Writing Update: October 2023.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN! Can you believe it’s the end of October all ready? I can’t, especially as we had summer weather up till the middle of the month.

Work picked up significantly, but I did get new words down, so here we go.

Resurrection Run (Book 2 of The Quiet Dead series)

I spent most of my time with this gutting the original manuscript, and I do mean gutting. Whole chapters are gone and some are just in pieces that are relevant to the new story. I’m eight chapters in with six left, and I know there will be a lot more cut before the first draft is complete. I know some writers hate the idea of cutting so much, but I have no problem. I also had no problem killing off a character. Originally it was meant for Arlo, one of the main characters, but I found a more expendable one to take out. There are too many people on this journey and I need to narrow down the POVs. I’ve already removed one from the original group, but I’m not sure if I should kill off a couple more or have them drift away.

Ghost Story – The Haunting of Mercy Moreau.

Now that Down Finnegan’s Hollow is published, I’m focusing on a new stand-alone book, The Haunting of Mercy Moreau. Right now this story is all over the place, and it’s a completely new story from what I originally had (some of you may remember me complaining about that one) so the focus now is to get through the first draft without too much editing. There’s so much I want to put in this, but I’m afraid that I’ll veer off course even with an outline.

Eva and Skye’s Magical Hair Solution

I added in two more scenes with Skye this month, and her homelife is looking more and more bleak. It doesn’t seem fair that I’ve made the girls homelife so radically different, but it plays into the overall plot. I need Eva so wanting to be a part of non-magical world that she will do anything, and I need Skye’s homelife to drive her to do unexpected things. I’ve used several incidents that actually happened to me, or around me when I was in high school. Having such a strong connection to the material allows me to really get into it for the book. 

Heir to the Alchemist

The change in my work schedule came during the week I had this story in my queue, and while I didn’t get as many words done as usual for the entire week, I did manage to do the 1k goal I set for myself. I introduced a new character that will connect Drucilla (my main character) to the past she wants to forget, while at the same time, elevate her to a place I need her to be, so the story can move forward. I’m not editing anything either, and the file is full of things I want to change or add during revisions.

Malice/Patreon

First off, if you’re reading this, I apologize for the massive mix up with the parts. I forgot to post an entire scene where Gypsy and Aaron discover the priest dead in the field. I thought I had, as the document had been moved to the posted file, but it wasn’t until I was reading over it that I realized the mistake, but like I wrote at the top of the scene, you get the gist of what went on prior in that post. I’m close to the end of the already written script segments, and it’s looking like December’s post will be part of the original novel. That will be so much easier for me. Reformatting a script into a novel has been a pain in my ass, plus, I’ll be able to schedule a year’s worth of posts which will allow me to work on other things. I have an odd number of post ideas and the first six months of 2024 planned out. Most of the posts will be for The Daring Traveller (Tier 1), but I have put a couple for the higher others.

On a completely different note, I found an A.I. program that has let me create my characters and so far, some places as well. That’s really the only reason I’m using it. The only thing I don’t like about the faces is that they’re all so handsome or pretty and almost perfect looking. I’m still tweaking with the program so it could be some time before I understand how to use it properly.

If you’re curious to find out in more detail about the stories above, consider signing up for my newsletter HERE! I have so many stories that I’m working on, and I get into more detail about my novels on my Patreon. For $1 you can read about everything from the state of mind of the characters and why they take the actions that they do, to snippets, to who knows what. If these stories sound interesting to you, you can sign up HERE.

Until next month!    

Writing Update: May 2023.

Well, howdy! Long time no see!

It’s been a rough couple of months. Things got incredibly, well, difficult for March and April (don’t worry, everyone is fine and hubby and I are still together), but it greatly affected my writing. Everything is good now and getting better, but May was the first time in months that I really felt like I wanted to work on my WIPs. Yes, plural. I have four that I’m focused on, and they’ll be the ones that I work on for the rest of the year, so obviously, it’s time for an update!

1. Heir to the Alchemist.

I cut a huge chunk from the middle of this story. Like, chapter size huge. In order for the story to move forward, the MC had to marry, and the life situation I had her in didn’t allow her to accomplish that, so I dragged her down into the mud. Literally. She’s going to go through a really hard winter, and she’ll be at the lowest point in her life during this time, but it has to be done. She has to be so desperate, so wretched, that she jumps at the offer of marriage from a very wealthy man twice her age. Only then can the main part of the story take place and secrets be revealed. I truly don’t see any of this happening without this marriage.

