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
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
Handful of rejections for the new year. I suspect there won’t be much news until February.
Works in Progress:
Burn out is still in play right now, so I’m moving more slowly through my second short story, but I am moving. I think I’m going to get the next two short stories under my belt as well, since they’re both under 2K words. I’m in a bit of an ideas slump. It happens, and it’s not a problem in and of itself, since I have a surplus of ideas I’ve already written down that I can work on instead. But I managed to come up with two new things for a couple anthology calls.
Due to deadlines, I think I’ll tackle edits for novelette Hear You Scream and novella A Woman Alone next. Then the Meridian novel, Silver & Steel.
Books I’m Reading:
IT by Stephen King This World Belongs to Us edited by Michael W. Phillips, Jr. (finished) Midnight Blue-Light Special by Seanan McGuire Ending in Ashes by Rebecca Jones-Howe
Music I’m Listening To:
Christmas playlist (It’s still the Christmas season. 12 days of Christmas, y’all. I’ve gone through the entire collection, and now I’m hitting my favorites. Then I’ll move on.)
Things I’m Watching:
Better Watch Out The Mummy (2017) 30 Days of Night Great British Baking Show: Holiday Edition series Holiday Baking Championship series (finished) Christmas Cookie Challenge series (finished) Monk series (Season 5 finished. New Year’s tradition, we watch a new season every year.) Hoarders series Buffy the Vampire Slayer series (watchalong) Angel series (watchalong) Transplant series Murder, She Wrote series
Poem of the Week:
waiting behind the reservoir of damned disease thick magma of mucus in colors of a bruise swollen face and swollen lymph nodes nymphs burst from oothecae on a single cell level a wet cough and a dry mouth rattling
No writing news, unless you count voting being open for the Crystal Lake Shallow Waters flash fiction contest, of which my story “The Green Room” is a finalist.
In personal news, my injury kept me from maintaining my heavy aerobic exercise regimen, which is necessary to combat a multitude of issues that have come roaring back these last few months. I’m up to 25 minutes on the elliptical, and I may try doing two days at a time instead of every other day, because I didn’t have any problems with that yesterday. However, it’s slow going bringing that exercise back up, and it looks like I have to get back on metformin in the meantime. We’ll see what the real damage is when the rest of my blood work comes in. It’s not unexpected. Just really disappointing to lose all my health gains.
Works in Progress:
Family time and what I’ve officially diagnosed as untimely burn out have minimized my progress this last week. I’ve written most of a short story and I may manage one more before the end of the year. Then I’ll try to write another Meridian novel, but I’m off by a month, and I’m not used to that while on sabbatical. (It was de rigueur while working.) Depending on submission call deadlines, I might edit erotic horror novella A Woman Alone first, which would help with the burn out. But I would still need to finish the next Meridian novel mid-January, which is when I need to pivot to work for which I’m actually paid. I’m really anxious about that, not least because I don’t fit into clothes right now and I donated all my clothes from when I was last this shape.
I’ll do an end-of-year retrospective with stats on New Year’s Eve. That’s where I’ll be.
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:
Violent Night Evil Dead Rise Black Christmas (1974) Black Christmas (2006) It’s a Wonderful Life A Muppet Christmas Carol The Christmas Calendar Holiday Baking Championship series Holiday Wars series (finished) Elf on the Shelf: Sweet Showdown series (finished) Christmas Cookie Challenge series Great American Baking Show: Holiday Edition series (finished) Hoarders series Buffy the Vampire Slayer series Angel series Transplant series Murder, She Wrote series
Poem of the Week:
i cannot believe there was a time when i thought the world made some kind of sense
because as bad as things have become i know it’s just a matter of place of context and access
perspective through twisting kaleidoscope geometric glass in mirror but hard to see beauty in smoke
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?
Got my proofreading edit of Question Not My Salt in last weekend and finished it on Wednesday, so that’s all done and ready for when ARCs are offered out. While I was reading through it, I was really surprised that I managed to get some really interesting word choices into such a pulpy story. Don’t have to sacrifice quality in pulp. You can make extreme horror beautiful, too.
