Faith Slightly Restored

I have to say my faith in our postal system was restored...slightly yesterday. Look what I got in the mail:


I won one of John Wolfe's Season of Shadows giveaways. The 4th season of A Haunting DVD box set was the prize but John always manages to add a few extra goodies. My little goodie bag included candy and foam critters. I love people who are big in to Halloween. Not many people around here go all out for the holiday. It's so sad. If you're not following his blog, you should be. Hint Hint...

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Mail Hell

Look what I got in the mail yesterday:


The two cassette tapes from the Braille Library in Los Angeles, California was suppose to be a Nightmare on Elm Street hat, a little trinket I won in a giveaway. This is becoming a very bad habit. I've had several books that were sent to me for review mysteriously get lost in the mail just to add to this fiasco. To top it all, the postal service wanted to raise the price of stamps for like the third time this year. Why? With service like this, who would want to pay more to have their stuff lost or damaged?

It's one of those times I wish I had a magic wand or something. I could just zap things from one place to the other without the use of the middle man. Would be nice....

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The Wait is Over

I made a promise. Stood my ground. Avoided temptation to display my impatience on my precious blog. As of Tuesday, my silent stance is over. The official verdict is been rendered:

Dear Writer,

I'd like to thank you for your submission to Shroud. Unfortunately it was not selected for a second read nor for publication at this time.

We have very limited space at Shroud and I truly wish I could publish and pay for more stories than I currently accept but it's just not an option. Please do not consider this a "rejection" of your work, but more of a "we'll have to pass for now".

In most cases, we try to offer a personlized response to submissions. If you have not received one, then please accept our sincere apologies for the impersonal nature of this note.

You can read why you did not receive a personlized response here: http://bit.ly/9dG5Am

Thank you for entrusting your creative work with Shroud. We hope to hear from you again in the near future.

Best,

Tim
--
Tim Deal
Editor & Publisher
Shroud Publishing LLC
http://www.shroudmagazine.com
http://www.twitter.com/shroudmag
http://shroudpublishing.blogspot.com/

There's the kick in the coffin that I needed to make this week just so perfect. Can't say that I'm surprised. Oh, there were prayers for an acceptance but the rejection was expected. Oh well. The parades, fireworks and chickens in bunny suits will have to wait a little longer, I guess.

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The Number Zero

It's thirteen days in to #10bythen for the month of October. What's my progress? The number is still sitting at zero. I know it's terrible. It should be raining frogs and crickets to highlight my shame. However, the month isn't over yet. There's still time to rectify the situation. Until then, you may scold....I mean encourage me as much as you like to get to work.

My lack of productivity has spilled over in to Nano. In prior years, I visited the website on a daily basis. Not so much this year. Log on maybe once or twice a week. Don't know why I have such a ho-hum attitude towards it.

Maybe the demonic raccoons have been working their magic. I swear they devised a treaty with the vampire skunks and are now plotting against me. Just a matter of time before they make their first move.

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Draculas

Behold! The cover art for DRACULAS By: Blake Crouch, Jack Kilborn, Jeff Strand, and F. Paul Wilson. You may drool if you like. I'll wait.................................Finished?

J. A. Konrath offered digital advance reader copies to any reviewers (with a few strings attached) who wanted read and do a write-up on it prior to it being released on October 19th. I received my copy yesterday. Can't wait to dig in.

If you want to review it, there's still time to ask for your ARC. Visit Konrath's blog for details.

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Titles Please Apply Here

I hesitantly joined in with the #10bythen crowd. My work ethics are atrocious. After five days, I have nothing to report on this end. Now, this doesn't mean I've sat on my fanny and done nothing.

A few weeks ago, I was watching a crappy horror movie (can't recall the title). Just when I thought I had wasted an hour of my life an idea popped in to me head and did a jig. Got my little flower notebook and jotted down note after note. Reread it today and it still makes sense. I guess if you fire enough bullets in a barrel you're going to hit a fish sooner or later. I'm using the Roanoke Colony mystery as inspiration. From the POV of a person situated right in the middle of all the craziness that leads to a town disappearing. Set in a modern day small town. Not in Roanoke or where the colony use to be. Haven't wormed out all details yet.

I spent a couple of hours yesterday, trying to come up with a working title. Resorted to a Random Title Generator. I don't have too much luck with titles. Here are a few possibilities:

The Darkness of the Doors
Sleeping End (possibly to be used as the name of the town)
History of Ashes
The Shadow's Truth
No Healing

No decisions have been made yet. I hate making decisions. I'm not a very decision-oriented type of person. I try.....I know. I know. Get back to work. Is it December yet?

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Oh No! It's the Dreaded Meme!

Poor voodoodoll by Jorshma on Deviant ART

I was never good at playing tag. My attention span is not always as I would like it to be. However, Anthony tagged me with this meme and with the spirit of doing anything with this blog today, I choose to join in.

1. If you could have any superpower, what would you have? Why?

I could go for the usual suspects, x-ray vision, immortality, etc. However, after watching Zombieland for the third time, I think I would like the ability to have power over a zombie, controlling it's every move. I think it will be of great use when the zombie apocalypse hits, don't you think?

2. Who is your style icon?

I'm suppose to have a style icon? Who sent that memo out and why didn't I get it?

3. What is your favorite quote?

"Human beings can always be relied upon to exert, with vigor, their God-given right to be stupid." Dean Koontz ~~ enough said.

4. What is the best compliment you’ve ever received?

I know certain someone who constantly compares me to THE Stephen King even though I doubt I've come close to earning the comparison. It's flattering nonetheless as it's not from a member of my family.

5. What playlist/CD is in your CD player/iPod right now?

I'm probably one of the few people in the universe who doesn't own an iPod. Uncertain if that makes me lucky or not. In my CD player is a nice mix of Disturbed, Paramore, and Breaking Benjamin with a side of Theory of a Deadman and Skillet.

6. Are you a night owl or a morning person?

Depends on the moon phase at the time.

7. Do you prefer dogs or cats?

Dogs are sweet but I prefer cats. They don't bug me every five minutes or try to steal food from my plate when they think I'm not looking.

8. What is the meaning behind your blog name?

It was named Southern Expressions, but I soon realized people were becoming rather disappointed when they weren't getting a full list of our colorful charm here in the south. So, expressions was turned in to Writemares due to the fact I've had more bad writing dreams than good ones as of late. Gotta break a few eggs right?

Now, I know this is the part where I'm suppose to tag other people. But I don't like it when people make me do stuff. If you want to participate, all the bells and cauliflower to you. I promise no curse will be placed upon you if you decide not to join in. Really.....I mean it. My voodoo doll is in for its 1,000 hex check-up. So, you're safe.

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I'm In!

Okay, so I'm arm has been twisted in to a pretzel. I cried out "Uncle and Cheeseballs!" and gave in to peer pressure. Anthony was so kind to relay the rules of #10bythen to me. Expect the shameful apology letter at the end of the month blaming everyone for my failure because you know it's never my fault. My momma said so....HA!

Now, I'm impatiently awaiting the relaunch of the NaNoWriMo website (I'm sthrnwriter on Nano if anyone wants to look me up) which is suppose to take place sometime tonight (at least, that's what they tweeted and we all know tweets are always gold). I can't wait to chat with my once-a-year friends and display the pretty new graphics on here oh so proudly. Then, I can let my nerves take over, throw up a few times and convince myself that after three previous "wins" this will be the year I fail. (Don't look all cross-eyed and crazy at me. This is my process.) In the meantime, enjoy the following video:

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