Rhiannon

Ali Hazelwood, in all her STEM glory, decided to turn Mate into an experiment. Study question: can one scene feature too many orgasms?
Though the question is inherently subjective, I would argue she found the upper limit.
#amreading

I know things come in trends, but how did dementia affected loved ones become the trend in romance? I’m on my fourth in six months! (Say You’ll Remember Me, Sounds like Love, Tourist Season, People Watching).

So it’s no surprise that I hate AI in creative spaces, but I think I hate it most in cute cat videos. What do we NOT need AI to create? Cute cat videos! I have a hundred on my phone. I can make another one for free! Of a real goddamn cat. If I want fictional cat videos then I will watch animation.

And my grandma was addicted to Xanax and alcohol, despite having an objectively progressive husband. Probably something to do with having three more kids after the first one got cut out via separation of the pubic symphysis by a general practice doc in podunk Iowa with no anesthesia. Maybe.

They say “write the Next Thing”. But then you’re 30k words deep in the Next Thing when your agent sends you notes on the Last Thing and all you want to do is keep writing the Next Thing.
#amwriting

The best part about having kids is they might grow up and do things you like to do. I didn’t marry a man who will go to musical theater with me or visit the renaissance faire, so instead I raised one. I just had to wait twelve years for him to get here.

My fear of outlines stemmed from my anxiety that it would stop all the creative twists that flowed from pantsing a novel. In reality, it just gives them more structure. They still happen, they’re just overlaid on a more cohesive narrative.
#amwriting

Guys, I’ve failed. My 12 year old just asked me unironically “mom, what exactly happens at the end of Romeo and Juliet? Everyone dies by dragon or something?”
Me: are you serious?
Him: what, I know it’s a tragedy, right?

The Anti Second Chance romance outline is complete ✅
Don’t judge me if I wrote 12k words of the opening before I outlined…
#amwriting

Ugh. I discovered the only downside to plotting. I just outlined a scene I am so excited to write, I’m mad it’s at the end of this novel. I want to write it right now!
#amwriting

Keep in mind the only YA I read is romantasy or rom com so I can’t speak outside of those.

I tend to find YA has more explicitly pure “bad guys” that are fun to hate. I feel like in the adult world the authors tend to give the antagonists sympathetic traits or make you like them in the beginning, then gradually realize who they are, where they’re a bit more black and white in YA.

No one told me that today would be utterly consumed by watching phone recordings of Jesus Christ Superstar that have more entertainment value than they have any right to contain. If you need me, you know where to find me. #jcss

Mood board for Quasi Historical Romance, a contemporary romcom set in a living history museum. Images include a plumed black carriage horse, a historical green and white home, a candlelit dining table and a frothy pink gown from the 1830’s.

Revisions on Quasi Historical Romance are wrapped up and got 👍 from my agent, edits on Bumped are in process, and I’m resisting the urge to start something new before I’ve edited everything. I’m probably failing.
#amediting

Welp. Seems like it’s time to write another happily ever after novel, since we’re forced to live in a dystopian reality.
#booksky
#amwriting

Rereading Emily Henry’s Book Lovers hits different after becoming an author/getting an agent. I feel like I’m in on the joke, now. #booksky

Calico cat snuggled on a lap beside an open book.

The life.
#booksky

I just realized that I’m on my 8th second chance romance (entirely by coincidence) since March 29th on Libby. I’m so burnt out on them. Is there an anti second chance where the old flame comes groveling back but the new guy helps her realize how toxic he is for her?
#booksky

The power TikTok/a mainstream popular author can have if she wants: 2 years ago I wrote a manuscript that had Aussie side characters who said the word cunt in casual speech. A reader told me “cunt will never be tolerated in big 5 romance”. 2 years later, Ali Hazelwood peppers it through her novel.

Fascinated by Cara Bastone’s Better Luck Next Time, which I went into blind. It’s not an audio book at all, but closer to a radio program. It fascinates me to imagine writing only with dialogue.
#booksky

A mood board including Agua de Valencia on the boardwalk, a rowboat in Retiro Park, seafood paella, a cathedral ceiling, passports, and the undulating ceiling of the Madrid-Barajas Airport, with the text Bumped overlaid

When a multinational software glitch shuts down airline computer systems, a pair of strangers volunteer to be bumped off the last flight out of Spain. They hope to discover all Madrid has to offer, but could never fathom what they’ll discover about each other.
BUMPED, my spicy travel rom-com WIP.

Collage of photos depicting 1830s life including a Friesian horse, an early Victorian home, a candlelit table and a wide-necked pink gown. The manuscript’s title, (Quasi) Historical Romance is included.

Revisions on (Quasi) Historical Romance are off to my agent, and Bumped (my spicy travel rom com) is filtering back from betas, making me excited to tackle those edits. Now that I think about it, Bumped needs a mood board…
#amediting

Ah! My Libby account dropped my holds number from 30 to 20!
Almost everything on my list has a months long wait! 😖

Ah, the predictable post-Emily Henry crash. I went through three audiobooks on my commutes today before I finally settled on Expiration Dates by Rebecca Serle because at least I still get Julia Whalen.
#booksky

Spoiler: I read/edited the whole thing over and I chose. There was a pretty clear winner. Now if anyone wants to beta a spicy travel romcom, let me know!
#amediting

The medical term for something similar is anosognosia. It means you don’t know what you don’t know, or you aren’t aware of your own deficits, and I love that that there’s a word for it.

lol. These are the only DMs I get.

Emily Henry never writes a book without a hug quote I feel the need to highlight. As a connoisseur of hugs, I clock them every time. And I have to wonder. Does she have it on a checklist of things she must include in her novels?
This one’s on page 183, if you were wondering.
#booksky

Calico cat sits next to Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry

Did I buy Emily Henry’s new novel in Hardback and Audiobook? I did. Do I feel guilty about this over consumption? I do not.

Whoop! Alternate ending to my spicy rom com, complete ✅. I just hope I don’t have to be the one to choose. Now, onto revisions!
#amwriting
#amediting