Good Monday,
I’d like to thank you in advance for reading this post. It is a bit long-winded, but it imparts some very important information about the future and me, though not necessarily in that order.
So, beginning with me, I have a confession to make.
My real name…is not Deanna.
You may have figured this out when you realized I write romances about geeks who play role playing games and really looked at my name. Deanna Dee De(anna) Dee, D and D, Dungeons and Dragons. (Yes, I went there.) However, whether you knew or not, you do now, and it’s time for some changes to DDGeekWriter.
Hi, I’m Mary DeSantis, and I have a pen name, Deanna Dee.
I initially began writing as Deanna because I wanted to write geek romance and keep it separate from Mary’s fantasy writing. In the last year, though, I’ve come to the conclusion that the two aren’t so far apart as I originally thought. I no longer feel uncomfortable letting the hypothetical cat out of the bag.
Another issue of late is my stress level. While Craig, Lydia, and the rest of the crew will forever hold a special place in my heart, that special place is currently not special enough for me to dedicate hours of my time to them. I was MIA most of January for some family issues, and while that was happening, I did some redefining of myself. I realize The Games of Love series is incomplete, but I can’t do it right now. I’m burned out on it, as they say. Thinking about writing it makes me feel heartsick and overwhelmed. I mean to return to it someday, but as of right now, I don’t know when.
I’ll even get more honest. Deanna feels like she’s smothering and crushing Mary. I started Deanna’s stuff for a myriad of reasons. I didn’t realize it at the time, but I believe one was fear of my fantasy not being as good as I thought. I used a pen name and a genre switch as a hiding place. I wrote stories I ultimately like but that aren’t my first true love.
Well, no more. I need to do what’s best for me. I need to do what makes me happy, and right now, that is not The Games of Love. Right now, that is going back to my roots and diving into the political intrigue and magic systems I wrote a few years ago.
Is Deanna disappearing forever? No. She will have a dedicated page on this site. If a short story call comes up that I think she’d be perfect for, I may submit something. She just won’t be my main focus.
Please be patient as it may take me a bit to figure all the logistics. For now, the most important point is…
Mary is taking over. DDGeekWriter used to stand for Deanna Dee, Geek Writer. Well, this may be surprising, but Mary is also a geek. She also writes. So please help me welcome in the era of “DeSantis and Dee, Geek Writer: Sharing Headspace with myself.”
Thank you for reading. Many people think writing is just, well, writing. You sit down and you write and you produce a product, right?
Technically, yes, but it’s so much more. A great writer puts their heart and soul into their work. A great writer feels amazing after writing a scene or chapter. A great writer gets as emotionally intense as her story (and sometimes annoys those around her in the process—sorry, guys). Any writer, though, does what she loves. I like Deanna. I love Mary.
TTFN,
Mary
