Posts Tagged ‘The Pure World Comes’

The Pure World Comes is Getting Published!!!

Posted: July 12, 2021 in Living and Life, Novel, Progress Report, Scary Stuff, Writing
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I made a nice graphic for “The Pure World Comes.” It’ll work till I get a proper cover for the story.

If you read the poem in my last post, you probably noticed a key phrase in the last stanza. How did it go again? Oh yes. Now I remember.

Behold! THE PURE WORLD COMES!

That wasn’t just some incomprehensible poetry mumbo-jumbo (though I wouldn’t blame you if you thought it was). No, this poem has been a prelude for something big.

As many of you are aware, last year as we were all in lockdown, I wrote a novel set in Victorian England. The novel followed a young maid who went to work in the home of a mad scientist. I then did another draft, sent the novel to a couple of beta readers, and then made a third draft based on their feedback. Then I started shopping the book around, seeing if I could get anyone interested.

I’m happy to say that one company did show interest. And after some back and forth of the terms, we came to an agreement, culminating today with my signing the contract. So with that said, I can now say, my novel The Pure World Comes will be published!

Specifically, the novel will be published by VitaleTek, a company that releases stories through its app Readict. Which, honestly, is kind of Victorian: novels were released through periodicals like newspapers or magazines before being collected in hardcover and paperback (I think the latter, like now, is for more commercial books). And apps like Readict can be the newspapers and magazines of today.*

Anyway, I’m super excited to have this novel come out. The Pure World Comes is a love letter to all I love about the Victorian era (and probably won’t be the last). That several people, from my beta readers to the folks at VitaleTek, thought so highly of my story and that it’s been accepted for publication only a year after being written (Rose took five) is a huge deal for me.

As of right now, we don’t have a release date. However, I can tell you that the latest draft of the novel has been sent to the company and I’m sure their editing department will be in touch soon so we can polish this novel up. I cannot wait to share this book, its protagonist Shirley Dobbins, and the strange going-ons at the Hunting House mansion, very soon.

Thanks to Ms. Keheaku and the team at VitaleTek for taking on this project; Patrick Freivald for introducing me to the company; to Ruth Ann Nordin, Tim Purvis, and Angela Misri for beta reading the book; and many more people who helped me get to this point. It could not have been done without you.

That’s all for now, my Followers of Fear. I have posts and videos to make on my other social media platforms, pizza and ice cream to eat, mead to drink, anime and movies to watch, monsters to summon, and so much more. Until next time, pleasant nightmares and God Bless Queen Victoria!

*As for whether The Pure World Comes will get a print edition, you’ll just have to wait and see.

Oh, one more thing, my Followers of Fear: there’s just over two weeks left to submit questions to the Ask Me Anything, or AMA, to celebrate my ten-year blogging anniversary. Send your question in an email to ramiungar@ramiungarthewriter.com by 11:59 PM on July 28th, 2021 and you’ll get entered for a prize. I look forward to reading your questions!

Also, if you’re looking for something to read until The Pure World Comes releases, you can check out any of my previous work below. People are still discovering my stories all the time, and apparently they’re enjoying them too (thank you for the review on Agoraphobia, Jennifer Patino). Who knows? You may find something that will give you one or two…pleasant nightmares.

The Quiet Game: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Smashwords, and Kobo.

Rose: Amazon US, Amazon UK, Amazon Canada, Audible

Snake: Amazon US, Amazon UK, Amazon Canada, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Smashwords, and Kobo

Agoraphobia: Amazon US, Amazon UK, Amazon Canada

Mother of the King: Amazon US, Amazon UK, Amazon Canada

Let Me Ask You Something…

Posted: July 12, 2021 in Living and Life, Novel, Poetry, Progress Report, Scary Stuff, Writing
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Across the plains of the imagination,
What terrifying creature
With head and neck of snake and body of a thousand arms and eyes
Slithers forward to the realms of reality,
Waiting to be spread?

Anticipation builds.
Come forth, child, pathogen of the mind.
You are wanted and desired.
Naglaeria fowleri, this imposter, envies how you burrow
Into the heads of all who come upon you.

