Amanda M. Blake's Blog, page 9
August 16, 2024
Shoving dirt: Friday Update
News:
Nothing this week.
Works in Progress:
Proofreading Crooked House (Thorns 5) took longer than anticipated, because for the life of me, I could not focus for long stretches of time. However, I got it done, and it’s now with my formatter. I’ll have to get the cover updated after that, but then it should be good to go.
It’s a soft ending for the series, with more books to come, but it’s wild that I’ve managed to get this far and that scenes that have been with me since the beginning have been put to the page. I’ve spent so much time with these characters that they’ve become like friends, and I’m looking forward to having more adventures with them.
I also just finished a first-chapter edit for Book & Candle (Meridian 5) so it can be included as a preview in Avarice & Creed (Meridian 4), coming out in October. (Preorder here.)
I’m going to take a short break to wallow in self-pity and get through the worst of my period. On the other side of it, I’ll work on a body horror novelette that I’ve had on my to-write list for over ten years, tentatively titled Ooze for now.
Things I’m Reading:
The Tommyknockers by Stephen King
Why Didn’t You Just Leave edited by Nadia Bulkin and Julia Rios
Things I’m Listening To:
Thorns playlists
Snow White & the Huntsman soundtrack
The Huntsman: Winter’s War soundtrack
The Village soundtrack
Things I’m Watching:
Truth or Die
Supercell
Not Dead Yet series (finished)
Abbott Elementary series
Resident Alien series (seriously, some of the best comedy on TV right now)
S.W.A.T. series
Grey’s Anatomy series
Kitchen Nightmares series
America’s Got Talent series
Murder, She Wrote series
Poem of the Week:
if it does not
consume me
from toes
to teeth
let it starve
beneath my
bed sheets
we will not
be alone
at least
August 9, 2024
Expected inquisition: Friday Update
News:
I had an interview with the Merry Writer Podcast yesterday. I think it went really well and lasted longer than I thought it would. We covered the writing process, the benefits of self-publishing vs. traditional publishing, long form vs. short form, and how horror movies address and face emotional distress. It won’t be available for a while (April 2025), but it was a lot of fun! I don’t usually like talking about process, but since I’ve had some changes, it’s a little more interesting than before.
Of course, thanks to social anxiety, I was completely useless until the interview happened, but I got back on the proofreading horse afterward.
Works in Progress:
I finished the double edit of Book & Candle (Meridian 5) and started on the proofreading of Crooked House (Thorns 5). It’s going slower than I’d like because I’m having trouble focusing. When I can keep my attention, it moves so fast, though. I think I just need to put my computer on airplane mode and force the focus.
After the proofreading and the Olympics, I’m taking a pity party. I’ve been feeling in need of one. Still getting a plethora of rejections, and they don’t bother me on an individual basis, but when I think about all of them sitting there clustered in my rejection folder… Just makes me feel heavy and tired. I just want to lie down, watch The Day After Tomorrow, and catastrophize and get angry at my brain and body for not doing what I want it to do.
Things I’m Reading:
The Tommyknockers by Stephen King
Why Didn’t You Just Leave edited by Nadia Bulkin and Julia Rios
Things I’m Listening To:
American Idol singles
Amidst the Chaos by Sara Bareilles
Amidst the Chaos: Live From the Hollywood Bowl by Sara Bareilles
Anastasia soundtrack
And So Much More by Linda Eder
Thorns playlists
Things I’m Watching:
Tarot
The Outwaters
Horsemen
Young Sheldon series (finished)
Not Dead Yet series
S.W.A.T. series
Grey’s Anatomy series
Kitchen Nightmares series
America’s Got Talent series
CSI: Miami series
Murder, She Wrote series
Poem of the Week:
staggering through the crooked mile
with all my things strewn behind me
roadkill broken smashed discarded
on the hissing simmering asphalt
i am unladen more burdened than ever
soles worn through with no finish
line in my squinting sunburnt sight
August 2, 2024
Human masks: Friday Update
News:
“Snot” made it to third place in last month’s Shallow Waters flash fiction contest.
I also sold a poem, but I’m not sure whether I can share more details than that.
Works in Progress:
Summer is a slow time for horror writers, and the markets have gone down in general, too. However, things start kicking up in August, and I submitted two novels, some poems, and at least six short stories yesterday alone. Crossing my fingers, but I’ve learned not to necessarily hold my breath.
I finished the first edit of Book & Candle (Meridian Book 5), and I’ve started on the second round. Ideally, I hope to finish it by the end of the weekend so I can proofread Crooked House (Thorns Book 5). After that, I have a novelette and a novel to tackle.
