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She devil: Friday Update

03 Friday Oct 2025

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News:

Nothing this week either.

Works in Progress:

I managed to reach my goal of crossing 40K words before the end of September on Never & Forever (Meridian Book 8). I should pass 47K words by the end of the day. It’s still a lot of fun, but although my goal word count is 95K words, I suspect I’m going to go well over due to overwriting issues. This is what happens when I have 1K-word days. It takes me five hundred words to properly get back into the scene, and then it takes me five hundred words again the next day, ad nauseum. However, I’m still very pleased with where it is and where it’s going. The center is holding.

Books I’m Reading:

Raising Loki: A Memoir by Elliot Manarin
Rose Madder by Stephen King

Things I’m Listening To:

Halloween playlist

Things I’m Watching:

Knock at the Cabin
White Noise
Hannibal series
All Creatures Great and Small series
America’s Got Talent series
CSI series
CSI: NY series
Halloween Baking Championship series

Poem of the Week:

what do i have to do to get some
eyes in my direction? must i
enucleate the lot, keep them in a
glass jar so that i can direct your gaze?
or would you rather go blind staring
into the sun with cages for your eyelids
so that you cannot blink, only burn?
do i have your attention now?

Zombie room: Friday Update

26 Friday Sep 2025

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I’m putting up Halloween this week, which is always a good time, and after getting COVID/flu jabs and the accompanying side effects, plus the dog’s gastroenteritis, I needed that little hit of dopamine.

News:

Nothing to share at this point.

Works in Progress:

I miss getting a lot of word count in every week, which allowed me to move forward a lot faster and combat some of my natural impatience, but I’m still glad that the story is working enough for me to cross 30K. I wanted to be halfway through by the end of September, but that doesn’t look like it’s going to happen. I also wanted to be finished before the end of October, but that also doesn’t look like it’s going to happen, which disappoints me. I wanted to be working on We Follow You in the Dark rewrites during Halloween.

But I did get my first chapter in to the publisher so they could put it in at the end of Tooth & Claw (Meridian Book 7) as a teaser, and I sent in the official book information for Never & Forever (M8).

Books I’m Reading:

Raising Loki: A Memoir by Elliot Manarin
Rose Madder by Stephen King

Things I’m Listening To:

Halloween playlist

Things I’m Watching:

Hell Fest
Until Dawn
Nope
The Haunted Mansion (2003)
Abigail
Black Phone
CSI series
CSI: NY series
Halloween Baking Championship series

Poem of the Week:

bleached bones in a seated position
against the bone-dry boulder behind
rusted metal in a vehicle frame
a fitting headstone for the former
person who thought waiting for rescue
was easier than picking a direction

Chasing cars: Friday Update

19 Friday Sep 2025

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Had the absolute worst cramps I’ve had a very long time yesterday and had to cut my afternoon work short. Since starting this work, I’ve been able to work through the bad cramp days, but this was an 8-9 on my pain scale for about three hours, highly unpleasant, and pain amnesia means it all feels like a dream I had. Fortunately, they’ve receded to manageable or quiet since, but man, it was bad. And now I have to work this afternoon to make up for what I missed. Sigh.

News:

“Eviratum” has been posted on Crystal Lake’s Patreon as a finalist for this month’s flash fiction contest on the theme Music Horror. It doesn’t appear to be one of my more popular ones, but I’m still just happy I was able to write it.

Works in Progress:

I’m at 24,025 words on Never & Forever (Meridian Book 8), so around a quarter through, and I’m finally at the point that things start getting more interesting (on a supernatural level). I had to pause the writing on Wednesday and Thursday to edit the first chapter and send it in so it could be included as a sneak peek in Tooth & Claw (M7, coming out in October).

I’m still happy with the story, and this is around where I kept getting stuck on all previous incarnations of T&C, so I assume N&F is still a good story to work on, which is such a relief.

