The Emotional Range of a Dill Pickle | Linda Howard’s (Not So) Dream Man: Great Writing Craft, Bad Book Boyfriend

It’s been a very long time since I’ve written an opinion piece where I’ve jumped into it as a freeform stream of consciousness as opposed to a thoroughly researched piece that’s been plotted and structured, so I hope you’re ready for a heck of a ride. I know I am cos I have no idea what’s coming next.

Hang tight… and be prepared for tangents—

What Deanna Read #121: September 2026

Happy (what was) September everyone. Can you believe that we are in September already? For me and my authors, we're at the pointy end of the year which means end of year releases, looking at next year, and planning 2027 releases which starts in October. That's only a month away. Aaaaahhh...

I'm starting this month's reading wrap up on the 5th of September. Let's see how I track for the month, shall we?

Here's what I read in the last month.

Notes from Deanna's Desk #5 | Sunshine after the rain... Sort of...

Greetings from a somewhat refreshed Deanna. We’ve just got back from a little mini break and right this moment, as I’m typing this, I’m at team writing sprints. If you follow any of my What Deanna Read series posts, you’ll see I do this a lot—write during sprints. The reality is team writing sprints are the only times I get me time when it comes to my writing. Otherwise, it’s mostly author client work and writing.

The mini break was wonderful and much needed. I do plan a wrap-up at some point for Substack, but I had a little fun with these two small updates here and here.

Notes from Deanna’s Desk #4 | Blame It on the Genes

Hello hello. Welcome to another “Notes from Deanna’s Desk.” Let’s just stick with the notes, okay? My actual desk is very messy since it’s a working desk which includes my computer (obviously), two jars of lollies, an oil diffuser, pens, hairbrush, nail polish remover, lip balm, a protein bar (I don’t know how that got there)… but you get the picture. Not tidy.

What Deanna Read #120: August 2026

Maybe it's a little cheaty, but I often use our team writing sprints to prep this post. It helps keep me on track though goodness knows the last few months have not been that way. I do try...

Cross your fingers that August will be better for me. Today is the fourth of the month, so we're starting strong.

Here's what I read in the last month.

What Deanna Read #119: July 2026

In the spirit of good intentions, I'm starting my July reads post in the third week of the month, shortly after June went live. June and July have both been horrendously challenging months for me, and you can read about it here, here, here and here. You may have already caught up on that, so feel free to ignore those if you wish.

There hasn't been much reading in July and I've mostly focused on audiobooks, and yes, that's also considered reading. Let's hope that I'm a little more organized and this post will go live in a much more timely manner.

Here's what I read in the last month.

An update for the ARC team | August 2026

Hello, team!

I haven’t had a chance to post ARCs recently as life has been rather consuming and challenging. I wanted to give you a quick update so you know what’s happening and know that I’m not leaving you in the lurch.