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Bout of Books Readathon TBR

Avery Hemlock

I’m on track for my Good Reads reading challenge, but I don’t want to fall behind while I’m busy writing book 5 of the Hemlock Wolf Pack Saga. So, when a friend asked if I was participating in Bout of Books I knew I was even when I said I wasn’t sure I’d have time. Like everyone, some days I get so busy I forget why I started writing. I started writing and continue to do so, because of my love of stories.

For those of you unfamiliar with Bout of Books you can check out the full information here.

Bout of Books is a readathon to encourage readers to read more than they normally would through the week of 5/13/19 to 5/19/19.

The Walking Dead Vol. 1: Days Gone Bye by [Kirkman, Robert]

I never quite stick to my TBR for readathons. I’ll likely read the combined volumes of the Walking Dead Comics during the readathon. I’m on the second volume and really enjoying finding out where my favorite television show came from. They’re really different, but I’m loving them! If I haven’t devoured them by the time Bout of Books roll around I’ll likely spend the week finishing them up. There are 33 volumes. I’ll likely still be working my way through them.

I’ve also picked up a few novels in case I want to change things up during Bout of Books.

Rainbow Islands by Devin Harnois. I’ve wanted to read this alternate world LGBT book for a while.

Rainbow Islands by [Harnois, Devin]

The Devil Between Us by S.C. Wilson

The Devil Between Us by [Wilson, S.C.]

Let me know in the comments if you’re participating in the Bout of Books Readathon this year!

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Reader Q&A

Avery Hemlock

This post has been a long time coming. I apologize for running a little later than I thought I might. I was really excited to hear what you guys wanted to know about the Hemlock Wolf Pack Saga.

Anna asks: How do you come up with the names and what one is your favorite book and why?

Hi Anna! Thanks for your wonderful questions.

Names can be complicated. A lot of the names for my book characters are borrowed from role play characters I played when I was younger. I’ve altered a lot of them to keep them separate from my awesome memories, but I do use a lot of them. For minor characters I have a baby names book that lives on my desk to thumb through if I’m stuck. Sometimes, the names just come to me from the mysterious place that drops ideas into the brains of writers.

I’m always a little shy to answer which book is my favorite, because I don’t want to sway readers on which book, they should like best. If I had to pick one it would be Omega Sight. Monta was so much fun to write. He’s from the part of the country I was born too and really trying to overcome prejudices he grew up with both about himself and other people. Also, Ross and Monta loved to argue for the make up sex. It took them a while to get it right, but when they did they made a lovely happy family. Monta is still one of my favorite characters.

Rachel asks: Two questions: 1) what made you decide to write MPreg 2) are you going to miss this series.

Hi Rachel! Thank you for asking!

Mpreg was a big part of my old role plays. I don’t remember how they were first added in. I think it was just to thumb out noses at science that said two people of the same gender couldn’t have a baby together. It took the real-world frustration and did something about it – at least in the role play. Also, I’ve never lived within ‘normal’ gender binary. So, why should my characters?

Then a friend introduced me to the concept of Mpreg romances as novels. I knew I had to try my hand at it.

If the Hemlock Wolf Pack Saga were to end, I would miss it, but there are some big things coming up in future books. I’ll keep writing the Saga as long as there are readers who enjoy it.

Sabella asks: Do you have an idea of how a story will turn out before you begin writing? Also, can’t wait for Sky’s story.

Hi Sabella! I wish I knew how long books would be. In the beginning of the Hemlock Wolf Pack Saga I definitely had a better grasp of just how long the stories would be. Now, I can guess, but most of them end up a bit longer than I thought. As a reader, I know that books in series tend to grow as the series progresses, but I never understood why until I was working on Healer’s Oath (AKA Doctor Bane’s Book.) There are a lot more characters and forces at play and to do justice for the series I need to give them all the time they need to tell the story.

