Tag: Hemlock Mpreg Universe

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The Hemlock Mpreg Timeline (AKA The Reading Order Post Y’all Asked For)

Maggie Hemlock

The First Omega

Omega Studies

Omega Sight

Omega Magic

Healer’s Oath

Ardan’s Oath

Omega’s Homecoming

The Sleeping Omega Prince

Claiming the Shaman

Skystead Wolves

Omega Rebellion

Mated for the Holidays

Saving Cinder

Freeing Fenrir

Crow King’s Heir

Alpha in Distress

Sky’s Homecoming

All the Pieces of Us

As Long as You Need Me

Omega Midwife

Pheromone Swap

Making Room for Love

Behind Dragon Wings

Interview with a Captive Dragon

The Other Mr. Claus

Yuletide Bites

Stay with Us

Guardians of Glitter Bomb

To Save a Sidhe

Dead Mates Society

The Love We Choose

The Love Right in Front of Us

Alphas of Lore

The Vampire and the Beast

Catnip and Mistletoe

The Practice Alpha

Alpha Unleashed

Alpha Misunderstood

The Pride of Glitter Bomb

The Age of Lions

A Worthy Bear

Stuck Between Two Bears

Omega in the Stars

Just a Wolf

Canton: A Memoir

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Camp NaNo Updates: Day 2 and 3

Maggie Hemlock

I had every intention of blogging yesterday – I really did. Then I got caught up in the side job and then I wanted to do a bit of reading and a friend called me. Those are the reasons I write in the morning and like getting up before the rest of the world (or at least the people I know) are awake. That quiet time really makes a difference and the fact the time change STILL has me waking up an hour or so later than my normal time is affecting my word count. I’m slowly working on getting this back to normal without giving up too much sleep. The best tool in a writer’s toolbox is a healthy sleep schedule – well, it is if you ask me.

Brown Tabby Cat Lying on Cat Tree

My current WIP is at 37,399 words. I hoped to reach 40k words this week, but I didn’t and that’s okay. I got pretty close.

April 2nd: 4,190 Words

April 3rd: 4,029 Words

So, that makes 1/3 writing days where I hit my goal so far. Though, I did have 2/6 days overall of hitting it this week. I think I’m within a few days of hitting the plotting point and that usually kicks up my word count once I have the ending plotted out. I’m close, but no cookie yet.

If you’re participating how are you doing so far this month?

What I’m Writing: Book 7 of Love by Glitter Bomb

What’s in Editing: Nothing :O

Current Pre-Orders: Love By Glitter Bomb Box Set 2 & Dead Mates Society (Pre-order is in Amazon’s review process and the link will come soon.)

What I’m Reading: Insomnia by Stephen King & If I Was Your Girl by Meredith Russo

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Camp Nano Day 1: What’s in a Title, Word Count, and a mostly lazy post writing day.

Maggie Hemlock

Good evening! I want to say it’s been a long day, but I haven’t really gotten much accomplished outside of work stuff – AKA writing. It snowed today which thrilled me until I remembered it was April and when we warmed back up that likely means a thunderstorm. Still, I love the cold and the snow. So, I’m counting it as a win for today.

I didn’t wake up quite on time today. So, I figured I wouldn’t get as much done. I’m not to the point I’ve plotted the rest of this book out or anything like that. So, I set out to write and surprisingly hit my daily word count goal of 5k+ words. Knowing I had to fess up to whatever my word count was in a blog this evening got me in the zone.

Start of Day Word Count: 24,138 words

End of Day Word Count: 29,180 words

Words Written Today: 5040 words

So, I’m happy with today’s progress. I’m about to hit a major plot point tomorrow or the next day and I’m looking forward to seeing how that one plays out.

After I finished writing and made my usual check-in phone call with a friend (they’re doing well) I mostly played hearthstone, worked a bit on a side job, and listened to an audio book. I’ve made it through today without seeing any distasteful pregnancy ‘fools day’ crap on social media. And for that I’m a grateful.

