I really am working on Chapter Four now. On what I’m calling WARM HEART. Sounds like I’m taking a break, though.

We were at the zoo Wednesday, petting the rhinos. Or more accurately, petting the mud that was on the rhinos. Very humbling to be within inches of these animals (they on their side of the enclosure and we on the other).

I’ve used the San Antonio zoo twice as pivotal plot points or settings in two of my stories: the one above (I changed its name to protect the innocent), and BROWN, a mystery novel by G.L. Rix (that’s me).

Did you know that in some books and even in some movies the setting is considered a character? It’s an interesting concept.

Watched the beginning of The Ten Commandments tonight, stopped and watched (slept through about half of it) Hellraiser. Didn’t enjoy any of it. Went back and watched the last three hours of The Ten Commandments . Which I did enjoy. I’ve watched The Ten Commandments many, many times. Strangely enough, it’s still a good movie. I’m getting rid of my DVD of Hellraiser. I’ll read Clive Barker’s The Hellbound Heart once more if I every want to relive that experience.

I’m writing Chapter Three of my WIP (that means work in progress). When I was writing my first published book I spelled out the chapters (I just got up and checked. Yep. THE COWBOY’S BABY has the chapters spelled out.)

Over the years though, I got worried about maybe misspelling Fourteen or Nineteen or Eighty or something, so I moved to using numerals. (I’m not going to get up and check again, so I might be misremembering this. but I think my next phase was to say Chapter 1, etc.) And for a long time now I’ve tossed the word Chapter aside and just say 1,2,3,4,5, etc. Which might be why I sometimes come up with two Chapter 26’s every once in a while.

Well, now I’m back to square one, using Chapter One, Chapter Two, Chapter Three, etc. It’s probably the most formal of the choices. My WARM HEART novel (not its true name) is a Western horror novel. It needs the formal touch.

Oh, and I forgot. I have once used captions under my Chapter designations. Very old-fashioned that. THE CIMARRON BRIDE https://amzn.com/B07GTSD421.

FYI: The mermaid picture has nothing to do with my novels or this blog. My sister took the photo.

This San Marcos, Texas mermaid has nothing to do with my new novel. I just think it’s pretty. It was quite fun tracking down all of the mermaids, but Roxanne took the photos. A lot more are featured on our website http://rixcafetexican.com.

My work in progress has a splendid title that I won’t divulge just yet. Let’s call it COLD HANDS, WARM HEART. It’s a horror novel I started after attending the best writers’ convention there ever was. The Denver Horror Writers of America convention, I believe. Almost, or more than twenty years ago.

Harlan Ellison, Neil Gaiman, Peter Straub, David Morrell, I can go on and on and on. Everyone was there. And in the artists section of the con, I bought two paintings. COLD HANDS, WARM HEART was inspired solely from one of those paintings. My sister and I were befriended by a trio of horror writers, and got to sit at their table during the awards ceremony. Two of them were nominees. We have never forgotten their kindness.

And I got to talk with Harlan Ellison!

Peter Straub got a surprise when we told him that THE HELLFIRE CLUB was one of our favorite books. He said something like, “But you look like such nice ladies!”

Was it Shrek who said “onions have layers” or Donkey. Nice ladies (now old ladies) have layers too. I know an actor who’d be fabulous as the serial killer in that novel if they ever made it into a movie.

Back to my work in progress. Originally I got about seventy-five pages into it and stopped. I’m a much better writer now and it was time to take it up again if I ever want to finish it. I’m close to rewriting Chapter One. Can’t decide yet whether to chop it into two chapters or not. I hate long chapters.

WHAT I READ THIS WEEK: Maelstrom by Kristine Kathryn Rusch, My Gun Has Bullets by Lee Goldberg, and The Astronaut From Wyoming by Adam Troy Castro.

I’m writing a horror novel this time. Went back into my files and dragged out what I’d previously wrote as WARM HEART (as in cold hands, warm heart), spent too much time changing the title, and finally finished reading through what was there.

