iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Ros Dando ✨A Gift of Wild available now!✨ @rosdando.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

Celebrated our wedding yesterday - it was a truly wonderful day with brilliant people, and the Cumbrian weather decided to behave. (I don't share pictures of other people on open socials, so no husband pics, but he looked gorgeous!)

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Ros Dando ✨A Gift of Wild available now!✨ @rosdando.bsky.social · 16/02/2026

#WIPSnips from February 15th: 'never' A short snippet from book three (due to publish autumn of 2026).

“Don’t worry about her,” Loman reassures him. “The second Ginny came over here—ow!—I changed what she can see. As far as she’s concerned, we’re all working beautifully quietly, and Ginny—OW! Quit hitting me!—found a seat at the back of the room, where she’s equally well-behaved.” Loman rubs his upper arm and scowls at Huginn. “Why is violence always your first answer to solving a problem?”
“Why is annoyance yours?” she retorts. “Hurry up, would you? I’m not opening a portal in the middle of a classroom full of students. You never know what might go wrong, and I don’t want to start finding out today.”
“Spoilsport,” Loman mutters, but he chucks his own work into his bag and stands. “Come on, then.”

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Ros Dando ✨A Gift of Wild available now!✨ @rosdando.bsky.social · 03/11/2025

Day 3 of middle grade and YA indie book recs! The Heir of Swansgrove by KJ Pritchett. "I read the first hundred pages of this story in a single sitting because I could not put it down." Find it here: www.amazon.co.uk/Heir-Swansgr...

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Ros Dando ✨A Gift of Wild available now!✨ @rosdando.bsky.social · 02/11/2025

Day 2! The Power of the Wouivre by Emma Hine. "A fun time travelling romp of a read." Find it here: www.amazon.co.uk/Power-Wouivr...

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Ros Dando ✨A Gift of Wild available now!✨ @rosdando.bsky.social · 01/11/2025

Day 1! The Doppelganger by @smiddleton-author.bsky.social "Teenage love story with a twist." Find it here: www.amazon.co.uk/Doppelganger...

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Ros Dando ✨A Gift of Wild available now!✨ @rosdando.bsky.social · 04/10/2025

Loki! (He's been my favourite for over thirty years, I couldn't not include him in my debut novel!) (Here he is with my best ADHD girl, Alice. Gorgeous artwork by @bmwillows.bsky.social )

Digital artwork of a boy with golden curls carrying a girl with red hair, the tips dyed blue, through a snowy woodland.

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Ros Dando ✨A Gift of Wild available now!✨ @rosdando.bsky.social · 04/10/2025

Ok, I'm gonna need readers with tweens and teens who are fully into the autumnal witchy vibes to get on board with my magical books set in October with ravens, a Norse god and found family vibes. (Written by an anti-AI and gentle queer AuDHD author) Available here: www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B...

A Gift of Words by Rosalind Dando. Cover image shown against an autumn background. White text reads: BBNYA 2025 finalist!
"Filled with magic and heart"
"Four of my five children read this and loved it"
"Fab blending of everyday life, magic, and Norse mythology."

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Ros Dando ✨A Gift of Wild available now!✨ @rosdando.bsky.social · 08/08/2025

Behold the adorable cuteness of Alice and Loman, as drawn by @bmwillows.bsky.social - I absolutely love this piece! She has captured their energy and chaotic friendship brilliantly. You can read how their story starts in A Gift of Words, and how it develops in A Gift of Wild (due on 25th August) 😁

A young boy and girl in the snowy woods. The girl is having a piggyback and they are both laughing. He has blond wavy hair and she has long ginger hair with blue tips.

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Ros Dando ✨A Gift of Wild available now!✨ @rosdando.bsky.social · 16/07/2025

Book of my book babies in one pretty graphic! (A couple of wee tweaks to Wild before she's good to go, but I love seeing them like this 🧡)

Book covers for A Gift of Words and A Gift of Wild. Fuck all people see my posts on here these days, so if you really want these describing, let me know.

