31 Days of Halloween Tales - What's In a Name??

Another little short story entitled :

What's In a Name??

"Jesus!"

"It's just thunder, scaredy-cat."

"There was lightening too. Don't forget the lightening."

"Okay, so there is lightening too. But at least we're inside."

"We're on an island made of rock in the middle of the ocean inside of a ten story lighting rod of a lighthouse."

"The light keepers did it all time, Bob."

"And they died all the time, Claire."

"And we're not in the middle of the ocean, we're a short walk to the main land."

"Over slippery wet rocks. If we die I am going to blame you. This was your idea. To come out here on Halloween."

"Well, that is when you can see the ghost. Captain Joseph Barnsworth. They say he comes back every year on Halloween looking for his daughter, Sarah that was swept out to sea in that perfect storm."

"The movie with George Clooney?"

"Same storm, different story though."

"That was a good movie. What was the movie about the ghost? With what's-his-name?"

"Ghost?"

"Yeah, it was about a ghost but I can't remember the name of it."

"Are you thinking of the movie with Patrick Swayze?"

"YES! That's it! Do you remember the name of it?"

"The name of the movie is Ghost, Bob."

"Ghost? Just Ghost? That doesn't sound right."

"I'm pretty sure that is the name. I would check Google on my phone but I don't have a signal out here in nowhere land."

"Wasn't that a Beatles' song? Nowhere Land?"

"I think you're thinking of Nowhere Man."

"Oh yes, you're right. Nowhere man please listen. You don't know what you’re missing. It's getting cold."

"Getting? I would say we are ten degrees past getting."

"Do you want my coat?"

"Not yet."

"What's that smell?"

"I don't know, it smells like smoke sort of but not quite. A pipe maybe?"

"I think maybe you're right. Or a cigar?"

"No, that's a pipe, I'm pretty sure. It even smells sort of familiar."

"Who do you know that smokes a pipe?'

"No one that I can think of but that is definitely familiar to me."

"Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?"

"That."

"I don't hear anything except my teeth chattering."

"I heard something."

"It's just the wind I think."

"It sounded like a voice calling."

"I didn't hear anything."

"Listen. Outside."

"I hear thunder rolling."

"No, a voice."

"How can you hear a voice in this storm?"

"There! Did you hear that? Claire? "

"I heard something. It sounded like someone calling my name."

"Claire?"

"No, Sarah. My real name."

"Since when is Sarah your real name?"

"Since you brought me back home."

31 Days of Halloween Tales - String 'em Up

October is finally here!

And with it comes forth my 31 days of Halloween stories. :)

My first one is a little short story entitled:

STRING 'EM UP

"We should go home now, Eddie. We're already late."

Edward looked at his younger brother and scowled. Teddy could be such a baby at times. They were only a few minutes late and Mom wouldn't probably even notice.

"One more house, Teddy. Okay? Then we'll go home?"

Teddy looked up at his brother trying to see if he meant it this time. It had been the same for the last six houses and he was tired of playing the game.

"I pick the house though, Eddie."

Before Edward could argue, Teddy walked up the street and headed towards the last house on the left.

Devlin Manor was known among the kids in the neighborhood as the Haunted House. An ancient Victorian that had long since been deserted and left to rot.  There were seven chimneys that you could count from the street with the possibility of more in the back.

Teddy was terrified of the old Victorian but wasn't going to let his brother know it.

As far as Teddy knew there was no electricity in the house but late at night, when he couldn't sleep, he would stare at the old house from his bedroom window upstairs and would see lights on in there just the same.  Not real electric lights though, these were more of the glowing type. And they moved.

Teddy reached the edge of the property and stepped gently onto the dead grass, even his small Keds made a crunching sound on the frosty ground and he didn't want to wake whatever was in there.

He slid his hand into his jacket pocket to make sure it was still there. Yes, it was there. He could do what he came to do.

Teddy turned around but didn't see Ed anywhere. Not even on the street. It didn't matter though, he would do it alone if he had to. In fact, maybe alone was even better.

He slipped his hand back into his pocket and wrapped his fingers around the cold metal.  It was time. 

Teddy held his breath as he pulled the steel from his pocket. He looked for his brother one last time before he started shooting.

                                                                  *****

When Mrs. Johnson stepped out of her front door the next morning the sight before her stopped her cold. How could this have happened in this quiet neighborhood?

Across the street, the old Devlin Manor stood perfectly still as it had every morning for over two hundred years. She thought it was a gorgeous building, majestic and proud and she loved the mystery of the house and what it meant to the neighborhood.

But this morning, Devlin Manor had been changed.

