Hello, friends.
Sickness prevailed this week in my household. Pamela was sick with a bad cold that made her lightheaded for days, and then I got it. I started feeling bad Tuesday and felt terrible Wednesday. I stayed home Thursday and felt even worse Friday morning. Luckily, staying home the second day helped me rest enough to turn the tides as the day progressed. Here I am on Saturday feeling crappy but better than I have.
The Powers That Be saw fit that my daughter and I have a day and a half of school this week while some of the other local districts started Friday, which is appropriate. Fun.
Anyway, here we are. Let’s get into it.
Welcome to the 153rd installment of Gauthic Times, the newsletter about my writing, my life, and not feeling the holiday spirit in light of the world around us. If you’re a reader who subscribes via Substack, my website, or Patreon, your encouragement helps motivate me. I’m not breaking any records but I’m thankful to have any audience.
Thank you.
Supporting creators is so important right now. As such, I would love if you became a paid-Patron on my Patreon.
Paid-Patrons get exclusive daily check-ins about works-in-progress including the actual names of my works-in-progress and not just codenames. I also show art that I do.
You can also buy me a coffee through Ko-Fi.
Preorder my novel The Monster in the Closet or grab my novel Echoes on the Pond, my collection Catalysts, or my novellas Alice on the Shelf and Shadowed if you haven’t already. And if you’ve read them, please consider leaving a review on Amazon or Goodreads, and wherever else books are sold and reviewed.
***
This week had a concert for G, two basketball games, and being sick. I got to work on Project: Moons one day, adding about 600 words to it. A pivotal scene that’s waiting for me to return to it. And I will. And then there will be a b____e of the w________s!
I did work on Project: Amusement Park several of the days this week. I got through about 35 pages of edits/revisions on the book. There was suspense in one portion and then the book flashes back to 1994, which I started.
I also did a little tiny bit of work on a comic book, adding some art. Very little tiny bit.
Oh! I almost forgot that I fucked up my website last week by pressing the wrong button. So if you go, it’ll look weird. I’ll need to figure out how to fix it during vacation.
***
***
As Hannukah ends and Christmas is upon us, what should be a peaceful time feels anything but. I knew the 2024 holiday season would be the last peaceful one for a while. Honestly, I expected things to be worse at this point during T—p’s second term, but it’s pretty bad. With the events of last weekend still haunting the world, from mass shootings to the murder of a beloved filmmaker and his wife at the hands of their own son, and then the “president’s” horrific—but not surprising—response to it, and then with everything else, I’m not feeling very merry. I know I’m not alone.
There will be some (many?) who will think or say that it’s all about perspective and trying to get through and be positive and whathaveyou. And I will. I’ll cherish being with my family this week and celebrating our time together. I’ll cherish the time away from the increasingly difficult and soul-sucking day job. I’ll cherish my writing time and such. But there’ll be the noise running in the background. And if it’s there for me, it’ll sure as shit be there for others. More so.
That’s what really hits me. That there are many, many people who will feeling far worse than me because of loves ones kidnapped by their own government, because they’ve lost loved ones to ridiculous violence because the powers that be care more about money than your safety, because they can’t afford even the smallest celebration this year, because they have been left out in the cold.
Look, I don’t want this essay to be a bummer. There’s plenty to look at and be happy and/or positive about in an individual life, but one cannot escape the harsh reality that 2025 was a banner year for shitty things happening and it will likely get worse in 2026. The thing is, I hope, the human resolve will become even stronger.
That’s the flip side of this. There’ve been some amazing stories of kindnesses and of giving. There are many people who are looking around at things and are willing to do what must be done to bring change. I suspect 2026 will be violent and it will be frightening, but I also feel as though it could a watershed year for change, real change. Could. But it’s going to be tough.
On a personal level, I’m going into the year knowing I need to make changes and finding the courage within, and the mental capacity, to invoke them. I’m not even sure what that means, really, but I feel like it’s a cool draft sneaking in and tickling the back of my neck, a sense more than a specific thought. How? will be the main question.
I wish you the happiest of holidays, gentle reader. Be peace and kindness. And be ready to fight to keep it.
***
I’ve been reading Joe Hill’s King Sorrow for a bit now and love it. I wish I was a faster reader. I started the year strong but have slowed right the hell down since school started in late summer. My TBR is growing larger than I’m comfortable with but King Sorrow is superb! I get the sense that Hill had a blast writing it and it shows.
***
That’s this week’s newsletter. I wish you the happiest of holiday seasons. I may take next week off but will be back in January. I guess it depends on what’s going on. Thank you so much for subscribing, reading, and for your support.
If you’d like to be a part of making my dream of creating full-time a reality, become a Patron on my Patreon, which has a lot more information about my works-in-progress and the books I’ll be querying, including titles and some simple, non-spoiler details.
Don’t forget to share this newsletter with others and consider a paid subscription.
You can also tip/donate on Ko-Fi.
Get my collection Catalysts, my novellas Alice on the Shelf and Shadowed, and my novel Echoes on the Pond!
If you haven’t left a review on Amazon, Goodreads, or anyplace else for the books, particularly Echoes on the Pond, please consider doing so. This greatly helps.
Thank you for subscribing!
Gautham: Bill Gauthier.com 
Leave a comment