Hello Reader!
Welcome to all my new subscribers! A lot of new people have signed up since my last newsletter so I thought I'd do a quick intro: my name is Anne, I'm a developmental editor, a writing coach, and I'm working on my first book: butlers in crime fictionβwhy do we think the butler did it? There are also occasionally baking photos and travel adventure updates here, because that's what I do for fun! I'm always open to suggestions on topics so feel free to email if you have any questions you'd like covered! Or for any other reason.
I'm excited that I get to share a special treat with my author interview this month. Danielle Blum is offering a Goodreads Giveaway of her new thriller, Fragments of Affection. You'll find the link beneath her interview and I hope you'll sign up! Usually my newsletters go out the first Sunday of the month, but I held this one back to include the giveaway. There's also a link to sign up for her newsletter if you want to keep in the loop for her upcoming books.
In other exciting news (I'm full of it this month!), November is my birthday month, and I've decided to combine a birthday sale with my traditional winter sale for a big celebrate-the-end-of-2025 sale. Why not, right? You'll find all the details below, next to a ferret wearing a party hat.
And since there are so many new subscribers, I've got a quick poll to see what kind of content everyone would like to see me plan for 2026.
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πBirthday Saleπ
Now through Dec 31st, when you book a project for 2026 we'll be celebrating my birthday (and Winter) with sales! 20% off developmental edits, manuscript evaluations, and coaching services. But you're on my newsletter, so you know what that means: newsletter subscribers get an extra 5% off any sale. Email me with any questions or to book now.
π I do gift certificates! π
MEET THE AUTHOR
I want to help authors celebrate their accomplishments! Do you have a book getting published soon? Email me: I'd love to interview you about your experiences to share with fellow writers!
Danielle Blum: Fragments of Affection
Q: Is this your first published book? What made you decide to write this book?
A: Yes, Fragments of Affection is my first published book. I do have a first draft of a women's lit novel sitting in a desk drawer, but this is the first one the world gets to see. And I am working on a rom-com series called Postcards from Rock Bottom.
I didn't exactly decide to write this book-the story chose me. A few years ago, I sat down for NaNoWriMo and started it, lasted maybe three days, and then put it away. It wasn't until the following January that I dedicated real time to just sit down and write. The story started as something completely different, which, honestly, is how most books written by pantsers end up. The pieces revealed themselves slowly, and somehow, we made a novel.
Q: What particular challenges did you face in your writing? Do you have any tips for other writers who might face similar challenges?
A: Writing a character with Dissociative Identity Disorder is hard enough on its own. I interviewed over a hundred people living with the diagnosis and worked hand-in-hand with systems for a related anthology. I wanted to learn as much as I could so I could represent my main character both respectfully and authentically. On top of that, writing a character with multiple POVs within one person was a challenge-figuring out how to make it read as one coherent voice while still honoring each personality was tricky, but ultimately really fun. My tip: do your research, listen closely, and trust the characters. Let them show you how they want to be heard.
Q: Are you a self or traditionally published author? Why did you decide this was the publishing path for you?
A: I chose self-publishing because I didn't want to wait for this story to reach the world. I've worked with so many people on this book, and I didn't want their words or experiences manipulated to fit commercial media. Characters like mine are often portrayed as monsters or criminals, which is so far from the truth, but false narratives sell. I owe it to everyone I worked with to be honest and portray these characters as the heroes of their own stories. They have this diagnosis because of severe trauma at a very young age- their brains split to survive. It's really quite extraordinary.
Q: Can you describe your publishing experience for writers who hope to publish one day?
A: It's been a wild ride- always changing, always terrifying- but so worth it. I've wanted to write a book since I was a kid, so finally scratching that off the list is a huge milestone worth celebrating. Networking as much as possible has been invaluable: learning from professionals, absorbing their wisdom, and building relationships has helped me navigate what otherwise feels like an endless maze.
