Tag Archives: Paige N Regan

A Litany of Disasters

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Trevor’s SongTrevor’s Song is about disasters in the titular character’s life, and not just because his best friend commits an act of monogamy.

So… what went wrong?

My garage freezer has finally died. It’s about to be 25, or maybe it already is. So you know, it had a good run. But I am now eating a lot of stuff I’d stuck in there for a rainy day. Thankfully I didn’t lose that much; a well-packed freezer maintains its cold even after the condenser dies!

I had a chip in my windshield repaired last Tuesday, and after being parked outside all day at the Bad Bitch Bazaar, the repair… showed it wasn’t worth what the insurance company paid them. Thankfully I have glass coverage on my policy, but now I have to drive around for a week — including back and forth to the Westmoreland Arts and Heritage Festival five out of the next seven days (counting today) — with a nice crack right in my field of vision.

And… I chucked ANOTHER 50k words of Absolutely Alyssa, but now I know what didn’t work about it, so yay and let’s go getting this ship right. I only started writing it 20 months ago.

Yep. 20.

I’m telling ya. Litany of disasters.

Y’all better like this damn book once I get done with it!

On a happier note…

editing

I worked on Saturday for a bit and am hoping I can get the first read-through done over the next three days. Then it’ll be a break for the Festival, and then the second read-through. If I’m so lucky.

I’m still waiting on more manuscripts to arrive here. I’m expecting a LOT. I think I’m okay if they don’t show up within days of each other.

writing

Yesterday was the Bad Bitch Bazaar and I had someone come by the show just to get the next book in the Sheep Farm series and WOO HOO! My three friends (, Lainey Davis, and Paige N. Regan and forgive the lack of links; it’s not that I don’t love my friends — I really do! — but I’m running SUPER late here and feeling very stressed) sold INCREDIBLY well. The queers were out, the romance lovers were out, and we were THERE for them. I got compliments on my t-shirt, we got compliments on the vibe in our tent, I had a reader (hello!) come to the show just to get the second book in my series! Woo hoo! So while my friends sold more than I did — which in and of itself is always worth cheering for — I had a heck of a great day.

But yes, I did chuck yet another verison of Authentically Alyssa. Sigh. This BOOK, y’all. DISASTERS. It’s one book. It’s multiple disasters.

The good news is that I figured out what’s bothering me about those earlier attempts, and I’ve fixed that. The first five books? Are all about relationships. This was focusing too much on the job at hand (if you’ve read Legacy, you know what that is, and if you haven’t, why not?), and so I moved the timeline up just a few weeks, got the sticking point out of the way and bam! It feels so much better.

I know. I said that last time.

This book had better be the one that breaks this series open and makes the world sit up and take notice.

Oh, and Populated was the best selling book of the weekend! Woo hoo!

I’m confident Delia Ford will make an appearance in Absolutely Alyssa.

Book of the Day

Ugliness, by Moshtari Hilal and Elisabeth Lauffer
As always, that’s an affiliate link, so help a girl afford her business insurance so I am covered when I take a group to a vendor affair like the Westmoreland Arts and Heritage festival.

Other ways to support me, since I’m not paywalling the daily fun: Book my editing services. Buy my books. Stuff my ko-fi full of yummy cash.

Because, yeah. I’ve still got two disasters to pay for… the new windshield and the new garage freezer. Mutual aid. It’s a thing.

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Being Productive — Thursday, June 26, 2025

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Populated (Tales from the Sheep Farm Book 2)

Cover for Populated, written by Susan Helene Gottfried

Delia is always being productive. Sometimes, too much so. Pick up a copy of Populated and see what I mean.

Yeah, yesterday saw me being SUPER productive. Like, wow.

What all happened? Well, I finished the edit I’d been working on. (and then promptly forgot to send it back to the author. Way to go, Sooz!)
I made a no-bake cheesecake, thanks to King Arthur Baking. (It took a lot longer than it was supposed to.)
I wrote almost 2k words.

That’s me being productive, all right!

editing

I’m feeling the pressure of the deluge I know is about to hit me. The plan right now is simple: keep being as productive as possible, at every minute of my editing day. That includes weekends until things slow down again.

