Amanda M. Blake's Blog, page 12
January 26, 2024
You don’t meet Nazguls at coffee shops: Friday Update
News:
Lor Gislason, goopy body horror author of Inside Out and editor of Bound by Flesh, blurbed Question Not My Salt, saying, “Blake invites us to a feast so tantalizing you won’t be able to look away, even as your stomach does flips. It’s as delicious as it is depraved. Bon appetit.” I worked with them through Bound by Flesh, in which my story was milder body horror, so I was pleased to offer something more intense.
This is the first time I’ve ever had marketing help for a novel release from a publishing company. I’m overwhelmed by the process of getting interviews and signing up for podcasts, especially since I’m not a podcast person (like audiobooks, I’ve yet to find a place to fit them in my life), so I’m anxious and excited to learn new things. I think it’ll be fun to talk about Question Not My Salt. I have a schedule.
Works in Progress:
I finished first round of edits on erotic horror novella A Woman Alone, cutting it down from about 47K to 41K words. I need to get it under 40K, but based on where I am in early second-round edits, that’s within reach.
I should finish A Woman Alone, its synopsis, and the pitch by next update. Then I need to start writing Silver & Steel (Meridian 7).
I wanted to do more writing in February, but given that I’ll be looking for a job after S&S and hopefully acclimating to a workplace again, I think I’m going to do a rash of edits instead. I have plenty to work on: Book & Candle (Meridian 5), In the Dollhouse We All Wait, Crooked House (Thorns 5).
Books I’m Reading:
IT by Stephen King
Midnight Blue-Light Special by Seanan McGuire
Ending in Ashes by Rebecca Jones-Howe
Things I’m Listening To:
Nightwish
Hadestown soundtracks
Agnes Obel
Tom Waits
Timber Timbre
Bishop Briggs
The Village soundtrack
Things I’m Watching:
Batman Begins
Run.
The Cave
Taken
Buffy the Vampire Slayer series (watchalong)
Angel series (watchalong)
Celebrity Jeopardy series (finished)
White Collar series
The Mentalist series
Transplant series
Helix series
All Creatures Great and Small series
Hometown series
Murder, She Wrote series
Poem of the Week:
they don’t want
your success
prey on life like
transfusion
replaced with
pulpy orange juice
run you ragged
on a treadmill
until heads will
crack like lacquer
they want your
failure
so live if you might
out of sheer spite
January 19, 2024
You look familiar: Friday Update
News:
We started with gargoyles, went on to succubi, and now we have vampires! Strange & Familiar, the third standalone novel of the Meridian series, is officially out on Amazon and Totally Bound under my other name.
He has turned her into the humblest of slaves, eager to satisfy his every command and serve his bloodthirsty appetite—as well as a few unusual appetites of her own.
This isn’t the first or last time I play in familiar waters. Next Meridian novel comes out later this year.
In personal news, I reinjured the leg (again). Different part of the muscle, grade 1 strain instead of 2, so I can walk, but it takes me a few steps back in progress. Grade 1 strains can take two to three weeks to heal, and I’m following the original principle of not getting back on the elliptical until I can walk barefoot almost normally. So I’m a sedentary kitty again. With the polar vortex, I haven’t even been able to walk much, although yesterday was beautiful.
(content warning: food, diet, eating habits)
Which means I’ve had to accept the fact that I really can’t depend on aerobic exercise, perhaps for another few months, to counter my appetite. I didn’t realize the last time I took it, but the metformin I restarted is a mild appetite suppressant, so it’s been easier to start scaling back on intake.
This confirms to me what other people seem to have a hard time understanding: It’s a lot easier to do things that you want to do; and the corollary, it’s a lot easier to not do the things you don’t want to do. I haven’t accomplished this on willpower (which isn’t actually a thing, but people think it is). My desire to eat is being suppressed, so I don’t want as hard as I did before, and the feeling of being hungry isn’t as unpleasant. Controlling insulin helps with that, too, because I’m more effectively using the food I do eat. I’ve never eaten a lot, just a little more than I should. With the help of medicine, I’m managing to eat less without as much frustration. I’m not withholding too much, I want to reiterate. I’m just not adding a lot of caloric extras to my day, and the ones I like, I’m able to cut down by half or more and remain satisfied by them.