2. Eva & Skye’s Magical Hair Solution.

I returned to the original title. I had to. This story involves both of them, and it wasn’t fair that neither of them had their names in the title. I’m also including new scenes from Skye’s POV. If you follow me on social media, you know that I want the girls’ home life to be as opposite as possible, and just not the magical/non-magical aspect. Some of this is hard to write, but again like with HttA, it has to be done in order for the story to move forward.

3. The Quiet Dead: Book 2.

I am almost finished revising the first few chapters of this story and removing the old plot element. This was the project I was working on when SHTF and I shut everything down. It’s been hard because the old plot lines are still intertwined within, but once it’s done, it should be easier to revise the rest of the novel. I’m still torn on whether or not to continue writing this story. There are three more books that I wanted to do to explore this world, but I am more excited about HttA and the Eva and Skye novels, and I’d like to get the first book of those out as my funds have been greatly reduced, and I will only be able to put out one book per year now. *sigh*

4. Down Finnegan’s Hollow.

This novel is done and has been with a few betas for the last couple of months. This is a stand-alone entrance novel into my Halliwell Island series, but it might be the one I publish this year. Maybe around Hallowe’en? From the feedback I’ve received so far, I’m glad I held off from publishing. The timeline for this story was so messed up, and I don’t know how many times I had to revise and edit just the sequence of events in order for it to make sense. I’m never doing another timeline-based story again. EVAR.

If you’re curious to find out in more detail about the stories above, consider signing up for my newsletter! Starting in June, I’m starting a newsletter series that focuses on one story per month. I plan to go into more detail about each novel. Everything from the state of mind of the characters and why they take the actions that they do, to snippets, to who knows what. If these stories sound interesting to you, you can sign up HERE.

Until next month! Stay safe.

Writing Update: January 2023.

I know I’m a little late with this, but

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

2023 has started off great for me. I’ve been working on Plague Book 2 and HttA, doing roughly 1,500 words between them. I’ve also been working on Malice, but not as much as I would like. I’m still working on scheduling time to write with other things I do during the day, and it’s taking me a while to find a balance, but being off so much in January really helped get my act together.

Plague Book 2

What a rewrite. I deleted the first four chapters and wrote a new beginning. Before, the MC had medical and military experience, now, she doesn’t, and that’s a big plot element to take out. As of today, I’m four chapters in with new words. All survivors are at a military base, so the revisions should go a bit smoother once it falls to the zombies.

I’m also thinking about another huge chunk that comes right after and whether or not I’ll change it. I put it in as a means to pass the time and show just how bad it is, but I don’t think I’ll have them there for long. The world is about to get really bad, and they have to get to the safe zone.  

I also found my antagonist, at least for this story. I had killed the character off in the old draft, but now I’m keeping him and giving him a promotion. After this book, I won’t write about him for a while and will just focus on the main five; Jolene, Kendra, Arlo, Tamika and Dantrell. I’m even thinking of switching up the POVs for some scenes and showing it from a perspective other than Jolene’s. I’ve already done it with Dantrell, and I like the idea of showing how the other characters are reacting. Plus, there’s going to be things that the others experience that move the story forward, and I want people to see that.

Heir to the Alchemist (HttA).

Like the title? This is my alternate reality/high fantasy story that started out as a Steampunk years ago. It’s coming along nicely too. I have just over 55k written, and I’m finally getting into the back half of this story. Right now, I’m just going where the characters are taking me. I am a plotter, and I’m steering them a bit, but a few new things have popped up, and I love how it’s coming along, but I know a lot of it will probably be edited out in future drafts.

I’ve referenced a lot of Victorian-era elements, but it still feels very pre-industrial. I’ll clear that up more when it’s time for revisions. I also need to work on the supernatural aspect of the story. I have some, and this is a world where there are supernatural beings, but I haven’t shown many except for two. I’ve set up a hint for a third, but I need to make it feel more like a creature was there.  

