Amanda M. Blake's Blog, page 13
December 1, 2023
This is the end: Friday Update
News:
It’s the last issue of The Crow’s Quill, which I’m so disappointed about, but I’m honored to help close out this gothic zine with my weird apocalyptic slice-of-life story “The Sisters of Our Perpetual Wounds.” As always, it’s free to read. Usher in the end with us.
In addition, my climate horror story “The Behavioral Patterns of the Displaced Siberian Siren” comes out today with the highly anticipated Dead Letters: Episodes of Epistolary Horror from Crystal Lake Entertainment, edited by Jacob Steven Bohr. We had a beautiful review from Vogue Horror in which my story was given an amazing call-out. I made a funny sound when I read it.
Works in Progress:
I finished NaNo2023 by reaching my 150K-word goal exactly. Like, I finished the sentence and hit the mark around eleven last night. Then I finished the final edit of Avarice & Creed (Meridian 4), because I’ve been doing double-duty writing and editing again this last week. I am exhausted, my sleep schedule and tea schedule are off, but NaNoWriMo is over, I’ve written 150K words, and A&C is finished, so I can relax a bit. I’ll still be aiming for 5K a day when I’m writing, but I no longer have to do both.
Over the course of November, I finished the last 28K or so words of extreme horror novel In the Dollhouse We All Wait, wrote the entirety of erotic horror novella A Woman Alone, wrote a short story that I edited down to flash fiction, then wrote about three-fourths of erotic urban fantasy romance novel Tattered & Torn (Meridian 6) (order may end up changing). That was the aim for this month, to get a big chunk of work done. I plan to get another big chunk of work done this month as well, with a little grace. My hope is to finish Tattered & Torn, write about two to three short stories for calls, then write the next Meridian novel (I haven’t decided which yet). If I have time, I have some novelettes or long short stories that I want to write.
Then I’m just not sure what next year is going to look like. Unless someone leaves me a mysterious inheritance of a vast sum of money and a haunted estate, I’ll have to figure out something.
In the meantime, I received the first round of edits for Question Not My Salt, which is really exciting. Kenneth E. Cain and I have finalized the cover and everything, so I have at least one thing to be excited about in 2024. I can take a short break from writing while I apply myself to these edits, then dive back in until the next round.
Books I’m Reading:
IT by Stephen King
The First Five Minutes of the Apocalypse edited by Brandon Applegate (finished)
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, of course. I have a vast and incredibly varied playlist full of old, new, traditional, original, all different shades of genre, which I think is the key to enjoying Christmas music. I think most people are sick of Christmas music because the same forty songs by the same people are played ad nauseum. You get a little more variety on Christian stations, but otherwise, no wonder some people dread the holidays.
Things I’m Watching:
A Cinderella Story: Christmas Wish
Holiday Baking Championship series
Holiday Wars series
Celebrity Jeopardy series
Irrational series (caught up)
Queer Eye series (finished)
Great British Baking Show series
Kitchen Nightmares series
Hoarders series
NCIS series
CSI series
Dancing with the Stars series
The Mentalist series
Poem of the Week:
feelings turn
colors after
a trauma
waiting for
the mind to
reabsorb
and pressing
on the bruise
November 24, 2023
Praying for rain: Friday Update
News:
The Shallow Waters Flash Fiction contest voting is underway. If you needed Halloween to last longer, the Trick ‘r Treat theme will ease the transition into the winter holidays. Voting ends Monday.
And speaking of winter holidays: If you like to listen to your fiction, my cryptid story “Footprints” is officially up on The Other Stories podcast (free). It was inspired by Christmas in the Ozarks, so it’s perfect to ring in the new spooky season.
Works in Progress:
Starting tomorrow, I have to return to double duty by doing the last-look edit for Avarice & Creed (Meridian 4) for my other name. First-round edits were relatively easy, and the last look should be even easier, but maintaining the 5K-word-per-day goal is hard enough without adding onto it, and I’m already exhausted, my routine thoroughly off. I pushed the 150K-word goal to be stressful on purpose so that it was the equivalent of difficulty that other people have with the typical 50K-word goal, and with the expectation I’d have to do some editing, too. But I’m running out of oomph.