This is the freelancer’s life, though. Huge feasts that remind you of a Monty Python movie, and then famine that’s so severe, you think you’re a crappy editor (you are not) and don’t know what to do with yourself (yes you do).

writing

Yep, almost 2k words last night! We have Tess being the Tess we met in the Bird, Chad up to no good again, Mack not sure what to make of any of this, and whoo boy, some things I did not see coming but now that they are here, they are right and natural and perfect and… honestly? When my friend called my books “the right kind of silly,” this is why I took it as a compliment.

I woke up to both royalties from Hoopla (thank you, Hoopla readers!) and word that Demo Tapes 4 is now available on the platform as well. So now all the Trevolution books are there, but only the first three Sheep Farm books, which are newer (and, frankly, better), and I don’t understand, but that’s probably okay.

Remember to request the last two Tales from the Sheep Farm books, Saving Sima and Legacy, when you’re browsing the platform.

And if you’re in Pittsburgh, on Sunday, I’ll be joined by Beck Grey, Lainey Davis, and Paige N. Regan at the Bad Bitch Bazaar! We’ll be there from 2-7, hanging out, selling books, and having a great time.

Book of the Day

Octobers, by Sahar Muradi
This is, as usual, an affiliate link. And yes, it’s a book of poetry! I don’t usually post poetry collections, but this one crossed my radar and why NOT? The criteria is the criteria and I never said I couldn’t include poetry. I’m the one who chose the criteria, after all.

Reminder that your support helps me keep on being productive like this! Be it booking my editing services, buying my books, stuffing my ko-fi, or even just talking me up and/or visiting me when I’m at a craft show, it all adds up.

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No Time to Write — May 9, 2025

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ShapeShifter: The Demo Tapes (Year 2)I don’t know why, but the idea of having no time to write made me think back to the Demo Tapes days. I picked this one because I love Lakota’s artwork.

So, yeah. No time to write last night. Why? I was busy booking hotels and flights as I get ready to move the youngest to her new home. Let me tell you, it’s daunting trying to find a hotel right off the highway when you’ve broken up with Wyndham properties after back-to-back stays last year each were deeply problematic. And of course, we’ll be gone over a Saturday night, and why do hotels and airlines get to rook travelers like this?

editing

I’m almost done with this edit; I’ll finish it in the first half of next week, I think. I always read my edits twice, both to make sure I didn’t miss things and that’s where I catch the subtler continuity errors. I’ve enjoyed this manuscript more on the second read-through, and I can’t say that about every one. Just most. I’m a lucky editor in that way. My clients write really good stuff… this is why I say like attracts like.

writing

Like I said, no time to write last night. That’s not entirely true, as I got a couple hundred words — maybe 300 — in, but it’s close enough for someone who usually averages 1200 a day. I feel like I’m running behind in all my writing projects right now, and that’s not a good feeling. I have a lot pulling on me, including writing postcards for the school board race in the district to my east. Yep! I’m helping a race that’s not mine. Why? Because the current school board president rammed through a book banning proposal and was awful to the students he’s supposed to be looking out for and those are my friends and my neighbors. So yeah. I’m writing postcards — but that doesn’t count as writing, even if I’m using three colors of fountain pen ink.

Book of the Day

Sin and Bones, by Paige N Regan
Affiliate link, and a disclaimer: Paige is in my author group and I think she’s awesome.

So that’s it. Hopefully I’ll have all the time to write tonight; I’m planning on being inside, even, as Freya Cat is sitting here, telling me in no uncertain terms that she misses me, since she’s not allowed outside with me, and she chose to stay out of the dining room while I was working at the table, with Lucy Cat for company.

As always, help support operating costs around here by buying me a figurative bottle of fountain pen ink. Recommend your friends who need an editor. Buy my books, or recommend them to your book-buying friends.

Oh! I’ll be hanging out at 1659 Cranberry tomorrow (Saturday), heckling my friend Veronica, who owns Umber Chocolates. I’ll also be arriving with a full laptop battery so that when she’s busy selling chocolate (and you want her chocolate), I’ll be making time to write! Stop in and say hi and get some chocolate. Unless I buy it all first.

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