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.

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.

Notes from Deanna's Desk #2: Better Late Than Never

A long, long time ago (no, this is not the beginning of a Star Wars movie. Hah!)… when I first started my Substack, I thought it would be fun to do a recap of what I shared each week or month called “Notes from Deanna’s desk” of which I did exactly one post. Life, work, etc. I have no excuse really, but despite good intentions, that fell by the wayside very quickly. The reality is that if I have deadlines and life intrudes the first thing to go is social media, and the next thing to go is trying to maintain any semblance of a schedule on my website. And then I decided to hop off the social media hamster wheel, and that was that.

Notes from Deanna's Desk #1: Juggling Deadlines and Daydreams

There are two women living inside my head.

One is a productivity machine. She’s an editor and publishing partner who thrives on deadlines, project plans, and the satisfaction of moving a book from a manuscript to a published reality. She loves her work, and she’s good at it. The other woman? She just wants to curl up with a good book, a warm cup of tea, and shut the world out for a little while. She craves slowness, quiet, and the comfort of a familiar story.

Drastic Stand, National Pain, or Author's Freedom? Unpacking the Sophie Lark KSD Book Destruction

It’s not every day a book publishing story makes you stop. Makes you really think. But a couple of days ago, news crossed my feed that did just that. A Ukrainian publishing house, KSD, made a dramatic decision. They wouldn't just stop selling books by romance author Sophie Lark. They would destroy a massive print run – some 30,000 copies, it seems – of her novel, "Brutal Prince."

Observations on bookish things #5

⚠️⚠️⚠️This was written a VERY long time ago, but reading back, I thought some things were still relevant, and others not so much. I'll make a note of those.⚠️⚠️⚠️

Hello!! I do not remember the last time I posted on bookish things. Do you? I'm sure it's been a while. Of course, I could go back and check, but where's the fun in that? 😛 I want to say there's been lots of interesting things going on, but the reality is things kinda ebb and flow. Some days are interesting, some days are not.

Observations on bookish things #4

Hey, hey, hey. How are you doing? I wanted to say that I'm really enjoying putting together these observations on bookish things. They are little bit size thoughts that are easier for me to put together and probably easier for you as a reader to digest. I'm also enjoying the variety of things I get to talk about. Let me know if you're enjoying this too or if you think I should just scrap the whole thing. I would like your feedback. And now, onto today's topics...

Observations on bookish things #3

Hello! How did you go with my last bookish observations? Sassy enough for you? I'll try to be less sassy in today's post but hey, it might be fun to be sassy. I hardly ever unleash that side of me. I tend to err on the side of caution. Let's see what today brings.

Observations on bookish things #2

What do you think of my bookish observations after the first one? Do you think I'm being too opinionated? Do I need to dial it back a notch? Because you know, I'm rather feisty today. Hang tight.

Observations on bookish things #1

I quite often have observations of what's going on in the romance book space and the romance publishing industry. They are often small things that don't amount to a full post or anything particularly substantial so I tend not to talk about them. Then I thought, what about if I just pull a bunch of them together and see what comes of it? So here you go. My observation on bookish things. PS. Not sure how often I'll post these. It will depend on how much I see that is worth a comment on. Might be a lot. I have an opinion on a lot of things. 😛