While finally getting around to putting together my new end tables I thought about titles more. Well, about one title in particular. The title of my current WIP. For a bit, I thought for sure I was going to call it Beta in the Cards or something similar. I almost always think I know what I’m going to call a book – then I change my mind 10 times with very few exceptions. Now, I’m playing around with other titles like ‘The Dead Give Their Blessing’ and ‘Matched from Beyond.’ I’m not too fond of any of them, but it’s a process that I’m not sure enough writers talk about.

With all that said – I have brownies and a Stephen King Novel waiting for me to take another peek at it. So, I’m off for the night to recharge my batteries. (Shh…. It’s really called reading but I always say I have to read to stay in the zone.)

If you’re participating in camp how was your first day?

What I’m Writing: Book 7 of Love by Glitter Bomb

What’s in Editing: Nothing :O

Current Pre-Orders: Love By Glitter Bomb Box Set 2

What I’m Reading: Insomnia by Stephen King & If I Was Your Girl by Meredith Russo

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I’m Ready for Camp Nano!

Maggie Hemlock

Oy! I can’t believe it’s already April tomorrow! Where the heck has 2021 gone? Seriously! How are we going into the 4th month of the year???

I dunno, but we are and I’m ready for it this time.

For those of you who don’t know Camp Nano is NaNoWriMo’s little sibling. Taking place in April it’s a chance to put the pedal back to the metal and get to work on whatever project you’re in the middle of or that you’ve been putting off.

As those of you who follow me in other places know – I don’t usually do Nano or camp anymore. Usually, I’m on top of everything and kicking butt, but the last year or so has sucked some life energy out of me. So, I need a kick in the keyboard to get back to my normal schedule.

What’s a normal schedule for me? Umm… 5kish words 6 days a week until it’s time for the second draft and to work with my editor on the book. Sometimes, I start the next one while she has chunks of the one I just finished to work on.

No, I’m not burnt out on writing. I’m just juggling more on my emotional plate and have lost a bit of my motivation.

So, what am I writing for Camp Nano? Well, I’ll be using Nano to finish up book 7 of my Love by Glitter Bomb Series. I won’t talk a lot about what’s going on in the book here, right now. If I talk about a book’s plot too early it jinxes me and I’m avoided that like I’m avoiding the literal plague right now!

So, what’s my plan? I don’t plan to write every day. I never do that anymore. My plan is hit the end of the first draft this month which on my old writing routine would’ve been a piece of cake. But since right after the winter holidays things have been wonky for my writing. So, we’ll see. I’ll work my normal days (Usually Monday-Saturday, taking Sunday off.)

Right now I’m damn close to hitting the 25k mark of this book. 24,138 words written to be exact.

The writing progress I’ve made so far on Book 7 of Love by Glitter Bomb. Not horrible, but I need more days close to 5k words to get back on schedule.

Good luck to everyone participating in camp! My the words ever be in your favor!

What I’m Writing: Book 7 of Love by Glitter Bomb

What’s in Editing: Nothing :O

Current Pre-Orders: Love By Glitter Bomb Box Set 2

What I’m Reading: Know My Name by Chanel Miller & Insomnia by Stephen King

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Hemlock Mpreg Universe Boxset Master List

Maggie Hemlock

This morning I received a message on Facebook asking if I had a master list somewhere of all my boxsets. Up until point I did not – unless you counted what Amazon or GoodReads put together on the pages they keep for authors automatically. But still there are a lot of books to sort through to find the boxsets. So, I put together this page to keep them sorted out and hopefully I remember to update this as boxsets are added.

Hemlock Wolf Pack Saga Box Sets

Love By Glitter Bomb Boxsets

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Craving Some Variety in My Writing and Creative Life

Maggie Hemlock

Before you say it – yes! Yes, I should be writing on the second book in my new series. I’m taking today off to do some behind the scenes stuff and let my mind wander a bit. A wandering mind is a writer’s best friend.

