Episode 42: Special Edition Sketches, Spicy Patreon, and the Flu, Oh My!

Hi there! I'm Lindsey Sparks, author of books featuring hidden worlds and twisted myths. Welcome to my weekly author's notes podcast! This episode was recorded on Sunday, 5/29/2022, and I would love to share some of my reflections from this past week with you.

CURRENT FREEBIES:
Echo in Time (free ebook through all retailers)
After The Ending (free ebook through all retailers)
Starter Library for newsletter subscribers (ebooks and audiobooks of my series starters, and more!)
https://www.authorlindseysparks.com/join-newsletter

CURRENT WIP:
Revising: Blood of the Broken (Atlantis Legacy, book 5)
Writing: Sparks + Spice Patreon content (launches June 1), including The Last Vampire Queen (a reverse harem paranormal romance serial)

READING:
Flirting with Monsters series by Eva Chase
Blood Ties by Tarah Benner
The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes

WATCHING:
Snowfall
The Shining Girls
The Witcher

PLAYING:
Elder Scrolls Online

HIGH:
First sketches for the dust jackets of the Echo Trilogy 10th anniversary special editions
Graphics done for the Sparks + Spice Patreon

LOW:
The flu!

LAST WEEK'S OBSESSION:
Developing the world for and writing the first two episodes of The Last Vampire Queen

GOOGLE SEARCH HISTORY:
- synonym for: hypnotize, spell, haze, daze, pain, nice, pleasure, engorged, swollen, lustful, comforting, guarded, reluctant, link, nexus, torrent, faith, doomed, strain, push, vine, thread, energy, lightning, bolts)
- ancient Greek surnames moon
- vampire moon goddess

BIG GOAL(s):
Launch the Sparks + Spice Patreon on June 1!

LOOKING FORWARD TO:
Starting beta reivisions on Blood of the Broken
-
JOIN MY READER GROUP: Lindsey's Lovely Readers
https://www.facebook.com/groups/lovelyreaders

JOIN MY DISCORD SERVER:
https://discord.gg/EH4XPY6djP

SUBSCRIBE TO MY NEWSLETTER:
https://www.authorlindseysparks.com/join-newsletter

WEBSITE: https://www.authorlindseysparks.com/
TIKTOK: @authorlindseysparks
INSTAGRAM: @authorlindseysparks
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/authorlindseysparks

