Tag Archives: crystal lake shallow waters flash fiction

Breathe: Friday Update

20 Friday Jun 2025

Posted by in A Few Thoughts, Novels, Short Stories, Writing

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , ,

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

News:

My steamy little horror flash fiction, “Origami,” posted on the Crystal Lake Patreon for this month’s Shallow Waters theme of Satanic Panic. ($5/month tier and up)

Works in Progress:

I feel like I’ve been working on Tooth & Claw (Meridian Book 7) forever, but I’m close to the end. I think I’m just tired. Once it’s done, I’ll probably write a few short stories before hitting May Cooler Heads Prevail, hopefully to prepare for self-publishing. I have a few short pieces I might put together as well, to hold until I can afford something more substantial.

I’m still waiting on an acceptance/rejection for some poetry before publishing A Nightmare for All Seasons. Sigh.

Books I’m Reading:

The Fisherman by John Langan
Raising Loki: A Memoir by Elliot Manarin
Haunted Plano, Texas by Mary Jacobs

Things I’m Listening To:

Silent Hill playlist
The Blacklist playlist
Reputation by Taylor Swift

Things I’m Watching:

Smile
Jurassic World
Jeopardy Masters series (finished)
CSI: NY series
Brooklyn Nine-Nine series
The Equalizer series (finished)

Poem of the Week:

that thing in the field was once a tree
in a field of green it is surrounded by gray
darkening to the black of obsidian glass
where lightning has charred it a hundredfold strikes
into a stub of gnarled bark and twisted rings
above the tangle of roots as though it tried
to climb from underground to escape
and curls there now like the memories of corpses
in the excavated ashes of Pompeii

Storms to summer: Friday Update

13 Friday Jun 2025

Posted by in A Few Thoughts, Novels, Series, Writing

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , ,

News:

In personal news, I finally got my car A/C fixed. It’s been years, but for the sabbatical year and the unemployment year, I could just drive when my A/C wasn’t struggling so hard or I didn’t drive at all. I put it off for as long as I could to try to amass some savings to cover it, but starting pretty much today, we’re moving from storm season to summer. Last Sunday, I tried to get ahead of the derecho hitting the NTX area, but I failed and ended up delivering in nearly opaque rain conditions at night. Which was fun. In a totally not fun way. Now we’re heading into ‘sweat just by existing outside’ weather, so I’m super glad my air conditioner is no longer just blowing slightly less hot air when the sun is shining on my car hood. Expensive, but damn, worth it. I also got to read a big chunk of The Fisherman while I was waiting all morning.

If you’d like to help me cover the cost of car repairs from the last few months, I wouldn’t say no to buying your author a Ko-fi or buying one of your author’s books. There have been a lot of expenses lately and not quite enough income. It’ll start equalizing soon (I hope), but I wouldn’t refuse a little help. I’ll start posting poetry here again, so think of it as tossing a penny to your poet, if you can spare.

In writing news, I forgot to share the submission call for this month’s Shallow Waters flash fiction (<1500 words) theme at the Crystal Lake Patreon last week. It’s Mystical Listicles! Usually the theme is content-based, but I felt like shaking things up with a form-based theme, to see what people bring me. For full sub info, click here, but here’s the gist:

“This is something I sometimes saw during my fanfiction days. It seems like a perfect structure for flash fiction, and I’d like to see what horror can bring to the form. These can be top ten fave or least fave lists, twenty interesting facts, fifteen things to do or not do at a location, instructions, grocery lists…whatever checks your boxes and terrifies. They can be utterly random, subtly narrative, or a story in beats (and they don’t necessarily have to be supernatural, I just like the rhyme).”

You don’t have to be a member of the Patreon to submit, become a finalist, or even win. You do have to be in a $5/month tier or higher to read other finalists and vote.

Works in Progress:

I’ve been editing short pieces that have been sent back to me from publishers, and I got Tooth & Claw (Meridian Book 7) problems fixed then a chunk of it edited over the weekend, but since then it’s been slow going (not least because I spent all Tuesday morning at the car place). A lot of real life things and real world things getting in the way. However, I’m happy with where the novel is right now, and if I can concentrate for longer than five minutes, maybe I can polish it properly.