In just two weeks, it’s made an impact. We’ll see how sustainable it is.
Works in Progress:
I went ahead and edited all four short stories plus the Hear You Scream novelette for submission calls, and all of them have been submitted. I still have one cli-fi novelette to edit, but there’s no hard deadline for that one, and I’m not in the zone for it.
So, next up is editing erotic horror novella A Woman Alone, which ought to be a lot of fun. I’ll be trying to punch up the gothic horror elements and trying to cut it down to meet the submission call’s maximum word count, which means cutting about 8-10K words. We’ll see how it goes.
Books I’m Reading:
IT by Stephen King
Midnight Blue-Light Special by Seanan McGuire
Ending in Ashes by Rebecca Jones-Howe
Music I’m Listening To:
Halloween playlist
Things I’m Watching:
Insidious: The Red Door (disappointing)
Buffy the Vampire Slayer series (watchalong)
Angel series (watchalong)
White Collar series
The Mentalist series
Transplant series
Found series (finished)
Helix series
All Creatures Great and Small series
Hometown series
Murder, She Wrote series
Poem of the Week:
barren as a wicker basket
lingering from centuries past
useful for what won’t slip
through fingers of corn husk
and fern but watch ash
slither through like sand
to spill onto dust bowl
floors and through the cracks
to have and to hold you
and let you go
January 12, 2024
In anticipation of screams: Friday Update
News:
Question Not My Salt is becoming more and more real. It has its own Goodreads home, with an enthusiastic early 5-star review from Horror Reads. I know reviews are for readers rather than writers, but it’s the first written review I’ve had from a stranger under this name, which is exciting.
Among the highlights: “I was not prepared. I read the synopsis, yet, I was NOT prepared! This book is like the Texas Chainsaw Massacre meets Hannibal Lector on an episode of Master Chef. […] It doesn’t take long for weirdness to turn into outright horror though. I won’t be providing details because that’s a ‘pleasure’ you need to read about for yourself.”
QNMS is a short, vicious, relentless, hopefully fun ride. To endure it is to enjoy it. In the Dollhouse was easy to write but emotionally difficult, while QNMS was a blast to write and edit, and it’s received such good feedback so far.
As you probably know, preorders are an important part of determining a book’s success. Extreme horror isn’t for everyone, so if you’ve got squeams, check the Content Warnings, but if you liked Texas Chainsaw Massacre (original or spicy reboots), the Hannibal series, and The Menu, QNMS should be a delight.
Here’s the preorder link. I wrote QNMS in March and edited it in July and then finalized it for Christmas, so although it’s about a Thanksgiving feast, it can be read at any time. Or you can save it for Thanksgiving, if you want.
Works in Progress:
It was a struggle, but I finally got all the short fiction for this month done. I’ll edit them in dribs and drabs as the deadlines approach and between other projects. Don’t get me wrong. I wanted to write them. My brain is just tired and my attention span is shot due to burnout.
But now I’m in editing mode on the novelette Hear You Scream for an upcoming submission call. While I had to deal with some really bad cramps this week, that’s behind me, and I’m getting better at concentrating, at least on something that is Not Writing. Honestly, there aren’t a lot of edits in HYS. It was pretty tightly written from the start. I’ll decide at the end if I even need to give it another pass.
Once this is done, I’ll edit one of the short stories, then work on A Woman Alone edits for another submission call.
