The Chickens Come Home

So I, like many of you, watched the World Cup and therefore came to know the phenomenon that is Sergio Ramos In a Suit. After I was done fanning myself and wondering how I never noticed him before, I was struck by how much he looked like every mafia protagonist I've ever read about. Right down to the tattoos. 

It was too much temptation for me and I found that I was inspired to write fanfic about him. Given how rare inspiration is these days, I took it as A Sign. 

And so...we have the following ficlet as the result. 

Just a disclaimer; I know nothing about Sergio Ramos or Luka Modric or even Rene Ramos. They're just pretty faces I coopted for my own entertainment. 

As The Roaming Chef would say after wrangling a crocodile and cooking it...Enjoy.

"It's time for you to come home."

Sergio looked up to see his big brother Rene standing at the door to his gym. He expelled a breath, turning back to the weights he was lifting.

"Says who?" he asked.

Rene stepped in the room, looking impeccable in his black bespoke Tom Ford suit. He stared at Sergio, his gaze uncompromising. "You've had your fun. You wanted to play football. We let you. But Padre is dead now. I need my underboss back."

Sergio put down his weights, straightened up and looked at his brother. "Rene-"

"No. I don't want to hear it Serg. Pack your things. You're coming home."

Sergio sighed. "I can't."

Rene narrowed his eyes at his brother. "Why not?"

Sergio didn't want to say. His brother loved him. He knew that. But he couldn't exactly tell him that he didn't want to leave Luka. 

"Is it Luka?" Rene asked.

Sergio jerked in surprise. "How did...?"

Rene smirked. "You think there's anything about you I don't know?"

"Serg are you do-" Luka burst into the room and then came to a freezing stop when he caught sight of Rene. His eyes widened. "What are you doing here?"

Sergio looked from Rene to Luka. "You two know each other?"

Rene and Luka continued to stare at each other. Sergio narrowed his eyes at Luka who seemed to be apprehensive. 

"Of course we don't." Luka squeaked.

Sergio glared at his brother. "What is this?" he demanded.

Rene shrugged. "You think I'd let someone get close to you and not know everything about them?"

Luka turned to look at Sergio, his eyes apologetic. "I didn't want you to know. 

Sergio glared at him. "Know what exactly?"

Luka sighed, drifting over to Sergio and placing his hand gently against Sergio's waist. He looked him in the eye. "I didn't want you to think that it was the only reason I was with you."

"What was the only reason?" Sergio growled.

Rene huffed. "What he's trying to say is that when I saw how you looked at him, I had a background check done. When it came back clean, I...encouraged him to seduce you."

Sergio stared at his brother in disbelief. "Why would you do that?" he asked, taking a step away from Luka.

"Because I wanted you to be happy." Rene said with exasperation. 

Sergio narrowed his eyes at his brother, "So you...what? Pimped Luka out to me?" he stepped towards his brother, looming over him menacingly.

"Serg!" Luka said in a scandalized tone.

Rene rolled his eyes. "Of course not. You're going to tell me that you wouldn't have known if the feelings weren't real?"

Sergio blinked at his brother, brought up short by that. The feelings of betrayal that had been rising up in him subsided. He looked at Luka, who was watching him with a hurt expression. He stepped towards the other man, who took a step back, lips pursing, arms crossed. His lashes swept down, covering his eyes, hiding his expression from Sergio.

"Luka, I'm sorry. I didn't mean..." he gave an exasperated sigh. "You lied to me!"

Luka nodded. "I guess I did."

Sergio reached out and wrapped his hand around Luka's arm pulling him closer. "I love you." he said, almost pleading.

Luka raised his eyes, misty with tears. "I love you too. I'm sorry I didn't tell you about meeting your brother before but I was scared that it might put you off."

Sergio gave a half smirk his lip rising on one side. "Nothing could put me off you." he declared.

Luka flushed, falling into Sergio's arms. "That's a relief."

Sergio turned to look at Rene, Luka still firmly encased in his arms. "You see why I can't leave?"

Rene gave him a look. "I didn't say that you had to leave Luka, now did I?"

Sergio stared at him, blinking in disbelief and then looked down at Luka. "Would you...?"

Luka smiled, "Come with you? Be your mafia wife? Ask me and see." 

Sergio let out an exasperated huff. "Luka Modric, would you come home with me, be my partner and take the oath?"

Luka lifted his chin, his lips pursing. "Kiss me Sergio." he whispered. 

Sergio leaned down and pressed his lips to Luka's. 

