Amanda M. Blake's Blog, page 14
October 6, 2023
Nightmare Fuel: Friday Update
News:
After a few weeks of nothing, some nice Halloween treats.
Contract is signed and other authors are sharing, so I guess I can say that my short storm horror story “The Glitter of Bile” will be published in Cosmic Horror Monthly in the new year.
“The Last Ride of Sutton Purnell” won a flash fiction contest from Flame Tree Press based on the theme ‘Nightmare Avenue.’ It appeared exclusively in their newsletter this week, but it should post to their website soon, too. Once I have that link, it will be free to read. It is absolutely gruesomely gross body horror, if you can stomach it.
The Crystal Lake Shallow Waters flash fiction contest theme for this month is Horror on Board (Boats/Ships/Subs), and my story “Arms Race” posts next Wednesday. It’s $5/month to read and vote, but it’s worth it to have a new themed anthology every month.
Earlier this week, I completed my fiftieth short story of the year! They range from micro fiction to novelette, so it all averages out.
I’m also on the short list for several calls that I’m crossing my fingers for.
Finally got to talk to an orthopedist, and she’s not alarmed by the strange overexertion, so I’ll try to endure it until I can get in to a physical therapist, who should be able to help the re-tear heal, then help me get back to a regular gait, and then the overexertion should calm down, in theory. I’m still getting quotes from PT facilities.
But in more pleasant news, I crossed another thing off my to-finish list with Nine Perfect Strangers. And I found a ten-dollar bill on a walk.
Works in Progress:
I submitted my short story collection, so now I have two short novels and a collection out in the world.
I finished the first edit of my other name’s Meridian Book 4 edits, and I’m well into the second, which always goes much faster. Afterward, I’ll palate-cleanse with a very short story or two, then jump into a pet project, probably In the Dollhouse We All Wait.
And in the midst of that, I do my daily flash poetry for the Crow Calls, a lyric poem every five days, and I’m working on an autumnal long poem for a seasonal poetry collection.
Books I’m Reading:
IT by Stephen King
Discount Armageddon by Seanan McGuire
The First Five Minutes of the Apocalypse edited by Brandon Applegate
Music I’m Listening To:
Halloween playlist
Taylor Swift
Fifty Shades movie soundtracks (never read the books or saw the movies, love the soundtracks)
Fight Like a Girl by Emilie Autumn
UNSECRET singles
Things I’m Watching:
The Addams Family
The Nun
No One Will Save You
Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark
Halloween Wars series
Halloween Baking Championships series
Outrageous Pumpkins series
CSI series
CSI:Miami series
Buffy the Vampire Slayer series
Scream Queens series
Nine Perfect Strangers series (finished)
Under the Banner of Heaven series
Poem of the Week:
i would never be accused of
wallowing in my own sorrow
but may i render this ground
unhallowed with dripping salt
seeping into the ground soil
downhill of the cursed gallows
from where the mortician carries
my son to grave upon the morrow
September 29, 2023
Pulling Strings: Friday Update
News:
My story “Footprints” will be streamed through podcast The Other Stories this Saturday on Twitch and uploaded to YouTube. When I have more direct links and the official podcast recording, I’ll post those, too.
Since the MRI, I seem to have re-torn or torn something new, so I’m back in the support boot, getting compensation injuries, and shuffling around, wondering what’s wrong with me. I have an appointment with an orthopedist next Monday. I’m not positive they’ll have answers, but maybe we’ll get on the path to them, or at least on track to healing properly.
After completing Phase 3 of the MCU, I made it my mission to finish other things I’d started. So far, I’ve finished Squid Game and Devil in Ohio, and I’m on my way to finish Nine Perfect Strangers. I hope to finish outstanding thrillers before October so I can start watching more horror-y leftovers.
