The sort of calm that I aspire to instead of the chaos that usually reigns
I wrote an article, I read it back, and it’s kind of dull. I want a bit of life in my writing, but when I read it back, it was meh. So I’ll start with the To-Long-Didn’t-Read summary and leave the rather limp but proper article attached. So, in summary:
- I have no idea how to punctuate this part, and I didn’t realise that there were fancy things for lists, but now I know! Lists are no longer safe
- The last instalment of The Guest is 28th September 2026, if all goes well. There’s a reasonable chance it will appear on time despite my track record. That is the last piece of fiction that I’ll post on Substack and Royal Road. There may or may not be a sigh of relief from those sites, but I’ve got more bewildered by the week trying to keep track of everything, so I’m cutting a lot out. News and articles will still be posted on Substack, which will be acting as my newsletter.
- I close my Draft2Digital account on 1st October 2026. I’d like to think that I’m special, but I’ve got the sense that there’s a stampede of authors leaving them. And I say that I’m closing the account then, but I fail with tech, I fail with complicated procedures with websites, and I get the sense that the Draft2Digital helpline may get a little congested, but my account should disappear some time around the beginning of October 2026. It’s a shame, because it was once a site that I truly trusted.
- I start the month long daily posting of spooky or not-our-world stories on 1st October 2026 and I apologise for the excess of Wordpress notifications.
- On 31st October I get busy and I close my Royal Road account. I ought to feel a sense of loss, but I’ve never settled there. I’m an old lass and a square peg in a round hole there. I ought to make more of an effort, but I don’t have the time, energy, or understanding of LitRPG, so it goes. At the same time, I’ll take down The Guest from all blogs and translate it to Amazon. I have absolutely no idea how long that will take. Watch this space.
- That day, 31st October 2026, is also the last day that I’ll post on my Wordpress blog. I ought to feel sadder about it. Instead, it will be one less complication.
- I’ll start a new fiction series on 2nd November 2026, the first Monday in the month. I’m currently undecided whether it should be a sequel to The Guest or whether I should go Steampunk. Comments on this welcome. Going from a cosy kitchen to the dismal East End of London, awash with vampires and dark deeds, may be a step too far. I may, of course, decide on something entirely different. If you’ve followed me for any length of time, you’ll know that the chances of me sticking to a plan are lower than a soccer club winning the Superbowl.
- On 30th November 2026 there will be a cull of fiction from my blogs. I’ll take down Under Dark Hills, Invitation Accepted and all the stories that I published in October 2026, once again with a view to translate to Amazon. Then things should calm down…
- I think that’s everything covered. Read on if you feel like it, comment if you think that I’m missing something, and know that I’m trying to play fair with my readers and I’ll answer any questions about my writing that you have.
Now the long version.
It’s coming to the end of September, and I’m finally getting around to the word of the year. I’ve seen so many people choose a word that gives them direction and purpose, and I chose Mindful. And I’ve been anything but since. That’s changing now.
It started with me actually thinking about my writing blog, and how comfortable, or otherwise, I felt with it. That led to a massive shift from Wordpress to Blogger, and after 31st October 2026, I will not be publishing new content on Wordpress. I pay for its upkeep and the site name, and once this year’s payment runs out, the Wordpress content will disappear. I’ve gone through most of the 600 posts, but I plan a double check, probably after Christmas, to pick up any strays.
I’ve also made the choice to shift a lot of the stories from my blog into books, to try and keep them. I fret about losing them to computer malfunction and forgotten blog pages. I’ve an uneasy suspicion that I’ve got some stories still missing, but it is what it is. It’s part of the Mindful thing. Stories kicking around on my blog feel like a weight, like I should be doing something with them. Once something has been published, it’s set in stone and I can’t bother with it anymore. The weight of that story disappears. Once I’ve got Further Tales from the White Hart out, which will be published as a collection with Dark Pictures and Back at the White Hart, I’ll be publishing the collected spooky or alternate stories that I’ll be publishing every day in October – a lot of old stories, but some new ones sprinkled in after the end of November. I’ll also be publishing Under Dark Hills, Invitation Accepted, and The Guest, though I’ll leave The Guest up for at least a month once the story has finished before transitioning to book.
And speaking of The Guest, on Monday I published an instalment on Blogger, Wordpress, Substack, and Royal Road. That is too much and it’s easy for posts and comments to slip through the cracks. After The Guest is finished, I’ll stop publishing fiction on Substack. After all, I went there to make a newsletter, not to add to the mental load. I’ll stick to news and chat, with the occasional article thrown in, probably on Wednesdays. It’s still worth subscribing to me there, as that’s where you can subscribe to newsletter style emails.
Royal Road is a little different. It’s a great site, and I wrote the majority of The Guest in a concerted effort in their November challenge last year, but it’s not really a good fit with my writing. There’s a lot of LitRPG fiction on there, which I’ve never got the hang of. I can’t contribute properly, and I’ve failed at interacting. It’s distracting me, and there’s no benefit for anyone, so I’m closing my account there on 31st October 2026.
My hope is that after 31st October 2026, I’ll only publish fiction on the Blogger version of Always Another Chapter, and news, chat, and articles there and on Substack. That should clear a lot of clutter in my mind. If I also clear the clutter and get those blog stories onto Amazon, it should, I hope, allow me to be mindful, intentional, and write a whole load of new stories. And while I’m sorry that I’m not working harder at the Draft2Digital side, and I’ll be closing my account there from 1st October 2026, again, it makes space in my thoughts and I can come back to that word, Mindful.
Please keep your fingers crossed that it all goes smoothly. It has to happen at some time, right?
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