A summary for you on what to expect in this edition in case you want to scroll down to the interesting bits: progress on Cooking on Gas; the latest Masters assignment; and the progress report with an update on my week-on-week sales and writing progress.
I’m in the Weeds
I have managed to do something fairly stupid: somehow, I have two projects due by the end of the month, and BOTH of them are in my least favourite stage at the same time: edits!
Edits make me want to pour my molten brain out through my ears so I can get some peace. God, I hate editing. It’s tedious. It’s numbing - it takes so damn long to keep reading a WHOLE book over and over again. You start to second-guess whether you even speak the English language at all. Seeing so many mistakes you’ve made in prior drafts, it’s tempting to get very down on yourself, wondering if you’re just a hack who isn’t cut out for this writing gig after all. And then we get to things like running a spelling and grammar checker through everything - UGH. Dozens, if not hundreds, of flagged ‘errors’ that all turn out to just be the software’s misunderstanding of sentence context.
Normally when I’m in the weeds on an edit, I can at least turn to a different project and get some relief. Not this time! This time, both my client project and my personal project are in exactly the same phase. I’ve got nothing else that needs doing on an urgent basis, and the edits need to be done on both by the 31st, so there’s no time to procrastinate.
If anyone has a special brain jar and perhaps a funnel for the collecting of liquid matter, please let me know; I’d really like a place to store my mind while I’m going out of it.
Upcoming planned topics for this newsletter include: a deep dive into The Green Knight; something about Love, Simon’s structure; war memorials and what they mean to us (40% done); how I wrote a narrative non-fiction novel that attempted to be faithful to history; thoughts on pens; Jack the Ripper short fiction (90%); something about Final Destination (maybe how the characters must become assholes before they die, or why this kind of movie holds such cultural fascination), and some ecocriticism/historicism around Haweswater.
Book Ideas
Remember last week when I convinced myself I wasn’t going to write a Jack the Ripper book because I have too many things on my desk already?
Well…
I may have picked up two new book ideas this week.
The first comes by way of a random discussion on TikTok, where someone said “I wish someone would write XYZ but make it ABC” and I was like hahaha I’m studying XYZ and I already write ABC books. Haha… ha? And the first person was all PLEASE WRITE IT and I’m… yeah. I might.
Why might I, after saying I wouldn’t add any new projects? Well, because of the F1 romance trend, basically. The story goes that about two or three years ago, I had thought about writing an F1 romance. But I wasn’t sure. I had recently stepped out of working in that world (yes, I used to work in motorsports and occasionally intersected with F1), and it was a bit of a raw wound: a found family and expertise that I had walked away from. For good reasons, but still, it stings sometimes. I even had a friend from motorsports who asked me if I was going to write an F1 novel, and we joked around about it, but I put the idea aside. Who would even want to read that?
EVERYONE, it turns out. Gah. I missed the boat. Yes, I could technically still write something fast and try to ride the wave, but remember how I’m burnt out and not supposed to be writing any more books for the rest of the year? Yeah, that. So. In lieu of that, I’m thinking perhaps I should instead write the *next* big idea that comes to me, which could be this one from TikTok. I’m being intentionally vague about genre and theme because I’d like to work on this incredibly good idea BEFORE someone else does, this time.
And then… ha. I was talking to my husband about how I used to love Point Horror books, and Cynthia Murphy’s new book has a notation in the author’s bio about how she read them, too. Next day - THE NEXT DAY, I’m not kidding - I see a cover on sale at 50% off in a premade cover group that would be perfect for a Point Horror style, but updated for modern audiences, teen horror. I’d seen it before when it was full price and thought it was great, but at 50% off… I had to. I just had to! So, I’m now in possession of TWO premade covers I haven’t used or even written a book for yet, and I’m also in possession of one new book idea on top of that, and who even knows what I’m going to be able to get to and when, but I’m excited.
Books
Okay, you've read the Substack posts (and maybe you're a little bit confused if that's where you started). Wondering who all of these characters are? Thinking you need a refresher on past books?
Each week, I share the one TikTok video that performed best out of the last seven days.
All of these videos are available on TikTok for free, but if you’re a) not a TikTok user or b) just want the best highlights, this is a convenient place to see it.
This week’s best is below, and it’s a quick yes/no answer to whether I would read 20 of the books I’ve read this year again (sound not required):
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Note: Changes are in bold, comments in italics.
TOTAL SALES:
Crowhill Cove series (Don’t Move Out, Don’t Go Outside, Don’t Fly Home, Don’t Leave Town, Don’t Check Out, the 1-5 boxset, and Don’t Move Your Desk): ebook - 1,171, paperback/hardback - 48, KU pages read - 838,270, free downloads - 6,304
Kiss The Cook - ebook - 22, paperback - 1, KU pages read - 11,888 - No movement this week
Cook Up A Storm - ebook - 20, paperback - 1, KU pages read - 8,697
Too Many Cooks: ebook - 8, paperback - 1, KU pages read - 3,740
What’s Cooking, Good Looking?: ebook - 12, paperback - 1, KU pages read - 5,173
Serial Investigations full series (Pre-Substack releases: books 1-12, 2 bonus novellas, 2 boxsets): ebook - 548, paperback/hardback - 117, KU pages read - 427,370, free downloads - 4,825 - This month is now officially the best month of sales of all time for SI… including beating launch month for every single book! Who says sales have to die off after launch?!
WRITING:
Cooking on Gas: preorder up, first draft written
Crowhill Club: all covers, themes, and titles done, characters created and romances/interpersonal relationships between books set up
Mystery project: cover design bought, initial ideas on characters, plot, themes
YA horror project: cover design bought
Hydropower: Mid-season break/hiatus
Client status: One book in final edits
SUBSTACK:
Subscribers: free - 85, paid - 1 - hello, new friend!
Followers: 476
CONSUMING:
Read: A Rising Man by Abir Mukherjee
Reading: Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by VE Schwab (eeeeee finally)
Watched and watching: The Void, The War of the Worlds (newer version), The Invisible Man (newer version), 1408, Link: Eat, Love, Kill; F Marry Kill, Survivor Australia S3, Charmed S1, Bad and Crazy, Supernatural S13
By the way, please like this post if you enjoyed it and would like to see more! This helps me decide what to do for future content.
XO Rhiannon