Kiss N’ Tell

Spark your dreams, Fan your passion, Ignite your story  was the motto for the Romance Writers of New Zealand 2026 Conference. And it was a fabulous affair.

Unfortunately I missed the Friday workshops, but the reports I heard were glowing. Jennifer Hilt, author and creator of The Trope Thesaurus: An Author Resource on The Emotional Blueprint: How Tropes Create Character, Conflict and Chemistry delivered the keynote. James Blatch, a director of Self Publishing Formula Limited, an online course provider for independent authors and co-host of the weekly SPF podcast spoke about Book Visibility in the Age of AI. Participants were buzzing as the conference proper started on Saturday morning.

T L Swan, a best-selling, award-winning  author of “addictive, heart-pounding romances with witty banter, emotional depth and swoon-worthy heroes” gave Saturday’s keynote. For me her key takeaways were:

  • nail the brief—that’s title, cover, blurb—when a book’s not selling rebrand. T did 9 rebrands on 6 of her books, that’s changing the covers and blurbs until they hit the reader sweet spot
  • don’t sell on tropes, satisfy on emotions
  • you need to know the major conflict and how it ends
  • give ARCs away like water—you want readers
  • chapter analysis—3 things should happen, you should leave 3 clues for later and end on a cliff hanger
  • first chapter and blurb are critical (that’s your selling sample on Amazon)
  • understand how KU and Amazon work and use that to work for you.

Sarah Young, Executive Agent at the Nancy Yost Literary Agency represents authors across romance, women’s fiction, and commercial fiction. Sarah love love loves her job and talked about what an agent can do for indie, trad or hybrid authors, specifically in protecting your contract rights. These days rights can cover print, e-book, audio, film, foreign, translation, performance, serialisation, computer/app games, manga/graphic novels and merchandising and may be sold separately.

Sarah is embedded in the publishing industry and can provide professional and editorial guidance. Sarah emphasised the importance of an author knowing what they want from their career and agent. You interview the agent as much as the agent interviews you. Sarah took pitches at the conference and there were some very happy new authors after their 1:1 meetings with her.

A session on covers appealed, so I attended Holly Dunn’s Covers and Comp Titles: Maximising Market Success. As an illustrator and author Holly has particular insight into what an author needs for their book PLUS she reads the manuscripts she illustrates and usually hand letters her covers. What more could you ask for! She suggests that:

  • your cover sets up a promise that your book delivers on
  • you want to fit in more than stand out, to have LEGS—be legible, eye-catching, genre specific and story relevant. Typology can indicate genre
  • she’s interested in your ideal reader, although readers are on a continuum eg. protagonist age range, reality of world, no magic to magic, time period, tone, place of romance in the story, level of mystery etc
  • colours should be consistent with genre

Sunday morning started with a bang. Jenny Nagle, CEO NZ Society of Authors talked about what an authors’ society has to offer authors, including romance authors, and it’s a lot—like minded people and craft courses for a start.

New Zealand’s own Nalini Singh, “internationally bestselling author of the iconic Psy-Changeling and Guild Hunter series of paranormal romances was the Sunday keynote. She also writes fun, contemporary romances and atmospheric NZ-set thrillers. Nalini’s sold over eight million copies worldwide and been translated into more than twenty languages. Nalini’s a generous, knowledgeable speaker who shared insights into how to thrive in the current market. She outlined key areas of focus:

  • mindset and personal goals—commit to the long term, it’s important to keep growing, know what you want long term and what you enjoy doing
  • creative foundations—write a good book, be careful of hyper-contemporary cultural references, don’t be scared of being a distinctive voice, keep your promise to the reader, the HEA
  • capacity to pivot—eg. genres, indie to trad or vice versa, length of manuscript
  • understand your bundle of author rights, what you give away and what you retain in specific contracts
  • understand your contract—not just rights, but AI clauses, reversion clauses, audit clauses, accounting (joint or separate) and ability to negotiate
  • financial literacy—you might be paying taxes
  • manage your business, time, inputs as you grow, delegate, use contractors where it works for you
  • take care: Give yourself grace eg. schedule 4 days a week, leaving a day free for unforeseen circumstances, use out-of-office messages when you need a break
  • develop positive professional relationships
  • look after your readers—don’t get a reputation for not finishing your series
  • direct communication with readers—social media is useful but shouldn’t be your primary communication with readers; use newsletter—check if subscribers want to stay
  • maintain a presence even in quiet publishing times eg. regular newsletter