Books I’m Reading:
IT by Stephen King
Midnight Blue-Light Special by Seanan McGuire
Ending in Ashes by Rebecca Jones-Howe
Music I’m Listening To:
Christmas playlist
Halloween playlist
Things I’m Watching:
Legion (late Christmas movie)
Frozen (first watch, finally)
Holidate
The Grinch
Holiday in the Wild
Meg 2: The Trench
Black Swan
Silent Hill
Great British Baking Show: Holiday Edition series (finished)
Hoarders series (finished)
Buffy the Vampire Slayer series (watchalong)
Angel series (watchalong)
White Collar series
Transplant series
Murder, She Wrote series
Poem of the Week:
a touch
caress
with painted lips
lines led by
the edge of a knife
leave me addicted
to the color
red
January 5, 2024
Waiting room: Friday Update
News:
Handful of rejections for the new year. I suspect there won’t be much news until February.
Works in Progress:
Burn out is still in play right now, so I’m moving more slowly through my second short story, but I am moving. I think I’m going to get the next two short stories under my belt as well, since they’re both under 2K words. I’m in a bit of an ideas slump. It happens, and it’s not a problem in and of itself, since I have a surplus of ideas I’ve already written down that I can work on instead. But I managed to come up with two new things for a couple anthology calls.
Due to deadlines, I think I’ll tackle edits for novelette Hear You Scream and novella A Woman Alone next. Then the Meridian novel, Silver & Steel.
Books I’m Reading:
IT by Stephen King
This World Belongs to Us edited by Michael W. Phillips, Jr. (finished)
Midnight Blue-Light Special by Seanan McGuire
Ending in Ashes by Rebecca Jones-Howe
Music I’m Listening To:
Christmas playlist (It’s still the Christmas season. 12 days of Christmas, y’all. I’ve gone through the entire collection, and now I’m hitting my favorites. Then I’ll move on.)
Things I’m Watching:
Better Watch Out
The Mummy (2017)
30 Days of Night
Great British Baking Show: Holiday Edition series
Holiday Baking Championship series (finished)
Christmas Cookie Challenge series (finished)
Monk series (Season 5 finished. New Year’s tradition, we watch a new season every year.)
Hoarders series
Buffy the Vampire Slayer series (watchalong)
Angel series (watchalong)
Transplant series
Murder, She Wrote series
Poem of the Week:
waiting behind the
reservoir of damned disease
thick magma of mucus
in colors of a bruise
swollen face and
swollen lymph nodes
nymphs burst from
oothecae on a single cell
level a wet cough
and a dry mouth
rattling
January 1, 2024
Resolute (6)
TL;DR: It was a pretty good year, but I’m sad anyway.
Looking back at other Resolute posts, I’ve determined that, like birthdays, new years are not good for me. I assign too much significance to the passing of the guard, to what the transitions portend, when they portend nothing.
If I saw a cockroach in the tub, it’s an unpleasant surprise, but it’s not a harbinger of infestations to come. If I missed a writing deadline by thirty minutes because I didn’t check the time zone, that’s unfortunate and eminently disappointing, but it’s not a prophecy of missed deadlines and dropping sub call balls to come. I know this intellectually, but emotionally, these transitions weigh heavy on my already heavy frame.
Last year’s Resolute had me hopeless because I was quitting a job that had become problematic for me (loved my coworkers, but the job itself was hurting me). This year, I’m at the end of a writing sabbatical, which was a much more peaceful year, and I’m the same kind of hopeless, which suggests my own personal form of holiday blues, because it was a nice year. I could work for myself, work my way, work my time, in a way that was most effective for me. I worked almost seven days a week, achieving goal word counts in bursts of ideal productivity times throughout the day, and that was good for me. I could carry my work with me, which meant that I could join my parents in visiting my brother, sister-in-law, my now three-year-old niece, and my now six-month-old nephew, who arrived summer of this year. My niblings very much bring me back to my brother and me when we were young, and it’s delightful to watch them grow up and anticipate what they’ll become. I had a lot more flexibility to travel and spend more time with family at our home and theirs. Also, because of the leg injury in June that left me considerably unhealthier than the beginning of the year, I had even more time and flexibility on my hands than usual.
