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Amanda M. Blake

~ Of fairy tales and tentacles

Amanda M. Blake

Tag Archives: take it to the river

Turn the light out: Friday Update

13 Friday Feb 2026

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

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

crystal lake shallow waters flash fiction, editing, horror, meridian, take it to the river

Photo by Zachary DeBottis on Pexels.com

News:

“Take It to the River” is up at the Crystal Lake Patreon for the River flash fiction theme contest. ($5/month tier and up for reading and voting privileges)

Works in Progress:

Never & Forever (Meridian Book 8) first round edits are going a little more slowly than I’d like, but I’m doing as much as I can with the time I have. I do have to pause today to get a short story ready for a February 15 deadline, but I should be able to knock out another big chunk of N&F edits on this day off, hopefully.

I’m not a fan of juggling projects, but sometimes needs must.

Books I’m Reading:

Raising Loki: A Memoir by Elliot Manarin
The Shining by Stephen King
Skeleton Crew by Stephen King

Things I’m Listening To:

Delain
Hannibal playlist
Drift playlist

Things I’m Watching:

Bone Lake
Tracker series
CSI: Miami series
CSI series
Resident Alien series

Poem of the Week:

My mother wrote a letter,
slipped under my door.
She never got better.
I learned to never ask for more.

She’s been dead for years.
Time to face her excuse.
Holding back tears,
I shake the letter loose.

An unsigned birthday Hallmark card,
day and month all wrong.
Ma, so long.

Still not decelerating: Friday Update

06 Friday Feb 2026

Posted by amandamblake in A Few Thoughts, Novels, Series

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

crystal lake shallow waters flash fiction, editing, in the dollhouse we all wait, meridian, take it to the river

Photo by Vadim Timayev on Pexels.com

News:

“Take It to the River” is a finalist for this month’s RIVER theme at Crystal Lake Shallow Waters. It’ll post at the Patreon about February 16. ($5/month tiers for reading and voting)

Works in Progress:

I was supposed to be slowing down, but it still hasn’t happened. I wonder if this pace is simply what my brain demands. However, it’s not all my fault; it’s more about external deadlines. Once I get contractually obligated edits done, I’ll have a whole stretch of months before the next one (Masque, July). Then I’ll try to take my time.

Cleaned up the final draft of In the Dollhouse We All Wait, and although I wasn’t able to get much done on Thursday due to oversleeping, I actually knocked out quite a bit of the first round of edits on Never & Forever (Meridian Book 8). I hope to do another big sweep today. At this point, a lot of the work is cutting; second round will be polish. Ideally, I’d cut the book down from 141K to under 110K before even getting to the second round of edits.

Books I’m Reading:

Raising Loki: A Memoir by Elliot Manarin
The Shining by Stephen King
Skeleton Crew by Stephen King

Things I’m Listening To:

Christmas playlist (finally putting this away; seemed appropriate during the Icepocalypse, but once we hit February, it started feeling weird)
Metal playlist

Things I’m Watching:

Volcano
Tracker series
9-1-1 series
9-1-1: Nashville series
Elsbeth series
Resident Alien series

Poem of the Week: (throwback to 2022)

a critter
with doleful eyes
eyes eyes eyes
and legs legs
so many legs
chitters lovingly
at the foot of your bed

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