And to blow your mind, the workshop on AI: risk, resilience and writing the future by Jenny Nagle and Daniel Watterson talked about what’s happening around the world to protect authors’ intellectual property as generative AI grows. The speed of change is supersonic. What’s needed are:

  • legislation—ensure transparency, labelling and enforcement
  • litigation— solving yesterday’s problems tomorrow; distinguishing types of copyright infringement—ChatGPTiseatingtheworld.com
  • licensing—need a new infrastructure for licencing

Authors can join the Human Authored program and use their logo on their works. At this stage this is limited to members of the UK Society of Authors, but they have been working with the Authors Guild in the US to launch the scheme.

The SPA Girls Session with Trudi Jaye, Cheryl Phipps, Wendy Vella and Shar Barratt was an engaging way to bring the focus back to me as an author, by taking questions and talking about how the SPA Girls maintain a successful author mindset:

  • most mindset problems are symptoms—imposter syndrome, perfectionism and self-sabotage usually trace back to a deeper root—not feeling worthy, safe or deserving. Work on the root, not just the symptom
  • comparisonitis is a career killer—someone else’s launch, rank or income report tells you nothing about your path. Stay in your own lane
  • words have power—listen to your negative self-talk—you can’t fix a story you haven’t noticed you’re telling yourself
  • find your people—a supportive writer tribe and positive accountability will carry you through the hard patches.

The final session of the day when energy is running low, I lucked out with the multi-talented Shannon Curtis and her session Use Theme Like a Queen. Shannon also operates Want2Write which provides resources for creative writers. The essential question for an author is what message do you want to convey. That’s your theme—”something that is threaded through the story, and we convey through plot events, character actions, motivations etc. This should be stated clearly, early in the book, potentially by a secondary character.” Examples of themes include:

  • trust
  • betrayal
  • forgiveness
  • caring
  • confidence
  • love
  • revenge
  • dealing with grief

Nalini Singh summed it up for me. You need to be patient with yourself and trust your voice.

This blog is for me as much as you because I wanted to keep the energy flowing after a wonderful and informative weekend. I can go back and reread it, plus I hope it inspires anyone thinking of joining me on this writing journey.

What’s on the horizon for me:

I’m writing a companion book to Lela’s Choice, You remember the outline:

Lela Vella’s teenage niece has fled to Malta. Terrified by what she might find, Lela chases her, only to be met by her father’s newest hitman, Hamish McGregor, a lawyer intent on reaching her niece first. Despite mutual suspicion, attraction smoulders. In the race to find Lela’s niece first, will they choose compromise or walk away from love?

My work in progress (WIP) is about the niece, Sophie. And Sophie’s had a few ups and downs since we last met the soon-to-be eighteen year old runaway.

I’m also appearing at the Australian Romance Readers Association (ARRA)’s annual A Romantic Rendezvous events in March 2027 in Sydney and Canberra. The special guests have been announced. Amy Andrews, multi-published spicy romance author and Ilona Andrews, the husband and wife team writing urban fantasy and paranormal romance. Keep up to date on developments by joining ARRA’s Facebook page.

A prompt: you can unsubscribe from my newsletter at any time. Don’t clutter up your email, if you’re too busy or no longer interested.

Find me on:

  • Diana Kathryn Penn’s Indie Reads Aloud podcast has recordings of me reading the opening 20 mins of my books:
    • Betrayal—Choosing Family Book 3 (episode 212)
    • Quinn, by design—Choosing Family Book 2 (episode 208)
    • Masquerade—Choosing Family Book 1 (episode 188)
    • Lela’s Choice (episode 143)
    • Planting Hope (episode 101)

You can also contact me directly via the contact page on my website if you have any other questions.

Out to the open sea

I was reminded of this song when I heard of Bernard Bolan’s recent death. The chorus is a favourite with older members of my family. Bernard wrote the words and music to Rose Bay Ferry in 1973 and the song reached #1 on the Australian charts in 1974. A gentler time perhaps, which is why it’s resonating with me at the moment. For some context—the Nicholson Brothers operated ferries on Sydney Harbour at that time.