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Ros Dando ✨A Gift of Wild available now!✨ @rosdando.bsky.social · 05/07/2025

We are here! Check out the beautiful cover for the second book in the Gifts Trilogy - featuring Alice and one of my favourite ravens. 20 days to go until the preorders for the ebook go live, and 50 days until you can get your hands on a paperback for all your autumn reading needs. *excited noises*

Image shows the full cover for A Gift of Wild. Dark blue background with runic symbols. Golden knotted frame surrounding a digital image of a young teen girl with long ginger hair, wearing a black jumper, smiling slightly at the viewer. Behind her is a snowy, wintry scene of woodlands. Above the frame is a raven, wings outstretched. The title, A GIFT OF WILD and the author's name, ROSALIND DANDO, are in capitals and a Norse-inspired golden font.

Image shows a 3D mock-up for A Gift of Wild. Dark blue background with runic symbols. Golden knotted frame surrounding a digital image of a young teen girl with long ginger hair, wearing a black jumper, smiling slightly at the viewer. Behind her is a snowy, wintry scene of woodlands. Above the frame is a raven, wings outstretched. The title, A GIFT OF WILD and the author's name, ROSALIND DANDO, are in capitals and a Norse-inspired golden font.

Text beneath reads: Preorders open 25th July!

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Ros Dando ✨A Gift of Wild available now!✨ @rosdando.bsky.social · 29/06/2025

Less than a week to go until the full cover reveal, and I am starting to get excited about this one. Look at all the awesome things in this book! Can't believe I get to shout about my best #ADHD girl, Alice :D #middlegrade

A partial cover reveal, with part of the titled 'ft of Wild', a black feathered bird wing, and a blue background with runes.

A Gift of Wild trope map.
ADHD main character
bullies getting their comeuppance
more magic, more problems
girl and boy besties
shapeshifting FMC
more of the grumpy raven
Team Bad Decisions
found family

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Ros Dando ✨A Gift of Wild available now!✨ @rosdando.bsky.social · 26/06/2025

Woot! Cover reveal for book two in the Gifts Trilogy - dropping on the 5th July! A Gift of Wild is an upper MG / lower YA contemporary fantasy novel with found family, grumpy ravens, neurodivergent representation, and a sprinkling of Norse mythology.

Cover reveal, July 5th 2025

Image shows a mostly-covered book image, with a sliver of a teenage girl with red hair, a section of gold border, and a dark blue background.

Featuring:
best friends, sibling bonds, extremely bad decisions, more of the grumpy raven, Loki being his best self, supportive family, ADHD rep, mental health rep, magic!

Exciting dates! Cover reveal 5th July. Ebooks available to preorder 25th July. Publication date for ebook and paperback: 25th August.

A Gift of Wild, book 2 in the Gifts Trilogy, is published by Shadow Spark Publishing.

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Ros Dando ✨A Gift of Wild available now!✨ @rosdando.bsky.social · 18/05/2025

Announcement! I am open to applications for ARC readers and street team for book two (A GIFT OF WILD), an upper #middlegrade contemporary fantasy due to be published in August. If you are interested and would also like an ebook copy of book one, let me know in the form. forms.gle/irWhtZshtEta...

ARC applications now open.
Google forms link in description.

Featuring:
best friends
sibling bonds
extremely bad decisions
more of the grumpy raven
Loki being his best self
supportive family
neurodivergent rep
mental health rep
magic!

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Ros Dando ✨A Gift of Wild available now!✨ @rosdando.bsky.social · 15/05/2025

Okay, how frickin' cute are my favourite family from Midsummer Secrets?! I absolutely adore this artwork by @avisraveni.bsky.social and I am quite a bit in love with the dad, Owen. (He has the crappiest ex and is a total cinnamon roll darling)

Digital artwork of a dad with a young son and daughter

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Ros Dando ✨A Gift of Wild available now!✨ @rosdando.bsky.social · 26/04/2025

Okay, so my little chibi Alice is too cute and I need to do more of these lil babies.

A chibi character of Alice being very excited next to A Gift of Words.

