Release Day Mullings

Hey there, friend. 

And Happy Halloween!

I'm not going to lie, this was a hard one to get through. As a writer and as a reader. 

Not because I don't like the premise. In fact, I love the general premise. It's just that there is something deeply unsettling about the whole thing that's hard to put my finger on. 

Originally, I thought it was going to just be some gay, spooky, autumn tale with a box of light-hearted tropes. Yanno, something fun and so-bad-it's-good-esque. Like watching a cheesy 70's slasher. Stupid, yes. Bloody, probably. Violent, maybe. But fun.

It grew into something quite a bit more gruesome and strange than that. 

There were a few times when I just sat back and thought: Why did I just write that?

That's probably why this idea has been festering in my To Be Written folder for the past few years now, and why it's been stopped and started half a dozen times; the story just goes where it chooses to go, I guess. And where it chose to go this time… is all over the place. Like, I can't even pretend to know wtf this story turned into.

Well, what the heck, it's out there now. And by my Halloween deadline no less! Granted, it doesn't have near the quality or polish I wanted for it, but it's done.

In any case, I hope you enjoy this release. As with my previous title, Flotsam, How the Ink Tastes is a finished story. Edits may be pushed in the coming weeks to correct typos or structure or graphics, but, as a whole, it is complete.

In the near future, I will follow up with a postmortem that will conclude this project and sum up my final thoughts. Additionally, I will touch upon the FVN I will be drafting during NanoWriMo, The Giant in the Field, and a smaller novella-length (hopefully) project tentatively called What Little He Took which I'm pantsing my way through in between writing lulls.

That's all I've got for you all.

Thanks, go play some of the great Halloween FVN updates we got this year, and eat your veggies.

- Kraaj