News:

Lor Gislason, goopy body horror author of Inside Out and editor of Bound by Flesh, blurbed Question Not My Salt, saying, “Blake invites us to a feast so tantalizing you won’t be able to look away, even as your stomach does flips. It’s as delicious as it is depraved. Bon appetit.” I worked with them through Bound by Flesh, in which my story was milder body horror, so I was pleased to offer something more intense.

This is the first time I’ve ever had marketing help for a novel release from a publishing company. I’m overwhelmed by the process of getting interviews and signing up for podcasts, especially since I’m not a podcast person (like audiobooks, I’ve yet to find a place to fit them in my life), so I’m anxious and excited to learn new things. I think it’ll be fun to talk about Question Not My Salt. I have a schedule.

Works in Progress:

I finished first round of edits on erotic horror novella A Woman Alone, cutting it down from about 47K to 41K words. I need to get it under 40K, but based on where I am in early second-round edits, that’s within reach.

I should finish A Woman Alone, its synopsis, and the pitch by next update. Then I need to start writing Silver & Steel (Meridian 7).

I wanted to do more writing in February, but given that I’ll be looking for a job after S&S and hopefully acclimating to a workplace again, I think I’m going to do a rash of edits instead. I have plenty to work on: Book & Candle (Meridian 5), In the Dollhouse We All Wait, Crooked House (Thorns 5).

Books I’m Reading:

IT by Stephen King
Midnight Blue-Light Special by Seanan McGuire
Ending in Ashes by Rebecca Jones-Howe

Things I’m Listening To:

Nightwish
Hadestown soundtracks
Agnes Obel
Tom Waits
Timber Timbre
Bishop Briggs
The Village soundtrack

Things I’m Watching:

Batman Begins
Run.
The Cave
Taken
Buffy the Vampire Slayer series (watchalong)
Angel series (watchalong)
Celebrity Jeopardy series (finished)
White Collar series
The Mentalist series
Transplant series
Helix series
All Creatures Great and Small series
Hometown series
Murder, She Wrote series

Poem of the Week:

they don’t want
your success

prey on life like
transfusion
replaced with
pulpy orange juice

run you ragged
on a treadmill
until heads will
crack like lacquer

they want your
failure

so live if you might
out of sheer spite