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Ros Dando ✨A Gift of Wild available now!✨ @rosdando.bsky.social · 16/04/2025

Interesting prompt on Threads made me go back and find previous artwork. Somewhat staggered by how much progress I've made at something I barely have enough time for, but it's reassuring to see the difference between these two images.

Two digital artwork images, side by side. A young man in grey scale, very anime vibes.
A young girl with long red hair, arms folded, in full colour.

Text reads: 2021 to 2025. (Only looking at digital art here; I've been drawing a lot longer than the last four years!)

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Ros Dando ✨A Gift of Wild available now!✨ @rosdando.bsky.social · 16/04/2025

A slightly belated one from yesterday's #WIPSnips - this time, from A Gift of Wild (which comes out in August this year from @shadowsparkpub.bsky.social). Can't wait to introduce everyone to Alice's brother, Theo... and his monumentally bad decision-making skills.

Theo isn’t someone who gets frightened by anything or anyone. He’s a fighter, a protector, someone who’ll step between you and the monsters and keep them from hurting you. He’s one of the bravest people Alice has ever known, and he’s terrified. It’s there in his eyes, the fear and panic, although he’s attempting to mask it. But she knows him too well.

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Ros Dando ✨A Gift of Wild available now!✨ @rosdando.bsky.social · 15/04/2025

This afternoon has been spent posting about my first book and editing the second, and it's been delightful to spend a whole afternoon in the company of my chaos kids and encouraging other folks to read about them. Link here: books2read.com/u/bp1lMq And here is some nonAI artwork I drew of them:

Digital artwork of five pre-teens, drawn in a cartoony style.

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Ros Dando ✨A Gift of Wild available now!✨ @rosdando.bsky.social · 11/04/2025

Not all kids have the easiest time at school, and Avery's definitely had her own struggles. But it's still a place she enjoyed on balance, and she's had to leave it all behind for an unknown length of time. #WIPSnips #WriteSky #YA

It hadn’t always been the easiest of things, going to school. There had been a few teachers she really got on with really well, and friends she argued with as much as had fun with. There had certainly been times, when she was at primary school and Milo was in infants, when she’d had screaming disagreements with adults and other children. Sometimes those were even about Milo, about how weird and different he was. Avery hated those arguments, in part because she knew, deep down, she was weird and different as well, and had simply learned to bury some of those parts deep enough inside her where nobody outside of family could see them or know about them. But she enjoyed learning, and she liked spending time with the people she got along with. The idea of saying goodbye to all of that was a miserable one.

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Ros Dando ✨A Gift of Wild available now!✨ @rosdando.bsky.social · 11/04/2025

www.goodreads.com/book/show/23... One of my online writing group did a thing! If upper YA paranormal romance is up your alley, then please check out The Doppelganger. I've already done a couple of pieces of artwork for this one, and it's super exciting to see it so close to release.

Digital artwork of a young white man with black, wavy hair, wearing a leather jacket and grey t-shirt with a ring on a chain around his neck.

Digital artwork of a young white woman with wavy red hair, wearing a long, knitted green jumper. She's carrying a sketchbook of papers, and has a gold locket on a chain.

Trope map for The Doppelganger by Samantha Middleton.

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Ros Dando ✨A Gift of Wild available now!✨ @rosdando.bsky.social · 06/04/2025

When we first meet Goblin in Midsummer Secrets. He is half my beloved and much-missed Ash and part my bestie's gone-too-early Siamese, and entirely his own self. #WIPSnips #WriteSky #YAFantasy #YAWriter

Goblin was not his intended name. Avery couldn’t remember what they’d planned on calling him, but the moment Dad laid eyes on the tiny kitten with huge ears in the animal shelter, he’d laughed and said it wasn’t a cat, but definitely a goblin. And the name had stuck. Even now, fully grown into his ears, and a striking black smoke colour which shifted from pale grey to deep charcoal, he was and forever would be the goblin kitty.

A long-haired black smoke cat. This is what Goblin looks like, in my head.

