TW: Shooting No one should die by gun fire. Not someone Jewish celebrating on the beach in Australia. No one in Gaza. No one. www.abc.net.au/news/2025-12...

Excellent and fascinating read

My son achieved Man Of The Match last night in the T20 summer league. Figures of 2/6 off 4 and 25 off 20 with the bat.

Everything I learned about diversity, I learned by listening and being uncomfortable. I've messed up along the way and I'm not an expert. Disclaimer done, I'm frustrated at the current RWAus committee. When I was on committee we discussed the issues with lack of diversity in the annual book comp..

This week, myself and a few other authors get to say we knew Rachel (Reid) before she got famous. Watching a colleague living the dream is so cool. If you loved Heated Rivalry, my sapphic WWI book Her Lady’s Honor has the same acquisition and editorial team. books2read.com/DahliaLadysH...

I do actually (mostly) make my money from writing. As well as my "stable" job doing admin for the Stud Book (20 hrs per week), I work as a horse racing journalist with 3 freelance clients. My books make enough $$ to go to the pub with friends a couple of times a week.

I missed the deadline for getting my books into this sale (life has been a lot lately) but it's a great promo, so dive in and check it out.

So many ideas. And they multiply like bacteria, the more ideas you have the more you get until the list of books to be written will keep me going until I'm well past 100. Even when I combine ideas from my list, it only turns into more ideas, more characters, more words that need to be written.

It's Trans Awareness Week AND Novella-ember, and I have trans novellas of all stripes available: noir, horror, paranormal, contemporary, fantasy... You can get them from my direct shop or AMZ 💙 If you want a rec to match your tastes, let me know! riengray.shop www.amazon.com/stores/Rien-...

If you've ever looked up my books and thought - oh, there's too many and they are all over the place - I have a handy list on my website by series, along with pairing type. Heat levels are also noted on my website. www.reneedahlia.com/printable-li...

Kobo is doing a 30 day free trial promotion for their Kindle Unlimited competitor service Kobo Plus for new subscribers (not sure if this is US only), if you like queer indie books, small press SFF, and backlist SFF from large publishers there's a lot to choose from on this service that's not on KU!

Once again, I find myself at the 75% point in my wip and am stuck. I know from experience that I just have to push on and it'll all work itself out, so I'm writing this as encouragement to myself. Keep going. The satisfaction that comes with finishing the book is worth getting past this part.

Writing the last week's updates into my therapy journal is exhausting. Necessary though. And certainly not as funny as June's journal which is highlighted by a Reddit-worthy moment that was hugely validating.

Can't stop thinking about the term 'pity marketing'. Wish I'd known how to do that when I was homeless, kicked out by my ex-husband for what he called my "inappropriate behaviour" aka telling people the truth about what he'd done. 18 months later, life is much better. I have my own place.

Happy release day to Ravishing Among The Roses. This is one of the most personal books I've written - I'm not the queer second son of a Duke in regency times and self-inserts are weird - only because it helped me deal with some big feelings while I was writing it. books2read.com/DahliaRavish...

I had one of those weeks where juggling everything left me exhausted, and then yesterday one of my kids achieved a goal that he'd been working on for ages, and I was so immensly proud of him that I couldn't sleep. He had a rough time a year ago and to see him thrive is awesome.

People who uphold Georgette Heyer as "historically accurate" are bigots.

#spookyseason Want a sapphic short story that I wrote a couple of years ago for a spooky season challenge? Note: this link will sign you up for my newsletter. dl.bookfunnel.com/ppwhhut8cc

Want a book I wrote in anger, but actually turned out a little soft? Ravishing Among The Roses releases at the end of this month. It's the third in a series but can be read as a stand alone. www.amazon.com/Ravishing-Am...

In the scheme of things this is small but it made me smile. My adult son bought me birthday cake yesterday.

Another Australian cultural institution destroying its own reputation for reasons of censorship

Love a writer's subconcious. I've just realised my latest wip is about AI - it's a regency set sapphic romance with themes of education and choice and what happens when people are discouraged from learning, and discouraged from independant thought.

I need to be reassured that the Anthropic settlement isn’t just “and this is how much it costs to steal work, build that into your budget model“ 😭

What would be a nice little appropriate (non-alcoholic) gift for my neighbour who helped jumpstart my car yesterday?

I will never read a romance that tries to turn a tech bro billionaire into a hero. That’s propaganda as far as I’m concerned.

EW EW EW EW EW NO EW Tell me ChatGPT wrote your book without telling me ChatGPT wrote your book.

