Errands: Friday Update

07 Friday Aug 2026

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News:

“Pick a Card” was selected as a finalist for this month’s Shallow Waters at the Crystal Lake Patreon. It’ll post near the end of the month, since it’s number 16 of 20.

Works in Progress:

I was on vacation last week and enjoyed these hundred-degree days much better than usual while at a water park at our resort. It was a great time, but also exhausting. I really wanted to relax as much as possible; hence, the break.

I only had a short story to edit down for the Shallow Waters theme last month, which I did, so I submitted it and didn’t do anymore writing work until I returned home. Got a lot of reading done, although I didn’t finish the book.

I’d planned to write the first half of the mini Hannibal essay on Wednesday, but a few submission opportunities for longer works popped up, so I submitted a novella, then curated and submitted a short story collection. That wasn’t part of the plan for the day, but it took up most of it—not least because I must have made a saving error and lost all my work after a few hours and had to start over again. Fortunately, most of it was formatting, and I could speed-walk my way through doing it again, since I’d already made my choices and could just remember what I’d done.

I don’t anticipate that either piece will be selected, but I figured I might as well give it a shot.

After those pieces were submitted, I sat down to work on the mini Hannibal essay and discovered that it is not, in fact, going to be mini. It won’t be as long as the other one, sure, but it won’t be short. So it’s a good thing it’s still fun.

I had errands to run this morning, which means I need a short rest, but then I’ll resume the essay work. Not sure if I’m going to finish today, but I’ll certainly try.

Books I’m Reading:

The Jackal Man by Russell C. Connor
The Devil in the White City by Eric Larson
The Grove by Eric Butler (finished)

Things I’m Listening To:

Fourth of July playlist
Hannibal soundtracks
Blacklist playlist

Things I’m Watching:

Viral
Cruella
Wake Up Dead Man
Watson series
America’s Got Talent series
Criminal Minds series
Hawaii Five-O series
The Rookie series

Poem of the Week: (throwback to August 2022)

Saltwater everywhere
Surrounding sea
But not a drop to drink
And still I swallow
The rising sound
With tastes of desperation
Until swollen round
To fill the endless hollow
And weigh my live corpse down

Hannibal playlist

06 Thursday Aug 2026

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Because I’ve been working on Hannibal essays lately, I’ve decided to share the playlist I made, inspired by the Hannibal TV show. My one rule was that I couldn’t include musical soundtracks, which means the obvious Sweeney Todd inclusion of “A Little Priest” isn’t on the list. Every time I listen to this one, I’m brought right back into the show. It’s great. How apropos some of these are is scary.

I’ll bet you didn’t know he warrants two Lady Gaga songs, though.

“Monster” – Lady Gaga
“March of Mephisto” – Kamelot
“Lonesome Hunter” – Timber Timbre
“The Devil Within (Piano Version)” – Digital Daggers
“Gravity” – Sara Bareilles
“bury a friend” – Billie Eilish
“Among Us” – Susanne Sundfør
“Swine” – Lady Gaga
“Devil Man” – Cindy Morgan
“Just Give Me a Reason (feat. Nate Ruess)” – P!ink
“Hunter’s Kiss” – Rasputina
“Casualty” – Snake River Conspiracy
“Chrysalis – The Last Breath” – Delain
“Tonight You Belong to Me (feat. Lola Rhodes)” – Joseph William Morgan
“Love and War” – Fleurie
“Masters of Destiny” – Delain
“My Medea” – Vienna Teng

Hell on earth: Saturday Update

25 Saturday Jul 2026

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News:

I crossed 50 Goodreads ratings on In the Dollhouse We All Wait and 120 Goodreads ratings on Question Not My Salt. I appreciate everyone who’s taken a chance on my rougher novels and continue to hope that you ‘enjoy’ enduring them.

Works in Progress:

I finished the Hannibal essay. 10/10, quite fun, will absolutely do it again. In fact, I’ve decided to do the mini-essay on a single Hannibal episode after I finish what I’m working on.

I’m trying to write this flash piece for Shallow Waters, but I’m not really feeling it, so I’m struggling to get to the end. My mood has been terrible for the last few days, so I don’t think that it’s bad, just that I’m not in a good headspace. Can’t even blame hormones, which is my reliable go-to.

