books

The Truth About Being a Writer

/ adastuarthotmailcom / Leave a comment

Whenever I tell someone I’m a writer, I always get the same question:

“Isn’t it hard to come up with new ideas?”

Honestly? No. Writing is the easy part—at least when it comes to the first draft.

It’s the second, third, and fourth drafts where I start hating everything I’m doing.

But even that stage is a walk in the park compared to everything else you have to do as a self-published author.

Like what? Let’s make a list:

  • Finding the perfect cover image (and wondering if it screams “amateur” or not).
  • Figuring out a title that actually fits the content.
  • Writing a back-cover blurb that makes readers want to read it —because if no one reads it, what’s the point?

All part of the job, right? 

Welcome to self-publishing: where you’re not just a writer, you’re a designer, marketer, tech support rep, and (occasionally) a problem-solving superwoman (I wish).

And trust me—it’s a lot to learn. The good news? It gets easier after a while. Uhm, well, kind of…

But here’s what really drains me:

  • Trying to create a Facebook account to automate Instagram posting… only to have it shut down by Meta. No explanation. No appeal. Just silence. (Unless you call a lawyer, I guess?)
  • Waking up to discover that Eden Books changed their homepage from edenbookstore.com to edenbooks.com—which broke seventy-two of my shortlinks. Yep, newsletter links, homepage buttons, Instagram posts… all useless now. I could spend a week fixing it—or scream into a pillow.
  • Getting an email from Smashwords saying they found “pseudo-incest” in one of my titles. Excuse me, what? Where? (Still looking.) Now it’s banned from Apple and other platforms.
  • Getting flagged by Google because my book “isn’t kid-friendly.” Yes, Google, that’s why I checked the “Adult Content” box. Thanks for removing the preview and killing my sales. Much appreciated.

So yeah—writing the book? That’s the fun part.
Everything else? That’s business.
That’s clutter.
That’s what it’s like to be a solo creative juggling a dozen jobs and putting out fires before breakfast.

Still… 

What can you do? Nothing, except take a deep breath and get back to my next book. Maybe a crime novel where a character accidentally bankrupts a giant tech company. Therapeutic, right?

Sometimes I wonder if I should just keep writing books and stop publishing them altogether.
But then again—where’s the fun in that?

Maybe I just need that lawyer after all (pondering…) 

Or maybe… I’ll just include all the backlashes in my next newsletter or book.

Sure, at least that means they are good for something. 

Just like pests, snails and fires…lol.

Brain fog

/ adastuarthotmailcom / Leave a comment

Ever wondered if your holiday was just a little too long? Like… maybe you should’ve come back sooner, just to avoid the post-vacation brain fog?

Yeah, me too.

Not that it would’ve helped. My brain seems to clock out after four hours anyway (just like the fog outside my window this morning).

And the next four hours? Pure uphill battle. Imagine “walking through mud”, but with spreadsheets.

Luckily, everyone else is also moving in slow motion right now. Workloads are light, the vibe is lazy, and honestly? It feels almost acceptable to slack a little.

But luckily, the fog is finally lifting.

How do I know? I spotted an error in a table I’ve looked at at least twenty times. An error that had been hiding in plain sight… for four years.

Auditors didn’t catch it. My colleagues didn’t catch it. Apparently, everyone just assumed I don’t make mistakes. (Sorry to ruin the illusion, folks.)

Was it thrilling to find the mistake? Sure.

But honestly, I was more relieved than thrilled. Because this means:

  1. My brain still works.
  2. Even if it works differently after my holiday.

Maybe extended holidays unlock creativity? (Or maybe they just fix your internal “stupid mistakes” detector?)

Still, I’m going to take full advantage of it and hopefully pour this energy into my latest book project.

Unless, of course, writing is excluded from this so-called “creativity bonus package.” In that case, you will probably find me doomscrolling on my phone while I pretend to brainstorm brilliant ideas.

In the meantime, the fog outside my window has lifted. Only to be replaced by horizontal rain. Yay!

It’s kind of cool to watch as long as you don’t have to go out in it.

Oh well, that’s western Norway in a nutshell. It is always raining.

But… I bet they never tell you that in the tourist brochures, eh?

Tax report? Already?

/ adastuarthotmailcom / Leave a comment

Yes. It’s that time again. Time for the yearly tax report. Sigh.

Last year, I promised myself that I would start earlier next year. I probably said the same thing the year before. But did it help?

Nope.

Every year, the weeks seem to pass quickly, and I believe I have plenty of time to fix my accounting and calculate all the numbers.

