August Updates & Reading List

 


AUGUST (7 books | 1,259 pgs)

28.) I Found a Lost Hallway in a Dying Mall (Novel, 160 pgs) | 3/5

29.) Things We Lost in the Fire by Mariana Enriquez (Stories, 192 pgs) | 3/5

30.) The Divine Farce by Michael S.A. Graziano (Novella, 125 pgs) | 5/5

31.) Dreamlives of Debris by Lance Olsen (Novel, 296 pgs) | 3/5

32.) The Unworthy by Agustina Bazeterrica (Novel, 175 pgs) | 5/5

33.) Scorch Atlas by Blake Butler (Stories, 152 pgs) | 5/5

34.) The Archive of Alternate Endings by Lindsey Drager (Novel, 159 pgs) | 4/5


*

I've been out of the loop on a number of literary things the last few years, so I've been turning to Reddit to find out what people are talking about. Several of the books being discussed are already on my TBR shelf, but I fell down the r/weirdlit hole and found some really great stuff that's been triggering my synapses nicely as of late. The Divine Farce and The Archive of Alternate Endings were both great surprises in this way, so I've been switching out between horror and experimental a bit. 


*

Work on the next two books has been...challenging, but fruitful. I've been keeping track of my daily word totals and I'm averaging about 10,000 words a month. Which, yes, that's good, but I was really hoping that I'd be at the 3-4,000 word a day mark by now. Interesting how those muscles tend to atrophy when you're not flexing them as regularly as you used to. I'm sure some of the creative erosion that happened over the last couple years is partly to blame. I also simply have a lot on my plate at the moment, which can be hard to ignore. 

As you can see by the image below, strides are being made on .corpsegod. The intro and two stories are completely done and in need of editing with four more stories nearing completion quickly. That puts me at about a 25% completion right now, which I'm not mad about. And, I'm really loving how this book is coming together in all the ways. Not a lot of punches being pulled in this one. 



*

I'd been struggling to figure out a cover concept for An Atlas of Bone & Sorrow. I've been sitting on a few ideas that I've jacked around with, but nothing really felt all that great. I hadn't been to the Michael's store in a while and decided to buy some new paints for the art studio and just ambled throughout the aisles looking for inspiration on a few things. 

I have this old anatomically correct heart that was my mother's during her medical education. She used to have a fantastic full skeleton back in the day too, but I think she may have gotten rid of that when we moved to KC all those years ago. Anyway, I had this thought months ago that it would be fun to put on display in a glass container surrounded by some kind of foliage. Flowers, grass, moss, whatever. Create a weird terrarium with all of it. 

I had a filtered water jug that I was no longer using, so that part was handled no problem, and I had the heart. I found some great moss options at the store, as well as a proper pedestal to put the whole thing on and...honestly? I kinda love how it came out. There are aspects of the cover that need tweaking for sure, but there's a lot about this that I think came out nicely. 

I'm really excited to finish this one. It's been difficult to complete. 



*

I've been unemployed for 2 months now. I've sent out some 20 or 30 resumes, and I've got a professional portfolio put together, but unsurprisingly, the job market is hot garbage. I had hoped to find something in the publishing industry, but no one I know currently working in those fields has offered up any information in that regard, and most of the gigs I'm finding through typical online portals require you to be on one of the coasts or in Chicago. So obviously that's all super helpful. 

The world continues to burn and spin and we all come tumbling after. 



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