Stars Dancing [Dreams-To-Lovers Romance]

My three-year-old charges were down for naps. Check! Discord time! Wooo hooo!

Friend Request: HC Maron

WHAT??!! No, no way. That just couldn't be! HC Maron was big time! Like, had graphic novels I read as a teen: awesome sapphic love stories with Ariel and Holly fighting their way through death itself to get to each other.

She was HUGE! How did she find me? I accepted the request, and the next second a message popped up.

HC: I saw you like Flopper. It's a favorite book. I Followed your story today.

WHAT?!! I had only 12 Followers, but WEEEEEEE! Now I had thirteen? I opened my book Moons Dancing, and sure enough, I had thirteen followers, and my view count had passed 3,000! Oh my lord, this was crazy.

Ayela: Thx for Following. That means so much. I loved your stories as a girl. Your characters were so inspiring; that's why I wanted to be a writer. To encourage other people through my stories.

What was this? More Discord groups?

Ayela: Which book is it for?

HC: You're new to Discord, right? LOL. It's not for a book, it's just for authors to hang out, have fun, collaborate.

Oh, I felt like an idiot. I thought it was just each person individually having a site to promote their own book. Damn, I was already making a fool outta myself.

Ayela: Okay, sounds like fun. Thx!

HC: Link to Special Streaks Invite.

I accepted, and BOOM! Once again was propelled into another session of overwhelm. Holy crap, this server had 2,057 members! Two-thousand authors at my beck and call to woo into loving my books? How was this even possible?

Ayela: Thx, HC, this is amazing! How are there so many authors on Discord?

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

HC: LOL, it's where everyone hangs out. Where you been hiding?

Ayela: Not in Wyoming's backwoods, fo sho

HC: LOL. Go paste your book link in the #promo section and tell everyone about you.

I was gonna do what HC said, but before I could do anything else, bings rang out all over the server. WTF was all of that? Okay, okay, ah, someone called SassySword said, "Ayela, I've seen you in the Flopper comments. Welcome!"

Ayela: Hey Sassy! You're a Flopper fan? So awesome! What's your book?

SassySwords posted a link, and I checked out their fiction. Oooohh, cool story: telepaths and foreseers. I read a slew of chapters, Followed, and left comments a plenty. Great book, and I hoped to finish it someday.

And maybe I could get to be friends with all these writers and see all my dreams come true. Big-time career as a successful author here I come!

I made my way through all the welcome messages in Special Streaks before the kids woke up from their naps, then sent one last message to HC.

Ayela: Thx so much for reaching out. Your books meant the world to me as a girl, and I'm loving getting to know your friends.

HC: That means a lot. Message me anytime.

Ayela: 💜

HC: 💖

Bartt: New cover art drafts from the artist I hired

Ayela: Love this! Can they increase the contrast around the girl's face? Might get lost on a thumbnail.

Bartt: back off with the criticism

Woah! What? Weren't we supposed to give gentle feedback? Did I come on too strong?

I mean, I understood almost nothing of what anyone said. There was a lot of talk about feet, and male body parts were often discussed, along with gamer talk, and the occasional movie I'd heard about but not seen.

And the musical taste? 100% metal. It's like no one had ever heard of k-pop or classical. What was the deal with that? Obviously none of them had decent taste.

And apparently, either I was waaaaay off base with my instructions about Bartt's cover, or he was super-touchy. Alright, I'd try backing off.

Ayela: Sorry @Bartt, didn't mean to come on so strong. Love that you have original art.

No response. Sigh. Hopefully he'd see my apology. I didn't have time to worry about it anymore because: Ping!

HC: Got a new story idea.

Ayela: I'm listening.

Look at me, playing it so cool, hanging out with my big-time author friends and pretending like I had a clue about what was going on.

HC: The prequel to Red Phoenix. The story of how Ariel and Holly meet and fall in love, then . . .

My heart fell into my stomach. I knew the backstory of Red Phoenix, sure, but it was kinda vague: the lovers had been separated by death, but got together in the world of magic. Fantasy. Perfection.

Ayela: Wait, you mean, I get to read their love story from the very beginning, but then Ariel's gonna DIE at the end?

HC: Uhhh, is it too much? Bad idea? Should I trash it?

Wait, what?! Did HC Maron really want my advice on what to write?

Ayela: Well, it sounds like a Tragedy book, but if you want to write it, then you should go with what your gut tells you.

HC: Wanna read the first chapter?

HOLY SHIT.

Ayela: Absofuckinglutely.

HC: lol. Here you go. Link to Shapeless Poetry Ch1

Ayela: Thx for trusting me with this.

HC: I can see how much you love books. You're a commenter, and if I put this on Purple Road, I want you on team HC.

I grinned at my screen. She was speaking my language.

Ayela: I'll always be on team HC.

HC: 💖

Ayela: 💜

I clicked open the chapter and read the coziest, sweetest opening I could imagine in a book, then wrote to HC letting her know I loved it, but found two missing commas. It was time I called it a night.

When my head hit the pillow, I saw scrolling words and names of new friends, and those precious new Followers on my book. Sleep came quickly, and the next day brought a surprise I wasn't ready for.