Monday, November 29, 2010

I Crossed the Finish Line/Zombie Giveaway News


After twenty-nine days of talking myself in circles, stacks of useless dialogue and very little action scenes, I finally stumbled over the finish line with a word count of 51,400 words. I wish I could say I'm doing the jumping for joy and releasing balloons, but I can't muster up any excitement. Even the smooth vocals of one Enrique Iglesias singing "Bialamos" on the radio couldn't lift my spirits.

Have I accomplished something? Yes. I keep trying to convince myself that I've done something thousands of others couldn't or wouldn't. It's like I wrote the 50K words. I validated it to have proof. Then downloaded all the pretty graphics to show everyone what I did which by the way, we should at least get a bumper sticker or something after all that. The online pretties just don't seem as satisfying anymore.

The 50K just doesn't feel challenging anymore. If I participate for a fifth year, I'm going for it. 75,000 words in one month. That's right. I said it or rather typed it. I realized I need a bigger challenge. This isn't working anymore. So, come back next year and witness me write myself to death. Perhaps it'll be a first.

In other news, my friend Autumnforest is putting together a Blogger Zombie Walk. On December 10th, participating bloggers will display their finest zombie material. Some are even doing giveaways.

I'm considering joining in on the fun under my Ghost Stories persona. I've had zombies on the brains for an entire month, why not? I promised my GS readers a giveaway. I was planning on waiting until after the holidays but before could be good too. If I can get my money ducks in a row on time, I will be giving away The Walking Dead, Vol. 1: Days Gone Bye (paperback) which is a collection of the first six issues of the comic book and a copy of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by: Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith (paperback). I'm sure I won't have any problems with the money issue considering Christmas is just around the corner. So, be on the lookout for that.

Friday, November 26, 2010

Monday, November 22, 2010

One Week Left

I can't believe there's only one week left in Nano. It seemed to go by pretty fast. My current word count on Sleeping Ashes (working title) is at 40,544. Broke 40K yesterday (Ha! that rhymes). One thing I don't like about this challenge is that it takes place in the same month as Thanksgiving. After family, pie and turkey, who the hell wants to write?

While on the subject of turkey, who came up with the bright idea to reinvent the turducken by putting bacon on it? Any more meat gets put on or in this bird and the turkey is going to experience an identity crisis. On a brighter note, it's going to be interesting to see if our neighbors finally burn their house down this year. Apparently, no one gave them the memo stating not to put the deep fryer practically in the garage while cooking the turkey.

Who's ready for Black Friday?

Sunday, November 14, 2010

More Writing Questions

I thieved this from Natalie via Written by Sin. I hope she doesn't mind.

11. Who is your favorite character to write? Least favorite?

I don't think I really have found my favorite character to write yet. I like writing a villain but I prefer the supernatural undead ones. It's like the story of the scorpion and the frog. The supernatural ones are who they are no matter what rules they're playing by. The human ones should be held more accountable for their actions.

12. In what story did you feel you did the best job of world building? Any side-notes on it you’d like to share?

I think my world building skills are still a work-in-progress. Ask me again in five or ten years.

13. What’s your favorite culture to write, fictional or not?

The American South. I get tired of all this stereotypical crap some people produce about southerners. We all don't where camo 24/7. We don't all own a gun and shoot anything that moves. And we certainly aren't all working to increase the inbreeding stats in the South. I don't know how or when the words "south" and "inbreeding" became okay to use in the same sentence. But the royals overseas were doing it a hell of a lot more than when it became associated with us. Then, there's the accent. I hate when people mock my accent. As Josh Lucas' character said in Sweet Home Alabama, "Honey, just 'cause I talk slow doesn't mean I'm stupid".

14. How do you map out locations, if needed? Do you have any to show us?

I've pretty much stuck with what I know. I've used a few small Texan towns as templates in creating my own little fictional locations.

15. Tell us about a writer you admire, whether professional or not!

They say you shouldn't idolize anyone because they rarely live up to your expectations. I tried to stay open to the well established and amateur authors.

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Day 10

First of all, I want to thank all those who left encouraging comments on here and facebook after my most recent rejection. It's a difficult process but I'm marching on. Any zombies want to join me?

This is the end of Day 10 of National Novel Writing Month. My current word count sits at 17,898 words. Still quite a bit ahead. Ran in to another wall of a different variety (tired of getting a face full of concrete). The keyboard on my laptop decided to go strike. I'm not sure what happened. Was in the middle of a sentence and it just stopped working. I plugged my desktop keyboard in to it and it worked. The only problem is I don't have the space to use another keyboard. I guess I'm stuck with the desktop for the time being. I'm not giving in to it's demands!

Below, I treat you with a clip seen on Syfy's Fact or Faked: Paranormal Files. Supposedly, it depicts poltergeist activity in an L.A. apartment and the person who filmed it was never seen again after all this. I think that's all a load of crap. But the effect is kind of cool. Looks like something out of a horror movie. Maybe it'll inspire a scene in your WIP. Enjoy!

Friday, November 05, 2010

PodCastle Rejection

Dear Ms Allison,

Thanks for thinking of Podcastle, but I'm afraid "Sealed With Anguish" doesn't suit our needs.

Best of luck with your work.

Ann Leckie
Associate Editor
http://podcastle.org


I'm beginning to think this story is never getting published. Running out of places to send it.

In Battle

The last time I used Q10 for Nano I had problems with spell check. Not too much worried about that this time around. However, I've stumbled on to a new problem. Q10 has this little issue with highlighting large passages of text and deleting it at the touch of a key before anyone can spot the error.

I've had three near heart attacks, some stern warnings and a few screamfests. I know such things won't coax it in to behaving, but tends to make me feel better sometimes. If I wasn't an obsessive saver, I would dump it for something new and pretty. The nifty typewriter sounds are the only thing keeping it in my good graces at the moment, but if it doesn't straighten up and fly right, there will be a battle royal.

Anyone want to buy tickets?

Tuesday, November 02, 2010

Nano is a Go

I'm writing this at the end of Day 2. If you're not participating in National Novel Writing Month then I'm sure you're rolling your eyes or spitting pea soup at your computer screen for being force fed another post on the event. Whatever, I don't care. As of now, I'm sitting pretty at 3, 592 words. Totally on schedule. With everything else, not so much. Here's the rundown of things:

Since acquiring DSL, we've ditched both of our phone lines (home and computer) as well as AOL. I've had my AOL email address for several years. Acquired a stack of emails and contacts. I forwarded all my emails to another account via yahoo. Printed out my contact sheet. All good on that front. Then, while logging in to my Blogger account, it hit me. I've used my AOL email as a username on several websites. This led to me scrambling for days trying to remember each and every website. So, not fun. I sent an email to everyone I could think of but in case you don't know and actually care, all emails are to be redirected to sthrnwriter @ yahoo . com (without spaces). Can't say I didn't warn ya.

October is done and over with. This calls for my final #10bythen tally. Ready for a shocker? Are ya? Are ya? I didn't come close to achieving the goal. I think I picked the wrong month to toss my name in to the hat. I didn't get ten shipped out but I managed to send one. Submitted "Sealed With Anguish" to PodCastle per Pseudopod's recommendation. Maybe give it another go in December.

To top it all, I'm behind in book reviews. I hate being behind. It's so not fair to the writers who sent in their requests. Trying to figure out how I can get back on track and still kick butt in Nano.

I sooo need a nap.....

PS: My non prioritized time has left me unable to read and comment on blogs as of late. Many apologies but blog reading seems to be my end of the week treat for hitting all Nano goals. Please don't say anything interesting until then, K?