November 2026 Housekeeping Updates | A Message From Avril

Hi there! :)

It's been quite a while since I've done a proper check-in post and I have a handful of writing-related updates to share with you!

Let's get into it...

The Blog

Let's begin with what is perhaps the most pertinent to you as the reader of this blog and, possibly, the most substantial update of the bunch.

I'm approaching my eighth anniversary of blogging, which is kinda wild if I'm being honest. And throughout the time, I've kept to the same schedule: new posts every Sunday at noon EST, with the occasional bonus post on Wednesdays at noon EST. There have been a few exceptions (i.e., taking a semi-hiatus during the summer months in order to accommodate seasonal hours at my day job and, more importantly, prevent myself from burning out).

In the early days, I didn't have much difficulty keeping up the weekly pace, apart from a crash that led to one total hiatus and the aforementioned semi-hiatus taken in the summers since.

But my life looks a lot different now than it did when 22-year-old Avril launched this blog.

I'm in a leadership position at my non-writing job, I'm considering picking up a second part-time job at a different store in the mall I currently work in because **gestures to the general economy**, and I started a YouTube channel this year. Not to mention I developed a chronic illness that impacts so many aspects of my life (and, probably not to her surprise, finally got diagnosed with the ADHD we always suspected but swept under the rug).

Life is hectic. I know that 22-year-old Avril would be shocked by everything she'll accomplish and the shenanigans future her will get up to and everything she'll survive. And the combination of those factors and others has made it trickier to maintain the current upload schedule.

I've been wrestling with this a lot, and I finally came to a decision: I am changing the blog's upload schedule.

Beginning in 2027, new blog posts will roll out on Wednesdays at 9:00 AM EST on a biweekly basis (unless otherwise specificed).

Why the change?

Blogging is the form of writing that is the most easy for me to do on the go because I can do it in shorter stints, unlike working on a book. Up until March of this year, my blog's office hours, as I call them, usually fell on whatever day off I had from my day job. That's when I go through whichever posts are meant to go live in the next few weeks and make sure they're set, as well as any back-end stuff that's harder to focus on when I'm out and about (e.g., in the mall food court before my shift).

But since I've started doing YouTube, those office hours have shifted. I can't cart my filming corner around with me, nor do I have a laptop that can handle much beyond browsing the web; long story short, the one time I attempted to edit a video on said laptop resulted in a total factory reset. I can take my blogging anywhere, but my YouTube stuff is restricted to a specific location and timeframe: the time that used to be reserved for my blog.

Rearranging the schedule means I can prioritize what's fixed in place and still tend to what's a little more flexible.

It might take me a little while to get into the groove, but overall I think this will help keep things running smoothly.

YouTube

I'm still learning the ropes on YouTube, and part of that includes figuring out the schedule that works best for me.

When I started the channel, new videos went live on Fridays. It was mostly doable, save for a couple of weeks that I didn't post because it wasn't in the cards, but there were a few late Thursday nights spent scrambling to finish edits. And to be perfectly honest, I don't love doing it that way.

Excluding my series on The Artist's Way, new videos will be going live on Sundays at 9:00 AM EST.

And if you haven't checked out my channel yet, find it here. I like to think of it as the blog's spunky little sister and would love it if you dropped by (and maybe even subscribed?).

Fiction Stuff

I'll talk about this in greater depth once we get closer to the end of the year, but 2026 has been a year of growth for me as a writer thus far. Even though I haven't gotten nearly as many words down on the page as I'd hoped, I feel like I'm slowly rekindling my spark and finding my way back to myself as a writer.

These days, my romance-writing time is primarily focused on a for-funsies contemporary project. It's the first time in a while that I'm just writing something for the love of the game and for myself. Maybe I'll end up publishing it someday, but that's not the goal in the way that it's been for my historical romances. The real purpose of this one is teaching myself how to have fun with my writing again.

I don't have many updates to share fiction-wise. I'll be working on this contemporary piece through the rest of 2026, with plans to wander back to writing the usual Regency Era stuff in Spring 2027 (give or take).

The Newsletter

Earlier this year, I moved my blog's newsletter to a bimonthly update basis, and I think I'll be sticking to that.

I'm currently anticipating the newsletter will be coming out toward the end of every other month, featuring updates from all of the corners I write in.

However, it's going on a brief hiatus so I can give it a much-needed refresh. New formatting and new freebies for its subscribers.

Speaking of which, if you have freebies or other things you'd like to see from my newsletter, I'd love it if you would share them in the comments.

I'm hoping to get the newsletter up and running once again by the end of the year. A little soft launch before 2027.

And to make sure you're in on everything, go ahead and sign up for my newsletter today!

That's pretty much it for housekeeping.

I'm not writing the rest of 2026 off in terms of my writing goal. We've still got a few more weeks to go before that finite stroke of midnight. However, I'll be spending the remainder of this year setting myself up for success in the next.

What are your goals for the rest of this year? Tell me everything in the comments!