IT...
Good morning,
Made some progress last week. I've been working on getting stuff ready to go for my Substack. Like I've mentioned a couple of weeks ago, coming this January I'll be putting out a lot more stuff. So, now I have six poems ready to go, two short stories, and two articles. Not bad, and a good amount of stuff ready to start getting out to you. Over the next couple of weeks I'll be working on writing some more new stuff, and trying to get that stuff ready to go to. So yeah, not bad progress on that last week.
I did spend an annoying amount of time finishing up that archive I was working on. I wanted a simple streamlined place for everything I write and publish here to be in one location. As it was, I had stuff archived in one area, archived in another, and still in another. So, I worked on pulling all of that together and having everything in one location. What a pain in the ass, but at least now it's done. I spent several hours working from my phone copying, pasting, and moving documents. Oh what fun. But, now that shit is done, the archive is built and finished, and I can easily move stuff to it as I publish it here on Substack. So glad to have that finished up and it's a much simpler process than it used to be for me. Technical work sucks sometimes, but it was definitely necessary to get done.
Rewatched part of IT: Welcome To Derry with my oldest daughter. She hadn't had a chance to check it out yet, and when she came over to run laundry, asked me if I was interested in re-watching a couple of episodes so she could check it out. I gladly agreed, and we sat and watched 2 1/2 episodes of it. I love that show so much. She also really got into it. There were some moments where she was like "that's gross," or "holy shit," but I definitely think she really enjoyed the show. She's supposed to be getting completely caught up on it so that we can sit down tomorrow afternoon when she runs laundry and catch up on the new episode together. So, hopefully she gets that done because I'm eager to check out the new episode of it. Great show, definitely watched that one on HBO Max if you haven't yet!
Got to spend some time with my grandkids on Friday evening. My son and daughter-in-law were going out so we watched the kids for them. Had a wonderful time just hanging out and spending time with them. Earlier in the week they had stopped by and my two-year-old granddaughter got to decorate our Christmas tree with her ornaments. So, it was nice just having that time Friday evening with them, playing with toys and reading books, and just holding my grandson. Love those kids and always love when I get to have time with them.
Finally made some time to sit down and play Mortal Kombat One on my PS5. What a hell of a game! It is so much fun! I love how much thought they put into all of the accessibility. There are so many amazing options in the accessibility menu, and even a test thing you can do that will show you the changes you've made before you start playing the game. Love when developers really take time to consider not only accessibility, but all players. Having a blast playing this game. The last time I played Mortal Kombat I was young and had a Sega Genesis. Yeah, I know, I'm old. Actually, our oldest daughter was hanging out at our house for a bit, and join me in my office to battle me on the versus mode of Mortal Kombat One. That was such a fun time. We each kept beating the shit out of each other's characters, finding creative ways to fight one another, and winning, losing, than winning again. I had a great time playing that with her. I'm going to mess around with the game some more in versus mode, and even practice mode, making sure I know what I'm doing before I start the campaign mode. Really excited that it has a campaign mode and I can spend Time enjoying that and this awesome game. Love it, and so happy my nephew got it for me.
Finished reading The Fisherman by John Langan. This was a pretty good book. I really enjoyed how deep into that world Jon went with this one. I had heard many things about this book, but hadn't found it available to listen to until recently. Now I understand why everybody talks so highly about this book. I did enjoy it, however I also felt that the look back at the past seemed a bit drawn out. It was really good, some really creepy moments in there, but when the book came back to the present tense, I had to try and remember what had all been going on before the look back at the past. Not a big deal, but something I did notice. Despite that, I still really enjoyed this book. Had some nail biting on the edge of your seat moments, some creepy shit, and a really great story. All in all, I'd say a pretty good read.
Currently reading: Watching Evil Dead: Unearthing The Radiant Artist Within by Josh Malerman.
Currently listening: Lacuna Coil, of course, Disturbed, Slipknot, and just letting my Rock playlist go on shuffle for a bit.
Currently watching: like I mentioned above, re-watched some episodes of IT: Welcome To Derry. The wife and I watched another new episode of season 4 of Mayor of Kingstown on Paramount+. If shit could go wrong, it will go wrong apparently. Love this show though, so damn good! We also watched another new episode of season 2 of Landman on Paramount+. Such a great show! Despite the new episode being a bit sad, there was still so much humor in it.
We got hit with another snowstorm over the weekend. I believe that's now 15+ inches of snow that has dropped on us in the last week and a half. Yep, apparently winter is here. I woke up Sunday morning to the sounds of shovels outside, and realized our neighbors had gone out and were shoveling our driveway and sidewalks again. I told you, I live by some really awesome people. We bundled up and went out later that morning, touching up what needed touched up, and actually taught our youngest daughter how to run the snowblower. Needless to say, she did not care for the experience. So, we'll see the next time we have to get that thing out if she's excited to run it, or would rather grab a shovel instead. Really nice of my neighbors to do all of that, we certainly appreciated it.
Christmas is creeping closer. Which means I only have a couple of weeks left to get stuff done before I go on break. The Monday before Christmas will be my last newsletter of this year. I'll be taking a couple of weeks off at Christmas time from posting anything. I want to spend a lot of time with my family over the holidays. So, after that newsletter comes out, you won't hear from me again until after the new year. It'll be a nice break where I can just hang out with family, watch the movies and shows, listen to music, read a lot, and spend more time playing Mortal Kombat One. Really looking forward to it. I'm also really looking forward to coming back in January with not only a new newsletter for you, but also a lot more stuff as well. For now though, it's back to work as usual. I got some creepy, bloody, and terrifying ideas I need to get out of my head and write down.
I hope you are having a wonderful Monday morning, you showered yourself in coffee this morning, and that you have a wonderful week. Read some great books, enjoy some horror, stay safe, and take it easy out there everybody. Thanks so much for reading, 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
Find all of my books on Amazon, including my newest book Dark, at the following link. There you will be able to grab yourself my new book, along with everything else I've written and published. Thanks so much, and I truly hope you enjoy my fiction and poetry.