Winter Blues

We're just over one month into winter, and I, for one, have had it. This last snowstorm all but did me in. A foot of snow which iced over. Parking will be fun for several weeks. And, as if that was not bad enough, it's colder than a witch's tit out there.

I'm doing the best I can at beating the blues. I'm using the inside time to catch up on personal reading. I'm back in school so the bulk of my "free" time has been devoted to my studies. It's nice to breathe a little and catch up on my TBR pile.

I'm taking a short break from starting (or continuing) my next horror novel. 2025 was an impossibly hard year for me. I finished a massive general fiction novel that wiped me out creatively and emotionally, I lost my sister, and I managed to get dracula.exe in on time for our January 2026 release. I need to take a deep breath and reset. That's how I plan on spending the next month. Resetting.

I'm currently finishing John Irving's newest novel, Queen Esther, which I am thoroughly enjoying. Recommended if you're an Irving fan. And we'll see what I pull off the shelf next. If nothing else, a new John Irving novel always inspires me to write.

This is not to say I have not written anything new. I have. I wrote a new short story that ties into my novel, The Mourning House. It's a stand alone piece, and I'm currently revising and editing. My hope is to find a place to publish it, so stayed tuned and keep everything crossed!

That's about it for me! How are you dealing with the winter blues? What are you reading?

Stay warm out there, and may the road rise to meet you.