Books I’m Reading:

The Jackal Man by Russell C. Connor

Things I’m Listening To:

Miranda Lambert
Fourth of July playlist
Hannibal soundtracks
Abyss/Ascent playlist

Things I’m Watching:

Hadestown: The Musical (stunning)
The Midnight Club series (finished)
Watson series
Worst Neighbor Ever series (finished)
Worst Ex Ever series (finished)
America’s Got Talent series
Criminal Minds series
The Closer series
Hawaii Five-O series

Poem of the Week:

pedipalps beckon
over long writhing
glistening tongue
to thick for a throat
rooted in a black hole
borborygmic stomach
a promise of satisfaction

whose thirst is quenched?
whose hunger satiated?
who consumes whom?
who is a what what
subsumes a whom

warm womb and an acid bath

Cycle disruption: Friday Update

17 Friday Jul 2026

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News:

Nothing this week.

Works in Progress:

I’m still working on the Hannibal essay, mostly because it’s easier to work on during my days off, because it involves having a lot of my things around me while I’m working on it: my computer in my lap, my phone nearby for the screenshots I took, and my notebook and pen next to me. I usually don’t have to juggle so much when I’m writing fiction, so everything’s more portable. I’m not really concerned about timing. Things will take as long as they take this summer. But I may push back the rewrite of We Follow You in the Dark if I’m still working on essays by the end of August.

I’m having a blast working on the essay, though. It’s reminding me of the essays I really enjoyed writing back in college, even when burn out was imminent or after it hit senior year. Being able to express the connections I’m making is an important skill, so I’m glad I’m working that little creative muscle.

I also hope to write a little story before the end of the month for the next Shallow Waters theme, but I want to finish this first. I think I can. I’m at about 9500 words and just reaching the third point, but it shouldn’t take as much space as the other two. I had no idea when I started that this essay would end up novelette-length! It’s too long to submit to creative non-fiction and article calls, I think, but I might break it up into a few smaller pieces for publication purposes.

Books I’m Reading:

The Jackal Man by Russell C. Connor

Things I’m Listening To:

Miranda Lambert
Fourth of July playlist
Hannibal soundtracks

Things I’m Watching:

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Return to Silent Hill
Keeper
The Exorcism
Evil Dead Burn
The Midnight Club series
Matlock series (finished)
America’s Got Talent series
Criminal Minds series
The Closer series
Hawaii Five-O series

Poem of the Week:

You get a houseboat
And you get a houseboat,
everybody gets a houseboat!
Unmoored, untethered, unanchored,
Unearthed by an undeniable deluge.
Everybody has a houseboat now.
At least for five good minutes.

Summer chaos: Friday update

10 Friday Jul 2026

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News:

“Falling All to Pieces” has posted at Crystal Lake’s Patreon for the 19th Century Horror theme in the Shallow Waters flash fiction contest. ($5/month tier or higher for reading and voting)

Works in Progress:

I finished my rewatch of Hannibal and took copious notes and screen pics. I’m well into the essay and feel like I’m practically writing a book (it’ll probably end up novelette-length), but I’m enjoying myself nevertheless, having tons of fun talking about one of the things I’m semi-obsessed about. I might have enough material for another essay or several mini-essays, but I’ll wait before giving those a shot.

Every time I stop writing, I’m never sure if I’ll be able to write again. I might never grow out of that; it’s like performers who have stage fright their entire careers. It’s been twenty years since I wrote my last essay, because I burned way out writing them for college, with all my English and social sciences classes. But I know the format (in short, you tell them what you’re going to tell them; tell them; then tell them what you told them, macro to micro), I don’t have to strictly follow the format (because it’s not academia), and I have no plans to publish, although I might in the future. That opens me up to just writing for fun, and it’s been a long time since I did that.

Work has been chaos because I’ve been trying to take advantage of promotion opportunities, which gives me chunks of extra cash–necessary after the car woes earlier this summer and some clothing needs. I’ve had a few days off after not taking last Friday off, and I’ll be working this Friday, though I usually don’t, but not working tomorrow, which I usually do.

I don’t know if I can finish the essay tomorrow during my day off, but I’ll get a huge bit of it done, then grab bits until my next day off, I think.

It’s just good for me to try new writing things now and then. It uses different pathways in my brain, lights new cells. Neuroplasticity is healthy.

