Skyla Dawn Cameron

My characters kill people so I don't have to.

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#ThePsychKittens Birthday

On February 15, I ended up with two orphaned, two-day-old kittens.


I have seen kittens being born before. I have seen neonates. I have never, ever seen kittens this small. They should be 80-100g at birth and gain an average of 10g a day; when I got them at two days old, Gus weighed 57g and Shawn 70g.

Yeah. Tiny.

But getting bigger!

This isn’t a thing I do, normally–yes, I rescue adoptable cats and kittens as part of TNR work, but I don’t foster babies this tiny. I’d intended to only keep them for a few days until a larger recuse could be found…

But they were so, so tiny. Gus struggled to latch and eat, and I didn’t like the idea of forcing another schedule change on them. Plus there’s the reality that shelters often euthanize kittens this young–which is understandable, since they will starve and suffer if specialized fosters aren’t available for them. Without being strong enough to endure travel, there seemed just one option: I had to keep them.

I did not think I could do this. I still do not think I can do this. There are so many odds stacked against them, every day that passes and they’re okay is another miracle as far as I’m concerned. Now that I have three hours between feedings, I’ve had a bit more sleep, thankfully–being sleep-deprived made me very susceptible to panic attacks, which is not good for anyone.

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Guster

Today is their two-week birthday. There have been ups and downs as they struggle to put on weight, have mild colds, and deal with all the challenges low birth weight, orphaned neonates encounter. These creatures are essentially Screamapillars. I am in a constant state of anxiety that I’m going to open their carrier to feed them and someone will be dead even though I record their weight every twelve hours and log every meal in mL so I’d likely notice a downward decline before we reached that point.

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Shawn

They are getting bigger, slowly–you can see a difference in the just short of two weeks that I’ve had them.

They are named Shawn and Gus, from Psych, which I guess is obscure enough now that very few people get my references.

They have a hashtag on Twitter now if you’d like to follow along with #ThePsychKittens. Any day now they should open their eyes–they’re a little behind in that regard, but developing well in others.

I really do sing them their song several times a day:

If you too would like to sing them their song, upload a video and I’ll play it for them!

Due to tremendous generosity from both local and international people, their care is pretty well covered right now–they have their Snuggle Puppy that mimics momma’s heartbeat, a playpen for when they’re big enough to litter train, Miracle Nipples for nursing, cash and gift cards, Kitten Milk Replacement. If you’d like to support the work we do at CCI, we have an Amazon wishlist for various items, as well as PayPal. Our mailing address is 50 Bridge St E / PO Box 27 / Campbellford ON / K0L 1L0, and thus far they’ve been to English Line Vet if you prefer to put money directly down for their care (account name is Cat Care Initiative).

Many of the items on the wishlist would also be useful to your local shelter, and I encourage folks to donate locally if possible in honor of the other little guys out there.

Saving these guys is not easy work but it can be done. Whether you intend to foster or not, just in case you run into babies needing bottle-feeding, I recommend you take a crash course in rescue at Kitten Lady’s site and learn crucial things like how to feed, what to feed, and tips that will help you give them their best chance at survival. I wouldn’t’ve been able to do any of this without round-the-clock support from BeeBee’s House Kitten Rescue. Whether rescue is successful or not, I believe in throwing oneself behind babies like this 100% and taking it personally.

And I’m not gonna lie–this has been pretty rough on me. I’m a single-income household with bills to pay and work I’ve had to triage because I don’t want to fuck people’s projects up if I rush and am too sleep-deprived. Livi 5 is on hold for a few weeks while I live with a three-hour-feeding schedule.

If you’d like to buy me a coffee (which I’m drinking a lot of), that’d be great.

No matter what, it is all worth it to see these little guys grow a little every day, and I’m grateful social media has let me share their journey with so many folks.

Doppelgangers and Phantom Injuries

Folks like to warn young people all the time about their upcoming failing health. Aunt Judy used to say to me over and over “take care of your knees”. Then there’s the knowing smile when you brag in your twenties about how much alcohol you can consume or how little sleep you need, and people older than you say “just wait.”

