July 2026

 In the E.B. White classic One Man’s Meat, written from a shed on the coast of Maine, he ruminates on writing, his process, the world, and the mundane day-to-day bits about the weather, and how many eggs his chickens laid. They were published monthly by Harper’s because he did not have a blog at the time. He just had the coast, a shed with a typewriter, and his thoughts. 

While not full essays, these posts let me capture a bit of what I’m doing, watching, reading, and most importantly for me, what I am writing or when I’m not writing. The books and movies are just an excuse to get me started, and the monthly post format guarantees that I get something written every month. It’s a few minutes to pause and think, “Yup, that month just happened.” 

So again, it’s July, and yup, that month has happened. It’s been at times stupid hot and kind of amazing. That is the way with summer in Maine. I’ve jumped in the ocean, gone on hikes, and occasionally stayed cooped up inside next to an air conditioner wondering why we were cursed. 

As for writing, I published a new short story in a zine format. It’s called A Hole, and it’s about a hole. I wanted to write a monster story and failed. I liked where this one went, though. I drew and designed the cover with some help from Jen, and if you are interested, you can pick it up in person at Ellard Studios (check out their Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/ellardstudiosmaine/) or here at Haunted Key Press (www.hauntedkeypress.com). 

I also started another edit on my novella, Live Laugh Love. It is too long to print it out and make it available in zine format, so it’ll likely get printed out another way. Jen is currently working on the cover and formatting because she’s familiar with the software and has some skills to make it happen. It’s a fun story, a little dark, inspired by my frequent attendance at craft shows helping Jen while she sells her pottery (you can check out and pick some up for yourself here: www.lianepottery.com).  

I did work on a few new story ideas, but nothing caught, so nothing got started or worked on. Next month, though, August is usually a good time for writing and chilling. 

For movies this month, I watched Scream 7, and it was a Scream movie, and I will watch the next one. Who doesn’t like a murder mystery? I may watch Obsession if I can find a few moments to watch without Jen around. She wants nothing to do with those movies. Similar to her not wanting anything to do with Backrooms. She is excited, as am I, for Robert Eggers Werwulf coming out this winter. 

For books, I am still working through the Books of Jacob by Olga Tokarczuk. Enjoying it, but it’s a long, heavy read. I also started reading Gravity’s Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon, and I’m not sure why. My original goal was to read something light and fun after reading Our Share of the Night by Mariana Enriquez. I do have some fun ones lined up though, just need to fit them into the right spot. 

For some non-internet side reading about English Folk Horror, I got a complete set of Hellbore Magazines for my birthday. https://helleborezine.com/

That’s it for July. 

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

This is a picture of an antique inkwell Jen and Honora found for my birthday at the end of last month. I filled it with some black ink and picked up a fun pearlescent red ink from Wearingeul‘s ink inspired from novels. Who doesn’t want a bottle of Dracula Ink? To complement the inkwell and the ink, I also picked up a Sailor Hocoro dip pen with a handful of nibs. I’ll be on the hunt for a nice antique dip pen or find someone to spin me out a pen that can hold the Hocoro dip pen nibs.