Tag Archives: Life

A change of thought, not mind

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My wife and I talked about my writing last night.

In my last post I suggested I was considering stopping altogether. It’s something that’s been on my mind for the last six months. She didn’t so much talk me off the cliff as put it into perspective about where I was ten years ago when we moved from Las Vegas to where we’re at now in Utah. And more importantly where I’m at and where my writing is.

We moved almost eleven years ago from a good paying job for me and my wife merely changed addresses. She’s been remote since our youngest was two and is now 16.

She said, “You used to just write and enjoy it. You didn’t care what you were writing or for who and I think that’s what you should get back to doing.”

I got it it my head that I should publish and chase all of those who have been published. Those are people I won’t mention because they don’t need the attention, but I look up to and have for a long time.

Ten years ago I didn’t know about any of the writing associations and I just wrote. I’ve written fifteen novels and they’re still on my hard drive, well all but one, Disunion By Force, which still sells decently, at least for me. It sells in the oddest of places. I sold one in Switzerland last month, digital and physical editions.

I’ve been writing to get published. I haven’t been writing because I like writing.

I’d like to make enough to help my wife out, but with my new job I don’t feel that as much.

I make enough that we’re stable and doing okay.

I’ll continue to keep my social medias deactivated. I’m not sure I’ll ever submit something again. It feels like too much and I’d rather just write stories for the sake of the story.

If I do publish something, this is the only place you’ll hear about it.

I hope all of you who read this have a pleasant week.

B

Gears are changing

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As with everything, writing changes.

I’ve kept a close eye on the sales of my books through this year. I’ve sold 21 copies of my books this year. Most of them are in Ebooks, but it’s not the number but which books are selling better than others.

My thriller, Disunion By Force, sold more copies than my horror novel and while it’s close, the various places its sold around the world is the most interesting thing. I’ve sold copies in places I never thought I would. India is one of the newest places.

I’ll continue to write horror, but only short form. I work better with short form horror than I do with long form. I’m able to get the conciseness of it down while long form feels like a slog.

As for thrillers, I’ll be writing those in long form. I have two that I’ve started but put away for one reason or another, mostly because of I’ve doubted myself. The writing holds up with those thrillers. I have one at 39k that I’ll be working on through the end of the year.

After discussions with my wife, I’ll be focusing on the thrillers, though I have a story coming out in November for the Utah Horror Writers yearly anthology. You can help with the Kickstarter.

I will continue to review books. I am considering a pseudonym for my thriller novels. I had one before and will probably use that going forward.

I have to head to work and I hope you enjoy your day.

Review for Josh Malerman’s Incidents Around The House

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Josh’s novella collection, Spin A Black Yarn, was one of my favorite books of last year. I read it in two days. I talk about it enough that my wife has told me to stop.

When I got the Netgalley approval, I didn’t know what I was getting into. It took me to some places—not the places I wanted to go—and scared me. I would have read it in a day, but I needed breaks from the seriously freaky things happening.

I have been afraid of closets since I was a kid. I don’t know why, and I can never say it. My wife doesn’t get it. I don’t like them. If you’re like me, this book is for you. If you’re not, then it’s still the book for you.

It opens with a little girl, Bella. Her parents are having issues. They have parties all the time, and something is haunting her. The Other Mommy is not like the one from Neil Gaiman’s Coraline. It’s a terrifying descent into a family dealing with something traumatic happening to their kid as they deal with their lives.

Josh is very good at traumatic experiences. He writes Bella so well. We watch her struggle through the fear of Other Mommy, not knowing when she’ll pop up or be at the end of the bed. This is a story that would do well as a screenplay.

I set the book down numerous times because of what was happening—the story’s imagery. The description of Other Mommy is something out of my childhood nightmares. I knew something would come out of the closet. I felt it as a kid.

Josh captures a child’s fear in this story: the fear of the Other Mommy, what’s going on with her parents, and not knowing how to make the Other Mommy go away.

It’s been a while since I felt a child’s fear in a story, but Josh does it quickly in this one.

The ending and the lead-up to the ending were unexpected but worked well for the story.

The days grow

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There are moments in my writing where the days grow wider. The wind blows outside. There are times when I see things more clearly than others, and then, there are times like now.

It’s been a couple of months since I’ve written anything decent. Reading Tim Waggoner’s book lit some sort of fire, though it may have been a combination of several things.

I did a ghost hunt at Mercur Cemetery with the Utah Chapter of the HWA this past Friday. I got some great pictures of a sunset. That night has been with me since. I think about how old it is. The Town of Mercur went away in the early 1900s. After two fires and the closure of a mine, it fell apart. This happened to many towns around the same time.

The cemetery sits on a hill overlooking the valley below, but there was something about that night. Something about the sounds. The feelings, and then there was how I felt and my youngest felt. I’ve always been sensitive to places like that. It was their first time at a place like that. They did not enjoy it. It was overwhelming to them.

I’ve talked to them about it since. They’re getting better. But the atmosphere of that place is different. The air shifts when you walk up the hill to it. It’s subtle, but they and I noticed it.

I’ll be using that trip to work. It’s the least I can do. I may post pictures from it. I got some great ones. It was the uncomfortableness of it. It wasn’t the dark, but the sounds. The chittering in the dark. It has stuck with me.

Review for Let Me Tell You A Story, by Tim Waggoner

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I’ll start this with a few comments. I’ve read the other two books in this series. They’re two of the best “How To Write” books. The other books on that list are Stephen King’s On Writing, On Writing Horror By the HWA, and John Gardner’s On Becoming A Novelist. Some of these are not true “How To” books. King’s is more of a memoir, plainly stated on the cover. The others are How To Write books. Yes, King’s book has a section on “How To,” but the majority of the book is a memoir and a damn good one.

Tim’s books stick with horror, and while the first two, especially the first book, are great for beginners, the third book feels like it’s for those further along in their writing.

I loved this one as someone who has moved in a different direction with their writing. The first two helped me get started. This one is helping me move along in a number of ways.

I stopped writing for the last couple of months. But this is bringing me back.

This book is about Tim analyzing his own stories. Some of which were written a number of years ago. This feels like Tim talking to his younger self. Telling stories about the writer he was. Going through the stories is an analysis of the stories, but also a trip and memoir about the writer he was and is.

I’ve read my older stuff and see the progression from that writer to the one I am now. I see the elements repeating themselves, as they have for Tim.

Now, the part I can’t talk about. I did not do the exercises in this book. Doing them and reading the book for a review would take a bit longer. I will do them when the book comes out and share them here. I spent a few weeks doing the exercises in the other two books. I intend to do that with this book as well.

I’ll say that Tim gets better with each one of these. I’m sure he’ll be up for another Stoker for this one and probably win.

This series of books has helped me find my voice, fix writing issues, and improve my grasp of the craft. His idea in the first book of creating bags and pulling things from them gave me the idea for the novella I have coming out next month. It was woods, mental health, and cults. I ran with it from there. I got my copy through NetGalley, but as with the others in this series, I’ll purchase the physical copy. I need to get through each of the exercises. You all will be the first to know when I do.

Here is a link to Amazon for the Paperback, the Kindle, and Barnes & Noble for this book.