See the source image

I love the world I’ve created. My sexy shifter men and my magic and the places all over the Hemlock Universe I love. Hell, there are worlds I haven’t told anyone about. Like those Starscales the Sleeping Omega Prince is related to? They’re out there in what we’d call outer space just living their sexy dragon lives. I want to take my readers there one day.

This isn’t a blog about “Hey, ya’ll I’m done with this omegaverse I’ve been writing for almost three years now!” Hell no! This universe is my home when it comes to the keyboard. At this point I’d rather cut off my fingers than give up writing in my universe.

But there are other parts of the Hemlock Universe I want to explore. Mainly, the women. Okay, not Zoey. I think she’s the most talked about woman in my universe and I get it – she’s annoying. She’s that one family member everyone has and just wants to grab and shake. She was always going to be that character, though. She’s the combo of a few men I know actually. I just wrapped them up in little heroic but annoying Zoey Hemlock.

Before I wrote MPREG I wrote in a variety of genres. I tried my hand at everything while I practiced for what I didn’t know at the time would be the thing that stuck in the long term. Guys, ladies, my fellow enbies, I miss writing female leads. I’ve missed it for a while, but recently it’s been a strong urge. There are so many interesting women in the extended universe (in my brain lol) that I’d love to bring to the page. Maybe that’s a little evident to readers who read all of my books – Gloria and Lynia (The Crow King’s Heir) and then Hela and Olivia. (The Omega Midwife)

Heck, I miss it so much I gave Hela a chapter of her own in The Omega Midwife. I’d have loved to write her story with Olivia, but alas the Saga is (was? It’s over now.) Mpreg. Gay romance. All about my sexy men who I adore.

I’ve had folks ask me “Then why not write some straight people books?” Ummm… That’s complicated. When I ghostwrote at the beginning of my career I got burnt out on vanilla straight relationship writing. Seriously, it killed me on it. I was writing so much of it to pay the damn bills. And…. the power dynamic most people like to read of the Alpha guy and the little pretty omega woman is triggering to me. As someone who survived sexual abuse that will never be my jam. The romping happening in most of those books is consensual. I get that, but it’s the language and all of that stuff the genre is expected to have.

I’ve thought about writing it the other way – until I figured out that was dipping my toes into what people will dub ‘role reversal’ and ‘femdom.’ I read both of those genres by the way. I just have a feeling they wouldn’t pay the bills and yeah, I’ve made a career of writing. What I write has to pay the bills. It’s my job, after all.

And neither of those is what my creativity is craving. I want to write about women like Gloria and Lynia and Olivia and Hela. I want to write lesbian romance again, but I wanna write it in this universe. I want to open up more of the Hemlock Universe and expose it for all the wonderful people and horrible villains who dwell within it. Except I don’t think the readership for A/O F/F Pregnancy crosses over with Mpreg readers and the last thing I want to do is drive readers away from my universe.

So, maybe I’ll never write these women and they’ll just be a part of the universe readers never know beyond the glimpses in my MPREG books. That makes me a little sad, but I guess unless you’re Rowling (pissed at her at the moment) or King, no one gets to write what they want all the time and that’s okay. I can live with that for now.

I’ve thought about just publishing those books and not mentioning them on my social media. That way readers who want them can find them – but that’s no way to promote a book. I’ve thought about writing them under a different penname, but I don’t want two sets of social medias. I’m bad at keeping up with one.

I’m at impasse with myself – with what I know pays the bills and what I want to write again soon.