That means that I wasn’t able to get Tattered & Torn (Meridian 6) finished when I wanted to (today), and I wasn’t able to work at all yesterday, but I’ll be shooting for finishing on Monday or Tuesday now. I’m not sure how I feel about the ending, not least because I’m improvising, so it might need a rewrite at some point, but I’d like to have the structure in place to work with. Because this has taken me farther into December than I thought, I’ll push some of my short stories to later and just write the one due before the end of the month after I finish Tattered & Torn. Then I need to write the next Meridian novel, but I don’t think I’ll finish before the end of 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:
A Christmas Prince: Royal Wedding Christmas Wedding Planner A Biltmore Christmas A Cinderella Christmas Christmas with a View Krampus Black Christmas (2019) The Nightmare Before Christmas 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 Hoarders series The Mentalist series White Collar series Buffy the Vampire Slayer series Found series Transplant series Murder, She Wrote series
Poem of the Week:
so desperately want to imagine another sentence after the period because we cannot imagine the space before the sentence, to believe in ghosts, finish unfinished business. we all love closure, but sometimes the period is at the end of an ellipsis.
The Shallow Waters Flash Fiction contest voting is underway. If you needed Halloween to last longer, the Trick ‘r Treat theme will ease the transition into the winter holidays. Voting ends Monday.
And speaking of winter holidays: If you like to listen to your fiction, my cryptid story “Footprints” is officially up on The Other Stories podcast (free). It was inspired by Christmas in the Ozarks, so it’s perfect to ring in the new spooky season.
Works in Progress:
Starting tomorrow, I have to return to double duty by doing the last-look edit for Avarice & Creed (Meridian 4) for my other name. First-round edits were relatively easy, and the last look should be even easier, but maintaining the 5K-word-per-day goal is hard enough without adding onto it, and I’m already exhausted, my routine thoroughly off. I pushed the 150K-word goal to be stressful on purpose so that it was the equivalent of difficulty that other people have with the typical 50K-word goal, and with the expectation I’d have to do some editing, too. But I’m running out of oomph.
However, after a few days of pulling teeth to determine how I liked this newest Meridian novel that I’m working on for the 150K goal, Tattered & Torn (Meridian 6), I started over from a different perspective and at a different point in the story, and all of a sudden it started flowing better. It’s still not necessarily my favorite of the Meridian novels, but I’m enjoying myself a lot more. I’m presently at 39,014 words for the novel and 115,094 words for the whole month.
I can make it to 150K words. I can do it. Then, although I’ll keep with the 5K/day goal, I can stop writing if I have to edit. Which is good, because Question Not My Salt first-round edits are swiftly approaching.
Books I’m Reading:
IT by Stephen King 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:
Halloween playlist Fleurie Maury Yeston’s Phantom Carter Cathcart’s Possessed – The Dracula Musical Dracula: Swing of Death by Jorn Lande & Trond Holter Moulin Rouge! movie soundtracks Reanimate covers by Halestorm Prince of Egypt soundtrack Piece by Piece by Kelly Clarkson Dreaming Through the Noise by Vienne Teng Enchant by Emilie Autumn Enchantment by Charlotte Church Encore: Movie Partners Sing Broadway by Barbra Streisand Closer by Josh Groban dont smile at me by Billie Eilish Dream With Me by Jackie Evancho Mother Earth by Within Temptation
Things I’m Watching:
The Wolfman The Messengers Solace Holiday Baking Championship series Great British Baking Show series Buffy the Vampire Slayer series Scream Queens series Kitchen Nightmares series Good Bones series (finished) Hoarders series NCIS series CSI series Dancing with the Stars series White Collar series The Mentalist series
Poem of the Week:
I know your face. I know your name. I know the tread of your shoes and your awkward gait. I know the shape of your spine when you finish. I know the scritch scritch scritch of your nails on my shoulders. I know where you walk, eat, breathe, sleep. I am the monster under your bed, reaching for your hand, your face, scritch scritch scritching your floorboards. Look over your shoulder and stumble into an open grave. How wide are my eyes now, killer?
