Happy first Friday of the new year, friends!! How about we kick off 2026 with another round of #notrealopeners? 😸 The rules are simple: let's share some practice opening lines to books that don't exist (...yet? 🤭) I'll go first: "A tattoo is only as good as the artist's ability to spell."

Resolution = Resolve Spencer tries to convince Wren she's a good person. From book 2 of my romantasy wip about a priest of the dead and a thief with a heart of gold. #WIPSnips #WriteSky #WritingPrompts #WritingCommunity #Wrencer

My pfp is a Nush original!!! She's so wonderful to work with and such an excellent artist to follow, I cannot recommend her enough ❤️❤️❤️

A really important thread and a great reminder for all of us (but especially for me).

Feliz nuevo año todos! Like many, I’d been scribbling stories since I could read but never thought I could do anything with it and by the time I was about to graduate high school I was ready to give up on the silly pursuit altogether and focus on “adult things” like how to earn cash+ #pretendpanel

#pretendpanel I feel like career is a loaded word. I've been writing since I was in 6th grade. It's something I've always come back to, a compulsion to tell stories. But as a career? I probably won't feel comfortable using that label till I publish my 1st book. #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts

Happy #PretendPanel! This is hard to answer 😂 like many, I knew from a young age I wanted to be a writer. But despite that, it truly feels like I only locked into a writing career with Bludeye Beach. That being said, Bludeye wouldn't be what it was without 30ish years of writing behind it. +

#WIPSnips #writingcommunity #writers #writesky "resolution" --> "resolve" In their early days as Sea Mother & Sun Father, Mireia refuses to believe she'll ever want to marry Kena. Meanwhile Icozoue is already shipping them 😂 From Book 1 of my #Atlantis trilogy.

This month's newsletter is lovely and heartfelt, just like its writer ☺️❤️

Happy New Year, #WIPSnips! Posting this snip in honor of freshly-concluded #Smutcember. 🤣 From my sci-fi romance, The Stars Will Be Our Ocean.

Happy #WIPSnips 1 - Begin! BLUDEYE BEACH is technically no longer a WIP (as of today!!!) but here's what feels like a very appropriate snip, in case anyone was curious about how to pronounce the town name ☺️

This is so surreal but BLUDEYE BEACH is now officially PUBLISHED!!!! 👁🎉🥹❤️ #indieauthor #booksky #writingcommunity

Coming in 2026: THE STARS WILL BE OUR OCEAN 🪐 Sci-fi Romance 👽 Alien x Human ❤️‍🔥 Slow Burn Friends to Lovers 👀 Scooby Gang Commits Light Treason 🏳️‍🌈 Space is Queer ❤️‍🩹 Hurt/Comfort Stay tuned for updates, cover reveal, and pre-orders later this year! Character art by @nukeloop.bsky.social

This is the energy I'm bringing into 2026. ❤️

For our Friends of Quillbert level Patreon supporters, we have an extra special treat: @carska36.bsky.social reading the prologue for BLUDEYE BEACH by @eliwoodsgheist.com ! www.patreon.com/posts/weekly...

The last blog post of 2025 is now live on my author website. I dive into some details of how I prepared my debut novel, THE DEVOURING, for publishing. amshilling.com/2025/12/31/c...

Happy New Year!! Here's to 2026 ❤️❤️🎉

It's not eldritch horror without some terrifying nightmares. From THE DEVOURING, my cosmic horror/revenge thriller about a married couple who uncover an occult conspiracy in their city. #WIPSnips #WritingCommunity

HI FRIENDS and Happy #WIPSNIPS 31 - End! This is from BLUDEYE BEACH which is coming out TOMORROW if you want to know HOW THE BEACH BASH WENT ON MILO AND EDIE'S FIRST DATE (Badly. It went Very. Very Badly. 👁)

Thank you soso much!! I learned that there are a lot of genuinely great folks out here who want to talk, read, & write smut, and the stigmas around explicit writing are just as silly as I always suspected ❤️❤️ I had such a great time with this prompt game! Ya'll are definitely in the acknowledgments ☺️

#Smutcember 31: I've learned ... That y'all are awesome. ☺️ Seriously, though, this has been a great time, and I hope you had as much fun participating as I had co-hosting! For acknowledgements, definitely all my Kronkers, whose openness and enthusiasm made me feel safe sharing my spice. 💜

#smutcember Learnt that I'm way more prudish than I thought I'd be after splitting my accounts out 😅 Something to work on for the future! In my acknowledgements: honestly just like anyone who's ever said a kind thing about my pirate queen snips, cos it makes my day 🥰 and of course, my Kronkers 😉

News of his brother's murder sends Jason on a hunt for the killer, but his wife Ayana suspects a more sinister conspiracy at play. The deeper they dig, the more they risk losing: their sanity, their lives, and each other. 8 days until THE DEVOURING's cover reveal! #WritingCommunity #Booksky 💙📚

Thanks so much for hosting, Lizzie and HQP! I learned that so many people are way more supportive of smutty stories than previously thought, which is so encouraging. My writing group gets all the acknowledgements for anything I write. You know who you are, and you’re all the best. #Smutcember

Werewolves have to overcome clan rivalries and moonlust complications to protect a child from the cult that hired them.

