What’s new this Wednesday, you ask? Well, down here in the Southern Hemisphere, we’re finally entering our annual thaw (a.k.a it’s heading towards Spring), which means I feel a little zesty and oh, so ready for a mojito by the pool. Not that I have a pool … Pity me.
Anywho, let’s get into this week’s obsessions!
What’s New …
First off, let’s get into the nitty gritty part of what I discovered this last week. Censorship. Yup, it exists, folks. Now, you’d think in 2019 this wasn’t the case, because we’re all so—what’s that overused term?—”lit”, right? Well, I hate to burst your bubble, but apparently it looks like the word “horror” is a trigger for social media platforms’ algorithms. In other words, I’m a bad influence according to Mark Zuckerberg and the rest of the social media tycoons. 🙂 Yay me! I can’t be completely certain, of course, but I did conduct a little Twitter experiment, and the results aren’t pretty.
You can read more about the censorship struggles of the horror community in my post, The War Against #Horror.
Of course, I’m not one to take this lying down, so I’ve decided I’ll somehow beat the system. How do I propose to do this? No idea. Karen Runge, a fellow South African horror author, had a great idea with #horrorishealthy. Let’s see if it’ll be more successful than just plain #horror.
TV/Film
Other than that, though, we also delved into some recent horror movie releases I somehow missed along the way! We had a whole line-up planned, and watched it in between the rugby matches he absolutely, positively needed to watch. *eye roll* Anyway, so my favorite was Escape Room, whereas Husband liked You Might Be the Killer the most. Weirdly enough, after hearing everyone rave about Brightburn, we found it to be a little lukewarm. The movie wasn’t unwatchable, but it just didn’t spark any “oooh, shiny!” moments in either of us.
That being said, we’re both super excited about all the new horror films that’ll be releasing soon. Everything from It: Part 2 to Little Monsters looks absolutely wonderful! What horror flicks are you looking forward to seeing?
Music
Books
New Bookshelves!
Ever since the move in March, I’ve been out of sorts. My motivation levels have been nowhere, my productivity was just meh, and it’s because the new place simply didn’t feel like home. Home, in my opinion, is cozy and pretty and makes you feel whole. Now, for me, my bookshelves made me feel at home. The new place, however, didn’t have any space for my large bookshelves, so I was forced to place my books into storage. Until last week …
Mr. Wonderful-Husband decided to buy my “birthday” present early to help me finally settle in, and even built them all in one night. Apart from the fact that I love him, do you see why I married this man? Just look at these beauties he bought me!
If you recall, I once had a mini library of over 350 books, but over the years I had to trim my collection down. Some of my books also sustained damage during this last move. I also think I may have misplaced a crate or two full of books, because some titles I remember having are just nowhere to be found. That’s the reason my shelves are a little bare. Stuff happens *shrugs*. On the bright side, now I can go buy new books! Yay!
What’s New With My Writing?
I’m pretty sure you’re wondering what’s new with my writing at this point, aside from the relaunch of The Night Weaver, of course. But first:
October Blog Tour
So, I’m currently scheduling stops for my blog tour in October, to celebrate the re-release of The Night Weaver. Thus far, I’ve got one excellent stop on the list (more details coming soon). I would, however, love to drop by your site, too, if you’ll have me. I’m searching, specifically, for guest post, interview opportunities, as well as podcast stops. So, if you love horror, and you’d like to have little ol’ me chat your ear off in October, send me an email at monique@moniquesnyman.com.
Resuming Transmission
My flash fiction piece, “Number Seventeen”, is currently up on the Crystal Lake Patreon page if you want to give that a read (I’m actually super proud of how it turned out). It’s incredibly dark in a subtle way. I like it, and I hope you do too. Just remember that all the flash fiction pieces are only visible to the Fans of Fiction or higher tier patrons.
I’m also hoping (please hold your thumbs for me) to finally get done with The Night Weaver #2, The Bone Carver, by the end of this month. You’ll laugh, but I’ve been stuck with only 5 chapters left to write for the past month and a half. That’s, at most, supposed to be a week’s work. It’s bugging the living daylights out of me that I can’t seem to get it done. *grumbles* Also, hopefully I’ll be finishing up with the first draft of my horror collection in September! I’ve tentatively titled it: Nocturnal Deviations. 🙂
Furthermore, I’m submitting a lot of other short stories and non-fiction articles. It keeps me busy and out of trouble, what can I say?
And that’s it for this installment of What’s New Wednesday. I rambled a lot, did you notice? Ah, but not all of it was meaningless either, right? 🙂
Have an excellent week, guys!