However, after a few days of pulling teeth to determine how I liked this newest Meridian novel that I’m working on for the 150K goal, Tattered & Torn (Meridian 6), I started over from a different perspective and at a different point in the story, and all of a sudden it started flowing better. It’s still not necessarily my favorite of the Meridian novels, but I’m enjoying myself a lot more. I’m presently at 39,014 words for the novel and 115,094 words for the whole month.
I can make it to 150K words. I can do it. Then, although I’ll keep with the 5K/day goal, I can stop writing if I have to edit. Which is good, because Question Not My Salt first-round edits are swiftly approaching.
Books I’m Reading:
IT by Stephen King
The First Five Minutes of the Apocalypse edited by Brandon Applegate
This World Belongs to Us edited by Michael W. Phillips, Jr.
Midnight Blue-Light Special by Seanan McGuire
Music I’m Listening To:
Halloween playlist
Fleurie
Maury Yeston’s Phantom
Carter Cathcart’s Possessed – The Dracula Musical
Dracula: Swing of Death by Jorn Lande & Trond Holter
Moulin Rouge! movie soundtracks
Reanimate covers by Halestorm
Prince of Egypt soundtrack
Piece by Piece by Kelly Clarkson
Dreaming Through the Noise by Vienne Teng
Enchant by Emilie Autumn
Enchantment by Charlotte Church
Encore: Movie Partners Sing Broadway by Barbra Streisand
Closer by Josh Groban
dont smile at me by Billie Eilish
Dream With Me by Jackie Evancho
Mother Earth by Within Temptation
Things I’m Watching:
The Wolfman
The Messengers
Solace
Holiday Baking Championship series
Great British Baking Show series
Buffy the Vampire Slayer series
Scream Queens series
Kitchen Nightmares series
Good Bones series (finished)
Hoarders series
NCIS series
CSI series
Dancing with the Stars series
White Collar series
The Mentalist series
Poem of the Week:
I know your face.
I know your name.
I know the tread of your shoes
and your awkward gait.
I know the shape of
your spine when you finish.
I know the scritch scritch scritch
of your nails on my shoulders.
I know where you walk, eat, breathe,
sleep. I am the monster under your bed,
reaching for your hand, your face,
scritch scritch scritching your floorboards.
Look over your shoulder
and stumble into an open grave.
How wide are my eyes now, killer?
November 17, 2023
Falling, falling: Friday Update
News:
Dead Letters: Episodes of Epistolary Horror is open for pre-orders, to be released December 1! I love epistolary horror—it’s the found footage of the written media world—and I’m thrilled to be part of the Table of Contents with these authors with my creature feature “The Behavioral Patterns of the Displaced Siberian Siren.” (I love how dang long the title is.)
That’s really all that’s going on this week, although the Trick ‘r Treat stories are still going strong at Crystal Lake Shallow Waters. There are some really solid stories this month. “Swallowed” was posted on Day 3, and we’re on Day 11 of 15 now before voting.
Works in Progress:
I’ve been pulling double duty this week, since I received first-round edits for Avarice & Creed (Meridian 4) for my other name. It was a really easy edit, because halfway through my third series with them, I’ve gotten really good at getting most of the substantial edits in before I send the draft in. I just finished first-round edits a few minutes ago.
However, I’ve also been trying to keep up with NaNoWriMo word count of 5K words a day, and doing both has strained my energy resources quite a bit, I’m afraid. I didn’t quite make it, 1500 words behind as of now. And I’m really grumpy on top of it, because I’m mentally tired and I’m not enjoying the Meridian novel that I’m working on right now. I finished A Woman Alone on Wednesday at 48,182 words, so it’s definitely a novella and will be edited as a separate work rather than part of the Meridian series. I’m trying to make Tattered & Torn (Meridian 6) something that I want to write, and I think I have some good ideas. I don’t know how much of this sullenness is simply that I’m tired, but since I only have a month and a half before the end of the year, I don’t feel like I have the time to take a break?