I’m so excited to write Sky’s story! I’ve had it mostly planned since he and Darian came into my head. Yes, they’re twins so they came together. Okay, I’ll admit Darian came first. That’s why he’s the Hemlock Wolf Pack Patriarch and soon to be Pack Alpha. There are still a few books before Sky comes home. I know Darian and Bane are excitedly waiting on his return, but it’ll take something really impactful happening to bring Sky home. There are a lot of scars between him and his twin and old wounds heal slowly. Just talking about Sky’s story makes me want to work on book 5. That way I can write Sky’s story sooner. In future books there will definitely be more dragons.

Karsyn asks What is your favorite locale of your books and why do you like it the most?

Hi Karsyn! My favorite location was introduced in Omega Sight. At the very top of Hemlock Mountain sits a statue of Juda and Frost the founders of the Hemlock Wolf Pack. It’s a beautiful monument to what the pair went through to start and maintain their family. Eventually there will be a prequel where I finally share Juda and Frost’s story. I’ve shared bits and pieces including a few scenes of a play based on Juda’s life in my stand alone Ardan’s Oath, but I want to share the story that brought all of the Hemlock’s to where they are now.

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Camp NaNoWriMo 2019 Wrap Up

Avery Hemlock

After taking three days off from working on my novel and blogging it’s time to reflect on the month. Every time I participate in a NaNoWriMo event I always swear it’ll be the last and it is the last time until I forget how crazy it makes me. lol

This year Camp Nano was definitely complicated by undeserving drama in my personal life. All of this taught me I can write through hurricanes, but now after two days of not working I’m still tired. I still don’t have a title for Book 5 of the Hemlock Wolf Pack Saga. Though, I do have a good idea of the next 2-4 books in the series. Some exciting things are in store of the Hemlock Wolves and their mates. Also, some danger brews in the future. To be honest, I’ve spent a lot of the last two days staring into space and daydreaming about future scenes.

Camp NaNoWriMo was fun for the most part. Mostly, it just proved to me I can write through almost anything if I have an idea I’m passionate about. I met my word count and surpassed my word count goal for the month, but I still have a third of the book to write. So, it’s a victory, but it feels like such an odd time to celebrate.



April was my busiest month of 2019 so far.


I’m relieved April is over, but tomorrow I’ll go back to writing on book 5 of the Hemlock Wolf Pack Saga.

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O.W.L.’s Magical Readathon 2019 Wrap-Up

Avery Hemlock

When I announced to my friends I was not only participating in Camp NaNoWriMo in April 2019, but also participating in Dewey’s 24 Hour Readathon and a month long readathon I got some weird looks. Ever since I was a kid, my life revolved around stories. Telling them, reading them, imagining how everything could be different if one thing changed. What I couldn’t predict was the drama coming into my life in April. I planned to read a book for all of the prompts in O.W.L.s Magical Readathon, but that didn’t happen.

The announcement video. This is full of information. Yes, schedule willing I’ll participate in the N.E.W.T.s as well in August 2019.

So What Did I Read for O.W.L’s Magical Readathon?

I’m happy to announce I did meet the requirements for my Journalist/Writer path. So, as long as I get my N.E.W.T.s in August I’ll be good to go. Let’s talk about the requirements for my chosen path first.

I needed:

History of Magic: Read a book published at least 10 years ago.

Muggles Studies: Read a contemporary novel

One other O.W.L. of my choice: I chose Astronomy which mean I needed to read a book with ‘star’ in the title.

History of Magic O.W.L.

For my History of Magic O.W.L. I didn’t have to look far. I read two books this month that met the requirement, but one also met my Herbology requirement.

History of Magic O.W.L. – Check!

I read The Downsiders by Neal Shusterman published in 1999. Yes, I know that doesn’t sound old enough to be for History of Magic, but that’s 20 years ago. I don’t often glance at publication years, because it has the habit of making me feel old. lol But for this challenge I made an exception.

Downsiders was a wonderful YA book about a city built under NYC. In many ways it was a coming of age novel that explored what we believed about ourselves and how complex societal beliefs evolve.

