So… it’s been a long time since I wrote a blog post. My usual updates are now at my Patreon (which you all should check out, it’s the easiest and best way to support me if you can afford to toss a coin to your writer). The long story short is that I got Long Covid/ME/cfs, had some personal family tragedies, and just generally life has sucked a lot in the last few years.
That said, I’ve finally gotten Harper’s Tale ready for release (if you backed the Kickstarter, check your email and your Kickstarter messages!) and it’s now available! So please, pick it up, tell your friends, tell the random people in the grocery store, tell everyone. This book is technically The Twenty-Sided Sorceress 7.5, so if you’ve read the first seven at least, you’ll be caught up, but if you haven’t, there are spoilers for events in the first seven books.
Books2Read which will have options for everywhere else including Kobo and B&N and Apple (some of these options might not show up yet as they are slower to publish, keep checking!)
The print book will be available shortly (it’s still “publishing” last I checked on it).
Hi all. Sorry I’ve been quiet a lot, but a lot has been happening in my life, very little of it good alas.
One good thing however is that we got a cat! After a couple years of negotiating with our landlords, we finally convinced them to let us get a kitty. So please, meet Noodles! She’s a 14 week old ragdoll/British short hair mix and has utterly captured my heart in the last two weeks.
The other news is that after nearly six months of medical tests, seeing every specialist ever (or so it felt like), and getting progressively worse, I’ve finally been diagnosed with ME/cfs. I will link some information about it here. It’s not something that is curable (at the moment! I have hope, I have to have hope) but at least now that I know what is wrong, there are things I can do to help prevent it from getting worse and maybe some treatments for the symptoms. I’m still learning what my new normal is like and how I’ll be able to continue writing with this illness.
My main focus is Harper’s Tale and getting it ready for public consumption. After the Kickstarter is fulfilled and the book is released, I will likely be putting my main effort into my Patreon since it will allow me to have ongoing support and release small amounts of works in progress and art etc regularly. I am going to be a slow writer for the forseeable future, there’s no way around it with this disease. I refuse to stop writing (both for my career and for my mental health, I LOVE writing and I will do whatever I can to keep telling stories), but I recognize that my old ways of working will never work for me again and could actively harm me, so I’m going to find a new balance and a new way. So if you want to see ongoing work, get chances to vote in on things like character names, see my terrible art, and generally are able to support me in an ongoing way, my Patreon is the place.
I wish I had better news, but it is what it is. Harper’s Tale should be ready in the next few weeks at least, so there’s a little silver lining.
Thank you all for your patience and support and kind words over the years 💗
I thought I would make a quick blog post explaining what Patreon is, why it is good to support creators you love there, and answer some commonly asked questions about it.
“For patrons, Patreon is a way to join your favorite creator’s community and pay them for making the stuff you love. Instead of throwing money at your screen(trust us, that doesn’t work), you can now pay creators once a month or per thing the creator makes. This means the creator gets paid on a regular basis, and you become a bonafide, real-life patron of the arts. That’s right-Imagine you, in a long frilly white wig, painted on a 10-foot canvas on the wall of a Victorian mansion. And imagine your favorite creators making a living doing what they do best all because of you.”
For us creators, Patreon allows us to recieve ongoing support from people who want more of our work, while getting a higher percent of the payout than any other option available short of you showing up to our homes and handing us cash (which you should probably not do, but thank you for the thought).
One of my main goals this year is to drive more support and interest in my Patreon, which means probably talking about it more than once every blue moon. Shocking, I know. Writing novels takes a long time, longer for me now that I’m dealing with the ongoing recovery from almost dying in 2021, and it is nice to be able to show some work in progress, to interact with peeps, and generally have a means of ongoing support and ways to share my work in the long lonely times between book releases.
What do I offer on my Patreon? Here are just some of the benefits you can get:
*Looks at works in progress (chapters, cut scenes, outlines, cover art etc)
*Short stories and ebook downloads
*Exclusive content available only to Patreon (like the formerly Kickstarter-only Jade & Alek story, which you can get by signing up at any tier at the moment)
*Acknowledgement of your support in my book’s backmatter
*Coming along on my learning to draw/make art journey (and eventually art things like commission spots and stickers etc!)
*Handwritten cute-AF notes mailed directly to you
*Frequent updates about what I’m thinking about, working on, learning about etc
*The warm fuzzies knowing that every time I finish a book, it was done with your help keeping a roof over my head and coffee in my cup
How do you sign up?
Go to my Patreon page here: https://www.patreon.com/anniebellet and choose your reward tier. Support can be month to month or you can sign up a year at a time at a small discount.
Can you cancel? When are you charged?
You can cancel any time. You are charged when you sign up, and then montly (or yearly if you choose that option) on the date you signed up (so you are not charged twice if you sign up at the end of a month, that day will just become your new pledge date).
What does my pledge do for you?
