Operation Backlog Completion 2025

Celebrating All Things Spooky 2025 is Here!

 Celebrating All Things Spooky, My Games, My Stories, Video games  2 Responses »  Tagged with: , , , , ,
Oct 012025
 

October is here, and I’ll be honest, I was tempted not to do Celebrating All Things Spooky this year, considering how backed up my backlog has become even by my standards!

But with some good horror games looming over me, I decided to go ahead with it anyway. Just be aware that I might not be able to stick to my usual pace of reviews (although I’ll still try). So let’s get started with Celebrating All Things Spooky 2025!

Contest

As usual, there will be a contest! Be sure to pay attention to the rules, as some details have changed.

Prizes:

  • Alan Wake (gift sent through Steam)
  • Alan Wake’s American Nightmare (gift sent through Steam)
  • Not It: Spookiest Edition (gift sent through Steam)
  • Silent Hill 4: The Room (gift sent through GOG)
  • Dead Age (Steam code)
  • Lakeview Cabin Collection (Steam code)
  • eBook copy of The Book at Dernier
  • eBook copy of It Came Back
  • $15 sent through PayPal
  • You pick a game for me to review!

If you choose the review option, your chosen game must be something I either own or is easily obtainable, which you can discuss with me beforehand. It must be a single game, not a collection (although the chosen game can be part of a collection). I will start playing it in November.

Rules:

  • No purchase is necessary.
  • Only comments made between October 1, 2025 at 12:00 PM EDT and October 31, 2025 at 11:59 PM EDT will be counted.
  • 1 non-spam, non-anonymous comment on any Celebrating All Things Spooky blog post, including replies to other comments or posts from previous years = 1 point.
  • You must use an email address or website URL (or include another way of contacting you) in your comment so I can contact you if you win.
  • You must earn at least 5 points to qualify for a prize.
  • The top 3 qualifying point earners will win prizes.
  • The person with the most points will get their first pick of the prizes. The person with the second most points will pick second, and the person with the third most points will pick third.
  • In the event of a tie, tied winners will be contacted at the same time. A tie for third place will allow for more than 3 winners. If tied winners choose the same prize, duplicate prizes will be possible.
  • The winner will be contacted by November 2, 2025.

Sale

Meanwhile, you’ve got some sales to watch out for again! For the rest of this week and up through the weekend, my zombie comedy novella The Zombie Mishap is available on Amazon for just $0.99!

Looking for something a bit scarier? As we get closer to Halloween, watch for similar sales on my horror novellas The Book at Dernier and It Came Back!

When it comes to the visual novels I’ve worked on, the lighthearted supernatural otome game The Last Act is currently on sale on Steam! Meanwhile, I don’t know if the horror visual novel Not It will get a sale closer to Halloween or not, but I’ll keep an eye out.

Conclusion

For the rest of the month, I’ll highlight horror games and other spooky games (and sometimes other media) as often as possible, giving this blog a spooky feel in honor of Halloween. I’ll try to cover a variety of game types and styles, so stay tuned.

The scariest thing facing me is my backlog, but don’t worry about that. Let’s get Celebrating All Things Spooky 2025 started!

2025 Writing Goals

 Writing  2 Responses »
Jan 082025
 

Last year, I went with a different format for 2024’s writing goals. Instead of very specific goals related to specific stories, I simply said I would resume querying, revise a novel, and write more short stories.

I also mentioned that if short story writing continued to work better for my motivation than novel writing, I would stick with it.

Well, that part came true. I sent out two query letters early in the year, but that’s it, and I didn’t even start revising a novel.

On the other hand, I wrote more short stories than ever before! I’m drowning short story drafts! With that in mind, I’m once again taking a different approach to this year’s goals.

By 2026, I will:

  • Finish my in-progress short story project.
  • Write and submit at least two more pulp fiction stories.
  • Continue writing short stories in general.

That feels simple enough and in line with my current writing motivations. It does feel like I’ve pivoted slightly in my approach to writing, but that’s fine. I love writing, and I’m glad that I’m finding new motivation to write even more.

If you’re a writer, do you have any goals in mind for 2025?

Announcing My Personal WriMo 2024

 My Stories, Writing  2 Responses »  Tagged with: ,
Nov 012024
 

It’s that time of year again!

Celebrating All Things Spooky 2024 has come to an end, with a close race to the finish for this year’s contest. The winners are in the process of being notified, and that means it’s now time to talk about NaNoWriMo.

Or, in this case, what I’m calling Personal WriMo.

I’ve decided not to use the actual NaNoWriMo site this year, so instead I’ve set up a personal word count tracker right here on my site. You’ll be able to see my progress throughout the month by checking this post.

(I may put it in the header if I can get it to play nice with my Operation Backlog Completion progress bar. We shall see.)

Personal WriMo 2024
Phase:Month
100%

This year, I’ve decided to work on short stories throughout the month, so I technically won’t be writing a novel. However, the overall goal is still the same – 50,000 words to be written in the month of November. I’m especially hoping to get some new pulp fiction stories written.

Speaking of my stories, I mentioned at the start of October that I hoped to bring my Lovecraftian horror novella The Book at Dernier to additional retailers, and I’m happy to say I got that done. You can now buy the ebook copy at multiple places, including Barnes & Noble and Smashwords.

All right, that’s all I have to say about my writing for now… and don’t worry, we will definitely be talking about the exciting Xenoblade Chronicles X news on Monday!

Are you participating in NaNoWriMo or an equivalent event this month?

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