It’s true, though–I hit thirty and my body just sort of said “Welp, guess we’re shutting down now” and everything started breaking. Like I get why Jesus noped out of here at thirty-three–I’ve made it a couple of years past that, but I’d really rather have not at the rate things are going. And it continues with “Just wait until you’re 40/50/60” and I don’t know how to explain that I am not going to live that long (currently 70% sure I’ll hit forty, and that percentage fluctuates).

On Sunday I went from “Huh, my back is kind of stiff today” to “OH MY GOD THE PAIN I CAN’T EVEN WALK”. I might’ve thought it was a pulled muscle, but I didn’t…do anything?

I get injured in stupid ways. I’m still not sure how I tore my rotator cuff. I once dreamed I was running from someone, fell and hurt my knee, and woke up with swelling and bruises and awful pain. I broke my toe tripping on a cat scratcher. I have actual literal bubble wrap around the lower corner of my bedframe because I am forever cutting my foot on it when I make the bed.

So…pulled muscle I don’t remember pulling? Compressed disc? I have very poor posture and my “office” is the couch, so it’s bound to catch up with me in the golden age of “Oh shit, I’m not in my 20s anymore”.

I’ve been in bed since Sunday evening and I grow more resentful every day that this stupid human meatsuit is so fragile and finicky. For years it was just my brain telling me I don’t belong here; now my body has joined in, and when it’s not attacking itself, it’s just…falling apart, I guess?

I have a huge pile of work for February and March (which is GREAT) but with the current “office” now being bed, I’m mostly just editing and writing. I’ve been able to putter around and do some chores, and–when I’m not tripping over my twenty-two-pound monstrosity of a ginger cat, Jones (aka Jellyroll Jones aka Fat Jones)–I’m doing okay walking. And lying down. Just sitting is difficult, but I think I’ll be much better by Monday.

Before anyone suggests yoga again–yes, I know, I should get back to it, and I’m doing small stretches but right now I’d like to guarantee I can get off the floor if I lie on it.

A curious thing occurred last night.

I won’t go into the particulars behind it–suffice to say, I got a little paranoid that some of the Patreon-exclusive stuff might be leaked.

So I went hunting.

There’s this stupid notion writers are clueless–we are not. In particular, I am not–I’m pretty savvy, I have excellent Google-fu, and if something’s out there, I can find it. And in one of the vast corners of the internet not being indexed, I went looking at a list of my stuff available.

And then saw a name that was…not quite mine, but almost, and a book I’d never heard of.

This turned into a four-person (Dina was sick) investigation. Our conclusion is that it must be a pen name (that they should’ve googled before using), and possibly not a real person at all but one of those “outsourced” books–although, given the slush I read over the years, I cannot outright reject the notion that it was not merely written by a person severely misguided about their abilities.

The person is not using my last name and I’m not particularly worried about brand issues–it’s a totally different genre (I think? it was…weird)–so I remain privately amused.

Something about being laid up in bed gets the wheels in my head turning, though–I think because I’m extra isolated–and I realized, “Wow, this totally seems like the weird start of some women’s thriller book”.

Another one on the to-write list.

Speaking of, Livi 5 continues apace. I realized I have to restructure the first act a little, and move a conversation from there to a bit later in the book; I’m currently debating whether I want to do that now, or just continue on as if I’d already changed it after leaving some notes. We’ll see.

I did finish a fun side novella, but it needs a thorough second draft, and I haven’t written the accompanying short stories for the collection, so I’m not sure how/when it’ll release, beyond “sometime this spring?”. When Livi 5’s zero draft is complete, I’ll go back and do another revision pass of Livi 4, and officially set some release dates.

For now, Livi’s in the jungle and have a very rough go of it. Within another ten thousand words, I’m going to have to write a sex scene, which is kind of getting me back for torturing her–gotta torture me in return.

“When’s That Book Coming?” Winter 2019 Edition

A strange thing happened New Year’s Eve: I sold a lot of books.

