Tag Archives: extreme horror

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

Here comes the sun: Friday Update

19 Friday Apr 2024

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News:

I experience reverse SAD (seasonal affective disorder), which means that as the days get longer and hotter, my sensitivity to heat and light intensifies my mood disorder. The first warm breezes and sweaty walks of the year make me grumpy, while the first cool breezes and cold nights in October bring me joy. So whenever I feel unsettled or cranky for no reason around this time of year, I have to remind myself I’m adjusting to my new reality for the next six months. It usually hits in May, but it’s come in April this time.

I had a job interview earlier this week. The job itself seems promising, and I think it went well. I stress about interviews for a day beforehand, then have a hard time winding down after. By the time I got home afterward about thirty minutes later, I was still answering interview questions in my car right in front of my house, talking to nobody. However, after two decent interviews, I think I’ll be less terrified of them going forward. So far, I haven’t had any weird, random questions that are hard to answer because they’re out of left field. It’s all fairly straightforward, and now that I’ve worked in an office before, I have a better idea what questions to ask. I have trouble coming up with questions of my own when I don’t have enough information to know what to ask. I don’t know what I don’t know, you know?

In addition to a job interview, I had a book interview with Citywide Blackout last night on Question Not My Salt. I had a really good time and got to talk about extreme horror, about what Saw traps say about human survival instinct, and about the different kinds of cannibalism in the genre. I’ll provide the link to it next week, but it should pop up on the site tomorrow.

My workplace horror flash fiction “Eye Spy,” about mystical micromanagement, posted on the Crystal Lake Patreon earlier this week.

In other news, I watched the Nightmare on Elm Street movie series for the first time in release order (except the reboot, which I watched first). I hadn’t seen the second NOES before. So now I’ve seen them all, and it feels like an accomplishment. Also, I’ve been working on watching The Mentalist for years and finally got the last two seasons under my belt. It’s such a comfort show to me, and it was nice to finish. House and/or Criminal Minds might be next.

Works in Progress:

Thank goodness, Tooth & Claw seems to be the solution to my Book 7 problem. So, among the changes I made between restarts, just in case it’s useful to you: First, a change in tense from present to past. Then, a change in protagonist from Lis to Tara as primary and Lis as secondary (multiple POVs, which has precedent in the Meridian series). Last, changing where I start the story.

Those are all pretty much par for the course when trying to figure out what does and doesn’t work: tense, POV, who the protagonist should be, and where the story starts. It just usually doesn’t take me 50K words I can’t use to get there. However, by end of day today, I’ll have reached 50K good words in two weeks, at 5K or more words a day, except for my job interview day. Being able to maintain that word count is proof that this version is working, because in the last two versions, I struggled with 3K a day and I didn’t look forward to getting to work each morning.

In addition, I’ve been working on poetry, and I edited and submitted a short story to a submission call in the breaks between my writing. I like to write 500 words at a time and have a little treat in between, especially during higher word count days that can end up creatively exhausting. Sometimes that treat is a page or two of editing. Sometimes it’s editing or writing a poem. Sometimes it’s fifteen to twenty minutes of a low-concentration movie or show. Even these update sections are a break from my work!

It’s similar to the Pomodoro Technique, which suggests that intervals of work are more effective than marathons. I call them my In-and-Outs. Some days that sounds dirtier than others, depending on the content of my writing.

Books I’m Reading:

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

Things I’m Listening To:

YouTube playlists
Singer-songwriter playlists
Metal playlists

Things I’m Watching:

A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors
A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master
A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child
Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare
New Nightmare
Freddy v. Jason
Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2022)
The Mentalist series (finished)
NCIS series
NCIS: Hawai’i series
CSI: Miami series
American Idol series
Spring Baking Championship series
Murder, She Wrote series

Poem of the Week: (throwback to April 2023)

field mouse in search of shelter
inspects daisies and daffodils,
dandelions and clover, none a fit
cushion for her tiny girth,
finally settles on the fairy bed
of a pink tulip, pollen gilding
her humble fur with apian gold.

Quiet whirlwind: Friday Update

15 Friday Mar 2024

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News:

For Women in Horror Month, Jordan Triplett interviewed me for Alpha’s Court. I share my love of worms, how I don’t limit myself with genre, and how I combat negative thoughts.

John R. Little, author of Miranda, wrote some effusive praise for Question Not My Salt: “This is an absolutely terrific book, and I highly recommend it. … If you’re one of those folks who likes extreme horror, you really need to take a look. Just an awesome story from cover to cover.”