The signature has been put down
Through an app the meme-like transmission and infection will begin.
Let us pray to the dark gods and give our thanks with blood and wine.
The denizens of the Underworld shiver and tremble. For
Behold! THE PURE WORLD COMES!

The Pure World Comes: Third Draft Finished!!!

Posted: April 29, 2021 in Novel, Progress Report, Scary Stuff, Writing
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Well, this was a great day. I got out of work early (long story, don’t ask), which allowed me to finish the third draft of The Pure World Comes around 5:30 PM. And that was great, because by coincidence I was going to meet some friends who had also had their vaccinations for dinner and drinks. So I had the opportunity to turn a good night out with friends into a celebration.

Of course, then I had to wait till I was good to drive before coming home. And then I had to take a shower and check my email and whatnot. Hence why I’m writing this so damn late. Sorry about that. But hey, sometimes that’s life.

So, if you’re not aware, The Pure World Comes is a Victorian Gothic novel I wrote last year revolving around a maid who goes to work for a man who could be charitably called a mad scientist. I did a second draft a few months ago and sent them off to some beta readers for feedback. After getting their feedback and finishing the latest draft of River of Wrath, I started on the third draft. And after only a week or so, the third draft is completed!

Now, this story has always been a lot of fun for me to work on. I’m a huge fan of the Victorian era of British history (see my reasons here), and this novel was a love letter to that era. But this draft was especially fun because I got to read my beta readers’ comments while I worked. They really enjoyed the story and had a lot of good suggestions to improve the story. It’s great hearing what people think of your story (which is why it’s so important to leave reviews after reading an author’s story, by the by). But getting such positive feedback while the story’s still being refined was especially nice and made me hopeful for the story’s future.

Speaking of which, what is the future of this story? Well, it’s late, so I’m not going to do anything further with it tonight. However, tomorrow I’m going to try to submit it. As I said when I finished River of Wrath, I usually start shopping novels after the third draft. And based on the feedback I got on the second draft and the improvements I’ve made, I think this draft has a good chance of finding a home pretty quickly.

As for my next writing project…tough to say. I’ve been mulling a few ideas for short stories, especially ones I could write for specific anthologies. On the other hand, I recently had an idea for another story set in Victorian England, and I at least want to develop it a bit more. Problem is, that story has a good chance of becoming a longer project, maybe another novel if I’m not careful (and I’m not always too careful about word length). So, I might have to mull it a few days.

Whatever I choose, so long as I’m having fun with it, it’ll be okay.

Well, that’s all for now. I’m heading to bed so I’m not a wreck at work tomorrow. Until next time, good night, pleasant nightmares, and please consider getting vaccinated if you’re able to. It’ll protect your health, the health of others, and maybe allow us to move out of this insanity of a pandemic sooner.

“River of Wrath:” Third Draft Finished!!!

Posted: April 20, 2021 in Novel, Progress Report, Writing
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I only like one kind of cocktail, but I haven’t mixed it in years. Recently, I found all the ingredients at the grocery store and decided to pick them up. You mix vodka, sweet n’ sour mix, and blue curacao. I call it an Electrified Lemonade (though it may have another name I am unaware of). Why do I mention it? Because I mixed it this evening in celebration of finishing the third draft of River of Wrath. Woo-hoo!

So, if you’re unfamiliar with this novel, River of Wrath is a novel I wrote on-and-off between October 2017 and October 2018 (which is hilarious, because the main events of the novel take place during Halloween 1961). The novel follows a young couple who find themselves trapped in a small town in Mississippi when a river full of living, violent corpses floods the town. Turns out the river is actually the River Styx as described in Dante’s Inferno, the fifth circle of Hell and the punishment for the wrathful. Trapped in a church in the town, internal tensions rise as the town’s racial differences are brought to light. And believe me when I say, the danger within has an effect on the trouble within and vice versa.