Just finished reading BLUDEYE BEACH by @eliwoodsgheist.com and I tell you, it's a treat to finish out the year with a new book and series starter this good. The way it establishes its mystery and slowly peels back the layers was fun to read, with richly realized characters placed front and center. 🧵

#WIPSnips #amwriting #writingcommunity #writers #writesky I'm late today, but do you have any idea how many times I use the word "sun" in this story? 😂 Anyway, here's a nice little snip of Mireia & Kena, from Book 2 of my #Atlantis trilogy.

can confirm this book SLAPS, it's absolutely delicious ❤️❤️ check it out if you like vampires AND/OR horror AND/OR romance AND/OR reading good books

I fully embraced writing for myself. It's made me & my writing both a lot stronger ❤️

In 2025: - Met & started a support group with some really phenomenal writing people - Oops helped start an indie publishing company @hookandquillpress.com - Revised Bludeye Beach enough to publish (Jan 1st!!!!) - Wrote first drafts of Eyes Shine Silver in Moonlight & Below Bludeye Beach (#3)

Happy #Smutcember 30! -cracks knuckles- Dragons. Mermaids. More werewolf smut. I've got a very unpolished idea for a "girl summons succubus to learn how to get better at sex and they fall in love". Another semi-built plot for a Lovers-to-Enemies-to-Lovers love triangle. +

Happy #WIPSnips 30 - Sun! From BLUDEYE BEACH (releasing in 2 days!!!!! 😱) 16 year old Milo's got surprising moments of rizz.

HEHEHE YES although it'll take YEARS of Alexander's life/even more years writing to get there. 🫠 Set up something for 2 characters in 1665 that's heavily foreshadowed. 2 characters' role in 1667 is set up but very sneaky for now. And also, just want to use one minor guy more from 1662+.

#smutcember Overall premise I'm looking forward to writing: rivals to lovers in a magic uni (lol Wicked much?) Smutty scene I'm looking forward to writing: "the ship is about to dock there's no time for sex" "wanna bet?" 😏

JOHN WICK x THE COLOR OUT OF SPACE For readers who like: 🩸 dangerous criminal underworlds 🩸 secret occult organizations 🩸 married villain protagonists 🩸 terrifying body horror 🩸 the threat of an Eldritch God 9 days until THE DEVOURING's cover reveal! #WritingCommunity #Booksky 💙📚

In my current WIP: the first sex scene, period. Daemrin and Lex have so much chemistry and unresolved sexual tension that it'll be super satisfying to finally write them together in bed. In general: there are a few. 🧵 #Smutcember

From Act 2 of THE DEVOURING, my cosmic horror/revenge thriller about a married couple who uncover an occult conspiracy in their city. #WIPSnips #WritingCommunity

#AwesomeCharacters I am planning to introduce chapters from Bruce's POV in book 3 and maybe have a romance for him as well. Also, Scarlet will appear more in book 3. If I can pull it off, Reggie will have a big role to play in Book 4 and 🧵 #WriteSky #WritingCommunity #writingprompts #Wrencer

Happy #AwesomeCharacters! In EYES SHINE SILVER IN MOONLIGHT, Luke & Isabelle are the focus pair, while Audrey and Ramsey are more of a "fooling around" couple. In the sequel, their backstories will become much more prominent, and I'm going to force these ladies to admit they like-like each other 😂

#Smutcember 29: great discussions today, especially re: the perils of attaching moral weight to these terms. Some thoughts of my own: I personally like "porn" as a useful, value-neutral term for "media (incl. writing) intended for use as masturbatory accompaniment." I pace porn differently, (1/4)

Getting ready for my trip to BLUDEYE BEACH 🌊☀️👻 (if you haven't heard, the digital version releases Jan 1st, and a physical release is soon to follow!! ❤️ learn more at hookandquillpress.com/our-books/) #indiepublishing #indiewriter #booksky #writingcommunity

Clobber = Throttle Wren is hiding out, trying to give the Blackboots the slip. From my romantasy wip about a priest of the dead and a thief with a heart of gold. #WIPSnips #WriteSky #WritingPrompts #WritingCommunity #Wrencer

#WIPSnips #amwriting #writingcommunity #writers #writesky Clobber synonym/vibes. I've shared this scene before, but it's been a while and it's one of my favorite scenes 😂 From Book 3 of my #Atlantis trilogy.

All those words are synonymous to me, but in my mind, “smut” is sex with some story while “non-smut” is a story with some sex. Bee Book is porn/smut/erotica because the sex IS THE STORY. Yes a lot of stuff happens in between, and the characters don’t spend the entire time banging but+ #Smutcember

#WIPSnips Had to go with “Swat.” The Wolf of Wealth knows what the root of all evil is, and it’s not his gift. #WriteSky #WritingCommunity

YOOOOO you guys do NOT wanna miss this!!!!!

This made me want to jump up on my chair and applaud!!! 👏👏 perfectly put, Lizzie!!!

Bear with me. This one needs more than a meagre handful of characters... If you had told me ahead of time that having one person tell me just to stop having impostor syndrome would work, I would have laughed in your face. But it did work. Here's my best attempt at explaining why. 1/ >>>

Happy #AwesomeCharacters! In BLUDEYE BEACH, Edie is an anxiety-riddled scaredy-cat. But the advice that her late grandma gave her became her mantra, repeated throughout the book: "If you're scared, do it scared."

#AwesomeCharacters Spencer follows the tenets of the Gray Lady, which mostly means honoring the dead in the way they wish to be honored and making sure people who are dying are not alone or in pain. Basically, be kind and do the right thing. 🧵 #WriteSky #WritingCommunity #writingprompts #Wrencer