I got a lot done, but I can’t say that the financial income has matched the output, which was disappointing. I’ve been doing this for years now, and I understand that most writing work is done on spec, and as a result, income is unpredictable and gains can come years later or not at all. Long works, in particular, take time to write, to edit, to query, and to publish, and then it’s still no guarantee. However, I went from spotty part-time writing to intensive full-time writing, and though last year I made just over $1000, this year I only made just over $1200, and in neither case did I make a profit, due to self-publishing costs.
I share the financial information because people tend to have a distorted idea of what writers make. By output, I’m doing wonderfully. By publishing, I’m emerging. By income, I’ve yet to escape the red since I started self-publishing back in…2014? This may change, with a greater push toward traditional publishing in the years to come, but there’s no guarantee.
A while back, discouraged, I asked myself whether, if I never made another cent, I’d stop writing. The answer is no. I do this because it’s what my brain was made for. I’ve been telling myself stories since childhood, and I sleep much better when I let the stories out. Without traditional publication, I’ll still self-publish as financially able, because I enjoy it.
I can’t support myself with my writing at this juncture, though, which means I have to forage for productive writing hours when I can while renting out my body, mind, and time to someone else once more, because I’ve exhausted the extra savings that I was extremely privileged to have. I’d hoped that writing income would mitigate some of that, but unfortunately, that wasn’t the case, and I had to pay my medical expenses out of pocket.
I don’t know what the new year will bring, but once I finish the next Meridian novel, I’ll venture out into the unknown, and I historically don’t like not knowing what’s around the corner. It unsettles me, steals the foundation from under my feet, and I tend not to believe in my competence, even though I objectively know that I’m an intelligent and capable person. I guess we’ll just have to see what the new year brings in that respect.
As for the old year, I have stats. Collecting stats is like counting change when I was a kid. It’s satisfying.
Because of the writing sabbatical, it was a big year for me in terms of production and publication. I’d planned for more long-form writing, and I did do some good long-form, but I ended up working more on short-form than anticipated.
I wrote 55 short stories ranging from microfiction to novelette and so averaging at roughly short-story size (I’m counting one I started yesterday and plan to finish today or tomorrow). I wrote three Meridian novels for my other name and three standalone novels: Question Not My Salt (extreme horror), A Woman Alone (erotic horror), and In the Dollhouse We All Wait (extreme horror). I compiled the Bathroom Omens short story/poetry collection, most of which was written specifically for the collection rather than other publications. I also wrote poetry almost every day, some of which has been compiled into the full collection Dead Ends and the chapbook What Witchcraft We Wrought, which I might expand into a full collection.
In the publication arena, as of the end of the year, I sent out a total of 208 submissions (long and short). I received 166 rejections and 26 acceptances (7 unpaid, 4 at pro-rate). There are 28 still on sub waiting for a response. Based on my previous stats and those of other writers who share theirs, 10% acceptance rate isn’t unusual or bad at all. I got really close on some publications, with stories on the short lists and even final rounds. By that point, it’s usually a matter of curation rather than quality, which is why you can’t take rejection personally. Sometimes I get down about a rejection, but I usually just give myself thirty minutes to be upset and send out the rejected piece or another piece to make myself feel better.