So yeah, you can guess what sort of themes the novel encompasses. I started coming up with the story back in 2017 after reading the book The Blood of Emmett Till by Timothy Tyson, about the infamous murder of a young African-American boy from Chicago in the Mississippi Delta, and the trial of his murderers (spoiler alert, they got off and then admitted they murdered him). I had just learned about Dante’s Inferno and was thinking of where various people and groups in the book might have ended up in Hell according to Dante. That was the impetus for the novel, which originally I didn’t think would be more than twenty-thousand words. A year later, and it was over sixty-thousand words, and I was like, “I gotta stop turning short stories and novelettes into novels.”

Yeah, I have not kept that promise to myself at all.

The Fifth Circle of Hell, as illustrated by Stradanus.

Anywho, I usually try to shop my novels around after three drafts (the third draft of Rose was the one that was accepted for publication, after all). And since this is the third draft, I’ve already sent it off to a publisher. I’ll hopefully get an acceptance somewhere, but we’ll see what happens. It’s not perfect, but I’ve gotten a lot of kinks out of the book and I think it’s a good story. Should be enough to interest someone.

If it does get accepted, however, I’m going to ask for a sensitivity reader. Let’s face it, I’m white, and given the subject matter, I don’t want to accidentally cause offense.

Well, River of Wrath is off. What’s next for me? Well, tomorrow I’ll be getting my second COVID-19 shot, so I might not do anything, creative or otherwise, depending on whether or not I suffer any side effects. That being said, my next project will be the third draft of The Pure World Comes, my Victorian horror novel. After that, I’ll try submitting that for publication. And then…well, who knows? Maybe I’ll work on a new story, or I’ll be editing older stories. We’ll see what happens.

Well, that’s all for now. I’m off to bed, because I have a big day tomorrow. Until next time, goodnight and pleasant nightmares.

Figuring Out & Balancing My Narrator’s Voice

Posted: April 9, 2021 in Novel, Progress Report, Reflections, Writing
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I think this fits the theme of the post very well, don’t you? Photo by Karolina Grabowska on Pexels.com

In my last post, I mentioned that I would soon be tackling editing River of Wrath and The Pure World Comes, two novels that each have gone through some edits and which I would like to try submitting this year. As promised, I have started editing River of Wrath, which is about one of the nine circles of Hell appearing in a small town in 1960s Mississippi (you can guess what sort of themes are included with that description).

And so far, the biggest obstacle I’m dealing with is my narrator’s voice.

For a bit of background, my narrator, Audrey Falley, is writing down her experiences as she remembers them. She’s a character I thoroughly enjoy. She’s an Army wife in the 1960s, but she’s not demure like you would expect from that sort of character in that time period. She’s brash, street smart, she admits she drinks, swears, and has sex with her husband. In other words, she’s unladylike, and proud of it, and I tried to make that show in how she tells her story.

Which is challenging. In addition to all that above, Audrey is also not your typical narrator. By which I mean, this is her first time really telling a story, as her life hasn’t had many opportunities for her to practice creative writing. She also breaks the fourth wall a lot in a way Deadpool might approve, pointing out things about her word choice and how at certain times she sounds like she’s writing a romance novel.

And yet she’s very much aware what sort of story she’s telling.

And here I am, on the computer, trying to tell this story through this character’s unique perspective, while also balancing that perspective with the needs and tone of the story. Not only that, but I have to make the language used sound both like they were written by Audrey and by me, a writer who has a few published books and stories under his belt. And I have to ensure it reads like a horror story.

All told, it’s a bit of a juggling act. And I’m feeling the struggle. There are plenty of points where I’ve wondered to myself, “Does this sound good? Or does it sound totally amateur-ish?” It can affect how I look at the project at times.

That being said, there are moments where I look at the changes I’ve made and I’m like, “Yeah, I got this.” I had one of those moments when I was editing the scene the novel goes from period piece with strong romantic overtones to full-on horror story. Here’s the passage in the previous draft:

Before either of us could answer, there was a scream from the edge of the park. It was followed by several other screams, not just women, but men and children. Dogs barked, and birds flew into the air and away from the park entrance. Around the park, and in Little Angola as well, people stopped what they were doing, stood up if they were sitting down, and looked in the direction of the screams.

And then there’s the section from the current draft (asterisks are to prevent spoilers):

From the edge of the park came a woman’s scream.

