That Spooky Mood - November 2023 Writing Update

That Spooky November Mood

November 2023 Writing Update

This past month, I've started writing again. And it has been a relatively good month for writing! Despite not reaching my usual levels of productivity with my craft, I've managed to write a couple of short stories. Which is all really great because I haven't actually been able to write for a while. Big win!

One story, "Sacrificial", stands at 1k words as of my writing this, and I've put it on hold. It's about a young woman who falls in love with a man only to find herself about to be sacrificed to some eldritch monster.

Currently, I'm working on a new eerie piece that is turning out to be a bit longer than previously planned. It's titled "Aunt Florence's Will", and I'm hoping to turn it into a creepy little novella (and I'm hoping to finish it soon). I don't think it's going to be some groundbreaking kind of horror story, but I'm having a lot of fun applying different techniques to it and seeing where that takes me. 

"Aunt Florence's Will" stands at 2k words as of my writing this. A woman has been tasked with following her late aunt's very specific will and dividing up her belongings among family and friends. It turns out Aunt Florence has many strange and horrifying artifacts...

I'm supposed to be writing some articles, too, and to be perfectly honest with you, I'm struggling with them. Back when I chose the topics for these articles, I was excited to delve into them. A little wear-and-tear over the past several months has me not quite all that excited for anything. It's been a great time for my writer's block, actually. I've pushed through with these short stories that I've written because I'm often fueled by my sudden inspiration to write them, but apart from that, there's really not much gas in the tank.

Most of these are articles that I want to write for the upcoming issue of Scrittorio Magazine, which I still hope to have released by the end of December 2023. (If you want to send in your Two Cents on any of the topics which I will explore in the issue, please do!)

One article will be about the issue of sensitivity readers and censorship, specifically due to recent events in the publishing world, but after careful research I've found myself uncertain how to approach this particular article. I don't believe that everyone is on the same page regarding the role of a sensitivity reader, and there seems to be a bit of a grey area when it comes to where a sensitivity edit crosses over into the realm of censorship - a grey area heavily influenced by one's beliefs. And, as with everything else in today's world, the sociopolitical climate cannot be overlooked in its role here, either. So, what I thought would be a simple article has turned out to be a behemoth, and a rather tricky one at that. 

I'm sending out a series of polls to see how the online community feels about it, and since I'm mostly active on Tumblr, that's where I'll be doing that.

Here's to hoping that I can make the end-of-year scramble and get my next issue of Scrittorio out by the end of December! In the meantime, I have completed my organization of the Scare-uary horror writing challenge, and an introduction post with all of the rules and writing challenges is incoming.

That's all I have to report for now, but I'm hoping that in the few days left of November, I'll be able to complete at least one short story, and maybe (just maybe) find a way to record a podcast episode in the echoey rooms of my apartment.