Hello !
I just finished writing a fan-fic short story for a contest connected to the new movie Wicker.
No release to budget and schedule. No wondering how the story fits into one of my series. No plan for turning it into anything else.
I wrote it because it sounded like fun.
And it was!
(Of course, winning would also be fun. I'm available for that experience, too, Universe. 😝)
What I hadn't expected was how much creative energy I'd get back from writing something simply because I wanted to. Finishing that 8,500 word story has left me excited to write more.
Which is a lovely feeling to have after being creatively stuck for more than a few months.
I've also been watching how Wicker is being promoted. There are tie-ins with other products, including the Quinn audio erotica app, and plenty of attention being paid to the fact that the movie began as a short story published in 2016 called The Wicker Husband by Ursula Wills.
Imagine writing a short story, publishing then unpublishing it, and, ten years later, seeing all these different creatives bringing their talents and audiences to it.
It's a wonderful example of creatives joining forces to make something bigger than any one of them could make alone.
And I am here for it.
It's also got me thinking about how much we can gain from spending time with other creative people. Sometimes someone shares an idea that helps you see your own work differently. Sometimes they teach you something useful. Sometimes their enthusiasm reminds you how much you love doing this. Shout out to Hollie Smurthwaite who was as enthusiastic as I was about writing something just for fun and inspired by Wicker and The Wicker Husband.
There's a lot of all of that creative camaraderie happening around Author Ever After this week.
Tomorrow: what's working in romance newsletter promos
Anna McCluskey, manager of Full Hearts Romance, is joining us tomorrow, Thursday, October 15, to talk about what romance readers are opening and clicking in promotional newsletters.
She'll share what she's seeing in the data, including:
What information encourages readers to click through to a book.
Which tropes readers seem to be looking for.
How a newsletter-promo blurb differs from a retailer blurb.
How to strengthen your paid newsletter application.
If you're paying to put your book in front of readers, understanding what helps them decide to click is useful information to have.
And if publication is still ahead of you, you're welcome to come and learn what goes into introducing your story to potential readers.
Register for the free workshop with Anna
Marvin has extended your AuthorScale discount!
Last week's workshop with Marvin of AuthorScale was a huge amount of fun.
We spent 90 minutes learning how to turn our books into short-form social media content, including Kindle screenshot reels and slideshows.
If you missed it and are wondering what AuthorScale does, have a look at the demonstrations on their YouTube channel. It'll knock your socks off!
Marvin has extended the discount he offered to our community. Use the code DANIKABLOOM20 for 20% off any plan.
If you've been considering it, you have until Sunday night to explore the tool and decide whether it would be useful for your books. Several of the Author Ever After gang are using it now and we even have a special two hour window to get a week's worth of socials posts created first thing every Monday morning.
If you don't have an account yet, use this free trial link and then don't forget to add DANIKABLOOM20 to save 20%, whether you join for one month or decide on the lifetime membership.
Come spend the rest of the year with us
Membership in Author Ever After closes at the end of this week, and we won't welcome new members again until sometime in January. And the quarterly membership option will only be available to members who are with us at the end of 2026.
If you'd like to make big progress on your romance before the end of the year, I'd love to have you join us.
Maybe you want to finish your draft. Maybe you're ready to revise, or you have a finished manuscript and a growing collection of questions about publishing it.
You can bring all of that.
You'll have somewhere to ask questions, talk through decisions, celebrate progress, and spend time with women who love writing romance as much as you do.
Join us this week and you'll also get an extra three weeks of membership and a one-to-one coaching call with me. We'll talk about your book, where you are now, and what makes the most sense to focus on next.
Learn more about Author Ever After
Or, if you're ready:
Writing that fan-fic reminded me how good it feels to follow an idea simply because it excites you.
I want more of that feeling. For me, and for you.
And I'd love to hear about the story you're excited to write.
xo,
Danika
PS—When was the last time you wrote something just for fun? No publishing plans required. Hit reply and tell me. I'm curious what you'd write if it didn't have to become anything else.
Danika Bloom
Where romance writers become romance authors. Write it, finish it, publish it—together.
With respect and gratitude, I operate on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territory of the Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) Nation.
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