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Summer chaos: Friday update

10 Friday Jul 2026

Posted by in A Few Thoughts, Essays/Creative Non-Fiction, Short Stories, Writing

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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

Posted by in A Few Thoughts, Essays/Creative Non-Fiction, Short Stories, Writing

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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.

Our better angels: Friday Update

19 Friday Jun 2026

Posted by in A Few Thoughts, Essays/Creative Non-Fiction, Novelettes/Novellas, Short Stories, Writing

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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.

Sparkly cowboy boots: Friday Update

05 Friday Jun 2026

Posted by in A Few Thoughts, Novelettes/Novellas, Short Stories, Writing

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News:

“Smell My Feet” made it into the Halloween-themed Shallow Waters finalists for this month. $5/month tiers and up can read all 20 stories and vote on their favorites at the end of the month.

Next month’s theme is 19th Century Horror, if you’re interested in submitting before the end of June (<1500 words flash fiction).

Works in Progress:

I think I’ve finished up with May Cooler Heads Prevail, but I’ve just discovered the text-to-speech option in Word (not AI), and I’m going to run through it one more time that way to try to catch anything I missed during the proofreading round. Then I’ll put it into Atticus and get it in shape to self-publish. As I wrote in my other social media, I’m so enamored of this little piece that doesn’t quite belong anywhere but is most comfortable among comic book heroes/villains and supernatural abilities. Almost too short to be a novella, not sure if it’s long enough to print.

It’s delightful, it’s raw, it’s too timely and just timely enough, sweet and cold and hot and harsh, frivolous, experimental, occasionally pretentious by design. It just means a lot to me, anxious though I am about putting it out into the world.

This weekend, my goal is to write two short stories (already have one taken care of) and try to put May Cooler Heads Prevail through its final paces.

Books I’m Reading:

Skeleton Crew by Stephen King
Queen Bitch Slay by Patrick C. Harrison III (finished)
It was All a Dream 2: Another Anthology of Bad Horror Tropes edited by Brandon Applegate

Things I’m Listening To:

Miranda Lambert
Let’s Hear It for the Girls playlist
Thorns playlists

Things I’m Watching:

Backrooms
House on Haunted Hill (1999)
Hawaii Five-O series
True Justice series
Elsbeth series
NCIS series
Prodigal Son series
Dirty Rotten Cleaners series (finished)

Poem of the Week: (throwback to June 2022)

jekyll in the streets
hyde in the sheets
stygian in the front
callipygian in the back
two-faced chaos parishioner
dichotomous mordrake

At sixes and sevens: Friday Update

01 Friday May 2026

Posted by in A Few Thoughts, Poetry

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News:

“Mirror Writing” posted for the Shallow Waters theme of “Archival Horror” at Crystal Lake’s Patreon. It was not a hit, unfortunately.

Works in Progress:

I removed Meridian from my pinned folders, since I won’t need an easy way to get there anymore. End of an era.

I did the edits for a short story coming out soon. I also received a wonderful rejection from a dream publisher for my cli-fi story. Basically, it was too much on the long side, and they can’t take those very often, but they didn’t want me to cut it down just to fit because they liked the story so much. I think I’ll probably put it out myself, because it’s too long for short story calls and too short for novelette calls—and frankly, too sexy for everything. The eroticism is thematic, not really intended as erotica, but it pushes the limits for speculative submission calls. Like May Cooler Heads Prevail, it’s short enough that I can afford the cost of the edit. I’ll save it for next year, though.

Weather threw me off all week, including feeling like I had to move my day off from Wednesday to Tuesday. The irony is that everything I was careful with didn’t happen, but I nearly got caught in some serious but unforecasted pop-up storms on Monday.

I didn’t get much work done this week, since I’m still recovering from the first quarter. My brain has been having more difficulty with memory and finding words, usually a good sign to rest.

I’ll start on what are hopefully the last fixes for the Dracula reimagining today. I discovered that past me did the last fix in Word’s Track Changes just to see my own editing process and how many changes were actually made, so I won’t have to have two documents up while I try to reverse some of the changes I made in the last round that I decided didn’t work. I can just reject the edits. Way to go, past me! This shouldn’t take too long. Now if I could just figure out what to do with the novel itself…

Books I’m Reading:

Skeleton Crew by Stephen King

Things I’m Listening To:

Singalong playlist
Taylor Swift

Things I’m Watching: (As you can see, I’m doing my annual rewatch of the Saw movies, albeit out of order. Why is this series so compelling to me?)

