Apparently the Day Reset Method is working for some folks, including those who didn’t think it would–which was also me! So I get the surprise lol. Whatever it takes to trick our brains.

I got my hardcover copies of A Wild Kind of Darkness and they are so pretty.

As big of an extra expense as they are, I think I have to keep doing them for the series. I’m extremely proud of all of my books regardless of the format, but having something that is, in itself, a work of art with all those extras–a collector’s item–is something I am extra proud of. I only ever buy a handful of print copies because I sell so few and no longer attend events or anything–I keep them on hand for a trickle of direct Etsy sales throughout the year, Patreon rewards, and just because I like to have copies myself. But I’ve all but sold out of the ones I just got (the remaining one is on my own shelf but it’s in perfect condition, so I can sell that one too), and I’m aiming to get them back in stock for the first of November. I do have several of The Killing Beach, if you want to start your collection (or buy a gift for someone who would like a weird, dark mystery with ACAB vibes).

This all means that A Wild Kind of Darkness is up now on Payhip for those who prefer to buy direct, since everyone buying a print copy gets a digital download code.

I’m waiting on a vet call for Rodney–we’re checking his anemia today–and I’ll either get this stack in the mail after that or, if it’s late in the day, go first thing tomorrow.

On Saturday, I finished Sins of the Mother, which is Waverly #6. I started it last year, before I decided to insert two other books, and left it sitting at 21K for ages. The first half needs a lot of work (well, all of it does) but there’s a basic draft there to work with. That left me with nothing to work on at the weekly write-in, so I went ahead and wrote 4K on Beneath the Pines, Waverly 7. (At least, I hope I don’t have to insert another book…I’ve got a few scenes in my head that definitely need to happen before the last act in this book, and if they don’t fit here, then they either weave in elsewhere or get a whole other book. I hate my brain.)

Someone might actually kiss someone in this series, and I’m as shocked as you are. Last night there was a copy of last year’s discourse on Bsky about “fiction characters having sex is coerced by the author because they don’t have agency and therefore bad” and, like, a) what the FUCK lol, and b) if I could coerce characters to just bang and get it over with, my various series would be lot shorter.

I am having to enforce a writing break now, though, as I wrote almost 120K in 3.5 weeks, and I’m starting to hurt. I’m in that place where it’s taken over my brain, though, and I haven’t so much as watched TV because all I wanted to do was work on the book.

It’s the most amazing feeling in the world, even if I keep forgetting things like eating.

I owe Patreon a couple of shorts and I’m hoping to get to those on Saturday. That should be enough of a break (keeping in mind, I’m not really having a total break, since I am still freelancing–I just can’t tack on six hours of writing at night) to make some good word count at the next write-in. And I really should do a newsletter/state of the union post.

In the meantime, though, my treadmill session here is just about done, and…

Isn’t she pretty???

The grand plan this week, as I’m on holidays (much, much needed for a reset) was to get some writing done. But getting a chunk of work done while I was offline did the necessary…prep work, I guess? priming? (I don’t know, I’m tired), to get deep into the book. I just wrote 31K in three days, finishing Waverly 5 (A Dark and Distant Home) last night with an 11K-word day (and this on a loop for HOURS). The book ran short at like 73K, but that’s common for that series–I usually add about 15-20K in flesh, and this one does have plenty of [describe] this notes, as well as a few early plot tangles I have to unravel a little.

This has been a year-long detour, writing two books in that series I hadn’t planned on, but now I can go back to the one I started last year, which will officially be the sixth book. I’m 21K into that, though it needs a rehaul to account for these other books.

Where things are headed work so much better now. The one I wrote last December (which is a horrible mess) and this new one get the primary characters to a place they needed to be for later events. Waverly, in particular, has had to grow a little–she still hates everyone and I’ve shown she is, perhaps, straddling that line into darkness a little closer to the bad side than anyone previously realized, but she’s had to be on her own again and better…I guess, figure out who she is now. She starts the series sort of adrift, is given an anchor point again for the next couple of books, and then was left adrift again. Now she’s, perhaps, not exactly her own anchor, but she’s a little steadier.

She also saves herself, which she has certainly done in other books but it was really important for me to have in this one.

I’m still planning on one a year for these books after Alone at Night releases in April, so that puts A Dark and Distant Home out…2026? If the fourth wasn’t such a mess, I’d slot it into next fall, but it’s going to be a lot of work, so I’m doubtful.

I really ended up loving this book. This might be a series breaking point for some people, because the subject matter is as dark as it gets, but I try to balance that with…just, not having graphic detail. I have little interest in detailing horrible things; I’m much more interested in the human, emotional element. Probably because I don’t think readers need graphic detail, so much as they need it acknowledged “Yes, this is horrible; here’s the aftermath”. This is why rape in books so often comes across like it’s trying to be titillating even if it isn’t the author’s intention–they focus on the wrong aspects (eg, the physical act in detail, more than the psychological). So while there isn’t on-page rape in this book, CSA is a theme because Waverly is tackling a situation where an adopted child was “rehomed” and you can’t not talk about child trafficking and that.

The trouble with crime mystery books is that they require, well, crime to be solved. So you can either have your protagonist solve crime that happens to terrible people–and who cares?–or crime that happens to non-terrible people. And the latter means being very careful about not leaning too hard into the lurid details.

Keeping it grounded means every book is at least a little sad. Because violence is sad. But I try not to dwell there, because each book is also about picking up the pieces after violence. And Waverly, oddly, with her lack of sentimentality and typical feelings, has been the perfect vehicle to explore this subject matter.

All this and readers don’t even have the second book yet, lol.

So now it’s only Tuesday on my week off and I have to decide what to do with my time. I might tackle a review of what I’ve written so far in Waverly 6, to better arrange those pieces now before writing anything new.

If I was smart, I’d finish either The Only Way Out or Stranger in the Halls, both horror books. I’ve been invited* to participate next month in a live author roundtable with other horror writers for Kobo Writing Life. A smart person would have a new horror book up for preorder for next year but…I’m a contrarian.

I would also like to finish my very personal gothic romance I’ve picked at for years (and will never be published), but that’s a whole other headspace to get into.

I could also “relax”, I guess, but who has time for that.

*I said yes, even though I very rarely, like…talk anymore, and that is why you’ll see a new photo of me here and on my social media pages–they wanted a headshot, and I’ve just been using a picture I took seven years ago on my iPad. So now I look like I’m about to shoot the PI I hired to investigate my husband’s death because he figured out I was behind it.