releases of 2018. If you like creepy, Lovecraftian tales full of body hair, eerie vibes, and tentative self-discovery & unraveling...my new stuff will be right up your alley.

As you can see, Rage & Frenzy are getting makeovers! This will be the new look of the Unbroken anthology series from now on! I'm in love with these designs and I think they fit the books much more than the old ones. That's honestly all the news I have. Pretty covers. I'm sure you're all getting sick of that, because it's just covers and not new stories...which is why I'm hard at work on new material. And I'm gonna get back to that now.  I'll post links in the next few days when these are live! The new editions of Fierce Powers and Blood of Midnight are both live now, here! Thanks for all the support you guys <3

Things are looking pretty different around here. Obviously. And I like it. The New Year is a time for change, and all that... Honestly I was just starting to get bored of the old one. I only posted 34 times last year, which isn't half as much as I wanted to. That's like, one month's worth of post. In a year. I'm going to try to be a lot more active in that regard in 2018. Plus, with a flashy new theme, I'll want to hang out here more. It is really simple (I even kept the default colours) but I like it. In fact, I think it might be my favorite blog theme yet. So, there's that. My other main goal for the year is to put out more full length novels. I put out a bunch of novellas and short stories in 2017, but for the first year in like four or so years I didn't put out a single full-length novel. I could've buckled down and written Riot of Souls, but I never did, so now I'm in this boat and I have to start bailing out water. Yup, 2018 is my y...

Remember the new edition of Fierce Powers I mentioned in my last post? It's a thing now. And it's really pretty.   I'm in love with this cover, for obvious reasons. I hope it will turn more heads than the old one, which didn't really suit the book and was kind of bland. I just published this so I'm hoping the new version will be live in a few hours. I'll post when it is!

Happy New Year everyone! I'm definitely ready to start a fresh year and wipe the slate clean; it's been a really long, distrestting, bleak year. I was stressed and didn't really confront my problems head-on the way I should have. Honestly I spent most of the last half of the year in a hibernation state. I feel a little like a zombie. In 2018 I'm going to be much more goal-oriented and really throw everything back into my books. I wanna start working to get more titles out. I think if I publish five or six more books I'll finally get to a point where I can sit back and take a breath. My portfolio just doesn't feel big enough, and a few more full-length novels to pad out my catalogue would be nice. Even though I've got plenty of books out, it feels as if I haven't shown off my true range or abilities as an author. I've been slacking for months so I'm taking the new year as an opportunity to cut it out. In that vein, I'll be republishing B...