May 2021 Updates

(I’m so sorry, I suck at titles. Anyway…)

Hey, hey, hey (in Bokuto’s happy tone)! Can you believe it’s May 2021 already? Last time I checked it was March 2020.

I went through—still going through—a horrible case of writer’s block that I haven’t even been able to write anything except tweets. And, yeah, yeah, I know what I always say about writer’s block, but there’s no other term for it… except maybe it’s a subform of my beloved anxiety?

I open my laptop and I can only stare blankly at my documents until I’m shaking, on the verge of a breakdown because no words are coming and I’m feeling pressured. Same thing happens when I open my notes apps or journal apps. So instead of stressing out and making it worse, I just spent the whole of April reading. I may have read one or two… hundred… DaiSuga fics from AO3. A lot of the writers there are soooo good!

But enough of that. On to the updates.

SOJU SESSIONS SERIES

Yesterday, my publisher released books 1 to 3 of my Soju Sessions Series. Yay!

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Purchase digital copies from here.

Though I’m told that there are editing errors in the book, for which I would apologize and humbly ask that you excuse xthem. Sumimasen.

And THANK YOU VERY MUCH to everyone who have already bought the books! Maraming salamat.

And thank you to everyone who are planning to buy the books, and who are promoting the books!

And THANK YOU, Ferlin for the GIVEAWAY! If you’re interested, please go check out her Twitter feed. GA ends on May 7th, 2021.

The series is supposed to be a six-book series. The first three books are the Super Junior Lees, and the second three are the SHINee Lees. I know, I know, not all of them are Lees in real life, but since I wanted to make them cousins, I needed one surname for everyone. Since my three biases (Leeteuk, Lee Taemin and Lee Jinki) all have Lees in their names, I chose to use Lee as their surname.

And yeah, yeah, book 2’s title, Diamond Sky, is a SHINee song but I have a good reason for that Maybe you’ll get it when you read the book… it’s alright if you don’t. Just know that I have a good reason. The SJ title for that one though is Like the Rain.

I actually want to write books about the other SJ members, too. I already have an idea for Heechul ahaha but I really want to write something for KRY because they’re my favorite SJ sub-unit.

For the SHINee Lees, you may have already read Onew’s book (Shine on You). Next book in the series should be Miro’s but I still haven’t figured out which of the plots I came up with was better for him, because the guy wants to be in the military, and everytime I have a military character, one of the Sentinels is there to recruit them! So now I have to figure out the best way to weave his book into Sentinels batch 4.

I really miss my Sentinels and Alpha Squad but with the current political climate… well, let’s just say I’m having a hard time. I’m hoping I can get back into milrom again soon though.

After Miro is Timothy’s book, and the outline for that one is already done.

The next two SHINee Lees book will also be self=published though. So I would really appreciate your support when they come out.

What else is keeping me busy?

Oh, yeah.

NEW ROOMMATES

Remember when I shared pictures of the stray cats we feed? Well, Shiyo, gave birth to four bouncing baby kitties… in my room. Underneath my vanity table. So I practically have six roommates as of the moment: my cat, Yoshi; her mom, Shiyo; and four kittens that I refused to name because I didn’t want to be attached to them because we would have to give them away because we can’t afford to take care of four more cats though one of them looks so much like Yoshi that I maaaaay have started calling her Miyu after Miyu Irino who voices Sugawara in Haikyu because she’s also the second-born kitten and I found out Miyu is actually a girl’s name… and… and I’m in trouble, aren’t I?

Hay. I used to call them Ichiban, Niban, Sanban and Yonban, but that doesn’t help because that means they’re Daichi, Koushi, Asahi and Yuu, but really, I can’t take care of all of them, especially not as indoor cats. My mother will neuter me when she finds out that I’m even taking care of more than one inside the house. Plus I’m not exactly in the right frame of mind, nor in a stable enough financial situation to feed twelve—yes, twelve—cats and one dog.

We were supposed to have Shiyo neutered but she got pregnant before we could. The clinic told us that we could still have her neutered but they would have to abort the kittens. My sister and I decided that we couldn’t do that so here we all are.

My sister already found a forever home for one of the babies so there are only three left. Do you want a kitten? They’re all good-natured and used to people. The eldest, Ichiban, would run to me everytime I go inside the room and rub her face over my feet, then lie down on the floor with her legs in the air to ask for belly rubs… like a puppy. And all Miyu does is sleep. The third baby is skittish, and would run and hide when there are loud noises but she’s also very well-behaved.

We’re still working on potty training, but while they can’t climb the litter yet, they know where to do their business. And they’re really good at grooming themselves because mama cat, Shiyo is obsessed with bathing them (and herself… and her brothers). Shiyo is actually my other cat, Maru’s older sister.

If you want to adopt one of our kittens, and I’m serious here, please send me a DM, preferably on Twitter.

