Writing Conferences and Book-Eating Girls - October 28th, 2025
Hello, readers!
A lot has happened since the last newsletter, so let’s get into it:
The Halloween 2025 Sale Continues! 👻
First, a quick reminder that the Harlow Mystery series Halloween 2025 sale is still ongoing! Winner Takes All, Engagement To Die For, and Bloody Fantasia are 25% off until November 1st, 2025.
Please note: The sale applies to ebooks only, and it does not apply to Amazon.
Share this sale with any readers looking for a spooky new read for the season! Thanks for your support, and happy reading! If you want to keep an eye out for future book sales from me, consider subscribing to this newsletter if you’re not already subscribed. 😁
What Am I Writing Recently?
WIPS | % Completed | Next Steps |
|---|---|---|
Sonnets Of Winter | 100% (27/27 poems drafted) | Put this completed draft aside and start editing Sonnets of Autumn. |
Sonnets of Autumn | Draft #2 100% Edited/Written | Put this completed draft aside and start Draft #2 of Sonnets of Winter. |
Unnamed/Unlisted WIP #1 | 20% | Finish drafting this WIP. Potentially put on hiatus for now. |
Unnamed/Unlisted WIP #2 (sequel to WIP #1) | Outline: 100% Actual writing: 0% | Start writing this WIP after Unnamed/Unlisted WIP #1 is fully drafted. On hiatus until this condition is fulfilled. |
I’ve been busy writing more of the unnamed/unlisted WIPs and the winter-themed poetry collection “Sonnets of Winter” (mainly the latter)! And yes, I have a table. I thought it would be a more fun way to show the progress I’m making so far!
As you can see, I finished writing Draft #1 of Sonnets of Winter midway through this month! 🎉I didn’t think I was going to finish Draft #1 this fast, but I got the inspiration to write the latter half of it shortly after Thanksgiving and completed writing the rest of the draft.
I then started editing/writing Draft #2 of Sonnets of Autumn, and….completed that a week later, back on Oct. 22nd. 😅 I didn’t expect edits to go by that fast, but I clearly overestimated how long I would take. Given this, I’m going into the end of October/beginning of November with writing/editing Draft #2 of Sonnets of Winter! ☃️
I also might put both Unnamed/Unlisted WIPs on hiatus for a while. This is because I don’t have as much of motivation to write either of them right now, and to focus on finishing the poetry collections.
Other writing-related activities include:
Submitting even more poems and short stories to lit mags and contests for hopeful publication!
Updated the “Which Books By Claris You Should Read First” game! This is to reflect the recent release of Stay Magical, my magical girl short story collection.
Redesigned my Carrd full of links!
Attended Self Pub Con! This is a free online writing conference that went on during Oct. 18th-Oct. 19th this year. The webinars in this conference are pretty insightful to check out, both for new and more-experienced authors.
Attended the Write Anyway Summit! This took place between Oct. 20th and Oct. 23rd this year. Given the timing, this meant that I caught up on this writing conference’s replays immediately after finishing watching Self Pub Con webinar replays. Also, I couldn’t attend most of the presentations when they initially aired. Admittedly, a lot of these webinars felt geared more for newer authors rather than ones with more experience (like myself), so they weren’t as helpful as Self Pub Con was this time around.
What Am I Playing Lately?
I’ve been gaming a lot in my spare time lately, including two newer video games. Those games are:
1. Bye Sweet Carole, which recently released on October 9th! 🐇I was initially drawn to this game due to the fairytale style of storytelling and whimsical hand-drawn aesthetics. A reason I started playing it shortly after its release was because I noticed other players already beating the game starting the day before it was released, and I wanted to avoid spoilers.😅
I didn’t enjoy playing this game as much as I hoped. The story, art, and music were fascinating, but I didn’t enjoy a lot of the gameplay mechanics and felt that they were unpolished and clunky. I would go into more details about what I didn’t like about the game, but then I would make this newsletter far too long. 😅
2. Habromania! This is an Alice In Wonderland-inspired point and click game which has Alice navigating Wonderand…but as you can imagine with most modern Alice interpretations and adaptations, this one is darker than the original story. I really enjoyed playing the demo because of its whimsical aesthetics, music, characters, and writing. The team behind this game has an ongoing Kickstarter to fund developing the rest of the game and it’s already more than 100% funded!🎉 The whole game will be split into 12 chapters (the demo covers the first half of Chapter 1). I look forward to the full game when it’s published!
What Am I Listening To Lately?
I realize that I haven’t really recommended many audiobooks and/or podcasts in these newsletters, lately. The reason? I’ve been more drawn to listening to music more than audiobooks and podcasts. Given this, this section will become more of a music rec-oriented than on audiobooks and podcasts as originally intended moving forward.
As for what I’m recommending this time, I’ve been listening to some of PEGGY’s music, especially Alice (Red Queen version ft. Ella Red) and TALK SHIT! (ft. Thomas Sanders). I also enjoy listening to PEGGY’s other music like Alice (the original version) and BUILD A BOY. You can find a lot of PEGGY’s work on Bandcamp.
What Am I Reading Recently?
As I mentioned in my previous newsletter, I decided to focus on paring down my personal collection of books. This is because I had so many that I acquired over the years from little free libraries in the local area and/or as gifts, if not bought by myself!
To inspire me, I borrowed ebooks from the library’s online catalogue such as The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, Joy At Work, and Spark Joy by Marie Kondo to get some tips. It was nice to read Joy At Work for the first time, and also reread the other two books!
I also have been rereading books from my personal collection such as the Book Girl series by Mizuki Nomura! For those familiar with back when I wrote book reviews, I reviewed the entire series and loved it overall. I forgot how much I loved reading this series until this second re-read. However, my inner reader is mildly horrified by the main heroine literally eating books, even if I kind-of understand her reasoning behind it.
Other books I read include:
Calm The F*ck Down by Sarah Knight
Out Of Wonderland by Piper S. Grey
Light From Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki
Outside of books, I read this pretty cool essay about how “horror” transcends the genre that it’s placed in. I also read this article about how the most recently-popular “self-help” books have an increasingly self-centered view.
Thank you for following my writing journey!
I hope you look forward to seeing more of my writing process and work. I also look forward to giving all of you more frequent updates as well, so stay tuned for more!
If you have any questions, feel free to email me at clarislamauthor@gmail.com! I’ll respond within 48 hours (except on weekends and holidays).