Everyone, including Gordon and me, froze before turning in the direction of the scream, which was the same direction we’d come from. We could hear more people screaming, not just women, but men and children too. And that wasn’t all: dogs were barking, birds were flying in every direction, and everyone in the park, from the folks in ********, to the families at their picnic benches, to the children on the playsets, and to the couples in the flower garden, stiffened.

Later on, it occurred to me that we were all feeling the same thing. We weren’t just afraid. We were dreading whatever was causing those people to scream and making the animals go crazy. We dreaded it in our very bones.

Busy editing. Hopefully by the time I’m done, this novel will look a whole lot better and I’ll have a better idea if it’s ready to be submitted anywhere.

How was that? It’s not perfect, but it is better written than the previous version. Feels more like something you might read in a professionally-published horror novel. And that difference really made me feel like I could balance all those things I mentioned above. I don’t know if by the end of the draft, the novel will be ready to submit to publishers as I’d hoped, but if the new passage is anything to go by, I’ll at least get a bit closer.

Anyway, that’s where I’m at right now. I think, as the draft continues, I’ll hopefully not only get a better idea of where the story is in its development, but maybe even be able to go back to the beginning and do a better job of polishing up the story. We’ll see what the rest of the draft holds.

That’s all for now, my Followers of Fear. I’ll check in again soon, though I’m not sure when or what I’ll be talking about. Until next time, pleasant nightmares!

“Cressida:” First Draft of My Mermaid Horror Story is Finished

Posted: April 4, 2021 in Novelette, Scary Stuff, Writing
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Be careful. Not every mermaid sings about being part of our world.

I’ve been teasing for a couple of posts now that I’m working on a mermaid horror story. Yes, a horror story involving mermaids. You read that right. And I’m happy to say that as of this afternoon this story, which I’m calling “Cressida,” is finished!

“Cressida” follows a young man who goes out to his uncle’s beach house after a very strange phone call makes him worry about his uncle’s mental state. What transpires, however, is that the uncle has a mermaid in his basement! And that’s not the strangest thing of all, because the mermaid’s presence brings up uncomfortable memories for both men. And it’s going to have an irreversible effect on them as well.

I’ve had the base idea for this story–a guy keeping a mermaid in his basement–for quite a while. But then I saw a submissions call for an anthology dealing with deep water horror with an unusually high word count. Since I’m such an expansive writer,* I was excited. Rarely do submission calls give me such an opportunity to breathe and really go all out. I checked my story ideas, saw something that fit the theme, and got to work.

A few weeks later, and the story is finished at about 10,200 words, or about 33 pages. And I’m quite proud of the story. I don’t think it’s some of my best work, as I stated in some posts on my Facebook and Twitter pages. But I was able to really work in some themes of trauma, regret, and the power of desire and I think it makes for a good read.

Of course, I’m not the best judge and will look into having a beta reader go over the story before sending it off to the anthology. As long as I get the notes of “Cressida” back by the end of the month, I should be able to edit and submit it before the deadline. And if not…well, there’s likely another market to send it to. I’m always keeping my eyes open for this sort of thing.

Going to be a lot of writing and editing in the near future. I’m looking forward to it.

In the meantime, however, I’ll be doing the second draft of “Window Audience Blues,” the story about Robert Johnson I wrote. After that, I’ll likely be editing my novels River of Wrath and The Pure World Comes before submitting them anywhere. Depending on how things transpire in the coming weeks and months, I’ll hopefully get those all edited by June and submitted by July. Should be exciting.

Well, that’s all for now, my Followers of Fear. I’m going to read a bit and then hit the hay. Until next time, good night, pleasant nightmares, and how do I have a basement in my home to store the trophies I take from my victims? I live in an apartment on the third floor!

*Seriously, I once had a teacher in a creative writing class comment that my work tends to involve a lot of character development and world building, even though I tried to keep the stories I turned in under ten thousand words. I summed it up as “yeah, I’m an expansive writer.” She wholeheartedly agreed.