Malice

I’ve written the beginning of a new adventure for the characters in this series. Well, not so much a new one, but the opening of the continuation. Malice starts off with the MC – Aaron, coming to town and the adventure into the dead city, but the main story is what happens AFTER that was the purpose of me starting this story. The second adventure sets in motion a plot for a second novel too. Actually, you know me. I can’t stop at one, so yeah, it’s going to be more than one book.

These are the three main projects I’ve worked on since October. Eva and Skye’s adventure is on hold, as well as the ghost novels. These stories are poking at me, and I need to write them before moving on. This post also starts off my blog routine again. I have a month’s worth of posts all ready to go and ideas for future ones.  

Until next month!    

Writing Update: October 2022.

Three things have dominated my October, and that’s Ghost Book 2, Malice web novel and the Strong Women, Strange Worlds season 2 podcast.

First things first.

Ghost Story

Ghost Book 2 is coming along. I’ve got the first couple of chapters written, and only doing 500 words per day is an easy goal to keep. When November starts, I’ll upload that word count and keep going. The next couple of months is incredibly busy for me, and this is the only way I can do NaNoWriMo. I originally wrote it back when erotica was all the rage but was never really happy with it, so I revised the manuscript and removed the sexy scenes and anything to do with that plot, but I still didn’t like it. The whole thing just fell apart, so I put it away, but now that I’ve finished Ghost Book 1, I’ve turned my attention to it again, hoping to make it more creepy, and a big part of that has to do with the house. An old abandoned Victorian house. The main character, Mercy Moreau, owns (with her asshole ex) this old Victorian mansion on an island that is full of ghosts. This house is run down, has been used for other purposes besides a home, and will be the focal point of the story. I need to make sure this place is creepy, so I went looking for pictures of abandoned Victorian homes online and discovered a rabbit hole of videos on YouTube of people who actually go into these places and record it! Oh yeah, I’m in my glory.

Web Novel

Two chapters down, and chapter three looks to be an intense one. The Malice recruits are in the dead city, but they’re not alone, AND someone dies!

Doing this web novel is an experiment, and so far, I’m not impressed with the results. The two sites I have them up on, Wattpad and Royal Road, are dominated by Anime or paranormal romance, and my story gets barely any traction. Even when I advertise it in the forum. I put up a post in RR that, even though it wasn’t everyone’s cup of tea, blah, blah, blah, hoping it would get some views, but nada. I chose these two sites because they were the only ones I felt semi-comfortable with, and it’s beginning to look as if these places are only meant for those two genres.

I can hear you now, do I participate and read their stories? I tried on RR, but out of the half dozen I started (before giving up on all of them), just didn’t interest me or were so amateurish I couldn’t read them, and I’ve yet to find anything interesting on Wattpad. I will continue to post on both until the end of the fourth chapter, then everything gets posted online on my Patreon. I’ll keep the Wattpad account and delete my account on RR. It’s been close to six months since I started this and I feel its time to move on.

Strong Women, Strange Words podcast.

Season two is almost in the bag! I have a couple more interviews, and then I can finish off my post-production. I had a few authors back out due to personal things, but that’s fine. Life happens, and we have to accommodate where we can, and they said they’d be up to doing one for season 3.

I’m feeling more at ease this season. I think I’ve got a good handle on this. I’ve changed the music to be the same as the Quick Reads, so it’s more of a connection to the site. I’m changing the date as well. Season two will start on January 9^th, 2023, so when you wake up on that Monday morning, and you’re heading into work after the holidays, tune in and listen to some great segments!

Writing Update: September 2022

It’s been an interesting month for me. Blog posts, revisions to older stories, new podcast interviews, and my web novel. I’ve been busy, and I don’t see it easing up any time soon. This is a good thing. I procrastinated for so long that I let things get behind, and I have so many projects that I’m working on I get a little overwhelmed. Another reason why I write an update at the end of the month; is to keep things in order.

I’ve been a lot more active on the Writing Community hashtag too, but it’s so full of spam and questions going out into the void. I mute all the spam and book promos. I’m sorry, I just find that fucking annoying, and it drowns out all the other members who actually want to connect, which is the reason the damn hashtag was created.

Okay, so let’s get to it, shall we?  

The Quiet Dead.

