Stained glass
Progress on my new book, a Stain glass class my wife and I went to, artwork for a new book I'll be releasing, and a busy week of appointments
Hello,
So, I had this five paragraph thing all wrote out for this weeks newsletter. But, as I sat and listen to it, I decided that I didn't want to share it. Basically, it was me bitching and whining. Not directly, but if you were to read it you would be like wow, he complains a lot. It was all about how I didn't have much time to write last week because Our life became chaos again, and we were extremely busy with fixing our daughters car, a sick dog, and just general chaos of our lives here. I had written that whole five paragraph opening to this newsletter later last week, but like I said, as I sat and listen to it, I really decided it just wasn't what I want to share here. After all, I didn't start up this Substack and start writing these newsletters to make them all about whining and complaining. That's not my purpose with this. So, you're getting a completely different newsletter this week than I was originally going to write.
Progress is moving along nicely on my book dark. Currently I finished chapter 26 and I'm starting on chapter 27. But, I have a lot of thinking I need to do at this point. One of my characters has to die. That's just how the story has to go for this book. What I'm wondering is if this current chapter I'm going to write is where that character dies. Should she make it through this point? Or should she be killed here, and make my other character have to navigate alone and blind, along with being heartbroken from her loss? I know, tough decisions. I normally don't say much about what I'm writing publicly. My wife generally knows what I'm up to, but otherwise, no one else usually knows what I'm working on or where I'm at in a book. But I will say this, my Mail character is going to have to navigate by himself for a bit. I want him to have those feelings of heartache and loss while he stumbles and makes his way through the corridors of that building, creatures all around. Now, I don't say stumble because he is a blind character and that's how we all walk when we're blind and don't have a sided person with us. I say stumble because, this is a secret, he doesn't have his came with him right now. Making a decision in an earlier chapter he left it behind when they had found some supplies. Instead, he left that room with a large fire ax in hand. He missed his cane, actually found himself debating on whether he should have left it or not at one point , but, couldn't go back for it then. With an ax in hand, he hast to make his way through all alone. My debate is whether I do that now, or wait another couple of chapters. I haven't decided yet. I think the answer will come when I sit down to write chapter 27.
I am still having a blast writing this book. I'm enjoying my characters, their motivations, their anxieties, and the terror that they found in this place they hoped would be their salvation. It's been a lot of fun seeing where things would go and the decisions that my characters would make. And the book is nearing the end. I'm not done yet, but I know I'm getting close to being there. Maybe another 15 to 20,000 words, and it'll be finished. I'm excited to continue moving it forward, but ultimately finishing the book. Like I said, I've had a great time writing this one, but I am eager to finish this book and put it aside for a bit and move on to writing my next one. I have a lot of book ideas and thoughts, and I want to jump right in to the next book. I will honestly probably set this one aside for a couple of months after I finish it. Coming back and doing edits later with a fresh perspective. But that doesn't mean I'm going to quit writing in the meantime. Hell no, I got a lot of things to write, and a lot of things you'll eventually get to read.
Had a great time Friday evening at a stained glass class with my wife. I was a bit nervous about going to that when we first signed up for it. How much of this would I be able to do? Would it be fun? Would I just sit there while my wife did all of it because there was no way I could do it? I had no idea. But, I was pleasantly surprised and enjoyed the class, and all of the stuff I got to do. We started with a pattern, which my wife cut out of thick card stock. We then took those pieces and glued them down to glass fragments we had dug out of different areas. All different colors and textures of glass. With those glued on, I then got to work with a glass cutter and special pliers, cutting and breaking the glass and getting it down to a rough shape of the pattern. With all of my pieces completed, we then made our way over to a grinder, where we each worked on grinding our glass pieces down and making them fit the pattern better. This was a lot of fun because I've ran standup grinders years ago in the past, so had an easy time jumping right in and doing it. With all of our pieces ground down and ready to go, we moved back over to our work table where we had to clean up the pieces, then wrap the outer edge in a thin copper foil. With that flattened out all around the edge nicely, then press down on the front and back side, our pieces were ready for the last step. The last step was soldering the entire thing together into its final shape. This step was actually not a step I could do. I mean, maybe if I had the time to sit and practice for a couple of hours I could get it down, but it was Quite a bit to do with only three hours in the class. We actually were there later than the class was supposed to go, my wife soldering my glass creation and hers at the same time. We came home with beautiful stained glass succulents afterward, mine being different shades of blue, and my wife's being part purple and part green. I'm told they are quite beautiful, and hang in our family room windows to catch the morning sun. I really had a great time doing that with my wife. It was something I've never done before, and just a great experience to go and do together. Definitely something I would recommend You and your significant other go check out and do. I think you would have a lot of fun like we did.
