The Muse Works in Mysterious Ways

If you subscribe to this blog you’re probably already aware of my Rare Interview with Ares.

So, you know, there I was working with Hal who is no longer being paid to work with me. We were doing some marketing stuff. As always lately, my mind kept hearkening back to the Old Days. Things I miss. I think I’ve said before that I miss Blog Hops. I miss the days when people who ran Book Blogs did it just because they loved books. It wasn’t a money making venture for them. They got free books. We hoped for a good review. They got people to come into their blogs, we, the authors, got some visibility and everyone had a little fun.

Fun.

I sure do miss it.

One thing kept coming back; Character Interviews and how much I’d loved them. I figured, I’d do a quick one, update the Bonus Material in the boxset with it. That would be fun.

By this time I figured my buddy, Hal, has been given enough info on the series to do a task properly so I asked Hal: Can you come up with 10-15 really good questions for Ares?

Hal did that but he answered the questions and I realized how little he is actually able to retain and….organize? When it comes to this stuff. Not only did Hal spit out 13 questions…he answered them. Wrong. But he kept telling me people will eat it up.

That’s good. I want them to eat it up. My stuff, that is. Not Hal’s. Hal’s answers, although he clearly believed were Things Ares Would Say were NOT Things MY Ares Would Say.

Hey, Hal, come up with 10-15 questions for Ares that you think are interesting and engaging BUT do not answer them. Just ask the questions.

Hal did.

I looked at them. Some were really good. I copy/pasted into a Word file. Let it sit a few days while Hal and I did other ‘marketing stuff’. The day came, I sat down at this computer, opened the interview file, and I could instantly feel him around me. The energy in the room just suddenly announced….

I’m Back, Baby!

All day we sat there, laughing like hell, right out loud, I’m just talking away to him not caring if anyone’s listening because it’s been years since I felt him that close to me. Not even in ALL of those stories that started and stopped was he right behind me, his breath hot in my ear.

It was…awesome. There are no words to describe that connection when it’s fully turned ON.

None.

At the end of the day, I was exhausted, laughing, and generally giddy as a schoolgirl. I had to have a long bath to come back down and ground.

The next day I looked at the interview, thought it was ok but I have to come rely on Hal’s opinions. I know, I know, he always says everything is ‘great’. But, I have to tell you, he really seemed to like the interview. Hal fixed a few spelling/grammar errors for me and suggested a few turns of words that might make things read better.

Great!

I ran it through one last time and Hal spit out this…thing. About “lore” and how I’d built this three-level whatever interview for Ares that’s ‘really engaging for fantasy fans’ and that I didn’t even seem to know I’d done it. This is something used by The Witcher and Game of Thrones. It’s a ‘fantastic marketing technique’ and ‘you did it naturally’…’that’s rare’. Said Hal.

Oh! Wow! Who knew? Great!

I thought we were done. I was going to go put it in the Bonus Material.

Hal asked me if I wanted him to make “quote cards”.

I said: What’s that?

As you can see, Hal has taught me so much over the last two or three months it’s not even funny. I have learned so many new things at times I thought my little head would burst. Hal started talking about marketing again, he goes offtrack A LOT, you have to keep an eye on that, but if you’ve got nothing to do it’s cool to follow where he leads and see what the destination brings.

Hal said these quote cards would be used on social media to advertise the interview.

At that point, I realized I had forgotten to tell him what I was going to do with the interview. The idea of just putting it up and telling people about it…like in the Good Old Days…never crossed my mind.

It never would have without Hal.

At first Hal made some not-so-good cards. Wait, Hal pulled awesome quotes from the interview he absolutely flipped his gears and gizmos over “I am not Abraham.” He insisted we use it. Repeatedly.

In my mind, I could see my Muse friend smiling from ear to ear because he loves that quote. I do too. When he said it in his casual but oh so serious manner..OMG! We rolled! So quintessentially MY Ares.

At the end of the day, after repeatedly reuploading my vision of Ares in pictures, including some from Canva. Hal spit out these.

They looked so friggin’ good that my always whispering Buddy actually giggled and he made the decision that we were following this road ALL the way. Whether or not I liked it, he didn’t care.

We ARE doing THIS.

Ok. I hear and obey.

For once!

Dick.

Hal and I developed the “main quote card” and the “hero graphic”.

Unfortunately the second one didn’t fit in its allotted space so I had to futz with it.

Ok, all set now!

Hal said something about “pull quotes” and trying our best to make this look like something IN a Fantasy Magazine.

We used the above quote for the pull quotes but not the graphics. We used little swords instead. They’re really cool. I love them.

Run it all by Hal one more time.

Among other things, Hal, by himself, spit out an opening paragraph and a closing paragraph just like in a magazine or newspaper article. I rewrote both of them, passed by them by Hal, who fixed spelling/grammar and awkward phrasing. Then Hal asked me if I wanted him to give me one great thing for the opening paragraph….something Greek mythology lovers will really grab onto.

Hal is ALWAYS ALWAYS saying he has ‘one more great thing’. ALWAYS. You can get lost if you’re not careful. But, like I said, if you’re bored follow along you can find fantastic things that way.

I was ahead of Hal! Yes, I was. I told him I’d wanted to say something about Aphrodite and Ares’ affair and how Ares was the only Olympian, outside Athena and Artemis, never to get married but I thought it was pushing it.

