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.

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.

The Perfect Storm of Dumbassery | How an IT Director Who Built a Bank Short-Circuited Over an Editing Queue

I recently wrote a long note on my Substack and spent some time debating if it should remain there as a journal entry or if it belonged here on the website. My Substack is a place for raw, professional journal-style updates, while I consider this website my permanent library for all my considerable and varied thought pieces on all things books, reading, writing, and publishing-related.

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.

The Whirlwind, The Wins, and a Little Family Time | Q1 2026 Recap

Hello everyone!

Can we just talk about how 2026 has been an absolute ride already? I’m currently in a serious "clear the decks" mode because life is about to get a bit more personal. Hubby is headed in for knee surgery in just five days, so I’m prepping to be MIA for a bit. I’m taking the first week of April to focus entirely on his recovery (ice packs and TLC on deck!), and then I’ll be sliding back into my work seat during the second week of April.

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.

Unlock More with Deanna's World. Our Newsletter is Moving to Substack

Hello everyone, and thanks for being such a valued part of our community here at Deanna’s World. I’m dropping in with a little bit of housekeeping news today – something I’m actually quite excited about and wanted to share with you all straight away. Our newsletter, your regular dose of author support insights and romance read discussions, is getting a new home!

Showering Again, Small Victories Matter | Medical Hiatus: May 2023

Hello, bloggity readers. First of all, I want to say thank you for sticking with me while I've been on a medical hiatus and things have not been as regular. I wanted to take today to provide you with a quick update, but if you're not sure what's been happening with me, you can catch up on the deets here.

Where I've been | Medical Hiatus: April 2023

Hello, bloggity readers. You may have noticed that the bloggity has been a little quiet the last few weeks. There's a very good reason for that.

So jet lagged...

Hello!!! I'm back home... finally, but jet lag is kicking my butt. Plus I have editing deadlines. So between getting ready to return home from my trip and the layover in Singapore for three days where we didn't leave the hotel, and coming home, I'm very behind on bloggity stuff and I sincerely apologise.

Sorry, back soon

Gang, sincere apologies but regular programming and posts are on break until we are back on deck as Steve has kindly decided to share his germs with me and we are both down for the count. Sharing is caring, right? I shall resume and get back to regular posts as soon as I am well again.

Oops! So sorry....

 

Y'all, I'm so sorry for the test post. I didn't realise blogger was going to be so efficient and immediately send out the email newsletter with the post. I didn't intend for it to get distributed. I deleted it right away. Argh!

Changes to the bloggity: April 2022

Y'all, I hope this finds you well. I know today is meant to be my regular What Deanna Read post, but I'm hijacking that to let you know that there will be some changes to the bloggity. I hope this won't change much for you and you'll still visit, but I need to switch things around because of life stuff.

We are home early

Hello all,

I am home... early. Due to everything going on in the world we had to cut our trip short because firstly, I'm no longer allowed into the US and then of course, with everything shutting down and locking down we decided it was best to get home as quickly as possible.

Taking a short break

It is with great sadness and a heavy heart that I need to do this. Life has gotten on top of me and I need to take a short break from the blog. I'll be gone for about a month, maybe two. Not long so I hope you'll be back to visit when I'm back.

Changes to the blog

Y'all might have heard me bemoaning the fact that work is kicking my butt. Well, it is. And it has left me little to no time to do anything else. By the end of the week, I simply cannot brain anymore. This means, I have not had much energy to read or blog.

As much as I am loathe to do it, things on the blog need to change for a little while. At the very least, until this project is over and I get back home. Hopefully, things will return to normal then.

Where to find Deanna's World privacy policy ... yes, we have one!!

A quick update to let you know that with the GDPR coming into effect, you can find Deanna's World's privacy policy here.

If you have any questions, you can contact me via email.


Find Deanna around SOCIAL MEDIA:
                  

Hello! Back from vacation, an update and an apology

Hello! Hello!

I'm back!

Yeah, after more than two months away, I am back from my "vacation" in the US. Truth be told, it hasn't been much of a vacation if you've followed me on my journey where I've talked about it in previous blog posts here and here. Mostly I was lamenting the lack of reading done while on the trip since we spent most of it in hospital and caring for Steve's dad who took ill. Seriously, reading laments aside, he got very sick and we thought he was going to die. We are glad we were around to help look after him and help out Steve's mom. For those of you asking, Steve's dad is on the mend. He is currently in transitional care and is slowly but steadily improving. We hope he will be home soon.

I love this picture of mom kissing dad good night while he was in hospital. Such a sweet and tender moment. They have been married 64 years.

An update on how this blog is going ... and a few other things about Deanna's World

I'm looking back in the last few months since I've started this blog and it appears that there have been fewer beauty and makeup posts and much more health and dieting posts.

I know that when I started the blog, I originally posted here that this blog would be beauty and makeup, but that does not seem to be the way the blog is emerging.

So far, I seem to have done a lot of posts about health and dieting, a couple of makeup posts and then one very odd post about Windows Movie Maker.

I'm thinking about another blog post and it seems to be about my current reading habits. I love reading and right now the topic is very front of mind as I struggle through some reading ups and downs.

It would appear as this blog develops organically that it is becoming a reflection of my world, hence "Deanna's World" and what is going on in it, not just beauty and makeup.

For those of you who are interested in just beauty and makeup, I apologize for this, but I admit that I want the freedom to discuss what is current on my mind and what's "in my world" as a reflection of my life and what is going on in it, rather than just talk only about makeup and beauty.

I do focus entirely on makeup and beauty on my Facebook page. All the posts there are makeup and beauty related and I post several times each day. I have mini reviews on all the things that I'm using, loving, not crazy about and also posts and updates on my latest videos from the Youtube channel. So do follow me on Facebook, if you want daily tidbits on makeup and beauty.

On Instagram, you will find photos of makeup stuff (some!) and also the rest of my life. Lots of pictures about food and just things that strike my fancy. Do head on over and follow me on Instagram if you would like a little glimpse of my everyday life.

And then there's Twitter. I suck at Twitter. A lot of times I forget to check Twitter. Once I didn't check Twitter for 4 days and when I did, discovered that I had won a book in a contest. Oops! All my Facebook and Instagram stuff does get posted to Twitter automatically though, if you're big on Twitter. :-)

If you want a quick response from me, Facebook is where to message me. I always respond to that really quickly since I practically live in Facebook.

I have not been posting very regularly lately, many reasons, including work being hectic, we're moving and life getting in the way. I am planning on posting more regularly once we are done with the move and hopefully I will be able to continue with the planned once a week schedule. I will, of course, need topics to post on. Any suggestions will be welcome!!

Anyhow, thank you for following me, watching my videos, reading my posts. I appreciate every single bit of your support.

ps. I also write a cooking blog which I update about once or twice a month with new recipes. It's called "Daz in the Kitchen" and it's a companion to my husband's blog "Saz in the Cellar". His blog is all about wine, mine all about food. If you're interested in food at all or even wine, check those out. :-)

Find me around SOCIAL MEDIA:
Youtube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/langshipley
Makeup and beauty blog: http://langshipley-deannasworld.blogspot.com.au/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/langshipley (this is the best way to reach me, I will always respond to this the fastest).
Twitter: @langshipley https://twitter.com/langshipley
Instagram: @langshipley http://instagram.com/langshipley
Pinterest: https://pinterest.com/langshipley/
Keek: http://www.keek.com/langshipley
Cooking blog: http://dazinthekitchen.blogspot.com.au/