A list of things for January 2024
Traditionally, late January and February are gloomy times. The flush of the new year has faded and winter starts wearing on the soul around then. I took myself off for a quick trip to New York to go to the opera, which was lovely, but too quick. So I'm just getting along as best as I can now. Aren't we all.
I have a list of things for you, since that is what we do around here, but I'd like to highlight my latest short story, published in Black Petals, titled "The Illustrated Woman." It's Bradbury by way of Chandler with a pitch black heart plus my love of how they used to sling tattoos on Chicago's South State Street back in the day. I hope you like it.
- I posted a list of things I liked in 2023: movies, books, television, podcasts, experiences, etc. Not the best things, mind you. Just stuff I liked.
- The horror films I liked get their own list.
- At my little horror film podcast, we did a bit of a freefom review of some things we liked from last year, and then our first proper episode of 2024 on what was probably my favorite horror film of last year, Enys Men.
- I posted a bunch of horror writing market updates for February if that's something you're into.
- I just finished reading Twyla Tharp's The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It for Life, which is a wonderful guide to creative ritual and routine that effectively balances valuing both discipline and inspiration. I also appreciate her thoughts on the benefits of constrictions: "Whom the gods wish to destroy, they give unlimited resources." Heartening to those of us with few resources to spare.
I spent most of January locked out of Twitter and I will admit that absence made me slightly fonder of it—but the real social media party is still over on Bluesky. I still have a handful of invitation codes for Bluesky so if any of my newsletter readers would like one, let me know. You can reach me by email about that or anything else at [email protected].
Thank you for reading! I'm grateful for you. 🖤