Desina Alani

Narrowing Down the Annual Favorites List

I can tell it’s time for my “year’s favorites” because I keep wanting to dip into the same well and re-read the books.

I have, uh, thirty-two books on that short list so far. Some will probably drop off that list, and some are series, where it’s the entirety that’s my favorite “book” of the year.

Every one on that list will at least be an Honorable Mention, but it feels like it’s too many books.…

I’m Still Alive

Been having quite the year. Essentially, I’ve lost like three months due to travel and being ill, and, well, the word count hasn’t been what I’d hoped. Still good, though.

Anyhow, just a note that I’m still alive, still writing, etc.

Re-Hooked Tumblr Back Up

I know I don’t blog a ton, but if you happen to prefer to follow on tumblr, here’s the link.

I slept 17 hours yesterday. It had to be the stress.

I’m really glad I’m currently working on non-fiction, because the last week would just drown everything out. I’ve been there before: the novel suddenly takes an awkward left turn into Life territory, the prior plot never to be seen again.

I think I’d handle it better than in times past. Hard to say, though. I have better instincts about knowing…

Turning the Corner Tomorrow…We Hope

Today was worse than yesterday…but it’s probable tomorrow will start the slow process of improvement.

Once we cross the ferry tomorrow, things will begin to improve very slowly.

Because Nothing Is Louder than the Pain

For some years, I’ve understood why I can’t write when certain kinds of things were going on in my life. Emotionally, they were loud, and for me, writing is listening to the quiet spaces where the words come from. It’s why I had so much trouble getting word count in my old career. I spent too much time fighting being in the wrong place.

Today was a truly horrible day. Easily in the top ten bad…

Looking for a LGBT Romance (Reader/Writer) Convention

Found out about GRL after it was full. Wait listed. :(

A different kind of workshop I wanted to return to is on impossible dates this year.

I am itching to do something, but it has to be late August at the earliest.

Suggestions?

Doesn’t have to be LGBT, just wanting to stretch out of my comfort zone a bit.

Wound Up in Canada

Visiting family here on Vancouver Island.

Hope to get caught up on writing because two days of driving is hell on word count.

Project Triage, Round 1

So I think I have all my projects sorted out, and I put everything that I wanted to finish this year in one pile and everything for next year in another pile.

I was shocked at how many words it would be.

Then I added them up. Not so bad, and not so far off what I’ve actually been producing.

It’s like when you have $100 in your pocket and you spend a few bucks here and there, and then you realize…

Busier than a One-Armed Paperhanger

I’ve had a problem over the last six months, and it’s both a good problem and a bad problem.

For years, I’d pretty much only worked on what I thought of, and I didn’t have a lot of space for new books, new stories, new plots, or any of that. So I didn’t write very much.

When I came to accept that I didn’t have to find another job immediately, I became flooded with book ideas for the first time in…

Yesterday, I moved a project to Scrivener.

As it happens, I haven’t been posting a lot (or tweeting a lot) because I have a non-fiction project due.

Okay, that’s a lie. I have eight non-fiction projects due.

Anyhow, I was vacuuming the cat (as you do), moving my lovely erotic romance into Scrivener from its older Markdown documents.

I got a full sense of it for the first time in over a month, and…

Once Upon a Time, I Fell for a Butler

Once upon a time, I fell for a butler. We’ll call him Mr. Butler.

I was living in a cockroach pit studio apartment a block from the beach at the time. I’m not kidding about the cockroaches.

I worked for Mr. Butler’s boss (who happened to be a Danish count who’d made his fortune in gay porn), and sometimes when he knew his boss would be away from the office, Mr. Butler would bring me home-cooked…

New Pics Have to Wait

I have a new author photo I have to show you — except that I didn’t realize my face was swollen the day the photo was taken!

I’ll have to wait for a wee bit of Photoshop work to fix that.

So strange because some of the other photos (that I don’t have digital files for) are perfect right as they are.

Huh.

I didn’t feel that bad that day, either.

Wrote Another Piece, But…

It’s funny. When I get an idea, I often don’t have the sense of how big it should be. I’ll bang at it for a while, and then I’ll get some sense. I can either trim off some threads and make it shorter, or I can keep going longer.

One piece I wrote for a market with a 500-word limit. I believe it clocked in at 497. I took too long fussing with it, and this market was “open until filled,” and I just…

Wrote a New Short

The other day, while I was waiting for something else, I wrote a new flash piece, edited it, and sent it off to a publisher.

I don’t write that short that often, but this one came surprisingly easy.

When a Character’s Understanding Shifts

I just read a book (and I’m not into shaming authors, so I won’t) where the heroine had really serious reservations about the hero, and then, once one thing shifted, all the other reservations dropped, they hop into bed (did I mention she was a virgin?), and the reservations aren’t seen again until near the end of the book.

No.

Just. No.

That was the dramatic tension that just suddenly fizzled…

A Wee Writing Gig

Seems I have lined myself up a wee ongoing writing gig.

It may not be making a mint freelancing, but it’s something.

As I expressed it at dinner, “Well, it’s 1/X of my unemployment income, and Congress can’t take it away from me.” Except by taxation.

Now…