Published Novels/Collections:
Dead Ends: A Dark Poetry Collection
Fever & Fray (Meridian Book 2) (other name)
Out of Curiosity and Hunger
Puppeteer (Thorns 4)
Published Poetry:
“Desire,” The Vampiricon, Mind’s Eye Publications, January 31, 2023
“Sacristy,” Crow Calls: Volume 5, Quill & Crow Publishing House, February 14, 2023
“Comorbid,” Crow Calls: Volume 5, Quill & Crow Publishing House, February 14, 2023
“Displaced,” Dear Human at the Edge of Time, Paloma Press, September 27, 2023
“A Woman Possessed,” Under Her Eye: A Women in Horror Poetry Showcase, Black Spot Press, November 7, 2023
Published Short Stories:
“The Warmth of Many Skins,” Bleak Midwinter: Solstice Light, Quill & Crow Publishing House, January 17, 2023
“Courtship,” The Crow’s Quill, Quill & Crow Publishing House, February 2023 issue
“Dissolution,” Ooze, Ruth Anna Evans, March 1, 2023
“Blood Mother,” The Sacrament, DarkLit Press, March 2, 2023
“The Cut,” Shallow Waters Flash Fiction 1st place winner, Crystal Lake Publishing, March 30, 2023
“Blackberry Wine,” The Crow’s Quill, Quill & Crow Publishing House, April 2023 issue
“Show Me,” Bound in Flesh, Ghoulish Books, April 18, 2023
“Eat His Heart,” The Crow’s Quill, Quill & Crow Publishing House, June 2023 issues
“The Thing That Crawls,” Unspeakable Horror 3: Dark Rainbow Rising, Crystal Lake Publishing, June 30, 2023
“A Bladder Full,” Shallow Waters Flash Fiction 3rd place winner, Crystal Lake Publishing, July 5, 2023
“Drip,” That Old House: The Bathroom, Voices of the Mausoleum, July 28, 2023
“Birth,” Deadly Drabble Tuesdays, Hungry Shadows Press, August 1, 2023
“A Bug in the Design,” Shallow Waters Flash Fiction finalist, Crystal Lake Publishing, August 17, 2023
“The Cut,” Shallow Waters Vol. 9: A Flash Fiction Anthology, Crystal Lake Publishing, August 17, 2023 (reprint)
“The Plank in Thine Own,” The Devil Take You, Sentinel Creatives, August 21, 2023
“Of the Many Faces,” The Crow’s Quill, Quill & Crow Publishing House, September 1, 2023
“The Cut,” Shallow Waters: Horror Flash Fiction Anthology, Crystal Lake Publishing, September 29, 2023 (reprint, paperback)
“The Last Ride of Sutton Purnell,” Flame Tree Fiction, October 4, 2023
“Sight Unseen,” Novus Monstrum, Dragon’s Roost Press, October 6, 2023
“Arms Race,” Shallow Waters Flash Fiction finalist, Crystal Lake Publishing, October 11, 2023
“Caregiver,” The Book of Queer Saints Volume II, Medusa Publishing Haus, October 31, 2023
“Swallowed,” Shallow Waters Flash Fiction finalist, Crystal Lake Entertainment, November 8, 2023
“Footprints,” The Other Stories podcast, November 20, 2023
“The Behavioral Patterns of the Displaced Siberian Siren,” Dead Letters: Episodes of Epistolary Horror, Crystal Lake Publishing, December 1, 2023
“The Sisters of Our Perpetual Wounds,” The Crow’s Quill, Quill & Crow Publishing House, December 1, 2023
“The Green Room,” Shallow Waters Flash Fiction finalist, Crystal Lake Entertainment, December 20, 2023
In the year to come…
Question Not My Salt is my first novel under this name being traditionally published, through small press Crystal Lake extreme horror imprint Torrid Waters. In addition, Strange & Familiar (Meridian 3) under my other name comes out this month, and Avarice & Creed (Meridian 4) is presently set to come out in October.
As far as self-publishing goes, I want to try to do more traditional and small-press indie publishing, if just to have money coming in rather than going out, but I don’t want to phase self-publishing out completely. I’m scheduled to put Crooked House (Thorns 5) out in May and poetry collection A Nightmare for All Seasons in September.
I have some of what I’ve written last year to edit, but I also want to revisit my super-secret UA story and determine how to write the next one or two books. I have two standalone novels I want to strike off my list early in the year so I can have a few more trunk stories ready to turn and shop around (although one might end up self-published).
I’m already set to write the next Meridian novel this month, and now that I’ve decided to merge two novel concepts, I’ll only have one more Meridian novel left to write. That will be for 2024’s NaNoWriMo. I also want to write the next Thorns novel, Hearts and Heads. I anticipate writing some short stories for calls and flash fiction contests, but not as much as last year. If I still have time between writing and editing what I’ve already delineated, I have the option of working on one of three standalones on my list for the 2024 year, but it seems unlikely.
