News:

Nothing professional this week.

I think my gig work is getting to me. I’m so focused on my tasks, which is the part I enjoy, but I think shopping and driving hit me with a lot of stimulation that I don’t consciously process. I started feeling really overwhelmed and despairing on Tuesday, couldn’t concentrate on my editing, so I went out and did a few more jobs that night to feel like I could accomplish something and ended the day feeling dead inside. Then, on Wednesday, which is my ‘weekend’ but I still couldn’t concentrate, I went to bed early (for me) and set my alarm an hour later. I slept nine hours total and felt a little better afterward. I’m still not a hundred percent, but I think I need to remember to prioritize my sleep. I’m also still having a medical recurrence. It’s not dire, just uncomfortable.

The heat isn’t helping either, and since my car A/C is struggling above eighty degrees, it probably needs repairing before we head into ninety and hundred degree days (this summer is forecast to be even hotter), which isn’t helping my stress levels. Depending on the repair, it’ll cost two weeks’ work or a month and a half’s work. I’m supposed to be rebuilding savings here, but my car’s demanded a lot of my money lately. I believe it’s tax deductible, since I work contract delivery, but since I’m poverty-level already, I’m not sure that helps much.

Works in Progress:

I finished the first flash piece and submitted it. Then I wrote the second, but just as I was ready to submit it, I reread the sub call and discovered that the deadline was two days earlier, not the end of the month like I thought. That really took the wind out of my sails, which might have been a contributing factor to the above. I was super proud of both pieces, and I just had to put the second one in the trunk. I don’t know when I’ll have the opportunity to use it, since horror sub calls have gone down considerably.

Once I was able to concentrate again, I got back into editing Tooth & Claw (Meridian Book 7). I’m only a fourth of the way through the first round. I don’t think I’ll finish edits by end of the month, but I’ll complete the first round of edits, then pause and do the second edit of Masque so that I can submit it to the Quill & Crow sub call for novels coming in May. Then I’ll finish up T&C (M7).

I’m also playing with ideas for Meridian Book 8. I feel like I have a good concept, but not a story yet. I’ll continue turning it over in my head.

Books I’m Reading:

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

Things I’m Listening To:

Agnes Obel
Svrcina
Hadestown Original Broadway soundtrack
Halestorm by Halestorm
Heart of a Hurricane (Extended) by Beyond the Black

Things I’m Watching:

Oddity
Wolf Man (2025)
Sinners
Celebrity Jeopardy series (finished)
Ghosts (US) series
Will Trent series
Watson series
Elsbeth series
CSI: NY series
Slasher: Guilty Party series
S.W.A.T. series (finished)
Brooklyn Nine-Nine series
The Bondsman series