It's been a long road to get to this point, but all 5 parts of Volume 19 in the Draoithe saga are live on Amazon and Free to read on Kindle Unlimited! For all of you who buy the books as ebooks, the complete volume will be available this coming weekend for only $2.99. Draoithe: Shadow Master ​will wrap up publishing very soon. I am excited.

Along this author walk, I realized that a few characters and stories that were not in the main line of stories had to be told after I had written a prequel and a forbye, so what to do. I wrote them and crafted spinoff miniseries. It was what had to happen. Dread Allies and several of the short reads were first, then Eyrie Iolair.  Next up, Lyons Gate. 

Don't you just love the extinct Barbary lion? Allow me to introduce you all to Lazlo Greyson the once and future king of Lyons Gate. He has a few issues he needs serious help with, and he gets mixed up with Peter Elliot. He's a victim as so many have been, but in a way you never saw coming. I hope you all will enjoy reading about him and his ghost queen the extinct clouded leopard, Soraya Heffernon.

Before you get the idea that this is a horror story, no not quite. There are some horror elements in this one. As always, this is adult fantasy and steamy pnr. There are triggers. Forewarned is forearmed. So read responsibly and enjoy the dream.

I had to stop production on the Kings Wilde miniseries for a moment. I think my wires might have gotten crossed with Devil's Sins, Criminal Behavior or Darkest Desire (Coming Soon! To a Kindle near you!) So I gotta do some fact checking there. But I did want to let you in on the tentative title, Kings Wilde: Ace in the Hole. What do you think? Let me know. The main character is an Owl shifter named Armand King, but there are 4 other main characters who help him. When Kallik Tarkik manages to aid them by saving one of their own, they decide to ally with Draoithe to end Peter Elliot in the town of Juneau, Alaska. It's sitting at 110,000 words in 11 parts at the moment before edits, and it's not finished. So cross your fingers.

I gotta run. Life calls me out of the dream. Look for new things coming to the dream soon. I miss writing all the time, but the day job is still necessary to pay the bills. To all who support me, Thank you. To all who are new to the dream, Welcome. I hope you enjoy the escape. If you read, be kind and leave your reviews. If you have a question, comment, suggestion, or remark, leave me a message either here or on any of Ophelia Kee's social media sites. I would love to hear from you.
Be Careful!
Happy reading,
Ophelia Kee

I got busy and managed to get the duet short read Draoithe: Fairytale Shadows published this week. I promise, I didn't waste my three day weekend. Edits like crazy, but it's live! Check it out! Like all my stories, it's FREE with Kindle Unlimited!

Alaric Dark and Elyas Night are grandmaster valravne shadow mages. Mercenaries with dark magic willing and able to handle dangerous jobs. Still, they are mercs with a conscience, and there are things they refuse to do for money; abduction, trafficking, and lab experiments among them. When they find themselves caught in a scam to trap them to study their magic and caged in a barn in one of Peter Elliot’s nefarious experiment houses, things go from bad to worse when they realize that two of the other experiments are actually their shadow ladies. They will stop at nothing to save the one’s the magic made for them. Getting out is easy. Getting over the damage that was done, not so much. Step into the duet short read and find out how two lost valravne join Draoithe and help cement a relationship between the Druid council and the valravne kings of their former home, the Black Shadow Castle. This is a companion short read that ties up some loose ends and gives further detail for Draoithe: Shadow Master (Now Publishing) and Draoithe: Dragon Wedding (Coming Soon). 

