Updates: the Winter Solstice Edition

I actually started writing this yesterday but got bogged down by chores to get the whole thing done. Anyway...

Hello, winter! I love me some longer dark hours, so I'm going to milk what's left of this weekend for all its worth. It's all going to be lighter and lighter from here on, so yep -- enjoy the moody season while I can.

image taken from Pinterest, no artist's name given

I've already set up the calendar for the first "Backlist Bonanza" 50% off sale for January, 2025. I plan to do this every month throughout the year (in addition to the normal release schedule I have set up already) and will be making this a yearly cycle. 

There'll be two books per month that I'll be discounting, and that'll include all the books in the Curiosities, Arcana Europa, and Miscellaneous Books collections. That totals 24 books all in all, which will give me a tidy schedule of two discounted books per month. Easy peasy!

Since I'm only dedicating my gallery pages to my Grotesqueries collection and the sequels to Ghosts and Tea, these monthly sales will allow me to talk up my backlist (most of it) for the benefit of new readers or those who've yet to try books they haven't read. So, yeah -- each month-long sale promo will take the place of what would have been the books' gallery pages in a way, and I'm even considering spreading the information throughout the month and not just limit the write-ups to one day per book. 

The past couple or so months gave me the time and space (sort of on the space thing) to reflect on what I've accomplished so far and where I hope to go. What also helped me turn down that path was my rereading of Nightshade's Emporium, a book that deviated from my original plan because I was in the process of writing the book when my youngest nephew died. 

I dedicated that book to him if you've read it and spotted his name in the dedication page. His loss was a massive blow to the family because of the circumstances surrounding his death as well as his age at 17. So the book turned into me dealing with grief, which affected the book's trajectory, and I ended up dumping all the notes I initially wrote for the book. I'm very happy with the results even if the journey from start to finish was quite heavy on philosophical ruminations on mortality. 

Anyway, I'm hoping to settle back down to a more straightforward way of telling a story even if the plot involves complicated issues that I want to explore in a book. This year ends with Voices in the Briars, which is also pretty heavy on issues that mean a lot to me, and that'll carry over though hopefully with a lighter touch next year with the new books in the pipeline. 

And speaking of losses, it looks like my forays into the Nightshade world are shadowed by grief. For The Perfect Rochester, it's my oldest sister who succumbed to brain cancer back in June, and it's to her I'm dedicating this book. Appropriately enough -- just like it was when Kai passed away -- this book fits her since it's more outwardly a rom-com, and she was the romantic of the family. 

I mentioned before that I'm tempted to dive back into the Nightshade world down the line with future adventures. Hopefully with no more heavy losses on my end. But the urge to follow through is real, and it'll mean some rescheduling of other books in the pipeline since it appears my dips into the Nightshade world happen once a year. Huh.

Dammit, Beavis!

Course correction time! I had to restart Compline because the first four chapters I recently completed didn't sit well with me. Couldn't wrap my head around why until I realized the single-person epistolary approach was making the story too heavy and plodding. It doesn't help that the book's not a comedy, and this approach also reminded me why I stopped being a fan of first-person POVs (single narrator) in writing. 

Frankly, I think the epistolary approach works best on a comedy a la Ghosts and Tea and as part of a hybrid narrative like Primavera. But an extended narrative that's all drama and just one POV isn't going to cut it. I think it's safe to say I'm ready to move on from first person narratives as a writer though I'm cool with it as a reader. 

So the first version of the book is currently shelved, and I started over with a new chapter this weekend and am back to square one. Third person POV this time and a much snappier pace, and after a wobbly start, I still had to go back and hack away at what I'd written and rewrite large chunks of the material. I am taking previously written stuff from the first version and weaving it into this new one, so it's not as though I'm giving the original up completely.

Psst! You forgot to add "tea" to the list!

Anyway...

With the holidays in full swing, it's been busy at the day job, hence my lack of updates. One good bit of news, though, doesn't involve me but other indie writers -- at least those participating in Smashwords' 2024 End of the Year Sale. It lasts all month long, so head on over yonder if you'd like to discover new writers and support indies. 

I'm NOT participating, by the way. I don't participate in these sales however much I want to because writers don't have a choice as to which books go on sale when they sign up. In 2025, I'll be offering my backlist for discounted prices on Smashwords outside of these site-wide sales, and I'll be posting about each book here. At the moment I'm planning to offer one book at a discount per month, which will be a mix of titles from my entire catalogue prior to Ghosts and Tea. At any rate, watch this space.

Ah, Tumblr! How I Love Thee!

As a kinda-sorta addendum to my fangirling of Tumblr in a previous post, here's an example of what I find there and just how ridiculously inspiring it is for someone who's heavily into gothic horror and all kinds of creepy stuff:

from this Tumblr post

I mean -- how can you say no to that? HOW??? Holy shit, I love it. Whether or not it'll be the birth of a new story idea or a detail in a book, I can't say at the moment, but it's enough for me to save into a folder packed with so many gothic images I've collected through the years. 

And then there's this:

from this Tumblr post

Cemetery statues are amazing. Eeriness aside, there's also the mournful monument side of things, which are the point of the statues to begin with, and they do make one stop and contemplate. I've never been to cemeteries with statues like these in my life, my experiences being limited to more modern resting-places and mausoleums. Minimalist and clean with the occasional flower arrangements left by visiting loved ones, etc. I'd love to visit these older and more elaborate burial spots, though, and observe these statues as well as family vaults. 

