If you subscribe to my newsletter, you’ll have seen that last month was a rough one, and we’re going through bereavement as a family. This definitely had an impact on my writing and on my media choices, and I think it’s fair to say it’s the same this month. It also had an impact on that newsletter, as I forgot to add links to my March Writing Round-Up and my March Media Round-Up to it! Apologies for that… but hopefully you know where to find them!
That said, I did start the month on a more positive note, by taking off to Torquay for a very much-needed break. Again, newsletter subscribers will have seen this, and also a photo I took! I came home with more energy, and with a new book idea.
Below are the usual headings: all my latest news and writing-related updates, including publishing ones; longform fiction and short fiction word counts; non-fiction pieces for Diviniation Hollow, and my own website articles. There are stats for the stats fiends, and more!
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
News
I’ve had a few pieces of good news this month! I’ve clung to those tiny shards of positivity, although they seem very small.
- I’m so happy to say that QueerLit, the largest LGBTQ+ bookstore in Europe (based in Manchester, UK), has agreed to stock THE CROWS and THIRTEENTH. I’ve also asked if Gay’s The Word | The UK’s Oldest LGBT+ Bookshop | London, England, will stock them, and they also said yes! You can order a copy from either of these when they do get some stock in, and support both them and me!
- I have also been accepted as a speaker in the WriteHive 2026 Conference, 10-12 July, where I’ll be running the Worldbuilding Workshop: Crafting a Queernormative World.
I proposed a workshop using slides and interactive writing sessions which explores ways a queernormative world might look. It will encourage writers to develop different approaches to naming characters and design alternative family structures.
Novels & Novellas
FEED is back on the menu. I’ve got back into this novel right at the end of the month, and I’ll go back and fix the parts I don’t like later. We’re still on 63K, but we’re getting somewhere.
Dark Fantasy Novella – I’m aiming to have something to submit for the Neon Hemlock Novella Series submission window in October 2026 (their June period is only open for trans writers and BIPOC writers). I’m not expecting an acceptance as competition for their slots is very high and the quality of their books is great, but I want to try! I have a few other places after that I will submit to, and I think it’s representative enough of my work that I could sub to agents as well.
New working title: THE BUTTERFLY BRIDE. Expand for progress, and a fake cover I made.
Started the month: 29.3K words – 8 chapters of 9 written
Editing and cuts took place.
Ended the month: 33.1K words – 9 of 9/10? chapters nearly completed, I’m stuck at the end.
PLUS:
- 1 query letter – aimed at agents
- 1 cover letter – aimed at small presses
- 1 page synopsis – written for querying
- 4 page full synopsis – written for querying
Short Fiction
- 1 rejection, 5 stories out (the rejected one went straight back out to another place). For those keeping track, the pieces out on sub are:
– There’s Something Wrong with Sylvia’s Mother (Quiet Horror, 3.5K words)
– A Dark Place of One’s Own (Quiet Horror, 2K words)
– Early Retirement (Off-World Sci-Fi, 7.8K words)
– On The Street Where You Live (Urban Gothic, 950 words)
– The Punch & Judy Man, aka Sh! What’s That? from the Folklore of Pagham-on-Sea (REPRINT, Flash Fic, Folk Horror prose poem, 350 words)
- Audio Drama version of The Reluctant Husband is nearly done (first draft). I would like to take this to a scriptwriting class to be honest, and properly workshop it to learn more about audio scriptwriting!
Divination Hollow Articles
Here’s what I published on Divination Hollow this month…
- Feature: Classic Short Horror Stories by Women (a cross-post with Part 1 of my classic short horror stories found here, in March).
- Review: The Dreaming of Man by Nikoline Kaiser
Website Articles & Stats
This month I wrote up LOADS of Author Spotlight interview forms, and I’ve got most months covered now. Here’s what I published, and some stats for the stat fiends! (It’s me, I’m stats fiends).
WEBSITE STATS
April Visitors: 3K
April Views: 3.6K
2026 Word Count: 75.1K
2026 Posts: 48
2026 Visitors: 12.1K
2026 Views: 15.6K
TOP 5s
Top 5 Most-Read Articles
#1 Rapunzel in Cinema 1897-2024
#2 Red Riding Hood in Films 1901-2024
Top 5 Most-Read Author Spotlights
#1 Author Spotlight: Gothic Weird Fiction author Nikoline Kaiser
#2 Author Spotlight: British Gothic Horror author Laura Clarke Walker
#3 Author Spotlight: Queer Romantasy Author Ian Haramaki
#4 Author Spotlight: Dark Romantasy Author S.R. Severn
#5 Author Spotlight: Gothic SFF Author Morgan Dante
Top 5 Most-Read Women in Horror features
#1 Emily Ruth Verona
#2 Victoria Dalpe
#3 LCW Allingham
#4 Abby Vail
#5 Julie Lew
Top 5 Most-Read Podcast Transcripts
#1 Interview with Caitlin Starling: Gothic Horror, Medicine, and Magic
#2 Author Jelena Dunato on Croatian History, Folklore, and Writing Fantasy
#3 Author Interview Transcript: S. T. [Saint] Gibson
#4 Interview with Helen Nde: Mythological Africans, Deviance, and the Dark Side of Family in African Folklore
#5 Interview with Suzan Palumbo ~ Skin Thief coming Oct 2023
APRIL ARTICLES PUBLISHED:
- Author Spotlight: British Gothic author Laura Clarke Walker
- Independent Girlies, Ruin Your Life With 1 Weird Trick (announcement for Overexposure being sold to The Weird Library podcast).
- Author Spotlight: Queer Paranormal Ecohorror author S.M. Mack
- Author Spotlight: Sweden-based Poet Pixie
- Author Spotlight: Gothic Weird Fiction author Nikoline Kaiser
- Author Spotlight: British Horror/Crime Thriller author WM Parslow
- Author Spotlight: Black Sapphic Vampire Romance author Liza Wemakor
Previous Writing Round-Ups
March 2026 Writing Round-Up
A round-up of all my words for March, plus what’s new, book awards, and other updates!
February Writing Round-Up
Read on for the stats, the updates, and the forthcoming news! I’ve got a few books in Itch bundles coming up, there’s the Smashwords eBook sale 01-07Mar to look out for, and I’ve set out a round-up of all my writing this month.
January 2026: Writing Round-Up
Read on for a round-up of my writing this month, the WIPs I’ve been working on, and my published works!
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