Transcript

0:00

Hi there. I'm Lindsey Sparks, author of books that include hidden worlds and twisted myths. Welcome to my weekly authors notes podcast. Today is sunday, um, May 29th, and I would love to share some of my reflections from this past, this past week with you. Um, first of all, uh, if you're a regular listener or viewer, you probably noticed that I did not record last week. Um, I was down with the flu. Which was. Was super fun. Um, my whole family had it. Including my three-year-old and my one-year-old. Um, and my husband. And, uh, yeah, so my voice. I I've had like lingering cough, and my voice is been pretty rough, and I'm sure you can hear it now. Uh, so I hope it's not too rough to listen to. Um, but I did want to update you guys on what's been going on. So I have been, uh, I did take a few days off to rest, um, when I had like a fever. Uh, but I, um, have been working since then. still the usual freebies, Echo in Time and After The Ending are free ebook from all the retailers. And then for subscribers to my newsletter, you have access. Access to my starter library, which includes Echo in Time, Ink Witch, After The Ending, um, and Legacy of the Lost, and then, um, several of those books in audiobook as well. Um, and if you are not a subscriber, the. The link is in the show notes. Um, my current work in progress, I. I have some updates here. So it's been two weeks since I last updated everyone. So yeah, I definitely have some updates. Um, I have a. Uh, so Blood of the Broken is 100% with beta readers. Um, I am, it's actually back. I actually have all of the feedback from. From all four of my beta readers for this round. And, um, In really. Happy with the response. Um, I haven't gone. Through like the nitty-gritty. Um, comments within the manuscript from all of my beta readers. Um, but I'm really happy with the response that I received. Like. Overall, everybody really loved it. Um, Or was really impacted by it. It's a big emotional rollercoaster. Um, I'm just extremely pleased with the response. So. There's definitely some things that I need to tighten up or expand on in the manuscript. But overall the story, the plot, that stuff. Um, is staying as is, so it. Shouldn't be too difficult of a round of beta revisions. Um, so. So I'm really happy about that. Um, especially because I'm going to have to eat away at some. Some of my beta revising time at the beginning of this week. To finish up on some of, uh, what I'm going to talk about next. Which is I am launching - I can't remember. I feel like I was going to talk about it last week. But since I didn't record, since my voice was basically non-functional, um, I did not. I don't think I've told you guys about this. Um, I know I've talked about it on. Facebook a little bit, um, and on TikTok, but I don't. I don't think I've mentioned on here. So I am launching a new Patreon. Um, I did previously have a Patreon on which I shut down last fall because it just, I wasn't. Really happy with. The way that it was working out. Like, I didn't feel like I was offering enough value to my subscribers. So this is something totally different. Um, it's called Sparks + Spice. Um, and it's basically. The way that I'm thinking of it as in the way that I've kind of described it as is like me. Me writing spicy fan fiction from my own stories. Um, so I, I get that. It's not fanfiction because it's my own stories. Um, but that's basically. What it is. So, um, I am right. So this is a Patreon where I can post, um, extended scenes and bonus chapters and bonus short stories and all kinds of stuff. Um, from my existing books and worlds, um, that are all. All romantically based, um, a little bit extra spice and sizzle. Sizzle than what you would normally get in my published books. Um, so. So I am writing extended scenes from basically any books that I have previously published is open for an extended. potential extended scenes. Um, and. Any book that I have previously published is also open for bonus chapters, um, all spicy related, uh, content and everything that is is published within the Sparks and Spice Patreon, um, platform will be, uh, probably more explicit than what is in the books. I think the thing that prompted this. I will mention there's one more thing that's included in the Patreon. Um, but the thing that originally prompted this was when I was writing Blood of the Broken, um, I think that I, uh, in terms of my like author and creative evolution, I have just become a little bit grittier, more drawn gone to like the darker, like, more mature content, like, I don't know how to say this. Um, Um, without sounding like my brain is just like totally in the gutter, but, um, I don't want to hope I don't like feeling like I have to hold anything back. Um, however, In the Legacies of Olympus world that I've set up, which includes Atlantis Legacy and Allworld Online, um, uh, in the four current, I guess four and a half, if you count Sacrifice of the Sinners, books that are currently published.

