Hello, 2026!
Welcome to the 31st issue of the Dreadful Dispatch!
The Writing
I’m a little while into my experiment, now, of drafting during most of the week and editing on Sundays, and I think it’s no longer an experiment. For one thing, having a weekly change of pace has been great for me.
But also, one of my greatest struggles as an author is overwriting, I know I’ve mentioned this before. I also use word count goals and Pacemaker to help motivate myself when I’m writing, and then I find I struggle to cut words while I’m drafting because that feels like “going backwards,” which certainly didn’t help. So the way I’ve been managing my editing-on-Sundays method has been to keep two separate documents. One is the draft document I write in all week, and the other is the edited document that I copy the week’s writing into every Sunday and then revise there. That way my word count in my draft document still feels like it’s contributing to my (admittedly arbitrary) target, and my edited document is the cleaned up one. An added bonus of this method is that it allows me to see, week by week, how much work I’ve put into editing and trimming excess words.
I’ve found this really helpful for me—being able to actually look at my progress is huge for me in terms of keeping myself motivated, and it’s also something that can be difficult when it comes to art, where progress can be subjective and nebulous, with many different ways to measure it.
If I can knuckle down and keep my focus (without doing the thing where I knuckle too far down and neglect things like self-care, household chores, socializing like a human being, etc), then by the end of next week I might have finished both my first draft of my new manuscript and its first round of revisions at once.
At which point I’ll be giving myself a little bit of a rest (Hades 2 is calling my name) and also switching gears with my writing time. I’ll be putting my Monday-through-Saturday focus on further revisions (there’s some character work I need to strengthen, some themes I need to bring through better, some continuity I need to check) and on Sundays I’ll be drafting short stories. I have one in mind I’m particularly excited to start on!
Book Recommendation: Our Winter Monster by Dennis Mahoney
What fun it was to read this book in the middle of winter in upstate New York, on my couch with my favorite blanket and a cat and coffee with hot cocoa mix in it, occasionally glancing up from the page to watch the snow fall out my window. Definitely recommend this reading experience for this book.
Our Winter Monster follows Brian and Holly, a couple who are hoping that a winter-wonderland style getaway will help them move past relationship difficulties they’ve been suffering ever since an experience a year before which traumatized the both of them in very different ways, and Sheriff Kendra Brook, who is struggling in the wake of a disappearance in town less than two months before and the unpleasant turn her life has taken lately. Before Brian and Holly can get to town, a blizzard strikes. They’re run off the road, and something mysterious in the snow separates the couple, stalking them from the whiteout and wreaking havoc and death wherever it goes.
I love fun and fast paced horror, I love monsters, and I love books with heart. Mahoney’s Our Winter Monster checks all of those boxes for me. It was a great read, completely engaging, with characters that feel real and relatable and a plot that pulled me along for the ride all the way through to the extremely satisfying end.
If you’re looking for a great winter horror novel, I’d absolutely recommend this one.
Reading, Generally
Like probably almost every single writer in the world, I love reading. I’ve been more or less obsessed with it for my entire life. I’ve wanted to be an author since I was nine years old, and one of the things I never anticipated was how that would change my reading habits.
The most noticeable change, and probably the most predictable, is in genre. I’ve been writing since I was nine, but I’ve only been writing horror since 2020, and the more I’ve enjoyed writing the genre the more my reading habits have moved in that direction. I read almost exclusively speculative fiction, and horror as a genre crosses over really well with other speculative genres, but the number of straightforward fantasy or science fiction books I read these days is much lower than it was before I realized how much I love horror.
A change I would have expected less has been the emphasis I now find myself putting on reading newer books. I find myself much less likely to pick up a title that’s more than five or six years old, and much more likely to seek out new releases or, when I’m lucky enough to get my hands on them, upcoming releases. Part of this change, the smallest part, is maybe a little mercenary; I want to keep up with the current market. A greater part of it, though, is that my books are part of the current market now, so the idea of not keeping up with the state of the genre feels similar to thinking about entering a conversation without knowing what anyone else is talking about. Or, worse, like actively ignoring what everyone else has to say. And the last factor in this change to my reading habits is that the more I am able to get out to book events, the more I am meeting and making friends with other authors, and I want to read the books that they are writing!
The other side of the keeping-current coin is that I do have to be careful not to start treating reading like work. It is, now, work-related, and one fun result of that is that if I am in one of my modes where I’m struggling to relax without feeling guilty for not being “productive enough” I can still enjoy reading and just quiet the nagging part of my brain by keeping in mind that reading is good for my job now. But I have to make sure I never start thinking of the hobby itself as work, I have to make sure that I keep reading for the love of reading and not let it ever start to feel like an obligation.