Books I’m Reading:

The Fisherman by John Langan
Playlist of the Damned edited by Willow Dawn Becker and Jess Landry (finished)
Raising Loki: A Memoir by Elliot Manarin
Haunted Plano, Texas by Mary Jacobs

Things I’m Listening To:

Silent Hill playlist
Piece by Piece by Kelly Clarkson
Poetry for the Poisoned by Kamelot

Things I’m Watching:

The Nun
Watson series (finished)
Jeopardy Masters series
WandaVision series
CSI: NY series
Brooklyn Nine-Nine series
The Equalizer series

Poem of the Week:

homeless nameless loveless heartless
i am someone’s daughter under this sky
i didn’t crop from nothing
like Venus from the sea
a spontaneous lifeless seed
discarded or left for dead
does someone dream of me

Around the bend: Friday Update

30 Friday May 2025

Posted by in A Few Thoughts, Novels, Short Stories, Writing

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , ,

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

News:

“The Devil’s Bathtub” won this month’s Shallow Waters flash fiction contest. I think the link leads to an open post where you can read the story for free, if you like.

Because I won, I got an Author Spotlight interview, which you can read here. And one of the perks of winning that started literally the month after the last time I won is that you get to decide the next theme for everyone to work on next month and curate the finalists—kinda like training wheels for editing an anthology, which I’d love to do someday. (And it comes with a decent honorarium, which I’m also excited about.)

We’ll share the theme and start taking entries next month, for posting in July.

Last weekend, I attended Texas Frightmare with a friend. I want to be a vendor there someday. Maybe next year?

Works in Progress:

The deadline for Q&C’s open submissions is the end of May 31, so I’m scrambling to finish Masque edits tonight so I can pare down the synopsis and put together the pitch before work tomorrow. As a result, I’m taking yet another day off from work (and I haven’t worked out since last week), but I put in some extra work on other days of the week, and I’ve determined that I’ll still make more this week than last (when I had to take time off for Frightmare), especially with the prize money for “The Devil’s Bathtub” added on.

I have about 33 more pages to edit, which is…doable. The narrative is speeding up from the emotional climax to the plot climax, so I’m editing faster, too. Honestly, it hasn’t required a lot of extra effort. Minimal cutting, mostly punctuation decisions and breaking up some sentences for readability’s sake. But it still takes time to go through everything.

After Masque has been submitted, I’ll go back to Tooth & Claw (M7) for the second round, and I think I figured out how to fix the Chekhov’s gun problem. And, of course, I’ll be reading for the July Shallow Waters contest.

Books I’m Reading:

The Fisherman by John Langan
Playlist of the Damned edited by Willow Dawn Becker and Jess Landry
Raising Loki: A Memoir by Elliot Manarin
He Left Her at the Altar, She Left Him to the Zombies by Katie Cord (Frightmare, finished)

Things I’m Listening To:

Delain
Kamelot
The Phantom of the Opera at the Royal Albert Hall album

Things I’m Watching:

The Equalizer 2
Stranger (1991) (Frightmare screening)
Damsel of the Doomed (Frightmare screening)
Jeopardy Masters series
Home Town series
Home Town Takeover series
Say Yes to the Dress series
CSI series
CSI: NY series
Brooklyn Nine-Nine series

Lips of honey: Friday (kinda) Update

16 Friday May 2025

Posted by in A Few Thoughts, Novels, Series, Short Stories, Writing

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , ,

Photo by Kat Smith on Pexels.com

My audacity for being late comes from being social this morning and afternoon, when I’d usually be drafting the update. This happens so infrequently that I can’t refuse it when it does happen.

Then, due to heat and humidity, I had a massive headache coming home after working, so I needed to wait for that to settle down, too.

