fiction

A One-Hour Winter… and Some Unexpected Houseguests

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We had a brief encounter with snow this week. Too bad it only lasted about an hour before it turned back into rain.
And you’d probably think all of Norway is buried under a thick layer of snow by now, right?

Wrong.

What we got was barely 1 cm—just enough to turn the roads into a thin sheet of ice. Not fun at all when you can’t even go sledging. It simply creates the perfect conditions for breaking bones you’d much rather keep intact.

And despite the cold weather outside, I’ve somehow ended up with plant lice on the pepper plants in my kitchen. In winter. I genuinely did not see that one coming.

So now I’m debating whether to kick the plants outside. Only I’m not sure who would die first:
The pepper plant or the lice.

Probably the plant—knowing my luck.

But of course, for the sake of scientific experimentation, one of them will have to be sacrificed. (Or maybe it’s just my evil side that delights in the thought of sending the plant lice out into the frost.)

It all feels minor, though. I’ve been reading an Icelandic book about the volcanic eruptions on Vestmannaeyjar, where homes and livelihoods were destroyed when lava and ash swallowed entire neighbourhoods.

Puts our little weather inconveniences into perspective, doesn’t it?
I’m suddenly very grateful I don’t live near a volcano.

Still, the cold does have one clear advantage: it’s the perfect excuse to curl up in my favourite chair with a good book. Even if that book happens to be about Icelandic eruptions. Fortunately the author slipped in a murder mystery or two, which makes it almost impossible to put down. So that’s where I plan to remain until the temperature climbs above 10 degrees again. Or maybe 5 degrees is more realistic. (Celsius, of course.)

(And if you’re wondering which book I’m talking about—it’s Ashes to Dust by Yrsa Sigurðardóttir.)

The Truth About Being a Writer

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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.

A few words from the author

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(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.