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Ros Dando ✨A Gift of Wild available now!✨ @rosdando.bsky.social · 01/04/2025

As someone who once had difficulty telling the difference between reality and what my brain decided was more interesting, Avery is extremely me-coded in this book. She's one of the reasons it's so close to my heart. #WIPSnips #WriteSky

“You sound so sure, little one. The memory plays such tricks, especially on one who finds it hard to distinguish between fantasy and reality.” Mirai’s voice was calm, patient, like a river eroding its path through rocks. If it took her an hour or a year to break Avery’s will, it wouldn’t matter to the faerie either way.

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Ros Dando ✨A Gift of Wild available now!✨ @rosdando.bsky.social · 24/03/2025

I have so many! In the book I'm currently editing, I have Avery (AuDHD), her younger brother Milo (ASD), and their dad, Owen (AuDHD). They are the best family I've written, and I love all three of them. And in the Gifts trilogy, Alice is my ADHD girl, and Cam is high anxiety.

Picrew images of the six main characters in Midsummer Secrets.

digital artwork of a young girl with ginger hair, the ends coloured blue and purple. Her arms are folded and she's wearing a long-sleeved black jumper.

Digital artwork of a young boy with dark curly hair, wearing a red hoodie. He's carrying a green book in one arm.

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Ros Dando ✨A Gift of Wild available now!✨ @rosdando.bsky.social · 23/03/2025

I finished artwork of my ADHD best girl, Alice, from A Gift of Wild (book two in the Gifts trilogy from @shadowsparkpub.bsky.social). Really happy with this one! #digitalart #originalcharacters #ocdesign

Digital art of a pre-teen girl with long ginger hair, the ends coloured blues and purples. She's wearing a black jumper, her arms folded, and staring at the viewer with greenish hazel eyes and a knowing smile. The background is pale greyish purple in tones.

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Ros Dando ✨A Gift of Wild available now!✨ @rosdando.bsky.social · 23/03/2025

#WIPSnips 'idea' prompt. Avery being extremely relatable in an early chapter.

She liked the idea of the violin, but as to how good she would be… She hated starting new things as much as she enjoyed the concept of them, because most of the time she would be terrible at whatever the new activity was. It didn’t matter if a teacher or Dad told her everyone was bad when they began – she didn’t want to be.

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Ros Dando ✨A Gift of Wild available now!✨ @rosdando.bsky.social · 05/03/2025

Only one appearance - here you go, and thank you for playing!

She also can’t quite bear the thought of changing into another animal just yet; she’s barely resisting the urge to wag a tail she doesn’t have.

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Ros Dando ✨A Gift of Wild available now!✨ @rosdando.bsky.social · 02/03/2025

Good word! Appears five times - here's one of the early ones:

Alice turns to glare at the teacher, fury blinding her. “It is! He broke it and you don’t even care!” She lashes out, her boot kicking the ruined model across the floor where it thumps into a table leg, then runs out of the classroom before anyone has a chance to catch her.

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Ros Dando ✨A Gift of Wild available now!✨ @rosdando.bsky.social · 26/02/2025

#WSPitQ #YA #F #Own In financial straits, Avery, with her dad and younger brother Milo, moves to the Lake District to live with their paternal grandmother. But the area is full of danger at midsummer. Soon, those dangers come for the Randall family, and it's up to Avery to help everyone survive.

Expansive landscape picture of the fells and lakes, reflecting back an unsettled sky.

White serif text overlaid reads:

"Avery, you are exactly what Black Hallow Farm needs. The next of the Randall family, future guardian of the Keepers and watcher of the hollow hills."
~ Midsummer Secrets at Black Hallow Farm

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Ros Dando ✨A Gift of Wild available now!✨ @rosdando.bsky.social · 21/02/2025

That's it, the awkward second child is complete in third draft at 52,870 words. *exhausted but happy author dance*

White background with THE END written in capitals

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Ros Dando ✨A Gift of Wild available now!✨ @rosdando.bsky.social · 19/02/2025

The perils of changing form 😂 #WIPSnips From A GIFT OF WILD, coming in August 2025 from @shadowsparkpub.bsky.social.