Where are we going today, Mr. Nicholson?
Where is it going to be?
Don’t turn left, turn right down the harbour
And out to the open sea
Throw away your compass, right hand down
And it’s out through the Heads we go
So ho! let’s be merry on the Rose Bay ferry
If we run out of petrol we’ll row Yo Ho!
If we run out of petrol we’ll row

It’s that line “And out to the open sea” that’s caught my attention. Possibly Sydney winter doldrums, but gosh new places and new horizons hover like fireflies sparkling in the distance. Is this where I confess that I get seasick and a boating holiday wouldn’t be my ideal getaway?

What’s your ideal escape?

Is your idea of heaven a tent in a secluded part of wild woodlands or forest or beach? Do you want sand between your toes and grit in your swimmers, the musty scent of seaweed, waves rolling over rocks turning them blue-black, and multifarious shades of green and blue everywhere you look?

Do you prefer luxury? The limousine collecting you from home, transporting you to the airport, flute of champagne in hand. The business class flight (don’t want to go too over the top, do we? Fantasies don’t all need a flat bed?) and the person with your name on a sign waiting at the other end to take your luggage and escort you to a waiting vehicle. Part of the luxury is all those people saying—and what more would madam like?

The room, tent, caravan, whatever, must always have a view. Let yourself be romanced by:

  • tiled rooftops
  • a string of backyards where opera and lawnmowers make mish-mashed music
  • a narrow balcony across a narrow street with a violinist practising their craft
  • the sight of a vertical bridge rising in the sky leaving behind tram tracks, cars, cyclists, protestors and pedestrians—it’s real
  • a two-storey mural discovered on a wall when they demolished the building abutting it
  • barge traffic along the Rhine
  • a wombat crossing a clearing to disappear down its burrow in the Australian bush
  • a light breeze rippling through a tree, a susurrus to tickle your ears.

Writing this makes me realise I’ve never written a book about a vacation. No holiday romances for me, and yet they are a staple of the genre. It’s never even occurred to me to write a vacation romance, but given my restlessness, maybe this is the moment?

Do you have other ideas for escape? Is it as easy as closing the door on the teeming crowd, dimming the lights, turning off all devices and snuggling into a couch with a hot chocolate and a favourite book? I know some people who never read a book twice, who rarely read a book twice, who are horrified I might read a book twice, and then there are the closet revolutionaries like me who frequently return to a much loved book, seeing it as comfort food that nourishes in a dark world or a difficult time. I won’t confess how many times I’ve read some books, because that’s my secret to keep.

Is escape for you a walk through a park or trees having left devices behind? A moment to hear birds calling to each other, leaves rustling, small animals scarpering through the undergrowth? To exchange a smile with strangers and wonder about their story? To look at the sky and the endless variation in clouds? Walks refresh me. I’m often the only person without earplugs of some sort. I find those times when my mind randomly roams produce the best ideas.

For July, I wish for dreams to come true.

What’s on the horizon for me:

The Wrong Time for Love—The Anderson Sisters Book 3 released on 14 July and is available at all major booksellers. Reviews are starting to come in. My readers seem to like relatable characters grappling with life’s challenges and finding love and hope.

I’ve registered for Australian Romance Readers Association (ARRA)’s annual A Romantic Rendezvous events in March 2027 in Sydney and Canberra. More news on that as we get closer, but in the meantime you can join their Facebook page.

Find me on:

  • Diana Kathryn Penn’s Indie Reads Aloud podcast has recordings of me reading the opening 20 mins of my books:
    • Betrayal—Choosing Family Book 3 (episode 212)
    • Quinn, by design—Choosing Family Book 2 (episode 208)
    • Masquerade—Choosing Family Book 1 (episode 188)
    • Lela’s Choice (episode 143)
    • Planting Hope (episode 101)

You can also contact me directly via the contact page on my website if you have any other questions.

The Wrong Time for Love-The Anderson Sisters #3

Once upon a time, I wrote two stories about two sisters, Eleanor (Ella) and Grace Anderson. Taylor’s Law is Ella’s story and Grace Under Fire tells Grace’s story.

The bits and pieces that make up a story are complex, but part of the inspiration for those stories was watching family dynamics. In fact, watching my mother and aunt remember incidents from their childhood very differently. It made me think about the way siblings can have very different emotions and take away very different convictions from the same event.

