News:

Dead Letters: Episodes of Epistolary Horror is open for pre-orders, to be released December 1! I love epistolary horror—it’s the found footage of the written media world—and I’m thrilled to be part of the Table of Contents with these authors with my creature feature “The Behavioral Patterns of the Displaced Siberian Siren.” (I love how dang long the title is.)

That’s really all that’s going on this week, although the Trick ‘r Treat stories are still going strong at Crystal Lake Shallow Waters. There are some really solid stories this month. “Swallowed” was posted on Day 3, and we’re on Day 11 of 15 now before voting.

Works in Progress:

I’ve been pulling double duty this week, since I received first-round edits for Avarice & Creed (Meridian 4) for my other name. It was a really easy edit, because halfway through my third series with them, I’ve gotten really good at getting most of the substantial edits in before I send the draft in. I just finished first-round edits a few minutes ago.

However, I’ve also been trying to keep up with NaNoWriMo word count of 5K words a day, and doing both has strained my energy resources quite a bit, I’m afraid. I didn’t quite make it, 1500 words behind as of now. And I’m really grumpy on top of it, because I’m mentally tired and I’m not enjoying the Meridian novel that I’m working on right now. I finished A Woman Alone on Wednesday at 48,182 words, so it’s definitely a novella and will be edited as a separate work rather than part of the Meridian series. I’m trying to make Tattered & Torn (Meridian 6) something that I want to write, and I think I have some good ideas. I don’t know how much of this sullenness is simply that I’m tired, but since I only have a month and a half before the end of the year, I don’t feel like I have the time to take a break?

I did a flash piece as a palate cleanser, and it was a fun slice-of-life story from a bigger concept I’d like to expand on in a novel later, but that might not have been enough. But I really just think I don’t have adequate motivation to enjoy the story. Dollhouse and Woman Alone were flowing so well, even when I was tired. I’m still turning it in different directions to see what might work, and I’ll keep going for a while. If it just refuses to be pleasant, I might have to set it aside and try one of the other slated novels. I’m hoping some better nights of sleep will help give me perspective.

As of now, I’m at 78,599/150,000 words for the month.

Books I’m Reading:

IT by Stephen King
Discount Armageddon by Seanan McGuire (finished)
The First Five Minutes of the Apocalypse edited by Brandon Applegate
This World Belongs to Us edited by Michael W. Phillips, Jr.
Midnight Blue-Light Special by Seanan McGuire

Music I’m Listening To:

Witchy/pagan/villain playlists on YT
Agnes Obel
Svrcina
Lily Kershaw

Things I’m Watching:

A Haunting in Venice
The Curse of Bridge Hollow
Underworld: Evolution
Holiday Baking Championship series
Great British Baking Show series
Buffy the Vampire Slayer series
Scream Queens series
Kitchen Nightmares series
Good Bones series
Hoarders series
NCIS series
CSI series

Poem of the Week:

better to bring a gun
to a knife fight
the madman prophet
is usually right
always declare
a zombie bite
never let the killer
out of your sight