Category: Serena’s Upcoming

Pad Day 4 and rambles

Today’s Prompt was a fill in the blank. “In the (Blank)”. Those that are my facebook friends have seen me trying to do to-do lists the last few days. They are never long…usually four or five items…but it wears me out. So I am fighting exhaustion and trying to celebrate my wins.

The laundry is caught up.

Dishes are nearly there.

Bathrooms are clean. (Well the two that I can get to)

The laundry room is clean.

All the clothes are folded…not put away yet, but folded.

My bedroom is halfway there.

Joe’s room is clean.

I have finished Layout on all but one of the Kid’s books for kid’s week(The final one is waiting on the illustrator. He had a cord malfunction and couldn’t send in the art yet. Poor guy)

I have started getting preorders set up for the kid’s week books. *Links will be in a post on the Fae Corps blog when I finish the getting of the preorder links….

I have written a poem a day for everyday in November so far and got a little bit of a word count in Sea Wytch.

I did my grocery shopping for November. And came in under budget.

I have started my christmas shopping.

I made it to therapy.

I have remembered my medicine over half of the time…(I set another set of reminders on my phone…seriously the only reason I remember to eat half of the time is the dizzy feeling I get when I forget.)

I have stayed Hydrated…

See I am killing this…even if there are days when my body says I am killing me. I created a to-do list for self care. So far it has morning and night meds, and art…(Therapist said art was self care!)

What did you do today? Let us celebrate the win together.

Writing is so weird.

Every writer will tell you that writing is not the easiest thing to do. The characters will refuse to be written if you have any thing off, such as the title or maybe the idea of who are writing. Serena has been struggling with the second book in her zombie series. She was trying to keep the name similar to the first one. The first book – Rust, Gore, and the Junkyard Zombie – was named appropriately. It worked for the book. She was also struggling with the cover. Nothing I was designing fit what she was wanting.

Through experiments and discussion I believe that we have found the right title and series title. (I will have to adjust RGatJZ later to add the subtitle).

Book 2 will be The Art of Zombie.

The series Title is going to be the World Gone Wrong.

She is back to work…writing more undeath. I have a cover design that she is happy with. (reveal will be closer to the release date)

Completion Energy

Well if you have followed me for any length of time, You know that I have been working on 2 poetry volumes. Thursday early morning I finished writing both. That means that I have to put them together and decide when to release them into the world. It also means it is time to pick the next title that I will work on.

I have multiple titles already prepared, cover and all. I love cover design so that ends up being the reason why I have multiple sitting. I chose one that I really like for the next title to work on. Here is the cover…

I feel like the cover is so fun that this one may write quickly. What do you think? Serena is still writing her poetry, and I am working on getting Madness and Truth ready for publishing. (My Partner is doing the edits now) It is releasing in June.

Thursday Tea Party

Hello Lovelies! Today I am drinking some lovely peach tea. What will you have?

There is a lot to announce!
First off, one of my art pieces that I submitted to Indie Blu(e)’s Through The Looking Glass: Reflecting on Madness and Chaos Within was accepted! I will try to keep you updated on that as I know more. I am so excited as their books are so pretty. I submitted to that and to But You Don’t Look Sick …I have not yet heard about But you don’t look sick. Again, updates as I have them. *Edit: I finished writing this and scheduled it. Then I went to check my email, only to find the acceptance letter in the email I will have 4 poems in that anthology.

Next, Serena finished writing Madness and Truth. It has been through the alpha readers and is handed off to the editor currently. The story is creepy and carries a good haunted feel to it. I expect that we will be publishing it some time in 2021.

I have finished writing Afraid of Shoe Mountain and am currently working on the illustrations. Though I love Shannon’s Illustrations, and will likely hold Dylan and the Hotel Zombie until she can do the art, I am not wanting to continue to wait with Afraid of Shoe Mountain. I am enjoying the illustration of this book. I have been uploading them to DeviantArt for those who are interested. (I only have 2 finished so far).

I am nearly done with the writing for Heart Drops, and Half-Mad Meanderings. Serena has been working hard on Death Becomes Her. Half-Mad Meanderings is only 5 poems away from done. Heart drops 2 art and 7 poems away. And Serena says she still needs 20 poems for Death Becomes Her. Likely all three will be released in 2021.

