I know. Oh, believe me, I know.
It’s been months since the last update. I was thinking (hoping) I’d be on a more regular schedule following my move but it’s been harder than ever to stick to one. I’ve barely had time to write (a sentence I hope I never have to utter again) during these last several weeks. The house has required a butt-load of attention. I’ve been doing lots of painting, yard work, and decorating to make it feel more homey. It’s coming along. It won’t be done this year. It probably won’t be done next year. But at this point, I have a few rooms completed or nearly completed.
No. This is not my office. However, this is the color a friend and I just painted the office last week. Prior to this, the walls were painted red on the bottom half and white on the top. The window trim is still light blue (for some reason) and the window sills are dark green. It’s a smorgasbord of strange colors. When I’m done, I’m hoping the only two in there will be grey with orange accents in the artwork and shelves.
Actual bedroom not pictured.
The bedroom has one wall that is a nice dark teal. Growing up, I always had small bedrooms and this one is quite a bit larger. I used a dark color to make it feel smaller. I’m not sure why but I feel safer in a smaller room, more secure.
This IS my actual library. 🙂
The library downstairs is pink. Yeah, you heard me: pink. I never thought I’d want any rooms in my house to be pink. Granted, it’s a very soft coral color and the room gets a lot of light. It’s probably one of my favorite rooms in the house and as soon as I get a rug for it, I’m sure I’ll spend my winter days sitting in front of the fireplace devouring a good book.
As far as the creature situation goes, you may remember my struggles with Tesla the spider from the last post. Turns out Tesla was rather easy to dispose of. His indestructible older sibling, Moriarty, however… Every time I thought I’d finally killed Moriarty, another one would pop up a day later. I’ll tell you, when one of those things skitters out from a dark corner or suddenly appears on your bathroom ceiling, it’s hard not to shriek in terror. And now that the cold weather has finally arrived, they are trying everything possible to sneak in. I’ve caught three sneaking in as I come in the kitchen door. Encourageable little shits.
In the kitchen, I’m afraid to report that I haven’t had too many cooking adventures. The kitchen is one of the places I haven’t had much time to fix up and remains one of the two rooms with a pile of junk in a corner (the other is the guest bedroom). As soon as I get the living room painted, that will be my next priority. It’s unlikely I’ll have any Cooking Adventures up for the rest of the year, unless a miracle happens. We shall see.
On the writing front, I’ve finished writing my WIP “The Collection” a novella chronicling the adventures of a character mentioned in my last book “Memento Mori”. The Collection takes place in 1925 England and is at best described as “Downton Abbey meets American Horror Story”. While I had plans to have it released before Halloween, that is obviously not going to happen now. I’ve decided I’m going to release it next summer and take the time to ensure it gets proper editing, layout, and advertising. I haven’t decided if I’ll go the traditional publishing route with it…but I’m still considering it.
While that’s going, I am also going to begin work on the sequel to that which is a full novel detailing the family’s move to an American estate, the strange characters they encounter there, and the house they’ve moved into that seems to be haunted…or is it the objects inside? This one takes a bit more influence from American Horror Story in the cast of bizarre characters while still focusing on the later part of the 1920’s. I’ve spent a couple months writing down ideas for characters and plot. On my blissful week off next week, I’m hoping to finally dive in and get a solid chunk written. Wahooo!
This weekend, I’m once again hosting the 5th annual Midcoast Halloween Readings in Portland (which I realize is NOT the midcoast…but it’s part of the name already, so just ignore it this time). Along with fellow authors Peter Dudar, April Hawks, Jeff Deck, Morgan Sylvia, E.J. Fechenda, and John Manderino, we’ll be sharing a collection of spooky, scary tales to make your skin crawl and your goosebumps rise. Most of the crew has done the readings every year and always manages to astound me with their phenomenal writing. I’m eager to see what they have to share this year.
Well…I think that’s all the news I have so far. Next week, I actually have a rare week off. I’ll be posting a surprise blog on Halloween before promptly vanishing back into obscurity (hopefully not though). I would like to get back to some regularity here so we’ll see how well I manage it. Things are beginning to slow down here as far as work and events go. Looking forward to more time writing. Much more time.
Until Monday,
KSilva
The Kat At Night 