I'm almost finished with publishing the revised 2nd editions as 6x9 books for all the titles currently published as 8.5x11 books. We all make mistakes and I am learning. I have the formula for formatting the books written down now. I revised all the ebooks as well. So hopefully, it's an even cleaner read than it was before. If you're new to my authorwalk, I hope you enjoy the changes that were often suggested by readers. All the chapters are enumerated and the paperbacks all have page numbers and footers, even the short reads. As I now have over 300 short read titles published on Amazon. (Hey, Eric Binkley, Was this the answer to that question you asked me! Shout out to one of my readers and an early book reviewer.)
This was a serious undertaking! It has taken me over 2 months to get it all done. But no going back. Moving forward. (I write long, but publish short for better editing. All miniseries can be purchased in the complete novel length volumes as soon as I get the whole thing edited and published in parts for all of you who do not read incomplete series. I am speaking to readers like myself, lol.)
I am on track to finish writing the saga by the end of this year and to have it all published by the end of 2022. Cross your fingers. For those of you who read on Kindle Unlimited, first thank you. Second, watch for the extras. I am going to publish the main miniseries one 10,000 word short read a week as I have been doing, but if I can manage to get the short read companion stories all published at once, I will just post them to Kindle as I did with Draoithe: Fairytale Shadows.
The shorts are just hanging around bothering the novels. If I put them to work, my docs files get cleaned up a lot faster. I don't know about other writers, but too much clutter messes with me, whether it's digital clutter or actual clutter doesn't seem to matter.

Before someone asks. Am I holding out on you? No, I'm not. Many stories have already been written. They are rough draft done with first edits accomplished, but they aren't polished finished works yet. The bells and whistles aren't there. I still have to make covers and add the details like my copyright page and about the author pages. That takes a while. For each 10,000 word miniseries part that a story is broken into, it takes about a week to get all of the formatting and the final Grammarly edit done. Grammarly is awesome, but it can't easily handle full length novels without crashing so parts for the edit is way better.
Once it's edited and ready though, I simply publish it. I mean why not? The worst thing that happens is I have one more title on Amazon. More facings equals more opportunity to be seen by readers, right? It is very hard to find readers who enjoy what an author writes, so that is always the quest in marketing and promotion. 

If you read, please be kind and leave your review. Indie authors love to see what you think more than other readers want to know. Better yet, reach out to me. I like answering questions, hearing your comments and suggestions or explaining things about the dream, the magic, and the characters who inhabit it. You never know when it may spark inspiration and add to the saga.
Email the author at opheliakee69@gmail.com
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I have to run away and get some housework done so I can get back to writing. Enjoy your weekend!
Be Careful!
Happy reading,
Ophelia Kee

Book Blurb: Frank Grimes is a lowlife, no count, barely classifiable as a human, male who just happens to have enough sense to hire and retain qualified construction workers. He landed the contract to build most of Draoithe in January of 2016. He’s not only worthless, but he’s also criminal filth. He will do anything for an easy dollar. After the Draoithe housewarming party, his true colors shine through when he attempts to rape the architectural designer in her apartment after driving her home. Luke can’t afford to let Jace kill him or allow Flame to turn him as dragonsworn, but there is no way that Frank can be allowed to just get away with what he’s done. Even the Assassin King wants him dead, and he is the dragon called to serve one miscreant underking. Sentenced to house arrest and forced labor, Grimes seeks a way to fulfill the requirements Luke sets on him to gain enough respect that Javier will turn him as a canine shifter until he meets a blood demon who wants to help Luke out. Is it possible to totally rehabilitate the walking filth that is Frank Grimes into a real man in order to help him avoid certain death and turn him into a wolf? Or will the demon simply drink him dry and slowly end his miserable existence?

Draoithe: Filth and Death Part 1 is FREE this Weekend! Grab your copy before it's gone. Step into the dream, feel the magic. Frank Grimes is filth, and he should be dead! The question is, who kills him? This is one crazy rollercoaster ride paranormal romance adult fantasy. As will all my stories, its a good stand alone read. I even added in scenes from other books so no one gets lost, but if read with the other books in the saga, it's even better! Y'all enjoy and let me know what you think.

As always I am still publishing new work! Draoithe Shadow Master part 3 will be releasing this weekend. Step into the dream and meet a valravn shadow master, Magnus Jakobsen, and his mate, a the lightning-shadows gifted human, Ryley Faye. It has been posted to Kindle to read for Free with Kindle Unlimited or as an ebook for only .99 and will also be available as a paperback. This is a shorter novel in the saga and will be followed by a short read extra.
​If you read, please be kind and leave your review. Indie authors need them, but paying for them is as always a no go. Amazon is very persnickety about reviews, so pretty please with sugar, if you enjoy it, leave a quick line or two. For all of you who like myself will not begin a series until it is published entirely, the full miniseries will be out by the end of January and I will as always be publishing it in a complete volume for a reduced price. Thanks to everyone who reads! I appreciate you!