Circle City Publishing is nearly ready to release their An Absurd Apocalypse that will have Serena’s Flash story in it. I do not know how much longer that will be. I will let you know more as I do.

Fae Corps Inc is going to release Faery Playground with my art and a story from Serena in May. The tone of the submissions had the cover needing redone. They plan to reveal the cover on April First (No Joke!). It has been a fun anthology to edit if I am honest. I am looking personally for 2 ARC reviewers. (ARC reviewers are readers who, for an advanced copy post an honest review on Amazon or Goodreads. )

Well, I think I am finally done with the updates! whew! That was a lot!

Oh! and I am considering adding a store to my blog. I make jewelry and Resin pieces that I need to find a place to sell. I am going in April to the local flea market, but I like the online store idea better. My studio is very nearly set up. So the next focus is a storefront. Watch here for more information.

Monday Poetry

And because I am proud of Serena. (She is doing a volume of poetry of her own.) Here is one of hers.

News! Hear Ye! Hear ye!

Photo by brotiN biswaS on Pexels.com

so I did a new site as a portfolio for my deviant art page. https://pattimouse.wixsite.com/patriciaharris

Fae Corps is about to release a new site *faecorpspublishing.com (It is in progress. I will announce the live when we finish it.)

There is definitely new things upcoming. Serena has a couple of anthologies, and I am hoping to as well.(awaiting the word from the editors on the ones I submitted to.) I plan on recording another reading this week, and Also doing a image based Monday Poetry. This week will possibly see a busy blog.

Apocalypse absurdity

Hello Friends. Serena Here. I know that Miss Mouse is busy…so I am taking over long enough to make a exciting announcement. About a month ago, During the whole push for Nightmare Whispers… I saw this….

I was terribly inspired. I couldn’t help but try to get in. And I succeeded. I plan on popping on here as I get information and sharing the tidbits with you. This story was so fun, the rest of the anthology can’t help but be fun as well. Stay tuned!

Thursday Tea Party

Hello, lovely readers! Today, my need for caffeine was strong, so I am enjoying coffee. Triple chocolate coffee with cinnamon creme creamer. That and the toothpicks propping my eyelids open might allow functionality.

So much news today. Two preorders… One for Poetic Reminders and one for Through the Sunshine. Upcoming events. What is being worked on now. And commentary about life at large.

So let’s start with talking about the preorders. Fae Corps is doing a party all through May. There is going to be a chance to get to know the authors in the anthology. Giveaways and just general fun. Go check it out and join us for the fun! I am not doing anything so big for Poetic Reminders…. However if I get comments on this blog post I will do a random drawing for a free ebook copy… So tell me something that makes you smile.

Coffee house writers anthology is moving right along. My submissions have been assigned to its first editor. They are going to assign three separate editors to catch all errors. That way you, the reader, get the best piece possible. With Fae Corps we have the authors read the manuscript after the final edits have been put together to make sure that there are no errors. That is often 10+ sets of eyes on the whole thing. That helps to insure quality. Quality is the best way to ensure the stories are showcased properly.

So, Serena is working currently on a short horror story for the Nightmare whispers anthology. I think that it is off to a good start. She is still working on The Kingdoms of Sin, but the short has a deadline. She is determined to get both done soon. I hear that she is hoping to release her book some time this year.

As for me… I have started a new poetry volume. The cover is above… I really love how it turned out. I still am working on heart drops, but as I don’t often write love poetry… I wanted a volume that could catch the other poems… The darker poems. I think that this volume suits that idea. I have the next Dylan book written, and am waiting for the illustrator. If I have time I want to finish Attack of Shoe Mountain. I have so much going on though that it may be a while.

Life has been chaotic for me for a bit now. Back in November we started expansion of my daughter’s room. Due to the lack of people to assist or timing being bad or just bad luck… It is still unfinished. That is changing this weekend. So next week will be me cleaning up the mess left by construction. The next project is my master bath, hopefully it will be done faster.

So I mentioned a giveaway above. I asked for things that make you smile, but I am also curious about how life has been for you. How has the current situation in the world affected your day to day life?

Thursday Tea Party

Hello lovelies! Today is a coffee with lots of cinnamon creamer kinda day.

