Tag Archives: editing

Twisted nerve: Friday Update

05 Friday Jul 2024

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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

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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?

Ennui and existential dread: Friday Update

10 Friday May 2024

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News:

Not a damn thing. Wondering if I need to reassess strategies, goals, hopes, dreams, or maybe just expectations. Been doing this for twenty years. That’s a long time to spin my wheels. I might just be tired.

Works in Progress:

If I continue at my current pace, I should finish the first round of In the Dollhouse We All Wait edits tomorrow evening. Editing is less emotionally draining than writing, because I’m more immersed in the story when I’m writing, mentally living it more and for longer periods of time (because of course I write slower than I read). However, the more extreme parts of this story are still a bit rough to get through while editing, although it affects me in less obvious ways.

I’m really not sure how this book will be received or what place it can hold in my oeuvre, but the point now is just getting it in fighting shape.

During the second round, I’ll write the synopsis. Then I’ll put together the pitch after. I’m not positive I’ll finish before Texas Frightmare, but I should finish before PitDark.

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:

The Gray Man
The Judge
Mr. Bates vs the Post Office series
CSI: Miami series
CSI: NY series
NCIS series
NCIS: Hawai’i series
American Idol series
Spring Baking Championship series (finished)
Murder, She Wrote series

Poem of the Week:

give me gold gild
in a baroque style
a grand chandelier
crystallizing rainbows
and champagne flutes
stroked to make
the phantom weep

The call is coming from inside the house: Friday Update

03 Friday May 2024

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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

You can never leave: Friday Update

16 Friday Feb 2024

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News:

It’s my beautiful book birthday! Extreme family dinner horror novel Question Not My Salt is officially available as an ebook (paperback to come). It’s a short, rollicking, roiling read, and you can enjoy it any time of year or save it as a Thanksgiving treat. Thank you to Kenneth W. Cain and Crystal Lake Entertainment for everything they’ve done to help QNMS come to life!

Elaine Pascale gave a wonderful review at Hellnotes, saying, “Question Not My Salt left me questioning many things non-spice related. I questioned the place of torture porn in written horror. I questioned myself as I was devouring this piece of extreme horror as if it were a pleasant travel essay. I questioned why I was not reading more of Blake’s writing.”

Horror Reads, who provided my first review, included Question Not My Salt on his list of “Three Shorter Horror Books to Break Your Mind!” at his YouTube channel.

I also participated in a live podcast episode last night, the Panic Room Radio Show through Hellbound Books, to talk about horror and read an excerpt from QNMS and completely forgot to share that I was doing it so that people could, you know, listen live. However, I should have a link to the episode to share by next week’s update.

Works in Progress:

I’ve only ever had to scrap a novel once before, but I’m afraid I have to do that with Silver & Steel (Meridian 7), at least in its present incarnation. Character plans I had ended up changing when the characters decided to go in different directions, which then removed all the intended external conflict, and in urban fantasy, external conflict is essential. I stopped writing around 35K words in, which is better than the last time I quit a novel, which was at over 70K words.

I’ve summarized a few intended scenes, suggested a few changes, and asked myself some questions that can give me the framework for a new novel, which I’ll probably write later this year so I can put some distance between this version and the next. I would still like to finish the Meridian series this year, but I’m noodling on adding one or two novels to the list, so that may be out of the question anyway.

I’m frustrated, because I wanted that under my belt, or mostly so, before I started looking for employment and hopefully getting hired somewhere. But I didn’t want to waste any more of my time on a novel that was sputtering.

Right now I’m working on a novelette that I don’t really know what to do with, but it’ll be ready, whatever that is. Next week, I polish my resume and start submitting applications, and I’ll probably proceed to edit Book & Candle (Meridian 5) in the afternoons and evenings.

