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Dark Write of the Soul Newsletter

Issue 2 Winter 2023

Welcome Reader,

I don't know about you but those lyrics have always intrigued me. Why Vienna? Why not Paris? Or New York?

We spent a couple of days in Vienna, Austria, on our Viking River Cruise. Since then those lyrics keep repeating in my head: "Vienna waits for you." As I sat down to write this newsletter, those words popped into my head again, and I decided to go with it.

First thing I did was look up the lyrics to see what Billy Joel meant. "Slow down, look around you and have some gratitude for the good things in life," Joel is quoted as saying on the Vienna tourist info website. If you don't know, Vienna has won best place to live multiple times for their public services, housing, healthcare, and overall quality of life. It's a big, bustling city filled with beautiful architecture and many museums, which we took in and enjoyed. But it also has a strong coffeehouse tradition that invites you to sit and relax. They also believe in an artfully crafted slice of cake to go with that coffee.

So those lyrics in my head are a message from the Universe, one that I seem to have internalized subconsciously. I didn't make any New Year's Resolutions for 2023. No diet plans. No exercise plans. No travel plans. Instead, I told myself that I'm just going to take life a little slower and enjoy it more. So on January 2 instead of starting the day with a new diet, I made buttermilk biscuits, which I had with currant jam from Prague. Guess what I don't have? That bad feeling you get in the middle of January because you've started breaking those resolutions.

Now, I haven't been eating biscuits every day. I did switch back to healthier eggs and gluten free toast. It's a balance. But I'm just done with the denying one's self game we all play. I'll take the walk when I want, or have that glass of wine, or eat an apple. My plan is to savor the moments and be grateful for what I have. Vienna doesn't have to wait for me. I've decided to take up residence there, metaphorically speaking.

The pandemic changed our lives, and the past few years have been difficult for must of us. We've been shut in, maybe fallen ill, suffered financial setbacks, and even lost loved ones. Striving to perfect ourselves at the start of a new year is a pressure we need to let up on. Be good to yourself and to others.

I hope you find your inner Vienna in 2023!

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Wily Writers Presents Tales of...

My writing group Wily Writers created a series of anthologies in 2022, which you can easily find on Amazon by typing in Wily Writers Presents Tales of. The stories range from horror light to horror extreme, a little something for everyone.

Volume four, Wily Writers Presents Tales of Foreboding, is edited by me and a fellow editor. The book contains 14 short stories about monsters, gods, zombies, purgatory, photographs, beasts, and husbands.

All four of the current volumes are available right now as paperbacks through Amazon and as ebooks on Amazon's Kindle Unlimited.

Click here to get more information or your copies:

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Catsitter's Conundrum by Angel Leigh McCoy

Hi, this is Angel Leigh McCoy! I'm hijacking E's newsletter to tell you about my new book: THE CATSITTER'S CONUNDRUM. It's a paranormal cozy mystery. In it, Kitty and Diana Kats (a mother-daughter team) hunt for a missing boy and an arsonist. Their best ally is Muse, the literal king of cats in exile. Things get weird like that in Wyrdwood. See you there!

Angel...

Get a Copy Today!

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Nonfiction for Writers

Did you know that I also create nonfiction workbooks for writers? A year ago I created a nonfiction brand called Scribes & Scribblers Publishing. I just couldn't find decent products for writers. I designed and published the Writing Sprints Tracker & Journal and The Writer's Work, Income, & Expense Tracker. With tax season upon us, you might be interested in the latter if you're a writer. It's essentially an accounting ledger for your writing business.

The Witches Are Coming!

My first published novel will be released in 2023!

The Magica series is a spin on urban fantasy and paranormal romance whick I call Paranormal Family Fiction. Instead of the kickass young, single female protagonist, Magica is about a witch mom dealing with her seven kids, her dead husband's ghost, her role in the witch community, her new boyfriend, and the hell that rains down upon her and her world.

All 3 books in the series will be released in 2023. Here's a preview of the cover for the first book. Would you like a sneak peak of Book II? Scroll down.

Full cover coming in February! Can't wait? Click here for an exclusive reveal.

2022 In the Rear View Window

I don't know about you, friend, but at the end of the year I feel like I've accomplished nothing. Then I make a list and surprise myself:

• Edited the anthology Wily Writers Presents Tales of Foreboding.
• Had a story in all four of the Wily Writers Presents Tales of... anthologies and got to work with three of the best editors in the fiction business: Loren Rhoads, Lisa Morton, and Angel Leigh McCoy. Through these anthologies I was privileged to work with amazing writers: Jennifer Brozek, Yvonne Navarro, S.G. Browne, Weston Ochse, Bill Bodden, Alison J. McKenzie, Chris Marrs, Joan De La Haye, and Allie Yohn.
• Placement of an essay in the Horror Writers Associations mental health project.
• Undertook Ketamine Infusion Therapy and am now 95% depression and anxiety free.
• Did a HWA panel for Stoker Con 2022 with Lee Murray & Alan Baxter.
• Attended my first book signing since Covid quarantine for the talented Tori Eldgridge for her novel Dance Among the Flames.
• Attended my first convention since Covid, KillerCon in Austin, hosted by the ever-lovable Wrath James White. I was overjoyed to see fellow writer friends I hadn't seen in years: Maurice Broaddus, Rena Mason, and Shane McKenzie.
• Attended my second convention since Covid, TusCon in Tucson. And there I was overjoyed to spend time with a writer friend I hadn't seen in maybe ten years, John Hornor Jacobs. Yvonne Navarro and Weston Ochse graciously put me up for the weekend. I also spent time with Tom Deady and Linda Addison.
• Longtime friend (like 30+ years, girlfriend!) Paula Cantarini's daughter Courtney married her longtime love Marshon. They are now Mr. and Mrs. Mitchell.
• Greg and I bought a travel trailer during the summer because at our age we can no longer tent camp.
• We finally went on that Viking River Cruise on the Danube with Linda Septon & Dan DeSousa (sister and brother-in-law) and there were some amazing moments. I'll never forget the first night in Prague. It was cold and snowing. We wandered through the medieval streets drinking hot gluehwein.
• There's a bunch of other stuff too. I would call that a productive year.

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Special Tribute to James Magill

In 2022 Greg lost his father James Magill to cancer. I want to dedicate this issue to my father-in-law. He was a lover of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Dean Koontz. When he visited, he would always give me whatever novel he just finished reading. I will miss talking books and movies with him. So, Jim, I'll make sure I dedicate a future novel to you.

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Here's to 2023 being drama free and just a smooth path of peace and wins.

Find your "Vienna."

And now for that free short story I promised you for reading to the end:

113 Cherry St. #92768, Seattle, WA 98104-2205
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