21 Years

Celebrating 21 years of marriage to my wife, getting our new tattoos, enjoying some downtime, and much more.

Good morning,

I think I'm settling into a good routine with the new paid memberships on Substack and Patreon, along with sharing stuff out on all of my other social media platforms. Sometimes it can feel a bit overwhelming. But, I've worked on creating a schedule of things throughout the week, that way it's more spread out and I don't feel quite so overwhelmed. I think it's going good though. I really think I'm getting the hang of running all the various platforms, putting stuff out, and interacting when I can. It's all part of the job. Check out my paid membership here on Substack or over on Patreon if you'd like to get everything I'm sharing there, along with new chapters of my book Dark. Currently, 2 chapters are out now, with more fun to come yet. Actually, you can read both of the first two chapters right now. I'm still working on figuring things out, and I tried to set up a free preview thing, so that free members could read a bit of the second chapter before having to upgrade to read the rest of it. Apparently I didn't do that correctly, and the entire chapter is out there to read for free. Oh well, You'll get another glimpse of the book that way I guess. Moving forward though I'm not going to try to do that free preview thing, I can't figure out how it works and what I'm supposed to click on or do. So, enjoy the first two chapters, and I hope you'll sign up to enjoy Everything else that's coming with that awesome book.

Speaking of book promotions, I shared the book trailer for my book Paper Nightmare last week while promoting it. I've shared this video before, but always love listening to it. My wife did an amazing job putting that trailer together and I absolutely love it. If you haven't gotten to check it out, here's the link for the video on YouTube.

Also, if you haven't grabbed yourself a copy of Paper Nightmare yet, I hope you will consider grabbing yourself a copy. It's available on Amazon in e-book and paperback. I had a really fun time writing that book and I'm really excited for everyone to get a copy and enjoy it. Thanks so much, and I really hope you like the book.

https://tinyurl.com/PaperNightmare

Like I mentioned in last Monday's newsletter, my wife and I celebrated our 21st wedding anniversary last Thursday. Can't believe its already been 21 years. Seems like an eternity, lol. Just kidding, love you so much babe. We went and got really cool tattoos together That morning. We've been talking about these tattoos for several years now, and it was finally time to get them done. They are beautiful, and so significant to us and our marriage. Like my wife says, "We may not always be on the same page, but we're always in the same book." I love you so much babe, and thank you for a wonderful anniversary day together, and being the love of my life for 21 years. Cannot wait to spend another 21+ years with you. Love you. * somewhere on here will be a picture of my new tattoo.

Had an enjoyable five day weekend with my wife. Hung out, relaxed at times, got outside and inside housework stuff done, got our new tattoos and celebrated our anniversary together, spent time with our granddaughter, and had a wonderful Father's Day. My wife had picked me up a steak at the store for Father's Day, and cooked it perfectly. It had also gone in the fridge when she had gotten home because as my brother-in-law always said, "You don't freeze steak!" She also cooked me a twice baked sweet potato and fried apples to go with my steak. It was an amazing dinner and I loved it. Thank you babe, you are one hell of a cook, and an amazing wife. It was a really great long weekend. Just some nice down time for me and the wife. Sometimes we need that kind of thing. Enjoyed all of the time we got to spend together, and now, a bit reluctantly, ready to get back to work and make some more progress. Hopefully anyways.

Finished reading Insomnia by Sarah Pinborough. Wow, this was a great book! Was hooked right away from the start and couldn't stop enjoying it! I really enjoy Sarah's style of writing, and this book certainly didn't disappoint. The spiraling down, the creepiness, the tension, all of it was perfect and done beautifully. Really great book that I'll be thinking about for a while. If you haven't read this one yet I highly recommend you go grab a copy and check it out. Great book I'm sure you'll love like I did!

Currently reading: Feeders by Matt Serafini. Also still re-listening to Scars In Time by Tyler Bell from the 5th season of the Westside Fairytales podcast. Actually, I only have 4 episodes left. Love this story, and so glad I'm enjoying it again.

Currently listening: Rocked out to my APC/Puscifer/Tool playlist I built on Spotify while editing last week. Always great music for no matter what I'm doing. Also enjoyed my Rammstein playlist for a bit. I've loved that band since I was in my later teens, and still enjoy their music. Nothing like some German metal! Also turned on my Rock playlist and just let that go on shuffle play. Countless hours of great music on that playlist.

Currently watching: The wife and I watched the show Baby Reindeer on Netflix. Well, that was certainly interesting. Not sure what to even say, but I can say that chick was fucking crazy. Strange show, interesting, and something definitely different. We also started re-watching Breaking Bad again. Loved this show the first time around and enjoying it again.

I did manage to get some more editing work done on my book Dark last week. It's coming together nicely. I'm actually kind of double editing right now. I'm moving along editing chapters in the late teens, doing the deep edits, cleaning the chapter up and making everything sound great. Then I'm going back and Doing a third round on the early chapters, making sure I like the sound of everything, and it flows how I want it to. That way I'm not only happy with the book and how it sounds, but also have several weeks ahead on posting those weekly chapters out on the paid memberships. Always trying to stay ahead.

This week looks like it'll be more of the same. Trying to get those edits done, posting stuff I have scheduled to post, some more appointments, a couple of softball games this week, and rocking out to music or reading when I can. I hope you are having a wonderful Monday. Check out the video for the book trailer I linked above, and grab yourself a copy of Paper Nightmare when you have a chance. I really think you'll love that book. I hope you have a wonderful week, you are enjoying a nice strong cup of hot coffee, and take it easy out there. Thanks so much, and I will 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