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New Apartment, New Writing Routine, and a New Series Set in the Hemlock Mpreg Universe (A Rant and a Rave)

Maggie Hemlock

We can all bluntly admit that 2020 has been a fucking dumpster fire. It’s not just a normal dumpster fire anymore, it’s an f-ing dumpster fire now and it just keeps burning on. It burns on and we all try to live our lives just outside of the flames even if they’re licking us. I could go on about the political state of the US or its implications on COVID19 and all the dead people. I’m acknowledging all of that is going on and it just keeps taking its toll on all of us. I’ve often wondered how people did great things during horrendous times. I’ve wondered how they lived through everything history has thrown at them. I wonder about a lot of things and it’s why I write. This year, I’ve written a lot. When COVID19 started with the lockdowns I gave myself the job of writing more than ever for those stuck at home and needing an escape from our shared morbid and terrifying reality. It’s all I could do and in someways it’s still all I can do for my readers during this time. It’s a little job in comparison to the broken world, but it keeps me sane. I’m starting to think that’s the key to surviving history – somehow staying sane and fighting back when you can.

I’ve been careful in the past to keep politics off my FB page. Yeah, that’s ending. I mean, I know folks come for the books, but it’s my biggest platform and those of you who read my books probably know how much I loathe the current administration and what the future looks like if it comes around for another four years. I’ll keep saying it. I mean, shouting into the void doesn’t help, but it does weed out those toxic people and mark them. I think we need to do more of that. Politics shouldn’t be human rights. Those should just be in place.

The world is a f-ing dumpster fire and my life is no different. I’ve moved three times in a year trying to find the place my CPTSD is the coziest and trying to escape family who has abused me and attacked me and just made my life miserable. I’m in a new apartment. I’m excited, but not that excited. I hate living close to train tracks. I hate not having mail delivery here! Did you guys know that was even a thing? I live downtown of a moderate sized town and there is no mail delivery? What the holy fuck is that about?

So, I’m not optimistic. This is just another stop for me. I’m at the age where I want to put down roots, but can’t find the soil to grow in. I’ve been told I expect too much and want too much and have unrealistic ideas. Well, if wanting to live free from abuse in a house that gets mail delivery and isn’t shaken up like I’m the chicken in a shake and bake bag is too much to ask for, I’m guilty. I’m also okay with that.

During all the chaos of my move – I wrote the first book to a new series. Nope, has nothing to do with the chaos of the move. It’s set in Green Bay (Where my readers will remember Fred Moonscale owned and sold his nightclub, Glitter Bomb!) and explores characters not directly involved with the Hemlock Wolf Pack. After spending most of the year finishing that series I needed a break – a real break and am feeling creatively better while working on this trilogy.

So, I’m trying to avoid the flames of the f-ing dumpster fire that is 2020 like everyone else, but I’m keeping on. What else can we do?

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Thoughts on Finishing a Series

Maggie Hemlock

In December of 2017 I started writing a book that would change my life forever. Only I didn’t know it at the time. I didn’t know it would be that book that launched something more. Omega Studies wasn’t the first novel I wrote. The first I wrote in high school and it’s been lost to the passage of time. Others I wrote for ghost writing jobs and then under another pen name for a different genre.

Freelancing gave me decent income, but was slowly eating away at my creative soul. Novel writing hadn’t provided enough income to become my full time job. Publishing my own stuff was what I wanted to do, but it seemed so far away. It seemed like an impossibility.

Still I wasn’t ready to give up. So, I tried something new. I tried mpreg romance. It was a test run that I was sure would flop out. Only it didn’t. It paid the bills. Then came Omega Sight and people were still reading. I was shocked.

Health problems got in my way after the third book and my publishing slowed down. My writing ground to a halt. I didn’t know if it would ever work out. Then, my health improved and I came back to write Healer’s Oath (Doctor Bane’s book) and people read it too. I was and am a little flabbergasted when I think about it.

The teenage girl scribbling out a vampire story in the back of her AP classes during lectures would have never thought it was possible. Sure, I’m not rich, but I’m doing what I love and paying the bills. That’s not something everyone can say.