Works in Progress:
I’m trying not to get too giddy about the short story collection call from Cursed Morsels, which opens up October 1. My horror collection has been ready for two months, so I’m really excited to finally get it out there. If this press doesn’t bite, I’ll give the collection until about February or March before I start trying to sell the parts, with the hope to eventually put the collection out myself. Several presses open up to longer works in January, if I remember correctly.
Puppeteer (Thorns 4) is pretty much finished. I’ve got the interior files ready to go, just need to get the wrap for the paperback done, and I can’t do that until I finalize the back cover copy, which I’d completely forgotten to write. I came up with some verbiage, but I’ll let it sit for a few days to decide whether I like it. Then it’ll be in the works for publication. Less fanfare with this one, even though I’m tremendously proud and scared of it at the same time. It’s the fourth book, so the excitement is really only relevant if you’ve read the first three.
If you’re interested in starting Thorns but you’re unsure about taking on an unfinished series, I just want you to know that the end of Book 5 functions as a mini series conclusion, although there are more books to come after. Book 5 has been sent it out to beta readers and editors. That means that if you start now and finish on book five, you wouldn’t be left hanging. Basically, if I died after Crooked House (Thorns 5) was published and never put out another book, it would be a satisfying end.
I’m now working on my other name‘s Meridian series book 4 edits. Doesn’t look like I’ll finish before the end of the month, so I don’t know if I’ll be able to fit both the for-fun short novel and novella into October, but we’ll see.
Books I’m Reading:
IT by Stephen King
Discount Armageddon by Seanan McGuire
The First Five Minutes of the Apocalypse edited by Brandon Applegate
Music I’m Listening To:
Halloween playlist
Puppeteer playlist
Lily Kershaw
Ruelle
Hozier’s first album
Things I’m Watching:
The Grudge 2
The Batman
Queer Eye series
Halloween Wars series
Halloween Baking Championships series
Outrageous Pumpkins series
CSI series
CSI:Miami series
Murder, She Wrote series
Buffy the Vampire Slayer series
Squid Game (finished)
Devil in Ohio (finished)
Scream Queens
Nine Perfect Strangers
Poem of the Week:
it takes bravery
to walk the fuck away,
courage to let a strike
fall on my face
without retaliation,
but god help me,
i’m just too weak
while I shatter your
full mouth of teeth
over my linoleum.
if i give you bleach
will you clean the
bloodstain?
September 22, 2023
Crushed Dreams: Friday Update
News:
Still not much to report, although I had several short stories to edit and approve, and I received several rejections.
If you’d like to hear me read an excerpt from “Blackberry Wine” from the Wicked Fae Crow’s Quill issue, go here. It’s very strange hearing my voice, and this was one of my later takes. If I thought my voice could hold out, I would love to go into narration, because I learned to love reading out loud from my parents. They’d read to me and my brother when we were young, and as we got older, my brother and I would read aloud during car trips.
I got my MRI report back, and it doesn’t sound too terrible, but I still need to wait for my doctor to talk with me about it to determine what it means, what questions it answers, and where we go from here. Cross your fingers for no surgery.
Last update, I’d watched Avengers: Infinity War, and as of this update, I’ve finished Phase 3 of the MCU with Avengers: Endgame. It was a serious time commitment, but it was also a great deal of fun. It’s a bit of a relief to have Phase 4 unlocked, at least until I realize they’re starting Phase 5…
Works in Progress:
I’m over halfway through the proofreading pass of Puppeteer (Thorns 4). I’m hoping to finish it by the end of the weekend. Even after all the times I’ve already read it, I’m still finding places to laugh, which is such a genuine delight. I hope my readers enjoy the humor, especially in the darkest of the Thorns novels so far.
After Puppeteer, I’ll send it off to my formatter, then start on the double edit of a Meridian novel from under my other name (erotic horror romance, if you’re looking for even spicier fare, good for Halloween). After I send that off to my editor, I have a choice between two pet projects to write. Either one should be a joy.
