Issue 30
Got a new phone, new anthology with a story of mine was released, and a bad cold hit our household again
Good morning all.
Writing this weeks newsletter on my brand new iPhone 15. It's pretty nice. Definitely like this new phone a lot more than my old one. For one, the battery is a hell of a lot better. My iPhone 13 was at the point where with everything that I do on my phone, I would make it about halfway through the day before I would have to grab out a charger and plug it in. I know batteries wear out and start to lose how much charge they can hold overtime, but 90% of what I do is in text form, so it was just getting annoying. I write my books on my MacBook, but generally my newsletters are done on my phone. It's just easier that way for me. I'm already noticing with this new phone that things run faster and seem to work better. Which is always nice. On top of that, the battery is a hell of a lot better. So definitely should be a lot nicer for me moving forward.
I didn't realize it updating to an iPhone 15 meant ordering all new charging cords as well. Apparently they changed the design to be a USB-C cord on both ends. Which meant all of the current chargers we were using in our house were useless. But we were able to get those ordered the night we came home with the new phones, and they were here the next morning. It also meant new dongles for anyone in our house who uses a cord to connect to audio still, some new charging blocks, and eventually we will order ourselves new phone cases. We were able to just drop our 15s in our 13 cases, but I do want to get a new case Sooner than later. All in all, I'm really enjoying my new phone. Love how fast it is, and really happy I upgraded. It did take several hours to get signed into all of my apps, then a couple more to get all of my music and books downloaded, but now I'm set and good to go.
One more thing quick about my new phone. The sound quality on my iPhone 15 is amazing! That's always a big thing for me. Looking to make sure it has great sound or sound abilities. My new phone sounds great, blasts my music I love, and Announces everything I need to know clearly and precisely. Very happy.
There was an exciting new release last week I need to tell you about. Blood-Soaked Pages: Into The Cauldron, a new short story anthology, came out last week. Not only will you find lots of great stories in there, you'll find one from me in that collection. My story, "Fresh Eats" is in that one. So, I think you should go pick up a copy so you can enjoy that story. It's creepy, it's weird, and it's fun as hell. Check out the link below to pick yourself up a copy on Amazon, and thank you so much.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D1CGNSV8
I sat down and started work on a new short story idea the other day. I don't know what this is going to be either. Right now I only have the title and the opening paragraph done. It's weird, dark, creepy, and I'm loving it already. Like I said, I don't know where this story is going. Could be 500 words, could be 5000 when I'm done, I have no idea. But it's interesting, and my brain keeps coming back to it and kicking around ideas with it. So hopefully soon I sit down and write it out and see what happens.
Trying to get set up for spring/summer around here. Usually spring break week in March is when I get that stuff done. But, this spring break week was horrible, windy, and cold. So I didn't end up getting anything switched around and done. Now though, it's really nice out, and now I need to get stuff done and set up. So as I am kicking around ideas in my head for my book Dark, along with some short stories, I'm going to focus instead on shutting down the snowblower and putting it away, getting the mower up here to the garage and ready to go, hanging my wind chimes out front, and stuff like that. All that wonderful fun stuff I get to do. Oh well, at least it means I can pack away the winter stuff for another season, and that's always good. I feel a sense of pride as I pour stable into the gas tank of the snowblower before firing it up and running that through the lines then shutting it down and storing it for the season. Carrying shovels down to the basement to place into storage out-of-the-way, along with a bucket of sand I use for the driveway and sidewalks. Carrying the winter coats from the mud room area through the house and storing them away at the back of one of the closets. It's always great when all of that stuff gets packed back away and the T-shirts can come out.
Currently reading: still reading The Angel of Indian Lake by Stephen Graham Jones. I got all of my hours back on Spotify, so now I am reading it any available chance I have. Loving this book!
Currently listening: actually I've been listening to a couple of songs I discovered some weeks back, and can't get enough of. They are: "Control" by the band Too Close To Touch, and "House of Cards" by the band Awaken I Am. I love both of these songs, and have been listening to them a lot. Check them out, I'm sure you'll enjoy them as much as I do. I should say, those two songs are rock, well, I consider them rock anyways. Also, I've been cranking up my Slipknot playlist and rocking out to that lately. I love Slipknot, they are one of my favorite bands. Whether you consider them old man music or not, it's up to you. However, I love the hell out of that band, and crank up their music as much as I can.
Currently watching: at the time of writing this newsletter we had just started the last episode of season five of The Rookie. So far, intense and I'm on the edge of my seat with it. We didn't make it too far into the episode because it was bedtime for all of us, but I'm sure we will find a time to finish that episode. Update, we finished that final episode of season five and are now onto season six.
I am actually writing this newsletter on Friday. Usually I plot out notes or sentences and paragraphs of what I'm going to write for the newsletter throughout the week, then sit down and knock it out early Monday morning before editing it then posting it. But this Monday, my wife and I are spending the day with our granddaughter. I'm not exactly sure yet what we are doing. We talked about heading out to my wife's work and showing off our granddaughter to her coworkers, maybe taking her to a store, or just hanging out here at home and spending some time with her. Either way, I didn't want to have to try to spend time with my granddaughter and write this newsletter. So I sat down Friday morning and wrote this all out. That way the only thing I had to do Monday was post it.
Sadly, that did not get to happen. It's Monday morning now as I write this last paragraph of the newsletter. Unfortunately we had to cancel our day with our granddaughter. A bad cold has made its way through our house, hitting each one of us. Both my daughters were sick on Saturday, then I started to go downhill Saturday evening. Oldest daughter is feeling better now, but youngest one is still feeling like crap, I'm feeling horrible, and my wife is home sick today too. It's taking every bit of energy I have to lay here on the couch and finish writing the last paragraph of this weeks newsletter. I'm just so exhausted. Hopefully we're back on our feet soon, because I'm already over this cold and the coughing and all of it really. All right, I'm going to curl back up in my blanket and try to rest. Take it easy, hopefully you're feeling good and not down and out with a cold, and I'll talk to you soon.
Thank you for reading this weeks newsletter. I hope to see you back here next week. Be yourself, be original, and be bloody.
- Matthew R. Taylor