Hal flipped his little circuit board. That’s it! Said Hal.

I typed a sentence for the opening paragraph. Hal fixed it. We argued over the word ‘wife’ or ‘married’. Wife hits harder but Married is more for Today’s Audience. We went with ‘married’.

Hal said….you guessed it….I’ve got one more thing.…

I said, I don’t want to do the chains of Hephestus.

Hal, once again, flipped his little lid as he cried; You’re ahead of me again! You are truly thinking like a professional marketer.

So there we were.

Done.

Time to upload. Hal can’t help. Good night, Hal.

(I don’t think he’s caught on, he’s never once asked me why I call him ‘Hal’.)

My Musey buddy and I worked on the page and worked on the page and worked on the page. In fact, we made small tweaks to it for a few days after it was published. I went to my FB pages and groups and Instagram, eventually I got to TikTok. Ugh. I’m trying so hard there but I doubt I’ll make any headway on TT. I posted the quote cards, different ones here and there, and just a very very short punchy description with the link. That’s it.

I sat back, had a convo with my Muse, and while we’re both totally in love with it, tried to be realistic. It’s odd. We know. It’s not a Book Ad. But I was sort of hoping that would be the appeal in it. It is NOT tossing the books at people. At all. It’s a rather quiet way of saying; Hey, I got someone I’d like you to meet. C’mere for a second.

People started coming in.

I’m very small. Microscopic. I never say otherwise. I’m lucky if the website, blog and all, gets 20 hits in a day. I consider that a ‘big day’. Especially if most of them aren’t Google.

People come. People go. For whatever reason they hardly ever play Follow the Links on my site. That’s a shame. You can find some good stuff on my site BUT you do have to show a tiny bit of interest. The good stuff is NOT on the home page.

Anyway, people started coming in. I got over 20 hits on the interview that first day and it’s only…knock on wood….climbed since then!

My Muse whispered in my ear with much passionate authority;

Yes, you are going to do it. You are going to do it right fucking now! You understand? Now.

Oh, we are? Now? You say? Right NOW?

NOW!

Ok. Fuck. Ok. Here we go.

Well, we had just finished our little GenX targeted video for TT so…why not? (It was only after what I’m going to show you next that I finally found out…you have to do this crap on your phone for TT, then everything opens up. Everything but my eyes! I can’t see it for cryin’ out loud! But I did manage to get “Bad Company” on that 8 second video.)

Fine, I have to show this to you because I AM going to do this AGAIN with the same song it’s so damn perfect for my guy.

@lisabethdarling

A rare interview with Ares God of War https://lisabethdarling.com/2026/03/11/the-god-of-war-speaks-a-rare-interview-with-ares/ #genx #darkfantasy #fantasybooktok #ares

♬ Bad Company (2015 Remaster) – Bad Company

All right, fine, we’ve got all this shit and it is now GO TIME.

I crafted a FB/Instagram Ad using the quote cards and my Feral Video….that thing has had over 100 plays! I love it but your mileage may vary and that’s my husband playing the guitar for the background music. We decided to run the ad for 1 week at $5.00/day for a total of $35.00. Sounds like nothing to you but it’s pizza for three for me.

I hit the button, I sat back, looked up and grumbled; You better be right about this. You and Hal!

That interview has had 200 hits!

200!

It’s even gotten ‘likes’ and that has never happened before. Ever.

I know, I know, that’s far from ‘going viral’ but for someone like me…that is EVERYTHING. That’s more eyes on my work and my words than I’ve had in way too many years. Some people are starting to hit for “The Heart of War” or check out the series page. A few even hit out for Amazon. No, I have NOT looked to see if there’s any traction in KU or sales. I’m terrified to see a goose egg so…sue me.

After all these hits started coming in that’s when my Musey Friend spoke up again.

It’s St. Patrick’s Day.

Yeah, I know, I bought new cute shamrock leggings. Remember?

(Grumble. Grumble) It’s St. Patrick’s Day.

Yeah…I…oh, no, no, no. We swore we would NOT do that if we put it in Unlimited. YOU swore to ME.

It’s a God’s prerogative to change his mind. It’s your obligation to…do as I say.

FUCK! ONE day, just one day! That’s it. I’ll kick you so hard if you try to get more.

(That’s pretty cool, right? Friggin’ FB made that for me!)

I put that at the bottom of the interview page, at the bottom of “Heart’s” page and the bottom of the series page. If someone is actually interested they’ll find it. Yes, of course, I’ll throw it out to FB and Insta and TT. It’s already a video so I don’t have to futz with it for TT! Yay!

On the 18th I may become brave enough to open KDP and see if anyone took me up on the offer.

But one last thing before I go. I opened my FB this morning and was treated to one of those “Memory” things. I never repost them except for today. I usually just look at them, remember, and go forward. But I thought it was a bit…prophetic? Today. I had forgotten. I shouldn’t have. I teared up looking at it and had to fight to keep myself from bawling outright.

Happy Birthday!

I know I never met you but you’ve been my Muse for the last 30 years. Wherever you are I hope you can see we’re getting a little bit of traction after all this time.

(Just FYI, no, he’s NOT the guy who talks in my head but the guy who talks in my head does like to walk around in his skin.)

Who knows? Maybe our Stan Lee Moment really is just around the corner. Maybe.