Solomon’s Seal had been a 99c deal as part of a Kobo promotion–which is where it tends to do best–then Amazon price-matched and the sale ended up advertised in some high-traffic places. Sales jumped up on Amazon for the first time (Amazon sales have never been good for that series), a bunch of books sold, and I had a panic attack. Yes, normal people would immediately be excited. I am not normal.

Anyway, the series as a whole has picked up a bunch of new readers and the first book has been selling steadily. Thus far, at least the new readers I’ve heard from really dig the books, so yay!

This has meant a spike in traffic to the site with queries about when Shiva’s Bow will be released, so let’s get to it.

What’s New

Nothing since last time!

Actually, that’s not true. I finally released the Demons of Oblivion series bundle on Kindle Unlimited, so it’s free to read there. (New readers! If you like urban fantasy that’s on the brutal side, you might dig it. If you prefer romance HEAs, it is not going to be your thing. Really. It’s a bit of a gut-punch and VERY different from Livi.)

The West Is Best Club ($10+ tier) on Patreon got a new West short story for Christmas.

And…yeah. That’s it.

I’d genuinely planned a big update for the New Year. I go away to visit family at Christmas, which generally gives me an opportunity to get some writing done since I don’t work do freelance work during that time.

My depression was pretty bad by late November and well into December–I have very specific triggers I try to avoid and I ended up blindsided by one. Eventually I’m going to do a “life hacks for living with depression” post–I survived for three weeks just eating instant meals off of paper plates and trying to do a handful of dishes a day just to get caught up. Then my anxiety was through the roof with the holidays (depression, plus being poor and unable to buy gifts, plus large crowds). Then come 11pm Christmas Day, my old cat ended up at the emergency vet and had forty-eight hours of seizures until I could talk to my regular vet and get a prescription called in for him. Then the tail end of last week I developed bronchitis and I’m presently certain I have the plague.

I did get a lot of early research for Livi #5 done and a bit of writing.

My other big project was revamping my freelance site.

I’ve kept my rates really low for a lot of years and it’s time I start placing better value on my time–and I restructured things so clients could better pick what will fit their needs and budgets. If you have writer types in your life, please keep me in mind if they’re looking for a freelancer!

What’s Upcoming

All that said, I do have stuff upcoming in 2019, and here’s the status of said stuff:

A Livi boxset! The first three novels plus Ashford’s Ghost, which, if you missed, I highly recommend checking out. It’ll be important even if not readily apparent. I promise.

Release date ETA: March 12 2019.

Okay, so what you’ve actually been waiting for…

Livi #4: Shiva’s Bow

The one everyone is looking for updates about.

This book is done-ish. I have the second draft done, and I plan to do another nitpicky draft before I send it for copyedits.

But…

I want to do that after I have a zero draft of the fifth book (more on that below).

Release Date ETA: None. This is a big book in the series and, once you get to it, you’ll be clamoring for the next one. I’m not picking a date until I know for sure I can get you the next in the series after a brief 3-6 month break.

New Readers: I’m sorry, I used to be one of those people who could write books in quick succession. I’m not now. I’m a pretty severely mentally ill, chronically ill, single-income person who works as a freelancer, and Livi books do not lend themselves well to being fast-tracked. I want them well-researched, unrushed, and crafted well for you.

I hope you can be patient! I promise it’ll be worth the wait because, well…

There is kissing in this book. Shiva's Bow, coming 2019.

Nowhere to run. No one to trust.

For once, life is looking good for single mom and adventurer Livi Talbot.

Work is steady, her team is dependable, her daughter is thriving. And then there’s deadly operative Dale West—who sometimes turns into a tiger and always throws her off her game. Just as she’s ready to confront her growing feelings for him, he invites her on a mission for his agency that will take her team to Nepal. A recent earthquake has revealed a mysterious temple deep in the Himalayas, and the secrets within could be fatal in the wrong hands.

A supernatural weapons dealer and his army of mercenaries are at their heels to complicate things, as is someone from West’s past who makes Livi question their potential future. She’s always been slow to trust, but believing in West might be the only way they survive.

