Ann Whynot's Blog

Just a heads up, I really, really want to overhaul my website and make the navigation easier on mobile (currently you must scroll to the bottom of the page to find the menus). However, with limited time until my surgery, I have decided to commit my hours to my book. The actual blog posts are still viewable on mobile, the social media links at the top have been updated, I’ve been syncing to my Goodreads and some of my longer Facebook posts. That will have to be enough until into the New Year. My apologies. <3

I’ve learned a valuable lesson on this day. Never hop into a “math fight” on the internet. Just solve it in your head and walk away.

An update about book progress:

I also broke out my whiteboard and made a plan of attack for the week. I’m doing a complete read-through, and to be blunt, adding more romance into Part 1 of my romance novel. And sexy times. I got a lovely Christmas card last year from a reader (you know who you are!) wishing for more steam in my next book. I actually happen to agree.

Part 2 is still a bit of a mess. Chaotic, perhaps. See, I wrote most of it while going through a major change in my psych meds, and while the content is good, the grammar, spelling, and other quirks of an old dictation system in Google docs means huge parts can only be deciphered by me. I use Office now as my main writing tool and its dictation system I find excellent. This is good, because after January’s surgery on my right arm/shoulder I will have need of it.

And circling back to cards, last year some readers sent me splendiferous cards. If you’ve done so again and I haven’t thanked you, it’s because you may not know that Canada had no mail for a month. Our first delivery of backlog starts today, I think. I’m also not comfortable handing out my address anymore, but sometime this year I will get a P.O. box which I would be happy to share. (I love exchanging mail with people).

Take care, all! Xx Ann

What a difference 11 hours can make! So I took down my video with the probable timeframe for my next book publication, and explaining that I'm quite ill physically, which has made my mental health suffer. I suggested taking a break from working until January.

WELP. The best laid plans got thrown out the window when I got scheduled for surgery on my right arm/shoulder in January. Guess what that means? No typing until it heals and I've had physio on it. Sooo...I'm going to be a typing machine until the middle of January, and then we will see where this book is. I love Clark Evans. I love Olly McLeod. I hope, when this manuscript is finally finished, you will come to love them, too. Xx --Ann❤️

I just wanted to let you know that I am back up and running after some difficulty. For brevity’s sake, I will leave my links here before I remember how I got the pretty icons back at the top of the page. Speaking of page, this entire website is being revamped because it is impossible to navigate on mobile. I’ll be rolling out changes slowly since I am trying to meet a deadline with my WIP, and  a week trying to fight for my social accounts–and losing–was not something I needed.

Here is where you can find me:

Instagram: http://instagram.com/ann.whynot

Threads: http://threads.net/ann.whynot

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?...

 

 

 

On July 9th, 2024, I was hacked. I have lost access to the Instagram I got to almost 900 followers (small potatoes for some, but huge for me as an emerging indie writer). I also lost my professional Facebook account, which included access to almost 600 followers and a reader group of 100. Here’s the thing: it’s not about the numbers. These were my people, my book besties, my mentors, my friends. And I want it all back!

Facebook says it can’t help me. Not even many people reporting the impersonator has them convinced that anything going on violates community standards. They said it can take up to a YEAR to fully investigate. Well I don’t have a year; I have a book that I want to get out before 2025. It’s not a Smartypants Romance book; this time I’m flying in a different direction, but I really wanted to bring it to the people on those accounts above, the people who have probably forgotten me after such a long time between books. I wanted them to read it, and I wanted them to enjoy it. Simple, right?

Not if you get hacked.

I have tried EVERYTHING.

And now I attempt to go scorched social media. Please visit here for the foreseeable future; I will try to keep things up to date as I move ahead with this ragged mess of a career. If you need to get in touch for professional or other reasons, ann@annwhynot.com is the way to contact me.