Cemetery Dance also posted a review for Question Not My Salt, excerpted here: “Don’t let the cover fool you, this is HORROR, not a cookbook…though a cookbook from this novella just might be fun to read. Imagine you’re a Canadian who goes to college in the U.S., is roomed with someone you become friends with who invites you to their home for Thanksgiving… and things go… awry. Do NOT piss off Mother. Do not ask for salt and for goodness sake, spit in that wine glass and pass it already.”

A reminder that we’re doing a read-along of Question Not My Salt at Goodreads group Horror Aficionados this month. We’ve had some fun interactions so far, including dream casting and favorite Thanksgiving dishes.

On the leg front, the reinjury seems to have mostly healed, although the muscle is still weak and needs some strength-building. I’m taking longer walks in sneakers, mostly walking around and going up and down the stairs barefoot again, which is preferable to having to wear shoes to support against the pain. I might be able to get back on the elliptical at low resistance as early as next week.

In the meantime, I seem to be dealing with some health issues—probably a bad batch of medication and possibly side effects of another, plus pulling a muscle or pinching a nerve in my neck, but I have a tendency to panic, and it’s making concentrating or doing anything important very difficult. It’s also putting some pressure on my job search, because I thought I’d have health insurance by now.

Works in Progress:

Despite concerns, though, I’ve managed to restart Shadow & Song (Meridian 7), and I finished the last required poems for the Spring section of my seasonal horror poetry collection. I can still add new poems to the Spring and Autumn sections if an idea or two arise, because they’re mini-collections rather than singular narratives like Summer and Winter, but for now, I can cross A Nightmare for All Seasons off my list as finished. I’ll probably put it together and edit it June/July 2024.

Just for fun, these are the section titles:
Verdant with Splinter and Thorn
Lusty Murders of May
The Halloween Parade
Bleak Midwinter

Also wrote and continue to work on some standalone poetry inspired by this month’s Quill & Crow Crow Calls. I like to add to my long poetry list now and then to keep it fresh. The more poetry I write, the more themes emerge for chapbooks and longer collections.

Received a handful of disappointing rejections. And yet I keep pushing, because I don’t know what else to do.

Books I’m Reading:

Midnight Blue-Light Special by Seanan McGuire
Killing Time by Russell C. Connor
Nineteen Little Stab Wounds by Alexis DuBon (finished)

Things I’m Listening To:

Hannibal soundtracks
Abyss/Ascent soundtrack
Silent Hill soundtracks
Kamelot

Things I’m Watching:

Buffy the Vampire Slayer series (watchalong)
Angel series (watchalong)
American Idol series
CSI series
CSI: Vegas series
NCIS series
NCIS: Hawaii series
White Collar series
The Mentalist series
Ghosts series
Not Dead Yet series
Will Trent series
Spring Baking Championship series
Home Town series
Murder, She Wrote series

Poem of the Week: (throwback from March 2022)

Malignant narcissist
Whose currency is abject fear
Forgets that true power
Is not making them kneel
And basking in their submission
But having them lower themselves
To kiss your filthy feet
Of their own devoted volition

Girl hungry: Friday Update

01 Friday Mar 2024

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News:

I received my contributor copies of Question Not My Salt yesterday. Sometimes I’m at a loss how to stage a book, but QNMS has a built-in background in most homes. It’s really exciting to hold a book someone else chose to publish.

If you’re interested in joining a read-along for the month of March, I’m a guest author at the Goodreads group Horror Aficionados. You can comment on the book or ask questions in an interview style, and I’m contractually bound in blood to answer. It’s a short, propelling read, so if you can stomach the subject matter, it should be a lot of fun.

“Hell Come Home,” my sad, sweet, quiet Christmas horror story won 2nd place in the Shallow Waters flash fiction contest at the Crystal Lake Patreon.

In real life news, I had my first real interview for a job this week. It went really well, despite a scheduling snafu and realizing I didn’t have much in the way of nice clothes left since the last time I was this size. Most of my wardrobe is casual. I managed to find one decent outfit, though, and I bought more and plan to shop some more later today, so crisis averted. May I just say that mastering the elastic waistband rather than rigid fastening on work slacks is a game-changing feat of fashion technology?

Works in Progress:

I’m still relaxing a bit at the moment, which isn’t to say that I’m not working. I wrote two more short stories, edited two, and now I need to edit the last one. Then I’ll probably start my editing projects. But I also want to finally finish reading IT, too, so that might come first.