If his lies don’t get her killed first.

I know plenty of folks are excited, and I am so thrilled for you to read it–but Emperor’s Tomb just came out in October, so it’ll be some time. I’m hoping by the summer for this one.

Livi #5 (Untitled)

I’m about 20K into it. The shape of the thing is becoming clearer for me and the research is helping me slide the pieces together. It’s a huge game-changer for both Livi and the series, and I am so excited for you to read it.

Once I get through the murky middle, the ending will be quick to write, as it’s stuff I’ve been planning for years now.

I’m hesitant to give it a title since we all know the third book’s ended up changing before release–I’m strongly leaning toward Yampellec’s Idol. The cover is in progress as well–by the time I’m ready to share it, the title will be nailed down.

Release Date ETA: late 2019 at the earliest but probably 2020.

Bonus Livi

To tide everyone over, there’ll be a fun novella which has been posting at Patreon. I’d hoped to release it in February but that’s not happening as it’s not quite done yet. It’s on the way, though! Essentially Livi goes on a blind date that goes very badly (it involves kidnapping) while West babysits.

I have a newsletter if you want announcements about upcoming releases.

New Series

I wasn’t going to say more until I had it set for preorder, but I promised news this month, so: I have a new, non-paranormal mystery series in progress.

I will talk in detail about it eventually–I can write entire ESSAYS about where it came from (essentially, Twin Peaks S3 pissed me off big time, which you know if you followed my livetweeting, and AUDREY DESERVED BETTER)–but as the stories have been rolling around in my head, I realized what I really wanted to do was have a PI series focused on women’s stories. I wouldn’t presume to call it feminist–it’s fiction, I’m only human, and there are bound to be problematic elements I’ll miss–but it’s definitely going to be a series that unapologetically centers women as villains, as heroes, as victims, and with the nuance their depictions typically lack, and turn those PI tropes around and examine how they change when the major players are women.

It’s more challenging than I anticipated but I think you’re gonna love it.

The goal is to eventually alternate them with Livi books to give my brain a bit of a break. I’ve been writing a prequel at the same time as the first novel, which will serialize this year at Patreon.

Her’s the cover and jacket copy for the first book:

Bodies of middle-aged men have been washing ashore in Port Milton. The police have confirmed homicide but not much else, which makes it the perfect case for PI Waverly Jones.

Who just happened to stumble upon the latest victim.

Driven to the point of obsession by the ghosts of her past, she’s been combing the beach to examine each body, afraid of finding one man in particular: Detective-Sergeant Sebastian Kyle, missing these past eleven years after investigating the now-dormant serial killer who made Waverly’s sister his last victim. Though none have been him so far, her familiarity with the murders has left her well-prepared when hired by the wife of the man most recently killed. Have the police unintentionally fumbled this case in the wrong direction, or does the widow not know as much about her husband as she thought?

Port Milton has always had its secrets, and Waverly will drag every single one into the light to get to the bottom of this mystery.

And maybe somewhere along the way, she’ll get another step closer to who killed her sister and what happened to Sebastian Kyle.

Waverly is manipulative and damaged and brilliant and I can’t wait for you to meet her.

West Christmas Story Coming to Patreon

The list of WIPs and things I have to write (HAVE TO, because I’ve promised folks and/or they’re scheduled for release) is long, and yet a couple of weeks ago my brain said, “Hey, why don’t you write something totally different that barely anyone will get to read? Because that’s a fun use of your limited time.”

I thought maybe I’d write a little bit and it would fizzle, but instead I wrote the whole short story that day around freelance work.

Accidentally. As one does. (Fun fact: Soulless was written accidentally over two weeks circa 2009. Sometimes novels fall out of my head unintentionally.)

A bit of revision and tweaking, and it’s currently sitting at 8K and scheduled for the West Is Best Club at Patreon this Saturday morning (EST). And as a bonus, it helped me fix some world-building problems I’ve been dreading dealing with much later in the series.