I did a flash piece as a palate cleanser, and it was a fun slice-of-life story from a bigger concept I’d like to expand on in a novel later, but that might not have been enough. But I really just think I don’t have adequate motivation to enjoy the story. Dollhouse and Woman Alone were flowing so well, even when I was tired. I’m still turning it in different directions to see what might work, and I’ll keep going for a while. If it just refuses to be pleasant, I might have to set it aside and try one of the other slated novels. I’m hoping some better nights of sleep will help give me perspective.
As of now, I’m at 78,599/150,000 words for the month.
Books I’m Reading:
IT by Stephen King
Discount Armageddon by Seanan McGuire (finished)
The First Five Minutes of the Apocalypse edited by Brandon Applegate
This World Belongs to Us edited by Michael W. Phillips, Jr.
Midnight Blue-Light Special by Seanan McGuire
Music I’m Listening To:
Witchy/pagan/villain playlists on YT
Agnes Obel
Svrcina
Lily Kershaw
Things I’m Watching:
A Haunting in Venice
The Curse of Bridge Hollow
Underworld: Evolution
Holiday Baking Championship series
Great British Baking Show series
Buffy the Vampire Slayer series
Scream Queens series
Kitchen Nightmares series
Good Bones series
Hoarders series
NCIS series
CSI series
Poem of the Week:
better to bring a gun
to a knife fight
the madman prophet
is usually right
always declare
a zombie bite
never let the killer
out of your sight
November 10, 2023
Exorcism, in this economy?: Friday Update
Bloody Ghost feels sparkly.News:
My short story “Swallowed” was posted for this month’s Crystal Lake Shallow Waters flash fiction contest, themed Trick ‘r Treat. So if spooky season doesn’t last long enough for you, celebrate an extended Halloween all through November with this month’s stories. ($5 tier and up)
Under Her Eye: A Woman in Poetry Showcase Vol II came out this week. Under Her Eye is a charity anthology of domestic horror poetry. A portion of the sales goes to an international organization to end violence against women. I don’t sell a ton of poetry (it’s a really difficult market), but I’m honored to have my poem “A Woman Possessed” as a part of this anthology.
I also received news that Dear Human at the Edge of Time, a collection of poems about climate change, received the 2023 Best Book Award in the Poetry Anthology category. My poem “Displaced” was a part of this one.
Sad news to report, though. Quill & Crow Publishing’s gothic horror magazine The Crow’s Quill is ending after December. They really helped give me my start with shorter pieces, so it’s disappointing that they’re closing. The zines should remain available for at least another year for 2022 issues and two years for 2023 issues, and they’re free to read.
In more sad news, that portfolio of some of the best poems I’ve written didn’t get taken up, but I did get a personalized note on one them, so that was decent. I had to sit in my unhappiness for a while and wrote another poem to feel better.
On the leg injury front, I continue to have improvement by following all my exercises, and I can tell the lower part of my lower leg is stronger than the last time I reached this point in my healing, but I’m still struggling with my gait while barefoot. I’m a hair away from normal, though, when I’m wearing shoes. I have new exercises to do, and I’ve been cleared to use the elliptical machine again for up to fifteen minutes every other day, which I’m super excited about.
My PT always exclaims how hyperflexible my feet are when I go up on my toes, unusually so, like ballerina feet, and he asks me if I’m hyperflexible everywhere else. I have some double-jointed fingers, but no. I’m just ridiculously elated that I’m flexible in at least one area of my body. Going the other way, flexing my toes back toward my knees, the foot on my injured leg only reaches half as far as my left, but it’s an improvement. It didn’t used to bend past ninety degrees at all.
