I read a book!
That might not seem like a big deal, but I have a secret. As much as I love books- I have not read and finished a book that wasn’t for school in I don’t even know how long. I actually can’t remember the last book I read and finished for fun. There have been books I bought and started over the last few years but I haven’t finished them for a multitude of reasons. Not because the books weren’t good or engaging, more so that I wasn’t in the right headspace to do so. Reading so much for school when I was there burnt me out for reading for fun and then when I was out of school, I could think of a million things I could do instead of reading.
But, I did it. I read and finished The Devil and the Dark Water by Stuart Turton. I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it. I told myself I had to finish this book to get out of my reading slump. I’m not going to lie, at the beginning I was struggling. This book was hard to get into for me. It was very long and drawn out in the beginning but I did very little prior research, so the thought of having no idea where this was going was incredibly intriguing to me. I expected more supernatural elements than what there was, which was a bit disappointing, but the mystery was still engaging. I was a little disappointed by the twist, although I did not see it coming so there’s bonus points for that. I’ve heard good things about the author, Stuart Turton, and I’d say he lives up to what I’ve heard. Overall, it was a good book and I’m glad I read it, although I don’t think I’ll be reading it again.
I’m currently working on reading another book and this one I’ve been impressed with from the start. Now, I am not finished reading this one yet, but I’m loving it so much. In fact, I had borrowed it from the library on my Kobo but I hadn’t finished it before my loan was up, so I went ahead and purchased the ebook because of how much I’m enjoying it. The book I’m reading right now is The Fisherman by John Langan. It’s been on my TBR (to-be-read) for quite some time and I’m so happy I’ve been able to read it now. It’s a Lovecraftian horror novel, which if you don’t know, is some of my favorite type of horror. I’ll say that I do not think H.P. Lovecraft is the best person in the world, in fact, I’d say he’s a piece of shit. However, the ideas that he put out into the world are incredibly interesting to me and some of my favorite movies and media fall into this genre. Some of my own work I hope falls into this genre as well. Cosmic horror, underwater horror, fear of the unknown, all of it really gets me going. The Fisherman has so far exceeded all of my expectations. I’m slowing down on reading it at this moment because my mind is preoccupied with tasks that I need to complete because I am moving across the country in roughly six weeks.
My TBR is piling up and I couldn’t be more excited to tackle it. I’ve been thinking about getting back into reading for a long time and I’ve been buying books but haven’t been reading them. I’m hopeful that my reading slump may finally be over because as I’m reading these things I’m getting more inspiration for my own book and my own writing.
I’m taking a bit of a break on working on my manuscript because of the move, which makes me feel a little guilty. I’ve just been finding it hard to focus and be creative while I’m planning and packing and working to raise money to afford the move, so it’s best that I put it on hold for now. Although I’m not actively working on it, it is always in the back of my mind, constantly evolving.
In terms of my other work, over the next few months I will be working on trying to get one of my short stories published in a literary magazine. This piece I’ve had written for a while and it’s very dear to my heart. It is a horror and I’d even class it as Lovecraftian horror, so finding a literary magazine that might publish it is proving to be quite difficult. Submissions open up on a few magazines that I’ve got my eye on pretty soon, so I will be submitting. I do have plans to publish this short story along with two others in a anthology someday, but I’m not sure how long that will take. The other two stories that will go alongside this one are not finished, and perhaps they will evolve into something longer that wouldn’t fit into my current idea and at that point I will reassess.
For now, I head back to work, back to packing, back to planning, and finding joy in the moments I have to read.
Thank you,
Kayti