Holidays are coming... ho ho ho and upping my SSRIs.

If you could meet a historical writer, who would it be and why? I don't think I've ever fully understood the "if you could meet any historical figure, who would it be?" question. I didn't take it literally. When someone asked I never imagined hanging out with a writer. I just answered with someone I admired or who had influenced me.

Sick at home and pondering Shirley Jackson's short stories.

I "only" have four things for awards consideration this year. But allow me to rip out my heart and present it to you...

What are you most proud of in your life? This is an interesting question because, for my brain type, pride is fleeting. It is a moment of accomplishment, a “look what I did” butterfly held timidly in cupped hands and that flies away as soon as I release it… and then I move on to the next mountain. I wonder if having pride is something ingrained in childhood, similar to having a good memory.

Flynn is one of the modern masters of revealing the horrors of the home. Her take on serial killers is one of the best.

You don't have to read in your genre and you can absolutely make space to daydream about things not connected to your work-in-progress.

When you think of the word "successful," who's the first person that comes to mind and why? It makes sense to explore success after exploring values. Values are well and good for inspiring actions and guiding choices. But what can I celebrate? What are those little (or big) milestones that I am working towards? It's also a timely topic because yet again I've been talking with my friends in multiple writing groups about how difficult it is for writers to "make it" today.

Finally got a serial killer short story in my series... and it was well worth the wait. Make sure to check out the link to the Drabblecast version.

Today's prompt: exploring values and principles in my life and writing. It was a fun exercise. What values drive your writing, and how do you express them?

What's something you would attempt if you were guaranteed not to fail. Having “stopped” the serial on serial killers (just kidding apparently, I have at least one more next week on a short story), I was trying to figure out what to do with my blog. For so many years I’ve tried to “keep it professional”… only about writing and reading.

I've come full circle in this exploration of serial killers in fiction. What kicked everything off was Crushing Snails by Emma Murray, and about a year later, I've arrived at Murray's next book: Shoot Me in the Face on a Beautiful Day. Once again Murray features a serial killer along with a brutal female perspective that rips your heart out, stomps on it a few times, and doesn't quite put it back together.

The most recent serial killer book I read was A Certain Hunger by Chelsea G. Summers. The book is absolutely brilliant. 10/10, lovely writing, witty, thoughtful, sarcastic voice and just dark enough to keep my internal "horror" reader engaged. It features a middle-aged female serial killer, Dorothy, writing her tell-all memoir from the confines of a prison she has no hope of leaving.

I started this journey with very specific types of serial killer fiction in mind. I wanted to read POV serial killer fiction with a focus on the difference through time and regarding gender. But as I read, that scope has widened and shifted. Throughout it all, the one type of book I wasn't interested in was the more classic, mainstream books that tend to take the detective or journalist POV.