Works in Progress:
I finished In the Dollhouse We All Wait on November 5, total word count of 116,160 words. It was significantly longer than anticipated, given that I’d forecast about 70-80K words. I’ll have to cut it down significantly, I think—at least under 90K if I want to try to send it off to places that accept extreme horror. But as I opined last time, I’m not sure how I feel about this story and how ugly it is in a very specific way. I accomplished certain things that I set out to do, among which was writing an absolutely awful woman villain, because we need more of them. Even so, I’m not sure what place this story has. However, sometimes writing something hits as more extreme than the reading of it, because I’m more immersed in the world rather than with a barrier of a page. In any case, I’m shelving it for a while to get other writing projects done, like I usually do with projects to get some perspective for edits.
The next day, I immediately turned around and started Lost & Alone, intending it to be the sixth book in the Meridian series under my other name, but I’d already anticipated that it might end up too short for the series. It would need to be at least above 70K after edits, during which I usually make significant cuts to the word count, and I’m not sure it’s even going to cross 60K here. If that’s the case, I’ll reconfigure it as a standalone novella. It’s the least Meridian-y of the Meridian novels, since it’s a prequel set well before Meridian becomes a bustling urban center. Like, oh no, I have a stray novella to sell…say it ain’t so.
It does mean that I’ll probably have to add another Meridian novel to my writing line-up this year as I wrap up my writing sabbatical, which is not ideal. Really wish I had another year to work on the long things on my docket, but I just don’t know how. I’m also dreading heading back into the general workforce. Despite ample evidence to the contrary, I tend to not feel like a competent and capable human being, so I’m worried I’m going to screw things up, on multiple levels.
As far as general NaNoWriMo word counts go, I’m at 48K and heading for crossing the 50K line today after finishing this post, which puts me on schedule with a little cushion, if needed.
Books I’m Reading:
IT by Stephen King
Discount Armageddon by Seanan McGuire
The First Five Minutes of the Apocalypse edited by Brandon Applegate
This World Belongs to Us edited by Michael W. Phillips, Jr.
Music I’m Listening To:
Nocturne playlist
Taylor Swift
Joanne by Lady Gaga
Jordin Sparks debut
Kerosene by Miranda Lambert
Kill the One You Love by GEMS
Kill the Sun by Xandria
Laced/Unlaced by Emilie Autumn
Princess Pepper playlists on YT
Don’t Panic! playlists on YT
My Witchy Diary playlists on YT
Things I’m Watching:
Exorcist: The Beginning
Alien vs. Predator
Blade
Blade II
Blade: Trinity
Halloween Wars series (completed)
Halloween Cookie Challenge series (completed)
Halloween Baking Championships series (completed)
Outrageous Pumpkins series (completed)
Great British Baking Show series
Buffy the Vampire Slayer series
Scream Queens series
Kitchen Nightmares series
Good Bones series
Hoarders series
Helix series
NCIS series
Poem of the Week:
sometimes i see her
the daughter that never will be
sometimes i argue with her
despair of what a bad mother i am
sometimes i hold her in my arms
after reading a book to her
that i always wanted to share
sometimes i want space from her
but then i remember that she
never was and never will be
and i’m sad i’ll never know her
she’ll always just be
a voice a baby a child
a teenager an adult
that could have been
November 3, 2023
Take care, beware: Friday Update
News:
The Book of Queer Saints Volume II is officially out, as of Halloween. “Caregiver” is getting some great shout-outs in the reviews so far.
The release party was the day before, and because one of the readers wasn’t able to join us, I stepped in as alternate to do my first full reading, which was really exciting and a bit nerve-wracking, but it reminded me a lot of doing monologues back in theater, and I love reading stories out loud in general. It’s an intense, seething story, but the other four readers had funny stories full of delightful slash and splatter, so I didn’t bring down the mood too much. It was wonderful to see everyone and was surprisingly social, so I was exhausted afterward, but in a good way.
