cmrosensMarch 2026 Writing Round-Up
March is here! Let the writing round-up commence!
Here’s what I’ve been writing this month, both fiction and non-fiction pieces.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
News
- OVEREXPOSURE got accepted by The Weird Library podcast for Women In Horror month. It was produced at the end of March, and is now released. Art and narration by Bridgette Brenmark.
[All the buy links for this short are available here if you don’t want to buy via my WordPress store!]
https://youtu.be/KSoH4lfuwqw?si=1JKckC7cO_aYUNFl
- I’ve entered Yelen & Yelena for the 2026 Rubery Book Award, which is a major international book award for indie authors, based in Redditch, Worcestershire. I have no expectations of winning or being shortlisted, but the entry fee was affordable for me this month, I’ve never entered before, and I wanted to give it a go. I don’t think I chose the right book to go in with – aromantic monster-fucking probably doesn’t win a lot of mainstream awards, if I’m honest – but the book is spicy, queer, kinky fantasy, not erotica, so I hope it’s permitted, and I wanted to try it. I might try entering something else next year.
Find out more about the judging criteria. Deadline for entry: 31 March 2026.
- Ko-Fi post for March: a complete first draft of Chapter 1 of FEED. For members of Seekers and Family tiers only. Family (£5pm) get a printed copy posted to them, with a handwritten letter from me! Seekers (£3pm) get the digital version of the chapter only.
Book Bundles & Sales – there were a few of these this month! Expand to see!+
01-07 March : Smashwords Read an eBook Week Sale – This was a site-wide sale in which I had all my Smashwords titles at 50% off or free.
03-10 March : International Women’s Day – itch.io/b/3556/international-womens-day. A bundle of 32 items by 32 creators for $32, hosted by Niranjan. Yelen & Yelena was included in this bundle.
01-31 March : A Very Queer March – itch.io/b/3545/a-very-queer-march. 63 titles for $60, hosted by Niranjan. Included in this bundle were Best Friends Bury Bodies (queer contemporary romance/mystery), and The Day We Ate Grandad (Cosmic Horror Family Drama).
Make sure you’ve signed up to my newsletter (subscribe below) or you’ve subscribed to this website blog, so you get updates for new sales and bundles!
Find & Review my Books on Romance.io! Expand to find out more.+
Romance.io – You can now find 3 of my titles listed on Romance.io, as well as TheStoryGraph and GoodReads. They are:
- Best Friends Bury Bodies (no Romance.io ratings yet!)
- Birds of a Feather (5 star Romance.io rating)
- Yelen & Yelena (4.5 star Romance.io rating)
You can go to their pages and tag them with the relevant tags to make them easier for other readers to find. (I didn’t add Yelen & Yelena myself, as that’s NOT a romance, but the other two technically are. BBFB absolutely is.)
Best Seller Statistics – expand to see the top sellers, top platforms, etc.+
Top Selling Trad Titles:
#1: The Crows paperback
#2: Thirteenth paperback
#3: The Crows eBook
Top Selling Indie Titles:
#1: Best Friends Bury Bodies
#2: The Day We Ate Grandad
#3: Yelen & Yelena
Top Indie Sales Platforms:
#1: Itch.io
#2: Amazon
#3: Smashwords
#3: cmrosens.com
#3: Ko-Fi
Novels & Novellas
Paused my novel – something about this FEED draft isn’t working for me.
Had a plot idea right at the end of the month… a psychological Fantasy-Horror set in an isolated, closed monastic community, that’s like STARVING SAINTS X HELLHOLE (2022). I need to not do this to myself.
Active March Draft: AND THE BRIDE WORE WINGS OF WICKED FLESHDark Fantasy apocalypse novella inspired by Arthur Machen’s classic Weird tale, THE SHINING PYRAMID. I’m estimating that this first draft will be around 35K words. Contemplating changing this current working title, but I’m not sure yet.