So Allworld Online: 5:15

Pride & Prejudice, as well as the four Atlantis Legacy books starting with Legacy of the Lost, they're all very, um, mild in terms of the adult content, um, especially like sexual adult content. Um, and I did that on purpose. I wanted there to be something within my catalog that was. Accessible to a wider range, um, because the books in the Echo World tend to be a little bit racier, a little bit more explicit, especially Song of Scarabs and Fallen Stars, notably darker grittier, and spicier. Um, but the Atlantis Legacy and Allworld Online. Online, they do have romance, um, but they're a little more fade to black. Um, not quite so open door and not quite so explicit. What or detailed? Um, when we do get into those scenes. So in Blood with a Broken, we see the culmination of a relationship that we have been waiting for for the entire series. Um, and. I, I personally wanted to write it more graphic and detailed than I have previously set up the expectation for in the series. And I didn't want to, um, offend upset or turn off my. My current readers or two. For people to feel like I had, um, I feel like there are promises that we make to readers. When we write a series that there are things that they can expect. When they, when a. A new book comes out and I didn't want to break those promises by putting in. More than readers were expecting to get from this series. So. So, um, but I did want to write those scenes in the way that I was feeling. Feeling inspired to write them. So I came up with this idea for Sparks + Spice. Um, this Patreon. So if people do want that extra content, Content. Um, initially from this book, um, there are several. Several extended scenes that are going to be available through Sparks plus Spice for Blood of the Broken specifically. There's also going to be a bonus chapter. Um, But then I was like, well, there's tons of other stuff that I have. You know, faded to black because it didn't necessarily, I try to make it so that any. Any of my spicy scenes, even in the Echo World, um, that are included that they. They relate to the either character development or the plot of the story. And somehow they move, they move it forward. Either the character. Uh, development or the plot of the story. And so there are scenes that I have closed the door or feed it to black because I didn't feel like they necessary. push the story forward or push the character development forward. Um, and one example is in Song of Scarabs and Fallen Stars. Chapter 30. There is a. The beginning of a romantic scene with Kat and Nik. But I didn't want to put that in the book itself, because it didn't move, the story forward, this isn't technically their story. They're not the central figures in this story. They're kind of here as a secondary perspective. to shed some light on what's actually going on. Relate. Related to Tarset and Atum's journey in the past. So. So. But it was a scene that I have had readers ask for more from, so I wrote the extended scene for that, finishing out their love scene. Um, and there's just a bunch of other scenes from previous books that have been faded to black or shut the door. Again, because they didn't move anything forward within the story or for the characters that I can finish. Finish essentially. And, um, there's other. Other things that have been referenced that I could write bonus scenes for. Um, That that didn't fulfill those necessary requirements of moving anything forward, but still are fun for, you know, the the people who really genuinely love these characters and the series. Um, so that's what this is for. Uh, and I'm really excited about it. Um, It kind of gives me a way to keep the books that are published on all the normal platforms like Amazon and Barnes and noble, and that kind of thing, um, and the audio books, it keeps them a little more accessible, um, and, uh, for, uh, specifically for the extended scenes that, like, um, one of the extended scenes from Blood of the Broken is not going to only be for subscribers. So it will be on the Sparks and Spice Patreon, but it will be available to anybody who wants to. To read it like you don't have to pay for it. Um, so some of those scenes that, that could. Like border, the line of could be, could have been included, but I didn't include, because I didn't want to offend some readers, um, some of those things will. We'll be available for essentially free, but then there will be others, especially things that are more explicit like this Kat and Nik scene that's going to be behind the paywall to protect people. Um, especially minors. Um, so. So that's kind of my strategy there. Um, there is also going to be, when I launched, there's going to be a, um, Did I already say this? Um, there's going to be an a bonus scene. From Echo in Time. Um, it's a bonus epilogue, basically an entire chapter. Um, Echo in Time ends with like a sort. Sort of they're happy for now. Um, they have. Like, eh, like defeated the enemy ish. Um, but there's like the sense that something more is coming. Which it is. Cause. Because it's only the first book in a trilogy. Um, but, uh, The. There's a chance. There's a, they're at a. Feast with other Nejerets. Lex and marcus are at the feast with the other Nejerets. And, um, I. I had this idea when I was reading it for Read By The Author, we just finished that one, two weeks ago. Um, finishing that book for that show. Um, and I was like, it would be really nice to see. Like how. What the kind of reunion scene. And looked like because Lex, Um, Lex woke up from her injury at the end of Echo in Time and her first moment reunited with Marcus is in front of this big crowd of strangers. And I was like, thinking