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:

Billie Eilish
Fleurie
Ruelle
Lily Kershaw
Once More With Feeling soundtrack
Stigmata soundtrack

Things I’m Watching:

Contracted
Contracted: Phase II
Buffy the Vampire Slayer series (watchalong)
Angel series (watchalong)
CSI series
The Mentalist series
The Irrational series
Helix series
Queer Eye series
Ghosts (US) series
Not Dead Yet series
All Creatures Great and Small series
Murder, She Wrote series

Poem of the Week:

I cannot promise sunrise
over massacre scene,
nor unburnished gold
or sterling silver clean.
Stars will reflect red
where moon will demean,
your fairest flesh shine
unfairly unknown, unseen
except by the feral,
the cruel, and the mean.
When I have no more rubies
and hungry times are lean,
will you still bleed for me,
my beautiful, bloody Queen?

If the sun never rises: Friday Update

02 Friday Feb 2024

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News:

After the polar vortex dipped down here to blister my toes with chilblains, we slipped into a false spring. It’s been warm, but also cloudy and rainy. I like cloudy and rainy, but after a while, missing the sun disrupts the sense of day rising and night falling. The temperature is beautiful (even a little warmer than I prefer) and doesn’t look like we’ll get a big winter front for a while (if at all), but there are a lot of clouds in the forecast. Makes me drowsy.

There’s no immediate news really, although I can tease that I received another great blurb and did my first podcast interview for Question Not My Salt this week. First podcast interview ever, actually.

If you missed it, I put out the Puppeteer (Thorns 4) playlist. You can find all the book playlists under the Thorns series header above. The links are under each book listing.

Works in Progress:

I finished the second edit of erotic horror novella A Woman Alone and brought it down to under 40K words, which was the goal. Since January submission calls ended and February calls opened up, I submitted that, plus a novelette and a few more short stories. I also finished what might be my last poems for the Autumn section of my seasonal poetry collection. Now I just have to write for Spring.

On January 31st, I felt weird starting something new right at the end of the month, and I didn’t have any more small projects to fuss with, so I took the day off to binge-watch Buffy, Angel, and The Mentalist and feel sorry for myself because I’m still struggling with leg pain. Sometimes you just need to wallow. I don’t really take days off and often downplay my own work as actual work—even though I put in full effort seven days a week—because I don’t receive commensurate compensation. But rest will occasionally force itself upon you

Wallowing over, I started on Silver & Steel (Meridian 7) yesterday, and it started pretty strong. I broke from my usual style for the series and decided to do it in first-person present tense. Whether I finish it mid-February or not, that’s when I’ll clean up my resume and start putting out job applications. Hopefully, winter doesn’t decide to come back with an icy vengeance at that point. It did when I started my last job nine years ago.

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:

Sara Bareilles
Eurielle
Timber Timbre
Agnes Obel
Tina Guo

Things I’m Watching:

Bullet Train
Saltburn
Taken 2
Buffy the Vampire Slayer series (watchalong)
Angel series (watchalong)
CSI series
The Mentalist series
Abbott Elementary series
Helix series
All Creatures Great and Small series
Murder, She Wrote series

Poem of the Week:

save your vitriol for someone
who wouldn’t eat your soul
instead of a sandwich
if it satisfied their hunger
more efficiently

You don’t meet Nazguls at coffee shops: Friday Update

26 Friday Jan 2024

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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

You look familiar: Friday Update

19 Friday Jan 2024

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News:

We started with gargoyles, went on to succubi, and now we have vampires! Strange & Familiar, the third standalone novel of the Meridian series, is officially out on Amazon and Totally Bound under my other name.

He has turned her into the humblest of slaves, eager to satisfy his every command and serve his bloodthirsty appetite—as well as a few unusual appetites of her own.

This isn’t the first or last time I play in familiar waters. Next Meridian novel comes out later this year.

In personal news, I reinjured the leg (again). Different part of the muscle, grade 1 strain instead of 2, so I can walk, but it takes me a few steps back in progress. Grade 1 strains can take two to three weeks to heal, and I’m following the original principle of not getting back on the elliptical until I can walk barefoot almost normally. So I’m a sedentary kitty again. With the polar vortex, I haven’t even been able to walk much, although yesterday was beautiful.