Despite the stereotype of the starving writer/artist living in a garret, we creators don’t actually do that well when we are financially insecure (we’re human, after all). Montly support, even small numbers, adds up and helps introduce stability into what is a very unstable profession. To you the money might feel like a drop, but many drops can fill a bucket. (and if you are not in a position to support your fav creators with money, don’t fret! We love that you talk about our work, get our books from the library, review us, etc, this is a blog post aimed that those who might have a couple bucks they can contribute also). The most productive and creatively satisfying times in my life have been when I didn’t have to worry about where the next month’s rent was coming from, and Patreon is a part of making that reality something more than an infrequent dream we all dream about. Your contribution, large or small, is vital to bringing more art and kick-ass fiction into the world.
Welcome to 2023! I am writing again, which is good news. Also good news for peeps who backed Harper’s Tale Kickstarter, the stretch goal Jade & Alek bonus story is available, so please go check your backer updates for how to get it.
If you missed out on the Kickstarter, don’t despair. There is still a way to support me and get to read the exclusive story! I have a Patreon that I am working on growing and doing more with this year as one of my goals, so it will be a great place to get sneak peeks, early chapters, see what I’m doing on my learning how to make good art journey, etc. And right now you can get the Kickstarter exclusive 20sided story if you back at the $5 level or higher. Click HERE to see my Patreon and all the options. Signing up on a yearly basis gives a small discount too!
Plus I’ve opened up a tier on my Patreon to get a handwritten, cute note from me every month. Because I love getting mail that isn’t bills or catalog spam, and I figure maybe other people might like it also. There’s no requirement to write me back, but I’m happy if peeps do. I love stationary and stickers and all things adorable, so I’m hoping I can use that love to bring some joy into supporters’ lives.
So whether you want to just chuck a dollar my way cause you think I’m awesome, or you want to come along on my writing and learning how to make art journeys, or you want to get a nice cheery note from me… my Patreon has options.
In other news, Harper’s Tale will be available after the Kickstarter digital rewards are all fulfilled, so likely sometime in March. After that I’ll have more news about what I’m working on next and how it is going.
What’s next? Well, we still have a week to try to hit a stretch goal or more. First up is a Kickstarter EXCLUSIVE Jade & Alek story which would go to ALL backer levels.
I am so happy right now. It’s been a really rough few years (last year especially) and this just brings joy to me knowing that people still want my work and that I can keep a roof over my head while I ramp up writing again. You all are the BEST.
Yes I’ll continue making that joke. Sorry not sorry.
Anyway… Harper’s Tale the Kickstarter is over 90% funded! Thank you to everyone who has contributed and is helping make this project a success. We’re super close to the most important finish line (though by no means the final line if we don’t want it to be!) and getting this project fully funded so it happens. I’ve also tweaked the add-ons including a few signed paperbacks, as well as added a couple new levels including one for audiobooks. So if you have already backed the project, make sure you take a look at your rewards and have them the way you want them, and if you haven’t backed yet… well, what are you waiting for? Even $1 gets us closer to being funded, and $5 gets us closer AND you’ll get to read Harper’s Tale before general release. How cool is that?
Sorry I haven’t updated in a while, it has been a long, arduous, and nothing like linear recovery from almost dying last year. However, I have good news! Harper’s Tale is finally in the last bits of writing/editing stages, and I’m running a Kickstarter so you can support the book, maybe make more books in the world of Twenty-Sided Sorceress happen, and get the novel before it releases to the general public (you can also potentially get signed paper editions depending on your backer level).
Why Kickstart the book? Frankly, my recovery has been long, slow, painful, and it has meant not being able to write for nearly a year. I’m back writing again but definitely not 100% (and might never be) the person I used to be. My immigration and visa status depends on me doing this job, and this job only. I’m not allowed to take up any other work, nor am I allowed to take any benefits or support from the government (including any pandemic help). Writing is literally what keeps a roof over my head. Kickstarter will allow me to keep working on cool projects for all of you, while also making sure the support is there for the book (and other books if we hit the stretch goals) and ensuring I keep a roof over our heads.
Thank you all for sticking with me through this wild few years, and especially all the notes of support I got last year. They’ve really helped me keep going.
Please check out the Kickstarter for Harper’s Tale HERE and feel free to tell friends, share the link with everyone you know, and I’ll be back with more news soon.
Hi, this is a hard post to write, but I’ve suffered a very serious health issue. I have blood clots in my lungs and part of one lung is dying. The road to recovery is months to years, and I am not entirely sure when I’ll feel well enough to write (currently in so much pain I can’t even read a book right now). I’m letting you all know because it means Harper’s Tale will not be out this month or probably even in May. I’ll try to keep y’all updated when I can start working again.
Ready for more books in the world of the Twenty-Sided Sorceress? It’s here! Bad Moon on the Rise is the first book in a brand new series that is set in the same world but stands alone from Jade’s books.
Follow Alek’s sister Kira as she and her crew solve people’s problems and get into trouble!
Tiger-shifter. Bounty Hunter. Vigilante for Hire.
Kira Jones solves her problems with a big gun, and she rarely has the same problem twice.
But not all trouble can be stopped with a bullet, and some cases are more complicated than others…
The release for Kira’s book has been delayed a couple times, sorry! It will absolutely be coming on Nov 25th (might be a few days later for B&N and Apple, depending, sorry!) and is still available for pre-order if you are worried about missing a release. This year has been very stressful (as I’m sure everyone can imagine/understand) and I’d had to take extra time on both this project and Harper’s Tale.