In addition, Dragon’s Roost Press released the table of contents for The Pleasure in Pain: A Queer Horrotica Anthology, edited by Roxie Voorhees, which has my story “Graphite,” about a transient graffiti artist and illustrator adding her work to an urban legend legacy. It will be coming out, rather appropriately, on February 13, 2024. I love that erotic horror is having another moment. Sex and death have often been paired in the genre, but there’s a difference between erotic horror and just sex in horror. There’s been an abundance of the latter and not a lot of the former since Clive Barker and Poppy Z. Brite. But now we have many emergent voices merging horror with sex. More sexy body horror, please! There’s a reason I write erotic horror romance under my other name. (Different monster than erotic horror, but it’s in the same family if you do it right.)
Works in Progress:
We’re in National Novel Writing Month 2023! I don’t limit myself to one work during NaNo. I combine all word counts of however many long projects I’m working on. In this case, I didn’t finished In the Dollhouse We All Wait by the end of October, which makes me sad, because I didn’t get a reading break. It’s ended up about 30K words more than predicted, which means I don’t really know what I’m going to do with it. I still haven’t finished at over 100K words. To be fair, I hadn’t figured out how to properly end it until the literal eleventh hour last night, right when I had to make that decision. So now, at least I have a direction to write.
After Dollhouse, I have two novels intended for my other name, because erotic horror romance flows really well and suits the word count needs of NaNo. Ideally, I’d finish one (that might end up a novella and reconfigured for this name’s use) and get a lot done on the other, if not all. My goal word count is 150K words, which is 5K words a day. It’s already beginning to wear on me, because I started at that daily word count for Dollhouse, but my brain, while tired, also feels kind of good with it.
We’ll see if I can manage this pace all through November and possibly December, because unless I win some kind of lottery, my working sabbatical runs out at the end of the year. Ideally, I’d have another year to work on long projects, since this year has been all about short works, but I don’t have the finances to support that, and the writing world is glutted with crowdfunding, so without something concrete to offer, that’s not an option.
Books I’m Reading:
IT by Stephen King
Discount Armageddon by Seanan McGuire
The First Five Minutes of the Apocalypse edited by Brandon Applegate
This World Belongs to Us edited by Michael W. Phillips, Jr.
Music I’m Listening To:
Halloween playlist
Nocturne playlist
Things I’m Watching:
Sleepy Hollow
Goosebumps: The Haunted Mask
Hocus Pocus
Trick ‘r Treat
Deliver Us From Evil
Goosebumps (2015)
Halloween Wars series
Halloween Cookie Challenge series
Halloween Baking Championships series
Outrageous Pumpkins series
Buffy the Vampire Slayer series
Scream Queens series
Kitchen Nightmares series
Good Bones series
Helix series
Poem of the Week:
slaughter whole lines of words
fell trees to populate your lies,
but screams and cries and tumbling
roof and walls, burning smoke
choking and stripping to raw nerve
are a greater testimony than
your desperate diplomatic spin.
More than that, the more careful
calls from inside the house,
and the voices abruptly silenced.
October 31, 2023
“Halloween Parade”
For Halloween, enjoy this lyrical poem that will be included in my seasonal horror poetry collection, A Nightmare for All Seasons, which comes out next year.
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Days growing shorter
Darker the skies
Harvest the fields
Cooler breeze nights
Pumpkin spice cider
Hot apple pies
Leaves tumble by
Flickering lights
What is that scent
That floats on the wind?
What is that rumble
over the road?
We’ve waited all year
For them to return
We’ve waited all year
As the fortune teller foretold
The time has come
For the Halloween Parade
Everyone gather round
For the Halloween Parade
Our town bearing signs
That our children have made
Three more cheers now
For the Halloween Parade
Dancing brown grass
Golden leaves awhirl
Honey-roasted caramel
Cherry-lime swirl
Jack-o’-lantern here
Candied orange curl
For every good boy
And every good girl
How we have waited
For this celebration day
How we have yearned
For innocent little joys
Whether that comes from
Dancing pantomime clowns
From dazzling sequins
Or dark wicked play
The time has come
For the Halloween Parade
Bring your family down
For the Halloween Parade
The corn has been mazed
The gravestones all laid
Three more cheers now
For the Halloween Parade
Ghostly ghouls
Spirit trails
Haunted houses
Werewolf tails
Vampire grins
Mourning veils
Creepy songs
Eerie wails
Haven’t we suffered
Enough in this town?