"Yes." Luka said against his lips before taking control of the kiss, tongue thrusting into Sergio's mouth, their tongues tangling as Luka did his best to devour him. 

"I take it that means you're coming home Sergio?" Rene's voice butted in much to Sergio's annoyance.

He grunted, lifting his head briefly to nod at his brother before resuming the searing kiss he'd been sharing with Luka. Something in his chest loosened. He'd always dreaded this day.

The day he'd have to choose between his Family and his Love. But now it looked like he wouldn't  have to.

It's Getting More Expensive to be Independent

 So Draft 2 Digital sent me an email recently telling me that they'll be charging me twelve dollars a year to be on their platform, if my books aren't making a hundred dollars a year. Now I don't know about y'all but with all the fees they charge already, I'm not sure if this is an expense I want to take on.

At the current rate, they take 70% of my book sales so that even if I sell ten books in a month, I get like four dollars. To get to a hundred dollars, those sales would have to stack up. So I'm thinking that maybe I retrieve my books from mass circulation and put them on kindle unlimited only and whatever other sites I choose to use. 

The thing is, before they put up these changes, they made sure to merge with smashwords which is the site with the second most amount of traffic and which has a lot of useful features. So if I remove my books from Draft 2 Digital, I probably won't be able to just publish on smashwords independently.

My thing is, am I really benefiting from wide release even now? Most of my sales are from Amazon with honorable mention to Barnes and Noble. I can just take down my books from D2D and publish direct to these websites...

right?

I'm finding more and more and I know you're noticing it too, how the imperial overlords are trying to get us to price the little man out of everything. Are they pushing us to have to use Amazon nem? It feels that way honestly. I feel herded. I feel the dark presence of capitalism, seeking to reduce my quality of life minute by minute.

Or maybe I'm losing my mind...

I don't think so though. I don't think losing your mind is as easy as capitalism would like us to think. To me, 'losing your mind' is equivalent to 'having an independent thought'. Anyway, I'd really like to know your solutions to getting around these problems. I know you're experiencing them as well. Let me know in the comments.

5 Reasons Why My Ko-fi Bookshop is Better Than Amazon

I could tell you what they are or you could just watch the video.

Premium Ghostwriter

What does it mean to be a thought leader? 

Is it just meaningless corporate speak or does it mean something to the average consumer?
Let's simplify it a bit. 

When you're looking to buy make up for example and you want to get someone's opinion on it, are you more likely to go to Rihanna's instagram or Bad Bunny's?
They're both very well known, very successful musicians but who seems like they know more about make up?
Rihanna right?
Why her though?
Well, years and years of being photographed with her face beat was certainly a primer. The instagram videos where she showed step by step how she applies her make up cemented her reputation. The good reviews overall that her make up line got, was perhaps the cherry on the cake.
So, how do you, with your hundred followers and small niche call yourself a thought leader in the same breath as Rihanna?
Well, she might know a bit about music and make up, but I guarantee you that you know something much better than she does.
For me, it's writing and researching. I'd pit myself against anyone when it comes to that.
I'd put myself in the first line.
I"d definitely call myself a leader.
So when I say, I can put your thoughts into words and help you to connect with your audience, I can put my money where my mouth is. I've been ghostwriting for fifteen years. I've had satisfied clients from Australia, China, New Zealand, Sweden, Ukraine, the UK, the United States and of course, Kenya.
I've written romance novels, books on everything from ADHD to Social Anxiety, women in the workplace, legacy, and business. My niche is storytelling. I can tell you a story about anything and make you understand it.
So if you're looking for someone to tell your story, my commissions are open.

Get your christmas gifting done

It's time to thank your clients for their patronage this year and to remind them that next year will be an even more prosperous one for you both. Do so with my holiday bundle; A christmas greeting video, 2026 calendar and digital journal. My commissions are open.

The 'Writing A Book' Diaries: Muhammad Ali

The 'Writing A Book' Diaries: Muhammad Ali: Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they've been given than to explor...

Fantastic Books and Where To Buy Them...At a Discount

It's the end of year. The one known as Dezember. When people spend money like there's no tomorrow and life is one long party...allegedly.

Everybody knows that Amazon is owned by an evil man who exploits his workers. However Amazon is also the number one source for readers. When you're a writer, you can almost not afford not to have your books on Amazon. But every once in a while, smashwords hosts discounts that are popular enough to attract the attention of a bunch of readers you might otherwise not reach. 

So while you're spending your holiday budget, I just wanted to give y'all a lil nudge to remind you that I have some books you won't ever regret reading...and they are 50% off on the smashwords end of year sale until Jan 1st. 