Started the month: 26K words
Ended the month: 29.3K words (cut ~500 words)
Status: Active ~ drafting
Short Fiction
NEW FICTION: I hand-wrote a short story (4.5 pages in an A5 notebook) about a street with weird vibes, based on a real place. I rewrote it and typed it up into a 1.2K word Urban Gothic piece. Working title: The Street. It’s basic, but let’s see how it develops. I think this is another potential submission piece.
Audio drama adaptation of The Reluctant Husband was on pause while I drafted the novella.
No news on the x3 stories on sub!
Divination Hollow Review Contributions
Here’s the list of all my contributions to DHR in March.
- Review: Once Upon A Song by Nadine Bells
- Listicle: Welsh Horror to Watch Out For in 2026
- Special Feature: Women In Horror Month (a list of WiH features on this website, not including ones added as the month went on!)
Posts/Articles & Website Stats
Website stats and a list of all the blog posts I’ve published in March.
ARTICLES PUBLISHED
- A Very Queer March – Itch Bundle
- Author Spotlight – Queer Sci-Fi author Astrid Abell
- Women in Horror Month 2026: Beware The Ladies of the Night
- Women in Horror (Spotlighting Myself)
- Author Spotlight – Horror author Jillian Maria
- Author Spotlight – Queer Cyberpunk author Stefanie Carter (aka Wayward Sparx/Fox N. Locke)
- Classic Short Horror Stories by Women
- Horror Spotlight: Explore Gothic New Weird Novel “The Crows”
- Horror Spotlight: Explore New Weird Coming-of-Rage Novel, “Thirteenth”
- Author Spotlight: Queer Cyberpunk author A.E. Bross
- Horror Spotlight: Cosmic Horror Novel “The Day We Ate Grandad”
- Classic Short Horror Stories by Women (Part 2)
WEBSITE STATS
So far this year, we’re at 60.7K total words on the website, and 38 posts!
March Visitors: 2.9K
March Views: 3.7K
Top 10 countries:
USA
UK
Canada
Nigeria
Brazil
Australia
Germany
India
Netherlands
Türkiye
#1: Rapunzel in Cinema 1897-2024
#2: Red Riding Hood in Films 1901-2024
#3: Werewolf Films: 1910-1949
#4: Dragons & Dragon Folklore in Wales & the Welsh Borders
#5: Sleeping Beauty in Cinema 1903-2023
(Seriously… if you want to see a bit of variety up here, start linking your fave articles in Wikipedia, Reddit, and other places! But nothing is going to beat Rapunzel though…)
Who were you all searching for? Click to reveal my top 5 most-read Author Spotlights#1: Author Spotlight: Queer Sci-Fi Author Astrid Abell
#2: Author Spotlight: SFF Comedy Author Sandra Bond
#3: Author Spotlight: Horror Author PD Alleva
#4: Author Spotlight: SFFH Author Miranda Kate/MK Boers
#5: Author Spotlight: YA Fantasy Author John North
#1: Sandra Bond
#2: Abby Vail
#3: Madeleine Swann
#4: C.M. Rosens (thanks!)
#5: Ann Fraistat
#1: Caitlin Starling
#2: S.T. Gibson
#3: Ally Wilkes
#4: Lyndall Clipstone
#5: Lucy Rose
Previous Writing Round-Ups
A round-up of all my words for March, plus what’s new, book awards, and other updates!
by cmrosensApril 1, 2026April 1, 2026Read on for the stats, the updates, and the forthcoming news! I’ve got a few books in Itch bundles coming up, there’s the Smashwords eBook sale 01-07Mar to look out for, and I’ve set out a round-up of all my writing this month.
by cmrosensFebruary 27, 2026February 27, 2026January 2026: Writing Round-Up
Read on for a round-up of my writing this month, the WIPs I’ve been working on, and my published works!
by cmrosensJanuary 28, 2026February 1, 2026 #writingUpdate