This is my fourth attempt to write this post. The first one blew up bridges. The second was nuclear assault. The third was a little more measured and reasonable. I flirted with the idea of posting all of them, choose-your-own-adventure style: if you want to choose the high road, click here. To plunge into the fiery abyss of Jenny’s contempt, click here. But then I stopped and thought to myself:
I have so much awesome stuff going on in my life right now. I’m so blessed to be doing the things that I love. Why talk about people who aren’t included in that? This week, I’m launching some merch (I love how douchey that sounds. Merch.), I’ve got a video to post, a new recap to deliver, I’m finally crawling out of my grief pit a little bit, I’m half vaccinated…why burn a bridge I’m sure as hell not going to accidentally wander back down? But changes must be made.
As you can see from the title of this post, I am retiring Abigail Barnette. For a few reasons. I don’t need to comment on my views regarding the power of cis white woman tears in the ‘landia. I’ve referenced Mean Girls to describe the hierarchy of the industry but after Dudley only got twenty-six presents last week, it’s beginning to look a lot like MAGA. There are so many people trying to genuinely do good, even some of the people I find insufferable. And I wish those people well. But the hypocrisy of others, the entitlement and gatekeeping and diet social justice branding, the openly unethical actions and outright lies, it’s just…so tiring. And it’s really soured my experience as a romance author. I’m just not enjoying myself anymore. I don’t begrudge anyone their success; I actually have a lot of respect for con artists, if they’re good con artists. And I’ve seen so many incredible feats of manipulation and gaslighting in my time writing romance, made by incredibly successful people.
I’ve also seen some of the best, nicest, and most honest people have magical things happen for them. And I’ve made some great friendships, with authors and readers alike. Romance has always been a great love of mine. But I never meant to be a romance writer. My traditionally published books aren’t romances, they were just published by Harlequin and because romance readers are such big cross-genre readers, I did a lot of romance conventions and collaborations with romance authors. My writer friends were all romance writers. All of the fanfiction I wrote was romance. When I switched to writing and editing romance, it ended up being the worst move of my career. It killed my hobby writing and reading and made all of it a homework assignment. The pace, the environment, the intra-genre politics, all of it has burned me out. So, Abigail Barnette must retire.
I know this will come as a disappointment to readers waiting for a fourth Ian and Penny book. I had explored other avenues of continuing that series with new writers and I was in talks for about a year on that but ultimately a deal wasn’t reached. But when I look back on the end of Baby Makes Three, it feels like their happily ever after already happened. Everyone’s loose ends are tied up, except for one. That’s Danny’s book. I’ve had a perspective change on priest romances. I don’t think anyone is terrible for writing them or reading them, believe me. Priests are just not a subject I want to think about for reasons involving recent charges against a favorite one from high school. I won’t get into it because it’s a sensitive subject for a lot of people, I just wanted you all to be aware that his book wouldn’t have been happening regardless.
This isn’t me quitting fiction; as much as I would love to blog full time, I wouldn’t love to blog full time. I really like writing. I’m going to go back to the fantasy/urban fantasy I started with, and I’m still going forward with dark paranormal erotica/erotic horror as Jennifer Morningstar. So, upcoming releases like In The Blood and Queen of Hell aren’t affected by this shift. I’ll also be pursuing traditional publishing with future fantasy projects. Self-publishing requires more executive function than I’ve had for a while. But that’s quite a way out.
Do I believe that other genres are any better when it comes to petty squabbles and unethical behavior? Absolutely not. Where there be people, there…there shall ye find assholes. But at least they’ll be different assholes. And maybe that’ll make me less of an asshole?
There’s a lot of “burn it to the ground and salt the earth” going around lately, like long overdue change is done waiting for a better time. Best of luck to your new beginnings.
If Abigail is no longer bringing you joy, then we support your choice to cut ties with her. Take care of you first. ❤
So sad penny’s and Ian’s story won’t continue been waiting forever for there story to continue
Yeah, I feel wretched about that but for plot you have to have conflict and honestly, i didn’t want to make them have any more conflict in their lives. i want them to be at their happily ever after
We can always reread their books when we miss them. Same with Sophie. You ended both perfectly, thank you for that!
Will the last book be going to audiobook soon?
Congratulations! I look forward to reading all your amazing future works!
I have loved your Abigail Barnette books and I’m sorry to hear you’re retiring her, but I can understand why that’s the right thing to do.
On the other hand, while I’m always happy to get in bed with a romance novel, fantasy has always been my true love and I am so excited to read what you’re writing in the future.
It’s switching jobs. Eventually you get tired of the politics and bullshit at one place and you step back and realize how toxic that place is, so you go work somewhere else. It’s fine! It has its own politics and bullshit, but it’s different and you can totally deal with it. The cycle turns and you find something you really enjoy and learn new things and find your place where the other one didn’t quite fit.
Can you tell I’m starting a new job in a couple of weeks?
‘But when I look back on the end of Baby Makes Three, it feels like their happily ever after already happened.’
That was pretty much what I’d concluded, so, while it’s a shame because I *love* the Ian and Penny books, it’s not a surprise.
However… can you possibly tell us what Sophie ended up doing with her life apart from having hot sex? I mean, towards the end of ‘The Boyfriend’ she’d decided she was going to use her money and time to make the world a better place for the poor and downtrodden, and I was all ‘Yay, Sophie!’, and I was expecting that we’d see that happening in the last book, but then it just… got ignored and all she does towards the make-the-world-a-better-place end is to spend about five seconds feeling guilty about her carbon footprint at one point. I mean, I can headcanon that it all happened after the end of ‘Sophie’, but it’d be great to get it as Word of God. What does she do about the whole ‘make the world a better place’ life goal?
I decided last year to put romance on the back burner and concentrate on murder/cozy mysteries. All the info you shared is just another sign that I made the right decision. You have always been very genuine and honest about the romance genre and the good and bad that come with it. Best of luck in your future endeavors!
as a preamble, I want to say that French is my mother tongue .. so please excuse me in advance for my English !!
So, Abigail Barnette is retiring …
This is a priceless loss in the world of “romance”.
In this literary sector, there is a lot of “plagiarism”, people who surf the “wave” of the moment (the themes of the “moment” which are successful …), etc … in short, a lot of “followers” …
You are one of the rare authors who marked me the most in this literary genre, because you come out of “beaten sites” ……
You stand out from other authors (followers …) by your frank, honest, realistic, funny writing, full of reflections, without pretense or bias …
You write with your soul and your heart …
THE BOSS will remain my favorite series for eternity …
there are very few authors of erotic romance who have marked me as much as you …
Take care of yourself !!!, and thank you for continuing to please us in other literary genres …
Popping in to advocate for, or enable, anyone to write crime/mystery/thriller/suspense instead. Because I am entirely selfish, and these are what I would like to read 😉 Tami Hoag’s one of my favourites, and she started out in romance. I’m interested in Victoria Helen Stone’s books, though her Victoria Dahl books aren’t for me.
Just putting it out there, writers. You know you have a lot of feelings to sort out on the page 😉
Will you continue to update The Business Centaur’s Virgin Temp? It is such a fun read!
“I actually have a lot of respect for con artists, if they’re good con artists.”
My innocent-to-writerworld brain was just wondering… What do you mean by a con-artist?
Aw, I’m disappointed that we won’t get more of Penny and Ian. But you’re right, they did get their happily ever after. While it might be fun to read fluff it might not be fun to write it.