Things I’m Reading:
The Tommyknockers by Stephen King
Why Didn’t You Just Leave edited by Nadia Bulkin and Julia Rios
Things I’m Listening To: (as you can probably see, I’ve started just listening to all my music alphabetically)
Within Temptation
Aida soundtrack
Aladdin (1992) soundtrack
All I Ever Wanted by Kelly Clarkson
All of Me by Mandy Harvey
All That Echoes by Josh Groban
All That For This by Crystal Bowersox
Alright, Still by Lily Allen
Amaranthe by Amaranthe
American Idol singles
Things I’m Watching:
Anaconda
Twisters
S.W.A.T. series
Grey’s Anatomy series
Kitchen Nightmares series
Hoarders series
America’s Got Talent series
CSI: Miami series
CSI: NY series
CSI series
Supernatural series
White Collar series
Murder, She Wrote series
Poem of the Week:
give two children a tree to climb
they will eat from its fruit
give Pandora a box and say
it must never be opened
deflect the blame for the
inevitable enviable curiosity
of those who never knew better
until seeds were sown
and knowledge released
July 26, 2024
By the sea: Friday Update
News:
“Snot” was posted on Monday, and the voting continues through today. Enjoy 15 stories of seaside terrors!
In personal news, I got my first new smartphone (last one was secondhand and the last new phone wasn’t smart). It’s really nice having a battery that lasts and an operating system that supports my apps. I’m learning new ways of doing things, but the whole set-up process and applying the protective screen and case reminded me that I am, in fact, capable. Because I don’t often adopt new technology for the sake of mere novelty, I sometimes forget that I tend to be quite technologically adaptable.
Works in Progress:
I finished editing Crooked House (Thorns 5). The only thing left to do is the final read-through for proofreading. Then I’ll send it off for formatting. Can I afford it? Not really, but I’m doing it anyway. If I can’t publish anything else this year, I’d like to get Crooked House out so Thorns can have its soft ending. (There are more books to write, but if I died after Book 5, the series could stand as is.)
However, first I’m tackling the double edit of Book & Candle (Meridian 5) to give me some distance so I can come back with fresh eyes, important for proofreading. I’m having trouble getting into B&C due to some attention issues (there’s kind of a lot going on in the world right now), so I’ll have to do that thing where I turn off the wireless to minimize distractions.
Books I’m Reading:
The Tommyknockers by Stephen King
Why Didn’t You Just Leave edited by Nadia Bulkin and Julia Rios
Things I’m Listening To:
Crooked House playlist
Fourth of July playlist
Drift playlist
Things I’m Watching:
6 Souls
NCIS series
S.W.A.T. series
So Help Me Todd series (finished)
Kitchen Nightmares series
Hoarders series
America’s Got Talent series
CSI: Miami series
CSI: NY series
CSI series
Supernatural series
White Collar series
Murder, She Wrote series
Poem of the Week:
you thought if you cast down the dissident
the dissonance would correct itself
into the mellifluous harmony you designed,
but the clang of the pandemonium gate
is my clarion call overture to a chorus
murmuring off-key, dissatisfied legions.
would you throw out a third of your angels
to keep the illusion of peace?
July 19, 2024
Fiddling: Friday Update
News:
She’s a saint. He is sin. Under my other name, Avarice & Creed is available for pre-order! There was a prompt somewhere at some point suggesting a subversion of Hallmark Christmas movie tropes by having a sweet young woman teach a cruel demon CEO the meaning of Christmas. In this case, we have a ‘virgin sacrifice’ of forced marriage to a billionaire avarice demon. I love all my stories for all sorts of different reasons, but I’ve noticed that my green-cover novels linger with particular fondness in my mind. (See also, Skeletons (Arcanium Book 9), which received less love than I have for it.)
My violent spring poem “Vernal” is featured in Renascentum, Quill & Crow’s Crow Calls Volume VI, which you can buy here.
“Snot,” my sea horror flash fiction, should post tomorrow at the Crystal Lake Patreon for the Shallow Waters flash fiction contest.
Works in Progress:
I’m a little less than halfway through the professional edits of Crooked House (Thorns 5). I’m still enjoying little special surprises I forgot I wrote. Period cramps hit yesterday, so I’ve been struggling, but I should be back to form tomorrow.