Books I’m Reading:

It was All a Dream 2: Another Anthology of Bad Horror Tropes edited by Brandon Applegate (finished)
The Jackal Man by Russell C. Connor

Things I’m Listening To:

Miranda Lambert
Fourth of July playlist

Things I’m Watching:

Hannibal series (finished)
Matlock series
America’s Got Talent series
Criminal Minds series
The Closer series
Hawaii Five-O series
Will Trent series (finished)

Poem of the Week: (throwback to July 2022)

the bat in my belfry
shrieks in my ears
whisper echolocation
tinnitus alarms
and chews the meat
found among the
curved ivory cave
it calls home

Not your definition: Friday Update

03 Friday Jul 2026

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News:

“Smell My Feet,” a piece of Halloween flash, was co-second place with two others at Shallow Waters. My 19th century horror flash, “Falling All to Pieces,” for Shallow Waters is one of the finalists featured this month.

The theme for Shallow Waters submissions this month is Mad Magic. You can check out the sub call here.

Works in Progress:

I’m on Season 3 of Hannibal and trundling along. I have many screen pics and many notes. I’ll be working a lot through Tuesday, but I’ll have Wednesday through Friday off next week, so I’ll be writing the essay then.

Books I’m Reading:

It was All a Dream 2: Another Anthology of Bad Horror Tropes edited by Brandon Applegate
Cosmic Dyke Patrol by Lor Gislason (finished)

Things I’m Listening To:

Let’s Hear It for the Girls playlist
Birthday Massacre
Fourth of July playlist

Things I’m Watching:

The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
In the Mouth of Madness
Hannibal series
Criminal Minds series
The Closer series
9-1-1: Nashville series (finished)
Hawaii Five-O series
Will Trent series

Poem of the Week: (throwback to July 2022)

I never asked you for redemption.
I never clamored for your praise.
Offer none of your glad tidings
Or the unfortunate dead you raise.
No one cares about the scriptures,
Only that the debts get paid.
So build your sacred empires higher,
And see how fast the cons get made.

Here comes the sun, make it go away: Friday Update

26 Friday Jun 2026

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News:

Nothing this week.

Works in Progress:

Writing work this week looks like binge-watching the Hannibal series, which is the worst thing I can think of to spend my time on, really. Not having any fun at all.

No, but honestly, it’s been a little bit of a roller coaster, because I’ll think my essay concept is overthought, overwrought, too contrived, making something out of nothing, nothing but threads pulled out of nowhere, but then I’ll reach an episode where the evidence is overwhelming, and then the excitement reaches a fever pitch while I jot down my notes and take pics of relevant scenes.

I’m on S2 now, and a majority of the evidence and relevance is in S1, but I’m going to keep going in case I missed something. I already found something relevant that I didn’t notice the first time around.

Even if all I’m doing is rewatching Hannibal, it’s lower-stakes work, a good break.

I am starting to crave something more substantial, though. After this essay, everything else doesn’t require this level of research (although my Saw essay might come close, if I decide I need another full rewatch after just doing one recreationally). I can knock out a few more a little faster than this. Once I get all the essays that have been weighing on me off my chest, maybe I’ll find something chewier. I haven’t written much long-form, except Tooth & Claw (Meridian Book 7) and Never & Forever (Meridian Book 8), and that because of contract. I was fully committed to the stories and I’m really proud of them, but the 2024 election killed my muse quite a bit.

Even in the midst of worse horrors, I might be ready. I think I’ll work on We Follow You in the Dark rewrites first, though, because jumping into The Twelfth Wife kind of terrifies me.

Books I’m Reading:

It was All a Dream 2: Another Anthology of Bad Horror Tropes edited by Brandon Applegate
Cosmic Dyke Patrol by Lor Gislason

Things I’m Listening To:

Let’s Hear It for the Girls playlist
Drift playlist

Things I’m Watching:

Hannibal series
The Closer series
9-1-1 series (finished)
9-1-1: Nashville series
Hawaii Five-O series
Will Trent series
NCIS series (finished)

Poem of the Week: (throwback to June 2022)

rocks fall
everyone dies
talk tall
everyone lies
the lava flow eats all
regardless of retort
there’s no acquittal
in this krakatoa court

Our better angels: Friday Update

19 Friday Jun 2026

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News:

Received my wonderful finalized cover from Don Noble of Rooster Republic Press, so I was able to finally upload the finished manuscript of May Cooler Heads Prevail to Amazon—ebook only, because it’s too short to justify a paperback, from my perspective. The story may eventually end up in a collection, if it feels appropriate to the thread. It’s too long for a short story or novelette but short for a novella, and it’s not horror but too grounded to be fully speculative… I just never knew what to do with it, so here it is, with the help of my editor to make it into something truly special.

“Is this a time for gods and monsters?”