that it would be nice to. See what their reunion looked like later, their private reunion. So, um, this is so that's going to be, uh, uh, I feel like it will be like a really beautiful scene. Team. Um, that I'm going to be, that's the only one I haven't written yet for the. The initial launch, which is going to be on Wednesday. Um, A couple of days after this airs. Um, and then the other. Thing that is going to be a part of this Patreon is an exclusive serial. It is a, um, reverse harem, paranormal romance. Um, It is mostly just fun, but. It does. Of course it has some like mythological elements. I can't help, but include that kind of stuff. There's a mystery. Um, it is starting to get a little more serious. A little darker, a little more serious, um, a little grittier than I had I initially thought it was going to be so apparently I can't help, but put those complicated elements in there. Uh, into any story that I write, but it's called The Last Vampire Queen. Um, and season, the first season, so it's a serial, episodic serial, so for the first two episodes of season one are going to be available on Wednesday, June 1st, when the Patreon lunches. Um, and episode one will be free and available to the public. Uh, and then episode two, which is a little more explicit, is going to be hidden behind the paywall. Um, Both because like, I just can't produce tons of content for free without getting paid for it, because this is my job. Um, but at least if you're unsure, if this is something that's for you, you can read episode one, see if you like where the story is going, um, and decide if you want to subscribe. Um, it's, there's going to be two tiers, um, when it's just gonna be a couple bucks and the other one is going to be about five bucks. The higher tier, um, The higher tier is going to have some uncensored stuff. So like for the Kat and Nik story, um, I got a little carried away. I shared it with Mandi, my assistant and, uh, she, I was, I I was concerned that I got a little carried away and went a little bit too far and she confirmed that she felt like for an initial offering, this was like a, maybe a little bit too extreme. So we talked about it and we decided that what would be best would be to do a slightly toned down version. Um, available for all, for all of the subscribers to the Patreon, and then I'm going to do the uncensored version for the higher tier, if you really want to go there. So, Nik has extreme tastes. Um, and I don't feel like this. Like this is not even remotely close to the extent of his extreme tastes. But I still think like for initially dipping our toes into the, like the spicier side of Lindsey Sparks stories, um, it did get, I did get a little bit carried away. So, um, yeah. Um, and then the other thing that a higher tier we'll be able to do is, uh, the five bucks tier. Five. Five bucks, um, is a vote on what, uh, if I'm ever undecided about scenes that I want to ride or ex um, bonus stories or anything like that or characters that they want featured. That higher tier we'll get to vote on that. Um, and then it's just a monthly subscription. So, um, and I got this idea from, uh, several artists who I follow on. Oh, my phone is telling me there's an Amber alert. Hm. Um, My some artists I follow on Instagram, they do Not Safe For Work Patreons, um, for fan art, um, from like a lot of like Sarah J Maas and, um, Jennifer L. Armentrout. I like that kind of stuff. Uh, So. So, yeah. I don't know, it just seemed like a really good idea, especially because I always feel like I have to use a lot of restraint with writing those space. Face your scenes. Um, but this way, it's kind of like a way to. Just like, let go of those reigns and let the creativity flow the way it wants to. But my muse tell the stories that she wants to tell. Um, In a way. That doesn't feel uncomfortable to me. Like this feels more comfortable and. People know exactly what they're getting when they subscribed to this. Like you're getting the spicier stuff. So, yeah. Um, right now I am reading. Sorry. Sorry. That was like really long. I am reading Flirting with the Monsters, the series by Eva Chase. Um, this is part. My, uh, research for the reverse harem paranormal serial. Um, and I have a whole list of other reverse harem paranormal books that I'm going to be reading. Um, It is very much its own thing. Reverse harem, like the whole like multiple love interests for the one woman. Um, And there's just like, beyond the fact that there's like mechanics that I need to figure out for how this works. Um, There's the element of like, I really want to make sure that I make each of the members of. Of this kind of like a group love situation. Um, it really distinct and interesting, and that everybody is bringing something to the relationship. Um, so. Uh, and. Aye. I mean. Yeah. I really love, um, where this story, The Last Vampire Queen has gone. Um, and I'll talk about that a little bit later when I get to my Google stuff. Um, but it just, it's it's allowing me to explore beyond the spicy stuff. It's allowing me to explore some. Some, um, elements that I've really been wanting to put into a story, but that don't fit into either the Echo World or the Legacies of Olympus and both of those universes are so complex and expansive that they're kind of big enough for me to continue to write in for the rest of my life. Like I don't need to venture out beyond them, and then also, including The Ending World that I write with Lindsey Pogue, um, I kind of have all of my. I have a very broad fictional, like playground to play in, but there are certain things that I've been wanting to explore in my stories, like I really want to have to have a story that has