Expected inquisition: Friday Update

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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