Tag Archives: crystal lake shallow waters flash fiction

Summer break: Friday Update

23 Friday Aug 2024

Posted by in A Few Thoughts, Short Stories, Writing

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, ,

Photo by Oliver Sju00f6stru00f6m on Pexels.com

News:

There are a few things I really do not like to write and perspectives I don’t want to linger in long. “Predatory” covers one of those, so I’m just really glad it’s only flash fiction. As a horror writer, though, I always find a way to bother a pressure point, poking through all those hard limits. “Predatory” is my entry for the Camp Horror theme of Crystal Lake’s Shallow Waters contest, posting this month. We’re almost at the end, if you’re interested in one last slash at summer camp.

Works in Progress:

Circumstances forced a more extended break on me, between period cramps, burnout, and existential despair (received a rejection for In the Dollhouse… and don’t know what to do with it). I’m still not sure if my brain’s quite done resting. I think I might start back up tomorrow, because my creativity is tired but starting to get restless anyway. I’ll write the oozy novelette, then take another short break before diving into the Dracula reimagining.

I did get a little work done this week, though. I got my Crooked House (Thorns 5) files back from the formatter, so now I just have to send the specs and back cover copy to my cover artist. When she’s finished, I should be able to get CH uploaded. I’ll be doing some of that today.

Also, I’ve been meaning to get into creative nonfiction, and I started that yesterday with a flash piece for a sub call. My fiction is much more interesting than I am, so CNF hasn’t been much on my radar, but I have a few articles knocking around that I’d like to try. It’s good to do new things now and then.

Things I’m Reading:

The Tommyknockers by Stephen King (finished; still not great but more enjoyable than first read, and I had an entirely false memory about a scene in it, which is weird)
Why Didn’t You Just Leave edited by Nadia Bulkin and Julia Rios
Needful Things by Stephen King (comfort read before trying something new)

Things I’m Listening To:

YouTube ambient playlists

Things I’m Watching:

Chariots of Fire
The Beekeeper
The Day After Tomorrow
Monolith
Immaculate
The Ritual Killer
Matilda
Sleepaway Camp
CSI: Miami series
CSI: NY series
Abbott Elementary series
Great British Baking Show series
Hoarders series (finished)
Resident Alien series (finished)
White Collar series
Supernatural series
S.W.A.T. series
Grey’s Anatomy series
Kitchen Nightmares series
America’s Got Talent series
Murder, She Wrote series

Poem of the Week:

wrenched into a scream,
limbs tangled under sheets
into an unsolvable knot.
no sword to self-slice,
though with concentration
i may fall off the bed
and, whimpering, roll away.

Human masks: Friday Update

02 Friday Aug 2024

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

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , ,

News:

“Snot” made it to third place in last month’s Shallow Waters flash fiction contest.

I also sold a poem, but I’m not sure whether I can share more details than that.

Works in Progress:

Summer is a slow time for horror writers, and the markets have gone down in general, too. However, things start kicking up in August, and I submitted two novels, some poems, and at least six short stories yesterday alone. Crossing my fingers, but I’ve learned not to necessarily hold my breath.

I finished the first edit of Book & Candle (Meridian Book 5), and I’ve started on the second round. Ideally, I hope to finish it by the end of the weekend so I can proofread Crooked House (Thorns Book 5). After that, I have a novelette and a novel to tackle.

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: (as you can probably see, I’ve started just listening to all my music alphabetically)

Within Temptation
Aida soundtrack
Aladdin (1992) soundtrack
All I Ever Wanted by Kelly Clarkson
All of Me by Mandy Harvey
All That Echoes by Josh Groban
All That For This by Crystal Bowersox
Alright, Still by Lily Allen
Amaranthe by Amaranthe
American Idol singles

Things I’m Watching:

Anaconda
Twisters
S.W.A.T. series
Grey’s Anatomy series
Kitchen Nightmares series
Hoarders series
America’s Got Talent series
CSI: Miami series
CSI: NY series
CSI series
Supernatural series
White Collar series
Murder, She Wrote series