Saw IV
Saw V
Saw VI
Him
Home Town series
Hoarding: Buried Alive series
NCIS series
Tracker series

Poem of the Week: (throwback to May 2022)

coddle don’t curdle
hear ‘stead of hurdle
sow what’s not sour
do how’s not dour
what wake we weak
and south we seek
leaves little brown leaves
and slips from our sleeves
what always ails
like fallen frails
in dusk to dust
meets we must

She’s heeeeere: Friday Update

10 Friday Apr 2026

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News:

She’s here! In the Dollhouse We All Wait is officially out far and wide, in ebook and paperback. An evergreen reminder that this is splatterpunk/extreme horror and not for everyone, but if you’re already deep in the horror thicket and you enjoy the philosophical nuance of the Saw and Hostel movies, this is probably your speed. It has all the trigger warnings (except animal cruelty, unless taxidermy counts), so read responsibly. I’m still very excited.

You can read an excerpt here at Linzé Brandon’s A to Z Blog Challenge, where I is for IN THE DOLLHOUSE…

I also have an in-depth interview at Crystal Lake’s YouTube channel, if you want to hear me talk about where DOLLHOUSE comes from and what it means to me.

The paperback of A Nightmare for All Seasons has been approved. Both the glossy and matte looked really good, but I liked the matte better. Both the ebook and paperback are now live.

“Mirror Writing,” a narrative poem, is a finalist in this month’s Shallow Waters flash fiction contest at Crystal Lake’s Patreon, near the end of the 20 posted stories. ($5/month tiers and up to read and vote, lots of fun)

Works in Progress:

I thought about doing a bit of creative non-fiction this week, but car troubles have dominated my landscape. These things do mean that I got some solid reading done. No writing progress on anything, which is actually kind of a relief, in a way. Still resting until I get the proofreading edits for Never & Forever (Meridian Book 8).

Books I’m Reading:

Raising Loki: A Memoir by Elliot Manarin (found it, finished)
The Shining by Stephen King (finished)
Wake Up and Open Your Eyes by Clay McLeod Chapman (finished, almost in one sitting while waiting at the car place)
Skeleton Crew by Stephen King

Things I’m Listening To:

Singalong playlist
Lily Kershaw

Things I’m Watching:

From Dusk Till Dawn
Anaconda (2025)
Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle
Celebrity Jeopardy series
Hoarders series (finished)
True Haunting series
Matlock (new) series
Tracker series
Prodigal Son series
Wayward series
Home Town series

Poem of the Week: (throwback to April 2022)

an afterlife dilemma
empyrean light blinding
to a blissful ignorant eye
or gehennan revelation
sour gnostic bite from
yggdrasilian roots

The beast is dead: Saturday Update

07 Saturday Mar 2026

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News:

“Take It to the River” won second place for the River theme at Shallow Waters last month. This month, “Sloppy” is showing up for the Bed theme. It should post about March 10 at the Crystal Lake Patreon ($5/month tier and up to read and vote, lots of fun every month).

Works in Progress:

I didn’t forget to post yesterday. I was just busy because I’d gone over my extended deadline to submit my edited manuscript of Never & Forever (Meridian Book 8) to my publisher. I’d initially promised it about mid-February, then the end of February, then yesterday. I only was able to get it in less than an hour ago. That damn thing was a beast at 140K words, and through my double edit, I ended up cutting about 30K from it, the excess almost entirely from my tendency to overwrite.

It’s frustrating on the editing side, because I remember how frustrated I was near the end of writing that it was taking so long. All you can think about while cutting whole chunks out is how much time it feels like you wasted. But I overwrite because I don’t know what I’ll need and sometimes I forget what I’ve already written because it’s been over a week since I wrote it. By and large, the shape of the novel is in the finished first draft. I rarely add. I just need to carve.

