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What Happened to Looking For Hope?

 This is a summary of the updates about Looking For Hope that I posted on Twitter in March 2022, along with an update from April 2022.  March 2022:  LOOKING FOR HOPE is one of the hardest books I’ve written. I wrote it while in hospital, and two months ago, again in hospital, I was trying to finish its edits. Then Amazon messed up and cancelled all the preorders. None of these have been reinstated. They won’t even list the book now. And I’m just…exhausted and deflated. When Amazon cancelled it, I lost all the motivation to keep editing it. I haven’t touched it since then. And now I just don’t know what to do with it. It was a pretty destroying book to write, and I feel defeated. I haven’t had the energy to argue with Amazon to get the title back up, and part of me just thinks maybe I should leave it be and not release this book (at least, at the moment). There are preorders on other platforms but as Amazon holds the monopoly for indie titles, I am really considering cancelling this boo
Recent posts

Yet Another Example of Asexuality Being Erased…

 They had the opportunity to include asexuality… you know, on the colour that represents asexuality… but instead they wrote ‘straight’.  I spotted this poster at my local NHS walk-in centre. Very disappointing.  Ace erasure and exclusion is exactly why days such as #InternationalAsexualityDay are important.

Ace Erasure Is Real

  A Twitter thread from my @ ElinAnnalise account  Whenever I tweet about Asexuality and the need for more awareness and ace education, there’s always someone who’ll say I’m looking for something to be oppressed about or moan about, and that aces aren’t affected like other queer people. Um, ace oppression and erasure IS real. Can’t believe I’m having this conversation the day after International Ace Day either. 🙄🙄🙄  We need more awareness & education, because common responses to telling someone you’re ace are:  “You should see a doctor.”  “It’s not a real thing.” “You’ll find someone in the end.” “Is it because of trauma?”  “That’s unnatural.”  “I can fix you” or “I will fix you.”  “I choose not to have sex sometimes too!”  “You’re just scared.”  “You should see a therapist.”  “So you have no emotions?”  “Wow, you’re missing out.”  “It must mean you’re not happy.” “I think you’re just repressing your sexuality.”  “You’re not a whole person.” “Wow, that’s weird and creep.” [stil

Is Social Studies Fiction A Better Name for Women’s Fiction?

 The manuscript I’m working on is becoming less and less like a romance, and more like a contemporary about healing/friendship/different types of love, with suspense and a romantic subplot. I’m really stuck on what to call it as I don’t like the term ‘women’s fiction’…  Ideas? Here’s the mood board I made…  Why don’t I like the term ‘Women’s Fiction’?  Well, it doesn’t really tell you much about the genre. It seems kind of sexist, like women have to have their own classification especially for them, and there’s no genre for ‘men’s fiction’—which, to me, kind of implies that (almost all?) other genres are written primarily with men in mind, and all stories for women just get put into this one category?  Like, it also means men likely won’t read women’s fiction for fear of being seen as feminine … so why class a whole genre of books as being just for women? What is it about them that mean men shouldn’t read them? Are these stories deemed too emotional and weak? Too trashy? I know romance

I Remembered I Have a Website!

So, I’ve not posted on here in years, which is a little embarrassing. To be honest, I kind of forgot I had this website. I write under three different names, and I’d been using one of my other websites as a catch-all type thing for everything I write. But I realised that just wasn’t really working. The books I write with my other two names are dark and strange, about haunted girls and powerful families—which doesn’t really sum up my ace romances and women’s fiction at all! So I’ve decided to separate my books onto different websites again. Thus, ElinAnnalise.com is being resurrected!  I’m slowly updating this site with my new books that have released in the last two years…  I’ll add some of my Twitter threads here, probably writing them up a little more, as I’ve been using my Twitter for a lot of updates and ramblings recently. But I think it makes sense to return to blogging as well.  And I’ll update with writing news too—of which, I have lots to share!  So, a brief look here at what’

Out Now: IN MY DREAMS, My Ace Romance!

  IN MY DREAMS is out now! I can't believe my first ace romance is out in the world!  Writing  In My Dreams   was such a special process for me. I am asexual, and for so long, I believed that any romance novel I wrote would have to include allosexual characters. I didn't think anyone would want to read about a main character who's asexual, especially if it was a romance novel. I really believed that a romance novel had to include sex--but all I really wanted to write was the romance (because that's what appeals to me). You know, those scenes where your characters are falling in love, where everything's new and exciting, where you're really emotionally invested in a pairing.  And where there's also no sexual attraction.   Because that's what it's like for me. I'm asexual, and I don't experience sexual attraction or have a desire for sex. I'm still attracted to people (physically and emotionally), and I'm still very romantic (though man

I wrote an Ace Romance!

 Oh my goodness, I almost can't believe it! My first ace romance releases in less than a week!  Writing this book has been amazing--and so, so validating for my own identity.  I'm asexual, and I'm a romance writer. When I begun my romance-writing journey, I firmly believed I'd have to write about sex. I mean, I started with my Rose Haven series (the prequel, When We Were Young, is out now, with book one following next year), and while I love those characters, I always felt a bit 'stuck' when it came to writing the sexual chemistry and the sex scenes. Because, well, I haven't experienced those feelings. I don't understand sexual desire. I've never looked at someone and felt sexually attracted to them.  I realised I was ace (asexual) in my mid-teens. I'm now in my mid-20s, and this hasn't changed. At first, I kept my asexuality a guarded secret. I didn't know how people would react. I'd had therapists suggest I was broken, and friends s