Books I’m Reading:
The Tommyknockers by Stephen King
Why Didn’t You Just Leave edited by Nadia Bulkin and Julia Rios
Things I’m Listening To:
Agnes Obel
Lily Kershaw
Abyss/Ascent playlist
Things I’m Watching:
The Ruins
NCIS series
So Help Me Todd series
Kitchen Nightmares series
Hoarders series
The Amazing Race series (finished)
America’s Got Talent series
CSI: Miami series
CSI: NY series
CSI series
Supernatural series
White Collar series
Murder, She Wrote series
Poem of the Week:
i will rise from the pandemonium
you cast me into as though the chaos
of angels singing is not cacophony
our wings the mechanism of angelic demise
if we cannot bear flight or halo in our own name
then we will rise on cloven hooves
and balance wreaths on our horns
we will ascend anew and walk our way
not to paradise but a garden of earthly delights
July 12, 2024
Dreaming of autumn: Friday Update
News:
I wouldn’t normally share a promotional Instagram post, but I so rarely do videos of myself. The Brazilian company that’s putting Question Not My Salt out in Portuguese wanted an intro video, so I obliged. It’s short and sweet and here.
Works in Progress:
Because I’ve been writing hard horror for over a year, which my alpha reader doesn’t like, I forgot that Masque could be sent to her. When I realized, I tossed it her direction, with a goal of editing in September.
I finished editing May Cooler Heads Prevail. After the initial cuts, it went under 20K words, but then I added a few more scenes and brought it back up over 21K, which officially makes it a short novella. However, I don’t know what genre it is and, therefore, who to send it to. It’s supernatural or fabulism, but both of those are subgenres, and there aren’t enough elements to make it either fantasy or horror. I can only think of a few markets with broader speculative calls. I might end up self-publishing.
MCHP took longer than expected, but after I wrote a piece of flash that made me feel like a piece of chewed gum writing it, and next on my docket is working on the professional edits of Crooked House (Thorns 5), which is the soft conclusion of this portion of the Thorns series. I think I keep delaying because I don’t want this part to be over or to move on to the next.
Books I’m Reading:
Mary Reilly by Valerie Martin (finished)
The Tommyknockers by Stephen King
Things I’m Listening To:
Old Favorites playlist
Fourth of July playlist
Ambient YouTube playlists
Things I’m Watching:
Independence Day
Jaws
Lucy
Longlegs
Elsbeth series (finished)
The Rookie series (finished)
Kitchen Nightmares series
Hoarders series
The Amazing Race series
America’s Got Talent series
CSI: Miami series
CSI: NY series
CSI series
Supernatural series
White Collar series
Murder, She Wrote series
Poem of the Week:
it doesn’t matter
how our bones break
and blood blooms beneath
our exteriors
it doesn’t matter
that our wings have been
snapped from our shoulders
and our halos tarnished
with rust like mold
a devil’s only response
to the fall
is to rise
again
July 5, 2024
Twisted nerve: Friday Update
Drift
is an excellent vacation read, short and sweet. Highly recommend reading it by the water.News:
My sea story “Snot” is a finalist in this month’s Crystal Lake Shallow Waters contest. Enjoy the Horror in Paradise theme for $5/month.
Works in Progress:
I finished Masque soon after last week’s update for a total of 110,972 words. I’ve already come up with a few ways to improve it in the first edit. Given my attention span, I think I’m almost certainly burned out from pushing the pace (not to mention reasonably afraid and depressed with the state of the Union), so I took the weekend to try to recover. Editing all month should help that, too.
I’m working on the edits for May Cooler Heads Prevail now and should finish the first edit by end of day. Since it’s so timely with its themes, it’s difficult to push through, but depending on escapism is difficult, too, because it feels like falling for bread and circuses, being the toad in the boiling pot and telling myself everything is fine and I don’t need to worry. The trouble is that I don’t know what to do if things go more wrong than they already have. If the rim of the pot is too high, what’s a poor toad to do when they realize the pot is boiling?
Books I’m Reading:
Mary Reilly by Valerie Martin
The Tommyknockers by Stephen King
Things I’m Listening To:
Old Favorites playlist
Fourth of July playlist
Witchy YouTube playlists
Things I’m Watching:
The First Omen
Midsommar
Under Paris
The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It
Hamilton
The Bay
Elsbeth series
Kitchen Nightmares series
Summer Baking Championship series (finished)
Hoarders series
Worst Roommate Ever series (finished)
The Amazing Race series
America’s Got Talent series
CSI: Miami series
CSI: NY series
Supernatural series
White Collar series
Murder, She Wrote series
Poem of the Week:
the universe is a night-blooming flower
creation its opening into light in darkness
stardust the persistent scent of jasmine
expanding in hedonistic spread
but preparing eventually to close
June 28, 2024
Ants at the picnic: Friday Update
News:
No writing news, but in personal news, I’m walking, swimming, and up to 30 minutes on the elliptical, so I decided to take a chance on playing pickleball with my next-door neighbors. Everywhere else hurt, but my injured leg did not (although with compensating muscles stiff and aching, my leg ended up having some trouble for a few days).