Muggle Studies O.W.L.

I don’t read a whole lot of contemporary fiction, but I do love novels by Catherine Ryan Hyde. She writes emotional fiction in my opinion. I’ve yet to read a book by her that I didn’t enjoy. She also has a few LGBT titles as well.

For my Muggle Studies O.W.L. I read Heaven Adjacent by Catherine Ryan Hyde. It’s another great book by this author. Her writing always pulls at the heart strings and digs into the soul.

Astronomy O.W.L.

For my astronomy O.W.L. I read The Chaos of Stars by Kiersten White. This was a modern take on Egyptian mythology that did not fail to entertain.

Care of Magical Creatures O.W.L.s: Read a book with a land animal on the cover.

Only the Animals by Ceridwen Dovey

Charms O.W.L.s: Age line read an adult work (I went with non-fiction for this one.)

PTSD Recovery by David Craft

Herbology O.W.L.: Read a book with a plant on the cover.

The Boy Next Door by R.L. Stine

I had a lot of fun with this readathon and can’t wait until the second part rolls around in August!

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Camp NaNoWriMo Day 26: The Day I Almost Forgot to Blog

Avery Hemlock

Welcome back! Today was a rowdy day of storms and close calls to power outages here! But we slid by on the seat of our pants and for once my small town’s power wasn’t eaten by the wind.

It’s almost my bedtime at the time of writing this so I’ll keep it short and sweet. Today was an awesome writing day! I wrote just over 3k words leaving me about 4.5k words to finish my goal for camp!

There are a few scenes coming up really soon in my novel that I’m psyched to write! I’ve watched them play out in my head so many times that I know them almost word for word! That’s a good thing too! These scenes may just be what I need to push my butt over the finish line of Camp NaNoWriMo!

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Camp NaNoWriMo Day 25: The day that happened.

Avery Hemlock

I think the title of this blog reflects my current ability to title works of writing. This week has been a roller coaster of emotions and drama and word counts. A week that’s made me think about writers and addictions. It’s almost like the chicken and the egg question.

chicken and egg

As any of my long time followers (from FB and other places) will know I quit smoking on January 13th of this year. I used nicotine gum as my form of nicotine replacement therapy. It’s more than three months later and I’m still on it. I’m working on cutting down and every time I do I have the symptoms all over again of quitting. I know a lot of people would say just go cold turkey! It’s only 24 milligrams of nicotine a day. Not all of it even makes it into your bloodstream. Quitting cold turkey isn’t for me at this point. I won’t bore you with all the reasons why. Protecting my quit is very important to me. It’s my biggest will power accomplishment ever. Yes, this from the woman who writes everyday most of the year. Writing is easy. It’s not writing that’s hard. Even when I need to take a break.

All of this thinking has made me add a topic of writers and addiction to my to blog about eventually. It’s everywhere. You see the jokes about full ashtrays and a million empty coffee cups. Sometimes it’s wine glasses. I don’t really drink. Maybe a glass every year or two. So, that’s not my poison of choice, but it’s out there. Not all writers have any of these addictions, but it’s prevalent enough to acquire memes to support the stereotype.

Yes, I wrote more before I quit smoking. Yes, it was easier, but going back isn’t an option for me. So, I can only go through the process of quitting. I’m a little less than 8k words away from the finish line of my 50k Camp Nano goal. I don’t need cigarettes to write, but I do miss them. I wrote 2,091 words today. Now, I’m off to embrace the fog of nicotine withdrawal until my brain adjusts or tomorrow morning arrives to clear it for a little while.

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Camp NaNoWriMo Day 24: The Day I Broke 40k Words

Avery Hemlock

After a three day weekend off to deal with personal matters Monday rolled around. Only the rest of the world didn’t care that it was Camp Nano and they were getting in the way of my main character finally exchanging claiming vows with his true-mate. I’m sure this is the sort of offense one would take to the Hemlock High Courts, but unfortunately we don’t live there. lol So, Blake and Jonah had to wait a bit.