I’ve decided, after the second book, I’m going to put it away for now. There are three more stories in the series, but I have so many poking at me that I have to let some go. The first draft of book 2 is already done, so it’s a simple matter of revising, which I can start in the new year, and the only reason I’m finishing it is that I included a bit of the first chapter and a release date at the end of the novel. I do plan to work on the remaining stories, and I know where I want to take them, but creating a strong plot for the three remaining ideas will take some time.  

Down Finnigan’s Hollow.

Do you know I’m STILL finding evidence of the original plot in this story? I thought I’d scrub that completely from the manuscript, but I found one sentence halfway through the book, and I’m like, you’re not supposed to be there. I’m in a final revision now before I send it out to my beta, and I may have to do some more revisions and edits once I get it back from her. I may submit it to small press, I’m not sure. I think I need more ghost happenings in it.

Magical Hair Solution.

This is still out with my beta. I keep thinking it’s a weak plot, and I don’t know why. Maybe because of the era it’s set in? I don’t know. I really like this story, and I’ve got a good chunk of the second novel written. The tone is different for this one. Much darker. Kind of like how Harry Potter was all fun and excitement in the first book and then serious and dark in the second. Once it’s all set up, I plan to publish it myself. It’s one of those that just needs to get out there. I can promote it and The Quiet Dead while I figure out what the hell I’m going to do with my ghost book. If things go as my new revised self-publishing schedule, I may release it alongside the second Quiet Dead book or shortly around the same time.

Malice Web Novel.

The web novel is proceeding along. There are over twenty parts up on Wattpad now. Chapter One is entitled In Malice We Trust, and the second is called The Road to Malice. This has been a good challenge for me. Making sure I have a new part ready every Wednesday and Saturday morning is forcing me to keep a deadline. I don’t think I’ve ever had to do that before.  

The Watchtower.

It’s been eleven years since I published this novel. Sometimes I find it hard to believe that it’s been that long. If you’ve read my other updates, I’ve toyed with the idea of taking the whole series down, but I decided instead that I’ll revise the first book and offer it free to 1^st Tier subscribers, and when I say revise, I mean revise. I’ve completed the first chapter so far, and I’ve added so much more content to it. This won’t be uploaded to any marketplace, and I will be offering the first chapter only on BookSweep in the near future. 

Last but not least, you can read what happens to the world I destroyed with a zombie plague on WATTPAD or ROYAL ROAD. I have a web novel there, and it’s a continuation of sorts to the novel. Click the sites to start reading.

One last thing, I’ve created a Patreon page that has insights into my stories, videos, audio reads and more. If you’re interested, you can check it out HERE.

I’m also on BookSprout! If you’d like to review my book, you can find it HERE.

And as always, you can subscribe to my newsletter HERE

Writing Update: August 2022

August has been a busy month. Actually, the last couple of months have been busy and I’ve got a lot done so here are some updates for you.

Ghosts

I am heartbroken to say that I accidentally deleted The Possession of Mercy Moreau. It must of happened when I was deleted extra files from the mass of files I got when I recovered my flash drive. There were over four thousand files and ninety percent of them were unreadable or duplicates. As upset as I was about that, when I thought about it, it wasn’t a bad thing. I’ve struggled with this story ever since I took the sex out of it and tried to make it more of a Gothic novel. Doing a hard revision doesn’t always work, and it didn’t in this case, so I’m re-writing it, or should I say writing it again. I have a new title too; The Haunting of Mercy Moreau (or as I’ve been calling it Ghost Book 2), and I’m looking at a January timeline for the first draft.

Speaking of ghosts, I’m doing some edits on Down Finnegan’s Hollow (Ghost Book 1), and I hope to have it ready for my reader by Halloween. This was supposed to be the summer I got all these books out, but I forgot about all the work to make them *ready* to go out, and DFH has a confusing timeline that I need to make sure I get right. It’s also the first book in my Halliwell Island series.

Magic

The Magical Hair Solution (Magic Book 1) is with a beta now, but I think it needs more work. There are things popping up in the second book that I need to reference in the first, so I’m glad that I didn’t rush to publish this. I’ll know more when my beta gives it back.

I’ve been working on Magic Book 2, and it might have a title. How does The Dawn Charm sound? Okay, working title. There is so much that I want to tell in this story; the repercussions of what happened at the end of the last book, new secrets revealed, and then the main plot. I am seven chapters in and I’ve only touched on one. There’s some sub-plots that have to go in as well, but I think I’ll add them after the first draft is written.