The major event in Ella and Grace’s life was a farm injury to their mother and the need to sell some of the family farm to cover health costs. They were swindled over the sale. Ella became passionate about justice, Grace was passionate about holding on to the family land that remained.

Fast forward to The Wrong Time for Love.

When Grace Under Fire was released, a number of readers said they’d like to know the story of Bluey, a secondary character. Bluey’s the late fifties farm labourer who shares a love of cryptic crosswords with Grace, but works for Ryan—Grace’s love interest. In turn, Bluey’s love interest is Ryan’s mother. Bluey and Helen Wilson had been together about ten years before Grace Under Fire starts.

The Wrong Time for Love is a different excursion for me. Going back to Bluey and Helen Wilson’s meeting years earlier took a lot of serious thinking. And really, did I want to write a story that dealt with tricky issues like Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDs), the death of a child and the messiness of grief? Are you actually normal functioning adult enough to fall in love at such a time?

Bluey and Helen are both in their forties when they meet. He’s a taciturn loner, she’s struggling to survive. So we’re dealing with second chance, potentially forbidden love, acquaintances to lovers, forced proximity, and a smoulder more than a slow burn.

They deserve their love story, so I’m glad I took the time to explore it. Thank you to the readers who asked me to try. And for those who know my writing, I deal with difficult topics, but it’s never graphic on the page. I’m looking for the human connections between people and the moments that make us hope. After all, while love encompasses many emotions, love is about hope.

All my books can be read as standalones, but Grace Under Fire and The Wrong Time For Love overlap with some of the characters and time lines.

Here’s the blurb:

Love takes a loner and a grieving mother by surprise

Farm labourer, Bluey (Lachlan Murdoch), has been travelling for twenty years, constantly on the move to forget the death of his baby girl.

Dairy farmer, Helen Wilson, is barely keeping her head above water. Her fifteen-year-old son suicided and her older son flees the area looking for paid work to help keep the farm. When a neighbour gifts her three months of Bluey’s time, it’s a lifeline.

Bluey admires Helen’s fierce defence of her boys. Helen appreciates Bluey’s quiet presence and his daily acts of kindness. When desire enters the mix, Bluey worries he’s taking advantage. Helen feels guilty about forgetting her boys, even for a moment.

Commitment isn’t in Bluey’s playbook. Helen’s struggling to navigate grief. Baring one’s soul, even sharing one’s body, is easier with a deadline.

But with the clock ticking down, what risks are they prepared to take with their hearts?

Pre-order and Buy links—releases 14 July:

AMAZON- https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0H3QBVNHH

KOBO- https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-wrong-time-for-love?

BN- https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-wrong-time-for-love-jennifer-raines/1150306612

APPLE- https://books.apple.com/us/book/the-wrong-time-for-love/id6775984100

Find me on:

  • Diana Kathryn Penn’s Indie Reads Aloud podcast has recordings of me reading the opening 20 mins of my books:
    • Betrayal—Choosing Family Book 3 (episode 212)
    • Quinn, by design—Choosing Family Book 2 (episode 208)
    • Masquerade—Choosing Family Book 1 (episode 188)
    • Lela’s Choice (episode 143)
    • Planting Hope (episode 101)

You can also contact me directly via the contact page on my website if you have any other questions.

Let’s talk about wills

The idea for my first two published books, Taylor’s Law and Grace Under Fire—The Anderson Sisters came from the question of inheritance and succession for farming families. Wills are often messy, but they can be even messier when farms are involved. Worse, if no will exists. Rifts open in families that never heal.

At the time I was writing the books, there was a lot of media coverage involving bitter disputes over the distribution of assets after the death of a farm patriarch. The major problem is often different expectations of what will happen, in particular, who will inherit the family farm.

One child may have worked the family farm for years, if not decades, for minimal pay with the informal promise they’ll inherit the farm. Other children, on the death of their parent, expect a share of the spoils. In worst cases, a farm might need to be sold to pay out siblings.

While writing Grace Under Fire, I was coincidentally summoned for jury duty. The crime was insurance fraud, but it seemed the trigger was the death of a farm patriarch. The person in the dock expected to inherit a farm and didn’t, so there were disputes in the family and an urgent need for cash, hence the alleged fraud. The judge asked me to present my search history to ensure I hadn’t been secretly researching the case!