Updates on What I’m Doing

Posted: March 28, 2021 in Living and Life, Progress Report, Writing
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I actually don’t have anything worthy of devoting a blog post. But if I don’t regularly post, I start to feel like I’m not doing something I should, and that isn’t a pleasant feeling. Thus, I’m giving everyone a quick update on what I’m doing, how certain projects are coming along, and what dark magic I’ve been using lately.

So with that little preamble, let’s get started.

Writing Projects

So, for the past week or so, I’ve been working on a mermaid horror story. Yeah, you read that right. A mermaid horror story. I saw an anthology announcement with a theme of ocean horror, and I thought that it looked good. Especially since the word count actually allowed me to spread my wings and work without feeling like I’m sacrificing story for length. Anyway, I’m about halfway through and hope to be finished with the first draft soon. After that, a quick trip to a beta reader, a quicker edit, and then submission. Hopefully the editor or editors like the anthology.

As for the other writing projects, I’m going to be editing and submitting the Robert Johnson story I wrote, “Window Audience Blues,” in May. Then I’m editing River of Wrath for a submission call in June. And with the last beta reader for The Pure World Comes supposed to be getting back to me soon, I should be able to edit that and start shopping it around soon. And I wrote another article that I submitted to a horror website. After that article on the spider web scene in The Fly, I think I have a good chance of getting it published where I submitted it.

So yeah, lots of editing and submissions in the near future. Hopefully, along with the stories I’ve already submitted here and there, I’ll get at least a few acceptances.

Other Writing-Related Work

Besides my own projects, I’ve been handling a lot of stuff on my plate. Most of it is administrative stuff, like answering emails or planning on various projects. It takes up a good chunk of the time I devote to writing, but it’s necessary to get it all done. And if all these projects I’m working on in secret pan out, who knows? It may lead to more writing time or other benefits.

On a less secretive note, my plans to attend various events in the next couple of months appear to be moving forward. I hope to put out a blog post (and probably a YouTube video) later this week with the latest on those. Not the most exciting thing I could report, but considering how nice it is to have these events and whatnot, I’m excited for them.

Life in General

Between my day job and Passover, I’ve been even busier than usual. Heck, sometimes writing and the administrative stuff I referred to just a moment ago have to take a back seat! Add in that people my age in Ohio are almost eligible for the vaccine, and my dance card is just about full!

I’m not complaining. I know that things could be a whole lot worse and I’m glad they’re not. And if things go as planned, they should get better. I’m actually planning a vacation for the fall that I’m really looking forward to, that’s how optimistic I am about the future. Details, obviously, to be shared when I get a bit closer.

So That’s What I’m Up To Right Now

Life is busy, but it’s good and looking better. I hope this post didn’t bore or disappoint you. If things go as planned this week, I should be able to post something more interesting either Friday or Saturday at the latest. In the meantime, I hope you’ll stick around and continue to support me.

And if you don’t, you’ll find swarms of spiders appearing in your home. That’s the black magic I’m working with today. Check out my work using the links below, read it, and let me know what you think! Or your arachnophobia will go into overdrive this week!

Until next time, my Followers of Fear, pleasant nightmares!

Agoraphobia: Amazon US, Amazon UK, Amazon Canada

Mother of the King: Amazon US, Amazon UK, Amazon Canada

Rose: Amazon US, Amazon UK, Amazon Canada, Audible

Snake: Amazon, Createspace, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Smashwords, and Kobo

The Quiet Game: Amazon, Createspace, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Smashwords, and Kobo.

I’m Focusing on Editing for a While

Posted: February 20, 2021 in Living and Life, Reflections, Writing
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For the past week or so, I haven’t been really focused on any one project, and I’ve been confused by that. Usually, when I’m working on something, I go all in. And I almost have a project to work on. Yet beyond a couple of blog posts, I’ve had nothing to settle on working. Or I have, I just haven’t worked on them.

I’ve been thinking about why that might be, why I’m not going all gung-ho on any project, even ones that really call to me at times. And I’ve come to a simple conclusion: I’m looking into starting a new projects when there are older projects that need my attention. In other words, I need to focus on editing. Which honestly, I don’t know why I didn’t realize that sooner. I have several short or shorter stories that need editing right now, and I’m likely to hear from the last beta reader for The Pure World Comes very soon. Not to mention I’m probably going to want to do another draft of River of Wrath, and if I’m lucky enough to get one or more stories accepted, I’ll be editing those as well before they’re published.