Zombies

With The Quiet Dead out, I can start editing Book 2 Resurrection Run. I have this one completed as it was originally part of the first book, but I split it into two novels so I could expand more on certain things for the first one. This will need deep cuts to it. I need to revise a few things about the MC that run through the whole manuscript. Also, I’ve decided not to kill off a member of the group. There will be a death, just not the one I originally had. Killing off characters has become very last decade. This is the only book that has a release date for the summer of 2023. I should be working on it, but these other stories are poking at me.

Last, but not least, you can read what happens to the world I destroyed with a zombie plague in my new web novel on WATTPAD or ROYAL ROAD. It’s a continuation of sorts to the Quiet Dead novel. Click the highlighted sites to start reading.

One last thing, I’ve created a Patreon page that has insights into my stories, videos, audio reads and more. If you’re interested, you can check it out HERE.

I’m also on BookSprout! If you’d like to review my book you can find it HERE.

And as always, you can subscribe to my newsletter HERE

Told you I’ve been busy. 😉

Writing Update: June 2022

Happy Long Weekend!

Not a long update. I spent most of the month working on the final edits for my plague novel, which I plan to put out in July. It’s been a long time since I’ve put out a book, and I want this to be in the best shape possible that’s why it’s taking longer. I forgot how much goes into releasing a book; getting the IBSN, updating all the publishing sites I use, getting into promo mode. It feels weird being back in it again.

I’m doing a cover reveal on July fourth. If you’ve subscribed to my newsletter, you would have seen it already.

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The Strong Women, Strange Worlds podcast is going great and after only a few weeks, we have subscribers! I’m still working on the last two interviews for the first season, and then I’ll take the summer and work on plans for the second season. I already have a list of authors that are as varied as the first group. If you’ve missed any of the interviews for June, here they are.

 So far this month, I’ve interviewed,

Patricia Correll and her horror story Juniper Bird

E.C. Ambrose with her historical fiction Drakemaster

Anne Nydam’s MG book The Extraordinary Book of Doors

Amy Grech’s short story Bruised and Battered Nevermore.

The podcast is found on Anchor, Amazon Music, Spotify, Google Podcast, and Apple music, and I truly hope you’ll stop by and give them a listen. You could find a whole new TBR list.

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The Magical Hair Solution

With The Quiet Dead TBR, I can focus on the other book I want to put out this summer; the first book in my magical realism series The Magical Hair Solution. I’ve changed the title because I plan to have multiple POVs in future stories. It’s not just about Eva and Skye, but about something that’s been growing within the magical community for a while. Right now it’s from Eva’s POV as an introduction to the magical world, but the next book and future ones have situations that involve other characters from the first book.

Here’s another story that I am so excited about. This is a recent story too. I started it in 2020 and queried it in the fall of 2021. When nothing happened I started thinking about small press, but I’m so impatient sometimes and instead opted to self-publish. It won’t be out until late summer or early autumn, but I’ll post updates.  

Have a great holiday weekend!

Writing Update: May 2022.

This is going to be a short update as most of this month was spent working at my day job instead of on writing projects, but we’re almost back to normal and that means more hours for me. I’m not complaining. More hours means more money I can put away for writing projects.

The Quiet Dead

I got this manuscript back from my editor at the beginning of the month and spent the first two weeks going over it with a fine-tooth comb. There were a few places where she said I needed to keep the tension and a few others where she questioned the need for a certain character. I thought that myself, but couldn’t see a way around *not* having him so that I could get the final showdown that I wanted. There’s a reason she does what she does in that final scene, and it’s I want to link it all to the relationship she was in prior to the world falling apart. I can go into more detail when the book comes out.

June I have an appointment with a graphic artist to do my cover. She did the last few covers for me for my last series and I can’t wait to work with her again. I may be keeping her busy for the summer.

Alternate Reality

I did work on my alternate reality story, and I’m still without a working title. It really bugs me that I don’t have one. I got so desperate that I checked out some title generators online but they didn’t spark any ideas.

I fixed a motivational problem with one of the characters as well. This wasn’t a hard revision but did take up most of my writing time after I was done with my zombie novel. I’ve set a goal to have the first draft done by the end of the summer, but it won’t be anywhere near publishable until next year sometime.