Here’s hoping I find a soft place to land, but I just don’t know. I’m beginning to think most people don’t get that, and I already have enough of other soft places. Maybe asking for more is asking too much.
December 29, 2023
Cover Reveal: Question Not My Salt
Cover reveal for QUESTION NOT MY SALT! Coming out in Feb 2024:
Come for Thanksgiving Dinner. Stay for the Feast.
A problem child: Friday Update
News:
No writing news, unless you count voting being open for the Crystal Lake Shallow Waters flash fiction contest, of which my story “The Green Room” is a finalist.
In personal news, my injury kept me from maintaining my heavy aerobic exercise regimen, which is necessary to combat a multitude of issues that have come roaring back these last few months. I’m up to 25 minutes on the elliptical, and I may try doing two days at a time instead of every other day, because I didn’t have any problems with that yesterday. However, it’s slow going bringing that exercise back up, and it looks like I have to get back on metformin in the meantime. We’ll see what the real damage is when the rest of my blood work comes in. It’s not unexpected. Just really disappointing to lose all my health gains.
Works in Progress:
Family time and what I’ve officially diagnosed as untimely burn out have minimized my progress this last week. I’ve written most of a short story and I may manage one more before the end of the year. Then I’ll try to write another Meridian novel, but I’m off by a month, and I’m not used to that while on sabbatical. (It was de rigueur while working.) Depending on submission call deadlines, I might edit erotic horror novella A Woman Alone first, which would help with the burn out. But I would still need to finish the next Meridian novel mid-January, which is when I need to pivot to work for which I’m actually paid. I’m really anxious about that, not least because I don’t fit into clothes right now and I donated all my clothes from when I was last this shape.
I’ll do an end-of-year retrospective with stats on New Year’s Eve. That’s where I’ll be.
Books I’m Reading:
IT by Stephen King
This World Belongs to Us edited by Michael W. Phillips, Jr.
Midnight Blue-Light Special by Seanan McGuire
Music I’m Listening To:
Christmas playlist
Things I’m Watching:
Violent Night
Evil Dead Rise
Black Christmas (1974)
Black Christmas (2006)
It’s a Wonderful Life
A Muppet Christmas Carol
The Christmas Calendar
Holiday Baking Championship series
Holiday Wars series (finished)
Elf on the Shelf: Sweet Showdown series (finished)
Christmas Cookie Challenge series
Great American Baking Show: Holiday Edition series (finished)
Hoarders series
Buffy the Vampire Slayer series
Angel series
Transplant series
Murder, She Wrote series
Poem of the Week:
i cannot believe
there was a time
when i thought
the world made
some kind of sense
because as bad as
things have become
i know it’s just
a matter of place
of context and access
perspective through
twisting kaleidoscope
geometric glass in
mirror but hard to
see beauty in smoke
December 22, 2023
Blue Christmas: Friday Update
News:
My flash fiction “The Green Room,” a rare-for-me historical story about an early haunted house attraction, is posted for $5 and up tiers at Crystal Lake for the Shallow Waters flash fiction contest. I’m going to be honest, the fact I wrote and edited it while overwhelmed in November is evident to me, but I still like it, and I wrote it to explore an idea that I might end up running with in a novella or novel later. The theme for this month was Reflections for the end of the year.
In other news, we’ve finalized the back cover copy for Question Not My Salt:
Come for Thanksgiving Dinner. Stay for the Feast.
Sierra’s first American Thanksgiving promises to be unforgettable when her college roommate, Zoe, invites her to the Samuels family feast. But as the ten-hour banquet unfolds, it becomes clear this is no ordinary holiday gathering.
With everyone bound by a chilling rule—eat and drink exactly as served, and enjoy it, or face dire consequences—the traditional celebration quickly takes a dark and macabre turn. Will Sierra survive the Samuels’ sinister hospitality or become part of a feast far more horrifying than she could have ever imagined?