Books I’m Reading:

Raising Loki: A Memoir by Elliot Manarin
Rose Madder by Stephen King

Things I’m Listening To:

Halloween playlist

Things I’m Watching:

Stir of Echoes
The Long Walk
The Monkey
The Rookie series (finished)
Matlock series
CSI series
CSI: NY series
Wear Whatever the F You Want series
Halloween Baking Championship series
Hoarders series
The Rookie series

Poem of the Week:

corvid conversations calm me in the morning
mockingbird repertoires incense me at night
and i admire the wrens’ full-throated song
for despite their size they trill like bullets
in the distance the kites call to their mate
while the mourning dove mourns hers

Rocking chair: Friday Update

12 Friday Sep 2025

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News:

I shared yesterday that I have another book being indie published, this time by Crystal Lake’s extreme horror imprint Torrid Waters, which published my last extreme horror novel, Question Not My Salt, too. In the Dollhouse We All Wait is full novel length around 90K words (QNMS is around 55K), and it is highly unpleasant. However, I devoted all my effort in this novel to unflinching horror, so if you can tolerate the trigger warnings, I hope you (don’t) enjoy yourselves. It should come out in 2026.

When I sign a contract for a long-form piece, I get cake. So I had an impromptu tea party with Erin last week, as you can see.

“Infiltration,” which is one of my favorite horror stories that I’ve written, came out on September 7 through the Sans. Press anthology Out There, about horror beyond boundaries. “Infiltration” is a beautiful seaside love story during a strange red tide. You can get the book in ebook, paperback, and hardback.

I received my final outstanding rejections for poems in A Nightmare for All Seasons. That means that, as soon as I finished my present WIP, I’ll finish out the seasonal horror poetry collection, just in time to enjoy the Halloween Parade. It’s pretty much done, just need to check the extra page matter and get a proof copy to make sure everything’s good.

Works in Progress:

The words sometimes flow better than other times, but I’m keeping up with my word count goals, other than on Monday when I was sick and headache-y. I was really worried I wasn’t going to be able to write it, but though I’m not in love with everything I’ve written so far, it’s a lot easier to fix words that are there versus not there, and I’m still happy with the story itself. Having trouble grounding characterization, but maybe it’ll get easier when I change my characters’ venue.

I’m presently at 17K words, with a general goal of 85K.

Books I’m Reading:

Raising Loki: A Memoir by Elliot Manarin
Rose Madder by Stephen King

Things I’m Listening To:

Halloween playlist

Things I’m Watching:

Deadgirl
Will Trent series (finished)
Matlock series
CSI series
CSI: NY series
Wear Whatever the F You Want series
Halloween Baking Championship series
Hoarders series
The Rookie series

Poem of the Week:

i ruminate as i masticate
crisp autumn leaves
anticipating a harvest apple
crunch but this cinnamon
season often disappoints:
a belly of decay and
a throat on fire

Broken and strewn: Friday Update

22 Friday Aug 2025

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News:

Stuff is happening, but nothing that I can share yet.

Works in Progress:

I wrote one short story. It was supposed to be flash, but it’s too long to cut it down that far. I set it aside in the trunk to wait for something more appropriate for it. I’ve started on another flash fiction piece, but because I had stuff I was doing Wednesday, I didn’t get as much done on it as I’d hoped, and I want to get it done before I start Never & Forever (Meridian Book 8).

It doesn’t help that my attention span is still suffering and I seem to be suffering a case of the writer yips. I’m nervous I won’t be able to write the novel that I promised, especially since the last time I tried to write a novel, it didn’t work at all.

Books I’m Reading:

The Fisherman by John Langan (finished)
Raising Loki: A Memoir by Elliot Manarin
Texas Bigfoot by Lyle Blackburn

Things I’m Listening To:

Pop music playlist
Abyss/Ascent playlist
Wonderland soundtrack
The Andrew Lloyd Webber Collection by Sarah Brightman
Beauty and the Beast live action soundtrack
The Best Damn Thing by Avril Lavigne

Things I’m Watching:

Weapons
Will Trent series
CSI series
Private Practice series
9-1-1: Lone Star series
Say Yes to the Dress: Tan France series
America’s Got Talent series
Hoarders series
The Rookie series
NCIS series

Poem of the Week: (throwback)

it’s important to really
probe at the issue
find the origins of the trauma
let’s really dig deep down
into the meat of things
with a serrated spoon
widen the incision
let the blood and lymph
and creamy pus out
carve your way to the
bottom of your behaviors
and figure out why on earth
you’d be in pain

It’s too hot for theft: Friday Update

01 Friday Aug 2025

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The title reference is that someone took items out of my cart and stole it, along with 2/3 of a large iced chai latte on the hottest day yet. I had a meltdown in the middle of Market Street. I realized how ridiculous it was while it was happening, but usually by that point, it’s too late to stop and most often an accumulation of grievances that goes beyond the instigating event. So I’m tired today, but I feel better. (I did buy another iced chai latte, but I wasn’t happy about it.)

