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.

What Deanna Read #118: June 2026

I am starting June early, but don't count on this going up too early or even remotely on time because the month of June completely derailed for me—you can read about it here. So I cut it close with May reads. At the time of typing this, it's three weeks into June and I'm finally getting to the point where life is no longer chaos. I did get a white paper finished on my publishing partner business model, so go me!!

At this point, June reading has been dismal—refer to said mention of chaos above, but we'll see how the rest of the month plays out. I appreciate your patience and sticking with me. Mwah!

Small update as I prep this to post: It's the start of the third week of July, and July has been INSANE. You can read about it here, here and here. Things are still insane, but I've snuck away to prep this during team writing sprints to inject a small bit of normalcy into my life.

Here's what I read in the last month.

Notes from Deanna’s Desk #3 | When It Rains, It Pours

For anyone who follows me on Substack, you’ll see that I’ve been making an effort to be more diligent about posting there. I’m leaning into it being my professional journal where sometimes I vent, sometimes I talk about pertinent industry issues, and oftentimes I talk about work-related matters including struggles with work-life balance which I never seem to accomplish.