Question Not My Salt is a gripping tale blending the terror of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre with the culinary horror of Hannibal and The Menu.
I don’t have a hard date for pre-orders and release, but we’re aiming for February 2024. I’ve also updated my Content Warnings page with the extensive warnings for QNMS. It’s a short novel, but it’s pretty packed. Great fun, though.
Works in Progress:
I finished other name‘s Tattered & Torn (Meridian 6) at 118,394 words. About 8K of those words were cut when I starting rewriting the beginning, but I kept them in the file to continue measuring total word count. It’s an average-sized Meridian novel, but man, this last week was not fun at all. I couldn’t accomplish the 5K/day that I’ve been doing before because my attention span was completely shot. I think I overdid it by working at that pace, plus editing, since mid-October. It’s hard for me to tell myself that this is work when I’m essentially not paid and I generally enjoy myself. I continually have to remind myself that I am, in fact, working and I can, in fact, burn out. I also have a mild sinus infection. However, this puts me much later in the month than I wanted to finish the novel, which creates a dilemma.
Over the next few days through Christmas, I’ll be working on less demanding short fiction. Then I have to start the next Meridian novel and try to be finished by mid-January, which will demand a return to the 5K/day word count. I’ll take New Year’s off, and probably most of Christmas, too. Let’s see if I can make this last push to get this writing sabbatical closed out.
Of course, I’m still writing plenty in the new year, but once I get a job, I’ll have to return to grabbing time as I can find it, and I won’t be doing as much short fiction.
Books I’m Reading:
IT by Stephen King
This World Belongs to Us edited by Michael W. Phillips, Jr.
Midnight Blue-Light Special by Seanan McGuire
Music I’m Listening To:
Christmas playlist
Things I’m Watching:
Godzilla Minus One (so good)
Alien: Covenant
A Castle for Christmas
Where Are You, Christmas?
Christmas Inheritance
A Christmas Prince: The Royal Baby
Holiday Baking Championship series
Holiday Wars series
Elf on the Shelf: Sweet Showdown series
Christmas Cookie Challenge series
Great American Baking Show: Holiday Edition series
Hoarders series
White Collar series
Buffy the Vampire Slayer series
Found series
Transplant series
Murder, She Wrote series
Poem of the Week:
Is that thought mine?
Does it belong to me or
arise from the sticky muck
of memory of someone else’s
voice and motivation?
Let those with eyes say aye
Let those with ears hear through
the canal and from within
Do you seek? Do ye find?
Do you have another glass of wine?
Disassociation with a demon
paint by numbers Did I mean
to make this picture was this
on the front of the box?
I swear I didn’t do that
I wouldn’t do that
How can you think I would do that?
What kind of person do you take me for?
And which one?
December 15, 2023
In the bleak: Friday Update
News:
No news this week. Quiet end of year.
Works in Progress:
Got my proofreading edit of Question Not My Salt in last weekend and finished it on Wednesday, so that’s all done and ready for when ARCs are offered out. While I was reading through it, I was really surprised that I managed to get some really interesting word choices into such a pulpy story. Don’t have to sacrifice quality in pulp. You can make extreme horror beautiful, too.
That means that I wasn’t able to get Tattered & Torn (Meridian 6) finished when I wanted to (today), and I wasn’t able to work at all yesterday, but I’ll be shooting for finishing on Monday or Tuesday now. I’m not sure how I feel about the ending, not least because I’m improvising, so it might need a rewrite at some point, but I’d like to have the structure in place to work with. Because this has taken me farther into December than I thought, I’ll push some of my short stories to later and just write the one due before the end of the month after I finish Tattered & Torn. Then I need to write the next Meridian novel, but I don’t think I’ll finish before the end of the year.
Books I’m Reading:
IT by Stephen King
This World Belongs to Us edited by Michael W. Phillips, Jr.