I’m also starting a poetry project this month for the seasonal poetry collection coming out in September, and I’ll probably do something a little different with the Crow Calls prompts, play around with lyrical or longer poetry instead of short flash pieces. So the Poem of the Week going forward for this month will be from a previous March, I think.

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:

Fleurie
Svrcina
Blacklist playlist
Abyss/Ascent playlist

Things I’m Watching:

Martyrs
Thanksgiving
The Predator
Viral
Dead Silence
Bone Tomahawk
Buffy the Vampire Slayer series (watchalong)
Angel series (watchalong)
CSI series
NCIS series
NCIS: Hawaii series
Home Town series
Murder, She Wrote series

Poem of the Week:

cracks in the ground
widen into caverns
the rivers ripped
through now run dry
leaving empty beds with
unquenchable thirst

You can never leave: Friday Update

16 Friday Feb 2024

Posted by in A Few Thoughts, Novelettes/Novellas, Novels, Poetry, Series, Writing

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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?

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

Blue Christmas: Friday Update

22 Friday Dec 2023

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News:

My flash fiction “The Green Room,” a rare-for-me historical story about an early haunted house attraction, is posted for $5 and up tiers at Crystal Lake for the Shallow Waters flash fiction contest. I’m going to be honest, the fact I wrote and edited it while overwhelmed in November is evident to me, but I still like it, and I wrote it to explore an idea that I might end up running with in a novella or novel later. The theme for this month was Reflections for the end of the year.

In other news, we’ve finalized the back cover copy for Question Not My Salt:

Come for Thanksgiving Dinner. Stay for the Feast.

Sierra’s first American Thanksgiving promises to be unforgettable when her college roommate, Zoe, invites her to the Samuels family feast. But as the ten-hour banquet unfolds, it becomes clear this is no ordinary holiday gathering.

With everyone bound by a chilling rule—eat and drink exactly as served, and enjoy it, or face dire consequences—the traditional celebration quickly takes a dark and macabre turn. Will Sierra survive the Samuels’ sinister hospitality or become part of a feast far more horrifying than she could have ever imagined?

Question Not My Salt is a gripping tale blending the terror of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre with the culinary horror of Hannibal and The Menu.

I don’t have a hard date for pre-orders and release, but we’re aiming for February 2024. I’ve also updated my Content Warnings page with the extensive warnings for QNMS. It’s a short novel, but it’s pretty packed. Great fun, though.

Works in Progress:

I finished other name‘s Tattered & Torn (Meridian 6) at 118,394 words. About 8K of those words were cut when I starting rewriting the beginning, but I kept them in the file to continue measuring total word count. It’s an average-sized Meridian novel, but man, this last week was not fun at all. I couldn’t accomplish the 5K/day that I’ve been doing before because my attention span was completely shot. I think I overdid it by working at that pace, plus editing, since mid-October. It’s hard for me to tell myself that this is work when I’m essentially not paid and I generally enjoy myself. I continually have to remind myself that I am, in fact, working and I can, in fact, burn out. I also have a mild sinus infection. However, this puts me much later in the month than I wanted to finish the novel, which creates a dilemma.

Over the next few days through Christmas, I’ll be working on less demanding short fiction. Then I have to start the next Meridian novel and try to be finished by mid-January, which will demand a return to the 5K/day word count. I’ll take New Year’s off, and probably most of Christmas, too. Let’s see if I can make this last push to get this writing sabbatical closed out.

Of course, I’m still writing plenty in the new year, but once I get a job, I’ll have to return to grabbing time as I can find it, and I won’t be doing as much short fiction.

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:

Godzilla Minus One (so good)
Alien: Covenant
A Castle for Christmas
Where Are You, Christmas?
Christmas Inheritance
A Christmas Prince: The Royal Baby
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
Hoarders series
White Collar series
Buffy the Vampire Slayer series
Found series
Transplant series
Murder, She Wrote series

Poem of the Week:

Is that thought mine?

Does it belong to me or
arise from the sticky muck
of memory of someone else’s
voice and motivation?

Let those with eyes say aye
Let those with ears hear through
the canal and from within
Do you seek? Do ye find?
Do you have another glass of wine?

Disassociation with a demon
paint by numbers Did I mean
to make this picture was this
on the front of the box?

I swear I didn’t do that
I wouldn’t do that
How can you think I would do that?
What kind of person do you take me for?

And which one?

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?