I have been trying to keep up my presence on social media. The full-time teaching day job makes it a bit hard for me. But I do still answer messages even if I'm a bit slower returning them. Questions? Comments, Suggestions. I can still hear you as Eli says, so please drop me a line. I am a real person, no ghost writing or AI. Beta readers comments have been the inspiration for several stories in the saga. Email Ophelia Kee 
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​Pick up a FREE short read, get updates on the characters, information on release dates, and behind the scenes of the dream. Visit OpheliaKee.com

I ran into a bit of an issue with my excerpts from Kings Wilde. They are somewhere. I know it, but I must have saved them in the wrong file. As you can imagine hunting them down might take a minute as I might have mislabeled them since I have changed the story title on this miniseries as the story developed. It's amusing even if it is also irritating. This one is already over 100k and still climbing. I have actually rewritten parts as the timeline was wrong on about 10,000 words. I think it's all correct now, but a beta reader will soon let me know if I got it right. Until then, allow me to introduce the ace in the hole, Blade. He's a Lord of Dragons with a serious darkside. He's a necromancer, and he still practices the black magic in a time when few in the Leaindeail even understand what that means. When he swears fealty to Armand King and Nicklaus Wilde, a chain of events is set in motion that will see the end of the Eternal Partners and a serious blow will be dealt to Pillsanderz and Peter Elliot. Step into the dream, feel the magic and add a bit of gangster to the Draoithe saga in Juneau, Alaska.

Sorry I can't keep chattering with you longer, but I have writing to do. You likely have reading to catch up on, so I will run off and get some stuff done. (Mostly finding those missing excerpts.) As always if you read, be kind and leave a review. Happy MLK day. I will visit with you again next weekend.
Be Careful!
Happy reading,
​Ophelia Kee

I wrote over 3,000 words in this title in only a few hours, but I am liking it. It's up to almost 90,000 words, but this spinoff miniseries is looking like an excellent rough draft now. I couldn't help but share a taste of it. This one is going to get a bit dark and the necromancer will need to seek help from Draoithe before it's all finished, but the scenes keep speaking to me so I keep writing. This one is a bit like Dread Allies in its style with a string of interwoven shorter reads that form a larger tale. I promise the HEA will be there and all the juicy steamy bits are there too along with a bit of humor and the usual twists the magic lends to the tale. This time you'll find yourself in Alaska, but a dragon and four wild kings will definitely be heating up the cold nights. A bit of the criminal underworld sneaks into this story. Not every story is black and white/good and evil. Sometimes the best ones are a bit grey and convoluted enough to need therapy. If you want more like this head over to the Dream Group on Facebook and join me. I share parts of the story as I'm writing there and love to interact with readers. Hearing others thoughts sometimes aids the process. 

I have started an advertising campaign on Amazon. I don't know if I'm doing it right. Likely not. LOL, but I will learn eventually. I think the trick might be not to go broke. It feels a bit like playing the lotto. I might hit it. I might not. I doubt it matters in the end. It's not as if I will quit. The addiction is quite complete. I have temporarily stopped my ads on Facebook as they stopped performing as they once did. I'm not sure what went wrong, but I was spending money on the same ad I'd been spending money on and getting results only to see nothing in return all of a sudden. I think maybe the ad needed to be adjusted, but I'm not sure how. So I will merely craft a new one or ten. I guarantee I won't be spending much money. There is never any to spend. It's a new year and new offers need to be made. I need an evergreen ad for A Pack Forms. In the meantime, I must continue on with the shameless self promotion on Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, and Facebook. Don't get me started on Pinterest. LOL.  I would love to see you there. Follow me on the social media platforms. Say hello, share a promotion if you feel like it. It never hurts. 