In the bright early morning sunshine of the first day in November, Mrs. Johnson could clearly see that the ancient Victorian, was now covered in yards and yards of bright pink Silly String. 

31 Days of Halloween Tales!!!

October is nearly here!!! My favorite time of year!!!

So, I know several television networks pick up and run with the Halloween Horror theme for the month of October and I try to personally watch as many horror movies as I can in that short time.

This year I thought I would also get in on the fun and do my own version of 31 Days of Halloween by writing and posting 31 stories about Halloween during the month of October. One story for each day!

They might be short, like flash fiction short, and they might run into the thousands of words as I've been known to get mighty long winded at times. I can't promise they will be award winning but I can promise they will be original and new.

So curl up in your favorite chair with your favorite hot beverage and enjoy a little bit of Halloween fun on me.

I'll see you in October!!

Taking Some Time...

Wow! Life got extremely busy of all a sudden!

I am taking some time away from the blogging life until the end of June ~ there are babies to care for, weddings to plan, and a cross-country trip to look forward to very soon!

Look for me to return in July!

Have a wonderful May and June everyone and keep on reading and writing!

Cindy

Wednesday Is For Writers...

Shake it off… Shake it off…

Bad reviews getting you down in the dumps??

Let's face it, nothing hurts a writer as much as a bad book review. 

We pour our heart, blood, and soul out into our work and someone comes along and diminishes our sense of worth with just a few harsh words. We are crushed, defeated and sometimes really pissed off,  lashing out at the naysayer with a vengeance. 

Sometimes the bad reviews may be warranted and the criticism is just. And these reviews we must strive to learn from and make our writing better.

And sometimes the nasty review is nothing more than the ugliness that the anonymity of the internet provides. 

We've all been there, done that, and have the battle scars to prove it so this week I am sharing some of my favorite quotes that remind me there is life beyond the Haters.

Haters gonna hate after all… Thanks, Taylor.

The loudest boos come from the cheapest seats.

                                                       

                                                                 - Babe Ruth

Our greatest glory is not in never falling but in rising every time we fall.
                                                                 
                                                                - Confucius

You may not realize it when it happens, but a kick in the teeth may be the best thing in the world for you.
                                                                 - Walt Disney

The world ain’t all sunshine and rainbows. It’s a very mean and

nasty place and I don’t care how tough you are it will beat you to

your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me,

or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain’t about how hard ya

hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward.

                                                             – Rocky Balboa


Remind thyself, in the darkest moments, that every failure is only a step toward success, every detection of what is false directs you toward what is true, every trial exhausts some tempting form of error, and every adversity will only hide, for a time, your path to peace and fulfillment.

             

                                                              – Og Mandino

Wednesday is for Writers...

Sorry I missed last week folks. It was an insane day complete with router burnout!

So, we are back this week with a couple of my favorite posts regarding promotion of your hard work, i.e. your novel!!! 

In an online world that now includes overly public platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc., we often find ourselves drowning in options for self-promotion that may or may not be worth spending what precious little time we have remaining to us on this earth.

That being said, here are a couple of authors that are willing to throw you a life raft and help you save your publishing career, as well as your self respect.

Enjoy, have a giggle or two, then go forth and prosper!!


Chuck Wendig ~ Terribleminds
10 Commandments of Authorial Self-Promotion

"It is time to speak about the sticky subject of self-promotion. You’re a writer. You’ve written a book and somebody — you, a big publisher, a small publisher, some spider-eating alley hobo — has published it. And now you want to know how you promote the book so that the world can fling money at your face in order to greedily consume your unrefined genius. But it’s not easy. You don’t know what works. What makes sense. You don’t want to just stand on a street corner barking at passersby and hitting children with your book. But you also recognize that you’re just one little person, not some massive beast of marketing and advertising, hissing gouts of pixelated steam and vacuuming up potential buyers into the hypno-chamber that is your belly.

What do you do? How far can you go? What should you say?"



Kristen Lamb's Blog
Selling & Social Media, DON'T Be a Personal Space Invader

"We writers are kinda weird…okay, a LOT weird. We can drift to extremes if we aren’t vigilant. Either we are the non-stop All-Writing-All-The-Time Channel or we’re afraid to mention we have ever read let alone written a book lest we offend anyone. I get it. I struggle, too. We are artists and “selling” feels…ookey.

Yes, ookey is a word.

Marketing feels especially weird in The Digital Age. But why? Also, why is the ROI (Return on Investment) so dismal with traditional marketing tactics? Facebook ads are a notorious waste of money and I doubt the guy who programmed his Twitter to mention his new book five times an hour has seen a massive uptick in sales.


Perhaps death threats, but not sales."

