It seems like I start every post anymore with “Long time, eh?” but you know, long time, eh?

Since this pandemic shit started, it feels like I’m stuck in time. What about you guys? Feel a little trapped? A little dragged down? A little crazy?

We’ve been lucky. Our little area hasn’t had many cases. Oh, we’ll have spikes eventually, I’m sure, because people from other regions, red zone regions, keep coming here to shop and do whatever they’re not allowed to do at home. (Cue big, frustrated sigh) I keep hoping I’m wrong, though.

Enough about the pandemic. It’s boring.

While I feel stagnant, I realized while preparing this post, I haven’t been at a total stand-still. Despite not writing every single day like I used to, I managed to produce quite a bit since this shit show started. First, I’ve got a regular installment in Unnerving Magazine called “BLACK BROTHEL,” an erotic horror series that has been a blast to write. That reminds me, I haven’t plotted the next story yet. (makes a note) And Unnerving released BLOOD LAKE MONSTER this summer as part of the REWIND OR DIE series. You’ve gotta check those books out. Not just mine. I mean, yeah, buy my book, but the other books in this series are damn good, so go on… buy one. You won’t regret it. (Marketing, you know? Gotta be done)

I’m also working on a re-boot of CHURCH, with some extra scenes (and blood) for release next year sometime. I’ve got a few shorts coming out here and there. One is with Scare Street (publication date TBA) and my short INFESTED was included in Red Cape Publishing’s anthology, F IS FOR FEAR. The others I’ll keep to myself until the ink is dry on the contracts. (I feel like mentioning such things jinxes them if it’s not a done deal)

In 2021, my sci-fi/horror novel, CLUSTER, will be released by Bloodshot Books and I’ve finished three novellas in the time I’ve been hanging around here at home avoiding the infected masses. One, I hope, will be published next year. For this one, I dove back into erotic horror. Actually, there are two of them, both with a lot of sex and gore, but only one is in the rewrite stage and close to the point where I can submit it somewhere. The other one needs some research done before I can finalize the outline, but it’s at about 10,000 words at the moment, so it won’t take long to finish.

Other than that, I’ve been working my day job, trying not to kill people. Speaking of killing people… I wrote a thing. I’m not sure what to do with said thing, but it’s essentially “done” and I’m pretty happy with it. What is it? Well, it’s a blend of horror and dark comedy. I call it “RETAIL” but I’m sure that’ll change. Maybe it won’t. Maybe for the first time ever, I’ll have selected a title that stays from beginning to end. I’ve written it in first person POV (for the most part) and it’s about a retail worker who has had enough. It started as a connected series of stories, but after reading through it, I thought, nah, that’s dumb and now it’s still those stories, but as part of one storyline. I know, I make it sound so appealing.

The problem with Retail is I keep getting new ideas. A customer will come in and do something weird or say something awful, like bitch about having to take a cart, because that is clearly the most demeaning and soul shattering thing a person could ever make you do, and I’m like, yeah, you need to die in my book, or yeah, you need to suffer some kind of terrible accident that leaves you maimed for life. Like that guy that told me he hopes I die, because I told him we can’t take returns once they’ve left the store. I’m not the one who needs to die, pal.

Hey, it’s how I cope with this bullshit, all right? You guys do your therapy and I’ll do mine. No customers were actually harmed in the writing of this book, so it’s all good.

Anyway, I have no idea who will want to publish it. Maybe no one. Stay tuned.

I’m also working on another creature story. It’s going to be a novel, I hope, but it’s maybe a third of the way done so I won’t get into it too much here. It could change dramatically by the time I type “The End.”

Finally, on the home front, the animals are still crazy, but not as wild. Teddy, the German Shepherd, has mellowed into a neurotic love bug. He wants all the attention, but he can’t just come over for snuggles. He has to do the bad things, so you get mad at him and chase him around. (He licked a lit candle yesterday) Then, when you’ve caught him, he accepts the hugs and butt scratches. Benny, the chocolate lab, is an adorable, dumb, clumsy blob of love. We got him against my will, but I can’t imagine not having him. And Quinn, the Border Aussie, is queen of the house. He’s also neurotic, but he’s the best boy. Never does a thing wrong, except he won’t poop in the yard. Only on walks. Weird, I know.

The cats are good too, but Teddy doesn’t trust the cats. The cats don’t like Teddy or Benny. There was an altercation in which some hissing and screaming and pissing all over the place happened, and now, the cats are isolated in one half of the house, and the dogs are in the other, because if they’re allowed to mingle, someone’s going to die. One cat, Atlas, decided she hated everyone a few months ago and after an epic battle with her sister, Freya, in which they tried to kill each other, Atlas has been given her own domain. She lives in my oldest daughter’s room, where she reigns alone and has all of Court’s attention. Freya gets to claim the rest of that half of the house for herself. She isn’t sure how she feels about it, though. She’s a social butterfly, so she likes to come to the gate and taunt the dogs when she gets lonely.

Yeah, it’s been fun.

The mice and the birds just stay in their cages and don’t bother anyone. I like them very much for that.

Anyway, I guess that’s the end of this installment of what’s going on with me. How about you guys? Finding time to write? Enjoying life in a pandemic? Does anyone really do this blog thing anymore?