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
My short story “Swallowed” was posted for this month’s Crystal Lake Shallow Waters flash fiction contest, themed Trick ‘r Treat. So if spooky season doesn’t last long enough for you, celebrate an extended Halloween all through November with this month’s stories. ($5 tier and up)
Under Her Eye: A Woman in Poetry Showcase Vol II came out this week. Under Her Eye is a charity anthology of domestic horror poetry. A portion of the sales goes to an international organization to end violence against women. I don’t sell a ton of poetry (it’s a really difficult market), but I’m honored to have my poem “A Woman Possessed” as a part of this anthology.
I also received news that Dear Human at the Edge of Time, a collection of poems about climate change, received the 2023 Best Book Award in the Poetry Anthology category. My poem “Displaced” was a part of this one.
Sad news to report, though. Quill & Crow Publishing’s gothic horror magazine The Crow’s Quill is ending after December. They really helped give me my start with shorter pieces, so it’s disappointing that they’re closing. The zines should remain available for at least another year for 2022 issues and two years for 2023 issues, and they’re free to read.
In more sad news, that portfolio of some of the best poems I’ve written didn’t get taken up, but I did get a personalized note on one them, so that was decent. I had to sit in my unhappiness for a while and wrote another poem to feel better.
On the leg injury front, I continue to have improvement by following all my exercises, and I can tell the lower part of my lower leg is stronger than the last time I reached this point in my healing, but I’m still struggling with my gait while barefoot. I’m a hair away from normal, though, when I’m wearing shoes. I have new exercises to do, and I’ve been cleared to use the elliptical machine again for up to fifteen minutes every other day, which I’m super excited about.
My PT always exclaims how hyperflexible my feet are when I go up on my toes, unusually so, like ballerina feet, and he asks me if I’m hyperflexible everywhere else. I have some double-jointed fingers, but no. I’m just ridiculously elated that I’m flexible in at least one area of my body. Going the other way, flexing my toes back toward my knees, the foot on my injured leg only reaches half as far as my left, but it’s an improvement. It didn’t used to bend past ninety degrees at all.
Works in Progress:
I finished In the Dollhouse We All Wait on November 5, total word count of 116,160 words. It was significantly longer than anticipated, given that I’d forecast about 70-80K words. I’ll have to cut it down significantly, I think—at least under 90K if I want to try to send it off to places that accept extreme horror. But as I opined last time, I’m not sure how I feel about this story and how ugly it is in a very specific way. I accomplished certain things that I set out to do, among which was writing an absolutely awful woman villain, because we need more of them. Even so, I’m not sure what place this story has. However, sometimes writing something hits as more extreme than the reading of it, because I’m more immersed in the world rather than with a barrier of a page. In any case, I’m shelving it for a while to get other writing projects done, like I usually do with projects to get some perspective for edits.
The next day, I immediately turned around and started Lost & Alone, intending it to be the sixth book in the Meridian series under my other name, but I’d already anticipated that it might end up too short for the series. It would need to be at least above 70K after edits, during which I usually make significant cuts to the word count, and I’m not sure it’s even going to cross 60K here. If that’s the case, I’ll reconfigure it as a standalone novella. It’s the least Meridian-y of the Meridian novels, since it’s a prequel set well before Meridian becomes a bustling urban center. Like, oh no, I have a stray novella to sell…say it ain’t so.
It does mean that I’ll probably have to add another Meridian novel to my writing line-up this year as I wrap up my writing sabbatical, which is not ideal. Really wish I had another year to work on the long things on my docket, but I just don’t know how. I’m also dreading heading back into the general workforce. Despite ample evidence to the contrary, I tend to not feel like a competent and capable human being, so I’m worried I’m going to screw things up, on multiple levels.
As far as general NaNoWriMo word counts go, I’m at 48K and heading for crossing the 50K line today after finishing this post, which puts me on schedule with a little cushion, if needed.