Home from RWAus. Aside from the disappointment over the Ruby, the conference was excellent, and even better, I came home to a clean house thanks to my 19yo son (and flatmate) who did the laundry and cleaned the lounge and kitchen. Super work, lad. Massive news that Alyssa Cole is coming in 2026.

Australia Post announced this today too. No mail to USA from here anymore.

1. A siloed award doesn't solve systemic issues. It's a bandaid at best. 2. The audacity of the winner to enter this with an interracial romance while being white and straight shines glaring headlights on the systemic issues. It's taken an opportunity away from someone who is own voices. #RWAus

For the record, as a previous Secretary of RWAus, I was firmly against having a separate diverse romance award for the annual awards. Our committee discussed it and decided against the idea, but the current committee have gone ahead with it. Unsurprisingly, the 3 finalists were white women.

It's coming up on one year since a shit thing happened to one of my kids - he's doing really well now although it was a tricky few months at first - and I'm about to release the book I wrote at the time. It's my angriest book, stuffed full of all the emotions I couldn't say at the time.

Some new Aussie romance releases for 18-24 August. Includes books by @lexxiecouperwrites.bsky.social @eviemitchellauthor.bsky.social @sofiaaves.bsky.social @reneedahlia.bsky.social @addisonacresauthor.bsky.social @abigailmaderauthor.bsky.social @lexloganauthor.bsky.social #Booksky #Romancelandia

New free Patreon post. It's free because it's basic knowledge that every romance writer should be getting correct. Also because my friend's photo is the funniest - and yes, he has no weight resting on the pony. He's standing on the ground. www.patreon.com/posts/nine-h...

There's something amazing about beginning to write a new book. I do not understand why anyone would want a machine (gen-AI) to do this for them? There's a magic in creation that is so very special. There's a different kind of grit in writing the bit from 75% to the end, but that's also special.

I know lots of you have strong opinions on this topic, so I hope this will be of interest: "You are being asked to participate in a survey of romance authors and readers that is being conducted by Prof. Bridget Kies in the Film Studies and Production program at Oakland University."

Exclusive character art for Maiden Over will be going out in my next newsletter. Sign up here: dl.bookfunnel.com/wklirzpiau

Introducing Swain Cove - two mm Regency novellas and one sapphic one (it's already released). A smuggler's village, some piracy, discussions of ethics and power, and some fun stuff all with a HEA because happy endings are my favourite and queer happy endings are subversive.

Both of our cars have had emergency repair bills this week to the tune of $3,600. I'm a teacher. If you've been considering buying one of my Kindle books, 😬

Struggling with potential burnout. Who has tips for solving this before it gets worse? (Yes I'm cutting back from one of my jobs, but less money is more stress too, so I'm not sure that will help?) Until then, buy my books? www.reneedahlia.com

Writers, describe your WIP in the worst way possible Famous for playing a sport Americans don't understand, and splashed across the papers in a foreign land, a lesbian thinks a one night stand will solve all her problems.

This is a concentration camp

It's #stuffyourereader day (June 20). Check out all the free books here: www.romancebookworms.com My book, Maiden Over, is included. So if you like sapphic sports romance, check it out. books2read.com/DahliaMaiden

I've finally written this month's wild events into my therapy journal. And made a note at the start of the journal to remember that this month is the funniest read of all time. The highlight is a text message that my bro-in-law thought was a Reddit post. It will inspire a book one day.

Two simple things will destroy the inevitability of “AI” and it’s: - Having to pay for training data if it falls under copyright - Making every company liable for anything the machine spits out just like a person would be That doesn’t sound like a product we need to accept or else!

Last year RWAus introduced a 'diverse' category for their annual book awards. I spoke up at the time saying I thought having a silo was a bad idea, but was dismissed by the committee. I refused to enter my queer books in the category. Fast forward to now and a white cis-het woman's book has finaled

as always, i'm going to read everything through the lens of what's happening in romance, and the truth is, a lot of romance written by white women right now, A LOT OF IT, traffics in these same messages.

Watching the test this week, and on day 2 there was a crowd catch. My oldest lad says "Isn't that Palmy? I think he's in England now?" Next minute, up pops the video in their cricket club's group and yes, it was one of his fellow club players (there are about 60 players in his club).

#WeeknightWriters Currently writing the final novella in my sapphic cricket sports series, while watching the test at Lords with my cricket playing kids. It's probably going to be filled with in-jokes that only I find funny, but given the lack of readers for this series, I may as well enjoy myself.

The worst thing about co-parenting with someone who likes to control the narrative is that I've ended up being someone who vague posts online, because every time I share something I get long emails about how I'm being "inappropriate" by telling the truth.