Dear September: Go Away

Ayup. I had to call in at work following a really catastrophic attempt at walking to the bus stop after my shift yesterday afternoon. I tripped over an uneven section of the sidewalk half a block from the warehouse and landed on my face. 

Literally. 

It was difficult to save myself since I was also carrying my backpack, which made me very top-heavy and pretty much doomed to kiss concrete. So now I have a goose egg over my left eye, my left hand (which took the brunt of the impact, thus saving my skull) has three fingers bandaged, wounds on the palm (nicely healing, thanks), and a sprained thumb. 

Oh. Did I mention one of the lenses of my glasses popping out and vanishing forever? Yeah. That. Good thing I'm near sighted and only use my glasses for distance vision, and I rarely drive. When I go to the grocery store tomorrow, I'll wear my now-wonky glasses in order to have one functional lens to help me navigate. Jesus. 

September's been a massive wreck following a relatively neutral August, and I can't wait to see the back of this miserable month. At least none of the bad mojo throughout this year -- and there's been plenty to go around, thanks -- hasn't touched my writing. I still have that for my oasis from real life. 

I had to pick myself up from faceplanting on the sidewalk, turn around, and march right back to the warehouse so I could wash and bandage my wounds, and since we don't have an ice pack, I had to use a wrapped frozen burrito against the massive bump on my face. Now THAT was funny. 

So this butt-wipe of a week started with a nice mental health day off, a horrendous series of days at work (the less said about the stress levels, the better), and it's now bookended with an unplanned and unwanted sick day no thanks to a bruised face and a left hand that wants to file for divorce. 

I'll have to make the most of today. I'm not writing, but I do have more postcards to swing states I can work on. 

Oh! And I started my day watching the new season of The Great British Baking Show on Netflix. I love this new group of bakers. I love them. The first episode was also funnier than ever -- lots more spontaneous humor between bakers, hosts, and judges (Alison Hammond is the perfect addition to the group*) -- and the bakers are incredibly good. Really, each season seems to beat the previous one in terms of standards, like the skill levels and creativity are higher than ever. 

For the first time, too, the youngest of the bunch is already trouncing older and more experienced bakers (her show stopper was insane) when in the past, the youngest contestant took a little while to find their feet. So far one has since won the top prize (Peter Sawkins, who won at 20 yrs of age), and maybe this year will have another possible contender? 

Regardless, I have no favorites so far as I love them all equally, and I hope to see those who struggled in the first competition to come back and rally next time. I guess one thing I'll do to pass the time today is to go back and rewatch the episode. :D

* the show's been more spontaneous and fun compared to those where Matt Lucas co-hosted, and it's more energetic and unpredictable than when Sandi Toksvig helped usher in a new series with Prue and Noel (she brought that dry humor I also enjoyed)

Behold, Autumn!

And thank fuck for that. I think it's more reflective of my job that this year feels no different from last year and the year before, and so on. While the actual work varies (with a few monotonous days peppering my calendar here and there), it's the nature of the work and the repetitive commute that dull the senses -- or at least my brain. That said, I'm so, so, SO glad I'm no longer in customer service, and I ran across the ad for this position when I was at the end of my rope in my previous job. Give me the occasional monotony if it means not dealing with people's endless demands and attitudes. This month marks my anniversary, and I'm on to my fourth year and some extra perks. 

Today is also a spa day for me. I'm off for a mental health break and some well-deserved lazy time, but I'll be spending today working on those postcards for swing states. The new batch, anyway, since I already finished the previous set for my sister, and she sent me 100 cards to fill. 

I'm loving the moment right now -- still early morning (it's 4:20 am as I write this), foggy, and quiet. If I had woo-woo powers, I'd keep the entire day like this, but I'll settle for just a quiet day for myself. I'll likely dip a little into my WiP folder for a page or two of new writing, but that's low on my agenda list. 

Now that The Perfect Rochester is heading steadily toward the finish line, my notes for Compline are experiencing so many shifts, and I think the story will work more effectively as a classic haunted house tale but still following the plot of "The Pied Piper of Hamelin". I mentioned before that the story's going to take place in a boarding school. Well, scratch that idea. There is a boarding school, but it's in the past, and it does hold the key to the mystery of an old man's haunting. And as far as what I said about the book being an epistolary novella from the point of view of just one character -- that still stands since the details the character only hints about in his journal entries will add to the atmosphere and tension of the plot. I hope to manage that, anyway. 