Secret Project

For a while now, I’ve been working on something, that while it is writing-related, isn’t really writing. I am the host of the Strong Women, Strange Worlds podcast. I interview women who have appeared on the SWSW panel, and go a little deeper into their stories. I’d been wanting to do a podcast for a while, but had no idea what to do it on and had decided to scrap the idea, when Terri Bruce, messaged me and we talked.

The first episode airs Friday, June 3^rd at 8 pm EST. I’ll post a link here when it’s live. I really hope you tune in. They’re not long, only 30 minutes and you get to hear these wonderful ladies talk about the inspirations behind their stories. You also get to hear a bit of them as the author reads a ten-minute piece. I interview award winners, trad, indie, and self-published authors of horror, fantasy, and science fiction. I hope you’ll give it a listen.

For those of you who subscribe to my newsletter, I have updates to the maps I put up last month, and if you’d like to subscribe to my monthly newsletter that features more than just an update, you can click HERE and it’ll take you to my web page and you can sign up from there.

See you next month!

Writing Update: April 2022

Look at me being all accountable and posting two months in a row.

The Quiet Dead

My zombie plague novel is with an editor now. I should have it back shortly and I can start working on it again. I keep toying with submitting it to small press, but then I think, what if they don’t want the other books? There are at least five in the series, and I promised myself that I would put out the whole series. On top of that, I’m having an argument with myself on whether or not this is horror or thriller. Most zombie novels fall into horror (or so they’re tagged), but when I think of what defines the horror genre, I come up with stories that send chills up my spine and make me not want to turn the lights out. This is a story about surviving a zombie apocalypse and while the dead coming back to life is pretty scary, I don’t think it qualifies as Horror. At least, not mine. They’re mostly just a prop or a motivation that pushes the story forward.

Down Finnegan’s Hollow

I finished the major revision to my ghost story, Down Finnegan’s Hollow. I’ve added a few turns that, I think, have made it a better story than what I originally wrote. I’m putting this one away for a bit. Let it ferment, and I’ll look at it again in a couple of months. For now, I’m just basking in the fact that it’s done!

Untitled Alternate Reality

The Story Formerly Known as Gutterchilde is what I’m working on next. I’m very excited about this book too, and I think there’s a good chance I’ll finish the first draft this year because it’s the same kind of excitement I had for Eva and Skye. Hell, I might even add the Arlington Creed spin-off series to my list.

I took this story back to the drawing board, so to speak, gutting it completely, but retained some key points. I’m also working on maps that I want to include when I set it up to publish, to give the reader some points of reference. I love city-building games, so map-making is an extension of that. My deadline is to complete the first draft by August 31^st. I should have a good idea at this point, as to whether or not to work on the second book of my zombie plague novel. The first draft for that book is already written, and I have half of the first draft for the second Eva and Skye done as well.    

Ugh, so many stories, but the important part is I’m finally in a place to release them.  

Writing Update: September 2021.

Well, it’s been exactly four weeks since PitMad, and I can honestly say I’ve never been so disappointed in all my life.  Not that I wasn’t surprised, but I thought I’d get more out of it than I did. A hell of a lot more. Honestly, I thought I had an interesting story, but apart from the other authors it didn’t seem to strike a chord with any of the agents who were looking over the pitches.

While this is a setback, to be honest, it wasn’t all that surprising. Especially when you see PitMad in real time. So many posts go flying past, it’s hard to read them, and as the final tally was over 50,000 during the event, that’s a lot of scrolling.

On to round two – querying agents. I swear I’m an old hat at this. I’ve queried two other books and it felt nice getting back into the swing of researching agents. Of course, because I was using a different and sub-standard writing program, I didn’t realize that there were a few grammar mistakes in the samples I sent. I caught it after the first ten were sent.

I gave PitMad a week for replies, but with querying it must be longer, so I’ll give it until the new year. January 3^rd. That would be four months exactly. In the meantime, I’ll be working on book two, because this was always going to be a four-book series. I’m also looking into publishers, and the self-publishing sites I’m on.

Oh, and I went in with my mother and purchased a subscription to Word. At least it’s cheaper this way.

Maybe next month I’ll have happier news.

Query Stats September 30/2021

33 queried

7 rejects

0 request