News:

“The Devil’s Bathtub” posted on May 11 at Crystal Lake’s Patreon. Those familiar with Bluebirds (Thorns Book 3) might have recognized the locale for the horror story—not the same place, but the same inspiration.

Works in Progress:

It took a little longer to finish up the first round of edits for Tooth & Claw (Meridian Book 7) than anticipated, so I’ve only been working on Masque second-round edits for a few days.

T&C (M7) had about 13K words cut, from 89K to 76K. I’m not satisfied with the climactic scene, because I feel like I didn’t use Chekhov’s gun, but I don’t have time to address it right now. I’ll muse over possible solutions until I can return to T&C.

I’ve only been working on Masque for three days, and I’m about a tenth of the way through, but I’m still charmed. I’m really fond of this piece. There’s something about the writing that tickles my brain. I think it’s because the alt-history style allows me to embellish and play without being as jarring as in contemporary.

20 pages in 2-3 days is not going to cut it if I want to make the deadline, so I have got to buckle down. Could this country not have a crisis for a few weeks, please?

Books I’m Reading:

The Fisherman by John Langan
Playlist of the Damned edited by Willow Dawn Becker and Jess Landry
Raising Loki: A Memoir by Elliot Manarin

Things I’m Listening To:

Old Favorite Playlist
Delain
Cindy Morgan
Let’s Talk About Love by Celine Dion
Live Around the World by Queen + Adam Lambert
Live for You by Rachael Lampa
Lost Whispers by Evanescence
Love and War by Fleurie
Lover by Taylor Swift
Lover. Fighter. by Svrcina
Mean Girls Original Broadway Soundtrack
Midnight in the Garden by Lily Kershaw
My December by Kelly Clarkson

Things I’m Watching:

Home Town Takeover series
Say Yes to the Dress series
Spring Baking Championship series
Elsbeth series (finished)
NCIS series
CSI series
The Equalizer series
Brooklyn Nine-Nine series

The endless poison: Friday Update

02 Friday May 2025

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

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Photo by Egor Kamelev on Pexels.com

News:

A Coup of Owls announced their 2025 line-up of novelette collections, and my raw, grimy, sexy story “Glory to God,” about a displaced goddess at a gloryhole, comes out in their Halloween 2025 collection featuring Othered horror romance. This is a story I conceived of over fifteen years ago but didn’t have the inspiration or guts to write until I was initially putting together my bathroom horror collection.

My body horror poem “Exhibit” is featured in this issue of Memento Mori’s free newsletter Morsus Vitae.

I did an interview roughly a year ago with the Merry Writers Podcast, and they posted it earlier in April, but I missed it. You can find it at a number of podcast places, but also here on YouTube. I talk a little about Question Not My Salt but mostly about my writing process and my love of the horror genre.

In addition, although “Turning Tail” didn’t win anything last month, my story “The Devil’s Bathtub” is a finalist in this month’s Crystal Lake Shallow Waters flash fiction contest, featuring the theme Fools. It should post for $5/month tiers and above on May 12. This one is a story I’ve wanted to write for a while, loosely based on a place on my grandparent’s land in the Ozarks.

Works in Progress:

I’d hoped that gig working during the afternoons and early evenings and being too tired during the nights would lead to more focused work during my mornings and my Wednesday ‘weekend.’ This has not been the case. I’m sorry, but this administration (federal and state) is soul-sucking, and the anger and helplessness I feel all the time is not conducive to productivity. When logic, reason, and compassion don’t work as arguments, my brain gives a near constant 404 error. It’s not good for me.

I’ve managed to make a dent on the first round of edits on Tooth & Claw (Meridian Book 7), but not as big of a dent as I would have wanted. My plan to finish the first round before doing second-round edits on Masque, however, remains. But I have to remember that Texas Frightmare is this month, and that takes at least three days off my schedule for writing. I want the world to be a better place so I can do my work, damn it.

Concerned that tariffs will eventually lead to less gig work for me as it finally hits inventory or to skintier tips (which we’re heavily dependent on, so remember to tip your gig workers).