News:

Nothing to share this week.

Works in Progress:

I wrote, edited, and submitted two short stories, and now I think I’m going to take a short break until I get the proofread of Tooth & Claw (Meridian Book 7). I have books I want to finish and a tired brain. I’ve still been submitting in the background, but you just never know what’s going to stick.

I also made an e-book cover for a story that I have trouble categorizing. I’m not even sure if it’s more representative of this name or my other name, although I wrote it for this one. It’s pretty cool that I made a cover, though. It’ll be ready when I figure out what to do with the story.

Books I’m Reading:

The Fisherman by John Langan
Raising Loki: A Memoir by Elliot Manarin
Texas Bigfoot by Lyle Blackburn

Things I’m Listening To:

Fourth of July playlist
Under My Skin by Avril Lavigne

Things I’m Watching:

Found series
CSI series
9-1-1 series
The Amazing Race series (finished)
Say Yes to the Dress: Tan France series
America’s Got Talent series
Brooklyn Nine-Nine series (finished)

Poem of the Week:

the trees are tired
yet still majestic despite
the abject failure of
heedless curators
whose denial is their
greatest betrayal
to themselves and those
they are charged to serve
if we must use the ax
we must also bear the spade

For what it’s worth: Friday Update

25 Friday Jul 2025

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News:

“Sins of the Asylum,” a deeply gothic lyric poem, appeared in Gathered Here Today from Graveside Press, an open casket anthology of poetry and illustrations. You can get it cheaper direct from the press.

All seventeen Mystical Listicles stories have been posted at Crystal Lake’s Patreon, and voting is open to $5/month tiers and above for another 20 hours or so. I think the theme was a big hit this month—in part because it was about form rather than content and lent itself to a greater variety in subject—and I reiterate how much fun I had putting together the finalists. I would love to do it again.

Works in Progress:

I finished Tooth & Claw (Meridian Book 7) edits and sent them to my publisher. I should receive the proofreading edits next week. In the meantime, I’m tackling some short stories before the end of the month, some of them for calls and some of them just for the heck of it. I might even do that creative nonfiction piece I want to write about Mary Reilly, too. As soon as T&C(M7) is completely finished, I’m really nervous about doing Never & Forever (M8) because my attention span is still kind of shot, but I guess I’ll just take it a day at a time.

Books I’m Reading:

The Fisherman by John Langan
Raising Loki: A Memoir by Elliot Manarin
Texas Bigfoot by Lyle Blackburn

Things I’m Listening To:

Hannibal soundtracks
Fourth of July playlist
Emilie Autumn

Things I’m Watching:

The Amateur
Con Air
Found series
CSI series
9-1-1 series
The Amazing Race series
Say Yes to the Dress: Tan France series
America’s Got Talent series
Brooklyn Nine-Nine series

Poem of the Week:

flowers someone else leaves
makes for a charming host
but i would never leave you
i miss you the most
i feast on your grave
raise a livelier toast
your headstone a pillow
i sleep with your ghost


Pendulum falls: Friday Update

04 Friday Jul 2025

Posted by in A Few Thoughts, Novelettes/Novellas, Writing

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News:

The Mystical Listicles have begun! 17 horror flash fiction pieces will be posted to the Crystal Lake Patreon this month, for $5/month tiers and up to read and vote on. The titles alone made me happy, but I had a really good time reading these submissions, and I would absolutely do this again. It’s on my bucket list to edit an anthology.

Tattered & Torn (Meridian Book 6), under my other name, is out now! A fallen angel with empath abilities and a pair of police detectives who handle the more mysterious cases in Meridian join up when the angel falls and children start going feral on the city streets.

Works in Progress:

Working on May Cooler Heads Prevail continues apace. Wednesday helped me leap forward a bit, and I’m on holiday today and tomorrow, albeit with family at home, so I might get some more work done on it. There’s no rush. Based on my calculations, I’ll need about another three months to meet an editing budget. Making not much money isn’t fun, but I suppose it’s better than not making any.