Wednesday is for Writers...

Daily Word Goals…yay or nay??


I recently read an article by James Clear regarding the difference between setting goals and simply having a process or plan in place that would ultimately achieve your goal. It is an interesting theory and worth the read.

I am participating in Camp Nanowrimo this month. It is a little more laid back and relaxed than the regular Nanowrimo in November and usually helps me get the cobwebs out if I am struggling to get something written.

I want to write 25,000 words this month and finish up a novel that I have been working on for nearly two years.  While this is lower than my normal word goal of two thousand words a day, it is still a hefty sum of words to put out there. Honestly, it is about eight hundred and thirty four words a day which in all truthfulness, should be very doable. Unfortunately procrastination is my middle name and eating chocolate instead of writing is my favorite game.

So tell me, have I stopped worrying about my ultimate goal and just set a process in place of writing eight hundred and thirty four words a day? Or have I simply traded one goal for another? I have no idea but I have stopped eating as a way to procrastinate.

I love Chuck Wendig's Blog, "Terribleminds" He talks about writing, he talks about his family, he talks about his books. I happen to believe that he is a genius when it comes to cutting through the crap of what makes a writer, well, a writer. He gets to the heart of what it takes to put out a novel without blowing smoke up your arse.

I keep him in my Feedly feed.

His blog post, succinctly entitled,  "How To Push Past the Bullshit and Write That Goddamn Novel: A Very Simple No-Fuckery Writing Plan to Get Shit Done" is a wake-up call. Read it and then do it.

And for all of us whiners out there complaining about low word counts on any given day, his blog post, Counting Words is a kick in the pants. And a smack upside the head just when you need one.

His recommendation? "Shut up and write."

Good advice.

Wednesday is for Writers...

Rejection.

One of the worse feelings for a writer. Thinking that your work isn't good enough. Wondering what you could have done better.

Everyone who has ever been a writer has been rejected from one place or another. This is one of those times when one thinks to ones self - I wouldn't belong to any club that would have me as a member. However, as it turns out, this particular group also happens to have the best and the brightest of writers, living or dead.

I have writer friends who become fatalistically discouraged after receiving their latest (and of course, most devastating) rejection notice. There are no words that can console and no opinions that matter at the moment other than that one editor or publisher who didn't find their work a good fit. Their writing careers are over, its time to hang it up and go back to work in the lucrative world of the service folk.

They have been weighed and measured and have absolutely been found wanting. 

At least at the moment, and at least in their own mind.

I don't know why as both readers and writers we can't seem to fathom that people (even publishers, editors, fans, and agents) have different tastes. I, for one, don't care for Science Fiction or Romances. I don't know why exactly, even the most well written story is simply not my cup of tea. Start talking about aliens or space ships or bodice ripping men and I look elsewhere for my entertainment.

I like horror, and detective and legal dramas. I like Agatha Christie and Shirley Jackson. Stephen King and Michael Connelly. John Grisham and Scott Turow. Dean Koontz and the late and great Terry Pratchett.

Why would we believe that anyone else would NOT have a preference? So you don't like my story, yes I am a little hurt and slightly disappointed. But there has never been a writer that could please everyone. Not in this life and not in the next. Nor it is ever going to happen either.

We all have different tastes.  That is why there is chocolate ice cream, vanilla ice cream, and ice cream sandwiches. Almond Joys and Mounds. Dark and Milk chocolate. There is no One-size-fits-all when it comes to what we enjoy. Not in our desserts, and certainly not in our libraries.

So fellow writers, take your rejections for what they are worth and learn from them what you may.

Tomorrow is another day after all.

Wednesday is for Writers...

Tips for Writers..

I didn't feel much like writing or researching today so I thought this would be a good week to "Show" and not "Tell"



We will start off with some tips from John Steinbeck...

Some Tips from Lena...

Dr. Roy Peter Clark chimes in with some helpful tools....

And from Blog.WriteAtHome.Com ~ Synonyms for Good!!!

Wednesday is for Writers...

Confused?? Overwhelmed?? Wish you had become an accountant like your mother wanted?? Me too!!

Most of the time I love being a writer, especially on those occasions where my thoughts flow easily and by the time I break for lunch I am already looking at ten thousand perfect words for the day. (I usually break out the wine and toast to my brilliance at this point.)

Until the next day when I can't seemed to pull two coherent words together and writing an entire sentence seems completely out of the question. It is those days that I question my career decision. 

I have put together several posts that I have found both insightful and helpful when I realize it is going to be "one of those days."

Enjoy!!



Chuck Wendig on Terrible Minds
Writers Must Kill Self-Doubt Before Self-Doubt Kills Them

“It’s insidious, this thing called doubt.