Poem of the Week:

give two children a tree to climb
they will eat from its fruit
give Pandora a box and say
it must never be opened
deflect the blame for the
inevitable enviable curiosity
of those who never knew better
until seeds were sown
and knowledge released

Fiddling: Friday Update

19 Friday Jul 2024

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

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , ,

News:

She’s a saint. He is sin. Under my other name, Avarice & Creed is available for pre-order! There was a prompt somewhere at some point suggesting a subversion of Hallmark Christmas movie tropes by having a sweet young woman teach a cruel demon CEO the meaning of Christmas. In this case, we have a ‘virgin sacrifice’ of forced marriage to a billionaire avarice demon. I love all my stories for all sorts of different reasons, but I’ve noticed that my green-cover novels linger with particular fondness in my mind. (See also, Skeletons (Arcanium Book 9), which received less love than I have for it.)

My violent spring poem “Vernal” is featured in Renascentum, Quill & Crow’s Crow Calls Volume VI, which you can buy here.

“Snot,” my sea horror flash fiction, should post tomorrow at the Crystal Lake Patreon for the Shallow Waters flash fiction contest.

Works in Progress:

I’m a little less than halfway through the professional edits of Crooked House (Thorns 5). I’m still enjoying little special surprises I forgot I wrote. Period cramps hit yesterday, so I’ve been struggling, but I should be back to form tomorrow.

Books 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:

Agnes Obel
Lily Kershaw
Abyss/Ascent playlist

Things I’m Watching:

The Ruins
NCIS series
So Help Me Todd series
Kitchen Nightmares series
Hoarders series
The Amazing Race series (finished)
America’s Got Talent series
CSI: Miami series
CSI: NY series
CSI series
Supernatural series
White Collar series
Murder, She Wrote series

Poem of the Week:

i will rise from the pandemonium
you cast me into as though the chaos
of angels singing is not cacophony
our wings the mechanism of angelic demise
if we cannot bear flight or halo in our own name
then we will rise on cloven hooves
and balance wreaths on our horns
we will ascend anew and walk our way
not to paradise but a garden of earthly delights

Twisted nerve: Friday Update

05 Friday Jul 2024

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

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , ,

Drift is an excellent vacation read, short and sweet. Highly recommend reading it by the water.

News:

My sea story “Snot” is a finalist in this month’s Crystal Lake Shallow Waters contest. Enjoy the Horror in Paradise theme for $5/month.

Works in Progress:

I finished Masque soon after last week’s update for a total of 110,972 words. I’ve already come up with a few ways to improve it in the first edit. Given my attention span, I think I’m almost certainly burned out from pushing the pace (not to mention reasonably afraid and depressed with the state of the Union), so I took the weekend to try to recover. Editing all month should help that, too.

I’m working on the edits for May Cooler Heads Prevail now and should finish the first edit by end of day. Since it’s so timely with its themes, it’s difficult to push through, but depending on escapism is difficult, too, because it feels like falling for bread and circuses, being the toad in the boiling pot and telling myself everything is fine and I don’t need to worry. The trouble is that I don’t know what to do if things go more wrong than they already have. If the rim of the pot is too high, what’s a poor toad to do when they realize the pot is boiling?

Books I’m Reading:

Mary Reilly by Valerie Martin
The Tommyknockers by Stephen King

Things I’m Listening To:

Old Favorites playlist
Fourth of July playlist
Witchy YouTube playlists

Things I’m Watching:

The First Omen
Midsommar
Under Paris
The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It
Hamilton
The Bay
Elsbeth series
Kitchen Nightmares series
Summer Baking Championship series (finished)
Hoarders series
Worst Roommate Ever series (finished)
The Amazing Race series
America’s Got Talent series
CSI: Miami series
CSI: NY series
Supernatural series
White Collar series
Murder, She Wrote series

Poem of the Week:

the universe is a night-blooming flower
creation its opening into light in darkness
stardust the persistent scent of jasmine
expanding in hedonistic spread
but preparing eventually to close


Brace for impact: Friday Update

17 Friday May 2024

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

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , ,

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

News:

My Crystal Lake Shallow Waters entry for this month’s Resurrection theme, “Second Chance,” has been posted on the Patreon. ($5/month, basically a themed anthology every month)

I’ll be wandering around Texas Frightmare in Dallas this weekend. I love it because I’m surrounded by a bunch of people who share my enthusiasms and aesthetic, but my introvert self has to brace for the muchness of everything.

