Ideas

Numerous times over the last two decades, when reading interviews with various writers who were asked about their ideas, I've seen many say that they have more than time to develop them all. Often the mere notion of having that many ideas was foreign to me because in times past I always struggled to come up with a good idea myself. Sometime last year, that all changed.

About this time in 2008 I decided I was going to give writing another shot. However, before I could start, I had several other projects I wanted to complete before devoting my time to my muse. While finishing up those projects I would often come up with an idea for a story, which I would jot down in folder "for later development." Once I wrapped up those other projects and had time to write, I had several ideas to draw upon. Many were based on personal experiences with a horror "twist" thrown into the mix. Which one did I tackle first? Why, none of them. The first thing I did was write four flash stories for 52 Stitches (two of which were accepted). After that I passed over my idea pool in favor of a new story for Dark Jesters (reject) and then Devil's Food (Accept!). Long story short, here we are a year later and I have yet to tackle any of those ideas I had. In fact, I've added to the list of story ideas. Now I finally understand what those writers were talking about. Not enough time!!!

I bring this up because I've been thinking over various ideas for a possible Nano project. I'm fairly sure I've settled on one known only as "Jars" at this time. This idea came to me about six weeks ago (once again, bypassing all those earlier ideas) and I've been plotting it out in my head over the last couple of days. When I consider the core idea, it seems like a good candidate for a YA adult book, so I am unsure how bloody to make it. Then again, I might go balls to the wall and go for a more mature focus. Either way, the first death in the story is a High School teacher. Sorry, Aaron!

September Stats

Wow, September really flew by. I suppose because I was on vacation for nearly two weeks the month seemed to zoom past faster than normal. Without further ado, the stats for the month:

New stories completed and subbed: 3
Matches, Martyrs and Mortality (3400 words)
Letter from the Dead (750 words)
Trial of the Century (2700 words)

New stories begun but incomplete: 1
Curse of the Fallen Star (700 words so far)

WIP's worked on: 1
Church of the Deviate Minds (added 2900 words, 5000 total)

Total words written in September: 10,450

Rejections: 4
Shroud
Rymfire ebooks (vermin antho)
Ideomancer
Horror through the Ages anthology

Acceptances: 3
Church of the Deviate Minds to Alienology: Tales from the Void
Ground Zero to Night Chills magazine
Sanctuary of the Shadowed Sleeper to Zombology IV: The Undead vs. the Living Dead

Overall, it was an excellent month. I can't complain. After 78 days, Ground Zero was rejected by the Vermin antho, but just three days later Night Chills Magazine snatched it up, so that was very gratifying. I've been going great guns on short stories all year, but I'm giving serious thought to participating in Nano this year. I almost gave it a shot last year, but opted out at the last minute, since I still had projects that needed finishing. This year I have no other commitments, so the idea is more tempting. I have one more short story that I want to complete in October and if at that time I'm up for it, I'll begin outlining my Nano project. Time will tell.

Pure Suckage

It just hasn't been a good few days around here. I seem to be losing stuff left and right. First, for some reason I cannot explain, my Ipod got completely wiped. I have no idea how that happened. One day it was loaded with songs, the next day...nada. I was rather pissed and bummed out because a lot of the music I had on there was irreplaceable. All my stuff on the hard drive was wiped out earlier in the year, so the Ipod was my back up, but now its been wiped. Grrrr.

Then I found out that my movie website has been hacked, files corrupted and altered big time. Again, all the originals were obliterated in the hard drive crash back in January, so the stuff on the website server was my back up, but now much of it is ruined. It seems I can salvage a lot of the media files (photos, screencaps, video clips, sound bytes, etc) but the important stuff - the written material - may be a total loss. Considering that I had easily written 500,000 words (at least, it may be closer to 800k) for the site, that loss has me ready to hit the bottle.

The situation at my job has been very depressing as well. It's too long to even bother getting into. Besides, I don't want to bore you into a coma. Suffice it to say that while I am in no danger of losing my job, I seem to have gotten screwed over in certain areas. It's impacted my health because I am no longer a kid and can't perform such heavy physical work for extended periods without it taking a toll on my body. Plus, I'm not getting the hours I once did and as a result, am bringing less home. Overall, very discouraging at times.