MORE THANK YOUS

Last but definitely not the least, I would like to thank Susie again for sending me one of the most thoughtful gifts I’ve ever received! She sent me vitamins! Waaah! Yes, I am old. I love receiving vitamins and liniment and towels and blankets now, the way I never had when I received them when I was a kid. Thank you, Susie!

SHAMELESS SELF-PROMOTION

Last last, I haven’t posted my self-promotion thread on Twitter for May yet. I do it only once a month but time is moving so fast that I feel like I’m actually doing it more often than I should, so I’m just going to do it here.

My self-published books are still—and forever will be—available. So if you haven’t read them yet, you can buy them from here. Purchase links will be changed/updated until we can set up a permanent shop.

You can also support my work (and read exclusive or advance content) from my Buy Me A Coffee account. You can do a one-time payment of $3 via PayPal to access the content. You can also subscribe for a monthly fee if you want although I haven’t been able to figure out good enough perks for members, I’m so sorry. But I’m hoping to make up for lost time after I kick off my block.

Again, thank you for your support. and for reading my work, and for all your encouraging messages that make me smile and keep me going. I want to assure you that I’m doing my best to go back to being a writer ahaha

Thank you! Sincerely. ‘Til next time! ✨

Mid-March Madness

And just like that, we’re almost at the middle of March, and about to celebrate our one-year anniversary in lockdown with a record-breaking number of COVID-19-positive cases and a brand spanking new Philippine variant. Yay… Us, I guess?

I think I already mentioned that I was thinking of writing a reflection post in our year in quarantine but eh. I’ll just be sad and angry. Not even for me. I would like to think I’m one of the lucky ones. 1) I have not lost anyone I know and love to COVID or COVID-related reasons. 2) While 2020 was difficult in every way, I seem to always manage to find a way to make things work so that bills are paid, there’s food on the table, and our dog and our cats are fed. 3) Probably the best thing that happened to me in 2020 is that I managed to fight off my depression pretty well for the most part. It would have been unbearable and unsurvivable had I been depressed too last year. So it didn’t matter to me that 2020 is an awful year. I’ve actually had worse because those years were tainted with mental illness.

I did have episodes last year until my parents left for the province in July of 2020. After that, I actually managed to pull myself together. I got better everyday.

And then I finally started watching Haikyu in December, and my love for that anime knows no bounds that a blog post isn’t enough to describe it. I want to have the same mental strength and fortitude of everyone in that anime. And also, DaiSuga is my absolute  happiness at the moment. Don’t start talking to me about them because I will never shut up! 

Speaking of DaiSiga, I’m currently so in love with the voice of Sugawara’s seiyuu, Miyu Irino. I adore Suga and I find his voice so sweet and comforting. (I have the same feelings for Super Junior Leeteuk’s voice.) Then while I was reading his Wikipedia page, I found out he also voiced Haku from Spirited Away!  I love that movie. Whenever I feel like being “spirited away” from reality,  I watch that, but I never watched it in Japanese. When I found out he also voiced Haku, I immediately watched the movie again without the English dub, and I teared up at his first line when I heard Suga! 😭 I really love, love, love his voice.

I also started listening to his music and I just… Love him. So there. Happy that I found something new to love.

My DaiSuga AU is also going well though I only steal time from work and other life chores to write it. It’s really like a reward for myself.

I posted an excerpt on my new private Twitter account. Oh, yeah! That. I made a new Twitter account because my elisestrella account has gotten messy. I talk about everything, my SHINee, SuperM, Super Junior fandom, my Haikyu and DaiSuga obsession, my political views though I try to limit that because I want to control my anger and anxiett for my own mental health, and politics is not the best topic for that, my books, my writing process… I mean, not everyone is interested in everything about me. Some people only want book news.

Anyway, I also wanted to be able to post short fics, excerpts, plot ideas, book plans, etc., and I really don’t  want to share that with a thousand strangers and anyone who follow them. I’d really rather share things like that with people who are interested. So if you are, and you haven’t followed yet, my book Twitter is @EliseanBooks.

I’m a little busy right now because I took on a new job job as a gatekeeper/dream crusher, and I have a ton of chores at home. But I have things planned out. My WIPs aren’t moving because I want them neatly lined up, and one of them wasn’t working so I couldn’t start the others. I’ve restructured my 2021 plans, and I’m hoping that they’d push through starting this month or April.

As always, thank you for your patience and for your support (moral, emotional, and through BuyMeACoffee) because I appreciate ALL of them. The fact that you guys never fail to remind me that I’m loved is a HUGE deal to me. Thank you.

I’m going back to being a cat mama because we had two of our cats neutered/spayed yesterday. I cheered, actually cheered!, when my Kobayashi Maru woke up. Then Yoshi also responded to the volunteer who checked on her so they let us go home. But that might be another blog entry.

Still so groggy but they allowed us to bring them home.

For now, I’m back to… House chores first with my coffee. I’ll see if I can squeeze in author work later.