I also get to read more books for free, an incredible perk that I’m wildly grateful for—reading for blurbs, getting approved for ARCs on NetGalley, receiving copies of books by fellow authors I’ll be doing events with, and beta reading, it’s a lifelong bookworm’s absolute dream come true.
Beta reading, too, has changed the way I read books. I love beta reading. Aside from having the kindest, coolest, funniest, best friends, I also have astoundingly talented friends, and getting to beta read their manuscripts is a treat and a delight. There’s nothing like it. My beta reading style focuses on 1) constructive critique/advice and 2) gleefully pointing out every single thing I love about the manuscript in question/making my wild plot predictions and guesses in real time as I go. Getting to feel like I’m helping other authors is great, and getting to tell other authors line-by-line exactly what I love about their work is even better. And it’s trained me to be actively looking for and aware of what I love about every book I’m reading in a line-level, specific way as well as in the broad and general way I’ve always loved books.
I didn’t anticipate the ways that getting published would change my reading habits, and I have to be mindful about making sure those changes stay healthy and positive, but so far it’s been another incredibly neat aspect of this whole journey. And at the end of the day, reading is still my number one hobby. Reading a good book while enjoying a favorite meal or snack is still the absolute top-tier recreational pleasure in my life.
Events
It’s 2026! My next book comes out in less than three months! When spring and summer hit, I’ll be out and about talking about my book, hanging out with readers, visiting bookstores, and generally having little author adventures.
If you want to come hang out at a book event with me (and sometimes with other horror authors!) check below for a list of the stops I’ll be making in a few months.
This list is not final, there are a couple more events in the works that I have yet to confirm dates and times for, and a few of the events will require either free registration or a ticket and I will update my list as soon as links for those are available.
For the most current and up-to-date list of my coming author visits, please check back in at https://www.cjdotsonauthor.com/events/upcoming-events
The Twisted Spine
306 Grand Street
Brooklyn, NY 11211
Tuesday, April 7th at 6 PM EDT
Join me and a conversation partner (to be confirmed) for a reading from my upcoming novel, These Familiar Walls, a chat, and a signing!
Free registration for this event will be available soon.
A Deeply Creepy Dinner Party
Hosted by Wolfe and Kron Bookstore and R Bar & Restaurant
1114 Main St.
Asbury Park, NJ 07712
Wednesday, April 8th
You’re invited to join me for a curated, horror-themed dining experience with a Prix Fixe menu (dishes TBD) in the Greenhouse at R Bar in Asbury Park
Tickets for the dinner party will be available soon.
THESE FAMILIAR WALLS Official Book Launch!
Hosted by Barnes & Noble
4015 Medina Road
Akron, OH 44333
Wednesday, April 15th at 7PM EDT
Come and join the fun for the official launch party for These Familiar Walls! There will be a reading, a Q&A, and a scavenger hunt!
Gathering Volumes
196 East South Boundary
Perrysburg, OH
Thursday, April 16th at 6:30 PM EDT
Come hang out with me while I read from my new novel, These Familiar Walls, and answer questions from and chat with horror fans!
Black Cat Books & Oddities
420 S Court St
Medina, Ohio 44256
Friday, April 17th at 6 PM
Author Carter Keane and I will be chatting about their debut novella, Morsel, my upcoming horror novel These Familiar Walls, and books and horror and writing, come hang out with us!
Registration is free and required for attendance, click here to register!
Gibson’s Bookstore
45 S Main St
Concord, NH 03301
Thursday, April 30th at 6:30 PM EDT
Author Sam Rebelein and I will be chatting about These Familiar Walls, writing, books, and all things horror, it’s going to be fun!
Barnes & Noble
805 Eastview Mall
Victor, NY 14564
Saturday, May 2nd at 2 PM EDT
I’ll be at a table signing my books and happy to chat with anybody who stops by the B&N in Eastview Mall between 2 and 4 PM!
Virtual Horror Book Club
Hosted by Lark and Owl Booksellers
Thursday, May 21st at 6:30 PM CDT
I’ll be digitally joining Lark and Owl’s horror book club!
Link forthcoming
Stoker Con
The Westin Pittsburgh
1000 Penn Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15222
June 4th - June 7th
For the second time, I’ll be attending Stoker Con, and I’m very excited. As the Con releases their schedule I’ll have more information available!
The End
Thanks for reading another issue of C.J. Dotson’s Dreadful Dispatch!