By the way, I might be tweaking my 2025 calendar given how far ahead I am with my writing (at the moment). My initial plan was to follow this year's release schedule, which is March - July - November. I actually would like to go back to my preferred calendar cycle of February - June - October (October being my main target since it's Halloween month, and it works perfectly with the genre of stories I write). That's doable, at least, as opposed to me publishing four books and not three, however tempting it might be to do that. 

Oh, and since I'm on the subject of Halloween and haunted house fiction, here's a great video on someone's recommended list of haunted house movies. I haven't seen about a third of the films on the list, so at least I've got a starting point for my gothic entertainment. However, I'm so, so happy to see my favorites rank so high: The Uninvited, The Changeling, The Others, and The Orphanage. Those films are, to me, the best examples of how to work atmosphere, tension, and excellent writing into a complete and eerie package.

To someone who writes the kind of stuff I write, everyday is Halloween, so holding off for autumn really doesn't make any sense, but having autumn here, finally, does add something extra special to my days.

Two Drifters Off to See the World

Nearly a fortnight later, a post! Huzzah! Actually, things are pretty chill in my end, with August turning out to be surprisingly easy (though my birthday could've used a bit of an energy boost). September's shaping up to be the schizophrenic month at the day job because stress levels have been pretty high, but the staff continues to be awesome. We also had our first ever round of reviews and raises -- not a thing for three straight years since I was hired, but I won't get into that -- but stricter policies regarding OT and shift alterations came with them. 

Anyway, I'm just keeping my head down and doing what I've been doing with a new schedule that works the best with my slightly tweaked commute. I'm hoping this work schedule will be it, but you never know.

Writing news!

Voices in the Briars enjoyed one final, FINAL sweep after weeks of not being looked at, and THE official version of the book is uploaded to Draft2Digital, and I'll be working on the print book soon. Maybe this weekend. Or next. At any rate, it'll be sometime this month since the release day is still, what, 45 days away? That's a while still. 

Oh, and speaking of release date, I really was tempted -- TEMPTED, I TELL YOU -- to move the publishing date up to October 1, but I held my ground. A plan is a plan, and this is what's working out the best for me. Plus this also allows a progressively earlier writing and editing stretch for every subsequent book, which will free up enough time in a few months for maybe a fourth book (within a year) to be published in the future. 

The Perfect Rochester has just passed the halfway point (holy shit!), so now I'm starting to look at Compline, which is next on my plate. New notes are being written down for it, and new (and surprising) music videos are helping me shape the plot. For the time being, I find myself on the fence as to the setting. I want it to be set in a boarding school, but as to the time period, I'm vacillating -- and sometimes that back-and-forth stuff can do a number on my plans, and I'm suddenly considering a completely different setting altogether.

One thing so far is certain: it'll be epistolary but all from the point of view of just one character. I'm thinking of doing a mix of journal entries and letters a la Ghosts and Tea, but from only a single PoV. That said, it's still going to be a while before I dive into it, but the growing notes are shaping things up in unexpected ways (good-unexpected, btw), and I hope to jump right in during the holidays. 

Not a particularly exciting blog post, I'm afraid, but that's actually a good thing since it means life's been moving smoothly along for me. Of course, I probably just jinxed myself by saying that.

All Right, So We Have a Live One

Welp... there it is. What I said in this post is moving forward in spite of the pile I already have on my plate. And I have rapidly expanding notes in my trusty notebook to add to the other expanding notes for the other future books on my calendar. So here's the cover and title (a title that I've been dying to use for a dog's age now, btw):

I still haven't decided on the setting, but it's definitely a drama, not a comedy, and it might be a mystery as well (haunted items coming from a place of severe trauma make for a great foundation for that). As far as its release date, I have it for February, 2027.

Now that's very much a tentative date because of the current speed with which I'm writing and publishing. I'm way ahead now and in fact expect to finish The Perfect Rochester by the end of October, and it technically won't be out till February of next year. At this rate, I'm back to seriously considering shuffling my calendar once again to move things forward and may release four books, not three, next year. 

As usual, we'll see how things go. I still would rather play it safe and stick to the calendar I have on my Book News page, but I'm also open to bumping things up if there's enough wiggle room for me to follow a more rigorous publishing flow (or something). And as you know, I tend to get swept up in the moment (only if I let myself), and when I'm totally jazzed by how well things are going, I'll run with it.

Stuff like this really grounds home the thought that ditching series books forever and sticking to one-shots is a good move on my part. While it's fun immersing myself again and again in one world with the same characters, imagining what happens next in their wild lives, I honestly would rather be inspired constantly by story ideas that can be explored in a long novella. I can lose track of details when I'm writing a series, and I have a number of older files open (while neck-deep in a WiP) just to make sure I'm not forgetting something or incorrectly referencing an event or place. Plus I'm more prone to bouts of writer's block when I work on a series since there will always be sections in a book that threaten to be fillers, and I don't want that.