Thank goodness for that book bestie/reader support system, because you have all been wonderful. I deeply apologize for the Hacker reaching out to you via me, but trust me, I am stating it here: I AM NOT INVOLVED IN CRYPTOCURRENCY SCAMS.

“I’m terrible at dictation. It’s just not how my process works,” I complain to my physiotherapist. “I normally sit at the desk or on the deck outside, and close my eyes. The words just come, out of my fingers. Dictation is so different, I don’t know if I can do it. I mean there’s my accent, for starters” I sigh, and readjust my wrist strap.

My physiotherapist looks at me and says, “May I be blunt with you, Ann?” I nod, and she leans forward, saying, “You have no other choice. If you want to be a writer, you have to dictate. That wrist of yours isn’t healing overnight. Maybe in a few years, but not anytime soon. You are beyond the point where you can type for 7 hours a day. You have to change your process, because you need your right hand to work again someday. And wear a splint. ”

Great, I think, staring at my right wrist and wanting to cry, even though that will not improve the current situation. Right now, I’m quite literally a writer who cannot write. Possibly for years. That takes my mind back to the fall of the year before, and the literal fall I had down a flight of stairs. I thought that when I initially felt better in the months following my tumble down that it was all good. But that right hand. That damn right hand, wrist, and halfway up to my elbow. It was wrecked, and I wasn’t even sure if all the physical therapy in the world could help me.
__________

I wander through the rest of the day in a fog, unsure about my future. All I ever wanted to do was write, and just when I had gotten a publisher and some readers to take me seriously, it all seems to be going to pot. At least I’ve learned a lesson through this: stairs and Ann do not mix well. From here on out, it is a constant rotation of Tylenol and ibuprofen, a wrist strap and/or a splint, smelly topicals that sometimes work a bit, a little machine that attaches to my wrist and arm via electrodes to deliver current, ice, exercises four times a day, and most definitely no typing.

I try not to turn this into a case of apocalyptic thinking. I have a voice, so why can’t I use it? Because it’s different to say the stories out loud, instead of not even daring to do so until they are in their second or third draft? And so what if I’ve got an East coast Canadian accent? Maybe Word is smarter than I think and it will compensate for the disastrous way I pronounce some words.

Next, my mind drifts to the three manuscripts I have underway, one a serious, contemporary romance; one, memoirs from my father, growing up in a time and place that I want the reader to be enchanted by; and finally, a romp through Sweden after a booking site malfunction, featuring a Japanese boy band.

I really wanted to tell these stories.

Finally, I think of you, reader of this blog post and presumptive reader of my books. I think of the readers in my group on Facebook and the constant reassurance and kindness they have extended to me. How I’ve been told many times through accident, old injuries, and things I’m not free to speak of, that they will be there when I am ready. This blog post via dictation took me three times as long as it would have had I typed it. Instead, I used it as proof of concept. Could I dictate successfully? Well, yes and no. There were many epic mistakes but many more times when exactly what I said came out on the page. When my commas have not been forgotten and even trickier punctuation had turned out all right.
I think that’s where I’m at right now, in a broader sense. That it will turn out all right, if I give it a chance. I can’t be stubborn as a mule over this, and refuse to give it a try. If I dig in my heels, I am the one who will lose the chance to live my dream and finally be a writer full-time.
__________

So what’s new? Apart from the above, I will be attending Steamy Lit Con in Anaheim, California in August! There will be more announcements around that, and they will be shorter ones, so you won’t have to read an entire rambling blog post to get to the meat of things, as it were. As part of the experience, I am offering pre-orders of my books, which may not be a bad way to go. The facts are, that there will be a horde of people there and I have no way of knowing how many will be interested in my already published books that I wrote for Smartypants Romance. I’ve been given a rather large table due to my disability (the wrist thing is new. The back and hip thing? Not so new). With a larger table, it’ll be easier to accommodate my scooter. It will also be easier to accommodate Lego to play with, and giveaway items that the members of my fictional Guild would find appropriate. As a tease, let me just say there is a Loki, a big one.

