IWSG April 2026: Playlists + Book Cover + Update

Purpose: To share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds! Posting: The first Wednesday of every month is officially Insecure Writer’s Support Group day. Post your thoughts on your own blog. Talk about your doubts and the fears you have conquered. Discuss your struggles and triumphs. Offer a word of encouragement for others who are struggling. Visit others in the group and connect with your fellow writer - aim for a dozen new people each time - and return comments. This group is all about connecting! Let’s rock the neurotic writing world! Our Twitter handle is @TheIWSG and hashtag is #IWSG.

The awesome co-hosts for the April 1 posting of the IWSG are Melissa Maygrove, Cathrina Constantine, Kate Larkinsdale, and Rebecca Douglass!

The following link will allow you to peruse everyone in the Blog Hop.

Link | IWSG Blog Hop Participants 

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April 1 question - If you have a playlist (or could put one together) that either gets you in the groove to write or fits with one of your books, what is it? What type of music or what songs?

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Hello, friends!

I had good intentions of posting my IWSG blog last month, but it didn't happen. We had tickets to see Lady Gaga in Atlanta on March 5th, and I had been sick the week before, and I just didn't have it in me between the recovery and the packing to prepare to travel on March 4th to get this blog posted.

The Lady Gaga show was absolutely amazing. A masterclass in performance. Like Broadway meets a professional dance performance meets the cirque meets fashion week. I don't know if that makes any sense. It's before 7am as I'm writing this, and I've had no caffeine. But it was a spectacle, in the best way possible. Amazing costumes. Amazing dancers. The camera work for what was projected on the big screens didn't just give you a better view of the stage, it enhanced the performance and sometimes intentionally added to the storytelling and the experience. Maybe that sounds strange to say for a concert, but it was a story. The costumes and the dancing and the sets and the progression of songs told a story, much like a Cirque du Soleil show. We also had amazing seats and the lower tier VIP package so we got little extra goodies.

Anyway, that's the reason I didn't post in March despite my best intentions.

I have fun updates on the writing front, however. I HAVE A COVER. And she's gorgeous.

I am so thrilled with this cover for The Tinsel Twist. There are so many little Easter eggs on it for things that happen in the book. It's whimsical and cozy but has a bit of the suspense edge. And this is just the ebook cover. There's going go to be a bit more to the paperback wrap and I'm assuming a bit more to the hard cover as well.

The artist is Rachel Lawston. I discovered her book covers when she did the covers for a series for a friend of mine. I sent her entire portfolio with my cover ideas sheet to my publisher, and they hired her! I was shocked and so pleased that they were able (and willing) to get my top cover artist. Sometimes publishers just do what they want for the book cover and don't listen to the author at all, but that was absolutely not the case with Turner and this cover. I had a great amount of control in how the final version came out. Although Rachel did such an amazing job that I didn't have to ask for many tweaks!

Aside from that, I finished my line edits and got this sent back and recently got my copy edits. They weren't supposed to be done until April 6th, but I got them back a whole two weeks early. So I'm working through those. It's so surreal that this round I'll be adding a dedication, author's note, my acknowledgements, and whatever other front/back matter I'm forgetting about.

Oh, also, my release date got pushed up an ENTIRE MONTH. Instead of December 1st, my book is now coming out on November 3rd. Which I am extremely grateful for because it gives me more time before Christmas for events and promotion with the back actually out in the world.

It is available to add on Goodreads and preorder in many places, globally as well! I've had some global friends afraid they weren't going to be able to get a copy, but I've been fairly successful in finding listings in other countries. It may come out a bit later there or only be available in ebook or the listing may not even be populated yet (it is a bit early still), but theoretically it will be available in English in most countries.

I got to participate in my first Barnes & Noble preorder sale last week and a few people sent me pictures of my book in their checkout carts. I still can't believe people are actually preordering my book.

Anyway, I'll stop gushing for now, but at barely over seven months until release, it's mostly all I can think about!

