Hi! It's me, Writer Gal

Slightly and for a little bit...

Mahalo,

I’m listening to Taylor Swift’s Midnights as I write this edition of The Writer Gal Letter. And the music matches my mood. It’s part melancholic, part boppy, and part boss-girl energy. And I feel all of this now. All the time.

A feelings update.

It's been a shitshow of a month for me. Every single day. And it is not the month’s fault. Or mine. It is how I feel. I'll never not feel sad anymore. A small part of me will ALWAYS keep crying. That's love for you. It fucking ruins your head up and makes it look like worth.

But in the middle of my grief, there is such good news. I have to believe my beloved Thathu is up in the stars shining brightest on me. I just have to. There is no other way I can function.

1. The true people in my life have showed up and stayed and stayed and stayed. And, every day I am more grateful to them.

2. I now know I can accomplish anything. Anything.

3. Asking for help is the nicest thing I can do for myself.

4. Happiness and grief can co-exist in the same heart and be the better for it. - Trish Doller (paraphrased from Float Plan)

5. Loving less is never the answer. Neither is working more. Sleeping is. But sleeping life away is not the answer either. Finding joy is.

So, if you can. Ask the universe to let the right ones in and sleep safe knowing they won't ever go even when they go.

This is not a sad newsletter, Postmate, I promise you that. And I’m not sad all the time despite what I wrote. But yeah, I am too. That’s my new reality and I learn to accept it everyday again :)

At the same time, it will be very bad of me if I do not acknowledge ALL the replies and kind messages and emails SO MANY of you sent me. I have no words to express how touched and loved and seen I felt when I saw them all. So often, when I write this Letter I wonder who, if anyone, is reading me. Whether I touch your hearts and minds as you do mine when I write a book for you. But seeing those replies made me understand - I am seen. I am loved. I’m not alone.

Thank you for that, Postmate.

Thank you.

Now, onto the bookish parts of TWGL!

And I have a ton of developments to share with you.

So I’m just going to list them all out.

I am FINALLY on Tiktok!

As @desiromanceauthor. If you can, do follow me on TT and see more bookish videos about all the heroes and heroines you love so much already! I don’t have a follow link for you but I have a link to my first TT video EVER! :D

A Kinda Special Question

Would you be interested in knowing details about a brand new kind of stories I am planning on telling as I write them? These stories are not the same kind as Aarti V Raman and won’t be in Aarti’s name but they will be 1000% romance :) And the couples will get an HEA but the path to said happy ever after might be…*not light* If the majority of you say no, I’ll not talk about it on The Writer Gal Letter. But if you do say yes, I’ll ask you to sub to another newsletter dedicated to readers and super friends of THAT name :) And it won’t be spammy! I promise.

A Curvy Hop By Some Fab Authors

Welcome to the Curvy Hop. Hosted by Romance With Curves and The Curvy Bookshelf. In order to participate, you'll need to join our FB group: The Curvy Bookshelf

The rules are simple, you readers just ‘hop’ from group to group collecting codewords and add them to the form which you can find here

https://forms.gle/6TAf2MYyMsorfUzE7

*Remember when joining the groups you MUST answer all questions to be approved to join.

See? Easy, right?

Once you fill out and submit the form, hang out in the groups for a little while as you never know what amazing and unexpected things you can find! You could also discover new authors that you never knew existed!

Hop ends October 22nd, 2022 and the winner will be drawn on the 23rd of October following all submission entries. Be on the lookout in The Curvy Bookshelf for the Winner’s Announcement.

There will be 3 winners chosen at random from those who complete the form to its extent.

*Please note- half filled out forms or missing codewords will not be eligible for prize drawing.

The winners will receive:

1st Place- $100.00 GFC + 10 Signed Paperbacks + 6 Ebooks

2nd Place- $50.00 GFC + 5 Signed Paperbacks + 4 Ebooks

3rd Place- $20.00 GFC + 3 Signed Paperbacks + 3 Ebooks

Note: I have somehow gotten about 350 members in the FB group and I’m amazed at the love I keep getting. We talk books and booksy things all the time there and I have many writer friends dropping by and sharing new releases, freebies, sales, cover reveals, and giveaways at Writer Gal’s Reader Pals. So I hope I see you there too!

Dissent is Live for ONE MORE WEEK ONLY!

Dissent hit the USA Today Bestseller list (making me one) and is raising thousands of dollars for such an important and ferociously worthy cause. I'm SUPER proud of DISSENT and all that the authors have done in it!

Please consider getting this phenomenal collection of romance stories from some of the coolest people ever. And, if you want to know mine - it's called The Story of Us and is part of an extended HEA for a couple who is super close to my heart - Jordan Hallaran and Barry Menon.

For National Read a Book day, USA Today Bestseller DISSENT has been released in eBook and three paperback volumes!

DISSENT is a charity romance anthology with NEW, never before published content from over 150 authors of various romance subgenres. All proceeds from the eBook and paperbacks will be donated to organizations benefiting reproductive rights in the United States, particularly in areas where people need them more than ever.

Dissent will only be available till October 28, 2022, so grab your copy today!

A Tempt Excerpt

I just wrote this scene in response to a prompt in a small writer group I am part of. So I am sharing it as is because this is all I have from Pehel and Nashit for you. It’s more than I have had in a long time so I’ll take it.

Pehel firmed her lips before they could tremble. The ache in her heart that had never gone away stretched its thorny arms and began again. Pinching her chest till she felt the pain. Nashit was so far away even though he was right next to her.

"How did I betray you, Pehel?"

His voice was rough with unsaid emotions. Nashit had epic control like that. Unlike her.

"Because, Nashit," Pehel answered, "It wasn't betrayal. You considered me not even important enough to tell me when something this monumental happened to my brother. I'm nothing to you, aren't I?"

Her voice did not break. She was so proud of that one small mercy. That her voice remained even in tenor.

He took a ragged breath. And didn't answer her.

That, Pehel supposed, was answer enough.

In other Tempt news, I have almost finalized the cover and I’m thinking about the blurb and the story. My brain is slowly switching back and thinking of the magic of words. My favorite place. In the meantime, I am having the best time enticing more readers to read my books on Tiktok!

My Dearest Friend Is A Semi-Finalist!

So, one of my dearest friends, Patricia D. Eddy (who proofed my Dissent submission - The Story of Us) believed with me when I told her we are hitting USA Today and has been FAMILY to me the last three months (who I stalked for two years before that when I was understanding the romantic suspense genre, btw) is a Sultry Listener's’ Awards Semi-Finalist. There’s more info to be found below.

PROTECTING HIS TARGET is a #SultryListeners Awards Semi-Finalist in the Romantic Suspense category!

Voting is open until October 22nd so please help make Patricia and PHT a finalist by voting here: https://buff.ly/3T60XWY

I hope you check it out and vote for her, pretty please, Postmate. It would mean the world to ME if she won this thing! Cuz she is very responsible for me coming out of my grief with my heart unbroken. And that makes her a very special person, not to mention a PHENOMENAL writer! Because I have spent the last four weeks inhaling her books, especially the Away From Keyboard Series and its latest release - Defending His Hope.

I’ll write more soon when I have cover news and some EPIC things that came true for me before the world went insane and I lost my glow :) But I’m getting my glow back bit by bit and sharing my good things with you will do that! For sure.

Till then, stay safe and awesome, and hold your loved ones close.

Xx

Aarti