Pre-orders may be placed here.

After being morose for most of this post, my spirits are lifted at the thought of seeing any of my readers, or perhaps future readers at the convention. I will find a way to make this work. I will have to, because writing is all I ever really wanted to do, I just didn’t think I could. Thank you for sticking with me, and thank you for reading. From Whynot Headquarters, that’s all for now. Peace!

 

New Year; new ambitions and the best of intentions.

As I sit here belting out the Hamilton soundtrack and going through manuscripts, I have many updates! First up, I’d like to thank those who reached out to me on social media, even when my response time was turtle slow. To be truthful with you, I suffered a serious concussion in June, and then, in October, had an accidental trip down a staircase (picture a log rolling, and that’s about what it looked like). I did not come out unscathed; my right wrist was injured and it  took months to heal. Additionally, it was very difficult to concentrate on anything, sadly including writing which I was trying and mostly failing to do with speech-to-text  tech.

Now that I am healed from the trip down the staircase (I just need some minor oral surgery to be fully back to normal), and my concussion has improved, I am finally ready to return to writing! I find myself with a few problems: one is a lucky overabundance of ideas, and having so many manuscripts started that I find myself wondering which one to continue with first.

As this post has become a bit of a confessional, I will admit that I have uncovered a major problem with my story set in Sweden. Sometimes, these things happen–you’ll have a third of a book written and then realize that you just can’t go forward without making significant changes. In my case, it involves a main character of a different race than myself and despite years of studying Japanese culture and language in University, I am not an expert and I don’t like the way I think I may have relied on stereotypes or appropriation in crafting this story. I will not put out a book I can’t stand 100% behind and say I’ve done my absolute  best, including due diligence when it comes to BIPOC characters.

Another story I have is set in Canada, because it is what I know (I’m Canadian!) and involves discussions which are a hot button topic at the moment in the United States, such as abortion. It may raise a bit of controversy, but I am keen to write a book involving pregnancy loss as I have experienced a miscarriage and I think writing the story will  be a bit of catharsis for me.

Finally, another book on my agenda is a tale of a boy from the wrong side of the tracks (literally) and the struggles and triumphs he faces in a very small area (too small to be called a village, even) and would span his childhood until he meets the love of his life. This is the book I am most excited by, and while it is far from a romantic comedy, there is romance of different kinds in the tale. 

My New Year’s resolution was to get two of these written this year. If I put work into it every day, I should be able. The other exciting news I have is that I have gotten engaged! If you look into the dedications of my two existing books, I dedicated them to a “Pat.” Well, in early October Pat asked me to be his partner for life, and I gladly accepted. We marry in the early summer of 2024. To further spill some tea, my Alpha/Beta reader is my Maid of Honour. 

Okay, that’s enough for now. I just wanted to add that I am going to be a signing author at The Steamy Lit Con (formerly Rom Con) in Anaheim, California, from August 18-19. Pat will be in attendance with me, likely in his lumbersexual look of plaid shirt, red beard and mustache (and yes, he is a twin. I didn’t seek out a Winston brother, but here we are, lol).

As this post has gotten quite long, I’ll stop here. Thanks for coming by! If you made it this far in the post, I am sending you an imagination cookie. <3

 

I’ve been waiting a long time to say this: Checking You Out is now available on Amazon and included in Kindle Unlimited! Amazon US: https://amzn.to/3s5NnaRAmazon UK: https://amzn.to/3JHkCY0Amazon CA: https://amzn.to/3BtU6P4Amazon AU: https://amzn.to/3uXA9yI

Hi everyone! My second book, ‘Checking You Out', will be released on Amazon tomorrow, and I cannot convey how excited and humbled I am. I have found readers who read my release last year, ‘Dewey Belong Together', stuck with me and have either already read or are looking forward to reading ‘Checking You Out'. This partly boggles my mind, not because the books aren't worth reading (they’re my babies so of course I think they are fabulous) but just because these people who I don't know or don't know very well yet, have faith in me and in my ability as an author. I have been writing books off and on over the decades since that Christmas when my parents gave me an electric typewriter. I was twelve, I believe, and the stories I’d written since I was five all got typed up, and I knew then that I wanted to be a serious writer.

