November has felt like a whirlwind, but in the best way possible. Most of my focus this month was on Novel-November, where I worked almost exclusively on my vampire romantasy, KISS ME AFTER THE KILL — and I’m thrilled to say I wrote almost 54,000 words! It’s the first time in years that I’ve taken part in a NaNo-style challenge and actually won, which feels incredibly motivating.

I’m not quite finished with the draft yet. I still have about three chapters and several spicy scenes left to write, but after such an intense month, I can feel the burnout creeping in. Instead of forcing myself to reach my original goal of 62k, I’m taking a break until January. Then I’ll dive back in with the plan to finish the first draft by the end of the month and begin revisions with Hubby in February. That said, I’ve already sneaked into some early revisions because I woke up with the urge to polish things — so the timing has worked out nicely!

Alongside KMATK, a few new story ideas have been growing. For the Snowy Wings Publishing nursery-rhyme anthology, I’m returning to my original concept: a YA story about a girl marked for death who falls in love with a fae grim reaper. It matches my preferred tone perfectly and feels much more manageable than the cozy sapphic magical-school idea I briefly considered.

I’m also planning ahead for my next big project for 2026: an enemies-to-lovers fae romance featuring a masked, shadow-drenched Prince. I’m desperate to write it already, but I’m keeping myself disciplined — planning only, until KMATK is done.

This month also brought a major personal and career realisation: I’m stepping away from self-publishing. My spicy Christmas short, A Winter’s Kiss (out December 2nd!), will be my last self-pubbed project for the foreseeable future. I have nothing against self-publishing, but it no longer feels like the right path for me creatively. I want to focus the next few years on querying romantasy, fantasy-romance, and paranormal-romance, which feel like my truest writing home.

On the health side, things are looking brighter. My PMDD has been the mildest it’s been in years — hopefully a good sign that my HRT patches are doing their job. I’m also still waiting to hear from Psychiatry UK about ADHD medication, but overall I feel like I’m moving in the right direction. This new stability has inspired me to reach out to my ADHD coach about helping me take the Kindred Creativity Club to the next level in 2025.

Outside writing, November was quieter. Hubby was ill for part of the month, Oldest started his new job, and we didn’t get out much — though I did buy a dancing gecko that sings “Feliz Navidad,” which genuinely brings me joy every time I look at it. Holiday prep is mostly done, Youngest’s gifts are on the way from Japan, and we’re figuring out plans for Oldest’s partner depending on her dog’s health.

It’s wild to think December is here already, and that I’ll be posting both a December wrap-up and a yearly one soon. If you’d like to read the full, detailed version of this month’s update, including all my writing reflections and holiday plans, you can find it here:

👉 [Read the full November wrap-up blog post]

Thanks for joining me this month! 💜

The October That Needed an Exorcism (and a Nap) — AKA My October Update

 

Remember last month when I said, “This month wasn’t as bad as previous ones,” about the PMDD situation?

Famous last words. 😅

A few days later, PMDD hit hard — right as I started HRT to treat it. I’m sure it’ll help long-term, but right now I’m just adjusting to the hormonal chaos.

I actually wrote a longer post about my experience as a neurodivergent woman seeking treatment for PMDD — spoiler alert: some doctors seriously suck!

➡️ The Day I Realised Patients Shouldn’t Have to Fact-Check Their Doctor

As if that wasn’t enough, Oldest managed to knock over a candle and ended up in A&E with burns. He’s healing well now, thanks to Hubby being an absolute saint with all the hospital trips, but it was a rough few days.

So yes — not the most productive month. But I did reach my October goal: hitting 20k words on Kiss Me After the Kill before heading into Novel November.

Now I’m diving into my annual NaNoWriMo alternative, Write On!

It’s a kinder, more flexible version of the challenge — community, accountability, and creativity without the pressure. This year, it’s happening across the Kindred Creativity Club spaces, with:

✨ Weekly live sprints (via Google Meet)

✨ Daily check-ins and Celebrate Your Wins posts

✨ Motivational prompts and reflections

✨ A special 50% discount on Write Here, Write Now membership from Karen Sanders Editing (use code KINDRED50).