Works in Progress:

I wanted to finish editing In the Dollhouse We All Wait before Texas Frightmare, and I did yesterday. Second round of edits went much faster, and I write synopses during second edits, so that’s done and dusted, too. I’m continuing to do really well in my first round of edits, which allows the second round to be swifter, strictly polish. All I have left is to put together the long and short pitches, but the manuscript itself is ready to sub. There aren’t a lot of markets for extreme horror, but maybe PitDark will find a place for it.

My other goal was to get it below the 90K-word max of a lot of small press sub calls. I cut it down from 116,160 words in the first draft to 88,636 at the end of the third draft. That seems like a lot to trim, but my usual novel word cut is about 20-25%, so it’s not too far off—a little more than average.

I have the Dollhouse pitches to write, and then I have two short stories I’d like to tackle. After that, I start on the professional edits for Crooked House. I’m still not sure if I can afford to pay for my series standard formatting, but we’ll see what June brings.

Books I’m Reading:

Killing Time by Russell C. Connor
Pocket Apocalypse by Seanan McGuire

Things I’m Listening To:

RAIGN
Joseph William Morgan
The Silicone Veil by Susanne Sundfor
Fumbling Towards Ecstasy by Sarah McLachlan
Arcadia by Eurielle
The Unknown by Sea Stars
When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go by Billie Eilish
YouTube ambient tracks
Metal soundtracks

Things I’m Watching:

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990)
The Taking of Deborah Logan
The Meg 2: The Trench
The Pope’s Exorcist
CSI: Miami series
CSI: NY series
American Idol series
9-1-1 series
Jeopardy Masters series
Hometown series
Murder, She Wrote series

Poem of the Week:

what have we here, hidden
beneath branch and planted weed,
obscured with brush and scattered seed?
where have we come, unbidden,
and where does this winding path lead?
what kind of man conceals a bad deed,
and when does a path turn forbidden?

The call is coming from inside the house: Friday Update

03 Friday May 2024

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

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , ,

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

News:

My leg still isn’t back to normal. I don’t think it ever will be, or at least not for a long time. Can’t go to an orthopedist again until I have insurance, but I suspect that the original injury didn’t heal right and the chunk of muscle remains atrophied, while all the other muscles continue to overwork in compensation. However, I’m at a point where I really need to start doing some kind of aerobic exercise for health reasons, and the secondary injury seems to have finally calmed down. I’m going to try to get back on the elliptical at the absolute lowest resistance. It’s possible I just may not be able to walk around well without shoes. I guess I can live with that.

Two weeks ago, I said I’d include the link to the Citywide Blackout interview about Question Not My Salt, which was a great deal of fun, and I read an excerpt from the story, but I forgot to include it in last week’s update. So here it is.

My storm story “The Glitter of Bile” is featured in this month’s Cosmic Horror Monthly with Hailey Piper and Evelyn Freeling. It’s ultimately a COVID story, vile little cloud notwithstanding.

My piece “Second Chance” will be in this month’s Resurrection-themed Crystal Lake Shallow Waters flash fiction contest. There are twenty stories featured this month, so it should be a real treat. Barring complication, “Second Chance” should post on May 13.

