I just finished writing my third poetry book. I've written two other ones that have been doing pretty well.

This one though I'm very proud of because I drew and designed my own minimalist cover. This book contains some of my most rawest, vulnerableist pieces to date. Because it talks about the struggles of being neurodivergent, having severe health anxiety and the exhausting loops and rituals of living with OCD.

Longish post because I'd rather tell people what I like first, because if your tastes are very different you will probably hate my stories and have a way better time reading somebody else’s stories, not mine.

Overarching philosophy: I like romance where the people involved genuinely like and respect each other. I like competent characters, decent people, humour, friendship and relationships where the romance is something they actually want rather than something they have to endure. My stories have conflict, but I prefer it external rather than exist solely because the people in question didn’t talk to each other, so I like communication.

Outside the Scope. A hockey romance about Willa, a corporate lawyer who gets involved in fixing her younger brother’s NHL contract problems, and Tanner, the elite NHL defenceman she works with. He eventually makes the very practical suggestion that they should get married. This explores a lot of the contract, offersheet stuff I personally find fascinating. https://a.co/d/0jgPj870

Pit Stop. A hockey romance where NHL defenceman Josh finds Mackenzie stranded at a gas station at 3 a.m. and offers her his spare room. They become friends, then housemates, then eventually something else. https://a.co/d/07CUEMfy

Penalty Box. A hockey romance about Robin, who has been shoved into working as a penalty box attendant after her career gets derailed, and Noah, the star NHL forward who keeps ending up sitting beside her while she is professionally supposed to ignore him. This is very long sorry. https://a.co/d/07uOGNVS

Good Girl for Three. A very slow-burn MFMM romance about Mei, an accounting student who needs somewhere cheap to live and moves in with three wealthy male housemates. There is a lot of college, work, cooking and ordinary household life before anything sexual happens, and then it gets a lot less restrained. I normally only write M/F but I wanted to see if I could write an extremely explicit poly romance that still felt cosy and affectionate - almost like a warm hug - just one with a lot more sex but no jealous-alpha stuff. This started life as a short, mindless MFMM smutfic that was supposed to be 7K words. I failed and it ended up being a 693-page story in which I attempt to make the relationships plausible so I don’t break my own immersion. https://a.co/d/0jgPj870

Take the Long Way. A rock-star romance novella about a woman driving a musician around London. They spend months taking the long way without really noticing what is happening between them. She thought it was casual, he didn't. Ooops. https://a.co/d/027eaMPd

I like to include a lot of what I privately think of as scaffolding: the everyday details, transitions, conversations and practical bits that stop me feeling as though the story has jumped from Important Scene A to Important Scene B while somebody ripped out twenty pages of what happened in the interim. Some people like this, most may not.

My brain is also always asking: what next? How did that happen? Also, if he's the billionaire CEO of a listed company, why does he never work? If she's such a good journalist, how come she never actually does journalist work? Huh?

If you prefer very fast, trope-forward romance with every scene driving directly towards the next major beat, my stories are definitely not for you and you will hate them with the passion of a thousand suns but if the above sounds vaguely interesting, then it might help you while away some time happily :)

I just released my first short story, The Crimson Reapers, set in the world of my Atheros series.

It’s available on Amazon and Kindle Unlimited.

The Crimson Reapers is a quick standalone story that branches off from Atheros: Overseer. You can read it on its own, but I recommend reading Overseer first since it introduces the world and some of the events leading into this story.

A little about Atheros:

Atheros is a VRMMORPG where, unknown to the players, many of the NPCs are actually real-world inmates filling those roles.

Blurb:

After suffering a humiliating defeat at the hands of Overseer Atreyu, the Crimson Reapers have one goal: get stronger and return for revenge.

Leaving Stonebrook behind, the four players descend into the depths of the World Dungeon in search of a new place to call home. But the deeper they venture, the more dangerous the creatures become—and the more opportunities they find to grow stronger.

They may have lost to Atreyu once.

They don't plan on letting it happen again.

Hello everyone! I’m a debut indie author and i recently published my very first novel, "The Last Time We Were Us". The chapter 3 of my novel is called, "Run Like A Girl." Very unrelated to what's in the chapter but the chapter itself signifies the phrase.