(content warning: food, diet, eating habits)

Which means I’ve had to accept the fact that I really can’t depend on aerobic exercise, perhaps for another few months, to counter my appetite. I didn’t realize the last time I took it, but the metformin I restarted is a mild appetite suppressant, so it’s been easier to start scaling back on intake.

This confirms to me what other people seem to have a hard time understanding: It’s a lot easier to do things that you want to do; and the corollary, it’s a lot easier to not do the things you don’t want to do. I haven’t accomplished this on willpower (which isn’t actually a thing, but people think it is). My desire to eat is being suppressed, so I don’t want as hard as I did before, and the feeling of being hungry isn’t as unpleasant. Controlling insulin helps with that, too, because I’m more effectively using the food I do eat. I’ve never eaten a lot, just a little more than I should. With the help of medicine, I’m managing to eat less without as much frustration. I’m not withholding too much, I want to reiterate. I’m just not adding a lot of caloric extras to my day, and the ones I like, I’m able to cut down by half or more and remain satisfied by them.

In just two weeks, it’s made an impact. We’ll see how sustainable it is.

Works in Progress:

I went ahead and edited all four short stories plus the Hear You Scream novelette for submission calls, and all of them have been submitted. I still have one cli-fi novelette to edit, but there’s no hard deadline for that one, and I’m not in the zone for it.

So, next up is editing erotic horror novella A Woman Alone, which ought to be a lot of fun. I’ll be trying to punch up the gothic horror elements and trying to cut it down to meet the submission call’s maximum word count, which means cutting about 8-10K words. We’ll see how it goes.

Books I’m Reading:

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

Music I’m Listening To:

Halloween playlist

Things I’m Watching:

Insidious: The Red Door (disappointing)
Buffy the Vampire Slayer series (watchalong)
Angel series (watchalong)
White Collar series
The Mentalist series
Transplant series
Found series (finished)
Helix series
All Creatures Great and Small series
Hometown series
Murder, She Wrote series

Poem of the Week:

barren as a wicker basket
lingering from centuries past
useful for what won’t slip
through fingers of corn husk
and fern but watch ash
slither through like sand
to spill onto dust bowl
floors and through the cracks
to have and to hold you
and let you go

In anticipation of screams: Friday Update

12 Friday Jan 2024

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News:

Question Not My Salt is becoming more and more real. It has its own Goodreads home, with an enthusiastic early 5-star review from Horror Reads. I know reviews are for readers rather than writers, but it’s the first written review I’ve had from a stranger under this name, which is exciting.

Among the highlights: “I was not prepared. I read the synopsis, yet, I was NOT prepared! This book is like the Texas Chainsaw Massacre meets Hannibal Lector on an episode of Master Chef. […] It doesn’t take long for weirdness to turn into outright horror though. I won’t be providing details because that’s a ‘pleasure’ you need to read about for yourself.”

QNMS is a short, vicious, relentless, hopefully fun ride. To endure it is to enjoy it. In the Dollhouse was easy to write but emotionally difficult, while QNMS was a blast to write and edit, and it’s received such good feedback so far.

As you probably know, preorders are an important part of determining a book’s success. Extreme horror isn’t for everyone, so if you’ve got squeams, check the Content Warnings, but if you liked Texas Chainsaw Massacre (original or spicy reboots), the Hannibal series, and The Menu, QNMS should be a delight.

Here’s the preorder link. I wrote QNMS in March and edited it in July and then finalized it for Christmas, so although it’s about a Thanksgiving feast, it can be read at any time. Or you can save it for Thanksgiving, if you want.

Works in Progress:

It was a struggle, but I finally got all the short fiction for this month done. I’ll edit them in dribs and drabs as the deadlines approach and between other projects. Don’t get me wrong. I wanted to write them. My brain is just tired and my attention span is shot due to burnout.

