The April I Started Finding My Way Back

Hey Besties!

I know I probably say this every month, but seriously… where has April gone?!

It feels like five minutes ago that I was writing my March update, yet somehow also like a thousand years since I last did any proper writing. Life is funny like that.

Life & Health Update

I suspect a lot of that has been down to hormonal changes. Since having no coil and no HRT in place, some of my PMDD symptoms seem to have made an unwelcome return. Motivation has been low, my energy has been all over the place, and I’ve generally felt a bit less like myself recently.

Thankfully, there’s some light at the end of the tunnel. At the time of writing this, I had an appointment booked for a new coil fitting the following week—and by the time you’re reading this, that should all be sorted. Fingers crossed this one behaves itself and doesn’t yeet like the last one.

Having the coil back in place means extra progesterone support, and my GP will also be looking into either estrogen gel or GnRH analogues for me to try next. I never really had a fair chance to test estrogen therapy properly before, as I kept reacting badly to the adhesive in the patches.

I’ll be sure to let you know next month how I’m getting on with a more stable hormonal setup.

Writing & Author Life

Although I haven’t been doing as much drafting as I’d like, I have still been busy with writing-related work. I’ve kept up twice-weekly updates of Kiss Me After the Kill, along with all the promo that comes with serialising a story online.

I’ve also added The Starlight Prince and its companion novella, Starlight and Stolen Secrets (formerly The Adventures of Josain Jovenne), to Inkitt complete with brand-new covers to celebrate!

Starlight and Stolen Secrets is now available in full, while The Starlight Prince is being released one chapter a day over the next month. At the time of posting, there are currently around five chapters live to read.

My Inkitt profile can be found here:
https://www.inkitt.com/ClareDugmore

I’m really enjoying the platform, and as part of my hybrid-author plans, I’ve decided Inkitt will likely become the initial release platform for my future indie titles.

Once Kiss Me After the Kill is complete, I’m planning to serialise a dark fae prince enemies-to-lovers story next.

I’m also playing around with ideas for a cosy romantasy project, so I have something new to query after Tea Leaves, Pages & Starlight. Right now, I’m thinking magical academy + rivals-to-lovers energy, which honestly sounds like great fun.

Speaking of Tea Leaves, Pages & Starlight, that manuscript is currently sitting at around 55k words, and I’m hoping to dive back into it properly in May. To help with that, I’ve committed to taking part in every Write Here, Write Now Sprint—there are nine in total, so I could add anywhere from 1-2k words in each of those sessions.

I’ll let you know how that goes in next month’s update.

KMATK Milestones

I recently hit a lovely milestone with Kiss Me After the Kill—ten chapters live on Inkitt! (In fact, by the time this post goes up, it’ll actually be twelve chapters.)

To celebrate, I created an ebook edition of the first ten chapters for anyone who prefers reading that way. You can download it here:

https://dl.bookfunnel.com/uen6bk3d54

I’ve also launched a brand-new mailing list just for fans of the story: Azrael’s Inner Sanctum.

Members can expect:

🩸 Weekly chapter links, so you never miss an update
🖤 Sneak peeks of what’s coming next
✨ Early news, including the future Amazon release once the serial is complete

You can join here:

https://2e2f8d.share-eu1.hsforms.com/2q6pua8QzTFeB1bLU-gSbRA

Personal Joys This Month

April also brought a very special personal milestone: Hubby and I celebrated 16 years of marriage (and 24 years together in total!).

We kept gifts small and sweet this year. I bought him a Dan figure from Street Fighter, and he got me a Vampii figure from Kenji’s Underverse, matching socks, and a dinosaur figure—which feels very me.

My dad, who doesn’t celebrate birthdays or Christmas due to being a Jehovah’s Witness, always sends us money for our anniversary instead. This year we used it to go out for a family meal, which was such a lovely way to celebrate. It was wonderful spending time away from home with Hubby and the boys, enjoying good food and each other’s company.

My birthday present from Japan also finally arrived: a double-volume collection of song lyrics by Atsushi Sakurai.

And honestly… 😍😭

The photos. The lyrics. I cannot.

Please enjoy the incoming photo spam of our anniversary celebrations, gifts, and general happiness.

There's more in this month's newsletter, too! 

New Hobby Incoming?

In other news, I recently sold my Apple Pencil to my oldest (so he could gift it to his partner), and used the money to buy some knitting loom kits.

I blame a recent NerdECrafter video for inspiring me to give loom knitting a try.

My current plan is to make tiny blorb animals with button eyes and felt wings—which feels like a completely reasonable use of my time.

I’ll be sure to share some pictures once I make progress!

Before I Go...

That’s about everything for this month!

My monthly newsletter will also be going out this week and includes a sneak peek from Kiss Me After the Kill, along with some book recommendations. If you’d like to receive Letters from Clare, you can sign up here:

https://claredugmore.com/letters-from-clare

Until next time...

Take care, and stay creative.

T.T.F.N.