And of course there was the rage-inducing news of a plagiarist that hit the web today. It baffles me how anyone could be so stupid. Did they really think they could steal from King of all people and get away with it? Sheesh.

About the only thing that seems to be going good is the writing. While I haven't hit the NY times best seller list (I have to actually write a novel first), I'm doing better than I expected for my first year. I may even give Nano a shot this year if I can work out a good idea. Still, aside from that one positive thing (OK, two things - my family being the other), everything seems to be rather crappy and I'm finding it hard to muster much enthusiasm for anything.

I did get one piece of good news today. Primeval has been saved from cancellation and will return for a 4th and 5th series. Yay!!

Narcolepsy is Contagious...Right?

I think I may be suddenly narcoleptic. That happens, right? Everything is going fine and then one day, WHAM! Narcolepsy! This entire weekend I have been fighting to stay awake...and not always wining the battle. One weapon in my arsenal was Jack of all Trades by K.C. Shaw. That book is so engrossing, it's almost impossible to put down. I could have easily read that thing from cover to cover in a single sitting, but I have purposely drawn out the experience, reading a couple chapters each night. Alas, I am almost finished. Methinks I'll have to wait a few days before jumping into a new book, as nothing will be able to fill that sense of enjoyment that JOAT has imparted.

The new issue (number 5) of House of Horror is now online. Included in the new batch of tales is Taking Root by Aaron Polson, so all you fellow AP fan club members be sure to check it out. Also in this issue is a story called Planting Season by some turkey named Caine. You can check that one out, too if you feel like it. Let me know what you think.

Pine Hollow Horrors

Damn, but it was hot today. It was pushing triple digits in these parts and the rest of the week doesn't look to be much cooler. I thought this was supposed to be freakin' Fall fer Pete's sake. I'll be glad to have a few less scorchers now that Summer is over.

There have been two recent rejections in these parts. On Friday, Beyond the Veil was rejected by Shroud, after having made it past the first round of cuts. To be honest, I was slightly surprised that it did that, so when the rejection came I wasn't exactly devastated. No one likes rejections, but this one didn't sting too bad. Then today, Ground Zero was rejected by the Vermin anthology. Since the basic idea behind that story as well as all the major plot twists were my wife's idea, she was a bit more saddened by the rejection than me. I just sent it right back out again.

I do have some good news. The new issue (#8) of The Monsters Next Door is now out. This issue marks the transition to print, though a free PDF version is also available. You can find that by following the link on the page above or just by clicking HERE. You can also buy a print version HERE if you so desire. Anyway, my story The Horror of Pine Hollow is in this issue (page 102 to be exact), so check it out and tell me what you think.

On other (slightly) good news, I was organizing my files last night when I came across a 2700 word zombie story that I had completely forgotten about. It was like finding buried treasure. It seems I wrote it while on vacation a couple weeks back, but I suppose my illness and other factors contributed to me losing track of it. After a good polish or two, I'll have to find a place to sub it, though for some reason duotrope seems to be on the fritz right now. Oh, well. This story ain't going out tonight anyway. There's time to wait.

Writing Fail & Book Pimping

Last week I sat down to write a fantasy short story. I got about 300 or so words into it and stopped because I've had easier times removing fence posts from dried concrete. The words were just not coming. I opened that story back up each day this past week and stared at it, hoping to conjure something, but nothing magically appeared. I just couldn't do it and wasn't sure why. Then when reading K.C. Shaw's new novel, Jack of all Trades (go buy a copy!), I realized what was wrong. Years back I read fantasy to the exclusion of all else. I did that for years before venturing into science fiction and horror. Because I read so many fantasy books in times past (literally hundreds of books), I gradually moved on to other things. I realized tonight that it has been a long time since I read fantasy regularly and because of that, the unique terminology inherent in such tales as well as basic knowledge of medieval/renaissance life has fled from my mind. At one time, I studied such things and poured over history books on life in the middle ages, but it's been so long since I did that, whatever I learned needs to be re-learned. So the end result is, I've given up on any fantasy stories until I can brush up on my facts. Poo! I had this neat idea about a wizard named Gabeus Fillymander who ran a private magical detective agency, but who was called upon a lot by the city guard to help solve crimes and mysteries. Naturally he is hiding a big secret from his past. Oh, well. Maybe someday.

