Hello readers and listeners.
Thank you for being here! I am continually humbled and honored by those of you who continue to show up on this letter month after month, even as I restructure so many things. Thanks for bearing with me and supporting my writing journey. None of this would be possible without you.
As explained in my last newsletter (earlier this month) I’m breaking the newsletter into two parts from now on, as the entire thing together is getting far too cumbersome these days. Good problem to have, but a problem, nonetheless.
Part one (15th of the month) will be community shoutouts and book/movie/show recommendations.
Part two (last day of the month, that’s this one!) will be personal, writing, and podcast updates.
So, here we are, it’s update time BABY!
Writing Updates
Lots of cool things happening on the writing front! I have several projects in the works, but presently, can’t discuss most of them. Mostly, I don’t want to jinx anything, but also, I don’t want to make promises I can’t keep to you. So that said, I’ll only talk about the three big projects I can currently discuss:
#1.#Vanlife
This is my main focus in terms of drafting new content, at the moment. Long-time followers of the letter will know about #Vanlife, but for those of you who are new, this is a project I’ve been excited about for a little over a year and have finally started to REALLY work on!
#Vanlife is an adventure horror story exploring social media addiction, the ‘mainstreaming’ of adventure sports, and the perception of self against the relatively constant pressure of societal expectations in the digital age. I’m co-writing this full-length novel with SK Ehra (Author of the Crossroads Series, Minu, and The Fox and the Dragon) and it is going to be amazing, ya’ll!
SK has a true gift for precision and cleanliness in her prose which pairs well with my chaotic exploration of world and character. So far, I’m really enjoying our writing process. We have a good mixture of differences in style and process, but a similarity in taste and mission that is sure to culminate in a very satisfying story that we can both be proud of. Right now, we’re about 20k deep on our first draft, so a ways out from release or anything, but we are writing words and that means this WILL get done! Can’t wait to share it with you guys :).
More to come on this project as we get closer to the finish line.
#2.Voices from the Cold
More updates on Voices! I’m going back into edits for this full-length novel that will round out the Harvester Duology (book one is my novella Crevasse, which you can get right here, if you wanna).
I was accepted into the HWA (Horror Writer’s Association) mentorship program and my mentor is currently giving the novel a developmental pass. After I get it back from her, I’ll make the changes and start taking steps towards line and copy editing to get this book to the shelves.
Again, no promises, but I fully intend to get this book finished and released to you folks next Spring! More on that later :). I’m also in talks with a small press who might be interested in publishing both books, which would be awesome! Keep your fingers crossed for me!
#3.Beneath the Rain Shadow
Finally, we have BTRS. Next to #Vanlife this is the writing project I’m working hardest on. For those of you new to this project, I have teamed up with Tamara Kaye Sellman (author of Cul De Sac Stories and Intention Tremor) to write twelve short Pacific Northwest horror stories (6 each, alternating each month) which we will collect into an anthology titled… you guessed it… Beneath the Rain Shadow.
This has been a very fun and productive project, as we rotate each month who writes and who brings the prompt! All our prompts are threefold and contain: 1. A PNW location, 2. A PNW Quirk (like driving Subarus, grooming beards, brewing beer, etc), and 3. a Horror trope.
Not only has the helped us each keep a steady flow of short stories, but it has also ensures we will both have a new book to release early next year and that’s always a great feeling.
Plus, there’s a whole other aspect to this project: The podcast! That’s right… it’s almost like I put this here as some sort of transition or something…
Podcast Updates
Because I don’t know how to say no to things, I’ll be hosting three podcasts and a TV show next year. Good for exposure, not so good for my receding hairline, buuuuuutttt what’re you gonna do? For today, I’m just going to talk about the two I currently have going on. Next month, I’ll fill you in on the upcoming TV show and later in the year, we’ll chat about the new Imprint with Grendel Press :).
#1. Beneath the Rain Shadow
As mentioned above, we are writing this anthology, but we also do a once-monthly podcast wherein we critique every story live on the show! This has been an awesome process as it allows Tamara and I to talk through the writing process and to share our experiences and procedures with TRUE rough drafts with all of those who care to learn about that sort of thing.
So if you’re into the craft and the writing process, and you haven’t done this already, consider checking out our Beneath the Rain Shadow Podcast! It’s been going really well and we feel it’s been pretty entertaining and informative. Still… would love feedback on that :)
If you’re subscribed to this letter, you’ll be getting those episodes delivered right to your inbox and they always come at the end of the month. The next episode (my story titled Mystical Menagerie) drops on Sunday!