Q: What is one piece of advice that someone gave you that you'd like to pass on to other authors?
A: One piece of advice that has stayed with me is: don't think-just feel. The more we overthink, the more we take ourselves out of doing the work. Writing is as much about intuition as it is about craft. And on top of that: consistency finishes books. Keep going. Even when it's messy, even when it hurts, even when it scares you. Showing up every day is how stories become real.
Danielle Blum is the author of Fragments of Affection, a psychological thriller about trauma, identity, and the fractured spaces between memory and truth. She also writes emotionally charged stories about messy women and unexpected connections. Her upcoming rom-com series, Postcards from Rock Bottom, blends raunchy humor, vulnerability, and offbeat chaos with characters you'll laugh with, cry for, and maybe even text at 2 a.m.
A traveler and multi-passionate creative, Danielle has explored over 40 countries and draws inspiration from the absurd, the beautiful, and the broken parts of being human. When she's not writing, she's painting, photographing the world, or designing boutique travel itineraries. She lives in Portugal, surrounded by ocean air, overgrown houseplants, and entirely too many notebooks.
βhttps://www.danielleblum.com/β
πGoodreads Giveaway!π
Jess Lewis has always lived with missing pieces-gaps in memory, lost time, and the quiet presence of others inside her mind. Her Dissociative Identity Disorder gives her answers she's never had- but some memories are better left buried.
Desperate for the truth, Jess teams up with private investigator Jackson Sinclair to unravel a brutal cold case. But someone else remembers that night too- and they'll do anything to keep Jess silent.
To survive, Jess must trust the fragments of herself who have carried her this far...before the past destroys her completely.
βEnter the GoodReads Giveaway!β
Tropes: Building Blocks for Authors
What is a trope? When you break it down, a trope is just a commonly understood idea. We may think of them as being found only in genre fiction, but really, it's a phrase we use to encompass an ideaβone that can be found in nonfiction as well as fiction. Think of "trope" as a form of shorthand to define expectations for your reader.
One example? "Coming of age." It can be found in any genre, fiction or nonfiction. But we all agree on the basic premise: a youth on the journey to adulthood. There's your first, main building block if you plan on describing your book as a "coming of age" story, so you would have to make sure that's the center of the plot. That's what your readers will expect. When you read similar books for research, you'll search for that term. If an author asks me to do a developmental edit on a romance book and tells me they've written an "enemies-to-lovers" romance, I'm going to expect to see the characters start off as enemies and slowly change their relationship. If that main building block isn't there, either the core of the book needs to change or the author needs to change how they're describing it. If you claim to have a certain trope in your story, readers are going to expect to see it: and their reviews will reflect that.
Tropes aren't just for writing! Use them for marketing! You see this a lot in romance right now, but I have seen it in a few other genres as well. Check out Instagram, TikTok, etc. for cover images with call outs for certain tropes authors know readers enjoy and actively search for online. A few authors actually put a trope in the subtitle (ex: "A Grumpy/Sunshine Romance") but I don't recommend that. Online retailers provide places for authors to enter metadata for readers to search for instead- use that space. Tropes are a constantly growing and developing trend and names change over time. You can change your book's metadate much easier than you can change it's subtitle!
A couple of good sources to find reference lists of current tropes are: Kindlepreneur (free), and PublisherRocket (not free).
My Reading Shelf
If you enjoy closed circle mysteries, puzzles, and humor with your whodunits, Miss Winter in the Library with a Knife is going to be right up your aisle. An entertaining take on the Golden Age mystery genre where a murder mystery weekend goes horribly wrong- as only Christmas in a snowbound English village can!
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βCrafting Story Movement is a brand new book on the craft of fiction writing, complete with tips, samples from popular books to help show readers what author Kathryn Craft is describing, and some really clever, concrete ways for writers to think about how to improve their stories. From pacing and plots to connecting emotionally with your reader, Crafting Story Movement will help you learn to think of new ways to move your story forward.
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