Until….uhm, deadline?

So, right now, I’m just postponing the whole thing until I get the tax report from Google. They are always late (compared to the Norwegian tax office). However, since I deal with so many different currencies, it’s easier to collect reports from each vendor that specify my income in a single currency rather than having to decipher which exchange rate to use for each of the twenty different currencies.

That said, it’s never as straightforward as I would assume. Sometimes, I sell an item in USD. Then it’s calculated into EURO, and after that, I get paid in NOK. Additionally, I have to pay a fee to my bank to enable them to accept the amount from a foreign bank.

Complicated?

Absolutely. Particularly when all the numbers are supposed to be entered into my accounting system and uploaded to the Norwegian tax office. I still have nightmares about doing something wrong and being locked up for life (one of the downsides of having a vivid imagination, I guess. LOL).

Anyway, right now, I’m postponing the whole thing while I’m waiting for Google.

Until that arrives, I can put my head in the sand and write and relax….

Oh, and Google, since you’re probably reading this? Can you please wait until Monday before sending me that tax report?

I would like to take some time off this weekend. Next month will be just fine. Just saying.

It’s funny how this reminds me of the woman who said that she would adore AI once they figured out how to do the dishes for her.

After all, what’s the point of replacing all the fun tasks and leaving us with the boring ones, right?

So, AI, you’re most welcome to handle the tax reports for me from now on.

Unless you make more mistakes than I do…

Note: This post was originally posted on my newsletter. To subscribe (and receive a FREE ebook), click here.

Emergency backup of my Kindle content

/ adastuarthotmailcom / 2 Comments

Have you ever made backups of your Kindle content? I know I haven’t. So, imagine my surprise when I came across this YouTube video.

In short, you can at any time (depending on Amazon’s whims) lose all your downloaded content from Amazon. Even the ebooks you’ve bought and downloaded to your Kindle e-reader or the app. The reason is that you haven’t actually bought the books. You have only bought a temporary licence to read them. So, that means that Amazon can update or remove the content when they want to, and they can also close your account if they suddenly decide to do so (and I know very well how quickly they can decide to close you down, so I don’t trust them at all).

I’m just….WHAT?

Right now, I have about 3500 books on that app. And many years ago, I even bought a Kindle e-reader. (Something that I will never do again.)

Bottom line: I paid for those books so I’m keeping them. Even if it means that I have to download them one by one.

So, have you backed up your content? Or are you still hoping that Amazon will be reasonable?

A few words from the author

/ adastuarthotmailcom / 2 Comments

(This text was first published in “Claiming the Omega” by Ada Stuart)

Everybody says the second book is the worst to write. For me, it’s the fourth book that has proved the greatest struggle. Mostly because I want it to be perfect, and that goal for perfection keeps increasing for every book I write. I cringe when I read the first stories I published on Literotica, but at the same time, I like to know that my writing is constantly evolving.

Still, outside sources have dampened my writing. In July 2023, Amazon started banning my titles, one after the other. In retrospect, it was a prewarning of what was to come. Eventually, they kicked me out and banned all my books. Overnight, I lost 75% of my income. It was a brutal shock, particularly when they also withheld payments for the last three months. Money that I had already paid taxes for.

Needless to say, I wondered if I should just quit writing and spend my time doing something else. But just before this happened, I considered reducing my day job and starting to write full-time. Now, it was no longer an option I could consider.

Anyway, I’ve learned a lot from this experience. First and foremost, I know that I need a savings fund in case it happens again.

But I’ve also learned that you have to fight for what you believe in, even if fate doesn’t always give you what you want and doesn’t go your way. These lessons made it much easier for me to write Anya’s character in this story and describe her pain when forced to adjust to the forces around her. It also makes me realise how painful it is to change and how beneficial it might be to find new routes.

In Anya’s case, it worked out (because I wrote it that way – it’s one of the benefits of writing your own stories).

In my case, it has led me to sell my books directly from my website. That way, I will always be able to publish what I write. The alternative would be to start writing vanilla stories with no sex, and that is not an option.

So basically, I think Amazon did me a major favour. Particularly when I see 24 of my titles on the best-seller lists at Apple. It just tells me the most important thing: You and the rest of my readers are still there. And you keep buying and reading my books, which continues to astound me. I’m so grateful to each and every one of you. And the only way I can repay you is to keep writing.

In the meantime, I hope you will enjoy reading this story and become as fond of the characters as I have after living with them for two years.