In negative news, I think this month was the first since I started publishing with Totally Entwined under my other name in the previous decade that I received absolutely no royalties. So if you’re into spicier horror romance and dark urban fantasy, check out my Arcanium and Meridian series. Arcanium (series complete) brings together my two favorite horror tropes: ‘careful what you wish for’ and demonic circus/carnival. Meridian (series in progress, standalones) is in the vein of Supernatural and Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel, set in a fictional Texas city. Arcanium is darker, but Meridian should still be a lot of fun. Fourth Meridian novel is coming out later this year,

Works in Progress:

The Meridian Book 7 novel I thought I’d never be able to write, Tooth & Claw, is finally finished at 95,287 words total (which includes outline and more false starts, so remove about 5K for the real total). It’s such a relief to have that done and dusted and in my Meridian folder ready for editing when I come to it. I also wrote out the outline for the last book, Rack & Ruin, which I’ll tackle in November. That takes plotting off my plate when I get there, which is another relief, because I know I’ll have the story all ready.

I also had some intense inspiration for two separate anthology calls during one of my walks, so I decided to do an experiment where I wrote both short stories at the same time, kind of doing a section here and a section there, to see if that worked for me. It did not. I eventually had to focus on one to its conclusion, then work on the second. But I did get both of them written. And for now, I’m on track for my modest goal of one short story and one flash piece average for the year.

With all of these things out of the way, I’ve started my editing of In the Dollhouse We All Wait. Goal is to get it down from 116K words to under 90K by the end of the second edit, and to get it all done before Texas Frightmare on the weekend of May 17—the earlier the better, of course—because PitDark is on May 23 this year. I hope to be pitching In the Dollhouse (extreme horror), A Woman Alone (erotic horror), and We All Follow in the Dark (regular horror).

Books I’m Reading:

Killing Time by Russell C. Connor
Pocket Apocalypse by Seanan McGuire

Things I’m Listening To:

YouTube playlists
Metal playlists

Things I’m Watching:

FeardotCom
I Spit on Your Grave (2010)
Haunted Mansion (2023)
Robin Hood (Disney)
Yellowbrickroad
CSI: Miami series
CSI: NY series
American Idol series
Spring Baking Championship series
Hometown series
Murder, She Wrote series

Poem of the Week:

there is ecstasy in mourning
violence in grief
and a terrible endlessness
to the numbness
of absence

the heart does grow fonder
but finds no purchase
in what is no longer there
unrequited love
never found

In the jet stream: Friday Update

26 Friday Apr 2024

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

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , ,

Photo by Daria Shevtsova on Pexels.com

News:

Not a lot going on this week.

If you’re part of the Crystal Lake Patreon, voting for Workplace Horror flash fiction is open until tomorrow morning. You have fifteen interesting interpretations of the theme to read and choose from.

Someone on the Books of Horror Facebook page was kind enough to leave a review of Out of Curiosity and Hunger. I’m not going to link to it here, because she posted it on Amazon and Goodreads as well, but the way she described the whole vibe of OOCAH was just so perfect: “I love National Geographic, especially when the animals eat each other, and sometimes maybe humans too.”

I really do love creature features. You want creature features? I’ve got two! Out of Curiosity and Hunger (urban jungle) and Deep Down (cave monsters).

Works in Progress:

I’m still working on Tooth & Claw (Meridian 7). Barreling forward, in fact, 5K+ words a day. For reference, I started April 6, and by the end of the day, I’ll have written over 85K in twenty days. Based on where I am in the story, I think I’ll be able to finish by the end of the weekend, maybe Monday, although my period’s coming, and depending on severity, it may slow me down. I have a cushion of a few thousand words to keep up my 5K/day average lately, though.

Once I’m finished with that, I’m going to edit extreme horror novel In the Dollhouse We All Wait, because I want it to be ready in time for PitDark after Texas Frightmare in May. I ideally need to cut over 20K words, but I think that’s doable. That means I might have to push back Crooked House (Thorns 5) publication to June, but I might have to do that anyway if formatting is out of my financial reach. Depends on what I can sell between now and then and whether I’m employed.

I would categorize Question Not My Salt as on the milder side of extreme, but In the Dollhouse definitely fits into the subgenre, so much so that it might be hard to place instead of self-publish, but I’m going to try.