I hope you have a good day today! And that you have a good week. Good morning! ☀️

Protected: Breathless – Chapter Two

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Protected: Breathless – Chapter One

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Hello, March!

I woke up this morning and I couldn’t believe that it was actually already March. In a couple of weeks, we’d all celebrate(?) our one-year anniversary under lockdown due to the pandemic. I’m planning on writing my thoughts and reflections about this but I’d really rather keep that private. I just want to say that despite the miserable year we’ve all had, I would like to think that I’m one of the lucky ones to not have lost anyone I love to COVID-19. And though it was incredibly tough, mentally, emotionally and financially, I’m still… here. There are highs and lows, realizations, regrets, hopes, fears, dreams… but I would like to still be thankful for what I have.

So there.

Anyway.

The point of me blogging semi-regularly lately is to let you guys know what’s up with me and my writing and my books, so let me talk about that.

Lately, I’ve been trying (and failing) to relearn how to write concisely. I’ve been reading a lot of short fics on Twitter, and I’m envious of how the writers manage to tell a story in a five-Tweet thread. Like, HOW?! I mean, I can barely fit the description of a character’s hair in five Tweets. I’ve been practicing by writing one shots but they still end up as 500-word scenes. And even then, I feel like I’m not able to describe the scene enough. If I’m an artist, it would be like presenting a black-and-white pencil drawing of a future art. I’m still going to practice—because practice is awesome and we all need to practice to improve our craft, and because I’m enjoying it—but I think I’d just stick to novels.

Speaking of novels, I’ve nailed down a schedule for my next self-published book. Gawd, I wish I’d stick to it because I really need to finish this and have it released by April. I’m supposed to have finished three books by now according to my schedule, but I can’t seem to focus on anything. At least, anything longer than a one shot.

Yesterday, I was supposed to work on a BMC update but I could only focus on something for three minutes before I have to do something else. So all I did was tweet, watch random Haikyu episodes, read, write three paragraphs, then go back to Twitter. I’m writing now so I hope it means I can focus on something today. I really want to get this BMC update out this week.

I’ve also been asked a lot about BMC. Buy Me a Coffee is a site where you can support your favorite creators. I’ve been using BMC for a few months, and it has been a huge, amazing help to me, financially. I won’t lie, your coffees helped me move forward. I do use the money you give me to buy coffee, but mostly, I use it to buy cat food for our cats.

If you don’t know yet, my sister and I have four cats and one dog, and we also feed four of the neighborhood stray cats. Your help in feeding them is greatly appreciated.

I’ve already sent DMs to reply to people who wanted to support me on BMC, but if anyone else wants to buy me a coffee, I’m not going to say no. A “coffee” is 3 USD (about 145 to 150 Php, depending on the exchange rate) and is roughly the same price as a Starbucks coffee. You do need a PayPal account though.

When you do buy me a coffee, you get access to my BMC account where I post exclusive content. Click on this link to see the stories I currently have posted. I’ll be updating this as soon as I post new stories.

I’m currently deciding whether to post a completed book that I’m planning on rewriting. That way you can read the original story before I change the POV to first person. We’ll see. But I promise I’m going to be posting a lot on BMC this year to say thank you to everyone who’s bought me coffee.

And speaking (again) of thank yous, I wasn’t planning on using a planner this year. I had everything planned out on paper last year but 2020 happened, so I said no, thanks this year.

BUT! Oh my God! I received journaling gifts from amazing and incredibly sweet friends.

Gette sent me kawaii pens and washi tapes, and Susie sent me what seemed to be a whole branch of National Bookstore! As in! It was like she went to a store with me and bought everything I touched. I seriously cried when I opened the packages. Thank you, you two! There are a few things that make me happier than pens and you gave me a boxful of pens! That’s a boxful of happiness! Thank you! Not only for the gifts but for your generosity, and for thinking of me.

I’m getting teary-eyed again. Also, sorry for the blurry pics. My hands were shaking too much + I don’t know how to take pics.

Anyway, I think that’s it for today. Please follow my Twitter account for updates when I post on Wattpad or if/when I have a new book out. I’m going to do my best to blog more often, maybe twice a month for updates on what I’m working on and stuff. I’d love to tell you about Lex and Marlon right now but I’m currently fixing A LOT of things because I’m also working on the Sarreals timelines, and there are A LOT of them, and their timeline has to fit into Marlon’s. And the Sentinels. Let’s just say it’s been crazy. But I’m really excited to work on all of them. I hope you can wait for their books.

Thank again for your support and for reading my work. Thank you for encouraging me and staying with me through the years. I appreciate each and everyone of you, and I’ll do my best so that my work and I are worth your support.

Be safe! Please get vaccinated when it becomes available. Please continue to take care of yourself. Wash your hands. Use alchohol. Wear your facemasks. I’m hopeful that we can do this together.

✨