Don't say I never gave you nothin'. 

Here is a little bite of In the Shadow of the Styx, book one of the Child of Destiny series to whet your appetites and remind you that there's fantasy/gothic romance and then there's some crazy shit Annemarie writes. 

Chapter Nine: Casper

Twelve hours later, Bernard was talking to a black-cloaked figure at the end of the morgue corridor. It wasn’t the gatekeeper; this one was much larger and more terrifying. His hood completely covered his face, so they couldn’t see what he looked like, but he towered over Bernard like a basilisk over its prey. They seemed to be having an extremely intense conversation. Phil and Lillian clasped their hands tightly together as they watched. It had been really close, but the god of craps had been with them, and they managed to beat the house. Now they waited anxiously for Bernard to get them the dark papyrus, apparently from Mr Hooded Cloak at the end of the corridor.

Bernard was coming toward them, a package in his hands. He held it out to them, his face betraying some trepidation.

“Here ’tis,” he said sadly. “May it serve you well.”

“Who is that?” Phil asked curiously, reaching out for it, with a nod of his head toward the Cloak.

“He is a purveyor of goods. Nobody you should be worried about,” Bernard shrugged in reply.

“Good then. So, how do we get the flames?” Phil said.

“Back to Armand?” Lillian asked.

“Yeah.”

“Now?”

“Yeah.”

They linked hands and turned as one, headed for the top of the hospital.

    “Armand?” They called as they reached the dark attic. 

    They walked around, peering in dark corners, but the place was deserted.

“Now wot?” Lillian asked.

“Severin?” Phil suggested.

“Where would we find him?”

“Andy.”

“Right. Reception?”

“Yeah.”

They walked back down to reception but Andy wasn’t there. There was a commotion down the hall though, as if some emergency were taking place. Without consultation, they knew that Andy would be there. They might only have known him for a day or so, but they knew one thing about him definitely—he always wanted to be in the thick of things. There was definitely nowhere thicker than right in the middle of a code blue.

Nurses and orderlies were rushing past them, pulling the crash cart and looking frantic. A doctor was shouting, “Clear!” at the top of his voice from a room at the end of the corridor. As they walked toward the commotion, they saw a figure standing just outside the door, staring in horror at the commotion inside. There was a jagged gash on the side of his leg like he’d been gored open with a blunt object. Blood was everywhere.

Hope that got you going enough to ask the question....

"And then what happened?"

Check me and all your other favorite writers out on the smashwords sales page.

When Female Characters Do Stupid Shit

I wrote an article on substack but it's about writing so here it is.

Musings on Characterization by Annemarie Musawale

Spoiler Alert: This is also kind of a rant

Read on Substack

Freelancing Is Not For the Weak

 I. am. growling.

One of my clients, who I've worked with for years, is a publisher. While the relationship with the company is long, they keep changing my project manager. I don't know the inner machinations of that, I just work with whomever I am presented with.

My latest project manager is such a hot mess that I want to scream, cry, throw up and die. She's traumatized me so much that when I did another job for a different client, I expected some BS when they got back to me about the finished product. For them to say 'this is fine, here's your payment' literally rocked my world.

I've had nitpicky clients. 

This isn't that. 

This is giving me an outline, telling me to follow it and then telling me that the outline they told me to follow isn't working and I should change it but in such a way that it sounds like I should have known it wouldn't work and should have done something else.

Every single milestone, it was the same. Yeah  we told you to write this but now we see that it doesn't work even though you asked several times if we were sure this is the direction we wanted to go and we said no, now we're saying, do it differently.

It it wasn't for capitalism I'd insist on charging them for a rewrite because it certainly wasn't a revision. 

I want to tear out my hair. 

So finally, they send the work to the editor - after hanging about with it for a week. They stayed with it so long that upwork paid me for the job before they got back to me. And the editor pointed out every single thing that was wrong with the OUTLINE in their comments. My project manager acted as if it was just another revision that I should attend to.

I had to put my foot down and ask her, "So all this is in the outline - I don't understand what you want me to do. Spell it out." I want to see if she dares to say rewrite. 

I dare her.

She is literally making me think I'm crazy. At one point I had to talk to my kid about it - I was like, "Is this what microaggressions feel like?"

 He told me that I should tell my brain to just shut the fuck up because it's making things worse. 

I get it. 

Because my thoughts are certainly not helping. So I'm writing them here so that I don't go awf on Miss Thank-You-Very-Much-for-Your-Work-We-Appreciate-It-Now-Here-Are-All-The-Things-You-Need-To-Change-That-I-Previously-Told-You-You-Needed-To-Include.