One-shots that run 50K words long are chef's-kiss-perfect. 

Also -- boo, hiss to Smashwords for underreporting my books' length. If you check out every long novella I've published, all of which are exactly 50K words each, Smashwords still have them at 49K+. In fact, Voices in the Briars is a little over the 50K mark, but it's still listed as 49K+. Boo, hiss, indeed. But for everyone buying my books from that store, I reassure you you're getting the most bang for your buck. I mean, 99 cents for a long novella? Bargain. 

And hello, September! I'm really, really looking forward to Autumn. Hell, yeah.

It Came; It Went

Right. So I'm one more year older, and my three-day weekend went relatively quietly. Monday (my birthday) could've been better, really, but circumstances (as always) threw a wrench into things, and I just did what I could to enjoy what was left of a so-called "spa day" (read: lazy day). Man. One stinking day a year! Is that too much to ask? Jeebus.

Anyway, one thing I tried to do to celebrate my birthday was to go out for lunch with the hubby on Sunday, and while the food was good and the location was nice and comfy, I really wasn't into it. As in I wasn't in the right frame of mind to really enjoy the outing like I used to when I was younger. It almost seemed a chore to me, and I was too brain-foggy and somewhat sleepy to give a crap. I liked the food, of course, but conversation turned one-sided since I wasn't at all 100% there mentally and emotionally (see: brain fog and sleepiness). Andy had to take over the conversation while I satisfied myself with listening and dropping an occasional word or two -- and that was it from me. 

The thing is that this experience wasn't unique. I've been like this for a while now, where I really want to go out for a change of scenery or something, and when we do go, I end up disliking it because I couldn't get into it for whatever reason. Usually it's something like mental fatigue and almost like a physical draining. 

I wonder if that's my introversion expressing itself in extreme, which seemed to have started sometime in my 40s. I've always been repulsed by crowds and noise, but when I was much younger, I could manage both and sometimes could even find a bit of enjoyment from people-watching or something -- like sitting at a table, drinking or eating and simply watching folks walk around. Nowadays, I really would rather spend my weekends at home, where I'm comfortable and am able to really let go and enjoy quiet pursuits like writing and reading. Sometimes watching a show or a movie on Netflix. 

The world outside's moving quickly, and at times I don't recognize it anymore, but I'm still able to go with the flow, though at the same time, I can't be immersed in it like I used to. It's far too draining on a number of levels, and my birthday lunch this past weekend really made me face that truth. That said, it's not as though I'm doomed to live like a hermit for the rest of my life. I can still go out, but the only outdoor activity I've been able to enjoy is a quiet stroll with Andy somewhere. Somewhere near, by the way, so that we reach a certain distance before turning around and strolling back home. 

So, yeah -- it's kind of funny (tragi-comic?) how natural tendencies find a fuller or more extreme expression the older I get. I think you can only imagine how I took to the lockdowns when they happened in 2020. I LOVED IT. I loved the peace and quiet, and I loved the (enforced) down time. Mind you, I paid dearly for that when the world started moving forward again and places of business reopened, but until that moment, I was seriously blissed out. 

One thing I did do that left me all giddy and excited was write another round of postcards for swing states for the upcoming election. I'm down to the last page of names and addresses, and I've been pacing myself as it's very difficult not to get carried away once I'm on a roll. I've already hit up my sister for more work, and she'll be sending me a batch of cards for another state. Really looking forward to those!

And now regarding the side project I talked about before -- it's a no go. For real. I tried to put a bit of time into it on Monday, and it was excruciating. As I've noted, it's a challenge I gave myself, working on something that's way outside my comfort zone, and I've come to accept it's not me. It was great while it lasted, of course, not in terms of the quality of the work I managed to write, but the actual process of writing and what I got from it. However, it's a genre that I've never gotten a hang of writing, and while I can write SOME, I frankly can't write more fully. 

I can certainly incorporate some elements of it in my works-in-progress, but as a standalone book? Nuh-uh. It was painful, but I'm glad I challenged myself to do it, or I'll never know for sure. 

So with that in mind, I'm pretty happy where I am, simply focusing on gothic horror (dramatic and comedic), ghost stories, and dark fairy tales with a touch of gay romance (or a generous seasoning of, anyway). And I don't have to be distracted by something that'll throw me off my center or maybe even peripherally affect the way I write my WiP. I already have enough stories on my plate, anyway, and I should just keep my mind on them and nothing else, or shit won't get done.