Books I’m Reading:

The Fisherman by John Langan
Playlist of the Damned edited by Willow Dawn Becker and Jess Landry
Raising Loki: A Memoir by Elliot Manarin

Things I’m Listening To:

Old Favorite Playlist (basically everything I listened to in college)
Svrcina
It’s No Secret Anymore by Linda Eder
Jekyll & Hyde: Resurrection Soundtrack
Joanne by Lady Gaga
Josh Groban by Josh Groban
Kaleidoscope by Rachael Lampa
The Last Five Years Original Cast Recording

Things I’m Watching:

Mufasa: The Lion King
Talk to Me
Ghosts (US) series
Will Trent series
Watson series
Elsbeth series
NCIS series
CSI: NY series
CSI series
Criminal Minds series
Slasher: Guilty Party series
The Equalizer series
Brooklyn Nine-Nine series
The Bondsman series

With the undertow: Friday Update

18 Friday Apr 2025

Posted by in A Few Thoughts, Novels, Series, Short Stories

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , ,

Photo by Oliver Sju00f6stru00f6m on Pexels.com

News:

My cat story “Turning Tail” has been posted on Crystal Lake’s Patreon as a finalist for this month’s Shallow Waters theme of Old School (Creature Feature). These stories are available to read and vote on if you’re in the $5/month tiers or higher.

Works in Progress:

I finished the final edits for Tattered & Torn (Meridian Book 6) and the final edits of the first chapter of Tooth & Claw (M7) that will be included as a teaser at the end of T&T, so that’s done and dusted and sent off to my publisher with a sigh of relief. Tattered & Torn is already available for preorder, if you’re interested in a story about a fallen angel with empathic powers.

I had trouble getting started on a flash piece yesterday, but I’ve tackled a lot of it today. I don’t know if I can finish tonight, but I’ll try for end of tomorrow morning at the latest. I want to do another piece of flash for the month, but meeting my self-imposed editing deadlines might be hard enough to accomplish.

Books I’m Reading:

The Fisherman by John Langan
Playlist of the Damned edited by Willow Dawn Becker and Jess Landry
Raising Loki: A Memoir by Elliot Manarin

Things I’m Listening To:

Evanescence
Emilie Autumn
Rossini’s Stabat Mater by the Wiener Philharmoniker
Resist (Instrumentals) by Within Temptation
Breakaway by Kelly Clarkson
Broadway My Way by Linda Eder
Church of Scars by Bishop Briggs
dont smile at me by Billie Eilish
Evita movie soundtrack
Falling into You by Celine Dion
Fear & Fable by Fleurie
The Fifty Shades movie soundtracks
For the Throne album (music inspired by Game of Thrones)
Fumbling Towards Ecstasy by Sarah McLachlan

Things I’m Watching:

Geostorm
Smile 2
Celebrity Jeopardy series
Watson series
Elsbeth series
The Hunting Party series (finished)
CSI series
Slasher: Guilty Party series
S.W.A.T. series
Brooklyn Nine-Nine series
The Bondsman series

Since the troubles started: Friday Update

04 Friday Apr 2025

Posted by in A Few Thoughts, Novels, Series, Short Stories

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , ,

Photo by Daria Shevtsova on Pexels.com

News:

My flash piece “Turning Tail” is one of the twenty finalists for this month’s Shallow Waters flash fiction contest, theme Old School (creature features), at Crystal Lake’s Patreon ($5/month and up tiers). If everything goes the way it should, it’ll be posted on April 19.

My sweet-and-sour clown story “Exile” is out today in Undertaker Books’ Carnival of Horror. You can purchase it here. There have been a few reviews so far, and “Exile” is reviewing well so far.

I started in the gig economy earlier this week. The first day did not go well. The second day went better. I have things I really do not like about it and things I really do. What is clear is that it’s not a viable long-term option, so I’m continuing to send out resumes. But it should cover health care costs, at least. And the things I do like about it make it worth the while for now.