AAAAAHHHH!

Now, a bit of housekeeping. 

My Books and Where To Find Them

So, I was looking through my data on D2D and I realized how little money I make on every book. There was this one month I sold ten print books worth ninety dollars and I only got fifteen of those dollars, after like, three months. Seeing it all laid out in black and white was really a wake up call to me. The way I do my writing, is more of a hobby than a profession because I still want to enjoy the process and they say monetizing what you love is a way of killing the joy. I don't know - so far so good. 

But part of the joy of writing is sharing my stories. I want you to read them. I want to make a difference in how you think and move in the world using my stories. So I do want to disseminate them far and wide. 

So they'll stay on D2D because they do have a very wide distribution but I will, from now on, be marketing only my kofi bookshop. That is where I will build my community and I hope you'll come over and follow me there even if you don't buy anything (right away). 

At this time of year, many do celebrate various holidays and for the bibliophile in your life, I have many an offering. And guess what? For the next month and a half, my books (on kofi) are 25% off. So take advantage of the offer, support small business and join a growing community of active thinkers (I hope).

Use the discount code below as you shop.

This is a Fund Raising/Book Boosting Post

 

I’m taking a leaf out of fellow single mother, Cardi’s book and flogging my own books on these internet ‘streets’. Ten dollars! Just ten dollars for a gem of a book filled with raw, unvarnished truth about the ups and downs of single motherhood. “I know you got ten dollars!” Find Single Motherhood Unplugged on kofi: https://ko-fi.com/annemariemusawale/shop. You can also purchase a print copy from the Nuria Bookstore or amazon sites: https://bit.ly/printbooksannemarie

- Annemarie Musawale

Read on Substack

Allow me to add a separate but related post.

This week has been a ‘promote my kofi bookshop’ week for a number of reasons. I’m tired of the middle man. He’s eating good from me and using the proceeds to burn the world to the ground. Yes, I am speaking of Jeff Besos. I hear there’s something called blackout which involves boycotting big business and buying from small, ‘black-owned’ businesses. I’m just trying to do my share in letting you know where you can get some good books without going to Amazon. I guess the above two reasons are connected but it’s not only sticking it to the man that motivates me. I want to grow my own community and this is how I choose to do that. So here’s a video of what I’ve been up to during the week. The captions I used were fire. You should visit my instagram at authorannemarie and see for yourself. Aside from that, I just really enjoy making the graphics. More to come.

- Annemarie Musawale

Read on Substack

Marketing Out of the Box

Solange or someone said how they cannot be confined to just one channel of creative outlet. That they were more than just the singing or the acting or whatever. Same thing with the Smith siblings. Just doing all sorts of creative shit.

It's inspiring for me because I'm a writer but I also dabble in other things - painting, drawing, graphic design, making videos, everything.

And all these things are not different parts. They're all part of the same whole. So I've recently come to discover focus videos and the fact that I might be on the spectrum. These two factors are related because focus videos actually help me to well...focus.

Now it's hop skip and jump from watching focus videos to thinking "Hmm, I can make those too."

But why just make the videos when you can also use the videos to post excerpts?

Utility and marketing. Out of the box thinking. 

THE Tea With Lesley

 

So I came to know Lesley from when I started a literati group. The purpose of the group was to be a place where writers could meet, collaborate and grow. I'm not sure how successful we were at it, but at worst we did get four anthologies out of it. 

When I saw that Lesley had pivoted from writer to virtual assistant, I just had to know more. It's not a very common profession in this Kenya and I figured that more people would like to know how she went about it and how she managed to penetrate this industry especially since in the remote world, they do love a virtual assistant from Malaysia or the Phillipines. 

Well, this is her story. 

We ended up going in depth on a couple of things including the how, when you want to get started - not just the steps you have to take (which are reproducable) but the mental preparation you have to go through.

All in all, I learned something new and I hope you do too. Enjoy.

Living Abroad - A Podcast

 I did a podcast episode with my friend Bengat because I've seen a lot of posts and people talking about if they could just pass that sign that says 'kwa heri Kenya' all their problems would disappear. 

The weird thing about problems is that they follow you. You don't leave your childhood trauma behind, you inability to manage money, your lack of money...those problems don't end because you left the country. 

I recently watched a movie where Vanessa Kirby was a hot hot mess. She made bad decisions and everything seemed to just get worse and worse with every decision. Finally, she left town in the end and I suppose that was supposed to indicate a 'new start' but her inability to make good decisions didn't just sprout because she got in her car and moved her body elsewhere. 