Haven’t we had enough
Grief, pain, and sorrow?
When they come here
With their glamor and lights
We can pretend that
There is no more tomorrow
The time has come
For the Halloween Parade
Angels and demons come round
For the Halloween Parade
The contracts are signed
And the debts are all paid
Three more cheers now
For the Halloween Parade
Yes, the time has come
For the Halloween Parade
All restraints come unbound
For the Halloween Parade
Remember the warnings
Your old friends have said
Three more cheers now
For the Halloween Parade
October 27, 2023
In the pitch black night: Friday Update
News:
Finally got the paperback for Puppeteer (Thorns 4) up on Amazon, so I should be able to share my Puppeteer playlist here soon when I get a minute.
My very short story “Sight Unseen” is out now in Novus Monstrum from Dragon’s Roost Press. I’ve written some pretty nasty things in my time, but “Sight Unseen” is what one might call ‘cozy horror.’ The editor’s eleven-year-old niece was a big fan, and I told my parents that this was one they could read. Sometimes I just like to write a nice spooky story. I think a lot of people of my generation who just want to be able to afford a house will really appreciate this one.
“Caregiver” seems to be doing well in advanced reviews for The Book of Queer Saints Volume II, including in this review in Ghouls Magazine. The QS2 ebook is actually available for pre-order now, to be delivered to your Kindle on October 31 for Halloween.
Yesterday, I took part in my first Twitter pitch party, PitDark, which is specifically for horror and horror-adjacent works. I’d witnessed them in the past but hadn’t had a finished project to pitch. It’s not ideal with Twitter as it is now, and due to the fact that it mines tweets for AI use, but I really wanted to give it a shot. Honestly, pitches in general are very similar in structure even when people do them, and I’m not too fussed about AI knowing how to do it, too. It’s the flash poetry I share that’s more of a problem. I don’t know what I’m going to do about that. If I put them in an image, it’s common courtesy to include ALT text, but then the ALT text can be mined… What a minefield.
However, as far as the pitch party goes, I did end up getting some like-requests for both things that I pitched. It’s no guarantee of anything, but it’s still pretty cool to have interest.
In real-life news, I’ve had two physical therapy sessions, and my therapist gave me exercises to do at home to help between sessions. The first session, I had a lot of weakness and resultant pain, but just a week later with the exercises, my strength has improved a lot, and differently than healing without the exercises. I’m out of the boot again and can walk almost normally in shoes. Still struggling barefoot, especially on hard floors, but my legs are definitely in a better state to support the injured muscle, and my gait is a little smoother than it was pre-reinjury. I’ll be back to PT in two weeks, and I have new exercises to do, so we’ll see where we are then.
I also finished another trip around the sun, and I’m closer to forty than I feel I should be. I don’t particularly like birthdays or New Year’s. I’m always so disappointed with where I am. My writing is about all I have to be proud of at any given time. However, regardless of how I feel, I can still enjoy the best doughnuts in the DFW area, have a wonderful birthday dinner and eclair cake, and plan for a pedicure next month (so a broken toenail can heal, no relation to the leg injury).
Works in Progress:
I’m still working on In the Dollhouse We All Wait, hoping to hit 70K tonight. I entered in my last few chapter names, so the end is actually in sight, although I’m still not positive how the last chapter is going to go. I have options, but I’ll probably decide when I get there. I’m still hoping to finish before the end of the month. Before Halloween would be even better, so I can have a short break before hitting NaNoWriMo, when I’m planning to finish two novels, even though I’ll probably have some edits to do in between meeting word counts.
Two novels in November for other name, and maybe two novels in December, for other name and mine? It’ll all depend on the editing demands, really.
