Herzog and Life Status Update

The New Normal in the house involves much less dry food, available throughout the day, a bigger water fountain, and a serving of wet food at both 7:30 AM and PM. At the same time as the wet food, I also administer an insulin shot.

Greetings, friend!

I was musing on all the things I’m dealing with at the moment, and realized it’s a lot. Rather than try to fit all this shit into a tweet or a tweet-thread, I decided to indulge myself and fill the vasty white fields of a blog post with swarms of words. I have an awesome mechanical keyboard, let’s bang on this thing.

(CW: Pet health, needles, harsh language)

Feel free to skim the Herzog paragraphs- there is a bullet list at the bottom detailing the other mountains in my range of Recent Anxieties.

(Author’s Note: Once I was done with this emotional barf party, I dithered on whether or not to even post it since it’s a few thousand words of just BLAAAAAAHHHHGGGGHHHHH. But I decided to go ahead and post it – let things that need be said, be said. At another point in the future, I will do a post about all the things I am looking forward to, in order to voice to the positive as well as the negative.)

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What’s Next After Virago?

There’s definitely more to come concerning this world, and more short stories will be posted as well.

Monday saw the posting of the last chapter of the Virago Podcast – so what’s next for readers and fans of Adelaide, Neville, Winston, and Gordon?

Hard Dates

October 1st

  • Virago will be available in print and E-Book format from Amazon.
  • Virago episodes will be uploaded to Spotify, where they will be more easily accessible. I’m going to clean up the files (remove those creepy ‘mouth noises’ I sometimes make from having a dry throat) and convert them to .mp3 format. Also, there will be artwork.

Soft Dates

  • The Secret Wilderness podcast will begin, eventually, and is Adelaide’s backstory, which she has been dithering about sharing with anyone and begins to share with Allan in the last chapter. I wrote TSW first, but as the world expanded it seemed better suited as a prequel since Virago appealed to a wider audience. It’s a much smaller story with more horror flavor. Fans of movies like The VVitch and books like The Company of Wolves will find a lot to like.

I don’t have a start date for The Secret Wilderness chosen yet, but I quite like the Spring/Autumn schedule of this year – I know common-held belief for creators is that I should keep posting content or risk losing the audience, that people demand constant content, content content content, but I’m not on that schedule. And these aren’t stories you blow through in a weekend and never read again. When I find something I really like, I spend time on it. I re-read, re-watch, explore fandom, discuss with friends, etc. Also, I have a full time job and a life outside of writing, so as much as I’d like to just write all day, I can’t.

Also, that will mean more time for revising Barghest, the third book in the series. It’s completed, but it needs some work.

So! There’s definitely more to come concerning this world, and more short stories will be posted as well.

In the meantime, I’m making a resolution to focus more on actual writing – the podcast has been fun but without the writing, there’s nothing to share. I’m resolved to spend less time On the Couch, the gravity well toward which I drift so I can watch movies/TV while knitting.

So for now – I want to hear from you! I’m open to observations and suggestions for improvement! Please like, share, subscribe, and let me know what you’re thinking about the story overall, or just say hello!

Until next time, be seeing you!

Big Announcement!

On OCTOBER 1st, you will be able to read the words I read to you in various bad accents and with mumbly pronunciation these past months yourself!

Friends!

Yes! You are correct, you didn’t see an episode of Escape Into Storytelling yesterday. That’s because:

  • It was a holiday weekend in the USA.
  • I was tired and needed a break.

But! I have big news!

Virago will be available in print and e-book format OCTOBER 1st.

That’s right! On OCTOBER 1st, you will be able to read the words I read to you in various bad accents and with mumbly pronunciation these past months! YES! You will be able to hold the book in your hands, either in print or downloaded to your tablet or Kindle. I already have a working relationship with Amazon, and am going to be looking into other opportunities for self-publishing.

To be clear – Virago was originally published in 2015. This version has been workshopped and revised, and anyone who owns an old copy can trade it to me for a new one, free of charge. Or if you want both, I will give you a copy of the new one, free of charge.

The 2021 revision will contain:

  • New scenes
  • A character index
  • A map of the city

The other news is I will be GOING BIG with the podcast on Spotify. THAT’S RIGHT! You will be able to stream the episodes from a REAL PODCAST SOURCE that is not just my dinky blog. BIG TIMES.

So! Mark your calendar! OCTOBER 1st.

It’s a Friday, it’s the first day of the best month of the year, which contains not only Halloween but also my birthday AND when temperatures in Orlando start to creep down into those autumnal 70s and 80s.

So! Mark your calendars, set an alert, do whatever y0u do to remind yourself of big important things. Because they are coming – Oh, yes.

As always, thank you for supporting independent and self-published authors like me. Until next time, be seeing you!

Escape Into Storytelling News – Future Podcasts and Book News

Good morning, friend!

Here are some developments happening with Virago that I’m excited to share with you! Read on for musings on self-promotion and to find out what’s ahead for Escape Into Storytelling!

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Horror of Houses Pt 2: The Surrendering

My price range was low – 150-200k. Nothing that Architectural Digest would deign acknowledge, but maybe I could make the cover of Working Peasant Monthly.

Last year I wrote an entry about looking for a house. It was optimistic and spunky and full of hope about the future. It is also hilarious to read now, over a year later, during the worst buyer’s market since the evil shop in Stephen King’s Needful Things opened.

This is the story of how I gave up on trying to buy a house.

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