And speaking of creepy stuff that inspires me, I had something borderline freaky happen to me just a couple of days ago, when I was walking from the train station to my work. It was still dark as I take the first train from Richmond to Berryessa, and I get off at my stop at around 5:40 and walk.

About two blocks from the train station -- I was, of course, walking alone but with a few cars driving past and the nearest gas station already enjoying some business -- I suddenly heard someone giggle somewhere behind me. Not close behind, no, but a bit of distance away because the giggling was soft. 

My first reaction (and it was instant) was to feel my hair stand on end before I whipped around to look behind me. I was relieved to see a person walking several paces back, about half a block away, and he was murmuring and had his head bowed, so I guessed he was on the phone. All the same, the quiet giggling absolutely caught me off-guard and freaked me out so much that it took another block and a half of walking for me to calm my heart down. 

Now that I look back at the moment, I can also say that it's given me something to chew on for one of the books I have planned (The Twilight Lover). See? I love it when something like this affects me enough to want to work it into a story.

Near-heart attack notwithstanding, of course.

And It Creaks Along

While I at first hoped to get the first four chapters of Compline written this long weekend, I'm set to finish only two. I suppose that's better than nothing. The first two chapters -- actually, the first chapter was extremely difficult to write as I didn't have a precise point as to where I can start the book, and it almost felt as if I were working on a picaresque, which isn't the point of the book. 

Anyway, I'm halfway through the second chapter and made myself stop and save it. I'll pick it up again tomorrow and finish the rest of it. There are a number of items in my notes for this book that sound fantastic as a story idea, but the actual writing of it -- turning that idea into a logical, cohesive part of the story -- might prove to be more challenging than expected. Maybe because there are a lot of abstractions that require a concrete expression, if you get my drift. 

Yesterday I fussed with this site -- not that anything I do will make it less old school-looking because Blogger -- and switched themes for a brief moment. Then discovered a problem with the background that i can't fix and so went back to this theme but with a different background this time. I kind of need a pop of color, anyway, but I'm still trying to find a lighter image that works properly with the nature of this site / blog and especially the books I write. 

One other thing I was reminded of is that I don't do well with long breaks. As much as I need to take extra time off from the day job, I can see that I'm perfectly good with three-day weekends at most. I haven't had an all-out vacation in years, truth be told, and with me coming back to full-time work after the lockdowns, I find I'm better taking extra days off throughout the year as opposed to setting aside large chunks of time once or twice a year. I find I'm able to maintain myself much more efficiently that way, and I never reach a point of being bored out of my mind since I'm able to fill each day with not just chores, but more self-directed pampering. 

As for my previous whining about my day job and the difficulties I've been having there, I did try to look around and even apply for a few positions, but I know each is a long shot and that I'm not holding on to hope with any of them. That said, I'm also talking myself off the ledge and doing a lot of reflecting, if you will, about my situation, weighing all pros and cons. It doesn't help -- and yet it does, ironically -- that the job I currently have is the only one of its kind around here, and I get all the benefits that come with working full-time.

So I suppose I'm working on being more mature about this and not succumbing to this weird cycle I have toward work (any job I happen to have), when I begin to feel unhappy and dissatisfied on the third year of employment. It's a mental pattern I've observed in myself, and I'm going through it now. But I have to remind myself that this job, especially, is one I'm most qualified for, and I need to put on my big girl panties and soldier on because there's nothing else out there that's anywhere close to this. 

On the brighter side, I really am good at what I do (years of experience -- since 1989 if you want to know), and I do have leverage. I just need to know how to use it to my benefit.

Turkey Day Update: 'Compline' Has Begun

All right, I know I told myself to hold off till December to get going with Compline, but I have a four-day weekend with today being Thanksgiving, so I figured, why the hell not? Especially since I'm all but completely done with The Perfect Rochester. 

art by Chris Rawlins on Deviant Art

There's a detail about the fairy tale that I'm exploring, and I'm gothying it up (Is that a word? It is now!) by mixing it up with traditional ghost fiction, and as a hat-tip to the legend, it's set in a historical fantasy Germany even if Hamelin isn't anywhere in the book at all. Sort of like Voices in the Briars, which I set in a historical fantasy Hungary, this one will have a bunch of made-up place names. No vampires involved. 

I've also been trawling Tumblr a lot lately for visual inspiration not only for this book, but for future ones as well. That's the one social media platform I love the best largely because of its user base, which skews not so much younger but more creative in outside-the-box ways compared to places like Instagram. I did resurrect my old account not to post anything, but to have access to people's art, which I goggle at whenever I'm there, and I write notes as ideas happen. 

There's been a surge of inspiration from that site alone for elements I can use in future books like The Twilight Lover, which follows Compline. I might even be amassing fun stuff for Camera Obscura, but that's not for a long while still. It doesn't hurt jotting down notes as I go, though.

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UPDATE: Oh, yeah -- forgot to mention. If you're interested in previewing The Perfect Rochester, you can go to the book's Smashwords page and click "read the sample online" under the book cover. It's got a generous sampling for customers, and you can read up to the first three chapters. 

UPDATE II:  Aha. So it looks like you have to be logged in to Smashwords in order to read the sample. Never mind. Sorry, everyone. Kobo Books will let you check it out if you're interested.