Another Busy Week!

Hey! How are you today? Hope you had an awesome week. I can't believe July is almost over.

A few weeks ago I completed the first edit of my upcoming novel, Fallen Destiny. And this week, I read the proof. From start to finish. Yeah, I worked really hard on this edit. I enjoy smoothing out stories, especially when the editor's cool suggestions push me to make the book even better. Smoother. I was obsessed and totally distracted all week because it's all I could think about. LOL

This is what I said on Bluesky the other day: I'm at that stage of the proofreading where it's eating my brain & I can't wait to get back to it, but need a break because I have to eat, sleep, etc. 😅

So true. I felt like that all week.

Anyway, here's the tagline for the book: How does a demon, hired by a mysterious nun, find a lost angel?

Think Hellboy x Constantine with a twist of Supernatural, and that's Destiny's story. It's a cozy fantasy with a mystery. It's a bit UF, and definitely has a pinch of horror. There's a love story in there, a road trip, and features a found family.

I'm very excited about Destiny's tale, which will be released late this year from Brigids Gate Press! I'll keep you posted.

Asides from going for daily walks, sleeping, eating, and spending time with hubby, I didn't do anything else. 

Well, that's it for now. I'm going to enjoy the weekend with my husband because I need a mental break. 😃

Have an awesome weekend!!

PS. The graphic I posted above is Destiny, and I made it via Picrew, which is a doll maker website I've been using for years. Human artists upload their art and users can make cute versions of themselves, or characters. This isn't AI. I despise gen AI slop.

Watching, Revising & Reading

Hey, how's it going? I hope you're having a great day.

This week turned out to be great, as far as my writing goals and spending time with my husband, but it was the worst for dealing with people. I seriously hate that the general population doesn't seem to understand common courtesy anymore, or manners. Even customer service appears to be a forgotten thing. And I hate how most people don't understand the concept of criticism. Too many thin-skinned assholes out there who like to act like rotten bastards and don't want to be called out on it. And don't even get me started on companies who advertise about offering an easy way to transfer different currencies and then end up stealing all your money.

Like I said, it was the week of motherfuckers.

But onto other better things.

I finished watching the rest of DAISY JONES & THE SIX and really enjoyed it! The 70s aesthetics were as perfect as the music, and the ending hit as hard as the book. Overall, they did a great job at capturing the essence of the book and the characters. It was a trip to watch the band perform songs that could've easily fit into the 70s. Cool show! 😊🎶

Glad I finally watched it. 

The other great thing I did was complete the novelette I finished writing last week. I had a great time writing and revising this story, and everything that happened surprised me in many ways, but also made total sense.

Total word count: 13,001.

This is actually the tenth story I've written in this (vampire) world this year. And that doesn't include the two novels (90k each) that started all of this. Plus I still have a list of other characters waiting to tell their tale, LOL.

I also read a very cool novella, CRANBERRY COVE by Hailey Piper, and got started on the final proofing of my upcoming novel from Brigids Gate Press, FALLEN DESTINY, which I'll get stuck into on Monday.

Yeah, got lots of things to do. 😊

Have an awesome weekend!

CRANBERRY COVE by Hailey Piper

Cranberry Cove by Hailey Piper
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

After I finished revising one of my stories, I decided to reward myself with this novella.

Emberly and Conner are partners sent to investigate what happened at the derelict hotel called Cranberry Cove, but what they find is a lot darker than either expected...

Eerie. Tense. Mysterious. Entertaining.

Yeah, I really enjoyed this story. It's full of dark supernatural goodness that hints at what lies beneath the fabric of reality, lost within liminal spaces. It's packed with interesting characters that kept me glued to the page because I wanted to follow them into the darkness. I particularly like how the writing style and the way the story unfolds adds to the surreal quality of the narrative, and throws everything off balance.

Also, I'm totally intrigued by Angelica.

The occult stuff is really cool, and I felt like this story definitely had X-Files and Twin Peaks vibes.


View all my reviews

Sorta Break

Hi, how are you today?

I hope everything is okay in your corner of the world. I know it's hard at the moment because there are so many crappy things going on all the time, but that's why it's important to find happiness.

So, after spending last week doing an intense round of edits, I enjoyed a nice mental break. Which is actually a good thing because not only was I mentally exhausted, but the weather has been so shit lately that I caught a cold. I felt pretty shitty most of this week. 🤧

And yes, I was sickish on my birthday. Ugh.

It sucks, but I kept up with my daily walks around the river. Hell, I even managed to finish the first draft of the story I've been working on. The word count ended up being 10k, and I just completed the second draft about ten minutes ago.

It's now 12k. 🦇

I really didn't expect this particular character's story to end up past 10k, but I'm not surprised because it's really a tale that covers several changes between two different characters. Also, last night I came up with a very small tweak that made a huge difference to the second draft.

Love when that happens!

Oh, and I finally got a chance to read! I've been so busy with my own writing and organising my new bookshelves lately that I didn't get a chance to read for a while. I read two cool books: THE NIGHT GUEST by Hildur Knútsdótti and SUNBURN by Laura Lippman. Really enjoyed both of them, especially TNG.

Also started watching the DAISY JONES & THE SIX TV show and I'm enjoying it. A lot. I'm four episodes in and can't wait to see how it turns out. I read and absolutely LOVED the book last year, SO MUCH. The 70s vibes and music match the book so far, plus the aesthetics are beautiful. 🎶😍🎶

Also, the MURDERBOT S1 finale was awesome.

Well, that's about it for now. I'm looking forward to enjoying a nice and relaxing weekend with my husband.

Have a great time!

SUNBURN by Laura Lippman

Sunburn by Laura Lippman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

After reading a great book the other day, I wanted to get stuck into another story, so I went through my Paperwhite... and started reading this one yesterday.

When Polly walks out on her husband and daughter during their summer vacation, she ends up in Belleville, Delaware. And inside a tavern, she crosses paths with the alluring Adam. Both are apparently passing through on their way to better places, but the secrets they hide bring them together. And will probably tear them apart...

Well, this book turned out to be quite interesting. It's well written and there are secrets buried within secrets that lead to an unexpected conclusion. There's also a great cast of grey characters that prove good people can do bad things, and bad people can do good things.

It all starts with a seemingly average woman, Polly, sitting in a bar after leaving her family because she wants to be free before her husband leaves her. But it doesn't take long to realise that there's a lot more to her story. Then there's the man, Adam, watching and assessing her every move because he seems to be interested in her. Yet, he has ulterior motives too.

I liked the way this unravelled. Told mostly in the POV of Polly and Adam, there are also several other POVs peppered throughout that provide clues that help round out the overall mystery. And these definitely help the reader figure out exactly what's going on with Polly.

Cool book, glad I read it.


View all my reviews