January 2026

 

January has been cold and wonderfully unproductive in my writing world. As we burned through oil and wood to stay warm, I hunkered down and did the minimum to still feel like I was a writer. I mostly worked on but did not complete a zine, and pulled out the novel Disappearing to maybe try shopping that around and maybe get it published rather than do it myself. I’ve got a plan that will take a few months to get through, but maybe it’ll help me to build out a good process for reaching out to publishers and agents.

I finished reading The Angel of Indian Lake by Stephen Graham Jones, wrapping up the trilogy. It was brutal, and while each book was different, they were similar. I would not have continued going back to that town if I were any of those characters. 

I also read King Sorrow by Joe Hill - A little weird at times, but an entertaining story overall. It's a big book, and like some of Joe Hill's other books, when you think it must be done, there's still like two books' worth of story left to read. I don't mean this in a bad way. His writing just pulls you through so much of a story. Also, it is a giant of an actual book, and honestly, the kind of book readers were made for. If you drop this on your face while reading in bed, it will hurt you. 

I am reading the latest book of Poetry - You Better Be Lightning by Andrea Gibson. Reading and listening to her read her poems. So good. Its the latest book for our difficult books club 

I have also started reading Babel by R.F. Kuang. I liked Yellowface, and I'm interested in seeing where this one takes me. 

Watched Bugonia- maybe discovered an Easter egg at the beginning with the title sequence. If you grab the letters in the Bugonia font, it’s the letters a s e r t e u f that is a word scramble of the word features. The movie is distributed by Focus Features. So maybe. I have not seen that noted elsewhere so maybe this is the first internet record of it. Anyway. The movie was messed up and kept me guessing. 

Apartment 7A - a prequel to Rosemary’s Baby - Pretty good. There’s a whole dancer performer part of the story that just made me want to rewatch Suspiria. 

I watched Edgar Wright's remake of The Running Man. I don’t remember the story it’s based on very well because I read it in High School, but aside from the premise, I’m not sure if it’s close. It’s definitely different from the classic with Arnold Schwarzenegger. It was ok, entertaining, and I liked the references to things and places in the Stephen King universe. I think I just expected more. 

The last movie I watched was Black Phone 2. Kinda spooky stuff. A mix of The Gift, Nightmare on Elm Street, and any number of serial killer movies set at a snow-covered camp that I guess people go to in the winter? I do not like the name of the killer in these movies, though… The Grabber. I don’t know why. I get the name, but hate hearing it. 

That’s it for January - Stay warm and do stuff

If you are on BlueSky and interested, follow me here: https://bsky.app/profile/spwhite.bsky.social

This is a picture from the Anti-ICE Protest yesterday at Kennedy Park in Lewiston on the coldest day of the year. Be there for and support your neighbors. (If you look on the right side, middle of the picture, you can see the police brought in portable surveillance. Hopefully it was for the protesters' protection.)



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