Books I’m Reading:

The Fisherman by John Langan
Raising Loki: A Memoir by Elliot Manarin
Haunted Plano, Texas by Mary Jacobs (finished)
Texas Bigfoot by Lyle Blackburn

Things I’m Listening To:

The Blacklist playlist
The Ring/The Ring 2 soundtrack
Hannibal soundtracks
The Silent Force by Within Temptation
Songbird by Eva Cassidy

Things I’m Watching:

Red Lights
Dracula Reborn (Tubi, not good, but had to try)
Predator
Hamilton
CSI: NY series
CSI series
Doctor Odyssey series
America’s Got Talent series
Home Town series
Home Town Takeover series
Brooklyn Nine-Nine series

Poem of the Week:

the subsistence of memory
a bright point of remembrance
in a pitch-black sea of forgotten
and psychedelic colors of fabrication
of what are we made? what happened
or the hand-stitched scrap quilt
we cobbled together of prisms
black holes and singularities?

Like ants in a hill-fire: Friday Update

27 Friday Jun 2025

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News:

My plague poem “Sacrificial” came out in The Cleansing Power of Fire from Infested Publishing on June 21.

“From Black Clouds” comes out today in Kosmos Obscura from Graveside Press. If you buy it directly from Graveside, it’s $1 cheaper, so if you have a yen for some cosmic horror, head here. Storm horror is my jam. It haunts my dreams, so it haunts my fiction.

We’re nearing the end of the opportunity to submit for next month’s Shallow Waters contest, under theme Mystical Listicles, with yours truly selecting the finalists. The sub call ends at the close of June 30.

Works in Progress:

I finally finished editing Tooth & Claw (Meridian Book 7), worked up the synopsis, and sent it in, but I’m kind of ashamed that I kept missing important emails from my publishers while I was struggling to get things done the last two months. I check that email regularly for a few weeks at a time, then stop for a while, and naturally, that’s when the emails were sent. So embarrassing and unprofessional of me—a tragedy of errors. I swear I’m not ignoring emails on purpose.

I’m supposed to work on May Cooler Heads Prevail next, which is a harder and harder story to handle as cooler heads continue to not prevail and actions continue to not have consequences. I can’t deal with this world at all. I don’t know how to function when things don’t at least sometimes work as they should. Maybe Cooler Heads will end up autobiographical if things keep making my brain short out.

Books I’m Reading:

The Fisherman by John Langan
Raising Loki: A Memoir by Elliot Manarin
Haunted Plano, Texas by Mary Jacobs

Things I’m Listening To:

The Blacklist playlist
Reputation by Taylor Swift
The Shadow Theory by Kamelot
Showtime, Storytime by Nightwish

Things I’m Watching:

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom
Jurassic World: Dominion
Nefarious
28 Weeks Later
Trainwreck: Poop Cruise
Ocean’s Thirteen
CSI: NY series
Doctor Odyssey series
America’s Got Talent series
Home Town series
Home Town Takeover series
Abbott Elementary series (finished)
Brooklyn Nine-Nine series

Poem of the Week:

smoke on the horizon like clouds pluming to the atmosphere
into anvils with black underbellies with static electricity
smoke on the wind without the benefit of hickory breathe
in the poison particles piercing filters and penetrating cilia
smoke on my mind with a fire in the sky and poison in my blood
scattering in the cells like atmospheric ice released in rain

Breathe: Friday Update

20 Friday Jun 2025

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News:

My steamy little horror flash fiction, “Origami,” posted on the Crystal Lake Patreon for this month’s Shallow Waters theme of Satanic Panic. ($5/month tier and up)

Works in Progress:

I feel like I’ve been working on Tooth & Claw (Meridian Book 7) forever, but I’m close to the end. I think I’m just tired. Once it’s done, I’ll probably write a few short stories before hitting May Cooler Heads Prevail, hopefully to prepare for self-publishing. I have a few short pieces I might put together as well, to hold until I can afford something more substantial.

I’m still waiting on an acceptance/rejection for some poetry before publishing A Nightmare for All Seasons. Sigh.

Books I’m Reading:

The Fisherman by John Langan
Raising Loki: A Memoir by Elliot Manarin
Haunted Plano, Texas by Mary Jacobs

Things I’m Listening To:

Silent Hill playlist
The Blacklist playlist
Reputation by Taylor Swift

Things I’m Watching:

Smile
Jurassic World
Jeopardy Masters series (finished)
CSI: NY series
Brooklyn Nine-Nine series
The Equalizer series (finished)

Poem of the Week:

that thing in the field was once a tree
in a field of green it is surrounded by gray
darkening to the black of obsidian glass
where lightning has charred it a hundredfold strikes
into a stub of gnarled bark and twisted rings
above the tangle of roots as though it tried
to climb from underground to escape
and curls there now like the memories of corpses
in the excavated ashes of Pompeii