Oh I'm on board

#pretendpanel So far, I've managed to avoid that, though I am kind of amused that both of my novels/novellas contain a main character that ultimately has to fight something with too many legs. 🤣

#writinglifemonthly Very important. It's one of the reasons I'm happy to stay self-pub. I even copyright each work for good measure. For screenplays, I understand that some things don't translate well to the screen. I'd still want to be in the loop on it, but I'd trust the pro lol.

#Writinglifemonthly That's all I do! It's just me over here; got no marketing team at all. I haven't sold a book since my birthday (funny enough haha) though so I don't think I'm good at it, but talking to people about my stories is fun regardless lol.

ಠ_ಠ

#writinglifemonthly I think this is a "grass is greener" situation! As an indie self-pub author, so far, writing is my Warhammer lol. I do love having more control over my work, but (in my experience) online sales are abysmal. I do best in person. 🧵

#HorrorWritersChat For creature features: CRISPR For sci fi/dystopian/adjacent horror: GenAI For body horror: That gel that's supposed to regrow teeth. What if they never stopped. What if you just kept GROWIN TEEFS

#HorrorWritersChat Some of my stories have 80s/90s tech, but my two finished novels/novella are set in current times. I don't really use it as a horror device intentionally; I do what suits the story!

#HorrorWritersChat Oooo. So far kind of neither, but if it does play a significant part, it's a tool.

#HorrorWritersChat Good day all! I'm Michelle Heller and I swear by Scrivener paired with a cloud sync service. Write anywhere, always have a backup going, it's great. I also love being able to split my book chapter by chapter. Makes it way easier to edit.

#Writinglifemonthly It took me almost 4 years to finish Worst Summer. My novella was done in just a few months, though. I'd love to put out 2-3 a year, but I am a one man show here, and part of my process is "walk away from it for a while then reread", so I think if I go any faster, quality drops.

A nice little thing I like to do is keep raisins in my pocket to hand out to strangers when out in the world - you never know what someone’s going through and if a single raisin can keep them from losing their shit, then it was worth it. #raisins

keep trottin

#writinglifemonthly In terms of a career replacer? Not for me, personally. I'm in it for the long haul, but I don't think I'll ever be tradpubbed. My day job doesn't pay what it should, but I have decent insurance. I could not IMAGINE being a 1099 worker reliant on sales these days.

#writinglifemonthly Oh, man. Not to sound cynical or bitter but all success is 98% who you know, 2% blind luck, imho. I'd have a better career if I could benefit from nepotism. I'd probably have books in major stores if I was besties with an industry giant. It's just how it is. Networking is king.

#writinglifemonthly My delusional pipe dream is Sam Raimi adapting The Worst Summer Of My Life. I'd sell for him lol. I know it doesn't work like that, a studio buys and then finds a director without your say, but. That's why it's a delusional pipe dream 🤣

Hey since this post is doing numbers, can any of you also help boost my friend's GFM? www.gofundme.com/f/making-up-...

#pretendpanel I tend to build them as I go. I start with some scaffolding and see where the character goes from there! The longer the story, the deeper the development. I have 120k words of just character notes for Worst Summer. The novel itself was 66k. 🤣

All right. Time for the thoughts of a stranger on the internet nobody asked for about The Big Thing that happened today, what it means, the state of the world, and, *gestures vaguely to the dumpster fire* ya know. 🧵

You are under no obligation to mourn the death of people who would’ve celebrated yours.

I SECOND THIS. Buy @tlbodine.bsky.social's book or I will haunt your air vents.

#HorrorWritersChat I missed the seasons. Especially when the air got its teeth back, the ground covered in crisp Autumn leaves. The folks back home regarded me warily, hurrying to their cars, closing their blinds. It reminded me of what I missed most of all. The chase was so much more fun this way.