Books I’m Reading:
IT by Stephen King
Discount Armageddon by Seanan McGuire
Cruel Summer by Wesley Southard (finished)
Pornography for the End of the World by Brendon Vidito (finished)
Music I’m Listening To:
Halloween playlist
Arcanium playlists
Ambient Halloween music
Things I’m Watching:
Evil Dead
Ant-Man and the Wasp
The Grudge (2020)
Captain Marvel
The Avengers: Endgame
Halloween Wars series
Halloween Baking Championships series
America’s Got Talent series
Dr. Pimple Popper series (caught up)
CSI series
CSI:Miami series
Murder, She Wrote series
Locke & Key series (finished)
Buffy the Vampire Slayer series
Poem of the Week:
i don’t understand how a
devil so destructive and wild
could be my sweet obedient child
you couldn’t be more
egregiously wrong
my child skipping merrily along
couldn’t have done
this dastardly deed
like some curly-headed bad seed
take care before you slander
my only daughter
or it’ll be your child next
to the rumor-mill slaughter
September 15, 2023
False Fall: Friday Update
News:
Nothing of a writerly nature, unless you count a light redesign of the website.
However, as I wrote in a previous entry, I injured my right leg, assumed a grade II tear of the calf muscle. I was progressing all right, with some stumbles on the way, but about three weeks ago I tried using the elliptical machine. I felt okay on the machine, but after, I felt the strain. The healing process regressed, but worse, it didn’t improve much after and there’s consistent over-stress in everything between the ankles and knees.
So I went to the doctor today, and I’m getting an MRI tomorrow to determine what might be going on and how to proceed. My health insurance is basically catastrophe insurance, so I’m paying out of pocket, if you’d like to help. I’m not going to go broke, though, so don’t feel any pressure.
In less grave news, I’m finally buckling down and watching the end of MCU Phase 3. The length of the Avengers movies is prohibitive, but I’m committing to it this weekend. That’ll make proceeding with Phase 4 while working out easier (if I’m ever able to work out again).
Works in Progress:
This last week was something of a pet project week.
I wrote a novelette version of We Follow You in the Dark with more short-story pacing to see if I could write something closer to the original vibe. Because the short version and the long version have the same setting but different characters and outcomes, it’s less like a different version and more like different stories in the same universe. I’m still pursuing publishing the novel, and novelettes are murder to sell. I’m thinking about providing a collection of short story/novelette versions of longer stories, kind of a ‘what might have been,’ because, strangely enough, I happen to have written more than one of these. So they’ll be useful eventually, but for now, it was more of an experiment.
I also wrote a long short story that was supposed to go one way and ended up another, and was definitely supposed to be shorter. It’s too long to sell as a short story and too short to sell as a long story, but it’s weird and erotic and uses some of my for-funsies college subjects. I’m not sure what I’m going to do with it, but it was great fun to explore that world. My wanting to finish it is why I’m writing this so late.
This week, we had a break in the three-digit heat with a delightful false fall, so I worked outside on our porch for most of the week (see the photo above). Tomorrow will probably be the last day I can do that for a few more weeks, but I assure you, the mosquito bites were worth it.
Coming up, I have a short story I need to edit and send back to the editor. Then I’ll be doing my proofreading run of Puppeteer (Thorns 4).
Books I’m Reading:
IT by Stephen King
Discount Armageddon by Seanan McGuire
Cruel Summer by Wesley Southard
Pornography for the End of the World by Brendon Vidito
Music I’m Listening To:
Halloween playlist (it’s that time of year)
Things I’m Watching:
Grave Encounters
Devil
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
The Wrath of Becky
The Avengers: Infinity War
America’s Got Talent series
Dr. Pimple Popper series
CSI series
CSI:Miami series
Murder, She Wrote series
White Collar series
Locke & Key series
Buffy the Vampire Slayer series
Poem of the Week:
You’re looking for my sister, you say?