The key take-away is that farm families need explicit conversations about inheritance and succession, so everyone knows what to expect. With the Anderson sisters, there was no dispute. Ella (book 1) is passionate about justice, while Grace (book 2) is passionate about the land. But, the family talked about what would happen.

I’ve been thinking about these books recently, well Grace Under Fire, in particular, and its two lead characters, Grace Anderson and Ryan Wilson. July 2026 sees the release of a novella The Wrong Time for Love, which follows the journey of two secondary characters in Grace Under Fire; Grace’s farm labourer, Bluey (Lachlan Murdoch) and Ryan’s mother, Helen Wilson.

But looking at these books made me realise I’ve returned to wills and inheritance a few times. In Quinn, by design—Choosing Family Book 2, the main female character’s grandfather sought to throw his granddaughter and the main male character together by stipulating they be co-managers of his Foundation. Not strictly coercion, because they both loved the old man. But it begs the question, can you rule from beyond the grave?

This is exercising the minds of more and more people with the huge amount of intergenerational wealth expected to be transferred in Australia over the next two decades. Some people are opting to leave their money specifically to their children and not the spouses of their children. They may set up trusts where only their children are beneficiaries.

It’s common for wills to include “a right of residence” for a living spouse, with title to the property held by an executor. These wills may also include the quaintly termed floozy clause, which means that if the spouse recouples or remarries they lose their residency rights. In a dispute, courts may well find that adequate provision for a spouse requires giving a spouse absolute ownership of a property and a nest egg. This is because “courts generally look at whether the will adequately provides for those the deceased is obligated to provide for”. (There are ways to dictate how your inheritance is spent, Dominic Powell, 29 April 2026, SMH).

Pre-nups usually relate to divorce, not death.

Apparently one of the most effective ways is to set up a testamentary trust which starts upon death. This appoints a trustee to hold and distribute the will’s assets for beneficiaries. However, the trustee has an obligation to act in the best interest of beneficiaries, which might send the testator’s plans awry.

I’m revisiting the notion of inheritance in my current work in progress—working title, Sophie’s Mistake. This book has an added degree of difficulty because I need the inheritance laws of Malta to apply. I’ve done some research, or as the children of friends who are being taught not to use brand names say, I’ve searched it up, but I still have some questions which may require professional advice.

Essentially Malta follows the French Civil Code and there are strict rules around providing for a spouse and children. There is, however, the option of a testamentary trust, and that’s what’s fascinating me in this particular manuscript.

By the way, Grace Under Fire will be on special @$0.99 from 1-14 June across all major booksellers to remind you who Helen and Bluey are and why readers asked me to write their story—The Wrong Time for Love.

The Wrong Time for Love

Love takes a loner and a grieving mother by surprise

Farm labourer, Bluey (Lachlan Murdoch), has been travelling for twenty years, constantly on the move to forget the death of his baby girl.

Dairy farmer, Helen Wilson, is barely keeping her head above water. Her fifteen-year-old son suicided and her older son flees the area looking for paid work to help keep the farm. When a neighbour gifts her three months of Bluey’s time, it’s a lifeline.

Bluey admires Helen’s fierce defence of her boys. Helen appreciates Bluey’s quiet presence and his daily acts of kindness. When desire enters the mix, Bluey worries he’s taking advantage. Helen feels guilty about forgetting her boys, even for a moment.

Commitment isn’t in Bluey’s playbook. Helen’s struggling to navigate grief. Baring one’s soul, even sharing one’s body, is easier with a deadline.

But with the clock ticking down, what risks are they prepared to take with their hearts?

Award winning author Jennifer Raines excels at the emotional slow burn love story. The Wrong Time for Love offers second chance, over forties male and female leads, forbidden love, forced proximity, and definitely no strings attached entertainment.

Find me on:

  • Diana Kathryn Penn’s Indie Reads Aloud podcast has recordings of me reading the opening 20 mins of my books:
    • Betrayal—Choosing Family Book 3 (episode 212)
    • Quinn, by design—Choosing Family Book 2 (episode 208)
    • Masquerade—Choosing Family Book 1 (episode 188)
    • Lela’s Choice (episode 143)
    • Planting Hope (episode 101)

You can also contact me directly via the contact page on my website if you have any other questions.