Today, almost 3 years after I started writing Omega Studies, I finished the last book in the Hemlock Wolf Pack Saga. That’s 13 books in total.13! That doesn’t count the three books in my other series in my standalones.

Finishing the last chapter this morning was bitter sweet. I never imagined being able to pursue this series for so long and pay the bills with it. At the same time I can’t believe it’s over. I mean, there are rewrites, edits, and all of that, but the creative part of the series is over.

I’ve always referred to the Hemlock Wolf Pack Saga as my baby. It’s my brain baby. I love my world and my characters. I love waking up every morning and working with them even when they made me want to bang my head on the wall.

At the same time, I look forward to what comes next. I have Fairy Tales to catch up to the timeline. I have standalone ideas falling out of my ears! And of course the illusive Juda and Frost origin novel I’ve spoken about countless times. That one is actually up next unless I crash and burn creatively on it. Which I don’t feel like will happen. I always just give that disclaimer, in case something goes wrong.

It’s bitter sweet to end a project that’s been going on for almost 3 years. They’ve been hard three years in my personal life. Sometimes I think my Hemlock Universe saved me from my own mental health issues. No, I’m not advocating writing over mental health care. It’s just part of my management strategy.

I found strength in my characters. Finishing each book built my confidence in other areas of my life too. Feedback and constructive criticism during my writing process gave me a thicker skin and more resilience. As I created them, they built me up. I’ve made so many friends both in other writers and with readers. Which due to my social anxiety seemed impossible before I started publishing the saga. Not to sound like I’m writing a thank you letter to fictional characters, but without them in my daily life I don’t know where I’d be.

So for those of you who have followed the Hemlock Wolf Pack Saga this far, I extend a huge thank you! I hope you’ll continue this journey with me as I explore other areas of the Hemlock Mpreg Universe.

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Reader Q&A

Maggie Hemlock

It’s that time again! I love getting questions and comments from readers. Interacting with all of you really makes my day. Writing is by nature a solo profession. You have to sit at the keyboard and ‘see’ and then translate what you ‘see’ into words and sentences that make sense to other people. It’s not always easy. Some days getting words on the page is like getting blood from a turnip. Other days it’s like I get to play with my imaginary friends all day and they’re nice to me. At the end of the day , though, it’s  about the stories I tell and how they can touch my readers. Without you guys, I’d be a kook with a wild imagination. Okay, maybe that’s exactly what I am, but you guys help me make a living from it. lol

I have three questions I’m going to answer today,. They’re simple questions, but the answers may be long and winding. I’ve touched on some of these in other Q&As, but I think I can expand those answers and really give you guys a look into how I started writing my Hemlock Wolf Pack Saga.

Question: How did you come up with the names for your shifter families?

Answer:

This one depends on which family/pack/flight you’re talking about.

Hemlock Academy came to me before the pack did. It started in a dream I had, but was nothing like you’ve read in the books. In the original dream it was an all girls boarding school where I taught that had been invaded by zombies. I’m a huge Walking Dead Fan and my dreams often get zombies if I watch the show too much. The school in the dream was not Hemlock Academy. It has a name that sounds sort of close, but I’m not disclosing here. I always knew I was going to turn that dream into a book. I still might. Not in Mpreg, because I don’t think babies and zombies mix. Maybe I’m wrong. Let me know in the comments if you think Mpreg and the zombie takeover go hand-in-hand and would make for a good read. The pack ended up named after the school once I got to know Darian in Omega Studies.

I’m not saying what the school was called in the dream, because who knows. If I ever switch genres in the future I still might write the book in the original way I saw it.

The West Appalachian Wolf Pack were just named after the area they come from. I was born in West Virginia and just sorta tacked on West because of that. I love the nature and mountains of the region. Yes, Monta’s pack in part is based on some people I knew growing up. No one was killed from their crimes against their families. So, it’s really loosely based, but it’s there.