Well, you just missed her on her way
to the graveyard for our father’s funeral.
Such a yawn, gravestones and funereal
blacks, but someone has to represent
a repressed and resentful family.
She’s the one who stands to gain the least,
so she could not have slain that beast.
September 8, 2023
This is just my face: Friday Update
Bloody Ghost meets Thing. It’s good to make new friends.News:
Because I somehow completely forgot about it last week, here’s the link again for “Of the Many Faces,” a gross and sexy and beautiful story (free to read) about a demon exchanging faces to overcome heartache.
Queer Saints Vol II has its cover reveal, plus the retooled cover for Vol I. They look pretty darn cool.
Other than that, there’s not much going on to announce.
I have, however, received so many rejections in the last week that it was a bit of an emotional beating. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t take rejections personally, but that doesn’t mean I’m not disappointed. And I like validation as much as the next writer.
Usually, if a rejection particularly hurts, I give myself thirty minutes to feel bad about it, but this week, my emotions just didn’t want to be scheduled. So I took advantage of updating to Windows 11 and didn’t work at all on Wednesday. Sometimes, in doing work I love to do seven days a week, especially work that doesn’t pay well, I forget it’s still work and I need to take a break now and then. I read most of the day while I was locked out of my computer and felt significantly better afterward.
I reminded myself yesterday that I like my writing and psyched myself back up by scrolling through my short story collection I’m submitting in October, which is full of bangers, in my ever-so-objective opinion.
Works in Progress:
I finished We Follow You in the Dark, and it’s now on sub, even though I’m still not sure if it’s too short to be a novel (house styles can differ on word counts). So I’m between significant projects right now.
On a whim, I decided to work on a shorter version of an idea that already turned into a novel. This is not the first time I’ve done this, just to see if it can be scaled down to better match the sheer vibe of the original concept. I’m playing with the idea of eventually compiling a collection of these alternative versions.
After this, I’ll probably tackle a short story that isn’t due for a few months, but it would be nice to have, and I believe a few flash themes will be available, so I can work on that, too.
Then I think I’ll do the last proofreading pass on Puppeteer (Thorns 4) to send to the formatter, which means Puppeteer will probably be released in October.
After starting this trend in August, I’m still producing gothic horror and fantasy lyrical poems every five days or so. It’s exciting to unironically and unself-consciously explore these themes and just sit with the atmosphere in such a beautiful structure. I really like lyrics, even if the verses themselves wouldn’t translate well, perhaps, into song. They’re structured in a way that encourages rhyming, but it’s also flexible, because you can choose your own structure.
I’d kind of like to write a sestina one day, but every time I look up how they’re built, they give examples that don’t follow it, and I get confused, so I’ll keep pushing that back until I understand what’s going on.
Books I’m Reading:
IT by Stephen King
Discount Armageddon by Seanan McGuire
Cruel Summer by Wesley Southard
The Flame and the Flower by Kathleen Woodiwiss (finished)
Pornography for the End of the World by Brendon Vidito
Music I’m Listening To:
Halloween playlist
Agnes Obel
Billie Eilish
Fleurie
Eurielle
Symphonies by Emily West
Abyss playlist
All I Ever Wanted by Kelly Clarkson
Things I’m Watching:
The Last Exorcism
The Haunting in Connecticut
Wounds
Hell Fest
Turistas
American Monster series
America’s Got Talent series
Dr. Pimple Popper series
CSI series
CSI:Miami series
Murder, She Wrote series
White Collar series
Locke & Key series
Buffy the Vampire Slayer series
Poem of the Week:
whiff of smoke and lavender
dried petals and stems strewn
over carved wooden pentagram
pour the wine and steep the milk
with rose hips and cardamom
copper hovers amid ash
blood not from the palm
hydrogen peroxide with bandage
over the safer tough arm
smells like witchcraft in here
September 1, 2023
“Of the Many Faces”
I can’t believe I forgot that my short story about a demon exchanging faces and skins to overcome heartache was coming out in this month’s Crow’s Quill, themed Shapeshifters. It’s so gruesome and gross and gothic and free to read here. I’ll also try to remember to put it on my news update next week.