With all that in mind, as well as the many projects and other obligations I’m juggling (kid you not, I’ve three Zoom meetings this weekend related to my writing life), and the needs of daily life, now’s not a good time to be working on anything new. Instead, I’m going to focus on trying to get some stories as polished as possible and then try submitting them to various places.

Once all those stories are “done,” as my old high school English teacher used to say–in his opinion, you couldn’t get a story “perfect,” but you could get it “done,” meaning no more work can be done to polish or better it–and are being sent out and about to find homes, I’ll work on some new stuff. Maybe a new novel, maybe a bunch of shorter works, but something new.

Until then, however, I’m going to start work on a new draft of my novelette “Blood and Paper Skin.” Hopefully this is just the start of sprucing up some really scary, strange and ultimately read-worthy stories.

So, that’s the latest update on what I’m doing, my Followers of Fear. I’ll see you all very soon. Until next time, stay safe and warm, pleasant nightmares, and watch out for unusual creatures in the snow. Some have a taste for human flesh, after all.

Getting Rid of Useless Plot Elements

Posted: February 7, 2021 in Reflections, Writing
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So this past week, I watched an anime series that turned out to be pretty bad (I swear, this is related to writing and isn’t another anime-themed post). There were several reasons why it was terrible, but a major reason was that the main character was the reincarnation of a guy who died in our world and was reborn into a fantasy world with most of his knowledge and memories intact.

As we’ve discussed on this blog before, anime where characters from our world end up in fantasy worlds are called isekai anime. Because the main character(s) are from our world, that usually plays a large part in their character. The audience can’t watch the show without remembering that this character is from another world and the original world influences their personality and decisions in a hundred different ways.

And this anime…didn’t really do that. Like, the protagonist used some of his scientific knowledge from his previous life to make his magic stronger and invent new devices. But other than that, I often forgot he was from another world. At one point, I found myself thinking, “You know, they’ve already established this guy as a quirky magic genius. They could have written out the isekai element, attributed his knowledge of oxygen and the theory of folding space to his unusual brain, and the show would have one less problem. It wouldn’t be great, but it would have one less problem.”

And that long-winded intro leads into the subject of today’s post. How do you find a story element that’s actually hampering the story rather than improving it? What prevents a writer from creating the sort of pitfalls, be it an unnecessary character or adding an isekai aspect to the story when it serves no purpose? Or if they do, how do they find it and get it out before the story is published?

I had to make a lot of these decisions during the editing of “Rose.”

Well, part of it is experience. Namely, as we become more experienced writers, we get used to figuring out what elements work and what don’t. It’s like a voice in the back of our heads is asking, “Does this work? What does it bring to the story? Would the story suffer if I removed it?” This happened a lot when I was doing major rewrites of Rose. Rose’s fiancé Mark had a slightly larger role in earlier drafts, but during the rewrites, when I was taking the plot in a different direction, I realized that Mark couldn’t fulfill that role anymore. He still had a part to play, but the part he’d played previously made no sense in the new direction. If I kept it, it would have not served the story. Thus, Mark’s role was reduced to what it is in Rose now.

Something similar happened while writing The Pure World Comes, but that will have to wait till it’s published.

But if you do miss something, that’s where beta readers and editors come in (and why it’s important to use them before you try submitting/publishing a story). Back to Rose, while I was rewriting the book, my publisher recommended I cut out the flashbacks, which were about a third of the book. I was confused and a little upset, as I was very proud of those scenes. However, I realized that flashbacks need to connect to the main events of the story. And while the flashbacks did explain plenty about Rose‘s character in earlier drafts, it didn’t connect much to the current events, so I nixed them and started rewriting.

See? Editors and beta readers do help.

But what if you really like an element in a story and there’s a strong indication you need to nix it? Well, then you have a choice to make as the creator. In the case of the anime I mentioned, the creator, if confronted with this choice, could have either made the fact that the protagonist was from another world more essential to his character or the plot. Or, like I suggested, he could have nixed it.