Books I’m Reading:

Killing Time by Russell C. Connor
Pocket Apocalypse by Seanan McGuire

Things I’m Listening To:

YouTube playlists
Metal playlists

Things I’m Watching:

Love of My Life (2013)
The Others
Army of the Dead (2021)
Alien vs. Predator: Requiem
Abigail (a fun, bloody flick)
NCIS series
NCIS: Hawai’i series
CSI series
CSI: Miami series
American Idol series
Spring Baking Championship series
Murder, She Wrote series

Poem of the Week: (throwback to April 2023)

haydust gold winds
round rustic spindle.
he does the work.
she reaps the spoils
of rotten wheat to
a marriage bed.
and does she ever
say thank you
or give freely
what she offered,
what she owes
for his labor?

Curve ahead: Friday Update

05 Friday Apr 2024

Posted by in A Few Thoughts, Short Stories, Writing

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , ,

Photo by Chris Larson on Pexels.com

News:

The Pleasure in Pain: A Queer Horror Anthology is officially available in e-book and paperback on Amazon, with my story “Graphite,” loosely inspired by the Japanese fairy tale “The Boy Who Drew Cats.”

My short story “Eye Spy” is part of this month’s flash fiction finalist line-up for Crystal Lake Shallow Waters at their Patreon, themed Workplace Horror. I really do like writing for these and Apex’s flash fiction prompts. It’s good exercise in a lot of different horror directions.

Works in Progress:

I feel like I still make writing schedules like I still write at the same pace as in my twenties. I didn’t get to start on Tooth & Claw yet, but I edited and submitted a novelette, wrote eight substantial poems, and wrote a short story for a sub call. I’ll be starting my third attempt at Meridian Book 7 today after finishing this post.

I came up with an idea for a creative non-fiction article, which is new for me, unless you count the Introduction to the Bathroom Omens short story collection. I don’t know when I’m going to tackle it, but I put it on my list for this year.

I feel like I’ve been submitting a lot but not getting responses at the same pace. I’m bracing myself for a deluge of rejections to try not to take them personally.

Because I’m still doing long poems based on the Crow Calls prompts for this month, I’m going to do some throwback flash poetry for the Poems of the Week, this time from April 2022.

Books I’m Reading:

Killing Time by Russell C. Connor
Half-Off Ragnarok by Seanan McGuire

Things I’m Listening To:

YouTube playlists
Singer-songwriter playlists

Things I’m Watching:

Spider-Man: Far From Home
Wonka
Nightmare on Elm Street (2010)
Bodies Bodies Bodies
Is It Cake? series (finished)
Home Town series
American Idol series
CSI: Vegas series
The Mentalist series
Angel series (watchalong)
Spring Baking Championship series

Poem of the Week: (throwback to April 2022)

all I want
is a quiet life
with books on my nightstand
and a cat purring in my lap
while clean rain drums
picture windows
before swaying trees
and a cup of hot chocolate

and instead you turn over
in obscene thread count sheets
and cheap socks
and choose violence

you do not know
what you awaken

Couch potato sprouting: Friday Update

29 Friday Mar 2024

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

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , ,

Photo by Ylanite Koppens on Pexels.com

News:

The Pleasure in Pain Queer Horrotica Kickstarter is still taking pre-orders and other perks, although it’s met its base goal. If they meet the stretch goal, Pleasure in Pain gets an audiobook.

Post-apocalyptic “Full” won 2nd place in the Shallow Waters flash fiction contest for the Murder of Crows theme!

Works in Progress:

Once again, I hit a creative wall with Shadow & Song, this time around 25K words, so I think this particular storyline is a bust. I’m scrapping it in favor of my next effort, Tooth & Claw, which I’d originally thrown out of the Meridian line-up because it was purely sapphic, which can’t go into the Meridian series (has to do with which Totally Entwined imprint it’s under, can be some queerness but primary needs to be female/male). However, one character going male doesn’t make the story suffer at all, so that’s what I’m going to do, and I can take two good characters from Shadow & Song and integrate them into the new story. It’s possible Lis just wasn’t meant to be a main character. I’m incredibly discouraged by two failures in the novel arena, and I’d like a win. I’d like a book Xed off my list.

