Bye-bye, Erika & Elysa
Hi All,
Did you have a great first few hours of 2012? I did :)
Believe it or not, I spent it cleaning and tidying, and as the paranormally inclined of us know, "as above, so below" (meaning, that by clearing stuff in the physical world, stuff is also cleared in the spiritual / etheric plane).
So, I was being good and tidying, and getting things in order, and I finally received an answer to a question that's been on the back of my mind for about a month: Can I really write to my fullest potential as three people?
The answer is no. Maybe some people can. Maybe I could if I was never too fussed about getting anywhere with my writing, but I'm getting somewhere (albeit slowly) writing as Dianna, and my great love is writing paranormal and dark / urban fantasy romances, as opposed to erotica specifically, so .... I am retiring Erika & Elysa.
They had a culmination of three stories in the pipeline, and now these will either be abandoned, or put on the backburner (parts may even be incorporated into my own stories), so I can solely concentrate on my writing The Witching Pen Novellas and The Eye Of The Storm series. I'd also like to get started on my new young adult series The Elementals and there's one standalone that I'll be working on intermittently, Cosmic Bliss. Apart from my young adult fiction, my writing will remain steamy to erotic on the romance front (not sure I could write a non-steamy sex scene if I tried).
The decision to say goodbye to Erika & Elysa has been a hard one, because it's felt a little like saying goodbye to members of my own family ... so, so hard. If it hadn't have been for them, and the rather tumultuous threads on the Erotic Readers And Writers Association (every writer should join -- you get some craziness well worth the entertainment, as well as some fantastic writing advice and invaluable literary info that is not just about erotica), I don't know if I'd have ever tried publishing eBooks at all. Erika & Elysa helped me find confidence in writing again, but more importantly, reminded me how fun it is -- that it should be fun, that anything you do should be fun -- and Erika even found herself published by Noble Romance Publishing. It had been such a long time since I'd written any fiction (about 15 years) that I needed the boost.
Back in September, I asked the question, to my wonderful Facebook friends and fans, that if you're being shown many signs that you should be going in a certain direction, should you follow the signs, even if it means a big change? The answer was a resounding yes. I was referring to this. At the time, I had just been published by Noble Romance and was very reluctant to let go of Erika particularly, as I had visions of submitting more work in under that name, but those signs just kept coming. So Fate and her persistence wins ;)
Anyway, bye-bye, Erika & Elysa, and thanks for the wonderful ride :) And here's to 2012!
Dianna x
Did you have a great first few hours of 2012? I did :)
Believe it or not, I spent it cleaning and tidying, and as the paranormally inclined of us know, "as above, so below" (meaning, that by clearing stuff in the physical world, stuff is also cleared in the spiritual / etheric plane).
So, I was being good and tidying, and getting things in order, and I finally received an answer to a question that's been on the back of my mind for about a month: Can I really write to my fullest potential as three people?
The answer is no. Maybe some people can. Maybe I could if I was never too fussed about getting anywhere with my writing, but I'm getting somewhere (albeit slowly) writing as Dianna, and my great love is writing paranormal and dark / urban fantasy romances, as opposed to erotica specifically, so .... I am retiring Erika & Elysa.
They had a culmination of three stories in the pipeline, and now these will either be abandoned, or put on the backburner (parts may even be incorporated into my own stories), so I can solely concentrate on my writing The Witching Pen Novellas and The Eye Of The Storm series. I'd also like to get started on my new young adult series The Elementals and there's one standalone that I'll be working on intermittently, Cosmic Bliss. Apart from my young adult fiction, my writing will remain steamy to erotic on the romance front (not sure I could write a non-steamy sex scene if I tried).
The decision to say goodbye to Erika & Elysa has been a hard one, because it's felt a little like saying goodbye to members of my own family ... so, so hard. If it hadn't have been for them, and the rather tumultuous threads on the Erotic Readers And Writers Association (every writer should join -- you get some craziness well worth the entertainment, as well as some fantastic writing advice and invaluable literary info that is not just about erotica), I don't know if I'd have ever tried publishing eBooks at all. Erika & Elysa helped me find confidence in writing again, but more importantly, reminded me how fun it is -- that it should be fun, that anything you do should be fun -- and Erika even found herself published by Noble Romance Publishing. It had been such a long time since I'd written any fiction (about 15 years) that I needed the boost.
Back in September, I asked the question, to my wonderful Facebook friends and fans, that if you're being shown many signs that you should be going in a certain direction, should you follow the signs, even if it means a big change? The answer was a resounding yes. I was referring to this. At the time, I had just been published by Noble Romance and was very reluctant to let go of Erika particularly, as I had visions of submitting more work in under that name, but those signs just kept coming. So Fate and her persistence wins ;)
Anyway, bye-bye, Erika & Elysa, and thanks for the wonderful ride :) And here's to 2012!
Dianna x
Hi Dianna
ReplyDeleteI'm a Noble author and we haven't had a chance to really meet over there, but your post here echoed a lot with me, because I've been in your shoes and done that, so to speak. I used to write under 2 pen names (and neither was any close to my real name! Lol) and had a third in the making for 'hotter' works.
But like you, I asked myself how good a job I could do by being three different people... It also felt like I could/would be cheating on my fans by not letting them see me for who I am really.
So I made the hard decision and decided to pursue future publication under a single name... and seriously? It's been the best, most liberating choice of my whole life. Yes, it's daunting and harrowing, but with every day that goes by, you'll see how good it is to just be 'you', and nothing/no one else.
Good luck on your path, Dianna! I wish you nothing but the best :)
Hi Zee!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for stopping by :) I hear you about the liberation. I've finally been able to concentrate on my writing again having made the decision, without worrying about deadlines for two other people (so to speak).
I love your blog, by the way (your bio made me laugh). Am following :)
Good luck with you writing too! xxx
Lol - thanks for the follow!
ReplyDeleteWelcome to the world of freedom :) xoxo