This weekend I tried to stay offline to work on my novella for the upcoming Berkley Heat anthology. The first story I wrote quickly became too big for a novella format so I put it aside to develop into a novel for later. Then I started the second idea but hated the opening. Readjusted, loved the opening, got to 18K and realized it was also too unwieldy for a novella.

Novella writing is a particular sort of skill – it’s not what I normally write, though I have enjoyed writing the ones I’ve done. But at long last this weekend I found my story and began writing it. The key issue for me is that this anthology is menage/love triangle themed. It’s difficult to write a contemporary menage book just in general, but add space and wordcount constraints and it all makes pacing more important. It’s absolutely necessary that you lay the groundwork so readers *believe* these people would be drawn to each other in a menage and also that they’d stay together and make it work.

Anyway, my main goal this week is to finish this novella. I don’t want to jinx it until I’m finished, but I’m pretty excited about this one (and I’ve got two new ideas in the hopper for development when I get the chance).

Oh! I got the first official review of INSATIABLE this weekend from I Just Finished Reading. The entire thing is awesome, I sooo appreciate the time that must have gone into such a comprehensive, detailed review. Here’s just one part:

The hallmark of Dane’s writing is her amazing heroines, that could seemingly get lost because of her yummy heroes. Dane heroines are strong women, who come to be confident in their abilities, recognize their strengths, and love completely. Her heroes are strong, caring, manly men, who want to take care of their women, but always help them to see their strength and inner beauty. They are family men, dedicated to doing right for the ones they love. The way that her heroes and heroines teach each other to recognize and embrace their strengths is one reason why I always enjoy reading a Dane book.

Thank you, Lori!