Skip to content

Life As Me

Happy Anniversary, Loser

Today marks the 12th anniversary of my first ever book publication. It comes at a pretty crappy time in my life. You can tell by the lack of activity here that I haven’t done much in recent… couple of years. At least not on the public side of things. I write this while riding the tail end of COVID and taking stock of what the hell I’ve been doing with my time. It’s not an easy answer. It’s also not something I find easy to share. In many ways, it feels like admitting defeat, when I’m still here, fighting the good fight. Just in a different way.  So WTF happened? Short answer: I burned out. Slightly longer answer: I burned… Read More »Happy Anniversary, Loser

Origins (or How Alianne Became a Writer)

Hello, hello! *taps mic* Is this thing working? It’s been a while, so…  Okay, first thing: If you didn’t know, production has finished on the Prince of Deceit audiobook and it’s now available wherever you get audiobooks. It’s so amazingly done by the talented Charlie Sanderson, who also narrated Dragonblood. You can check out the sample below. With this, the Dawn of Ragnarok series is well and truly finished. 🙂 It’s been a long journey, and I couldn’t be happier with how it’s turned out and where it ended. <3  Now I suppose it’s time to move on. But before I do that, I wanted to look back for a second. I am a huge proponent of “don’t forget your… Read More »Origins (or How Alianne Became a Writer)

2020: Year in Review

I think we can all agree that this year didn’t turn out the way any of us planned. It’s definitely one for the history books, though. As I look back on the last 12 months, I recognize the darkness that seems to have encompassed the entire world. But I want to focus on the light and, for me, there was a lot of that, too. I have much to be grateful for… 1. I officially took on a new job. After a decade stuck in a dead end position, I finally managed to escape. It wasn’t easy. I’m not exaggerating when I say there were people actively doing everything they could to keep me in my place, but I broke… Read More »2020: Year in Review

Authorly Update and Freebies

Greetings fellow Earthlings! I come to you with news and updates on the goings on in realm Donnelly.  First and foremost, I hope you’re all healthy and safe, wherever you happen to be around the globe. My state has issued a “Shelter in Place” order this week. Currently, it’s in place until April 7th, 2020, but I’m already hearing rumors that it may be extended longer. It’s a scary proposition but, given the news coming out of countries who imposed strict quarantines and those who didn’t, I think it’s the right move, and I sincerely hope it helps stop the spread of COVID-19.  My family and I are among the lucky ones. We’re all safe, healthy, and still employed, working… Read More »Authorly Update and Freebies

It’s Not What You Think: My Epic Writer Fail

In preparation for my two book signings this year, I was forced to notify my day job that I would be gone for a few days and had to endure some obligatory small talk which quickly turned to a question I damn well should know how to answer by now but still don’t: How many books have you written? Intellectually, I know all they wanted to know was how many books I’d published. Because they don’t care about anything not published, and they shouldn’t. There’s a reason why I didn’t publish it, after all. But on an emotional level, I took that question literally and started a futile internal effort to quantify everything I’d ever written since the very first… Read More »It’s Not What You Think: My Epic Writer Fail

The Fallacy of “Possible = Acceptable”

I haven’t written a philosophical rant in a while, so I thought I’d indulge. And when I say rant, I really mean it. LOL Sometimes it helps to vent my frustration in written form. I don’t expect it to change the world, but I’m also not willing to change myself to fit the world, or meet it half way. At least on this one point. Read on to see what I mean by that.

Read More »The Fallacy of “Possible = Acceptable”

Writing Tip: The Right Story is Worth the Struggle

Two things I can tell you about writing fiction: It’s hard work It only gets harder When I say it’s hard work, I mean it takes far more than just jotting down what your imagination dictates. The greater part of writing is rewriting. There are stories that practically write themselves, and once you get to the end and read it again, the plot is pretty much good as is. But then there are stories you agonize over every step of the way. You rewrite them a million times and when you finally get to the end you realize you need to rewrite it a hundred times more. That’s just the nature of the beast. The thing about it is you… Read More »Writing Tip: The Right Story is Worth the Struggle

2018: Year in Review

Back in the day, I used to write out “Year in Review” blog posts every New Year’s Eve to document everything I’d accomplished that year. It wasn’t to brag, but rather to show myself I hadn’t wasted a year’s worth of time. I stopped doing it a while back, because I started using book releases as benchmarks of accomplishment. A full novel publication a year (plus the occasional novella) was a good year.

Sadly, it turns out there is a massive flaw with the book release benchmark approach: it ends up devaluing literally everything else I do throughout the year that isn’t a book release.

This year was particularly tough for me, and unfortunately I didn’t even finish that full-length novel, much less publish it. I know I haven’t been twiddling my thumbs all year long, but I still feel like I haven’t accomplished anything, or at least not as much as I should have, and it’s a crappy feeling to have. So I think it’s time to revive my annual blog tradition to keep myself accountable and knock it off with this self-pity bullshit.

This is very much a personal post, and its only purpose is to close out 2018 on a good note, despite all its problems.

Read More »2018: Year in Review