#2. Fermented Fiction
Our genre-fiction, debate game show Fermented Fiction has officially wrapped its second season! It’s crazy to look back four years when Travis and I started this thing as a way to reconnect over our favorite topics: movies, shows, and books. Back then, we were cold-calling every author we heard of, reading anything we could get our hands on, and reviewing whatever happened to suit our fancies at the time.
This season marked a drastic uptick in both listeners (thanks again to all of you) and guest appearances! We had some amazingly awesome authors on the show this season, including Matt Dinniman, Gordon B. White, Leopoldo Gout, and our most recent star Thomas Olde Heuvelt and next season is going to be EVEN BETTER. That said, we will be making a few structural changes to the show: namely, guests will be coming on to every episode to debate with us! We’ve already done a few of these guest debates and after seeing how much fun we and our guest had during the process, we’ve decided to structure the entire show around that model moving forward.
So, next season, all episodes will look very much like our next episode with Thomas Olde Heuvelt, which drops tomorrow! Check it out and let me know what you think :).
Personal Updates
Well, folks, lots has been happening in my personal life. Luckily, most of it has been pretty awesome! First of all, my wife and I just celebrated our 2nd anniversary and I couldn’t be happier with our marriage. My wife continues to help me grow as a partner, as a man, and as a creative professional, and I truly cannot thank her enough for her profound impact on my life. Happy anniversary honey! I love you and here’s to many, many more years together.
As with many aspects of love/relationships in general, there is sadness mixed with happiness. June 25th is not only our wedding anniversary, but this year also marked the 1-year anniversary of my father-in-law’s passing. So, I’d be terribly remiss to write this letter without a mention to Bruce.
Bruce, we miss you every day and Deanna continues to struggle with the burden of your passing and the deep wound this loss has carved into her heart. But because of who you were and how you raised her, she has the strength to do so. I am grateful every day for your daughter and for the short time we had together. We love you. We miss you. Rest in peace, dad.
One of the ways Deanna has coped with losing her father has been training. She’s always found solace in exercise that I envy, but cannot emulate (yes I like climbing and surfing, but exercising just to do so…totally not my thing). This weekend (Sunday) Deanna will be taking on the incredibly difficult task of running a Half Ironman (71-mile triathlon!) in honor of her father. I will be running the support crew and we’ve both been training hard for our respective roles! I’m so proud of the work and accomplishments she’s already achieved, but I can’t wait to get this amazing event underway. Send your cheers, prayers, thoughts, and good vibes to Deanna! She will need them all on her quest this weekend :).
One reason I’m telling you all this is because, to commiserate a bit, I also ran my first triathlon recently! Deanna and I traveled up to Bellingham, WA last weekend to join our good friends Chris and Katie in the Lake Padden Triathalon and it was a truly amazing experience. I struggled mightily on the swim but was able to catch a pretty good stride on the biking and running portions :). Meanwhile, Deanna smoked me by a solid ten minutes! She’s a beast ya’ll.
Here is some photographic evidence, just so ya’ll can’t doubt me!
And my final personal update for this letter is all good news!
We closed on a new house!!!!!
That’s right ya’ll, our long-coveted move to the Olympic Peninsula is officially under way :). It was an emotional roller coaster this entire year as we tried to find a new place to live, but we’ve finally locked down our new property and we will be moving to Port Angeles after the Fourth of July!
I truly can’t wait to show ya’ll the updates as we work on some projects, do some painting, and most excitedly for me, as I build my PERMANENT RECORDING STUDIO! This is a dream I’ve had for a long time and I cannot wait to get my studio/office put together, especially after a few years of working out of whatever closet happened to be available haha.
Here are some pictures of our awesome new home! LOOK AT IT!!!
It’s absolutely perfect. Only a few minutes from town, but tucked away from the highway and back in the woods a bit. That, coupled with the climate of the rain shadow area in this part of the peninsula, makes it feel a lot like being back home in Montana. I’m so in love with it. There truly aren’t words for the relief we are both feeling right now. More on that to come in the future!
That’s gonna do it for this month, everyone. Thanks again for being here and I hope you enjoy all the cool stuff we have going on :).
Until next time,
Clay
Congrats on your dream home, my friend! And absolutely loved hearing about all of your and Deanna’s magic happenings over the past month. Can’t wait to read some of your new literary adventures!