Why Patreon and why only the West Is Best Club tier? Because a. it’s West POV, and they’re promised a West POV story/chapters monthly, and b. his POV spoils a lot of things in the series because he knows a lot more about everything than everyone else does. That’s why it’s an ideal project for Patreon–otherwise that kind of thing languishes on my hard drive unless it’s seen by a couple of friends. 

This story takes place a year after Tiger’s Memory and directly deals with the aftermath of that novel. 

Yeah. Yeah with that. West is kind of blindsided. 

I still have a Livi novella in progress that all folks at Patreon have been reading. I don’t think I’m going to have that project done for Valentine’s Day (not if I keep writing shit I’m not scheduled to write) but we’ll see.

In addition to new Livi books next year, I have another new project in progress that I’m hoping to launch–Patreon and Alchemy Red folks have had a little preview.

I really, really want to talk about it. To anyone who will listen. But before a project is done, it’s…vulnerable. I get uncomfortable with the books-are-babies metaphor (because it’s illegal to do to babies what I do to books), but writing–particularly a zero draft–feels a bit like gestation, or maybe baking. What you’re creating is new and still developing, and anything can knock its development off and fuck it up. Aunt Judy was the only person in the world I used to send projects to as I was writing them–like a handful of chapters at a time–because she provided only positive reinforcement (that was how I wrote River, Bloodlines, and the four out of five books I’ve written of an unpubbed dark YA series). Otherwise I don’t like to talk until something’s done-ish.

So I’m not talking. Yet. But the more it simmers, the more excited I get about it.

I’ve written it off and on for a few months when I suddenly thought “I wonder if I’m struggling because it’s in the wrong POV”. Sure enough, I switched from third person to first, and everything’s clicking much better. I’m hoping to get some of that done over the holidays before I start working in earnest on Livi #5.

When the first book in the new series is done-ish and ready for preorder, I’ll announce it. I’m also going to be serializing a prequel novel next year to dovetail into it, not only on Patreon but I’m going to try on Gumroad as well. I dislike all my eggs in the Patreon basket, but thus far it’s the one service that’s offered everything I need it to do, and Drip by Kickstarter was never launched publicly (and has since been sold). If the new serial works out on Gumroad, I’ll see about duplicating other content there as well. 

So basically, that’s what’s new here, and those of you getting the new story on the weekend, I hope you enjoy it.

Demons of Oblivion: Series Boxset

The series boxset is now in Kindle Unlimited, free to borrow or $9.99.

A narcissistic vampire assassin. A demon-hunting nun. A violent quarter-demon sociopath. A very dead witch. When the apocalypse is nigh, these very different women and their friends come together to uncover a secret society, unravel a demonic prophecy, battle big bads, and maybe (MAYBE) save the world.

If they don’t kill each other first.

Warning: this release contains a lot of explosions, a lot of snark, frequent homicide, naughty words, sexy times, and a saber-tooth cat named Rodney Ballsgalore.

This is five novels and six short stories, about 500K words. It does not include the Nate novella 9 Crimes, the Nate short story Aftermath, the Zara novella Damaged, or the post-Oblivion Dial V for Vampire–those are all still only on Payhip.

Here’s the ToC:

Bloodlines (Book One)
Thrall (Short Story)
Hunter (Book Two)
Malice (Short Story)
Lineage (Book Three)
Sunrise (Short Story)
Whiskey Sour (Short Story)
Exhumed (Book Four)
Fated (Short Story)
Tales from Alchemy Red: Prey (Short Story)
Oblivion (Book Five)

There is also the first five chapters of Solomon’s Seal for those who haven’t checked that series out yet.

MEET SKYLA DAWN

Writer of horror, mysteries/thrillers, and urban fantasy.
Fifth-generation crazy cat lady. Bitchy feminist.
So tired all the goddamn time.

My characters kill people so I don’t have to.

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What I’m Working On:

Re-proofing/formatting Livi Talbot 5-6 with the new covers.
Writing Waverly 9, an upcoming standalone horror,
and extras for the tenth-anniversary edition of Solomon’s Seal.
Revising The Tree of Life for Patreon.