So I wanted to speak to Bengat because she's an immigrant. She left here and went there. The thing is, she was already doing well when she left and she continued to do well over there. She had a support system here and she has one there. She makes an effort to maintain that sense of community by being there for others.

I mean, she sought me out at a low moment just because we were in the same class twenty years ago. She reminded me very much of my mother. She used to be the same. I aspire to the same level of community but I fall short.

Anyway so maybe the podcast started out as a way to give an illustration that the grass is greener where you water it and not necessarily on the other side but it ended up being a lesson in nurturing relationships. 

I hope you all give it a listen.

Fat Girl Fitness with a side of Excerpt

Have you seen Fit for TV on Netflix? I didn't know y'all were such bullies or rather I've never seen fatphobia so blatant before in my life. So I'm posting this so y'all can have someone to bully who doesn't give a fuck what you think. Enjoy!

My Commissions on Ko-fi are Open

I've consolidated my work in one place. Come find me. 

I've also managed to finally pinpoint what I write about. Also available on Ko-fi. Generally everything that I write about or on, can be found if you start on my ko-fi page. It's the final girl in Annemarie consolidation olympics. There's a lot I do and it can be confusing but we're all hustling in one way or another. Keeping to just one thing just isn't practical.

So if you're having an off day and need to just lose yourself in interesting writing, be it stories or blog posts, podcast episodes, art, codas...you can find them all there. 

Let's have coffee together. Or tea.

Commissions are Open

My base of operations is now ko-fi. If you've ever wanted to ask me a question or ask for help, now you have somewhere to do that. Come see me.

NSFW Thoughts

 

https://www.tumblr.com/coincidenceiscancelled/787007953228152832/munching-and-misogyny

Consolidating and Synergising

 Every month these days, I think, 'wow, this is the worst month of the year' but when I sit back and really think about it, I been struggling for a while now. 

A combination of things are responsible. The election of the worst government ever to government is one. My body failing me is another. A drop in the quality of available clients on upwork is a huge third. 

What this combination has conspired to do to me is that my work output has steadily reduced with nothing to replace it. As I sit here, I'm definitely in a hole that I'm trying to dig myself out of.

The upside to that is that I've been meaning to build up my own 'commercial' works - that means writing stories that sell commercially to publishers such as Harlequin and other novel sites. Now I have been forced to take that more seriously and actually work on the pieces of work that I have.

That's going okay but it's hampered by the continuous screaming in the back of my head that insists I should focus more on finding money now before I can choose to complete the work in the hope of future income. I'm trying everything, trust but so far, there's been a lot of scams, a lot of interviews that didn't go anywhere and a lot of borrowing.

Its harrowing for the soul. Capitalism is harrowing for the soul.

So I decided to try consolidating and synergizing all my content in one place - and so I put everything on ko-fi - the books I'm writing, the books I've written, the podcasts, etc. Everything that I've done, and a humble request for cuppa coffee.

I don't know if it'll work. I hope it does if only because it really returns the power of earning back into my own hands. I know you see the link on this blog, that's been there a while so let's call this a relaunch.

I'm not going to sit back and wait for y'all to come to me though. 

I intend to be in your face about it. 

I intend to remind you daily. 

I intend to find new and all ways to get the word out. 

Because if this works, it could be a game changer for me.

I could maybe start living like Ismatu Gwendolyn - making art while supporters help me to live. Now wouldn't that be great? I wish we could all live like that. The ancient Greeks might have been onto something with that finding a sponsor shit. 

Idea!

Anyway, so come to my ko-fi. For the small small price of $3, you win access to member only stories, and other goodies. I intend to be very active on there. You will feel like you're getting your money's worth.

One small step for me and who knows, we could make it a trend. 

Some of the gems that are going to be on there include this little text conversation between Ben and Anders. Just cute little things to make you smile, or whole codas or excerpts. I'm going to enjoy myself and I want you to too.

Today It's Us, Tomorrow It's You: Maandamano Edition

 

Today It's Us, Tomorrow It's You: Maandamano Edition by Annemarie Musawale

Don't You Just Love the Smell of Teargas in the Morning?

Read on Substack

Publishing ... and Other Forms of Insanity: 75 Writing Contests in May 2025 - No entry fees

Publishing ... and Other Forms of Insanity: 75 Writing Contests in May 2025 - No entry fees: This May there are more than six dozen free writing contests for short fiction, novels, poetry, CNF, nonfiction, and plays. Prizes range fro...