Sarah Paradis

Shout out to @3mberRose and "Serenade of The Veiled Eyes". This slow-burn teen fiction features Amilia and begins with an eerie encounter. As it continues to haunt her, Gabriel arrives. His actions can be quite contrasting, leaving her unsure whether to befriend him. It’s a story that explores bullying, found family, and offers the friends-to-enemies and enemies-to-lovers dynamic. I enjoyed how the author captures the tense and unsettling moments and atmosphere with their descriptions. You can check it out here: 
          
          https://www.wattpad.com/story/355669200-serenade-of-the-veiled-eyes

Shouting out 2 awards:
          
          For all you readers out there, 'The Virtues Awards 2024' is open for submissions for your favourite reads in the Fantasy, Paranormal, Sci-Fi, Horror, Mystery, or Mature categories. Come nominate the great novels/novellas you've found on the site that deserve more recognition. 
          
          https://www.wattpad.com/story/365737109-the-virtues-awards-2024-presented-by-the-writer%27s
          
          For the writers, The Cinepolis Awards are very straightforward and easy to enter. Lots of room for entries at the moment in all genres (great news if you want to enter your romance book since that genre always fills up fast)
          
          https://www.wattpad.com/story/368964214-cinepolis-awards-%E2%9C%93

If you're looking for a contest to enter, check out @esthetiquecommunity 's the Esthetique Fiction Awards 2024. Ongoing and completed stories are welcome, and the contest welcomes LGBTIA+ submissions too. It also seeks to highlight stories that have not had recognition in other awards which is great for those new works that you're still trying to get out there :) 
          
          https://www.wattpad.com/story/370047233-esthetique-fiction-awards-2024

Thank you for 1k reads on 'Flight Risk'! I appreciate all your reads and fantastic comments. The story is getting added to more and more reading lists which is fun to see. I've uploaded a new chapter as promised -- more wedding drama-- and am working on next week's which will close up the wedding section so we can move on to the big road trip. 
          
          Have a wonderful weekend everyone :) 
          
          (I'm still way behind with catching up with the wonderful stories I've been reading and haven't forgotten about you all. I'll be catching up as I can)

Looking to discover some new books and win some prizes while reading? We're running the 'Gems Reading Fest' over at @FlexibleBookExchange for books our club members have enjoyed and recommended to spread some love with authors on the platform. 
          
          It's running now and into early May (with the possibility of it being extended into June) and you can win reads and comments on your story (if you're a writer) and a shout-out for the first-place winner for one of their stories. Plus you get to read fantastic books! 
          
          I've had the pleasure of checking out 7 of the 14 featured books and enjoyed them all. Anyone can participate, including people from outside the book club, and we'd love to see you there!
          
          https://www.wattpad.com/1413923750-read-these-gems-book-promotions-winter-gems

Finally have an update for one of my stories! More of the wedding scenes in 'Flight Risk'. 
          
          For anyone reading 'Forget It', I will be continuing the story but not for the ONC. Since early April I've been trying to fit the plot into the novella word count, but even with the chapters I wrote it it felt too rushed and I've already had the disappointing rushed novella ONC experience (with this same story idea--you'd think I'd have learned it's not meant to be a novella by now XD) and would rather tell the story the way it should be told as a novel and not worry about condensing it. Hoping to return to updating it in May. Thanks for all your support.
          
          I will be slowly catching up with replying to your wonderful comments and reading the fantastic stories I've begun soon. April has been a busy month. Take care ❤️

'Forget It' made it through round 2 of the ONC! Congratulations everyone, whether you made it through or not, you've turned your ideas into a great piece of writing, and I wish all of you who are in the same boat as me with a significant portion of their novella left to write all the best to reach the finish line. 
          
          Thank you for all your kind words of encouragement and support along the way. It's truly heartwarming ❤️
          
          I haven't made a ton of progress offline and want to write ahead a bit before posting the next chapters so I can make adjustments as needed. New chapters will likely come toward the end of the month. I'll have an update for 'Flight Risk' this month too, but it'll be light on updates until May. It may also take me a while to get back to the wonderful stories I've been reading. Thanks for understanding! I'm going to do my best to finish this novella.

Happy International Asexuality Day! 
          
          Thank you to all the wonderful ace or ally authors out there sharing the ace experience in their stories. My journey toward accepting and understanding my asexuality began reading and writing ace characters' experiences here, and I'll always be grateful for that.
          
          A big thank you to the @TripleACommunity for the work you're doing featuring stories featuring aromantic and asexual characters and spreading awareness. I highly recommend checking out their reading lists as you'll find fantastic stories there.  
          
          On a closing note, I just wanted to add love looks different for everyone. It can be having someone navigate your hardest days with you and fully support your recovery. It can be exploring new places together. It may be a tender embrace, a hand squeeze, or a shared enamoured smile. It can be romantic or platonic, and it's all valid and wonderful. I hope my fellow aces feel that today and carry that feeling for the rest of the year :)

Thank you for adding my memoir to your reading list! Feel free to pass it along if you know anyone who may like it.

The Lighthouse Awards for anyone interested:
          
          https://www.wattpad.com/story/366173304-2024-lighthouse-awards