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:
Nocturne playlist Taylor Swift Joanne by Lady Gaga Jordin Sparks debut Kerosene by Miranda Lambert Kill the One You Love by GEMS Kill the Sun by Xandria Laced/Unlaced by Emilie Autumn Princess Pepper playlists on YT Don’t Panic! playlists on YT My Witchy Diary playlists on YT
Things I’m Watching:
Exorcist: The Beginning Alien vs. Predator Blade Blade II Blade: Trinity Halloween Wars series (completed) Halloween Cookie Challenge series (completed) Halloween Baking Championships series (completed) Outrageous Pumpkins series (completed) Great British Baking Show series Buffy the Vampire Slayer series Scream Queens series Kitchen Nightmares series Good Bones series Hoarders series Helix series NCIS series
Poem of the Week:
sometimes i see her the daughter that never will be sometimes i argue with her despair of what a bad mother i am sometimes i hold her in my arms after reading a book to her that i always wanted to share sometimes i want space from her but then i remember that she never was and never will be and i’m sad i’ll never know her she’ll always just be a voice a baby a child a teenager an adult that could have been
The Book of Queer Saints Volume II is officially out, as of Halloween. “Caregiver” is getting some great shout-outs in the reviews so far.
The release party was the day before, and because one of the readers wasn’t able to join us, I stepped in as alternate to do my first full reading, which was really exciting and a bit nerve-wracking, but it reminded me a lot of doing monologues back in theater, and I love reading stories out loud in general. It’s an intense, seething story, but the other four readers had funny stories full of delightful slash and splatter, so I didn’t bring down the mood too much. It was wonderful to see everyone and was surprisingly social, so I was exhausted afterward, but in a good way.
In addition, Dragon’s Roost Press released the table of contents for The Pleasure in Pain: A Queer Horrotica Anthology, edited by Roxie Voorhees, which has my story “Graphite,” about a transient graffiti artist and illustrator adding her work to an urban legend legacy. It will be coming out, rather appropriately, on February 13, 2024. I love that erotic horror is having another moment. Sex and death have often been paired in the genre, but there’s a difference between erotic horror and just sex in horror. There’s been an abundance of the latter and not a lot of the former since Clive Barker and Poppy Z. Brite. But now we have many emergent voices merging horror with sex. More sexy body horror, please! There’s a reason I write erotic horror romance under my other name. (Different monster than erotic horror, but it’s in the same family if you do it right.)
Works in Progress:
We’re in National Novel Writing Month 2023! I don’t limit myself to one work during NaNo. I combine all word counts of however many long projects I’m working on. In this case, I didn’t finished In the Dollhouse We All Wait by the end of October, which makes me sad, because I didn’t get a reading break. It’s ended up about 30K words more than predicted, which means I don’t really know what I’m going to do with it. I still haven’t finished at over 100K words. To be fair, I hadn’t figured out how to properly end it until the literal eleventh hour last night, right when I had to make that decision. So now, at least I have a direction to write.
After Dollhouse, I have two novels intended for my other name, because erotic horror romance flows really well and suits the word count needs of NaNo. Ideally, I’d finish one (that might end up a novella and reconfigured for this name’s use) and get a lot done on the other, if not all. My goal word count is 150K words, which is 5K words a day. It’s already beginning to wear on me, because I started at that daily word count for Dollhouse, but my brain, while tired, also feels kind of good with it.
We’ll see if I can manage this pace all through November and possibly December, because unless I win some kind of lottery, my working sabbatical runs out at the end of the year. Ideally, I’d have another year to work on long projects, since this year has been all about short works, but I don’t have the finances to support that, and the writing world is glutted with crowdfunding, so without something concrete to offer, that’s not an option.
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 Nocturne playlist
Things I’m Watching:
Sleepy Hollow Goosebumps: The Haunted Mask Hocus Pocus Trick ‘r Treat Deliver Us From Evil Goosebumps (2015) Halloween Wars series Halloween Cookie Challenge 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:
slaughter whole lines of words fell trees to populate your lies, but screams and cries and tumbling roof and walls, burning smoke choking and stripping to raw nerve are a greater testimony than your desperate diplomatic spin. More than that, the more careful calls from inside the house, and the voices abruptly silenced.
Amanda M. Blake 