All joking aside, keeping up with Camp NaNoWriMo this week has been an uphill battle in stilettos while fighting off a hungry dragon. But the good news is I managed to stay on the hill. I wrote every day this week (so far) and am on schedule to finish on April 30th.

Monday’s Word Count: 875

Tuesday’s Word Count:1577

Wednesday’s Word Count: 2360

Today, I’m back in the swing of things. I’m tired, but I’m excited for a lot of the scenes coming up. I still have one tweak I have to make towards the end of the plot. Well, around chapter 25 which I’m only 4 chapters away from. I won’t finish this novel by the end of the month, but I will hit my 50k goal. I had planned for this book to be shorter than Healer’s Oath, but Blake and Jonah had different plans.

After Camp ends I’ll likely take a week off to recharge my batteries before charging in to write the remainder of the book. Happy writing, fellow campers!

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Camp NaNoWriMo Day 18: An Excerpt from Book 5 of the Hemlock Wolf Pack Saga

Avery Hemlock

I don’t have much to say about today’s writing. I’m coming up on some twists that would definitely be spoilers if I talked about them. So, instead I’ll leave you an excerpt from the book.

Sorrow cuts through my life like daggers. Memories of lost laughter echo in the background of my thoughts. During the day I drag my pencil across the page and the pain leaks out. At night it sits on my chest. Then morning comes and I see Duke’s lopsided smile as he climbs into my bed. Two-year-olds are faster than wild horses and he’s the reason I don’t give up. My precious little boy is the light of my life and my daily path out of the darkness.

My parents are gone and I’m farther from home than I ever wanted to be. Lee’s so happy though. Millie and Travis run him and Bane ragged, but at the end of the day they get to fall into bed together exhausted but in love. I don’t begrudge them their bliss. I just wish it was contagious. Things could be worse, but there’s always room for improvement.

“Blake!” Zooey’s voice cut through my thoughts. “I thought we’d find you out here hiding in the trees. What are you doing? Writing the next great Hemlock novel?”

“Maybe someday,” I laughed and slammed my journal shut.

I smiled at the women who became my best friends after I moved to Hemlock Academy two years ago. What started as a work project to aid in Zoey’s self-produced herbalist manual grew into a mutual affection based on music, annoying brothers, and of course being some of the youngest students at Hemlock Academy. It didn’t take long for Lotus to fall into our circle when she returned from her father’s European business trip. While the rest of the world worked on stepping past what was now just called ‘the tragedies’ the three of us lived in the shadows of the events. Zoey still caught the occasional headache from her injury, Lotus had nightmares about large men dragging her from her bed, and I hovered over Lee like Jeb might sneak through the bathroom window and steal him from me again.

These were the things we couldn’t talk about with the others. The Omega Liberation Front solved the problem and saved the day. Every Tuesday and Sunday we attended chatroom meetings of survivors. Lotus and I were invited because of our proximity to the events. I attended them, because it was the only time I heard Lee say he was okay. Most of the survivors were okay now. They lived their lives and pushed away memories as if they didn’t happen. There was only one memory I couldn’t push away at night, but the past fled from the bright sunlight over Hemlock Academy.

  It was time to get down to business, because Zoey’s thick dark trademark Hemlock hair was pulled into a messy bun on top of her head. Her shoulders squared and she looked like Darian when he walked into a pack meeting. I never understood why everyone compared her to Ross. She lacked his gentle nature and tact. She was all bullheaded like the Patriarch and her other Alpha brothers. The man she married better have a steel set of balls, because she’d settle for nothing less. Zoey didn’t hold her punches and I liked that about her.

“Lotus did it!” She grinned as she plopped down on the grass next to me. “The little vixen actually got in contact with The Grim Howlers’ agent and scheduled a conference call for tonight! I can’t believe the operator even put her through.”