I've also been keeping myself busy with editing. I may have slightly overbooked myself right out of the gate, especially with my own edits in play. I'm not sure how much sleep I'll be getting this month to stay on deadline. So far, I've edited a reality TV baking competition romance and a workplace fake dating romance and now I'm on to a wolf shifter fated mates romance! I do also have more of a second world fantasy with romantic subplot manuscript to finish as well, then I will be caught up. While romance is my speciality, I do hope to get more of a variety as my business grows.

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Despite it being two months since I posted last, I do feel like those are all the updates I have where writing is concerned. I've been super busy but a lot of it has been behind-the-scenes, in the weeds stuff that doesn't make for a good blog post.

Oh! I do think I failed to mention that we spent one day at Con Nooga. That was fun! My friend Beth was appearing as a guest so we went to support and see a couple other friends. It's a good con for perusing vendors and seeing cosplays and then going to a few panels. We live close enough we decided just to drive down for the day instead of stay overnight for multiple days. We did the full weekend last year, but I didn't feel it was worth it to do multiple days again. I don't know if we'll go back next year. I've been applying to some other conferences/conventions that will take place in January or February, and if I get into one of those as a guest, then we'll have those instead.

April Question

Today's question asks: -  If you have a playlist (or could put one together) that either gets you in the groove to write or fits with one of your books, what is it? What type of music or what songs?

Well, I do love a good playlist.

Sad to say that the playlist for The Tinsel Twist isn't super fleshed out. I think partially because it's a holiday book and I get tired enough of holiday music during the season that I didn't want to make a playlist with holiday music on it to listen to throughout the year. I should add some more songs to it. There are only 12 so far and only two are holiday songs. One that I use a lot is I Get to Love You by Ruelle. It really fits for Adelaide and Jace's second chance romance. I did recently add Can't Stop Lovin' You by Van Halen, but this playlist definitely needs more. There's a lot that happens in the book that isn't conveyed by the current list!

Now, a playlist I have fleshed out more is the one for my sports romance A Bid on Love. I don't know why it was so much easier to build a playlist for this one but it was. I even did a post for it last year.

It's mostly a bunch of love songs, naturally. I need to add some football fight songs to it for Kent. I do have one Sleep Token song for him that focuses on the weight of being a celebrity.

Also, when Taylor Swift's album The Life of a Showgirl dropped a lot of her "in love with an NFL player" coded music fit my book nicely. I made this playlist graphic before that album was out but The Fate of Ophelia immediately went on this playlist.

If anyone wants to check out the A Bid on Love (ABOL) playlist, here's a Spotify link.

I'm sure that I'll keep adding to it

Also, one of my favorites, and a COMPLETE one-eighty to either of those playlists is the one for my gritty rural contemporary fantasy Phoenix Rising that I one day hope to revise. I just love this playlist. Here's a Spotify link for it too. Basically, I want a playlist to exude a vibe that matches the book or the characters. Sometimes it's something situational. Sometimes it matches a character or a feeling they have or even just a particular scene. Sometimes the song has nothing to do with the book, but the vibes of the music are immaculate.

I don't usually listen to music when I'm drafting. If I do it's something like the Bridgerton soundtrack or lofi or other classical music, and sometimes pop music in another language. I have to not be able to understand the lyrics for me to have music with lyrics playing while I write. Maybe it's because I'm a musician and classically trained vocalist, but I home in on the words and sometimes get too caught up in interesting chord progressions to focus on writing and listening at the same time. I will listen to music when I'm drafting or brainstorming though. Especially music for vibes that might get me in the right headspace for a certain scene or if I'm switching between genres. If I've been working on a romance and need to go back to a dark fantasy then I need to switch my brain over from Chappell Roan to Tool, basically.

I should probably stop yapping now. I'm already later than usual posting this because I normally write it the day before and post it when I get up at 6am, but I hadn't written it yet, so I've been writing it before work so I didn't miss another month!

Anyway, thanks for stopping by!

Let me know how things are going for you in the comments and if you like to make playlists for your projects or writing time.

Looking forward to traversing the blog hop and reading about other people's experiences with their old writing.

For now,

Rosie J.

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