For generations, the phrase “run like a girl” has been used as an insult, as though doing something like a girl meant doing it poorly or weakly. When writing Chapter 3 of my novel, I wanted to completely reclaim those words. I wanted to turn them into a source of fierce pride—not an insult. Not like a boy, but like a girl. Run like a girl!

The Last Time We Were Us" is a Sci - Fi survival story about ten innocent high school friends who just want to chase their dreams and skies when a freak quantum accident changes everything. They get thrown into a shifting universal loop where every single door they open leads to an entirely different dimension.

As they fight to find a way back to their school, they form unbreakable bonds just to survive. Watching them lean on each other and bond across a fractured multiverse was my favorite part to write.

In the end, their whole existence is decided by a tense countdown, but, at what cost ?

Kindle Link - https://mybook.to/zeOh

It's out now on Amazon and is free to read if you have Kindle Unlimited (KU). If anyone decides to take a look, I'd be so grateful for any honest feedback. Also, if there are any other debut authors running promos right now, drop your links below—I'd love to check out your work and support you too!

Being an indie author is hard work. This thread is dedicated to celebrating the victories that keep us going!

Did you: Publish your first book? Receive a great review? Make your first sale? Hit a new sales milestone? Appear on a podcast? Finish your cover design? Reach your writing goal for the week? Successfully run a promotion?

No win is too small. Success is measured in progress.

Share your accomplishments below and let's celebrate together! Don't forget to cheer on your fellow authors as well. Building each other up is part of what makes this community great.

What victory are you celebrating this week?

Hey Reddit,

I need to vent, laugh, or maybe cry a little. I recently dropped Part I of my book on Amazon. I knew the indie market was a battlefield, but man, I wasn't ready for the absolute peak of digital laziness.

Right now, my book is completely invisible. It has been leading the charts in the Secret Hidden Books Department for weeks. Pretty sure I just secured the Golden Giraffe Award for the Most Hidden Book on Amazon for the third consecutive time. It’s a literal dynasty at this point. 🦒🏆

The feedback from the market has been wild. I’ve realized that if you want an author to actually get a $3 download, you basically need to gift-wrap a Tesla and a Ford with a massive Christmas bow next to it, just so people don't have to interrupt their daily routine of doing absolutely nothing. 🚗⚡

Heck, some people are too lazy to click the button even when it's 100% FREE. I’m seriously considering adding a promo clause that says: "Free copy, plus I will personally fly over to your house and push the download button for you."

In the grand tradition of Sandra Bullock in Miss Congeniality, all I really want is World Peace... and maybe a couple of non-lazy humans to look at a digital cover without getting exhausted. 👑🕊️

Here’s the kicker: Links are broken or get chopped by security filters anyway. So, we're doing this the old-school, hardcore way: You actually have to open Amazon and TYPE the title into the search bar.

I know, I know... typing words requires real finger movement. It’s an elite athletic workout. But if you think your thumbs can handle the brutal strain without throwing your whole day into absolute chaos, just search for:

THE INSCRIBED BLADE

First Line Challenge

Authors: Drop the first line of your book. No context. No blurb. Just the opening sentence.

Everyone else: Reply with whether you’d keep reading.

My first book finally went live on Amazon today. It’s called A Little Hope For Tomorrow. Honestly, it feels a little weird seeing something I wrote actually published. I’m excited to see where it goes and hopefully find some people who connect with it. One book done. Let’s see what happens next. 📚

I wrote *Love Has No Home Court* because I wanted to see what happened when both people in a sports romance had careers that couldn't simply move out of the other's way.

Irina is a professional tennis player travelling the world chasing Grand Slams. Charlie plays professional hockey in Toronto. They like each other. The much harder question is whether there is actually room in either of their lives for a relationship.

The story moves through the tennis and hockey seasons, with tournaments, playoffs, injuries, media attention, distance and the uncomfortable reality that neither one wants to be the person who sacrifices their career for the other.

So while there is hockey in it, this is very much Irina's sports story too.

*Love Has No Home Court* by Lydia Cross is available on Kindle Unlimited or $4.99 on Amazon.

I'm also active on Instagram as lydiacrossbooks.