like a haunted gothic house. And so that's something that I'm going to get to include in here. I've always wanted to. To write a vampire story, um, and so this series or serial The Last Vampire Queen, obviously vampire. Um, but there's also going to be some of the other standard, um, mythical or supernatural creatures like shifters and, um, this is where I'm gonna fit in my mermaid story idea. Um, so cause the mermaids are going to fit under the shifter family. And then there's, um, elementals is what they're called in this world, but there, witches basically, um, and then there's demons. So it's kind of like the four main, original classic supernatural creatures. So I'm really excited about writing something that kind of goes back to my urban fantasy roots. Um, But that can like straddle the line into this. Or make the leap into this kind of like reverse harem, spicier world. So it's going to be really fun. I'm really excited about it. I feel like in. In this serial people are going to get all the stuff that they love from a Lindsey Sparks series, all of the mythology and history and mystery, and like the complex characters, but they're just going to get like, like the romance element is going to just be pushed, like all the way. All the way to the extreme. 10 out of 10 on romance. Um, so yeah. I guess on spice. Um, But I have with the way that the story is structured, the. The spicy element is integral to the plot. So like her power is fueled by, um, her physical relationships with people. Um, so. So it is essential to the story. So it's not just like this extraneous thing that's thrown in. So I'm really excited about exploring the way that that would impact relationships in the emotional side of relationship, having this necessary physical element, um, that has to be met by multiple people, um, how that the kind of push and pull of strains and conflicts that that's going to cause on the emotional side of these relationships. So I think it's going to be really interesting. Um, and I'm going to explore some stuff about motherhood, and I mean, it's, it's, it's not going to be like one dimensional or shallow at all. Um, So. Yeah. It's, it's gotten a lot deeper and more complex than I expected it to, but I'm really excited. I did about it. Um, okay. So, like I said, I'm reading, the Flirting with Monsters series. Um, I just read Blood Ties by Tarah Benner, my dear author friend . She's um, we're doing like a season 1.5 of the Read By The Author show and podcast, and she is reading her. Her. Um, The prequel novella for her, Witches of Mountain Shadow series. It's a contemporary fantasy series. Uh, Blood Ties this is the name of the prequel she is, for the next four episodes, reading for Read By The Author. There she is reading that. And so I just recorded the interview with. With her talking about that story. It's a really fun story. Um, It's a very, like, it reminded me a lot of supernatural the show. Um, and there's two. Brothers and, uh, yeah, it's great. You guys are gonna love it. If you. Listen to that show. Um, and then I am also reading The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes. Um, And. At the same time as watching the Shining Girls, the show on Apple TV. Um, LP and I are discussing The Shining Girls, the book and then the adaptation to the show, on, uh, No Shelf Control podcast the next episode. Um, so I'm really enjoying both the book and the show. My husband is a little iffy on the show. I think, uh, it is interesting. Something that we will talk about, I'm sure, is the different way the chronology has explored its a tad bit confusing. Um, Uh, but the book and the show, uh, approach that chronology differently at the timeline. Okay. Uh, we did finish, so what, what else am I watching? Uh, we did finish Snowfall, season five. And so now we're, that's., It's all that's out so far. We're waiting for season six, and I am still watching the Witcher, season two. I just have not had any free time. My. Um, I mean, other than what I was sitting, I just played video games nonstop when I was sick. So. Um, and I have been playing Elder Scrolls Online. Um, I played Elder Scrolls Online for like 12, 12 hours one day last weekend. When I could not function as a mother, um, because of the flu. So. So thankfully my husband wasn't sick yet at that point. So he just took care of the kids, the whole. All day. And I just was like couch, zombie playing. Playing video games and, um, It was like, Both wonderful and terrible. Um, okay. So my high. Over these last two weeks. Um, I feel like I had. A bunch of things. Um, I, but I'm just going. To talk about the most recent ones. So, um, I had a great interview with Tarah for the Read by The Author podcast and show. So that's going to be coming out on Wednesday. Um, and then I just, this morning received the first sketches um, pose options for, uh, the dust jacket of Echo in Time for the Echo Trilogy, the 10th anniversary special edition. So I am doing all three books, um, Echo in Time, Time Anomaly and Ricochet Through Time. Um, but I. I just received from Sonia, um, Sonia Matas, uh, is the lead, I guess, lead, um, artist - it's actually a duo. Um, But, uh, she sent me the. The initial pose, um, options or ideas that she had, and they are... these sketches are stunning. Stunning. They are just absolutely stunning. She is amazing, um, and I am blown away by them. I love them all. There's three, um, there's two that she prefers, and I am happy with any of them. So I'm happy to go with the two that either of the two that she prefers. I am thinking that at this point, I'm probably going to ask her to. For both of them. And one of them is going to be the dust jacket, and one