The Moonscales are the tricky ones. The name just came to me while I was writing a standalone which is yet to be released or finished. I’m hoping to finish it one day, but it won’t be until after the Hemlock vs. Raven Hallow War. It’s given us the characters of Clarence and Medwin and all of the Moonscales, though. They first showed up in that book that’s half finished. One of the MCs of that standalone novel is still a hatchling at the moment. So, for the sake of the timeline I won’t be worrying about that book just yet.

The Raven Hallow Wolf Pack is a bit more complicated. I could say it just came to me, because a lot of them do and it did. It came from their lore of being connected to ravens and crows. Though, they have heavy elven influence too despite it not being represented in the name.

I think I’ve covered all the main ones I’ve actually introduced this far. There are others on the map, because I needed to mark them because I knew they were there. If I’ve left anyone out drop me a message on FaceBook and I’ll include it in the next Q&A.

Question: What got you into writing MM?

Answer:

Do you want the short answer or the long one?

The short answer: Harry Potter.

That doesn’t make sense unless you were part of the 2000s HP fanfiction communities. The first story I ever wrote to completion on a computer was when I was 14 and it was a  Draco/Harry slash fanfic. Yep. The real reason I turned into a writer was because my young teenage self thought Harry and Draco should get together. I guess I liked tension even back then before I could explain it.

It probably has something to do with my gender identity too, but I’ll touch on that in the next question.

Question: What made you decide to write MPREG?

Answer:

This one’s complicated too. I’ve touched on a lot of these things in my previous Q&A, but I’ll expand here since the question is what made me decide to write MPREG. I’m nervous about this one, because though a lot of my friends know and are super supportive I’ve never really talked about it in a professional setting. This is very personal to me and it’s taken me a long time to be comfortable talking about any of it in a public forum.

Since I was little gender has confused the hell out of me. Not just gender stereotypes, but gender itself. It’s like umm…. so there are two boxes and I have to stand inside of one?  It’s not that I don’t like the boxes. It’s that neither box is for me. I identify as gender non-binary despite being born AFAB (assigned female at birth.)

What I love about Mpreg is being able to explore different ideas about gender roles and gender expression. Being able to not have to write inside those boxes. Yes, some of my omegas are what my dad and uncles would call ‘pretty boys’ (Hence, why the Appalachian Wolf Pack got it’s name and attitude.) but I’ve always admired men who are softer and gentler and love things that aren’t inside that box we’ve labeled “Masculinity.” And of course, vice versa. One of my favorite characters from the series is one who has only been mentioned. I hope to get her on screen soon.

I’ve been accused of having inadequate female representation in my books. I don’t think that’s quite true. Sure, male characters out number female characters, but I write gay romance. I need a pool of side characters to pull from and play matchmaker with.

I’m also very aware of how strong women can be perceived. I didn’t have my first female Alpha on screen until The Sleeping Omega Prince. Mostly, because I wanted to avoid the question of ‘How do female Alphas get their mates pregnant?” Many people have given their thoughts on this and if you don’t understand it, want to know, and are old enough to read my books – send me a message. I’ll tell you in the cleanest way possible. lol I write sex scenes, but I’m not that comfortable discussing anatomy publicly.

What actually lead to me writing Mpreg was a number of things. First, as I mentioned in my previous Q&A my early roleplay years had a lot of mpreg in them. Then mpreg fanfiction. I never knew it was a thing until two things happened very close together. A good friend introduced me to the genre on Amazon. Then an old ghostwriting client (yep that’s what I did before I went indie) e-mailed me and asked if I’d be interested in ghostwriting some Mpreg for her. I don’t do ghost work anymore and didn’t at the time. But I was mind blown that this was a thing in actual books now.

So, my little fanfiction heart had some original characters of its own to share with the world and on December 9th, 2017 I penned the first few chapters of what would become Omega Studies.

Thank you so much for submitting your questions. If you have more feel free to send them my way on Facebook to be included in the next Reader Q&A blog.