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Reflections: Looking Back and Planning for the Future

Picture of Clare Dugmore By   ·  3 minute read

Greetings readers!

It seems I'm about a month early in the typical New Year's looking back and planning for the future that many people do at the end of the year. This is a good thing, as the WH, WN Community is starting a new goal-setting event this coming Monday (December 2nd). 

A quick side-note on the WH,WN Community. Karen is currently offering a 'Black Friday' discount which includes: 

*Join for three months for £50 - RRP £60 (Use code SAVE15 at checkout)
*Join for six months for £100 - RRP £125 (Use code SAVE20 at checkout)
*Join for one year for for £196.50 - RRP £262 (Use code SAVE25 at checkout)
 
Now is the perfect time to join, not only for the goal above setting but also for all the fun, new things Karen has planned for 2025. 
 
Anyway, back to the point of this post.
 
A few days ago on my Facebook Memories a 'memory' of the first time I 'won' NaNoWriMo came up. It inspired me to look back on some old blog posts from 2010 when I moved from fan-fiction to original fiction. I loved seeing the hopefulness I had back then, and some of the valuable lessons I learned along the way. Although there have been many ups and downs in the past 14 years, I'm glad to see my passion for writing remains strong.
 
This year, in conjunction with my autism and ADHD diagnosis, and completing ADHD coaching, I feel like I have come far closer to my  'real' self than I have ever been.
 
One of the things I learned about in ADHD coaching is focusing on your 'North Star'. A person's 'North Star' is the values/beliefs/passions that guide them and they couldn't live without.
 
For me, it's the following:
  1. Living a good life, with adventures and the people I love
  2. Having creative outlets
  3. Using my voice to amplify other voices
  4. Donating to causes that are important to me
  5. Helping Others

How these pertain specifically to my writing career is that my main creative outlet is writing, and I plan to use the money I make from writing to fund not only life with my family and friends but to also donate to causes important to me if I can. My ultimate goal is to create a community of like-minded creatives who come together to encourage, support, and celebrate not only each other but also causes that are important to them. 

I feel like I am already achieving some aspects of this by being part of the WH,WN Community and contributing to charity anthologies etc. Plus donating to other causes (St. Judes etc.)

I also feel like I have made huge strides this year in maintaining focus and motivation towards my goals. I've written 52,000 words on The Starlight Prince, and it's on track for release in February. I wrote and released a 30k words reader magnet. I've participated in two anthologies and one collection, and I've written about ~28k on other projects that may or may not be published in the future.

Edit to add: Holy shit! I just added the total of everything I've written this year, and I've written about 130, 000 words!! Go me!

I've done all this while dealing with various mental and physical health issues.

So, yes, I feel like I have made progress towards my goals and my 'North Star' points. I am very proud of what I've achieved -- especially remaining consistent with TSP, while fitting in other projects to keep the dopamine flowing. 

Before I started ADHD coaching, I used to beat myself up for all my unfinished stories, all the serials etc. I felt I flaked out on. I don't feel like that anymore. I set myself goals, and I achieved them. If there are times I've set aside a story (like The Last Magic Shop) I feel there's been a genuine reason for that.

I feel confident that I've learned enough about how my brain and body work that I can continue with this goal-setting, and working towards what I want from my writing career.

With that in mind, I've taken a look at both what things I've already signed up for in 2025, and what stories are resonating with me, and come up with a writing/release schedule that will see me through to about July 2026.

Here's what I have planned:

  • The Starlight Prince (Throvani Ethrionth Star System Series ) coming 25 February 2025
  • The Pact of Protection (The Moonlit Crossroads Saga), coming August 29, 2025 as part of the Predators of Darkness Shared Work from StorytellerPublisher22
  • The Festival of Fate (The Moonlit Crossroads Saga), coming October 14, 2025, as part of the Within The Woods Anthology
  • Frosty The Snowman (standalone, continuation of 2024 SiC story), coming 25 November 2025
  • The Dark Side of the Moon (Throvani Ethrionth Star System Series ), coming 30 March, 2026
  • LGBTQA+ Parallel universe romance, submitting in online pitch events summer/ autumn 2026
Of course, plans do change, and I'm willing to remain flexible, especially with the plans for 2026, as many things could happen between now and then.

Looking at my plans, I just noticed a pattern, too. 2025 is the year of spicy romance, speculative fiction, where as my two planned releases for 2026 are LGBTQA+ romance, speculative fiction. I wonder, should my third release for 2026 also be LGBTQA+ romance, speculative fiction? Maybe another Moonlit Crossroads Saga?

That's certainly something to think about for the future. :D

I think that's about it for this issue. I'm going to go and work on The Starlight Prince for a while.

Until next time,

Take care and stay creative.

T.T.F.N

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