You’re sitting there, chugging along, doing your little penmonkey dance with the squiggly shapes and silly stories and then, before you know it, a shadow falls over your shoulder. You turn around.

But it’s too late. There’s doubt. A gaunt and sallow thing. It’s starved itself. It’s all howling mouths and empty eyes. The only sustenance it receives is from a novelty beer hat placed upon its fragile eggshell head — except, instead of holding beer, the hat holds the blood-milked hearts of other writers, writers who have fallen to self-doubt’s enervating wails, writers who fell torpid, sung to sleep by sickening lullabies.”

Joanna Penn on The Creative Penn
The Roller Coaster of Being a Writer.

“I hate writing. It’s so hard to force myself to sit and type words that are a load of crap anyway.

I love writing. Some days I can get into a flow state and the words come effortlessly onto the page, and they’re actually pretty good! I love creating something from just my brain. It’s the best life in the world.”

Petrea Hansen-Adamidis on Tiny Buddah

5 Steps to Deal With Self-Doubt and Trust Yourself Again

“A while back I began to feel out of sorts with my writing. It happened after coming down from the high of creating almost nonstop with my inner muse. I noticed that I began to feel down, like the feeling one gets after being at the amusement park when the excitement is over.

Creating and finishing my projects had been a wild ride. It was exciting and intense at times. But once done, an insidious feeling began to over take me.

My thoughts began to wander to “the dark side” questioning my abilities.

What if I can’t create something new? What if people don’t like what I have done?”

Wednesday is for Writers...

Writer's Burnout.

Maybe you have suffered from this in the past or maybe you are like me and are suffering from it now. Maybe you are one of the fortunate ones who have never slipped down this particular dark hole of suffering and I wish to convey to you that you are a very fortunate soul indeed.

First I want to clarify, Writer's Burnout is different from Writer's Block.

It's not that the words won't come or that your muse is  taking an extended vacation, the fact is, that you stop caring about your muse, your books, your stories, etc. and are seriously considering the idea that a career in the fast food industry would be more satisfying. Or will, at the very least, pay better.

I no longer feel the need or desire to write. It is simply gone. I still write in my journal every day but even that has begun to become such a bore that I simply wish to get through and move on with my day.

There are all kinds of reasons for Writer Burnout, I think in my case, deadlines and contracts began to suck the pleasure out of it. It became a job instead of a joy and I think in there somewhere, I lost myself. Or at least, my desire to create something out of nothing.

From what I have read this is more common than many writers realize and it can sneak up on you out of nowhere and take control of your life if you let it. 

The good news is, that it doesn't seem to be a fatal condition, at least that is what these articles say, so with that shred of hope tucked safely away behind my laptop, I have decided to take a month off from writing and paint the inside of my home. 

The house needs it (it still has the contractors crappy flat white paint from when it was built nine years ago) and I need it. I need to switch that side of my brain off and work with the side that cares only that the paint is stirred correctly and that there are no streaks.


For those of you that may wonder if perhaps you too are a victim of this  disease, I have gathered together some links that just might lead you back into the light! 

Barbara Bretton at Wish You Were Here

I Was A Burned-Out, Middle-Aged Romance Writer =or= How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love the Process

"Before I burned out in February 1992, I'd labored under many assumptions about the reality of work and writing and self-discipline. I believed that showing up was half the battle, that inspiration and artistic temperament were both highly overrated, that I could conquer outside forces by the sheer force of my will--and I believed burnout could never happen to me.

I was wrong.

Burnout is real, it's powerful, and it can sneak up on you when you least expect it. Burnout is the flip side of creativity and yet it's the least talked-about phenomenon in publishing. You'll find it easier to get a rock star to expound on impotence than to convince a working writer to admit to being burned out."

Shanan Haislip at Positive Writer

4 Effective Ways to Beat Writer's Burnout

"It goes beyond mere writer’s block. It doesn’t care about deadlines, and can stopper your writing voice for months at a time. It’s deep, it’s baffling and it’s not often talked about in writing circles.

It’s writer’s burnout."

Scott Berkun

How to Survive CreativeBurnout (#33)

"The longer you work at creating things, whether it’s websites, essays or paintings, the greater the odds you’ll have day where you don’t feel like doing it anymore. Until that day you may have heard others describe burnout, but you just shrugged it off as superstition, or perhaps you believed yourself immune. But the day it hits you, the world seems suddenly grey. What was once fun and challenging feel stupid and annoying. Or perhaps the things that used to motivate or move you don’t resonate at all. You feel nothing for them. It all just seems like so much more crap to deal with. If this sounds familiar, or you fear that this day is in your future, this essay is for you."