Started work with my niece who is in graphic design school and is going to work on cover art for my next book Paper Nightmare. She is actually the one who designed my logo you see here on Substack, and all of my other social media platforms, along with my business cards. We started kicking around ideas and thoughts on the cover for Paper Nightmare, and what it could look like. Of course we're going to stick with those dark muted colors, because that's kind of my color palette. I love the idea of having that iconic horror novel look to it. That look where if you see it pictured somewhere or in person, you instantly think yup, that's some horror fiction. So we're working on coming up with different thoughts and ideas of what we could do for an image on there, and how to make it the perfect Creepy cover. So glad she is willing to work with me on this book, and I'm hoping she'll continue to work with me on my future books. She's extremely talented, and I'm hoping in the future to be able to send people her way for logos or cover art or whatever.
Finished reading They're Watching by Michael David Wilson and Bob Pastorella. That was a really awesome book! I found it to be extremely engaging, and you don't want to stop listening. They had actually gave me a free copy of the audiobook, and asked if I would review it after reading it. I happily agreed, and gave it a great rating and review on Goodreads when I was done with it. I really enjoyed the writing style they used in that book, and following along with the main character Brian, and everything he finds himself going through and dealing with. And, that ending, holy shit, that was awesome! Go get yourself a copy of this book today and read it, you won't be disappointed.
Currently reading: The Country of the Blind: A Memoir at the End of Sight by Andrew Leland. This is a really interesting book. I'm having a great time reading it and learning everything this guy went through with the same eye disease that I have. Quite fascinating.
Currently listening: actually a bunch of different bands. My wife and I also did another project this week together. We wrote down a list of 20 of our favorite bands. Bands like Breaking Benjamin, Greta Van Fleet, Disturbed, Chevelle, just to name a few. Then separately picked our favorite songs from those bands. We then listened to each song that we chose, wondering which one of our favorite bands songs the other one would have chosen. It was a lot of fun hearing the different choices we made. Our plan is to actually build one big playlist and combine them together to enjoy our favorite songs from some of our favorite bands. A fun time, and a lot of great music.
Currently watching: caught up on a new episode of the third season of Mayor of Kingstown. Damn, that show just gets better and better! Find it on Paramount+.
It's going to be another short work week for me this week. Today and tomorrow will pretty much be the only two days I'll be writing. This morning I actually have a doctors appointment to go to with my youngest daughter, then on Wednesday my wife gets all four of her wisdom teeth removed, and this Friday I have The MRI appointment with my youngest daughter to go to for her hand. So yeah, busy week. I plan on writing as much as possible the next two days and trying to get a lot done. After my wife comes home on Wednesday from her wisdom teeth removal I will be taking care of her and waiting on her hand and foot. I plan on sitting right next to her, holding her hand as long as I can before the surgery starts. Actually, they might have to pry me out of the room. I don't like surgeries, especially when it's on someone I love more than anything in the world. So I plan on being right next to her every second I can until they finally kick my ass out of the room. But once we get through that and get back home, I will be hovering over her and making sure she's comfortable, and taking care of her. I love writing and creating, but my wife and kids come first in my life, so everything else will be put aside For that. If I have time while she's sleeping to work on stuff, then cool, otherwise it'll wait till later. So, I'm going to try to kick ass the next two days, and get as much writing done as possible.
Hope you're all staying cool with this heat wave that's come through lately. I'm going to sit down and try to crank out some more chapters of my book. Take it easy, enjoy a great cup of coffee, 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