No rest for the wicked
July Activities and August Plans
August 2025
Hey Friend!
It’s August!!!!! How did that happen? July was a busy month for me, and add to that all the ways the world is struggling, and it makes it hard not to bury your head in the sand. But that isn’t what we need right now. What we need is rest and each other but you're probably tired of hearing me say that.
I was busy in July with BayCon, my wife’s birthday and a trip to Portland, so I have lots of photos for you! I’ve stuck a bunch in the Where I was section, but even more are at the end of the email.
I’m looking forward to August being slow and homey before another run in September, I have a bunch of travel. Did you travel this summer? Where have you gone? What do you have planned for the end of the season?
Special Request
I’m very motivated by feedback, and I want this space to be lovely for you and not just whatever I want. Here is a feedback form to better understand what’s working and what’s not about the newsletter. I appreciate you taking a few minutes to complete the survey. You’re amazing!
I spent this month on my new project, a vampire story, as I mentioned last month. Our main character is a Black Queer Death Doula who is supporting a vampire in his efforts to bring his family together again before he commits suicide. For some reason, this has felt slower than WSMS, but maybe that’s just the nature of the beast. I wrote 36k this month and plan to try for the same next month.
I was supposed to be working on the WSMS editing project this month, but it didn’t come together after the first week or so. Unfortunately, because this novel is going slower, I haven’t had the amount of time I’d hoped to have. I’m thinking I might cut the second novel from my goals for the year and spend the last quarter of the year editing WSMS so I can start querying at the top of the year. I’m not sure yet, though. We’ll see how it goes.
Goals Review:
Write Shorts/Novelettes: 5/5 ✅
Write novels: 0/2
Edit shorts/Novelettes: 5/5 ✅
Edit Novel: 1/1 ✅
Beta Novel: 1/1 ✅
I had such an amazing time at BayCon 2025/Westercon 77! It was really nice to get to be with local writers, readers and nerds. Had an amazing time at the Afrofuturism Lounge which made it’s first appearance at BayCon this year. The Panel “Black Poetics” was so awesome. I was with some incredible minds and honestly would have gotten just as much out of listening as I did with sharing space. We recorded it and you can watch the session here.
Now some pics from the rest of BayCon!
I don’t have any current planned events for this year but I’m hoping to be able to panel at Flights of Foundry in September. Are you planning to attend? You can express your interest in the sessions I’m interested in!
We’ll see what happens!
Reading
 | This was quite the surprise! I don’t read a ton of YA but really enjoyed this! Sariyah is just your average, black teenage girl living in Atlanta except for the fact that she can hear the needs of people around her. Not their thoughts or their wants but what they really, truly need whether they know it or not. Sariyah doesn’t even know what peoples needs will be used for but she does her best to deliver what she can. When a friend goes missing, Sariyah tries to use her gift to help but all is not exactly what it seems. Truly loved this book and trying to figure out whodunit. |
 | As with most books these days I listened to this on audiobook. I did so in a single day which is not my MO. This queer story is beautiful and sad and feels ancient in its weight like a fairy tale. The narrator was fantastic. This was a pleasure. |
 | And now for a little sapphic horror. I saw this described somewhere as Horror Erotica and you all know, I was in for it. A small town girl, Angelina, becomes possessed by the monster who lives in the pit, it wants her future and it will do anything to get it. The only thing that keeps the beast at bay is the hottest woman Angelina’s ever known and the one person she really shouldn’t have anything to do with. |
Are you on StoryGraph? That’s where I’m doing all my tracking. Come find me.
Looking for a new audiobook platform that’s not going to support B*zos? Check out Libro.fm (this is a referral link).
Watching
 | I love this show. I’m not sure what drew me in (I’m kidding it was Lee Pace. Who isn’t attracted to that human?) but the story is incredibly interesting, so much so that I went and read the first book. I didn’t love that but I do like this and I’m excited to really dig in to the current foundation and its challenges. |
 | Ok I also love this show. The Gilded Age is beautiful, the acting incredible and Carrie Coon and Morgan Spector have incredible chemistry. I love the way this show handles class, race and gender issues. In this season we’ve gotten into colorism as well. Its just so good and shocking and beautiful. |
 | You all know we’re suckers for a competition show and this one about three families (one Black, one Gay and a third family) who choose to give up their modern life style for a frontier life is both educational and kind of fun. It’s been interesting to see how people choose to live and what’s necessary. Three episodes are out so far and its been really fun and created a lot of discussion in our household. |
Listening
The Summer Playlist has blown up! It’s got all kinds of things on it. Check it out.
Photos!
Ok, here they are. A couple of photos from my travel and from July in general.
A special shoutout to Backstory Books & Yarn which I did not get a picture of but loved my experience so much!!!