The girls’ toilets aren’t the nicest place to spend time, though, and smell distinctly unpleasant. More so than usual. Maybe she’s kept some of her beagle-form’s sense of smell after this morning’s jumper-hunt. Instinctively, she checks behind herself. No tail—phew. It would be just like her to go and forget something like that.

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Ros Dando ✨A Gift of Wild available now!✨ @rosdando.bsky.social · 18/02/2025

Reminded by someone on a different platform that I should continue to let people know that I have a book out - in case this time it gets seen by another potential reader. So, if you're a parent or teacher, and have children aged 9-13 who love reading, please consider my debut 😊✨

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Ros Dando ✨A Gift of Wild available now!✨ @rosdando.bsky.social · 09/02/2025

Let's go for my drama girl, Thea. (I'm so horrible to her, she deserves nice things)

OC artwork by Avis Raveni. Shows a teen girl with short teal hair and a big smile 😁

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Ros Dando ✨A Gift of Wild available now!✨ @rosdando.bsky.social · 08/02/2025

Sharing mostly for @bmwillows.bsky.social - examples of Alice and Loman at the back (and the vibes they bring to the function).

The Chaos Kids from A Gift of Words. Digital artwork.

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Ros Dando ✨A Gift of Wild available now!✨ @rosdando.bsky.social · 27/01/2025

Congratulations to @collinsauthors.bsky.social on the release of their high fantasy novel, In the Name of Honor. I'm halfway through the ARC of this, and it's a breath of classic fantasy fresh air in this grimdark world.

Graphic showing the cover of in the name of honour, with a starry background. Now available.

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Ros Dando ✨A Gift of Wild available now!✨ @rosdando.bsky.social · 18/01/2025

A Gift of Wild has reached 35k! My awkward second child is gradually finding her feet, and the end is in sight.

Featuring:

~ mental health
~ a wolf
~ flying
~ besties (I love them)
~ some extremely bad decisions (looking at you, Theo)
~ cosy family vibes (gotta have those}
~ and fan favourite Alice is the PoV character (this book went darker than its snuggly predecessor, but hopefully some of the humour is still there as well)

Gorgeous artwork by the talented @rominajeeou

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Ros Dando ✨A Gift of Wild available now!✨ @rosdando.bsky.social · 11/01/2025

Okay, I'll admit this is extremely pretty. Looking forward to not needing to scrape ice off everything next week, though! ❄️😂

Wide-screen panorama photo of snowy landscape with dry stone wall in foreground and views extending to the fells in the far distance.

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Ros Dando ✨A Gift of Wild available now!✨ @rosdando.bsky.social · 09/01/2025

First ever ARC, first ever novel in verse, and first review of 2025! @medenkuyatt.bsky.social gets all of my firsts today 😂 I absolutely LOVED this book, and all the way through I was thinking how much fun it would be to have this as a class novel for UKS2. Highly recommended for age 9+.

This was my first foray into the world of verse novels, and it was such a great place to start exploring this format. The Girl in the Walls tells the story of V, who goes to live with her grandmother for the summer, and the conflict between them. V is everything I saw in myself at that age – creative, weird, socially awkward, with a love of bright socks. I saw many of my own experiences echoed in V’s story (such as falling out with friends when they realise you’re not ‘growing up’ the same as them, or being judged by family for displaying neurodivergent behaviours). The intergenerational trauma is covered with care and nuance, and the characters are believable and intensely real with their flaws. The story is full of beautiful description, vivid characters, and I am desperate to get into an UKS2 classroom and share it! Brilliant and highly recommended.
The Girl in the Walls by Meg Eden Kuyatt will be available from 20.05.25

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Ros Dando ✨A Gift of Wild available now!✨ @rosdando.bsky.social · 08/01/2025

What am I writing while I try to take my mind off things I'd rather not be catastrophising about? Definitely not the thing I should be, that's for sure. Behold, my two girls being Bad At Communication:

Thea sat on the frosty grass, hugging her knees to her chest, her fixed stare focused somewhere in the rivers depths. She didn’t turn as Fox approached, but her frustrated sigh misted the air in front of her.
“What do you want?”
Fox’s heart jolted at the bitterness in the girl’s voice, and her footsteps faltered.
Thea turned, her gaze cold as the water. “What?”
“I…” Fox’s jaw tightened, the muscles going rigid as her back teeth ground together. An all-too-familiar defensiveness burned across her skin. “Nothing. Waste of time.” She turned and began the long march back to the school buildings.