Look up here, Bob!

If you read my blog on the website, I always post a photo. I looked at heaps of photos for this month’s blog and settled on one I used last April. When I look at it I feel peaceful and happy. I also played with a few titles before settling on one:

  • Time Out
  • Don’t forget to breathe
  • Don’t feed the monsters.

Look up here, Bob is an old family joke. A hotel room where someone was fiddling with the remote on the TV while someone else was checking out the bathroom. The person in the bathroom suddenly heard a booming voice say Look up here, Bob and freaked out. The person testing buttons on the TV remote had flicked sound to the bathroom speakers. Who even knew they had speakers in bathrooms? But Look up here, Bob is a favourite phrase to flip the conversation.

So, where is this conversation going?

We need laughter more than ever. We need some very influential people, and you can guess who they are, to start thinking of us and little people everywhere, rather than making money on the side or pretending their troops are the godly, moral ones. That can take us down some strange rabbit holes. Better to seek out things that make you smile or laugh out loud. Watch a bunch of kids in a water playground—they love it, and their antics and joy make me laugh.

We need random acts of kindness. The phrase apparently comes from a writer called Anne Herbert, who, according to the Random Acts of Kindness Foundation, published the first known account of Practice Random Acts of Kindness and Acts of Senseless Beauty in a Co-Evolution Quarterly in 1982.

We can all recognise a random act of kindness when we see it; someone paying for coffee or a meal for a stranger in a café or on the street; someone handing you a sunflower or a daisy and saying yellow is their favourite colour; someone who stops to talk to you, and listens, when you’re crying alone on a bench. Even remembering these acts that I’ve witnessed lifts my spirits.

Some observers see the second part of Herbert’s quote as incoherent or hard to unpack—acts of senseless beauty. The key word is senseless, because hey, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, isn’t it? My idea of a hunk might not be your idea of a hunk. Synonyms for senseless include: pointless, absurd, irrational, foolish or stupid. I’ve seen absurdist sculptures and paintings that make me want to laugh out loud. Maybe René Magritte’s surrealist paintings can be called senseless acts of beauty? They make me smile, make me think and take me out of my everyday.

We need to be in a different physical space, essentially outdoors without any kind of device, looking at the sky or the world around us, looking at green and blue. There’s a sizeable body of evidence testifying to the healing powers of nature. Japan is a huge proponent of forest bathing and has incorporated it into their healthcare system.

“Research has demonstrated that this nature immersion can lower stress and anxiety levels, reduce blood pressure, improve confidence and mood, as well as support the immune system, improve sleeping patterns and aid recovery time from physical injuries.”

Because I’m Australian, check out the Parks Victoria website for steps to get the most out of forest bathing, although I have to say just walking in a park or looking at the sky, or at flowers displayed at a market all improve my mood.

We need to stop feeding the monsters. I’m just putting it out there, but some of those monsters are our favourite social media apps or games and we spend increasing amounts of time on them. This sits alongside the increasing evidence suggesting that many of our favs are designed for addiction, built on deliberate misinformation, designed for maximising clicks, because hey, clicks make money, especially clicks on pages or items that enrage and incite us to act in ways we otherwise wouldn’t. The freedom to be anonymous and say what we like to who we like is encouraged because it’s a money-spinner for someone else—usually a tech bro, while it can leave us feeling depressed and filled with self-loathing. And don’t get me started on some of the malignant uses of AI!

I could feel my pulse rising just writing that last paragraph, whereas I’d been smiling beforehand, thinking of kindness, laughter and acts of senseless beauty. So, I’m off to sit in my local park and look at some clouds for a while. I might also take a romance with me—reading uplifting stories of people finding love is another way to escape for a few hours. You could try one of mine.

Find me on:

  • Diana Kathryn Penn’s Indie Reads Aloud podcast has recordings of me reading the opening 20 mins of my books:
    • Betrayal—Choosing Family Book 3 (episode 212)
    • Quinn, by design—Choosing Family Book 2 (episode 208)
    • Masquerade—Choosing Family Book 1 (episode 188)
    • Lela’s Choice (episode 143)
    • Planting Hope (episode 101)

You can also contact me directly via the contact page on my website if you have any other questions.