Where Crime, Horror, and Science Fiction Meet – Discussing new discoveries, old mysteries, creepy tales, and dark storytelling
All right, so I’m not going to name names, but I have to bitch just a little about a magazine and its submitters that recently created a pain in my ass. I have a special e-mail address that I use when submitting so that things like rejection letters do not get lost in some random…
…and the title is apropos. That’s something you don’t necessarily see in a book nowadays. Gods Behaving Badly, by Marie Phillips, has a fascinating concept at its core: all the Greek gods, almost the entire pantheon, rooming together in a dilapidated London townhouse. No one believes in them anymore. Artemis, goddess of hunting and chastity,…
My belly is touching the keyboard long before my fingers. Dare I say that the amount of typos has increased exponentially with the growth of my unborn baby? But we’ll try hard not to blame her for the lack of energy to write, the awkwardness of physically moving toward the keyboard, the fact that every…
Just sent off 11 submissions. With 11 different cover letters. Can we say tedious? I realize it’s important to show the mags that you love and respect them…but I’m worried that after all that work I spaced out and put “I love Gulf Coast!” in the American Short Story envelope. And did I actually stamp…
I admit to being a fan of the one and only American Idol–but it’s probably not for the reasons you think. In my opinion, anyone looking to go into a job interview, or make a presentation, or even send out stories would do well to watch the show and figure out what *NOT* to do.…
Today I finished my first book of the year: Emma, by Jane Austen. An oldie but goodie. However, it took a second book that I just began reading today (Write Away by Elizabeth George) to remind me why Jane Austen rocks, even for someone who has been dead for…well, for quite a while. In the…
It’s weird to be working on something outside my comfort zone. Novels for adults=Fine. I can handle that. So far I’ve finished two first drafts. I could put in as many curse words, as much violence, as much sex as I wanted. But it’s so weird writing something geared toward a younger crowd (my guesstimation…
Recently, one of my good writer friends has been having trouble coming up with a good title for her young adult novel. Recently, at a critique meeting, one of the critiquers said that she did not like the title of my book…that she would not pick it up off the shelf. Burn? you ask. Eh,…
It just goes to show that people do not care about your stuff as much as you do. I’ve been unpacking boxes upon boxes of books. Normally, this is not a burden for me because, in most cases, it’s like discovering the books I’ve meant to read for years all over again. Sometimes it’s like…
All right then, time for the big goals for 2008: 1. Revise and submit FJR2. Complete rough draft of Children’s Novel 1.3. Complete rought draft of Children’s Novel 2. (It’s a series.)4. Complete rough draft of La Llorona Novel.5. Complete rough draft of Members of the Club Novel. All in all that’s 260,000 new words…
Other Worlds, and This 