I gotta run off and get some housework done. I have put it off all week in favor of the day job and my love affair with a good story. If you read in this New Year, don't forget to be kind and leave your review. 
Be Careful!
Happy Reading,
Ophelia Kee

Finishing the saga. The New Year's Resolution of an Indie Author. I want to finish writing the Draoithe Saga. I won't likely get it all published next year, but I would like to write the last scenes in the saga. I might still write other stories later that are set in the dream, but finishing the rough draft on the last few books left to write would be nice. Publishing Goals: To publish Shadow Master, Lyons Gate, Criminal Behavior, Devil's Sins, and Four Horsemen by the end of 2021. It's a big goal, but I think I might be able to pull it off.

As this is my Personal journal of my author walk, I want to be honest with you. Since I went back to working the full-time day job, sales dropped as fast as my promotion stopped. That told me a few things. First, this is not a part-time gig even though for now, I lack the ability to make it anything else. Second, I will never earn anything even close to commiserate to minimum wage for the labor of love that indie writing is. Third, I am hooked like a heroin addict and if this was a gambling addiction, the farm would have been long lost. LOL
I have seriously investigated free promotions and social media platforms. They are worth it and if I stay with it, I can see the impact. It isn't enough to get me what I want however (the end of the day job life). So, sorry if you were hoping I knew the road to instant success. (I don't think that really exists. There is always a back story.)

If the truth is that most self published authors never make but less than $200 on their books total, then if I have in the last two years made a few hundred on my books all together, then I have done as much as most. I have also learned a lot. Is there a magic formula for success? If there is, I have not hit upon it yet. (See my previous statements about get rich quick ideas for clarification.)
What's my goal? What would I consider a true success story? Clearing $500 a month on my books would be it, I'd say. Would I love more? Sure. Is it unrealistic? I don't think so. If it never happens will I be upset? No, I will only wonder what else I should have done. Don't worry, I won't quit on you. I love to write. It's a bit of an addiction for which I seek no rehabilitation, much like my reading habit. 
I have quite a few books published, so given the size of my bookshelf, I could eventually crack the code and manage to make enough to fully fund my Roth Ira especially if writing in series is the winning strategy. (which I managed to do by accident and all the experts agree is the way to go when writing fiction.. I was only going to write one book. LMAO)
$500 a month would be a good side hustle. That would be a level of success worth shooting for. If I could multiply that figure by 5. I might be able to eek out a living as a writer. That might be far more difficult to pull off. The ball would have to start seriously rolling to manage it. How long will any of that take? I don't honestly know. I have spent two years working through the trenches knee deep in it for 6 months straight before I had to climb back into the corporate American rat race again. Still not yet. So unless or until, I will report back to my Day Job bright and early on Monday morning and dream of being a full time writer. (Or a lotto winner, same thing really, right?)

What I can say for sure about indie writing is this, if I am not 150% committed to my writing, publishing and promoting, then the amount of time it will take is astronomical, unless I put in cash. There-in lies the rub. How much is not enough? What is the too much mark? But the real question has always been: where does this money come from? With no guarantee on the investment, it is difficult for an old country girl like me to part with the hard earned cash. 
My current working theory is this: I need to be advertising on both Facebook and Amazon. Twitter is far too complicated for ads, and Pinterest won't like this, but they can't keep their systems connected properly without a lot of help on the platform user end. My lack of computer tech skills is legendary. So...
​Instagram and tumblr are better bets, even if I won't be likely to spend there either. I still intend to use Youtube as a cache for my video and audio content, but sadly when my weebly comes up for renewal, I might not buy the webpage again. It is expensive and I don't see the pay off for it yet. Especially as my stories are at this stage far more of an expensive hobby than a profitable business venture. So I see having a website as a push in the community, but it might be an expense better saved for that success milestone instead unless you just have the money to spend. 

It's time for me to run away and handle the business of life. I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season and will enjoy a good read or two from my bookshelf. If I can answer any question or you just have a suggestion or comment, please drop me a line. My author walk continues into 2021 with the same zest for writing and ridiculous hope for the future of the dream even if my measurement for success has been redefined by the truth of my life. When you read, please be kind and leave your review. It only takes a moment, but an indie author will appreciate you for eternity for that one moment.
Goodbye 2020. Welcome 2021!
Be careful!
Happy reading,
​Ophelia Kee