It’s Read Around the Rainbow time!!! Every month, we’re a group of authors who get together and blog about the same topic, and May’s topic is: Do you use a pen name? And if so, why?

I do, more than one, actually. I’ve been Ofelia Gränd for ten years now. On June 5th 2014, my first story was published. It was through Goodreads MM Romance Groups’ Don’t Read in the Closet event. I’d written a few stories before then, MF stories in Swedish, just for the fun of it. Nothing I ever published. And I saw this event and thought why not? So I snagged a prompt. Readers sent in requests, a short description of what they wanted and an image to go with it. Editors would help get the story in shape for free, and the story would be offered to the group’s members for free.

I did it for the fun of it, and I was working as a teacher at the moment, teaching 16-19-year-olds, so I didn’t want my real name tangled up with spicy gay romance. I figured the school might not be pleased, and I didn’t know if I’d write more than one story.

I would, of course, but I wasn’t sure I’d publish anything more. The main reason I did the Don’t Read in the Closet event was the free editing.

So yeah, that was the reason I started Ofelia Gränd. Then, back in 2020, I felt I wanted to do something else. Not changing how I write, or switching genres, or anything like that. But I felt that Ofelia was a mess LOL. I wrote everything from romance to horror, flash fiction to novel length, no heat whatsoever to high heat, and I thought maybe I didn’t have more readers than I did because they never knew what they were getting.

How do you market a mess?

So I started Holly Day. It was much due to Nell Iris, A.L. Lester, and J.M. Snyder. We met up in a chatroom and did writing sprints, and I was writing a Christmas story at the moment. I told them I could write holiday stories all year round. Then I took the kids to the playground and all the while I was thinking about what I’d said.

At first, I thought I’d do Valentine’s Day, Easter, Halloween, and Christmas or something like that. I told them what I was thinking, and said if I ever was to do something like that I was to name myself Holly Day because I’ll write holiday stories. We had a laugh, but they kept telling me to do it.

So I did. I wrote a Valentine’s story and submitted it to JMS Books as Holly Day, and it wasn’t until then I thought that no, I wasn’t gonna do the big holidays. I was gonna do the crazy ones. So next I wrote a story for Kiss a Ginger Day, and since that was in January and Valentine in February, J.M. Snyder scheduled them accordingly, and the whole idea of monthly releases written for a specific holiday was born.

So, my first pen name was to keep my identity hidden, my second was to fit a brand.

Curious about if the others are writing under their real names or not?? Well, hop on over there and have a look!

Ellie Thomas

Addison Albright

Fiona Glass

It’s Read Around the Rainbow time!!! I can’t believe it’s been another month already. On the last Friday of every month, we’re a group of authors who get together and blog around the same topic. This month’s topic is Writer’s Block.

I know this is something some struggle a lot with, but I don’t. I write most days of the month. My alarm goes off at 05:40 every morning, no matter what day it is. I get up, put on coffee, fix something to eat, bring my coffee to my desk, scroll through my emails and some social media, and unless I have edits to deal with, I write.

Do I wake up feeling like writing every day? Nope. Do I do it anyway? Yes.

And I know it sounds as if I don’t take writer’s block seriously, that I’m being ableist, and maybe I am, but it’s because I don’t have writer’s block. I’m not saying writer’s block isn’t a thing, because I know it is, but I’ve never had it, not to the degree that I’ve been unable to write anything at least.

Sometimes I get lost in my head. Yes, I know it’s sort of the job, but I find expectations crippling. It’s the reason I struggle with writing series. I often start writing a story, thinking it’ll be a standalone story, then I fall in love with a secondary character and want to write their story. I often do, and then I’m standing there with a two-book series, and people expect a third. That’s when I freeze.

But it’s never to the extent that I can’t write another story, stand-alone or in another series. And then I’m angry with myself for not finishing what I started and build on the reluctance to continue the series by putting pressure on myself. And on and on it goes in a lovely little spiral.

I don’t call it writer’s block, though, because all the while I’m writing. I might not be writing the story I ‘should’ be writing, but I’m publishing a story a month (as Holly Day). I write 2k a day apart from the days when I’m doing edits or proofreads. I sneak in the occasional admin day too, but, as a general, I write every morning between 6 a.m. and 9 a.m. Then I go for a walk with the dog, fix some lunch, have some more coffee, and get back to my desk for a couple more hours until the kids get home from school.

Routine. I think routine is key. I treat my writing like I would any other job.

That being said, depression is real, as is performance anxiety, but at risk of pissing some people off, I don’t have time to wait for my muse to be cooperative. I have deadlines every month.

Check out what the others have to say!

Nell Iris

Ellie Thomas

Addison Albright