Wednesday is for Writers...

I am trying something new for all you folks out there in the stratosphere... Wednesdays (when I can remember it is in fact, Wednesday) I want to post some links to blogs that I feel have really helped me in different areas to become both the person and the writer I wish to be and to pass on relevant information to other writers out there.

I've included articles this week on becoming more productive, how to limit your social media distractions, finding your muse, and what makes a good beta reader. There is also a blog post about one author's nightmare into a DMCA complaint.



Leo Babauta on Zen Habits
An Addict's Guide to Overcoming the Distraction Habit

"One of the insidious things about the distraction habit is that we often don’t even realize it’s happening. It sneaks up on us, like old age, and before we know it we’re addicted and powerless.

But actually we’re not powerless. The power we have is our awareness, and you can develop it right now. Pay attention to what sites you visit, how often you’re looking at your phone, how long you’re spending in front of a screen all day."


Joanna Penn on The Creative Penn
Productivity for Writers: 5 Ways to Become More Productive


"We all have 24 hours in the day, and we all have to balance the real life stuff with the writing. Before I was a full-time author-entrepreneur, I would get up at 5am and write, then go to work. After the day job, I would come home and get on with building my online business. We got rid of the TV so I would have more time to create, and I spent every weekend working. I was so focused on leaving my job that I cut out everything that got in the way. I was driven to schedule my time incredibly well in order to fit everything in.

Now, as a full-time author-entrepreneur, I still have to schedule everything. You might have noticed that I blog, podcast and speak professionally, as well as writing books. It’s just as hard to get everything done, let me assure you!"


Becca Mills on The Active Voice
Independent Publishing and  DMCA Abuse, or “How a Scammer Got my Book Blocked With Very Little Effort"

"On Friday, February 27, 2015, I noticed that my bookmarked Amazon.com link to my first novel, Nolander, was yielding, “We’re sorry. The Web address you entered is not a functioning page on our site.” I went to my Amazon dashboard and discovered the book had been blocked.

In my spam folder, I discovered an email from Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP), Amazon’s self-publishing arm, informing me that someone had sent in a DMCA notice. In response, Amazon had summarily blocked Nolander from sale.

“DMCA” stands for “Digital Millennium Copyright Act.” It’s a Clinton-era U.S. law that lays forth a process for dealing with copyright infringement online. If you find material online that infringes a copyright you hold, you can send the hosting website a DMCA notice; in order to be in compliance with U.S. law, the hosting website has to remove the material and notify the person who posted it."


Ruth Ann Nordin on Self-Published Authors Helping Other Authors
Beta Readers (Video/Post)

"A beta reader is a person who reads your book before it’s published.  A beta reader is a person who can look at the overall story and give you their impression of it.  But they are not an editor.  The editor is the one who goes in and polishes it up so it’s ready to be published."


Harvey Chapman on Novel Writing Help
How to Discover your Writer's Muse

"Brace yourself: this ultimate guide to finding your inner muse and writing more creatively isn't short! It may be one of the most important things you ever read, though.

Learning how to write with more creativity will not only improve the quality of your writing (i.e. make it more publishable). It will also make the journey a lot more fun."

Thursday Flash Fiction... Silence is Golden

I haven't written any flash fiction just for fun lately but I managed to squeak one out yesterday!!

Meredith lowered the shade, darkening the bedroom somewhat from the unruly sunlight.

"Alaska, Rick? We had to move to Alaska?"

Her husband glanced in her direction but didn’t say a word.

She threw a thick flannel blanket over the single window, attempting to block some more of the impertinent sun.

"I haven't slept well in three weeks, Rick. Three friggin weeks. Friggin sunshine all the friggin time. And when the sun ain't friggin shining all the time, it's friggin snowing. All friggin winter we sat in the dark and now the friggin sun won't go down.”

Rick stared upwards towards the ceiling, swallowing the sour bile that was trying to force its way into his mouth from the burning ulcer in his stomach.

"And where is all the friggin money you were talking about? Great opportunities for someone like you, you said. Yeah right. Nine months and you still ain't got a job. Well, just so you know, our savings is just about gone."

No, things hadn't worked out exactly like Rick had hoped, but they rarely do.

All he needed was some sleep, some quiet, but unfortunately the current onslaught might go on for hours.

"I'll sleep much better when we are out of this shithole and back in civilization. Friggin sunli…."

Rick yanked the Glock from his nightstand, pressed the cold steel to the back of his wife's head, and pulled the trigger.

The room rocked with silence.

"And I sleep much better this way, Meri. Much better."