I’ll be honest – there was not a lot of writing done this month. If you’ve seen some of my recent TikTok videos and Instagram posts, you may have noticed a black brace on my left hand. I have *fancy* tendonitis in my thumb. I call it fancy because when my doctor told me the full name, there were so many syllables it went in one ear and out the other.
Now, there’s nothing wrong with my other fingers so I can still write (hence, this blog post), but the pain has slowed me down. Between stresses in both my personal and professional life, as well as this newfound chronic pain (which I am treating), I took this as a sign that I need to rest. As a result, I’ve been doing much more reading than writing this past month.
But that doesn’t mean I’ve been sitting around doing nothing as far as my publishing career is concerned. I placed my first order of print books and I now have a delightfully heavy box sitting in the corner of my home office. “Are you doing what I think you’re doing?” I hear you ask. Of course! In fact, as I write this post, I am currently speaking to the manager of a local shop on Facebook Messenger about dropping off my books to sell. So if you’re a reader in Ottawa, keep an eye out for updates on my social media! You’ll be able to shop in a physical store for physical copies of my books real soon.
And I mean REAL soon.
And now I’d like to shift gears and bring you a mini movie review! I know it’s been a while since I’ve done a movie review on my blog, but I promise this has something to do with my writing.
This past weekend, my husband and I went to see Renfield. If you love classic vampire movies and/or comedies with a classic 3 act story structure, you’ll really enjoy this film. Mark, who is nowhere near being a spooky person, found it hilarious. And although I also got a good laugh out of the film, I was losing my shit at the references to vampire stories, lore, and films. Seriously, in some of the shots Nicholas Cage looks like Bella Lugosi.
But that’s not what spoke to me the most from this film. Unfortunately, I have had way too much experience with people who have NPD. Many of my past and current bosses are narcissists, as well as former friends and a family member. That has led to a lot of trauma. On the plus side, I have used that trauma and those experiences to inspire my writing. If you’ve downloaded the free copy of “Kacie” that comes with subscribing to my newsletter, that is one story that was born out of exploring my past traumatic relationships. And if you’ve read my short story collections, I’m sure you’ve spotted some others.
Although it’s a comedic take on a toxic relationship, Renfield shows what it’s like to have a narcissist in your life. A number of the scenes in the film hit hard because I have lived those experiences. Narcissists are energy vampires, and they will suck the life out of you if you let them. Fortunately, like Renfield (Nicholas Hoult), I have learned to fight back. And I am thankful that I have my writing to help process my thoughts and emotions. As long as narcissists keep crossing my path, I will continue to use them as inspiration for my stories. And I certainly will not complain if I see them portrayed in other people’s stories, like in this movie.