Midnight Blue-Light Special by Seanan McGuire
Music I’m Listening To:
Christmas playlist
Things I’m Watching:
A Christmas Prince: Royal Wedding
Christmas Wedding Planner
A Biltmore Christmas
A Cinderella Christmas
Christmas with a View
Krampus
Black Christmas (2019)
The Nightmare Before Christmas
Holiday Baking Championship series
Holiday Wars series
Elf on the Shelf: Sweet Showdown series
Christmas Cookie Challenge series
Great American Baking Show: Holiday Edition series
Celebrity Jeopardy series
Hoarders series
The Mentalist series
White Collar series
Buffy the Vampire Slayer series
Found series
Transplant series
Murder, She Wrote series
Poem of the Week:
so desperately want
to imagine another sentence
after the period because
we cannot imagine the space
before the sentence,
to believe in ghosts,
finish unfinished business.
we all love closure,
but sometimes the period
is at the end of an ellipsis.
December 8, 2023
If the Fates allow: Friday Update
SONY DSCNews:
I forgot it was Friday there for a bit.
There actually isn’t a lot of news. A handful of rejections. The only thing is that I’m a finalist in Crystal Lake Shallow Waters for this month, themed Reflections for the end of the year. My story “The Green Room” will be popping up later this month—on December 19, if I’m counting right. Y’all know I love reading other people’s flash fiction and that it’s like having a new themed anthology every month for a minimum of $5 a month, and the reading, commenting, and voting is so interactive. Reminds me of Livejournal fanfiction.
In real life news, I had what is probably my last physical therapy session. I still have a little way left to go, but I have my exercises and instructions and, barring reinjury, should be able to manage my own PT. My bank account thanks me. My elliptical machine thanks me, too, since I can start slowly building up my time on it again (in about five-minute increments a week, unless I start experiencing problems). It’s been almost six months to the day that I tore my muscle on the stairs. I know now that I probably have to be mindful of my calves, Achilles tendons, and ankles, that they’re prone to stiffness. But I’m almost back to my normal.
Works in Progress:
I received my edits back from Ken for Question Not My Salt right at the end of NaNo2023, so I was able to take a needed break by editing. It actually wasn’t much, so I still seem to be doing pretty well cleaning things up in my pre-sub edits. Go me! I sent those back three days later, requested blurbs from some people (so hard to ask), and now I wait. I don’t know whether there’s a proofreading round. We’ll see.
Now I’m back to writing Tattered & Torn (Meridian 6) for the other name. Taking that break in the middle of writing it makes it hard to jump back in. My brain is telling me, ‘But it was done, no, it’s done, no more.’ And I’m telling my brain, ‘No, you have about 25-30K more words to write.’ And my brain is telling me, ‘Done! Done! Done!’ It’s a really fun game we play.
Hopefully, by next Friday, I’ll be done and starting the small number of short stories I’m scheduled for before tackling the next Meridian novel to close out the year.
Books I’m Reading:
IT by Stephen King
This World Belongs to Us edited by Michael W. Phillips, Jr.
Midnight Blue-Light Special by Seanan McGuire
Music I’m Listening To:
Christmas playlist
Things I’m Watching:
The Ultimate Gift
A Christmas Prince
Single All the Way
Contagion
Outbreak
The Silencing
Prometheus (stealth Christmas movie)
Primal
Holiday Baking Championship series
Holiday Wars series
Elf on the Shelf: Sweet Showdown series
Christmas Cookie Challenge series
Great American Baking Show: Holiday Edition series
Celebrity Jeopardy series
Great British Baking Show series (finished)
Hoarders series
NCIS series
Dancing with the Stars series
The Mentalist series
White Collar series
Murder, She Wrote series
Poem of the Week:
was that my sin, a flaw?
for the thermals to drive
my feathers up in a swell
until i fell in a dive
for a final swan song
about the evils of ambition?
how dare i enjoy the
thrill of flight
instead of succumbing
to fate? how dare i fight?
