Gef Fox is running a
competition over at his blog and one of the prizes is my book
Strange Men in Pinstripe Suits, which you can win along with Camille Alexa's
Push of the Sky. And if you already have one or both of those books, he's also running another competition where you can win the anthologies
52 Stitches and
Courting Morpheus. And if you have all those books on your shelf (I do), then erm... You are extra awesome (except in the case of me, because I'm in two of them).
Hope you're enjoying your weekend. I'm vegging out and watching old movies. Just watched
Bell, Book and Candle with Jimmy Stewart and next up is
Airport--I love disaster movies. I love old seventies disaster movies.
Being stuck in Novelville and thinking I'll never write another short story again - you know the drill - I visited Aaron Polson's blog yesterday and at the sight of the most wonderful cover of the 'Dead Bait' anthology I had pangs of I-want-to-be-in-an-anthology. Okay, so Dead Souls is launching at FantasyCon this weekend, but I was beyond reason.
Anyhow, this morning I received an email from the aforementioned Mr. Polson, who when he's not warping inspiring children, and writing creepsome stories is also an editor, who informed me (and many others) that the Fifty-Two Stitches anthology is now available to buy. And there I was all woe-is-me only a day before. Check out the Amazon listing and see my bright, shiny name.
Ah, beautiful August.
Sales: 2
Publications: 4 (52 Stitches, Sideshow Fables, The Daily Tourniquet, Bucket 'O' Guts press)
Approx Word Count: 36,107 approx.
Total Word Count 2009: 167,121 words
Stories out in submission land: Not certain, but I'm almost at code red.
WIP: The Horrifiques 37,089 - words (first draft); Dead Marigolds (at the thinking stage).
I think I’ve written more new words this month than I have in about the past three combined, of course I would need to go back and check my figures and I refuse to do that as it takes effort, but I have had a most fabulous ‘wordage’ month. Not that the words are fabulous, in fact as the amount I complete in a day speeds up (as it always seems to do the further into a book I get) I’m convinced the words are considerably stinky, but who cares. I’ve changed the title – possibly – I’m sitting with it for a while and I may or may not use the new one. I also think I’ll hit my original estimate of 45,000 words for the first draft (I was in panic mode days ago) as the story has taken a turn that I never expected – hence the title change.
No short stories this month – eek! I’m convinced, I’ll never write another short again.* Ooh, unless you count hint fiction – I wrote three of those. Yep, I’m counting them.
Oh, and I retired Frog – a moment of silence please.
*Expect a post sometime next year where I wail that I’ll never write something longer than a short ever, ever again.
... But you may not be after this.
Nobody Smiling is this weeks story over at the wonderful 52 Stitches, edited by the even more wonderful
Aaron Polson. Beware teachers, beware.
You can also pre-order the anthology at the
Strange Publications website. I'm excited, chances are (being that many of you are in it) you are too.
Don't forget 52 Stitches begins its year long run today with I'm Keeping it Light by Mercedes M Yardley. I can't wait for it to go live. I've pressed refresh a gazillion times.
I'm relieved the holidays are over. I loved the break. I loved lounging around watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer on DVD and watching old episodes of The Outer Limits on cable, but it's also good to be back at the computer. I'm hard at work (ahem! well almost) working on the second draft of 'Theatre of Curious Acts' and I am about to move onto part two: Paper Dragons. At the moment I'm averaging about 1,400 words a day - I think that's respectable.
I hope to add about 7,000 words by week-end to Theatre and I also want to write a dark short story so that I can submit to 'Necrotic Tissue' this month. I know I said I'd only do one short story a month, but I figure as long as I'm working on the long stuff and doing a resonable amount of wordage that I can play with the shorts too. Got to keep the writer happy.
This was the week that I discovered I’m a much tougher cookie than I thought I was. Had a big rejection that I admit knocked me for six, I expected to be depressed for the week, and then found myself bouncing back into gear within the day. Of course, it left everyone who witnessed my sudden intake of breath and sob (note to self: do not open emails at work, especially when you’re the receptionist and everyone walks past your desk) thinking isn’t she supposed to be sad, but hey, you can’t be sad forever.
So what have I accomplished this week?
Well thanks to Kim Kasch and a not-so fun Harry Potter Personality test, I discovered I’m Severus Snape.
I started, finished, revised, finished again, and submitted a story to the Cafe Doom Writing Contest – can’t give anymore details than that as the story will be posted on the forum along with the other entries (twenty-four so far) for voting purposes, so it has to remain pretty much anonymous. Just look out for one containing…. :) Only kidding.
I wrote a flash short story that I intended to send to 52 Stitches when it opens on November 1st, then I decided it was probably not scary enough (or rather not scary at all) so I sent it along to Every Day Fiction instead. I hate the title I subbed, so I’m hoping if it’s accepted they’ll allow me to change it to ‘Travelling Along the Conveyor Belt’.
‘Nobody Smiling’ didn’t place in the Apex Digest Halloween competition, so now I can sub that story to 52 stitches when it opens. Silver linings and all that.
Received my copy of ‘Twisted Dreams’, which contains my story ‘Dead Bolt’. I should have received it ten days ago, but Lulu mixed up the order and sent me a copy of a book about the Lusitania instead. I complained (of course) and they said I could keep that book and they’d get another copy of Twisted Dreams out to me. I feel it is now my duty to feature the Lusitania in a short story.
And on a final screeching note – It’s one week to NaNoWriMo. If you hear an alarm while reading this, don’t worry it’s just my panic button going off.
Thanks for the tip! I already own Strange Men, of course, but the others sound good too.
Incidentally - just started reading Strange Men. Wonderful stuff. Enjoying it very much. Must be nice to be talented.
I hadn't thought of Airplane in years. Was that the real one about the plane crash or was it the parody? I get them mixed up in my memory.
My house has become a 1970s disaster movie. ;)
Enjoy the weekend!
Thanks, Simon. I imagine it must be.
I watched the non-spoof, Kate. I don't think I've ever sat through the whole of the spoof version.
Ha, Aaron.
I like spoofs of old seventies movies ; ) Also, my neighbor's house is full of sparrows. Literally, all you hear is chirping. It's like something you would write!
Shweet! Anything to get more people to read your book is a great thing. :-)
Yes, I love The Towering Inferno and The Poseidon Adventure.