Time for some book pimping!

First we have the 52 Stitches collection from Strange Publications, gathering all the stories from the project's initial year, including two of my stories, Nuts and The Confession. Available from Amazon.





Next up is the new anthology from Pill Hill Press, The Middle of Nowhere: Horror in rural America. Available from both Amazon and Barnes and Noble. This one opens with my ghost tale, The Gallery of Final Repose.





And of course, we have The Devil's Food from The Monsters Next Door. My offering, The Faceless Ones shares this awesome book with notable names like David Dunwoody, Natalie L. Sin and Aaron Polson. Available from Amazon.





Even though I don't have a story in it (I did make the shortlist though!), the new Dead Bait anthology from Severed Press is now out. The aforementioned David Dunwoody and Aaron Polson have tales in this book, so you know right there it's packed with quality stuff. Available from Amazon.




Let's not forget the book I mentioned earlier, K.C. Shaw's Jack of all Trades. You can get it at Amazon, Barnes and Noble or from the publisher. I advise the latter.






While you're buying books, be sure to get a copy of Cate Gardner's awesome chapbook, The Sour Aftertaste of Olive Lemon, available from Bucket 'O' Guts Press.





Now I'm off to get in another chapter or two of Jack of all Trades before calling it a night.

Back To The Grind

The only problem with taking so many days off work and spending most of them sick in bed watching movies, is now I am accustomed to my days unfolding like that and the thought of returning to work tomorrow fills me with a feeling of dread. Damn, I need to win the lottery. Of course, I need to play the lottery before I can win. So it's back to work for me in the morning. Thankfully it's only three days before I can be lazy again.

Speaking of laziness, I accomplished nothing today. Not a single word written, not a single thing read (aside from a magazine article or two) and not a single TV show or movie watched. What did I do? When not wasting time on the Internet cruising blogs, forums, news sites and such, I was hooked on Professor Layton and the Curious Village, a game my wife bought for her Nintendo DS. Since she was at work and I was at home, I decided to play it. Damn! Talk about addicting. I'm a sucker for games centered around puzzles and this one is loaded. I spent hours on the damn thing. In fact, the wife had to practically pry it from my hands just now so that I'd come upstairs and go to bed.

Church of the Deviate Minds was accepted by the Alienology antho today, which makes going back to work tomorrow a little less painful. That makes one less story cluttering up my WIP file. I've tried and tried and tried to come up with something for the Baconology antho, but every idea I have just sounds terrible. Plus, I can't figure out where to take half of them or how to end the story, so I may just have to move on to something else like Wolfology. Who knows.

Vacation Recap

So nearly a week after my last post, I've returned to this blog. Not much has changed. After last Monday, I still was rather ill and rested most of the week, though each day I was able to get up and get moving better. I even managed to get out of the house some. I also completed a couple new stories and got them subbed, so I felt like I accomplished something. The Other Half was in some pain from her neck/back problems so coupled with my not feeling good, we really didn't get out to do the things we wanted to do on vacation. The exception was yesterday, our wedding anniversary. We went out for a day of shopping and fun, had a nice meal and watched a movie. It was a good day. Today I worked really hard on polishing Church of the Deviate Minds before launching it off. Tomorrow the wife returns to work, but I still have two more days of vacation before returning to my job on Wednesday. I plan to use that time to write as much as I can. We'll see how that goes. If the stuff I ordered from Amazon finally shows up, I may end up watching old Japanese monster films instead.

EDIT: To everyone at Agriculture Industries: Yes, this blog is run by Cindy's husband.