Katie Cruel: Friday Update
News:
No writing news this week, actually. We’re kind of between calls, and most of what’s coming out later this year has been announced.
Works in Progress:
It’s a new month, so August calls are done and September calls have begun. I just sent a small slate of pieces where appropriate, and there are a few more calls opening in the next few days I’ll send out, too.
Mostly, I’ve been working on We Follow You in the Dark. I finished the first round of edits and cut about 9K words from the story, so now it’s around 55K, which might be too short to try to sub to agents as a novel, like Question Not My Salt, but I guess we’ll see once I’m finished with second-round edits, which should be today or tomorrow. I was worried I’d have more to do on this second round because of how demanding the first round was, but nope, it’s still just polishing. I’m not complaining.
We Follow is resurrecting all kinds of nineties nostalgia for a shopping mall now dead and gone that meant a lot to me as a kid. It inspired some poetry in the editing process. In addition, my daily Quill & Crow Crow Calls have been inspiring some horror lyrics. They’ll probably get turned into poetry, but I like song structure.
After We Follow, I have a novel under my other name to edit. Then I have a few small-long projects I’m thinking about just buckling down and tackling through some intensive writing months. There’s not much short story writing on my docket except for flash contests, unless a call really inspires me, but we’re heading into spooky season, which tends to bring out more calls.
Books I’m Reading:
IT by Stephen King
Discount Armageddon by Seanan McGuire
Cruel Summer by Wesley Southard
The Flame and the Flower by Kathleen Woodiwiss
Music I’m Listening To:
Ruelle
Tina Guo
Lindsey Sterling
Agnes Obel
Buffy the Vampire Slayer score
Neverworld’s End by Xandria
The Heart of Everything by Within Temptation
Mirrorball by Sarah McLachlan
Modern Alchemy by Zayde Wolf
Moulin Rouge albums
No Moment but Now by Wendy Colonna
Things I’m Watching:
America’s Got Talent series
Dr. Pimple Popper series
CSI series
CSI:Miami series
Murder, She Wrote series
White Collar series
The Great British Baking Show: The Professionals series (finished)
The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt series
Locke & Key series
Poem of the Week:
these two hands
joined perfect union
tie the satin ribbon
white and pure
around their wrists
bind together
loyalty and love
tighter smooth
insidious dents
burst capillaries
knot again between
clasped fingers
dye the fabric
a deep red
tighter
August 25, 2023
Demon-Cuddling: Friday Update
News:
So I got my dates mixed up for The Devil Take You from Sentinel Creatives, which includes my short story “The Plank in Thine Own.” The Kickstarter opened on Monday, so you can get your book through that, plus some great perks if they reach their stretch goals. Sentinel Creatives go out of their way to create immersive experiences, so they do audiobooks and soundtracks, and it’s really pretty neat.
Last month was my first time properly on sub with a novel since my early twenties. I received my first novel rejection this week. It’s not exciting, but it’s all part of the process, and being a part of that process is exciting. I’ll continue to try to shop around with it to appropriate novel/novella calls (there’s a new imprint that looks like a good fit), but because it’s a weird length—novella by some standards and very short novel by others—I don’t know whether it’s a great piece to sub to agents. At the very least, I have it there in my trunk, as needed.
Otherwise, things are pretty quiet on this particular front. I have handfuls of short stories on sub but probably won’t hear back on them until September and October.
Works in Progress:
I finished Crooked House (Thorns 5) edits and sent the most recent draft out to my editors and beta readers.
The next thing on my docket was editing We Follow You in the Dark, a short horror novel set in a haunt experience, but I got spooked (no pun intended), so I edited down a few short stories to gather my courage. But I’m working on We Follow now and about a quarter of the way through.
