This week at the loch - 08/08/2025
It’s been a quieter week here, mostly doing activities with the kids and starting the work needed to get them ready for going back to school as well as a lot of bitty admin work. One of those weeks where you do plenty of work but don’t really feel like you’ve achieved much. The 11yo made amazing white chocolate chip cookies for us and honestly, they tasted as good as they look.
Reviews are starting to come in for Daughters of Nicnevin, which is both lovely and terrifying! These early reviews can make such a difference to how a book is received, so every time I see one, my heart is in my mouth. Fortunately, people seem to be enjoying it so far.
A lot of my mental space this week has been thinking about plans around launch and promotional work I can be doing, and reaching out to places which might be willing to host events. And of course all of that has to be balanced against how well I can manage my health in the run-up to the launch.
What I’m working on - Planning, promo, and admin have dominated my week as well as a lot of BFS work. I did manage to fit in one writing session on Rise of a Witch Queen, as well as working towards some short stories for anthologies that I’ve been invited to submit to. So work continues, though it’s harder to see clear progress.
What I’m reading - I’ve been dipping into both Out There Screaming: An Anthology of New Black Horror and Solar Punk Short Stories from Flame Tree’s Beyond and Within collection. Both of these books have some really excellent offerings and are well worth picking up.
What I’m watching - On Sunday night I watched the 2020 adaptation of The Invisible Man, starring Elizabeth Moss. I really enjoyed this as a creepy, tense thriller when I first watched it in 2020 and I’m glad that I enjoyed it just as much on a second viewing.
What I’m listening to - My kids singing the songs from KPop Demon Hunters all. day. long.
Something Interesting - The lovely Lauren McMenemy interviewed Flame Tree’s Nick Wells and new Writer in Residence Shilpa Varma