Still Alive

Man, did this surprise sore throat-stuffed nose-bad cough thing really knock me on my ass. I've been pretty much laid up the last three days. Sunday was the same as Saturday, with me sleeping and watching movies all day. I did feel well enough to stagger to the computer and pound out 1600 words on a new zombie story, finishing it. Today was more of the same: sleeping and watching movies. However, today I was feeling much better and spent more time at the computer, editing that zombie story several times before sending it off. Tomorrow I hope to be feeling good enough to be a bit more productive and actually enjoy my vacation. Just for the hell of it, here's the list if films I watched yesterday and today:

Kronos (1957)
The Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954)
The Evil of Frankenstein (1964)
The Dark Knight (2008)
The Land Unknown (1957)
The Deadly Mantis (1957)
Darkness Falls (2003)

As you can see, I really love scifi and horror flicks from the 50's. They can be quite inspiring. One of the stories accepted last month was partially inspired by two old 50's flicks. Anyway, I hope everyone had a good Labor Day. Time to go drink more juice, pick out a movie and flop out for the night.

Sequestered

I feel like one of those sick people in a movie where a virulent plague is sweeping the land. I've been practically quarantined in my own house. The Other Half insists I stay in bed and rest while doing her best to fill me with juice and pharmaceuticals. I have accomplished nothing all day. Not a damn thing. Well, I did watch some movies. Being sick allows me the opportunity to peruse the DVD collection and view some favorites as well as films I have never seen before. So today I, while awake and lucid, watched Tarantula from 1955 with the ass-kicking John Agar and gorgeous Mara Corday. Then I was in the mood for some European fare, so I watched the 1973 Italian giallo film Seven Deaths in the Cat's Eye and wrapped things up with the joint Italian/Spanish zombie film (but set in the UK) Let Sleeping Corpses Lie from 1974 (aka The Living Dead at Manchester Morgue). Giant man-eating spiders, mysterious murders in a Gothic castle and hordes of the gut-munching living dead. Yes, this is how I relax. Doesn't everyone?

Well This Just Sucks

Tomorrow is my last day at work before my vacation. I don't return until Wednesday September 16th. All week I've been eagerly awaiting this time off. And now I've gone and gotten sick. A really bad sore throat hit me out of nowhere today. I really hope it goes away, but I suspect that it will get worse before doing that. So now I get to spend part of my vacation in bed. Joy. So if I'm rather quiet for the next few days, you will all know the reason. If I'm not back by next week, it means I have probably succumbed to the Swine Flu. Wonderful.

"August Stats" aka "Screw You Duotrope"

Despite the utterly craptastic week I had last week, August was a really good month on the writing front. Without further ado, here is the breakdown for the month.

New stories completed and subbed: 4
The Wind Whispers My Name (700 words)
Hungry Waters (500 words)
Returning to Eden (3000 words)
Desolation's Brood (1900 words)

New stories begun but incomplete:
Untitled Monster Story (300 words)
Jars (500 words)
Beast of Blackwater Gulch (500 words)

WIP's worked on: 1
Church of the Deviant Minds (+600 words, 3100 total)

Total words written in August: 8,000

Rejections: 4
Reflection's Edge
Nossa Morte
House of Horror
Elements of Horror antho

Acceptances: 9
The Customer to Blood Moon Rising
A Cause For Celebration to The Nautilus Engine
Valley of the Splintered Oaks to road trip theme issue of TMND
Deadliest Cachalot to The Bitter End antho
Planting Season to House of Horror
The Sea Hath No King to AlienSkin
Hungry Waters to Elements of Horror antho
Desolation's Brood to Twisted Legends antho
Returning To Eden to Creature Features antho

Needless to say, this was my best month ever. I received enough acceptances that I won't feel bad if the next couple of months are slow. The flip side to my small bit of success is that Duotrope thinks I am full of it. With 12 days of vacation coming up, I hope to get several WIP's completed and sent of into submission land.

Ready For New Week

Last week sucked.