It’s a helluva hellish season to start playing, and I need to figure out how to better protect my face from the sun, since it burned again despite sunscreen, but I’m already getting better second time around. It’s a lot of fun. (And hopefully less stiffness and aching this time. After the injury and due to other experiences, I suspect I’m slower than normal with muscle recovery in general. I feel like I’m not old enough for it to just be getting old, but with 40 creeping up in the next few years, maybe I’m wrong.)
Works in Progress:
I did the math and wished I hadn’t. Here, halfway through the year, I only have an 8% acceptance rate, two of them no-pay and only one was HWA pro rate. It generally hasn’t been a very successful year, and when I’m unemployed, the rejections hit harder from a financial standpoint (I did recently have a very nice personal rejection, though). There’s still another half year to go, and I know this is just how it sometimes goes. I have to keep reminding myself that the universe doesn’t actually punish desperation.
I’m this close to finishing Masque at almost 110K words. Period and post-flu fatigue got the best of me and pulled my daily word counts farther back than I would like. I will not be able to finish writing and editing the novel this month, given that we’re only a few days from July, so I’ll set it aside to edit later, which I think might be for the best. Sometimes I like it, but sometimes I think I’m the most horrible writer ever, which tells me to put some distance between us. I’m not entirely happy with the ending, but I get the feeling I’ll like it better upon the next read-through.
I am, however, really proud of myself for writing Masque, for taking the chance on a freaking ambitious story—in style and scope, given historicals (even alts) are not my forte—and committing myself to it with exceptional discipline (until ill health hit, but that’s not my fault and I shouldn’t penalize myself for it). More importantly, for finally tackling something I’ve wanted to do for a long, long time. I don’t know if anything will come of it. I came up with the idea pre-COVID, but there’s no getting away from the influence of COVID in the novel, and people might simply not be interested in plague stories for a long while. But I’m still proud of myself for doing it.
Books I’m Reading:
Mary Reilly by Valerie Martin
The Tommyknockers by Stephen King
Things I’m Listening To:
Nocturne playlist
Old Favorites playlist
Bach organ music
Things I’m Watching:
The Little Mermaid (2023)
Ghosts (US) series (finished)
The Rookie series
Kitchen Nightmares series
Summer Baking Championship series
The Amazing Race series
America’s Got Talent series
Abbott Elementary series
CSI: Miami series
CSI: NY series
CSI series
Supernatural series
Murder, She Wrote series
Poem of the Week: This lyric poem was written last year as a way to process the 2016 Pulse Massacre, 49 dead. I’m always late to the processing party. But it seems like a good way to conclude Pride Month.
a moment to remember
lifetime to forget
branded brass and
dust to dust
envy to ecstasy
a crater of regret
karma in a coma
mad fate lurks with teeth
slaughterhouse wild
kills and cries
an indifferent sky
and carnage beneath
you taught us to die
you’d rather we lie
so we fight to live
what more blood and sacrifice
would you have us give
no matter where
we need to hide
we are still alive
mirrors shatter
to spiderweb glass
on the dance floor
let all of the
othered world burn
a multicolored mass
heads held high
under brick-dust rust
a hundred needles
dirty for nothing
silent genocide
held breath hushed
you taught us to die
you’d rather we lie
so we fight to live
what more blood and sacrifice
would you have us give
no matter where
we need to hide
we are still alive
a moment of silence
what did quiet get us
dance dance revolution
blow out your eardrums
no thoughts no prayers
don’t let them forget us
we’ve both got rings
show us where to sign
where you get yours
and we get ours
and no one else
gets what’s mine
maybe sometimes we’re sex
and sometimes we’ve love
nothing wrong to hold
to sink and close
eyes in the dark
can’t that be enough
you taught us to die
you’d rather we lie
so we fight to live
what more blood and sacrifice
would you have us give
no matter where
we need to hide
we are still alive
June 21, 2024
A string of requiems: Friday Update
News:
Last year, I wrote one of my favorite long poems about the beauty, passions, and sorrows of the crone, set in a near-future fantasy world where feminine power is celebrated. It took a while, but “All of Us Witches” and its wonderfully me parentheticals found a home with Small Wonders Magazine. You can read it for free at the link.
The Table of Contents for Renascent: Crow Calls VI from Quill & Crow Publishing was revealed this week, too, and my poem “Vernal,” a sestina about a vicious spring, will be included in the anthology coming out July 15.