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Camp NaNoWriMo Day 17: Fred the Dragon

Avery Hemlock

Brain cells? Do I have any left?

Well, yes, in the literal since, but I didn’t want to drag my butt to the keyboard today. Nicotine withdrawal is still kicking me every chance it gets. If this were any non NaNoWriMo month I wouldn’t have wrote today at all. I would have vegged out and gave my brain a break. But since it is Camp NaNo the show had to go on!

I fell back on my secret weapon. Thee one weapon which never fails me on brain dead days: Writing Sprints! You know the ones. You set a timer and write until the buzzer cuts through your soul. Then you do it again. And some days again. You sprint until the words actually add up. For me, that meant 6 writing sprints of 15 minutes each totaling just under 3.8k words. Bringing me to a total word count of 31,885. I’m technically two days ahead by the NaNoWriMo calendar, but since I’m taking weekends off I’m right on schedule. Speaking of weekends… Is it here yet?

In all honesty, tired or not I really enjoyed the part of the story I was on today. It’s really close to Blake’s first *time* with his mate and though first sex scenes can be challenging I think I’ve gotten the flow of both characters down so it won’t be too difficult. I may even get to it this week.


One thing I keep thinking about today is how many readers have asked me about “Fred the Dragon.’ I didn’t expect this big of a response about a man who never actually appeared on the page. Answers will be given in the next book, but rest assured Fred is gloating in all the adoration and curiosity. What red blooded dragon Alpha, wouldn’t?

Fred would like to apologize to his fans. He will not star as a main pov character in Book 5 of the Hemlock Wolf Pack Saga.
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Camp NaNoWriMo Day 16: The Day Things Started Coming Together

Avery Hemlock
A realistic portrait of me working out the plot of my current WIP.

I didn’t write over the weekend and I didn’t blog yesterday, because I was caught up in perfecting the plot of book 5 of the Hemlock Wolf Pack Saga. My plot’s verging 6k words all by itself. I thought everything was perfect. Then today at the end of my writing time I realized it’s not. I left a gaping hole! I yelled plot twist in my head and moved on. I’ll have to fix that in a few chapters, but for today that’s okay. I can live with the knowledge my plot is only *almost* perfect. lol

Today’s word count was my best of the month. I’m just over 28k words in total. Meaning I’m back to being a little ahead of schedule. Since writing the blog yesterday today the words just rolled off my fingers. This proves it. I’m a plotter at heart and mind.

I wrote 3,690 words today. I’m on chapter 17/37. That final chapter count is subject to change when I go back in to tweak my plot, but for now I’m happy with my progress. I might not finish writing the book this month, but it’s likely I’ll make it to my 50k word goal. I did a couple of fifteen minute writing sprints to get me started today. I think my nicotine levels are evening out. (I’m just over 3 months quit and still using the gum.) So, I’m excited for the rest of my work week. I’ll likely break 30k words tomorrow and then around Monday hit my 40k mark.

Yesterday I wrote about the importance of taking breaks and there’s no better advice for me to give. I took the weekend off and on Monday everything started coming together. So, if you’re feeling burnt out today. Take a break and practice some self-care.

It’s only about 4pm (EDT) and my writing day is over. I plan to settle in and read a book as my part of my O.W.L.s Magical Readathon. Today I’ll be reading The Chaos of Stars by Kiersten White.

I won’t talk about this book here, because I plan to talk about all the books I read throughout the month for O.W.L.’s Magical Readathon in a post next month.

That reminds me Amazon is doing a great deal for 2 months of their Kindle Unlimited Membership for just 99 cents. Seriously, if you guys haven’t tried it out go take a look. I’m not sponsored by them or anything like that. I just really enjoy the service. I’ve found some of my favorite books on there. And yes, if you subscribe you can read all the Hemlock Mpreg Universe books as part of the subscription.

How’s your Camp NaNoWriMo going this month? Happy writing and reading! Book on!