Cover of Her Lady's Honor, along with the words "Heated Rivalry, but same publisher"
I wrote a thing about Heated Rivalry when the tv show first aired. And I've finally got around to doing a graphic to go with it. Yes, I'm a star at book marketing (ha ha ha).
www.reneedahlia.com/2026/01/12/h...
He can go in the same bin as the guy who told me that my books were "just a glorified hobby"
Thank you. That's made my day. WIP at this stage, maybe published next year.
WIP. I've finished the first draft of the first book in the series of three, am half-way through the second, third should be done by the end of the year. Published maybe next year?
I'm enjoying writing it, if that helps!
Describe your plot in five words or less - if you dare.
Sapphic regency letter writing scam
I could just get the screen fixed. The rest is fine.
This. I am going to need a new laptop soon (the screen is cracked), but I don't want a laptop filled with AI slop. So I'm not buying a new laptop until I can get one without it.
The thing about all these freak AI execs constantly going "our machine may have gained sentience?!" is that they want slaves. That they are ok with slave labor.
And *then* it always, always turns out their latest AI trick actually used slave labor somewhere in the global south.
They're slavers.
Thanks. I miss the way words used to flow when I was desperate to escape reality. I don't miss that time in my life (obviously) only that flow state.
I think I need to find a new writing flow somehow.
The calmness I'm building isn't just about me. When I do write, the output is better (I think).
But it's not just time. Today I have time and I've stared at the page for nearly an hour with no words.
Four years ago I wrote an 8 year plan (to escape) and I've achieved the plan. My four year plan is to get through these years with calmness and routine. Is that enough? I think so.
For a long time I wrote to escape my own reality, while pretending that everything was ok. Now that I've escaped that reality and I'm beginning to understand what happened (and thrive?), I'm struggling to write.
Instead of being regular words each day, it ebbs and flows. Time is a factor.
Writing about writing isn't my jam. I have a Patreon aimed at authors wanting to know about horses. The blog on my website is largely aimed at readers.
Occasionally I write stuff for other people like this one on beta reading. Check it out here:
www.writedirection.net/finding-the-...
🚨 Our first article of the year is out now! "Romancing the Darkness: Understanding Trauma in the Romance Genre", by Alicia Leigh, is published as an Early Access Piece in JPRS. Follow the link to read about the three trauma-themed romance subgenres proposed by the author: doi.org/10.70138/ZOG...
Although great uncle Nicolai's life story would make an excellent House Of Guinness style drama (not a romance). The dude got sued by Edison and was mates with Maxim. It's a cracker.
One day... I feel the weight of the family and all the research when it comes to putting some of the Russian aristocrat stuff into romance novels. I've hinted at it with a couple of characters but have yet to lean in - too scared my family will judge me I think!
lol. My racehorse lives there as do a couple of mates, and yes, it's not all politics, but the way the book comes across is very stereotypical Canberra if that makes sense.
I think the book is set in 'generic place' but as an Aussie it reads very Canberra to me, just with the dumb office politics that could only make sense in a political city like Canberra. Plus the social life there is super weird because stuff isn't open unless parliament is sitting.
And choosing to be estranged comes with such depth of emotion - it's a really hard choice that isn't done without a lot of contemplation - so it increases emotional growth and maturity imo..
The drama in my family's letter collections over my great-aunt deciding to marry a political refugee in 1914ish to keep him out of a Siberian gulag! He ended up running a mining company there because being married meant he could have a job and a house. She became the district school coordinator.
These also tend to read like self-inserts - it's also why I struggle with books where the character is an author.
Some tropes are more regularly badly written than others; eg enemies to lovers where the enemy part is glossed over, or why choose without queerness (no actually that always sucks), secret baby because it starts with a lie...
But there's always an example of it written really well.
Statistically irl men do get more promotions if they are seen as stable and in a committed relationship, while the opposite works for women. So on some level it makes sense for a man to want this, but makes zero sense for a woman. And definitely hard to pull off for a queer couple.
I think issue that showing that change is hard, and often books with second chance disappoint because the change isn't there or because the initial break up reason was basically unforgivable.
Definitely a sign of emotional immaturity.
This is lazy misogyny imo. Yes there are some dreadful mothers out there - but consider how society pushes people into parenthood when they may not want it. Let's see more fractured relationships with dads; deadbeat dads are much more common in real life.
To be fair it is set in Canberra which is a political city that is basically a void.
The thing is, if they had that conversation, the author could make the conflict even stronger by having both characters dig into their own perspectives. But that requires work.
Oh absolutely. Basically the only second chance book that I like is Ari Baran's Goaltender Interference; they broke up because one of them didn't want to come out, both basically couldn't stop thinking about each other, then sorted it 10 years later.
Thankfully the govt authority responded to tell me that they've notified him of the process to change the account into his name.
It leaves me with a couple of questions.
Does this have a timeline?
Can I be assured it will happen?
What else has he done in my name without my knowledge? 3/3
He replied with "too hard"
So I had to write a formal email to the govt authority explaining that he'd done this in my name without my knowledge or consent, please find attached a screenshot of him saying too hard to fix as well as the court certified divorce papers. I don't want liability 2/?