It’s a more difficult draft. Usually, I’m just paring and cleaning up what’s there in the rough, but for We Follow, I knew by the end of writing it that I needed to move whole sections around, which fudges with my transition bridges. I’ll probably have to fix more in the second round of edits. This book, however, is definitely novel-length by multiple house standards, so it might be in a better position to sub to agents if I can tidy the manuscript changes.
If you’d like to support a writer through a rough edit, buy me a coffee?
Books I’m Reading:
IT by Stephen King
Discount Armageddon by Seanan McGuire
Cruel Summer by Wesley Southard
The Flame and the Flower by Kathleen Woodiwiss
Music I’m Listening To:
Billie Eilish
Fleurie
Svrcina
Jordin Sparks debut album
The Silent Force by Within Temptation
Hide and Seek by The Birthday Massacre
Joanne by Lady Gaga
Live Around the World by Queen with Adam Lambert
Crooked House playlist
Things I’m Watching:
America’s Got Talent series
CSI series
CSI:Miami series
Murder, She Wrote series
White Collar series
The Great British Baking Show: The Professionals series
The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt series
Locke & Key series
The Pope’s Exorcist movie (didn’t like)
M3GAN movie (loved)
Star Trek (2009) movie
The Black Demon movie (didn’t like)
Poem of the Week:
every night I leave the flame
flickering on the porch
there’s nowhere and
no one for miles
i light the lantern
so anyone and anything
may find a way home
August 18, 2023
Hamstead Heath Horror: Friday Update
News:
My short horror story “A Bug in the Design” was posted yesterday for the Crystal Lake Shallow Waters Flash Fiction Contest, for $5/month patrons. It’s horror grounded in reality rather than supernatural, inspired by one day when I left work on a weekend when my car was the only one in the parking lot and something did not want me anywhere close to my car.
In addition, my humor-horror story “The Cut,” about a baking-karaoke reality show, has been published again in Shallow Waters Vol. 9, which hit first in horror anthologies, so that’s exciting. It’s only 99c, with previous winners from the contest, so it’s got some great pieces.
My medieval story, “The Plank in Thine Own,” about an ambitious monk and his demon experiment, should be coming out today in The Devil Take You, initially through Sentinel Creatives’ Kickstarter, but it doesn’t look like they’ve opened yet. I’ll include the link in next week’s news update.
My family visited my brother and sister-in-law, so we had a great time in Oklahoma with my niblings. I can’t read on car trips anymore because I get carsick, but I can write during them, since I don’t have to read much as I go. I look out at the horizon and make all the typos I need to. It’s a great three-hour stretch of time when I’m not connected to wi-fi, so I can’t do anything but write. Good way to get a story done on the way there and another done on the way back.
Earlier this week, we had a stretch of three days without triple-digit heat where just walking outside didn’t feel like a convection oven. It was strange to go out and think this is so nice about 95 degree weather.
I injured my leg about two months ago, grade II muscle tear in the right calf and a grade I strain on the left, and it’s been a long recovery (for me). But I’ve transitioned out of a support boot into supportive shoes, and now out of the supportive shoes for more barefoot walking through the house. They’re more stressed than I’m used to after long walks, but I can do them as long as I take a break if I get close to a strain. The first time I tried swimming as low-impact exercise in the first month, my leg couldn’t push me back out of the water, so I had to nix that, but now it’s strong enough for swimming. Still not at a point I can go back to my usual workouts, but definite improvement. I keep telling myself to be patient, or I’ll reinjure and have to wait even longer.
Works in Progress:
Finished my latest patch of short stories over the weekend with the help of the car trips. Generally, for longer pieces I ask myself if I can use the pieces for something else of my own. I have a list of short story collections that I’m slowly building either for self-publishing or for collection calls, but there’s no hurry on most of them, since they have stories in them that need to wait for exclusive rights to clear before I can reprint anyway.