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Ros Dando ✨A Gift of Wild available now!✨ @rosdando.bsky.social · 03/01/2025

New Year, new book incoming. I have a release date for the sequel to A Gift of Words - it should be published in August. Exciting times!

Announcement!
Book 2 in the Gifts Trilogy will be published in August 2025.
Image shows A Gift of Words next to a blank book with the title A Gift of Wild.

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Ros Dando ✨A Gift of Wild available now!✨ @rosdando.bsky.social · 29/12/2024

I just finished reading an ARC of The Girl In The Walls, which was absolutely gorgeous (I plan on writing a review for it in the next few days). Comes out in May 2025. I'm also excited (and not a little bit nervous) for the sequel to my debut, although I don't have a release date for that yet.

Cover artwork for The Girl In The Walls by Meg Eden Kuyatt. A young girl with dark wavy hair is opening boxes in an abandoned room. She's wearing brightly coloured socks and carrying a doll. The title is in white text above her, and above that is a second girl, all in tones of blue, with a wicked smile, reaching downwards and over the text.

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Ros Dando ✨A Gift of Wild available now!✨ @rosdando.bsky.social · 27/12/2024

They're here! My beautiful girls. I love them both! Meet Thea (left) and Fox (right), protagonists of my YA horror/fantasy romance WIP. Artwork by the amazing Avis Raveni (on Threads and IG).

Two white late teen girls, one with short teal hair and a sparkling attitude, the other with short black hair and a judgy expression. Both in school uniform.

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Ros Dando ✨A Gift of Wild available now!✨ @rosdando.bsky.social · 20/12/2024

Sliding into 2025 with all the winter horror romance vibes tbh

Mood board for current WIP. Text reads "How can I find my soulmate if nobody ever shows me their soul?"

YA romance & horror WIP.

Images include frosted leaves, snowy woods, a library, two young women holding hands, a young woman kissing, her breath misting in frosty air, and a brilliant blue eye with hints of ice on the skin.

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Ros Dando ✨A Gift of Wild available now!✨ @rosdando.bsky.social · 19/12/2024

Without downloading any new pics, where are you mentally?

Photo of the Ever Given container ship being dug out of the bank by a tiny excavator. Text above the digger reads: ME. Text on the ship reads: MY REVISIONS.

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Ros Dando ✨A Gift of Wild available now!✨ @rosdando.bsky.social · 30/11/2024

For once, I'm writing something that fits with this hashtag! Here's some more of the thing I'm not supposed to be writing. #Saturdark

Fox stared at the train carriage doors for the longest breath, willing them to stay closed, for the train to grind into movement and vanish into the grey December mist. They obligingly hissed open with a jolt, and she growled under her breath in disappointment.
Bloody doors. Even inanimate objects were against her.

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Ros Dando ✨A Gift of Wild available now!✨ @rosdando.bsky.social · 24/11/2024

So, I'm still in my Oops era. Um. What can I say? This one is speaking to my broken teenage soul from across the decades.

If you were spikier than whatever tried to bite you, they got a mouthful of thorns and didn't try again.

Text on a dark background with macro photograph of a snowflake.

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Ros Dando ✨A Gift of Wild available now!✨ @rosdando.bsky.social · 24/11/2024

Bought a new little friend yesterday - he was sat being lonely on the wrong shelf in Sainsbury's, and D and I decided he needed a good home. Meet Kendal the highland cow 😁

Photo of a soft toy highland cow in a shopping trolley with a pizza.

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