November 07 2025, 15:29

November mood

I’m between a couple of unusual (for me) adventures and recovering from a cold. We flew to Lisbon for three nights with our daughter—she’s into marine conservation, and the Oceanário de Lisboa is the second-biggest aquarium in the world. It’s a beautiful city. I was worried about the hills, but doing the strength work all summer served me well. On the flight out I must have picked up a virus, because within hours of getting home my throat started to hurt. It wasn’t Covid, but I haven’t had a cold in over a year so I was comically grumpy about it.

Next week is the Abertoir Film Festival, a.k.a., THE INTERNATIONAL HORROR FESTIVAL OF WALES, in Aberystwyth. This will be my first time at a horror film festival, and my work-in-progress novel has one, so it’s both for pleasure and research. The mix of the old and the new is particularly exciting. They’re showing BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN, EYES WITHOUT A FACE, THE GHOST, a documentary on the making of Michael Mann’s THE KEEP, an in-person show with Garth Marenghi on the opening night, talks on the Gothic in video games, a pub quiz, famous faces from the seventies... I’m vibrating thinking about it.

Until leaving for Lisbon, all my creative projects were ticking along well. Writing, guitar, reading, strength. No stress, just doing a bit each day. The local swimming pool closed because a pump failed, so I haven’t swum since September. That’s a bit of a blow. I’m sure my muscles will remember what to do when the time comes.

That‘s where I’m at. No dramas. I’m trying to create a stronger connection with my unconscious flow. My Bluesky account feels pretty dry and dull. If I’m worried at all, it’s that I’m too busy in the shallows and not going deep enough. No dreams, either. Well, unconscious, I’m open to a dream if you’ve got one for me.

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