July 2026 Writing Round-Up

Welcome to July: another month, another writing round-up. Here’s how the month of July went in terms of my writing, and where I’m currently at!

CONTENTS

WriteHive Conference Workshop

This month I did a workshop at the 2026 {free online} WriteHive Conference on Writing Queernormative Worlds. This took place on Sunday 12th July and was a lot of fun. For those interested, I wrote an accompanying article with the PowerPoint slides earlier this month, here:

That was a real highlight of this month.

I wrote up a post about it with the PowerPoint slides available for download here.

Download the slides & questions from the article as .ppt and .doc files from my Ko-Fi shop, free to download but Pay As You Feel if you wish to tip me.

Download now

Writing Queernormative Worlds: World Building Workshop

Writing Mentality Check

Writing-wise, I didn’t start the month in a good frame of mind; I got a bit despondent. Sales are not what I’d like them to be. One reason for this is that my publisher pulled Thirteenth from US Amazon (I’ve asked why, but no response yet), so those eBook sales have tanked. If my royalties don’t pick up I can ask for my rights back, and re-publish these again myself back in my safe indie enclave. Would that feel like a defeat? Should it?

Also – nothing I write is written for a mainstream audience in any particular genre. I always write what I want, and the result is something very niche. Niche is hard to place in the market. I may never write something “popular”, or bestselling. Is that even a goal I have? Why would I have this goal? How would that improve my life beyond the financial implications? Might that cause me additional stress and pressure? Would I even like what I’d written, or enjoy the process of writing it?

I spent some time sitting with these and other questions, and the discomfort of my discontent. Ultimately, I decided to reframe my definitions of ‘success’, and get back to where I find joy.

I’m aware that some people may find this discussion difficult, and may also not wish to read a litany of positives that I found in my own journey so far to keep me going.

If you’d like to read that, I’ve put that in the inline spoiler text below to read at your leisure/discretion.

Positives That Helped Me Reframe My Definition of “Success”

I have to remind myself that success doesn’t look like sales or popularity to me. As an undiagnosed ND child, I was never “popular”, and I wonder if, as an adult, I am still seeking “popularity” as the result of some sort of inner-child wound. I didn’t need it then, and I don’t need it now.

Writing brings me joy. That’s it. That’s all it is.

It isn’t my full-time job for that exact reason. I don’t want to turn the thing I love into a job. I have a job. I don’t need the thing I love to become another one.

When I get upset about it, it’s usually because I’ve started thinking about it as a job, and using metrics of success that measure it like a business. It’s not. I’m not trying to build a career, I’m supposed to be living my life and having fun. For me, that looks like getting as good at my hobbies as I can, because they enrich my life. And honestly, I’ve come so much further than I ever expected already.

I’m someone’s favourite author, which is mind-blowing. More than one person has told me this. I don’t know what more I can ask for.

My books have directly influenced how other published authors wrote their worlds and characters, which means elements of my stuff will live on in other people’s work. How amazing and humbling is that?

I’ve heard from readers how my work has helped them on their own journeys of mental health recovery and identity discovery. That’s possibly the most humbling and wonderful and terrible thing to hear, all at once. I really didn’t want people to resonate with the darker struggles in my books in that way, because of how shit it is to do so. I’m deeply sorry that has been someone’s experience, and I’m also really glad my books had some kind of positive impact.

My self-published books were picked up by a publisher and I’m now with a Big 5. I never dreamed that any of would happen when I self-published The Crows in 2020. Even if I get my rights back soon, which I might be entitled to do if sales of The Crows and Thirteenth don’t pick up, I’ve been on this incredible journey with a hobby I’ve had since I was very tiny.

Nobody can ever take away the fact I was, at one time, a Penguin Random House author. Penguin authors, like other authors, go out of print all the time.

There’s no such thing as failure when your measure of success is, “am I enjoying this?”

So that helped me get back into it.

WIPs in Revision Stages

In July I had two completed first draft projects that were in the editing/revision stages:

The Reluctant Husband – audio drama version
The Butterfly Bride – Dark Gothic Fantasy novella

This month was about edits and alpha readers, getting a first pass with new eyes, and using these comments to shape the revisions.

These are ongoing WIPs and I’m excited to do something with both of these.

Writing in July

In addition to the advance audio and transcript for Episode 01 of Eldritch Girl S06, Ko-Fi members got an experimental chapter of Feed this month.

Read it here: ko-fi.com/post/July-2026-Reward–FEED-Chapter-D6R723QRBC

Published reviews in July 2026 (hosted on Divination Hollow Reviews):

REVIEW: The Devouring by A.M. Shilling

REVIEW: Queer Tastes: Unconventional Queer Representation in Horror Films by Cat Voleur

Published articles in July 2026 (hosted on cmrosens.com):

June 2026 Media Round-Up (Published in July for June)
Writing Queernormative Worlds: World Building Workshop

Published Author Spotlights for July 2026 (hosted on cmrosens.com):

Podcast Season 06: Episodes and Transcripts

Eldritch Girl is back with a new season. Season 05 was a Reading Challenge (#AScareADay) and Season 06 is a Film Challenge, #100HorrorMoviesIn92Days. I’m going to be chatting about my favourite new-to-me films discovered for the challenge, and also bring on some guests to chat as well.

Ko-Fi members get ad-free advance episodes. Listen ad-free here with your Ko-Fi membership: ko-fi.com/post/100HorrorMoviesIn92Days–A-Look-Back-at-4-Years-R2J5237SCJ

Listen here, free with ads:

100 Horror Movies in 92 Days – A Look Back at the Highlights – Eldritch Girl: Weird Gothic Stuff & Nonsense

Season 06 of Eldritch Girl is a Horror Film focused season! I've been doing the #100HorrorMoviesIn92Days challenge for 4 years now, but this time I want to share my challenge progress on the podcast.Here's my look back at the last 4 years, with a few Top 10 lists (plus runners up). I'm looking forward to starting this season but the episodes may be a challenge in themselves to get up! We'll see how often I can post, as all the films will be new to me, and I can't get a head start to record them!For now, enjoy my look back at the 467 films I've watched over the last 4 years specifically for the challenge count.Read this in its original post format on cmrosens.com.Get these episodes without ads, and free eBooks to download by joining my Ko-Fi membership – cancel any time.Intro/Outro: "Eighties Action" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

And that’s a wrap on July!

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C. M. Rosens

100 Horror Movies in 92 Days – A Look Back at the Highlights – Eldritch Girl: Weird Gothic Stuff & Nonsense

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Author Spotlight: High Fantasy Author, Joyce Reynolds-Ward