The Many Worlds of Chloe Lynne Bardot

I was little, so little, sitting on my dad's lap with a little notebook and pen in hand. The story was about a teddy bear. The memory is so vivid. Stories have always played through my head. I'd read a book and that book would take on new elements in my daydreams. Then, I started driving a school bus as a part time job. Not much to do when one is waiting for kids to finish their activities. With a notebook in hand, and hours to wait, I started to write. The stories flowed out of me. Now I'm editing and fixing where I started. It's so much fun.

In the past few months I've published two books. I started writing Return of the Lycans because I'd read other books on apps that were so expensive. I wanted to finish the story but didn't want pay so much for a paranormal shifter romance. So I wrote my own version. It was so satisfying. Now I'm working on book number two in that series. I wanted all the tropes thrown in and of course put my own twist on it. There seems to be themes of the main characters being abandoned, or enduring abuse growing up. In the reverse harem trope, I wanted to focus on the origin story for the guys. They needed to be a bonded group before their Luna arrived.

I'm a pantser. The characters tell me about themselves as I write. When I'm doing other activities, they'll come tell me about themselves, or the next scene will firm up in the back of my mind. I know I'm talking about my characters as if they are real and to me they are. I discover them as they tell me their story.

I'm working on ironing out a schedule. Right now, I right when the mood hit. Almost everything gets written longhand. Then I have to spend time typing it out. That's when the true editing process begins. If I can simply write the story down, it flows out of me. Typing the story becomes the time I can really think through wording and elaborating.

Right now, no one knows who I am. I get to write whatever I want. I'm not worried about pleasing a publisher. I'm writing the stories that are capturing my heart and putting them out into the world. I'm not against traditional publishing, but I'm not sure what I write would ever really fit in that world. The freedom of being an indie author means the world to me right now.

Focus. I have so many ideas and I want them all done now. Picking one and sticking to it can be challenging some days. I have to keep reminding myself that I have time to get my babies written. 

Ellipsus is my absolute favorite writing app. It helped me get organized. The best part is that it's on my computer and on my cellphone so I always have my stories with me. If I'm waiting in line I can open my current story and read. I can edit any mistakes I see. I can also have 'collaborators'. I can ask a friend to read and catch mistakes. Ellipsus has changed/improved my writing life!

https://share.google/VigMorToj4qgmOYzi - If you want to check Ellipsus out. It's free.

Write. Read about writing. Listen to authors talk about writing. Them, write some more. I had the good luck of having a friend read Return of the Lycans and ask me a lot of questions. Those questions helped me flesh the story out.

Well, I'm stil figuring out book promotion. I have a substack page I'm focusing on right now. Substack is a fantastic community where I found out about NewBooks.space. You have to promote your own work. Even traditionally published authors have to promote their own work. It's one day at a time and learning how to utilize social media one site at a time. 

I'm currently working on book 2 of the Realm of Ashling series. My boys in Return of the Lycans have their Luna but their enemy is still out there and gaining back his power.

I also have a serialized book I'm writing on Substack called Autianna. Mila is taken to an ecologically devastated planet by aliens that believe she has the answer to stop another alien race's infestation. It's a romantasy, reverse harem. Come on over and read it. I'm putting up a new chapter each week.