Just a few things that made it craptacular: constant back pain, equipment failures at work, me screwing up something at work that added HOURS to a long day, the father-in-law going in to the hospital, lots of running around after work, not getting enough sleep, a cranky wife, a wide screen TV going on the fritz, a washing machine already on the fritz, not enough money to fix them and a zillion other things. I am ready to get this new week started, hoping it is better than the last one. More to the point, I am ready to get this next week over because come Friday, I will be on vacation for nearly two weeks. I am so ready for it.

Not much writing over the last few days. I started and finished one story and worked out details for a couple others. Mostly I've been trying to rest with any free time. Last night I dreamed (dreamt? I'm too lazy to check and see which is correct) I was a character in one of my stories - The Horror of Pine Hollow to be exact. Armed only with a shotgun and a handful of shells, I was trapped in an attic, fending off an attack by dozens of the goblin-like Gimplings. Woke up in a cold sweat. Sheesh, I can't even catch a break when asleep!

Kreative Blogger

Laura Eno over at a Shift in Dimensions has awarded me The Kreativ Blogger Award. I am quite shocked as the last word I'd use to describe my blogging would be Kreativ. Boring? Routine? Inept? Sure, but creat...er..kreativ?

There are two parts to this award. First, that I pass it on to seven other bloggers. This is where I get creative and just pass it on to one, cuz I'd feel like Typhoid Mary otherwise. Plus, I only know a handful of other bloggers and wanna leave lots of potential suckers...er...candidates for them.

Thus, my choice for the Kreative Blogger award is Carrie Harris. I could spend hours going on about how awesome her blog is, the sheer comedic value in every post coupled with keen insights on life and writing (especially the dreaded query letter), but it's better if you just go see for yourself if you have not already.

The second part of this award is to list seven mystery authors. This is the easy part for me. I don't read mystery and couldn't name a single contemporary mystery author.

Aside from that bit of frivolity, this week has been pure suckage. Work has been hell. Monday was one of "those" days when things went wrong all day, making a long day even longer. Today was marginally better, but I am sore all over from it all. On top of all that, my wife's father has been in the hospital, so there has been lots of driving around after work running errands and helping her parents. No writing at all this week. It's all I can do to keep from collapsing at the end of the day.

One Lovely Blog Award

Well, it would seem the utter pinkness of this blog has earned me the One Lovely Blog Award. I know, I know...pink for a horror writer's blog? If it helps, think of it as the color of burned flesh or maybe a spectacular sunset that heralds the approach of darkness and all the vile things that come with it.

Anyway, the talented Catherine J Gardner (have you got your copy of her new chapbook, The Sour Aftertaste of Olive Lemon yet?) has bestowed the award upon yours truly. I thank her not only for the award but also for believing in me when duotrope hinted at me being a liar of all things.

This of course means that I get to pass the award on to a new recipient and I have chosen the soothing colors and perceptive wit inherent in The Knotted Thicket, the blog of K.C. Shaw (have you got your copy of her new novel Jack of all Trades yet?). I'll forgive her for getting me addicted to lemonade, as I did wave my cheese puffs in her direction, leading to her developing a craving for their snacky goodness.

Thus, the rules for the award:

1. Accept the award, and don't forget to post a link back to the awarding person.

2. Pass the award on.

3. Notify the award winner(s).

WIP Wednesday

Around my house today, aside from Work in Progress Wednesday, it was known as Horrible Back Pain Wednesday. I stayed home from work because my back was hurting so bad. This gave me lots of time to rest and watch DVD's. Movies enjoyed included The Slime People, Attack of the Crab Monsters, Creature of the Walking Dead and Conan the Barbarian. I wrote in between films, finishing my unnamed monster story. Total words today: 3,000. Tomorrow is edit time. Right now it is sleep time. Regardless of how I feel in the morning, I have to go to work. Ugh.

The Way We Were

Things are back to normal around here. This means that my back is in near constant pain from the day job, The Other Half is not satisfied with the speed I am accomplishing household chores, I can't seem to get enough sleep, no one wants to cook and...oh yeah, rejections are once again rolling my way. Hey, the ride was fun while it lasted, but it's back to reality for me. At least duotrope doesn't snicker when I report rejections as opposed to its snarky response to my acceptances.