will just be more of a line illustration that I can put inside the book. Um, they're just beautiful. It's Heru, uh, Marcus and Lex. And they're... when you guys see them, you're going to be blown away. They're just stunning. Um, I can only imagine how beautiful they are going to be when they're in full color. Her color and light is just the thing that initially drew me to her well, and also her figures are, they're just immaculate. Her the faces, the expressions, she is just a true master of her art. And I am so excited. And honored to, to have her working on this project. I think these, these books are going to be stunning. Um, And then another high is that, um, Mandi and I have been working on the graphics for the Sparks plus Spice Patreon. Um, and she did the banner for the Patreon page, and I broke. Broke out the old Photoshop and dusted it off. And I just got inspired. I had a vision of how I wanted to do the cover. How I wanted the cover for the serial to look, and it's very simple, so it was something I felt like I could like possibly tackle. Um, so I did it. I made the cover for The Last Vampire Queen, season one. Um, it's available in the cover is on display in, um, my reading group, Facebook reader group, Lindsey's Lovely Readers. Um, And, uh, I think it turned out really great. And I'm really happy with it. Um, And then Mandi she has been working on the symbol for the kind of like, immortal world within The Last Vampire Queen. Which is, uh, based around three, three to four ish, there's three main houses, and then they are fighting against the demon house, which I. I can't remember what I called. I wanna say, like I called it the house of darkness or house of shadows or. Or something like that. Um, but so the three main houses are the. House of. Um, The house of the sun, the house of the moon, and then the house of the dawn. The house of the dawn. Um, the house of the sun represents the immortal creatures. I know this. Isn't going to make a complete sentence. It's like, you'd think it would be the moon. Um, but the house of the sun is where the shifters, that's their, um, group. uh, they were created by Helios. Um, and, uh, yeah to help fight in this immortal war against the demons. Um, and then the house of the moon is created by Selene, uh, and that's for the vampires. Um, and they're... so there's like these three immortal races that were created by the siblings, Helios, Selene, and Eos, um, who created the elementals under the house of the dawn, uh, and they are were created millennia ago to fight against the demons, um, that war is over. Uh, and, uh, now this is we're experiencing what the world has become, our modern world, this is like this hidden part of it. Um, what they're kind of up to right now. So, um, um, there is now internal fighting since they don't have this external enemy. Um, or currently they don't have this external enemy, the demons. So now there has become internal fighting and it's kind of breaking down. Um, With the two main oppositions being the house of the sun and the house of the moon. So the shifters and the vampires. Which is kind of fun because now I get to do my own play on the kind of like classic vamps versus werewolves thing. So I'm pretty excited about where that has going. And also just, I have set up a mythology for it. Um, Um, the whole like shifters being cursed by the moon or werewolves being cursed by the moon was something that came from the vampires, the house of the moon cursed them, which is where their tie to the moon and shifting comes. Comes from. So it's very interesting. Um, the way that the mythology has has formed. So like, like so many things that I write, I feel like it has formed itself. I did not form it, like my muse has fed it to me. So, um, I'm really excited to explore this world, with the story and to share it with everybody. Um, yeah, so, oh anyway, but the symbol that I was talking about it is beautiful. Um, but it is a, uh, It's a very like mystical, astrological looking thing. Um, but it's got, uh, sun and then a Crescent moon, and a rose. To represent the three houses. Cause those are the symbols for those three gods. So the. The sun for Helios, the moon for Selene, and then the rose for Eos. Um, and, uh, then there's like some astrological stuff around it. Um, so yeah, I think it's really cool. Really cool symbol. And I'll share that in the group, the Facebook group soon, too. You need to figure out how to fit. It onto the cover somehow. Um, the low this week was that I had the flu. Um, But I am definitely in recovery, even though my voice. A little rough. Uh, so yeah, I'm sure next week I'll be. All better, you know, knock on wood. Um, And last. Last week's obsession was, um, developing the world and writing for The Last Vampire Queen and writing those first two episodes. Um, Yeah. Each episode is about three of my usual chapters long. I would say. In terms of what to expect. And there'll be one episode every month, except there's two episodes in this initial month. Um, okay, so I went back through my Google search history, and I just pulled some of the more interesting stuff because two weeks had a lot. And I was actually three weeks worth of Google search history because I think I forgot to. Do it two weeks ago, last time I recorded. So I'm going to try to get through this really quickly because I realized that this episode is going insanely long. Um, okay. So, um, the first one is like all of the things that I searched for synonyms for, um, which was a lot, so. Uh, this is going in reverse timeline. So it starts with stuff that I searched for The Last Vampire Queen, and then it's going to go backwards into the end of Blood of the Broken.