You may not like it, but sometimes you have to throw out problematic elements if you can’t find a way to make them work. Photo by Steve Johnson on Pexels.com

And that’s what it often boils down to. Authors can either cultivate those elements so that they actually matter and don’t bring down the story, or they can “kill their darlings” and nix the elements. This can be hard to do, as we may love those elements as much as we love the very stories we write.* However, it’s a decision we eventually have to make with our stories if we want to not only continue with these stories, but share them with as many people as possible.

No author likes to hear that they need to nix something from their story because it adds nothing or brings the story down. However, it’s important to hear and learn to deal with them, as in the end, it helps to improve the story and maybe even get it into the hands of many readers. And besides, it’s better than having a lot of people complaining about the problem elements after release, right?

That’s all for now, my Followers of Fear. I have a busy week ahead of me, but I’ll be back before too long. Until next time, stay safe, pleasant nightmares, and if you’re looking for a good isekai anime, let me know. I have recommendations.

*Though I think the creator of the source material for the anime, he did it because isekai stories are hot right now, to the point that they’re inundating the market. It’s a problem we anime fans both joke and groan about.

Looking Forward to Getting Back to My Routine

Posted: January 27, 2021 in Living and Life, Reflections
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So, I’ve been living in this new apartment for two and a half days. And I’ve been adjusting pretty well. Unlike my skeleton roommate Jonesy, who had a bit of a miniature freak out after arriving in the new home.

He then fainted.

Thankfully, he adjusted after a while. Now he’s just hanging around until I can find a permanent place to put him.

Jonesy’s hysterics aside, the move has been easy. As it was in the same complex as my old apartment, getting all my stuff from one to the other wasn’t too hard on me or the movers. Getting stuff out of the boxes was a simple task. Honestly, the hardest task so far has been putting up a shelf on the wall of my bedroom, but that was mostly because of issues with the tools.

Anyway, I imagine I’ll be done moving in and turning the apartment into my new realm of nightmares by Saturday. I’m still putting together a new bookcase (the one I bought secondhand in college fell apart during the move. Apparently it wasn’t meant to last more than seven years, which I didn’t know when I bought it), and I have yet to put up my wall art, masks or Jonesy. But after that, I plan to film a tour of my new home, particularly the home office (I love having my own office in my home). And after that?

Well, I hope I can get back to my routine. Kid you not, I have not been doing any serious fiction writing for several days and I miss it. Part of that is the move, but there’s also various projects I’m working on, including Agoraphobia, that are taking up my time. I’m also waiting on feedback from some alpha and beta readers so I can work on the next drafts. And today I went back for the work for the first time since last week, so that took up some time.

Oh, and I need to sleep. Seriously, I make Jason Voorhees look like a harmless little rabbit when I’m sleep deprived.

All that being said, I wouldn’t say that this time spent not writing has been wasted. I’m coming to like this bigger apartment, as well as decorating it to my unusual tastes. The work can be exhausting, but it’s satisfying, in its way. And those other projects are coming along well. Agoraphobia‘s ready from a text standpoint, and I’m talking with an illustrator for a cover. I heard back from one beta reader for The Pure World Comes, and she said she loved the story. And my dad read another story I wrote recently, as his perspective as a rabbi was required for this story. He said he enjoyed the story and we’re going to find time soon to talk over the phone (or maybe Zoom?) and discuss the story.

I look forward to getting back to this. And yes, this is an accurate representation of what my writing sessions look like.

And I’ve done a bit of work for a new story set in the world of “Mother of the King.” Still need to do some outlining, but I’ve laid the groundwork, so hopefully a first draft isn’t too far behind.

So yeah, time hasn’t been wasted. And once all the moving in is done, I’ll be able to get back to a routine and continue telling stories that terrify the crap out of people.

Well, that’s all for now, my Followers of Fear. It’s been another long day, so I’m looking forward to a nice, long nap. Until next time, stay safe, pleasant nightmares, and if you’re a stalker trying to find my new place, do so at your own risk. They still haven’t found the remains of the last stalker who broke in, after all.

Well, they did find a finger. But hey, I was sleep-deprived.

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