Works in Progress:
Last week was a mixed bag. Did a day trip for my nephew’s birthday party, which meant good writing both ways. I experience car sickness, but writing isn’t like reading because I’m not focused so much on the words I see, so car trips are good writing times, at least. However, I discovered on this trip that what I thought were allergies or a cold was actually the flu when a fever and accompanying headache hit. The next day, my brain couldn’t brain while it continued fighting the fever, so there was no writing of any kind. I started feeling better about Tuesday. I’m still recovering but nowhere near as mucosal, thank goodness, because I’m so annoying when I blow my nose. I’ve managed to get some good word counts in, despite dealing with the ambush of fatigue. However, as I type, my period’s starting, which isn’t going to help, either. I should be at about 90-95K words, but I’m at 87K, which still isn’t too shabby, all things considered. (I promise I’m resting.)
As things are, I’m not sure I will be able to finish writing Masque in time to do two rounds of edits before the end of the month, but I’m still going to try. As I’ve reached the last act, I’ve had to alter my outline, so the ending looks different than it did and is actually sooner than I thought it would be. It’s doable to finish in the next three days, I think, although to make the end of the month deadline, I’d need to be finished writing today, alas. I’ve accomplished a lot in the month so far, but naturally, all I can see is how I likely won’t meet my goal. Also won’t be able to write that short story I wanted to do for a deadline on the 23rd, but that’s okay.
Books I’m Reading:
Mary Reilly by Valerie Martin
The Tommyknockers by Stephen King
Things I’m Listening To:
Delain
Nightwish
Bach’s Requiem Mass
Mozart’s Requiem Mass
Baroque and other classical music playlists
Paganini vs Vivaldi
Things I’m Watching:
Volcano
Mirrors
Cabin Fever: Patient Zero
Under the Banner of Heaven series (finished)
Maryland series (finished)
Will Trent series (finished)
Kitchen Nightmares series
Summer Baking Championship series
The Amazing Race series
America’s Got Talent series
Abbott Elementary series
CSI: Miami series
CSI: NY series
Supernatural series
Murder, She Wrote series
Poem of the Week:
these bizarre incidents have no explanation
officials say
citizens are urged to stay indoors after dark
and lock doors
close curtains and avoid looking at lights
in the sky
and should someone knock on your locked doors
do not open or
ask who’s there
June 14, 2024
The mask is my face: Friday Update
News:
None this week. Should have something next week, though.
Works in Progress:
My effort to write and edit a novel in one month continues apace. At this point, it seems doable, but demanding.
Masque reached 60K words last night, and if things go according to schedule, I might be finished with the writing by next Friday-ish. I wrote a lot in my outline so I wouldn’t forget, so I’m having trouble gauging how long each part left will take. But I’m enjoying marking them off as I write them (and not having to figure things out as I go, but my attention/memory is such that each new part is still a recalled surprise). I’m not sure at this point how good anything is, but the words have been flowing and I’ve been having a wonderful time world-building and trying to write Victorian romance in the time of plague.
On the other hand, I really dislike research, which is part of the reason why I rarely do historicals, but here’s me with my second historical in less than a year. Sure, it’s alt-Victorian, so I can fudge some of the details as pertains to the alt and how it might have changed things, but it still requires research. And I’m one of those people who can’t research before I begin, because I do have some working knowledge of the era but don’t know what I need to know until I get to the point that I ask the questions. Don’t get me wrong. I love learning new things. I just don’t like the way it slows me down.
Writing at a 5K/day pace is already tough, but last weekend I pushed it up to 6K words to even out the word count, then also wrote and edited a piece of flash fiction on Sunday (for Flash on the Fly through Death Knell Press, so I wasn’t mismanaging time; it’s impromptu by design). By the end of the weekend, I was exhausted. Mentally wiped.
Books I’m Reading:
Mary Reilly by Valerie Martin
The Tommyknockers by Stephen King
Things I’m Listening To:
Nightwish
Beyond the Black
Kamelot
Hannibal soundtracks
Things I’m Watching:
The Omen (2006)
My Bloody Valentine (2009)
Silent Hill: Revelation
Summer Baking Championship series
The Amazing Race series
America’s Got Talent series
Abbott Elementary series
CSI series
CSI: Miami series
CSI: NY series
9-1-1 series (finished)
Supernatural series
Murder, She Wrote series
Poem of the Week:
under a massive magnolia
with buckeye in one pocket and
smooth flint in the other
red clay dust on soles
and hem of my pants while I try
not to think about bloodsuckers
crawling up my legs or sweat
dripping my back sticky as
end of summer honey
lazy smoke in the air
charred meat and burning gasoline
i cradle a blossom lantern for the shadows