However, although I went into it knowing that it would be very extreme horror, I think I’ve decided that ITDWAW is a very ugly story. There’s not even much in the way of humor. I think Question Not My Salt has a little delight to be found, but not Dollhouse. And maybe there’s a place for very ugly stories, but I don’t know how I feel about writing it right now. I want to finish it, no question, especially when I’m so close and the writing is moving smoothly, but I don’t know when I’ll get back to it for edits.
Books I’m Reading:
IT by Stephen King
Discount Armageddon by Seanan McGuire
The First Five Minutes of the Apocalypse edited by Brandon Applegate
This World Belongs to Us edited by Michael W. Phillips, Jr.
Music I’m Listening To:
Halloween playlist
Thorns series playlists
Hannibal playlist
Things I’m Watching:
The Menu
The Exorcist
The Great British Baking Show series
Halloween Wars series
Halloween Baking Championships series
Outrageous Pumpkins series
Buffy the Vampire Slayer series
Scream Queens series
Kitchen Nightmares series
Good Bones series
Helix series
Poem of the Week:
Submerge in slime,
surrounded by gross. A
person can get used to
anything. A rhyming verse
stripped of its second,
taboo of the perverse
becoming normal when no
longer forbidden fruit—
cruelty easier than you
might believe of yourself.
October 20, 2023
Get out while you can: Friday Update
News:
After the wealth of news last week, there’s not much this one. I received another really nice rejection and a few form rejections. I submitted some more poems, but sub calls are kind of quiet lately.
Brother and my niece are in town, so that’s fun!
Works in Progress:
I’m editing something that was accepted to an anthology with an as-yet-unannounced table of contents, and I continue writing extreme horror novel In the Dollhouse We All Wait. I should hit 40K words tonight. I think it’ll end up around 70-80K words in the end. I slowed down due to vaccinations, a bad period with really bad period cramps, and now with family in town, but I’ll be back to 5K a day starting Monday and should finish the novel by the end of the month. I’m alternating between loving it and hating it, which is pretty typical, and I think once I clean it up in edits in the new year, I’ll like it more.
Books I’m Reading:
IT by Stephen King
Discount Armageddon by Seanan McGuire
The First Five Minutes of the Apocalypse edited by Brandon Applegate
This World Belongs to Us edited by Michael W. Phillips, Jr.
Music I’m Listening To:
Halloween playlist
Things I’m Watching:
Unfriended
Haunt
Oculus
Us
Get Out
Jennifer’s Body
Cello
Wishing Stairs
Halloween Wars series
Halloween Baking Championships series
Outrageous Pumpkins series
Buffy the Vampire Slayer series
Scream Queens series
Kitchen Nightmares series
America’s Got Talent series (caught up, WTF with that finale)
Good Bones series
Poem of the Week:
A plague came to the house on Sunday.
It started as fatigue, a slow puddling
faint on the linoleum tile, outstretched
arm reaching for the counter edge or
a phone, but the cat settled next to
the slow, kindling fever drooling from
open mold mouth and dribbling from
mucus-thick nose and eyes and ears.
Wake up from fever dream to fever dream,
condensation on windowpanes from sudden
change in temperature, your hot flashes
their own weather system. Cat left,
too hot and wrinkle-faced against the
smell of you, seeping through pores
and from orifice. Gag, retch, vomit,
shit, a new puddle on the floor.
Burning the wick and melting the fat
from the inside out, fever a fire,
and the day outside sunny and bright.
A plague came to the house on Sunday.
October 13, 2023
Tasting Salt: Friday Update
News:
So I have absolutely wonderful news that I’ve been sitting on until we finalized the contract, but my short novel Question Not My Salt is going to be published in 2024 through the new Crystal Lake Entertainment extreme horror imprint Torrid Waters.
Texas Chain Saw Massacre + Hannibal by way of The Menu, this isn’t just girl dinner—it’s family dinner. Come for Thanksgiving. Stay for the Feast.
Now, this is unflinchingly extreme horror, which means blood, guts, sex, gore, and a bucket full of content warnings, so it’s not for the squeamish. I’ll provide more details as we get closer to the release. But this is my first non-self-published novel through this name (erotic romance is a different kind of business, so what’s written under my other name is not comparable). It still feels surreal that I can say that someone else is publishing my book.
