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?
