2023! It’s one more than 2022! Reviewing 2022 and new #amwriting goals for 2023

Happy New Year 2023

Every New Year’s Dayish I review the previous year and make new goals. Last year I posted a stock photo of a silly sheep, as well. No ewe this year.

2022 review

2022 had a lot going on. Job changes, moving, first-time homeownership—all this, to say nothing of writing-related goals. But we’re here to say something of the writing-related goals. So let’s get to it. What were my 2022 goals?

  • Finish Gobbler of Fire —Yes, though not nearly as early as I planned.

  • Write another adult novel —Not even close.

  • Write another short story or two — Yes, and it is… interesting.

Continue reading

THE CRICKET KING is finished!

Well, sort of. The first wife-readable draft is done, which is a huge weight lifted (looks like you have some new reading material, Emily).After my initial editing pass, I discovered a pretty upsetting plot hole. But today I finally got it fixed, and I can take a break from thinking about this book. In its current version, it clocks in at 78,700 words. That will, of course, change by the time it is in its final form (the very roughest draft finished at around 81k), but it’s a respectable length, even though it won’t quite come in over 80k like I had hoped.

I don’t know what to say except that I am very relieved to have got the book to its current state. I suffered many assaulting doubts while I was writing and while I was editing. Even though it is not yet in book form, it is a great relief to have finished the hardest part of the work, and I am very proud of it so far. I look forward to sharing it with you sometime in the hopefully-not-too-distant future.

All my novelist friends: keep on writing! Work through the doubts! Trust the process! Keep on chirping!

#amwriting #amwritinghorror #orthoptera #crickets #thecricketking #horror #horrorfiction #horrorbooks #wip #horrorwriters #wvwriters #amediting #ameditinghorror

40,000 words into my new horror novel

I haven’t updated you guys on my latest writing project until now because whenever I start something intended to be a novel, I’m afraid that I won’t be able to remember how to write again, or I’ll get to the end and it won’t be long enough, or it will turn out to be an incoherent, unpublishable disaster. Well, I’ve been deep into a project I started this spring, and I’m relieved and excited to go into this weekend having crossed the 40k mark! What’s more, I think it might resemble something you may actually want to read.

Continue reading

In which Curtis M. Lawson interviews me on the Wyrd Transmissions podcast

Fresh feasting for your famished earholes, hot off the audio griddle. Curtis M. Lawson, host of the podcast Wyrd Transmissions, has interviewed me. Listen to us chat a little about my writing and a lot more about other stuff.

Listen to “Ep. 49 – Appalachian Horror with Timothy G. Huguenin” on Spreaker.

Stream here it using the embedded player above, or go directly to the episode page, or listen on Apple Podcasts (don’t forget to rate and review the show).

Continue reading

80k and running the home stretch

Today, I broke 80,000 words on my work in progress. This was my original goal. In fact, it had been my goal when writing Schafer, though I only made it somewhere in the 70s on the first draft, dropping to 69.5k after revisions made it ready for submission. I’ve always been a little insecure about the short length of my previous books, so for me, it’s a pretty big deal to surpass this barrier.

I am very close to the end, too. I believe I’ll finish this first draft this week or next. While it’s likely that later revisions will shorten the manuscript, meaning it isn’t guaranteed the final book will end up past my goal, I’m very happy to have made it so far. I will be celebrating with some of the leftover birthday cake Emily got me (chocolate cake, peanut butter frosting, topped with peanut butter cups).

Though I still have a little more work to do on this draft (then a lot of work to do in editing and revision), I’m feeling very satisfied today and hopeful that this book isn’t going to turn into the disaster I feared (I always get scared in the middle of a project that it’s all going to implode and leave me with an unfixable mess—this has happened before).

I can see the finish line! Woohoo!

Super cute video of my niece reading LITTLE ONE

My three-year-old niece decided to “read” Little One to my sister, who sent me the video. She is very cute and has some funny things to say about the book. I am using this video with permission from my sister and my niece, but I am keeping their names out of YouTube and this website to protect their privacy. Watch the video below and give it some likes if you want!

Haven’t read Little One yet? My niece is cute, but I would take her words with a grain of salt. Click here for more information about the book and links to purchase.

New short story forthcoming in DIM SHORES PRESENTS VOL. 2

I am very proud to tell you that I’ll have a new short story published in the upcoming anthology, Dim Shores Presents Vol. 2, due out sometime in the latter half of this year from Dim Shores.

“AV_NEST.CASEFILE” introduces a new character to Augustus Valley, an investigator who works for a top secret branch of the West Virginia state government who is tasked with reporting on mysterious goings-on around the state. It will appear alongside fiction from writers including C.M. Muller, Jennifer Loring, Mari Ness and a bunch of other winners!
Continue reading