Just to make sure I had a story, I outlined Tooth & Claw. I’m not an outliner, because it makes me feel like I’ve already written the story, but on certain occasions, they’ve just been necessary. And yes, I have a story, and there are scenes I’m really looking forward to, which wasn’t the case with the other two attempts. All I could see was the beginning, and as I went, the rest of it didn’t become any clearer like it usually does.

In the meantime, I put together another poetry chapbook. This has been an unexpectedly productive horror poetry year, for how ineffective I’ve been in other mediums. I’ve done enough substantial poetry and mined, expanded, or stitched together things from flash poetry to put together two impromptu chapbooks (for a total of three) and complete a collection.

We have family over for the holiday, so I’ll work on the second edit of a novelette for a sub call in April. Then I’ll start Tooth & Claw in the new month after I do necessary car things.

Health is doing better. I suspect I had a case of post-infection visceral hypersensitivity, which has a tendency to make me think I’m dying, and it gets worse with stress. Leg injury, however, is still reinjuring. I need to see the orthopedist, but I’m trying to wait until I have health insurance again, because MRIs are expensive. Job search is not going so well. I’ll have to eventually go with a temp agency again if I can’t get direct-hired.

Books I’m Reading:

Midnight Blue-Light Special by Seanan McGuire (finished)
Killing Time by Russell C. Connor
Half-Off Ragnarok by Seanan McGuire

Things I’m Listening To:

Leonard Cohen
YouTube playlists
Singer-songwriter playlists

Things I’m Watching: (I finally got Tubi and wanted to watch a bunch of things before they expired)

Poor Things
The Shrine
The Possession of Michael King
Clown
The Hound of the Baskervilles (1959)
Madhouse
Catacombs
The Evil in Us
Raze
Extraterrestrial
Angel series (watchalong)
CSI: Miami series
Spring Baking Championship series

Poem of the Week: (throwback from March 2022)

you try so hard
to seem sinister
but my dear
mister mister
save the spooking
for my sister
your filed teeth
and damask swagger
won’t sink
underneath
my moonpale skin
stand back
cheekbones
no spine-chilling
i like your style

Dissolve: Friday Update

22 Friday Mar 2024

Posted by in A Few Thoughts, Short Stories, Writing

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , ,

Photo by Taufiq Klinkenborg on Pexels.com

News:

This has been a body horror kind of week.

“Full” is up at the Crystal Lake Patreon for the Shallow Waters Flash Fiction Contest, themed Murder of Crows. It’s a creepy-crawly post-apocalyptic meal for the starving, available to read for the $5/month tier and up, which also buys you voting rights. There are some really good pieces, but they feel criminally underread this month.

My gross, pink horror story “Indigestion” also came out this week in the Last Girls Club Spring Equinox 2024 issue. There’s a print version, but here’s the link to the .pdf version.

Works in Progress:

I passed the 20K-word mark with Shadow & Song (Meridian 7). I still go back and forth as to whether I like it, but anhedonia is a real thing I deal with on the daily, and some of the changes I made do improve the story and give me a reason to continue. I think I’ll know by the end of the month whether this version story is going to work.

I took a day off from working on S&S to edit a bunch of the new poems I’d written this month to put them on my availability list and figure out which ones I could use for a chapbook that I submitted earlier this week.

Books I’m Reading:

Midnight Blue-Light Special by Seanan McGuire
Killing Time by Russell C. Connor

Things I’m Listening To:

Fleurie
Evanescence
Singer-songwriter playlists

Things I’m Watching:

The Abyss
X
Renfield
Baskin
Buffy the Vampire Slayer series (watchalong) (finished)
Angel series (watchalong)
CSI series
CSI: Vegas series
CSI: Miami series
Spring Baking Championship series

Poem of the Week: (throwback from March 2022)

typing through lines
driving through signs
swallowing all the wine
sleeping subprime
such a dreary crime
wasting all this time