Lizz Donnelly's Blog

Spoilers before we begin, it’s more than 52 books.

This post was meant to go up yesterday, as my usual year end wrap up, but I was felled first by the news of Betty White’s passing, and then by the Mother of All Migraines.

I had an excellent reading year, and the Bookstagram project that Ashley and I started for the first half of 2021 was really great for padding my booklist. I managed my goal of 50 by August, but slowed down significantly once we took a break from the Bookstagram.

O...

I didn’t go back and read what I wrote at the end of Our Year of the Collective Dumpster Fire 2020, because it didn’t really matter. Just like it doesn’t really matter what I write about Our Year of Dystopian Hellscape 2021, because you all lived it too.

So let’s get straight into the Year End Accounting of Shit I Did This Year Even Though I Feel Like It Should Still Be April… (seriously–where 2020 was a year of Endless March, 2021 was warp speed and straight on til morning.)

My goals we...

After a long hiatus, I am back with a short story acceptance!

It’s been a weird year(s) for writing, and I’ve definitely gone through phases of mania where I start twelve different projects, quickly followed by depression where I finish none of them.

So I’m especially pleased to announce that my slightly Dickensian, ghost doggo, feel good holiday story, “Bark! The Harold Angels Sing” has been accepted for Tyche Books “Home For the Howlidays” anthology, which will be out later this year. ...

In this, the Year of Our Collective Dumpster Fire 2020, I almost did not make it to my goal of 50 books. My reading suffered until late in the year when a new project with a friend gave it a necessary boost.

Shameless plug– if you’re on Instagram, check out @Andanotherthingreaders for all your YA and SFF needs, featuring reviews, pairings and whatever else Ashley and I feel like throwing at you. Also check out @knitone_readtwo, which will feature knits and books and probably wine and/or whis...

I probably ought to have just crossed out the 0 and replaced it with a 1 on my 2020 list of things I wanted to accomplish this past year, because I hit very few of them. I think that’s probably true of everyone.

I didn’t, though.

I erased the whole thing and we’re going to start over for 2021 because that’s really the only thing we can do. I have no illusions that this year coming is going to make up for the overall trauma of 2020– we’re not out of the woods of a global pandemic yet, and...

Actual footage of me trying to write anything this year:

Like most of us, I struggled with producing new work this year, and as a result I only have one publication to remind you of in this year end post. (I actually had to google that it did come out this year, because it happened in May and that was approximately six lifetimes ago.)

For your consideration is my pun-filled, space pirate cat story from the Swashbuckling Cats: Nine Lives on the Seven Seas anthology, “The Growing of th...

2020, right?

Okay, that’s done, because it’s December, and you’ve all been here living the same year I have so there’s no need to go on about what an off year it is.

I’ve been exceptionally lucky that I haven’t suffered in the extreme ways that some other folks have– my job is “essential” so I kept right on working. I’m something of a recluse (I learned) so my day to day didn’t change *that* much. In fact, Quarantine Life sort of suits me, to a point.

But Pandemic Brain is a real thi...

I don’t know about the rest of you, but 2020 has not been a particularly productive year for me. My writing has suffered, my reading has suffered, the only thing that really hasn’t is my knitting because for a few months at the beginning of the pandemic that was ALL I had the motivation to do (hello, mask ear relief button bands! I made 250 of them… :D)

Recently though I’ve been plugging away at a couple novel drafts again, which I’m hoping to at least finish the first pass by the end of the...

New Project Announcement!

I am thrilled to announce the launch of a new project with a good friend, our Instagram endeavor, And Another Thing Readers:

Ashley and Lizz won’t stop talking about books. With a focus on YA, especially SF/F, And Another Thing Readers explores and analyzes one book per week with reviews, curriculum and book club tie-ins, food and beverage pairings, and another thing…

Our first book kicks off on Tuesday, but stay tuned for our star review breakdown and exp...

Tyche Books’ anthology, Swashbuckling Cats: Nine Lives on the Seven Seas, is out in the wild today!

It is, as you may have guessed, an anthology of short fiction featuring stories about pirate cats. Here’s the blurb:

If you think cats and water don’t mix, think again.