It was five years ago when I published Loonie to Toonie. Following that, I was dedicated to financial education through this website. I haven’t posted here for a long time, and it’s not because I’ve lost interest in writing. If anything, I’ve been continuing to work hard at it.

For the last two+ years, I’ve been working on a novel. Fiction’s always been my passion, so if anyone’s surprised that I wrote a financial book in the first place, it’s me. Sometimes I reference Loonie to Toonie for information, and I think, “Did I really write this?” Of course I did. It took me a year to write it, and I’ll never forget how much work I put into the research and writing, while trading and trying to hold down a job.

The writing process for my novel has been very different, no doubt. I’m using more sentence formations, punctuation, writing techniques, and imagination. It’s more work to write fiction, but it’s so much more fun. In my upcoming book, The Georgia Rules, you’ll get to see a completely different side to me as a writer—the wild side. I have a bold sense of humor, and I get to showcase it through fiction.

The Georgia Rules will be the first novel in The Georgia Series. For this series, and from this point onwards, I’ll be using my married name: Donna Fernandez. For various reasons, I’m dropping my pen name, Jeana Deal, which was a combination of letters from my maiden name.

The Future of loonietotoonie.com

I won’t be keeping this website live for much longer. It’s a lot of work to run two websites while writing and marketing for a series. If you want to follow me, you can find me at donna-fernandez.com. Here, you’ll find the second edition of Loonie to Toonie available to you for free. Very soon, anyone who visits this site will be redirected to my new site.

My New Book & Series

I’ll still be covering the theme of personal finance in The Georgia Series, only it’s all in narrative form. It should be interesting as it follows the adventures of Georgia Alfonso, a gullible and clumsy heroine, who’s starts seeing the world differently the more she learns about money. I’ll be self-publishing the series, and I hope to have the first novel out in September.

If you’re curious about my skills as a novelista, my novella Georgia’s Promise, a precursor to The Georgia Rules, is now available for free. It’s a fun, short read.

If you hate fiction, I guess here is where we sadly part ways. I’d rather you avoid my fiction than leave me a bad review! Just be sure to download your free copy of the second edition of Loonie to Toonie.

Farewell & Thank You

If you’re reading this, that means you signed up for this blog at some point years ago and didn’t unfollow me. That gesture means you supported a new author, who may have been out of her depth in thinking she could write about investing and personal finance. You may or may not have read my book, and that’s okay, you still showed your support by visiting my website and clicking on the “Follow” button.

As a self-published author, I get to operate with a lot of autonomy, but that also means having to do everything on my own, including falling hard on my face. One of the hardest things to do is to get readers, and it’s even harder to get noticed in the first place. Self-doubt plagues indie writers because we don’t have an agent, a publisher, an editor, or a publicist supporting us or letting us know how we’re doing.

I wanted to thank you from the bottom of my heart for your support. I leave here with over 700 followers—a number that may not be much for most people, but it certainly was a lot to someone like me who was never really into social media or any kind of publicity. That number buoyed me during times I thought there was no point to ever writing again. But here I am, gearing up to write a series. I’ve learned a lot in the last few years, and I’m currently learning more as I prepare for my next phase as an indie novelist. I’m anxious, optimistic, and most of all, really excited!

See you all soon!

Yours, Donna Fernandez (formerly Jeana Deal)