So I searched for synonym for: 29:54

hypnotize, spell, haze, daze, pain, nice, pleasure, this. Was hilarious. Um, engorged, swollen, lustful, comforting, guarded, reluctant, and now we're. We're getting into Blood of the Broken synonym searches that I did. Link, nexus, torrent, faith, doomed, strain, train, push, vine, thread, energy, lightening, and bolts. So, yeah, when you read the stories, you can probably see. I mean, it's not really a hard to imagine what parts of The Last Vampire Queen have to do with engorged, swollen, and lustful. Anyway. So, um, when I was doing my research for The Last Vampire Queen, I also. Also searched for ancient Greek surnames moon, and this is kind of like when I was originally setting up the mythology and structure of this world. Um, I knew I wanted there to be a tie to the moon and. And, um, that was kind of how I came up with selene. I mean and all that stuff or, and that another search that had to do that with the vampire moon goddess. So I wanted to find out what kind of connection there was between, I mean, vampires and the moon. If there was anything. This is how a lot of my initial search starts, I'm just like tossing ideas up onto the internet and seeing what the internet tells me. Uh, exists out there and then I follow those trails further. So that was how I came up with Selene, um, the ancient Greek goddess. And then from Selene, I found her siblings, Helios and Eos, and created the connection to the other immortal races. Um, and the houses. And all of that fun stuff. So, um, I think, uh, let's see here. So for my big goal this week, uh, I. I, my big goal is to launch Sparks and Spice, uh, the Patreon on June 1st, Wednesday. Um, and also to launch the first episode of season 1.5 of, uh, Read By The Author with Tarah's story, uh, blood Ties. So those are my two things, both launching on Wednesday, and I think they're both going to be great. Uh, and then I am looking forward to this week after. After the launch of the Patreon, um, so probably starting Wednesday, I will be going through the beta feedback for Blood of the Broken and making those revisions. Um, so I think that is, uh, is going to be a really fun week and I'm looking forward to it. Um, and especially just looking forward. Forward to feeling better. So, um, that's it for me this week. Uh, and, uh, I hope you have a wonderful week. And happy reading!