Leaping into the Unknown
Reevaluating the author game plan, the mythical literary male, Goddamn Graveyard Zombies, POC Mental Wellness Day, Tormented Flesh book reading, thoughts on Severance Season 2, and more.
I’ve been thinking about my role as an author and how I can expand my presence and shine my light that much brighter.
How can I put myself out there and how can I grow?
It’s important to take a step back, reevaluate things, and take an internal inventory. I’m not where I want to be quite yet ( i.e. full time author), but I’ll get there in due time—Hanged Man tarot card flow.
has been harping about treating things more like a business: coming up with business plans and experimenting with ad campaigns and such.He’s right, though. Being an author is a business and should be treated as such. It’s easy to get caught up in weekly discourse like the mythical literary male & do young men even read anymore instead of investing energy in places that truly matter like getting the damn book done.
I’m going to do some new things this year, experiment, and leap into the unknown like this frog above.
Goddamn Graveyard Zombies
I’ve been reading Goddamn Graveyard Zombies by
and it’s fantastic so far. It’s one of those pulpy, nasty zombie novels that feels like a B-movie that never made it to the big screen. It’s full of oozing zombies, great dialogue, and fleshed-out characters. The big reason I mention this is because it’s been highly inspirational and motivating me to go harder. Some books activate that spark inside you and this one is giving me the fuel I need to make more progress on Project Scarecrow Gaze.Book Signing at Mental Wellness Day
May 31st is a big day. I’ll be selling and signing books at Compton College as part of the Psyches of Color Mental Wellness Day. There will be a comedy show, haircuts, hair braiding, workshops, a mental health panel, and more at no cost to the community since the org’s funders were very generous! I’m hyped to be a part of this. Psyches of Color is a dope non-profit that provides mental health resources/support to Black and Brown youth and their families to decrease the stigma of mental health and promote radical healing.
Also, I got hired by POC as a part-time employee, so I’m excited about that. It’s been a great experience so far and has given me a good sense of community, which has been missing from my life. Also, I’ve been able to see the fruits of my labor pretty quickly and feel more purposeful regularly. I want to give a shoutout to my favorite person for giving me these opportunities to grow and step into new territory.
Pull up if you’re in LA.
Tormented Flesh Reading
The evening of May 31st, I’ll be doing a reading of my short story “My Gut’s Talking Crazy” from the Tormented Flesh anthology at Village Well Books & Coffee with big body authors such as James Nulick, Francesca Lia Block, and Omar King. This is my second time reading with James Nulick, and my first time doing a reading in 2025.
If you have a copy of Tormented Flesh, I’ll sign it. And once again, if you’re in LA, pull up.
Severance Season 2
I finished watching season 2 of Severance this week. It’s weird, quirky, aberrant, and an engrossing blend of workplace horror/sci-fi. The storyline moves in some cool directions and they do a great job of revealing some of these mysteries within. The finale made me tear up and some of the revelations were stunning. Can’t wait for season 3 to drop and it better not take three years.
Writing Updates
Project Scarecrow Gaze is chugging along. I’m hitting the territory where the doubt’s starting to drip in. However, I got a second wind recently and it reads a lot better than I thought. I have some alpha readers lined up and I’m scoping out a few potential editors for the book. I already have someone working on a bookmark design too. I’m planning to get a Don Noble book cover since he’s my go-to designer.
It’ll be a bloody good time.
Currently Reading: Dark Neon Dirt by Thomas Trang & Goddamn Graveyard Zombies by Lucas Mangum & The Best Horror of the Year Volume One edited by Ellen Datlow & Only the Living Are Lost by Simon Strantzas & Cosmic Horror Monthly #3 & Demons in My Bloodstream: Stories by Candace Nola & Salem’s Lot by Stephen King & Corpse Mountain by Andersen Prunty The Holy Bible
Currently Watching: The horizon
Listening: Back from the Borderline, The Higherside Chats, Agitator, Victory Light
Until next time…
Cop my books here or cop signed copies here.
Sign up for a tarot reading with me here.
For business inquiries & blurb requests email grantwamack@gmail.com
Agreed on Severance. Found it compelling. Fascinating. Riddled with hints, clues, and meaning.
I have a post up now explaining some clues I hadn't seen anyone mention yet, in case interested:
"Analyzing Severance: Clues that ..."
https://theunexpectedworld.substack.com/p/analyzing-severance-clues-that-i?r=49p5on
Thanks for the shoutout, Grant! Thinking about things from a business perspective is definitely hard for those of us who are more artistically minded, so I related to a lot of this. While I do have a few book projects in the works now that GGZ is in the world, I'm making a conscious effort to spend more of that creative energy marketing myself. I have around twenty books out. It's high time I start telling more people about them. I'm not quite ready to jump on the ad train, but I am getting more comfortable making videos and such.