After brainstorming like mad the last few days with help from The Other Half, I've got several good ideas for short stories. When push comes to shove, she can be quite inventive with her settings and scenarios. Of course, it's almost always left up to me to come up with an ending. Tonight I wrote a good 800 words on a new monster story and then promptly deleted them all. They were good, I suspect, but I could see that I was going to go waaaay over my word limit if I began the story in that spot. Plus, I realized that I was beginning in the wrong spot and the scene I was so carefully crafting could easily be referenced easier in dialog later on once the spooky shit was going down. So I chopped them and then jumped forward and started the story where things get creepy.

Right now it's time for ice cream. Yum.

The Awesome Aftertaste Of Olive Lemon

Yesterday, my copy of The Sour Aftertaste of Olive Lemon by Catherine J. Gardner arrived in the mail. I waited until 8:00 PM to settle down in a comfy spot on the couch and dig into it. WOW! This is easily my favorite story of hers. As the story was unfolding, I kept looking at the page count and bemoaning the fact that it was so short. Such beautiful, haunting strangeness! And all wrapped up in one memorable ending. I wanted more! Bucket 'O' Guts press could not have picked a better story to kick off their chapbook line than this one. Be sure to grab a copy for yourself!

On the personal writing front, since my gleeful post from two days ago I have actually had two more acceptances. I am in utter shock. That's four days in a row that I've gotten an acceptance and six overall for the month. The acceptances actually outnumber the rejections this month. I'm sure duotrope thinks that I am a full of shit when I report these. As elated as I am, I need to get to work on some new stuff as I am running out of stories to sub (I know, cry me a river ;) ). I also know that such a good run is not the norm and I could easily be in the middle of a weeks long barrage of rejections. Still, I am tickled pink - as pink as the colors on this blog - that my first year of serious writing has worked out as well as it has. There's always room for improvement, so back at it I go.

Somebody Pinch Me

I keep expecting to wake up at any second. The acceptances during this first part of August have balanced out the onslaught of rejections that came in late July. Last Wednesday my short micro piece The Customer was accepted by Blood Moon Rising for their spring 2010 issue. Then on Friday, the story that has seen more rejections than any other, A Cause For Celebration, was picked up by The Nautilus Engine for their November issue. I was this close to retiring that story. I am super glad it finally found a home. Yesterday I came home to learn that Valley of the Splintered Oaks was accepted by The Monsters Next Door for their Road Trip themed issue (and the positive feedback in the acceptance letter made my day) and then today came the news that had me whooping and jumping around the house like I was on crack: Deadliest Cachalot was accepted for The Bitter End antho as part of a few early acceptances to kick start the formatting process. Seriously, August has been kicking ass! I don't wanna wake up! I've been trying to be more low key about reporting acceptances (much like Aaron) but when this many come this fast, I just have to jump up and down and scream like a fool. Pardon me now while I go jump and scream some more.

I Just Noticed...

...that this blog has an awful lot of pink on it. Not exactly the color one imagines when thinking of horror and the macabre. I guess I was trying to go for a twilight-ish (the time of day, not the crappy sparkling vampire movie) look and feel. I may need to change things around here soon.

So today was WIP Wednesday. At least, in other parts of the world is was. Here there is no WIP. More like WOT - works in thought. I keep thinking about various ideas and stories, but when I plant my butt down to write, I either fall asleep before getting too far or pound out a paragraph or three and upon reviewing them and deciding they suck, head for the big upstairs TV and my collection of horror films on DVD. I've been watching older movies this week for inspiration (it's worked before). This week included The Monster of Piedras Blancas from 1958 and Beast of Blood from 1970. The only thing the latter inspired me to do was fall asleep.

Anyway, all this babbling is just my way of saying that there is not much new in these parts, aside from new addiction to lemonade. I've been going through it like crazy and still can't get enough. I think I'll blame K.C. for that one. Maybe I'll go get another glass and then watch The Thing From Another World (1951).