My dense submerged horror story “Arms Race,” finalist in the Crystal Lake Shallow Waters flash fiction contest, was posted on Wednesday. The contest is still going with Boat/Ship/Sub horror, and reading and voting is a lot of fun, worth the $5 tier.
There’s a release party for The Book of Queer Saints Vol 2 on October 30, with live readings. (I’m an alternate.) If you’d like a pre-Halloween celebration, this is a great place to listen to some excellent queer horror.
And of course, as shared in the previous post, Puppeteer (Thorns Book 4), is officially out as an e-book (Amazon, all other vendors). Now’s a great time to get into the Thorns series, because book five is off to its editors and will be coming out May next year for a mid-series conclusion.
No luck with the short story collection or a short story that was shortlisted and rejected right on the margin, both which were really disappointing. I’m still not entirely sure whether I should break up the collection and sell piecemeal or hold it together until the new year. I just submitted one of the poems to a call, so I guess I’ll see. (On a side note, the portfolio I sent has some of the best poems I’ve written, and it’s striking how I’ve improved as a poet. It’s going to be deflating when they’re likely rejected, but *shrugs* such is the job.)
In personal news, I selected a physical therapist, so I’m headed to PT next Monday. I’ve never done PT before—new experience. I’m worried about pain, but hopefully they can help me with my gait once I get out of the support boot again, and I’ll have some real guidance on how to take care of myself, even though I’d hoped to heal on my own (much cheaper). The muscle pain in both legs from a few weeks ago has calmed down. I’m still careful, but at least I’m not despairing. I didn’t realize how bad it was until things got better.
My personal goal of finishing unfinished TV shows continues. I knocked Under the Banner of Heaven and season 1 of Interview with the Vampire off my list, and I’ll continue AHS: Cult next.
Works in Progress:
No rest for the wicked. I finished the Meridian Book 4 edits and submitted it to the publishing house (accepted, since it was part of a series and they get first refusal, but they haven’t refused me yet).
I wrote two short pieces and polished them for submissions.
Now I’m working on my next horror novel, which is even more extreme than QNMS, so I’m intimidated by it and prone to procrastination. Still, I’d like to reach 20K words on In the Dollhouse We All Wait by the end of the weekend. Not sure at this point how long it’s going to be. I’m estimating somewhere in the 70K-word region, but it really could go either way.
Books I’m Reading:
IT by Stephen King
Discount Armageddon by Seanan McGuire
The First Five Minutes of the Apocalypse edited by Brandon Applegate
This World Belongs to Us edited by Michael W. Phillips, Jr.
Music I’m Listening To:
Halloween playlist
Haunted Mansion ambience music
Things I’m Watching:
Muppet Haunted Mansion
Rob Zombie’s Halloween
The Haunted Mansion (2003)
Interview with the Vampire series (caught up)
Halloween Wars series
Halloween Baking Championships series
Outrageous Pumpkins series
Buffy the Vampire Slayer series
Scream Queens series
Under the Banner of Heaven series (finished)
Kitchen Nightmares series
Poem of the Week:
say you want the healing to begin
but you offer no salve
no salvation
no service administration
you don’t want peace
doesn’t matter if
people are in pieces
as long as it’s
quiet
October 11, 2023
Puppeteer (Thorns Book 4) available
My fourth Thorns book, the darkest and the longest yet, Puppeteer, is now available in ebook (paperback soon). Internalized homophobia, binding spells, alchemy… (Beauty and the Beast as always, but also Pinocchio)
Crooked House comes out May 2024. If you’re hesitant to start a new series because you don’t know if it’ll be finished, Crooked House is a mini series conclusion. Although there will be more books, should I die after May 2024, the series would have a satisfying ending.
So, if you’ve been wondering whether to tackle the series, this is a good time to start! Be sure to visit the Content Warnings if you need to check for triggers.