I’ve also shared a free November calendar and word tracker, plus sneak peeks from KMATK and art by N.S. Armstrong, available to all newsletter subscribers.

💌 Subscribe here for the freebies and bonus shorts!

In other news, my Frosty-the-Snowman-inspired spicy romantasy short is returning!

A WINTER’S KISS (formerly part of the Step Into Christmas anthology) will be re-released on December 2.

Sign up for the cover reveal and pre-order announcement on November 5 here:

👉 https://forms.gle/dxPUpzjEYjKfLNhLA

Between hormone changes, vampire writing, and planning Write On!, I even got a new story idea — a cozy, sapphic rivals-to-lovers fantasy I’ll work on next year for a Snowy Wings Publishing anthology.

Oh, and I rage-quit Pokémon Legends: Z-A because I hate fighting mega evolutions. 😂

For the full, chaotic saga (plus my current reads and behind-the-scenes updates), visit the full post on my website:

➡️ The October That Needed an Exorcism (and a Nap)

That’s everything for this month — and it’s about time to go make dinner, so I’ll leave it here.

Until next time — stay safe, keep creating, and may your words flow as freely as your imagination.

T.T.F.N.

An Update and Book Funnel Swaps for October 11, 2024

 Greetings Readers!

This edition, I only have one Book Funnel Swap for you, so I thought I'd also offer an update on what I've been working on and any news from me you might have missed.

Keep reading for all the details...

Introducing Write On - my alternative to NaNoWriMo

 Earlier this month, in my post The Importance of Finding Your People I talked about the recent discourse involving NaNoWriMo, and how many people I'd seen online expressed their sadness at the loss of community leaving NaNoWriMo created.

Of course, this got the wheels in my head turning.

If you know me, you know I'm a huge advocate for doing NaNoWriMo at least once in your life. If circumstances had been different, I would have been doing it this November...

We've already discussed the problems with the well-known website, but another spanner in the 'write 50k words in November' works is the fact E.A Games has decided to ruin my life by releasing BOTH Dragon Age: The VeilGuard and Sims 4: Life and Death on October 31, so I won't be doing much writing in November.

But I need to finish THE STARLIGHT PRINCE and I have another StorytellerPublisher22 submission to work on, so I thought, why not try to write as much as I can in October, instead? And I don't want to do it alone...

That's why I'm inviting you all to join my new venture Write On: Writing in Tandem with Encouragement & Nurturing.

The aim is to set a goal for October and then work towards that goal throughout the month.

The twist is that you don't have to aim for the 'traditional; 50k words.

You can aim for 30k, or 100k or whatever you want. And you don't have to write EVERY DAY. You can write on just Mondays, or every day except for Sundays. Or whatever works for you.

And of course, while you're getting your butt in your seat to write however many words you're aiming for, you have a community of other writers there to cheer you on, and share you woes with. There will be daily check-in posts and a spreadsheet for everyone to keep track of their words, and if you're also a member of the Write Here, Write Now Community I will be doing regular writing sprints in addition to the usual one sprint per week the group typically hosts.

Now is the perfect time to join WH,WN, because not only will there be more sprints than usual in October, but we're also doing a 'Face Your Fears' event where we're pushing ourselves to move out of our comfort zones, and complete a bingo board of challenges such as going live on Facebook, writing outside your usual genre, and writing more words than you typically do.

And to sweeten the deal, this month anyone who joins Write On: Writing in Tandem with Encouragement & Nurturing will be sent a 50% discount code for one month's membership over at Write Here, Write Now!

To begin with, I plan on keeping Write On to Facebook only, as that's where I do most of my writerly connecting, but if there's lots of people interested in joining, but who don't use Facebook, I may consider alternatives like Discord etc.

If you're interested in taking part in my NaNoWriMo alternative, I'd love for you to join me over at the Write On Facebook Group.

If you have any issues joining the group, please leave a comment on this entry, or send me an email at claredugmore@gmail.com.

I'll be back on Monday with the cover reveal for the WH,WN Christmas anthology, so until then,

Take care & Stay Creative!

T.T.F.N