April has been exhausting. I tried to do the daily post thing, I really did. However things in the world at large have made life a bit harder on me then I expected it to. I am often a shut in. I only really go out to the grocery store. So initially I didn’t expect the stay at home order to really change things for me.

Then social distancing started making it to where stores were closing and the ones staying open were limiting hours. I usually go at night to avoid crowds. I don’t do well around mass amounts of people. People have noise and odors. They like to touch other people…all things that can cause me issues. So I have had to adjust. And it is exhausting.

I am not one that wants things to go back to where they were…not while the threat of pandemic lingers. I also however am not one who is comfortable with all of the liberties that the government is taking during this fear. I am just someone who is dealing with the changes, and the anxiety it is causing and saying that this is how it is affecting me.

Upcoming , on a better note, Fae Corps anthology Through the Sunshine should be available for preorder in two weeks. If you look over on the blog I have been posting the blurb promos that the authors have been making. We still have a couple of authors who have not done an image yet. We will post them as they are made. Coffee House Writer’s anthology is in the editing stage. I will let you know when I know more on it.

Did y’all catch Serena’s Interview on Chat and Spin Radio? It was last Saturday’s Episode part 3 (3B). I feel like it went really well. You can’t hear how nervous I was. Or at least I didn’t. lol. Anyway, the station is a decent internet radio station out of the UK. They do a lot of author interviews, and are quite fun. Go check them out.

I got the good news that Creatives Rising may be back up soon. The editors paused their magazine due to major life changes (Like a move) and posted that they are just about to start up again. I look forward to being a part of that again in the future.

With all that is going on in the world, I feel like I maybe should hold off on publishing new poetry volumes. I have been writing, but slowly. I normally do around three volumes a year…but I am thinking that I may only get one this year. We will have to see. I am also super busy with Fae corps this year as well. It makes a difference in the time I have to write. Also I have added Coffee House Writers. With all of the additional responsibilities, I think that promising more than I will publish when I have enough poems to fill a volume.

I am hoping to release Serena’s Kingdoms of Sin this year. I will release another Dylan story (Dylan and Zombie Hotel) this year. I am waiting for the Illustrator to be available. I do not know if Dylan will have any other books. He might. I like the character. \

I do not know how the world situation will affect my blogging, as my mental state affects how structured I can be, however I am going to try to keep my normal routine here.

Thursday Tea Party

Hello lovelies! I am enjoying a rare morning treat. Hot apple Cider topped with a wee bit of Irish butter and honey. What do you enjoy as a morning treat?

Quite a bit has been happening over here…I indulged and spent the money to get me a decent laptop, It’s an Acer Aspire 3. I am still trying to get the settings the way I want. I have been without a proper computer for many years. I will want to upgrade the memory, as it is too slow for a couple of the games I want. I will also have to get a few accessories to make it do everything I want to do…but it has already been a boon to my writing.

Understand…I get into a slump every year, usually between thanksgiving and my birthday. This year was especially bad, I went from writing a daily poem and some other word count in whatever other story I was working on to managing nothing more than my blog for the whole of February. To be honest that became problematic with a biweekly poetry post going out. I was starting to feel concerned about the lack of inspiration/motivation.

Don’t get me wrong…it isn’t exactly writer’s block…I have more ideas than I will ever be able to write…it is more of exhaustion. I usually am sick during the winter months, and when I am not I am cold and irritable. So I end up not wanting to do anything.

Well, yesterday while I was setting the new laptop up…I ended up writing. It was only a poem and about 750 words in Serena’s Kingdoms of Sin. Yes…my slump time was nearly over anyway…but it is nice to be writing again. There are so many new things in the works. Plans for future anthologies, plans for future books… but if I am not writing those plans go limp. No one likes their plans to go limp…..

So, I name my computers. It has been a habit for me..This laptop is Athena. I am hoping that she will be my companion in gaming and creativity. Do you name your computer? If so what name does yours have? I look forward to the adventures in writing, gaming, and creativity I will be exploring.

Now, If you will excuse me, Today is my boyfriend’s birthday. He and I have been together 24 years in may….he has been my muse and my nemesis depending upon the day…but he is always my rock. So today is his. (I snuck this post in while he was killing zombies in 7 days to die. ) Hope it is a good day for you as well.