Mostly it was good. I crossed out all the stupid stuff. Am now rewriting Chapter One.

This isn’t my first horror novel. ARROYO is a weird western, which is a subgenre of the horror field. And then there’s ILL MET BY MOONLIGHT which is a humorous horror collection of interconnected stories about dangerous trees.

Looking forward to where WARM HEART leads me.

WHAT I READ THIS WEEK: The Sins of Lord Lockwood by Meredith Duran.

Link to my books https://amazon.com/author/gretchenrix

I’m writing a new book. Initially called WARM HEART, I changed it recently to THE HELL-BOUND.

That didn’t work. Not only did I misspell Hellbound, but there are dozens of books with that title. Back to the drawing board. I’ve found something that fits, but am not set on it yet.

Maybe I’ll let you know.

WHAT I READ THIS WEEK: The Sins of Lord Lockwood by Meredith Doran

There’s a good chance we’ll be confined to the house for the next several days–deadly cold, snow, ice storms, lightning strikes. Down here in Central Texas we’re not used to much of this, except the lightning.

Will I be writing more? Probably not. Unless the electricity goes out I’ll probably be watching movies on TV.

Stay safe. Read a lot.

On Monday, when it’s supposed to snow A LOT, I’ve four or so of my short stories up free on Amazon. Take advantage.

Right now I’m at the end process of checking the proofreading of the proofreader on my latest book. Sometimes what is grammatically correct isn’t right for the story. And sometimes a comma isn’t really needed. That sort of stuff. I didn’t keep track of how much time I worked on this today, but by the time I was finished with it I’d completed Chapter One.

I skipped working on this yesterday, partly because I got my covid-19 shot number one that day, and partly because my cat Tiberius was hyper and jumping on everything. So, this is one day later and I have gone through and checked everything in Chapter Two.

At this rate, I’ll be finished in a month.

So be it. There really is no hurry, and it’s better to know that my story is just how I want it. My next book (not this one) will just have to wait. I learned a while back that I can’t work on two projects at the same time.

I won’t continue this update. Hopefully I have ramped up my editing to three chapters a day. In the meantime, stay safe out there. Read a few books. Adopt a dog (or a cat).

You can find my books at the usual spots–Amazon, Nook, Smashwords. Check back to Rix Cafe Texican for all the links.

THE COWBOY’S BABY, ARROYO, TALKING TO THE DEAD GUYS, THE COWBOY’S BABY GOES TO HEAVEN, TEA WITH A DEAD GAL, THE SAFARI BRIDE, TWISTED RIXTER, BABY SINGS THE BOOS, THE GOODALL MUTINY, THE GOODALL MANIFEST, THE GOODALL MARAUDERS, THE GOODALL (BOOKS 1-3), THE CIMARRON BRIDE, ILL MET BY MOONLIGHT, BROWN a mystery novel, BROWNER another mystery novel.

I managed to wake up about ten minutes before the fireworks show from Reunion Tower in Dallas (watched on TV). Good job.

Hope 2021 is a better year for everyone.

Wear your masks, and get vaccinated.

I finished the second novel in my BROWN series. It’s up on Amazon. This one is BROWNER: another mystery novel by G.L. Rix. Now I’m taking a break from quirky private eye mysteries.

To my surprise, I’ve already written another novel. Not sure if it is Young Adult or just what they call a gentle novel. It’s not science fiction, not romance, not mystery, not horror, not western, and not really literature either. It’s waiting for my First Reader to give it her stamp of approval.

Now I’m doing preliminary work on my next book. A horror novel I haven’t been able to think of a title for as yet.

And I’ve already broken my promise not to take a break between writing projects. Christmas holidays got in the way. I’m watching Lord of the Rings instead.

Wishes for everyone to stay safe, and for 2021 to be better than 2020.

BROWNER  https://amzn.com/B08P9BD8WC