Works in Progress:

I finished the first publisher’s edit of Tattered & Torn (Meridian Book 6) and sent it in. I’m working on the Tooth & Claw (Meridian Book 7) edits now, but they’re going to be even slower now that I’m gigging. I’ve got to be more efficient with my available time.

Books I’m Reading:

The Fisherman by John Langan
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
Playlist of the Damned edited by Willow Dawn Becker and Jess Landry

Things I’m Listening To:

Abyss/Ascent playlist
Knowing soundtrack
Top 40 radio

Things I’m Watching:

Wicked
Mystery Island: Winner Takes All
Meltdown: Three Mile Island series (finished)
The Residence series (finished, highly recommended)
The Irrational series (finished)
Reacher series
Watson series
Elsbeth series
Criminal Minds series
S.W.A.T. series
Brooklyn Nine-Nine series
Kitchen Nightmares series

Salt the earth, gentlemen: Friday Update

31 Friday Jan 2025

Posted by in A Few Thoughts, Novels, Short Stories

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , ,

Photo by Suvan Chowdhury on Pexels.com

I’m sorry, I just can’t.

News:

I won joint 3rd place with “Delirium” at the Crystal Lake Shallow Waters flash fiction contest this month.

I’m trying to get back into playing piano to help with some of my cognitive issues. Anhedonia is a helluva drug, and my sightreading is really rusty, but I’m adjusting.

Works in Progress:

Still working on the Dracula reimagining. I have good days and bad days. I’m about two-thirds of the way through.

Books I’m Reading:

The Fisherman by John Langan
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

Things I’m Listening To:

Agnes Obel
Fleurie
Joy Oladokun
Lily Kershaw
Odessa
Patty Griffin
Ruelle

Things I’m Watching:

Angels in the Outfield
Hannibal series
Will Trent series
Celebrity Jeopardy series
Grey’s Anatomy series
The Equalizer series
Found series
The Irrational series
Abbott Elementary series
Home Town series
White Collar series
NCIS series
Columbo series

Poem of the Week:

a great and terrible null,
the vast expanse of shadow
ripping into something darker
than space, a yawning chasm
as fierce as though it has teeth.
gaze into your abyss, false prophets,
for this is the end that you conjured.
is it as righteous as you thought?

Poring over front pages: Friday Update

24 Friday Jan 2025

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

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , ,

Photo by Tookapic on Pexels.com

News:

“Delirium” should appear in a few days on the Crystal Lake Patreon for the month’s Liminal Spaces Shallow Waters contest, voting a few days after that, if you want to enjoy a month’s worth of liminal flash fiction horror.

I had some good news that fell through because I withdrew, so I’m still reeling a bit from that.

Works in Progress:

I continue editing the Dracula retelling, but as anticipated, the inauguration inaugurated a great deal of distraction and fear, which is not conducive to productivity. I hope to finish it before the end of the month, but I won’t at the present pace.

Given that the future I thought we were going to have in a reasonable world is gone, I’ve lost a lot of urge to publish and gained a greater urge to hunker down and just write my things until the world makes sense to me again. I don’t know when that’s going to be.

I’ll have things to put in the WIP section of my updates. I’ll finish the Meridian series. I’ll still put out A Nightmare for All Seasons, maybe other poetry collections in the future, because they have the lowest of stakes. If a submission call crosses my path, and something I’ve written or that I have an idea for fits, I’ll take it. I enjoy doing the Shallow Waters prompts. But I don’t think I’ll be in an almighty desperate rush to be read or to try to make a living off of this anymore.

That future is gone. For now.

Books I’m Reading:

The Fisherman by John Langan
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
Sister, Maiden, Monster by Lucy A. Snyder (finished)

Things I’m Listening To:

Fleurie
Lykke Li
Lily Kershaw
Ruelle/Maggie Eckford

Things I’m Watching:

Moana
Knives Out
Brilliant Minds series (finished)
Hannibal series
Will Trent series
Celebrity Jeopardy series
Grey’s Anatomy series
The Equalizer series
Found series
The Irrational series
Abbott Elementary series
Home Town series
White Collar series
NCIS series
CSI series
CSI: NY series
Columbo series
Broadchurch series

Poem of the Week:

ghost haunting the organ sewn in place of your own,
echo of DNA memory, the graft of a soul
hitchhiking in yours for a while. see, feel things
not your own. honoring that which gave you life again
won’t hurt. two hearts in symbiosis on borrowed time.