However, for flash contests, I love trying new things and going in more random directions. They only take an hour or two of my time, so it’s a nice exercise, both to write these stories and then to trim them down to their most fundamental elements. I’ve discovered that all this short story work has improved my editing of longer works, too.
I’m on the second edit of Crooked House (Thorns 5) now, and it’s so much easier than second rounds used to be. The way the edits worked before was round one was macro edits, lots of cutting and rearranging and getting rid of my crutches, then round two would be micro edits. But I’m getting more of the micro edits done in the first round, so second round so far has been more of a polish. My editors are going to have plenty of things to change, of course, but in terms of my work, it’s cool that I notice marked improvement.
Books I’m Reading:
IT by Stephen King
Discount Armageddon by Seanan McGuire
Cruel Summer by Wesley Southard
Music I’m Listening To:
Dark ambient music
Miranda Lambert
Taylor Swift
Ruelle
Puppeteer (Thorns 4) playlist
Blacklist playlist
Things I’m Watching:
America’s Got Talent series
CSI series
CSI:Miami series
Not Dead Yet series (caught up)
Murder She Wrote series
White Collar series
Count of Monte Cristo movie
Poem of the Week:
put me under the knife
sophisticated barbarism
barbers used to be dentists
surgeons used to be butchers
small dog energy life
in hands and between blades
clambering for the pedestal
afraid the table will tilt
don’t need but want so hard
stomach pinches through muscle
it’s a horror show in here
I will pay dearly to be victim
August 11, 2023
Cutting Thorns Off Roses: Friday Update
News:
Actually not a lot of news to report this week. I’m in waiting mode for rejections/acceptances, and there’s been some behind the scenes stuff, plus a few things coming out this week, like “A Bug in the Design” at Crystal Lake Shallow Waters, if you want to get in on that Patreon for some exciting new flash every month.
I had a comment to a Twitter post that’s doing some real numbers (for me), and it amuses me that a throwaway comment seems to have resonated like that.
I had my annual-ish ear cleaning, so now I can hear and I’m not stuck in my own head, which is nice.
I also saw Talk to Me, which I thought was amazing, a throat-punch for the first three parts. I agree with some people that it whiffed the ending and pulled the last few punches, but not in a way that negated the excellence that came before. It felt viral and modern without feeling too much on the phone; it felt like an authentic teen scream without watering itself down. It’s what the movie Slender Man aspired to and was too afraid to let itself be.
Works in Progress:
I finished the first round of edits on Crooked House (Thorns 5). I made a few small additions, but not what I was expecting. I think I’ll ask my beta readers and editors if they think I should add more, but for now it feels pretty solid as is, and I really, really like it.
As a Thorns novel, it’s as short as Puppeteer (Thorns 4) is long. It started at 158K words, and I cut it down to a bare 133K words. Still more than Nocturne, which is my longer gothic-style supernatural horror novel, but generally the Thorns novels average about 150-155K words.
I’m letting the edits breathe and doing another patch of short fiction. I’ve written two shorts and plan to write three more in the flash range. Then I’ll do the second editing round.
Books I’m Reading:
IT by Stephen King
Nightbitch by Rachel Yoder (finished)
Discount Armageddon by Seanan McGuire
Music I’m Listening To:
Ambient dark music
Dracula musical (Orton/Evans)
Kamelot
Halestorm
Things I’m Watching:
CSI series
CSI:Miami series
Great British Baking Show: Junior Bake-Off series (caught up)
Not Dead Yet series
Murder She Wrote series
Red Notice movie
NOPE movie
Fright Night (1985) movie – Why did no one tell me how delectably queer this movie is?
Poem of the Week:
should you sleepwalk
within the halls
please don’t hesitate
to ring a bell or call
but be extra careful
these darker nights
not to kindle candles
of strangers alight
you never know what
roams there with you
or, if it knows you know
it’s there, what it will do