But now I’m in editing mode on the novelette Hear You Scream for an upcoming submission call. While I had to deal with some really bad cramps this week, that’s behind me, and I’m getting better at concentrating, at least on something that is Not Writing. Honestly, there aren’t a lot of edits in HYS. It was pretty tightly written from the start. I’ll decide at the end if I even need to give it another pass.

Once this is done, I’ll edit one of the short stories, then work on A Woman Alone edits for another submission call.

Books I’m Reading:

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

Music I’m Listening To:

Christmas playlist
Halloween playlist

Things I’m Watching:

Legion (late Christmas movie)
Frozen (first watch, finally)
Holidate
The Grinch
Holiday in the Wild
Meg 2: The Trench
Black Swan
Silent Hill
Great British Baking Show: Holiday Edition series (finished)
Hoarders series (finished)
Buffy the Vampire Slayer series (watchalong)
Angel series (watchalong)
White Collar series
Transplant series
Murder, She Wrote series

Poem of the Week:

a touch
caress
with painted lips

lines led by
the edge of a knife

leave me addicted
to the color
red

If the Fates allow: Friday Update

08 Friday Dec 2023

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SONY DSC

News:

I forgot it was Friday there for a bit.

There actually isn’t a lot of news. A handful of rejections. The only thing is that I’m a finalist in Crystal Lake Shallow Waters for this month, themed Reflections for the end of the year. My story “The Green Room” will be popping up later this month—on December 19, if I’m counting right. Y’all know I love reading other people’s flash fiction and that it’s like having a new themed anthology every month for a minimum of $5 a month, and the reading, commenting, and voting is so interactive. Reminds me of Livejournal fanfiction.

In real life news, I had what is probably my last physical therapy session. I still have a little way left to go, but I have my exercises and instructions and, barring reinjury, should be able to manage my own PT. My bank account thanks me. My elliptical machine thanks me, too, since I can start slowly building up my time on it again (in about five-minute increments a week, unless I start experiencing problems). It’s been almost six months to the day that I tore my muscle on the stairs. I know now that I probably have to be mindful of my calves, Achilles tendons, and ankles, that they’re prone to stiffness. But I’m almost back to my normal.

Works in Progress:

I received my edits back from Ken for Question Not My Salt right at the end of NaNo2023, so I was able to take a needed break by editing. It actually wasn’t much, so I still seem to be doing pretty well cleaning things up in my pre-sub edits. Go me! I sent those back three days later, requested blurbs from some people (so hard to ask), and now I wait. I don’t know whether there’s a proofreading round. We’ll see.

Now I’m back to writing Tattered & Torn (Meridian 6) for the other name. Taking that break in the middle of writing it makes it hard to jump back in. My brain is telling me, ‘But it was done, no, it’s done, no more.’ And I’m telling my brain, ‘No, you have about 25-30K more words to write.’ And my brain is telling me, ‘Done! Done! Done!’ It’s a really fun game we play.

Hopefully, by next Friday, I’ll be done and starting the small number of short stories I’m scheduled for before tackling the next Meridian novel to close out the year.

Books I’m Reading:

IT by Stephen King
This World Belongs to Us edited by Michael W. Phillips, Jr.
Midnight Blue-Light Special by Seanan McGuire

Music I’m Listening To:

Christmas playlist

Things I’m Watching:

The Ultimate Gift
A Christmas Prince
Single All the Way
Contagion
Outbreak
The Silencing
Prometheus (stealth Christmas movie)
Primal
Holiday Baking Championship series
Holiday Wars series
Elf on the Shelf: Sweet Showdown series
Christmas Cookie Challenge series
Great American Baking Show: Holiday Edition series
Celebrity Jeopardy series
Great British Baking Show series (finished)
Hoarders series
NCIS series
Dancing with the Stars series
The Mentalist series
White Collar series
Murder, She Wrote series

Poem of the Week:

was that my sin, a flaw?
for the thermals to drive
my feathers up in a swell
until i fell in a dive
for a final swan song
about the evils of ambition?
how dare i enjoy the
thrill of flight
instead of succumbing
to fate? how dare i fight?