Snowed in: Friday Update

10 Friday Jan 2025

Posted by in A Few Thoughts, Novels, Poetry, Short Stories, Writing

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Oh yeah, it’s Friday. Sorry, been snowed in since yesterday, so time has no meaning. And this is Texas, so snowed in pretty much means that there is snow or ice and it’s sticking, so Amanda doesn’t go outside in it. Amanda doesn’t do wet cold.

News:

I’m back in the Shallow Waters contest at the Crystal Lake Patreon ($5/month tiers and up). This month’s theme is Liminal Spaces, and my story, “Delirium,” comes out around January 29, the second to the last in a group of 20 pieces of flash fiction. Join us if you like bite-sized themed horror fiction.

Preorders for WriteHive’s cozy speculative anthology Rescuing Curiosity are open now, coming out March 6. My story, “Marginalia,” is part of this one. I rarely write cozy or stories set in the future, so this was out of my comfort zone twice.

Works in Progress:

I finished the first edit/rewrite round of Masque two days ago, taking the story from 110,972 words (including about 4K words of notes and outline) to 97,811 words, which is a perfectly respectable number. So that’s the first rounds of the Dracula reimagining and Masque done and dusted. I’m taking a few days off to do a few smaller things before diving back in. The submission call I anticipated isn’t open, so I’m not in a hurry to meet a hard deadline by end of the month.

The last two days, I’ve been furiously working on getting A Nightmare for All Seasons for publication, including purchasing an affordable cover, reading the poems out loud to make sure they’re right, writing the introduction and the back cover copy, creating graphics for the main title page and section title pages (which I’ve never done before, and I’m really proud of myself for doing through Canva for free, even though they’re basic; it takes the book to the next level and emphasizes that these are five discrete sections), and meticulously formatting the uploaded document in Atticus (which had already paid for itself before this). Atticus is set up for prose, not poetry, so it’s fiddly, but I’m really happy with the end result.

I’m waiting on getting the cover back, and I have to also wait on some outstanding poems on sub, because I didn’t know I was going to include Lullabies for an Apocalypse in the collection when I sent those poems out. At this point, I’m hoping I can self-publish this sometime in February if I receive rejections. Longer, though, if something’s accepted and I have to account for exclusive rights. Yes, if someone’s willing to pay me for poetry, damn right I’m delaying for a pet project few people are going to read. Either way, it’ll be ready. I should set it up in the Poetry/Short Story page tomorrow.

Through the weekend, I think I’ll work on a few flash fiction pieces on the docket. Then I should be able to start on second-round edits for the Dracula reimagining.

Books I’m Reading:

The Fisherman by John Langan
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
Sister, Maiden, Monster by Lucy A. Snyder

Things I’m Listening To:

Christmas playlist (finally got through the whole collection, which is a lot, and now I’ve got it on random until I start working on the Dracula reimagining again)

Things I’m Watching:

Miracle on 34th Street (1947)
A Charlie Brown Christmas
Jumanji
I Saw the TV Glow
The Holiday
Barbie
Murder, She Wrote: The Celtic Riddle
Wishmaster 3: Beyond the Gates of Hell
Glass Onion
Wishmaster 4: The Prophecy Fulfilled
Prince of Darkness
Brilliant Minds series
Found series
The Irrational series
Abbott Elementary series
Home Town series
Longmire series (finished)
Great British Baking Show: Holiday Edition series (finished)
Monk series (Season 6 finished for New Year’s binge watch)
Columbo series
CSI: NY series
S.W.A.T. series

Poem of the Week:

take care not to offend
your friendly neighborhood
coven of witches
lest your foolishness
burst from you like stuffing
and leave you in stitches