In the pitch black night: Friday Update

27 Friday Oct 2023

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

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News:

Finally got the paperback for Puppeteer (Thorns 4) up on Amazon, so I should be able to share my Puppeteer playlist here soon when I get a minute.

My very short story “Sight Unseen” is out now in Novus Monstrum from Dragon’s Roost Press. I’ve written some pretty nasty things in my time, but “Sight Unseen” is what one might call ‘cozy horror.’ The editor’s eleven-year-old niece was a big fan, and I told my parents that this was one they could read. Sometimes I just like to write a nice spooky story. I think a lot of people of my generation who just want to be able to afford a house will really appreciate this one.

“Caregiver” seems to be doing well in advanced reviews for The Book of Queer Saints Volume II, including in this review in Ghouls Magazine. The QS2 ebook is actually available for pre-order now, to be delivered to your Kindle on October 31 for Halloween.

Yesterday, I took part in my first Twitter pitch party, PitDark, which is specifically for horror and horror-adjacent works. I’d witnessed them in the past but hadn’t had a finished project to pitch. It’s not ideal with Twitter as it is now, and due to the fact that it mines tweets for AI use, but I really wanted to give it a shot. Honestly, pitches in general are very similar in structure even when people do them, and I’m not too fussed about AI knowing how to do it, too. It’s the flash poetry I share that’s more of a problem. I don’t know what I’m going to do about that. If I put them in an image, it’s common courtesy to include ALT text, but then the ALT text can be mined… What a minefield.

However, as far as the pitch party goes, I did end up getting some like-requests for both things that I pitched. It’s no guarantee of anything, but it’s still pretty cool to have interest.

In real-life news, I’ve had two physical therapy sessions, and my therapist gave me exercises to do at home to help between sessions. The first session, I had a lot of weakness and resultant pain, but just a week later with the exercises, my strength has improved a lot, and differently than healing without the exercises. I’m out of the boot again and can walk almost normally in shoes. Still struggling barefoot, especially on hard floors, but my legs are definitely in a better state to support the injured muscle, and my gait is a little smoother than it was pre-reinjury. I’ll be back to PT in two weeks, and I have new exercises to do, so we’ll see where we are then.

I also finished another trip around the sun, and I’m closer to forty than I feel I should be. I don’t particularly like birthdays or New Year’s. I’m always so disappointed with where I am. My writing is about all I have to be proud of at any given time. However, regardless of how I feel, I can still enjoy the best doughnuts in the DFW area, have a wonderful birthday dinner and eclair cake, and plan for a pedicure next month (so a broken toenail can heal, no relation to the leg injury).

Works in Progress:

I’m still working on In the Dollhouse We All Wait, hoping to hit 70K tonight. I entered in my last few chapter names, so the end is actually in sight, although I’m still not positive how the last chapter is going to go. I have options, but I’ll probably decide when I get there. I’m still hoping to finish before the end of the month. Before Halloween would be even better, so I can have a short break before hitting NaNoWriMo, when I’m planning to finish two novels, even though I’ll probably have some edits to do in between meeting word counts.

Two novels in November for other name, and maybe two novels in December, for other name and mine? It’ll all depend on the editing demands, really.

However, although I went into it knowing that it would be very extreme horror, I think I’ve decided that ITDWAW is a very ugly story. There’s not even much in the way of humor. I think Question Not My Salt has a little delight to be found, but not Dollhouse. And maybe there’s a place for very ugly stories, but I don’t know how I feel about writing it right now. I want to finish it, no question, especially when I’m so close and the writing is moving smoothly, but I don’t know when I’ll get back to it for edits.

Books I’m Reading:

IT by Stephen King
Discount Armageddon by Seanan McGuire
The First Five Minutes of the Apocalypse edited by Brandon Applegate
This World Belongs to Us edited by Michael W. Phillips, Jr.

Music I’m Listening To:

Halloween playlist
Thorns series playlists
Hannibal playlist

Things I’m Watching:

The Menu
The Exorcist
The Great British Baking Show series
Halloween Wars series
Halloween Baking Championships series
Outrageous Pumpkins series
Buffy the Vampire Slayer series
Scream Queens series
Kitchen Nightmares series
Good Bones series
Helix series

Poem of the Week:

Submerge in slime,
surrounded by gross. A
person can get used to
anything. A rhyming verse
stripped of its second,
taboo of the perverse
becoming normal when no
longer forbidden fruit—
cruelty easier than you
might believe of yourself.