A journalist who specializes in celebrity interviews finally gets the chance to meet the elusive Alice Proulx, who stands accused of allegedly setting public figures’ heads aflame. Together, they discuss her history, her philosophies, the responsibility of being a global citizen, and the contradiction of becoming an ethical vigilante.

From the author of DRIFT and DEEP DOWN comes an intimate examination of one woman’s choices in a world where checks and balances too often fail and the vile suffer no meaningful consequences.

Also, my weird Halloween story “Smell My Feet” for the Shallow Waters contest this month posted yesterday. You can read it at the Crystal Lake Patreon and vote for your favorite at the end of June in the $5/month tier.

Works in Progress:

I finished the 19th century horror story entry for next month’s Shallow Waters and cut it down under 1500 words. It was much more manageable than my first attempt for the theme, but still a challenge combining that gothic style with the brevity required for flash. I appreciated having to put in the extra effort to balance those two elements.

This means that I’m working on essays and creative non-fiction the rest of summer until I’m tired of it. I’m doing my Hannibal series essay first, which means I must rewatch Season One again, so soon after a recent rewatch. Oh no, what a terrible fate. (Haven’t even finished the Season Three rewatch yet, so I guess that’s happening after the Season One finale.)

I haven’t written an essay since college, for the very good reason that college burned me out writing them. That’s what happens when you’re an English Lit major with an affinity for the social sciences. You don’t write another proper essay-shaped thing until twenty years later, but only influenced by your favorite essays from your college era.

My mind is alight with ideas for this essay, though, and my notebook has things in it that I just had to jot down before I forgot them. I’m looking forward to coalescing those ideas into something more structured and formal, but still fun, because I’m not getting graded anymore.

Books I’m Reading:

It was All a Dream 2: Another Anthology of Bad Horror Tropes edited by Brandon Applegate
Cosmic Dyke Patrol by Lor Gislason

Things I’m Listening To:

Let’s Hear It for the Girls playlist
Kamelot

Things I’m Watching:

Clue
Midsommar
The Shining
Twisters
9-1-1 series
9-1-1: Nashville series
Hawaii Five-O series
Will Trent series
NCIS series
Home Town: Inn This Together series (finished)

Poem of the Week: (throwback to June 2022)

Somewhere in this world
A raven on a windowsill
Tilts its head
Turns its beak
And offers a crone
A shiny stone

Gaslight and cobblestone: Friday Update

12 Friday Jun 2026

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News:

Nothing this week.

Works in Progress:

I wanted to get two short stories written last weekend, but that didn’t happen, because on a road trip back home, the sun hits my computer screen, so I just tend to nap on the way back in an effort to avoid carsickness. I did end up finishing the second story on Wednesday, but I’ve discovered that writing in a 19th century gothic style really clashes with the aim of flash fiction, and it ended up too long. I think I can still manage the challenge, so I’ve started on another story that I hope will stay within the guidelines. I do love leaning into more complicated syntax, though. That was part of what I enjoyed about writing Masque.

I realized that, with May Cooler Heads Prevail finished and off my plate, I’m actually done with anything particularly demanding until I decide to take on the We Follow You in the Dark rewrite or the Masque edits, whichever come first. Which means I can work on the creative non-fiction and horror essays that I can accomplish at my leisure, because I really am just doing them for fun.

I did get hit with a cold (antigen tests for anything serious came back negative) Monday evening and am still on the mend. It’s been a while since I’ve been sick, and even with a cold, it always feels like it knocks me right on my back. Honestly, if the congestion could just be managed, I’d feel so much more myself.

Books I’m Reading:

Skeleton Crew by Stephen King (finished)
It was All a Dream 2: Another Anthology of Bad Horror Tropes edited by Brandon Applegate
Cosmic Dyke Patrol by Lor Gislason

Things I’m Listening To:

Miranda Lambert
Thorns playlists
Poetry for the Poisoned by Kamelot

Things I’m Watching:

The Three Caballeros
Lady and the Tramp
The Fall Guy
Fallen
Host (2020)
Haunted Harmony Mysteries: Key to the Castle
Hawaii Five-O series
Elsbeth series (finished)
Will Trent series
NCIS series
Home Town series (finished)
Home Town: Inn This Together series

Poem of the Week:

Somehow shadows survive,
coalesce into penetrating
light of a thousand candles
burning upon a vile mess,
icing atop a foul concoction, combination
of filth, mucosal secretion, ectoplasmic
residue, baked in brimstone oven.
Make a wish, blow, conflagration.
Bring back the darkness.