Xan van Rooyen

And the new YA WIP has just tipped over 30k words!! 🎊🎊

#amwriting #WritingCommunity

😆😆😆

Things I googled for the WIP today:

1) Technical definition of a 'heath'
2) Is it lite or light beer?
3) Common trees that are toxic

#booksky #amwriting

Didn't get to write nearly as much as I wanted to today, but still managed over 1500 words and half a chapter so not too bad.

TW: self-harm, implied child abuse incl. sexual abuse (nothing described on page), parent death, death in general, police brutality, some violence/blood, murder, suicide, substance use/abuse, limited mention of ED (nothing explicit)

Absolute loved this book by my fellow @sauutiverse.bsky.social sibling Cheryl S. Ntumy!

#booksky

When you read a book so good it simultaneously makes you wonder why you bother being a writer while also inspiring you to try harder, dig deeper, and improve your craft.

(The book doing that to me today is Syncopation by Whitney French. I am in awe.)

#booksky

I just finished reading Syncopation and it was truly spectacular!! I am in awe!

Ooh, this gives me Jennifer's Body vibes.

Xan van Rooyen

It'll be time for the #TransRightsReadathon soon and many of my books are on sale NOW at Smashwords!

For trans reads, please consider The Other Me (YA contemporary set in South Africa) or By the Blood of Rowans (YA fantasy with murder and magic): www.smashwords.com/profile/view...

#booksky

Completely agree! I can only imagine this works for people who actually hate writing but are trying to make money off of books.

I will never EVER use genAI and certainly not to 'speed up' my writing process 😠 Some books take me months, others have taken years, and the slog, the grind, the blood, sweat, and pain has been worth it every single time! Because art is the process, not the product!!

#booksky

Dear Google, I really do mean 'flence' and not 'fleece' so if you could stop auto-correcting this word in my doc, I'd appreciate it.

#amwriting #WritingCommunity

Please do!

Thank you! Do you have a current horror-related/adjacent work you'd like to promote?

Thank you @ruadanbooks.bsky.social ❤️

Today I picked up a very special package: the original artwork (a painting on canvas) my publisher commissioned for the cover of my novel, Born of Malice. It is so magnificent I actually teared up opening the bubble wrap!

I really wanna show you, but I can't yet!! 😭

Soon, though...

#booksky

Ending today's writing session with the WIP now at 23 500 words! 🎊 I'm enjoying this eerie little horror novel so damn much!

#writingcommunity

Absolutely brilliant!

Cover of A Million Points of Light, audible edition, by CL Hellisen. The mostly blue and black cover features the silhouette of a figure against a splay of white light emanating from an ethereal figure. There are black mountains in the background. The audiobook is performed by Omari Douglas.

Started listening to @clhellisen.bsky.social 's A Million Points of Light and absolutely love it. The narrator is phenomenal!

If you enjoy your fantasy queer and dark, and written with lush prose, this is for you!

#booksky #audiobooks

This story got ACCEPTED!!! 🎊🎊🎊

*does the happy dance*

More info coming soon...

#writingcommunity #booksky

Would any LGBT+ writers/artists creating in the dark SFF/horror genres be interested in being interviewed for the Divination Hollow Review's annual Pride month event?

If you are, please drop a comment or send me a DM 😊

#booksky #writingcommunity

A quick reminder that I'm appearing in public giving a talk about queerness, witchiness, and Being A Goddamn Problem. If you're in the area and able to make it, come say hi!

Thanks to very enjoyable weekend writing sessions, the WIP is now just shy of 20k words !! I'm also starting to realize just how much I love writing horror 😆

How did your writing or reading go this weekend?

#booksky #writingcommunity

aw, thank you!! ❤️

Stunning!!

For those wanting more queerness in their cyberpunk, I've got a cyberpunk retelling of Dorian Gray called EXQUISITE DECAY coming out in December! Y'all can add it here: app.thestorygraph.com/books/c4f9e5...

#booksky #cyberpunk

A white background overlaid with vertical lines of binary code. A trans femme person of colour fills up one side of the graphic with two mechanical limbs and one hand raised into the air. Beside them, text reads ‘Trans in the Machine: Chronicling the New Cyberpunk Canon’. Beneath, bolded in black, is text that reads ‘//Back Now’

Be part of the first-ever book exploring transness in cyberpunk

Your support is an act of resistance in a time of surveillance & censorship

What’s more punk than that?

Not-for-profit crowdfund runs until March

Let’s chronicle the new cyberpunk canon together!

🔗 www.backerkit.com/c/projects/s...

I wrote 3445 words today of the brand new YA novel I'm working on and it feels so good to be writing something new again!

#amwriting #writingcommunity

The text "Read Black Comics" on an inky almost-grey textured background.

CALLING ALL BLACK COMIC ARTISTS, WRITERS, AND ALL-AROUND CARTOONISTS!

Reply to or quote this post showing off your favorite work so we can get more people reading your creations!