It’s done and submitted. I wrote a synopsis and everything. I’ll need to do my publisher’s edit, then the proofreading edits, but the worst is over. Now I need to rest but also start on the promotional materials for In the Dollhouse We All Wait, for which I am (you guessed it) behind. As soon as I get some of the promo done, I think I’ll get A Nightmare for All Seasons finished up and published. It’s mostly finished in its formatting file. I just need one more run-through and to check the blank pages and get the cover finalized. I won’t do a tremendous push for it all at once. I might do something for each season this year to promote it. But poetry collections are basically pet projects. They don’t get much attention, despite my absolute love for them.

So the rest of today is for rest. Tomorrow I start on promo. I’ll probably use my day off on Wednesday to prep for self-publishing the poetry collection.

Books I’m Reading:

Raising Loki: A Memoir by Elliot Manarin
The Shining by Stephen King
Skeleton Crew by Stephen King

Things I’m Listening To:

Billie Eilish
Timber Timbre
Eurielle
Agnes Obel
Dracula Untold soundtrack
Let’s Hear It for the Girls playlist

Things I’m Watching:

Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City
Muppet Treasure Island
Army of the Dead
Broadchurch series
Queer Eye series
Ghosts (US) series
Watson series
Tracker series
CSI: Miami series
Home Town series

Poem of the Week:

smash the erratic cricket
because you can’t catch it
and from its depths arises
the tiniest cthulhian monstrosity
slender tentacular heads blindly
searching for a water way out
from its dying host
pod people in miniature
may they never adapt to us

Turn the light out: Friday Update

13 Friday Feb 2026

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News:

“Take It to the River” is up at the Crystal Lake Patreon for the River flash fiction theme contest. ($5/month tier and up for reading and voting privileges)

Works in Progress:

Never & Forever (Meridian Book 8) first round edits are going a little more slowly than I’d like, but I’m doing as much as I can with the time I have. I do have to pause today to get a short story ready for a February 15 deadline, but I should be able to knock out another big chunk of N&F edits on this day off, hopefully.

I’m not a fan of juggling projects, but sometimes needs must.

Books I’m Reading:

Raising Loki: A Memoir by Elliot Manarin
The Shining by Stephen King
Skeleton Crew by Stephen King

Things I’m Listening To:

Delain
Hannibal playlist
Drift playlist

Things I’m Watching:

Bone Lake
Tracker series
CSI: Miami series
CSI series
Resident Alien series

Poem of the Week:

My mother wrote a letter,
slipped under my door.
She never got better.
I learned to never ask for more.

She’s been dead for years.
Time to face her excuse.
Holding back tears,
I shake the letter loose.

An unsigned birthday Hallmark card,
day and month all wrong.
Ma, so long.

Still not decelerating: Friday Update

06 Friday Feb 2026

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News:

“Take It to the River” is a finalist for this month’s RIVER theme at Crystal Lake Shallow Waters. It’ll post at the Patreon about February 16. ($5/month tiers for reading and voting)

Works in Progress:

I was supposed to be slowing down, but it still hasn’t happened. I wonder if this pace is simply what my brain demands. However, it’s not all my fault; it’s more about external deadlines. Once I get contractually obligated edits done, I’ll have a whole stretch of months before the next one (Masque, July). Then I’ll try to take my time.

Cleaned up the final draft of In the Dollhouse We All Wait, and although I wasn’t able to get much done on Thursday due to oversleeping, I actually knocked out quite a bit of the first round of edits on Never & Forever (Meridian Book 8). I hope to do another big sweep today. At this point, a lot of the work is cutting; second round will be polish. Ideally, I’d cut the book down from 141K to under 110K before even getting to the second round of edits.

Books I’m Reading:

Raising Loki: A Memoir by Elliot Manarin
The Shining by Stephen King
Skeleton Crew by Stephen King

Things I’m Listening To:

Christmas playlist (finally putting this away; seemed appropriate during the Icepocalypse, but once we hit February, it started feeling weird)
Metal playlist

Things I’m Watching:

Volcano
Tracker series
9-1-1 series
9-1-1: Nashville series
Elsbeth series
Resident Alien series

Poem of the Week: (throwback to 2022)

a critter
with doleful eyes
eyes eyes eyes
and legs legs
so many legs
chitters lovingly
at the foot of your bed