#HorrorWritersChat Oooo. So many of my ideas come from my weird dreams. But the most meta dream I've had so far was about me and @martinshannon.bsky.social hiking the Appalachian trail to get away from it all and practice our instrument skills. We just found a dead body instead 🤣

#HorrorWritersChat "AITA For Following Through? Hey Reddit, I need input. I attempted to summon a benevolent god and it went way wrong. A lot of people died but I think I can fix it now that I know what I did wrong. I'm also really sorry :(. My new friend thinks I'm TA for this. Thoughts?"

Sounds like a totally fun time that will not have any complications at all

#HorrorWritersChat Heya pals! I'm Michelle Heller, I write whatever horror tickles my fancy, and my recently finished work is about a peaceful guy and his animal friends :)

PRAISE BE TO WEDNESDAYS

#writinglifemonthly I think it varies with the person. We all have imposter syndrome; I'm self-pub indie and sometimes don't feel like I'm a "real" writer because of the stigma around it. But at the end of the day, I don't think these publishing methods NEED to be at odds.

An attempt to keep moving forward. Personal work- 2025

Get loved, idiot All my homies get hugs in my house

This is a good friend of mine and I can vouch for her. I know there's a million GFMs right now but if you can spread around this #mutualaid request it would be much appreciated: gofund.me/6121da36

In light of a recent medical emergency my release of SOUR DOE is gonna be riding that fine line of "just made it" and "arrived just in time". I won't have time to let interested parties beta read for development purposes, but don't mind letting you read for funsies! 🧵

This is truly the most cartoonish and absurd fascist takeover

#writinglifemonthly I would be lying if I said "I don't care if I never win an award", but on the same token, I have never said "Ooo, this book won an award, I'll buy it!". Plot and writing draws me in the most. I think awards matter when it comes to a writer feeling accomplished, mostly :)

#pretendpanel Somewhat unintentionally, the main character of my novel, The Worst Summer of My Life, is more or less me. 🤣. It was really hard to write a retail-based horror and NOT do it since I spent so long in retail/food service myself. She was very cathartic to write, lol. ->

Man, Mightyena was one of my go-to endgame team members. Love dark types, surprising no one probably lol

Truth lmao

Post a television character you most identify with: I have *far* more self control than her but maladaptive daysreams and third degree yearns go brrrrrr

#WritingLifeMonthly I'd honestly love to spend 0 dollars on my passion! What deters me from tradpub is the difficulty. I have to impress someone that's looking for exceptional, poignant, etc. I gave it a try for a while and said "Yeah, this isn't going to work for me." 🧵

#HorrorWritersChat I'd have a blast working on a movie with Sam Raimi. I think I'd pitch him one of my neglected WIPs - a story of a guy that brokers souls at a crossroads gas station. Would be a fun time. If he had his own idea I'd just follow his lead though. He's the pro!

#HorrorWritersChat I toyed with a cool concept using time travel once upon a time. A guy just figured out he could move back and forth through time if he focused super hard but the catch was all he was doing was rapidly flipping through the days with his body. 🧵

#HorrorWritersChat The 80s. I'm a weird person. All of my siblings are Gen X. So my childhood was filled with THEIR stuff. Movies, music, etc. As such I have a lot of nostalgia for that era even though I was dead for it. 🤣

#HorrorWritersChat I'm originally from Upstate NY and I don't think I have a historical doppelganger 🤔. I write popcorn horror, so I'm not really on the same level as Stoker and such. I think I write the kind of stories that would be fun Sam Raimi movies, though. (Call me bro)

Less than 24h left AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

The Kickstarter for Ersatz is LIVE! Consider supporting the production of a solo-animated indie pilot! When a nameless amnesiac wakes up in a bunker, they're immediately thrust into the trenches of an endless war. Trailer below 🌟

I'm tentatively beginning to believe the nurse when she said my kidney stone was too small to hurt much when passing it, but every time I head to the bathroom I still expect horrific agony. I'm not sure if I've passed it or not yet. Did it dissolve? The antici-pee-tion is killing me over here.

I didn't have "kidney stone" on my bingo card this year. Kill me 😭

Why would I want my sins forgiven I worked hard on them