Sometimes, life takes us in directions we don’t plan, or sometimes our own plans made with the best of intentions get in the way of our dreams. I decided when I was 38 that I was no longer going to let anything get in the way of my dream anymore. My dream to write and create those magical items called books. I have had so much support and encouragement on this journey. My family, who always thought that I should be a writer, my friends, especially Ashley who is a total rockstar and is one of my first readers of everything I write, and my partner Pat who I have a confession to make about: Pat is more than just my partner. Pat is my Norman. If you have already met Norman, in ‘Dewey Belong Together’ or in 'Checking You Out', you know what I mean. He is loyal, kind, never fails to bring a smile to my face, and has been there for me every step of the way, ever since we met in an online video game, seventeen years ago. <3

And where would I be if I didn't mention Smartypants Romance and their Team of Awesome? I still sometimes turn into a little ball of anxiety speaking to the wonderful Penny Reid, not because she's intimidating (she is not!) but because she has been such a huge inspiration to me and helped change my entire life. She is honest, kind, a wonderful mentor, and her big ideas? Fabulous. Speaking of fabulous, Fiona and Brooke have been with me on this journey every step of the way. They've handled everything from minor panic attacks to giving me open and honest feedback on the various iterations of my books. I also need to thank all of the editors, sensitivity readers, and betas who have been there for me for ‘Dewey’ and for ‘Checking You Out.’ Without all of them, I would be lost on this journey, and those magical items that I somehow created would likely not have come to be.

‘Checking You Out’ is my best work to date, and if you come on this journey with me, Lois, Norman, and a lot of the Green Valley crowd, I can guarantee you one thing: thought was put into every page, love into every chapter, and the resulting book is something of which I am very proud. If you have read this far, you get bonus points. (Disclaimer: bonus points are imaginary and will not earn you merchandise or books).

Happy reading!

Love, Ann <3

★★We’re heading back to the library!★★Green Valley Public Library fans: TOMORROW (April 21st) ‘CHECKING YOU OUT,’ a new, standalone book in the GVPL series is being unleashed, and I hope you are ready! It will be available on Amazon exclusively, and will be enrolled in #KindleUnlimited! ★★⁣⁣Reserve your copy TODAY!★★⁣⁣Amazon US: https://amzn.to/3s5NnaRAmazon UK: https://amzn.to/3JHkCY0Amazon CA: https://amzn.to/3BtU6P4Amazon AU: https://amzn.to/3uXA9yI ★ ★ BLURB ★ ★Lois Washington is at the end of her rope. Struggling as a single mother in an apartment the size of a closet is not the New York City adventure she dreamed of in her starry-eyed youth. When her job goes on the chopping block, she is ready for a major life change. Joining her best friend in Tennessee to become the newest employee at the Green Valley Public Library isn’t exactly where she thought life would take her, but she feels up for the challenge. Only this relocation comes with more than she bargained for. Norman Grant has had a string of online dating disasters back in Florida. Dealing with chronic pain, he’s concluded that finding a woman who is understanding about his war wounds just isn’t in the cards. That is, until he becomes quite taken with the single mother who’s also a new arrival in Green Valley. The catch? Things are not quite what they seem. When the past and present collide, Norman and Lois must face painful reminders from their youth. Now, at twenty-seven, Norman’s about to find out just how deeply the wounds he left behind cut. ‘Checking You Out’ is a full-length contemporary romance and can be read as a standalone. Book #10 in the Green Valley Library series, Green Valley Chronicles, Penny Reid Book Univer