MIA

Hey everyone.  Remember me?

I think it’s safe to say that my time of being something of a regular in the online writing circles has come to an end.  I knew that making the change from freelancing to 9-5ing would result in that but it had to be done.  Of course, this means that I am behind of new anthology guidelines, the success of friends and tons of blog reading and Twitter updates.  (Wow, that almost sounds like a job in itself).

I am beginning to find a groove for myself as far as a schedule is concerned.  While writing time is few and far between (mostly lunch breaks and every now and then at night), I am beginning to value it so much more.  Also, oddly enough, this new 9-5 schedule makes acceptances much sweeter.

For instance, I was on a high for about 2 days when I received word that my story “The Mannerisms of Runners” has been accepted into 2010’s 52 Stitches.

Meanwhile, my endless pimping of Debris continues.  Check out the interview over at one of my old freelancing haunts Freelance Writerville.

And as always, for any of you that may have purchased it already, your comments and reviews are appreciated.

Now back to writing…it could very well be the only writing I get done this week…

Not quite redeemed, plus 52 Stiches news

First and foremost, my story “An Eight Becomes Two Zeroes” is up over at 52 Stitches.  Swing by and give it a read, would ya?

As for the weekend, in which I had planned to redeem myself for my lack of recent writing, I didn’t do too shabby.  Book 1 of the still-untitled series is now at 18,400 words.  I added 1,200 words to Blood Routes. I’m 145 pages into editing The Bleeding Room and managed to edit about 15 more pages of Broken Skies.  I wrote a very rough draft to a poem.  And that’s about it.  It felt good to get the creative juices going, but it wasn’t nearly enough.

Here’s to hoping I can squeeze in some more writing in the coming week!

Will the madness never end?

Actually, I’m not going to complain, I don’t suppose.  The “madness” mentioned in the title refers to the tidal wave of short stories that I want to write as soon as possible.  As it stands, I have four in production and another five that I want to start.  This can be quite troublesome for someone who sucks at prioritizing (like me).

Also, in working on my story for the 2012 AD anthology, I am yet again faced with the question of whether or not it is fair to label myself a horror writer.  It’s what I’ve always wanted to be, but the majority of things I’ve written in the past 14 months or so seem to have other ideas.

On to other things, though.

In the event that you have set up camp under a rock and have been residing there for the past month or so, 52 Stitches is up and has kicked off quite impressively with “I’m Keeping It Light” by Mercedes M. Yardley.  My own peice, “An Eight Becomes Two Zeros” will be up in March.

And also, because Natalie L. Sin has tagged me, I find myself feeling obligated to participate in the 7 Things About You business.  About 90% of the time, I don’t participate in such things, but 7 is my lucky number.  (Also, notice that I have not tagged anyone…that is because it seems that anyone I would have tagged has already done this).

1. I know that it is a crucial hatred for some coffee drinkers, but I love Starbucks.  Love it.  The best gift I received for Christmas was a Starbucks gift card.  Do I feel like pretentious prick when I go into a Starbucks?  Sure.  But the sweet sweet comforts of a Cinnamon Dolce Latte tells me that it’s okay.

2. My wife has always wanted a black cat.  I gave her one for Christmas.  I wanted to name it something superstitious and evil.  I was surprised when she (sort of) agreed.  Our other cat’s name is Libbie and my wife wanted the names to be cute together, so she chose Lucy.  It’s okay though…Lucy is actually short for Lucifer.  And her middle name is 13.  So our black cat’s full name is Lucifer 13 Napier (yes, my wife insists on giving our animals last names).

3.  I am obsessed with music.  I always plead the 5th when asked what my favorite band is.  I do this because it changes frequently.  In high school, it was Nirvana.  In college, it was always a tie between the Deftones and Portishead.  Other contenders for this title have been Tori Amos, Iron and Wine, Massive Attack and a little-known trip hop band from Philidelphia called Daughter Darling.  It is currently Hammock.  Or maybe Boards of Canada.  I don’t know.

4.  Ties in with #3.  I am an a-hole when it comes to music.  Whenever I hear Three Doors Down, Nickelback, Hinder or Buckcherry on a “rock” station, I get physically angry.  Generic cliched radio rock is killing music.  It makes me long for the 80s when Depeche Mode was on the radio almost all of the time.

5. Most people have these exotic places they want to visit before they die.  Mine is a bit different…I want to go to Iceland one day.  The scenery is beautiful and the music scene is amazing.

6. Guilty pleasure…(at the risk of alienating my blog-friends).  I watched the entire Gilmore Girls series with my wife.  It started as a passing interest and then, by Season 2, I was hooked.  The writers are actually quite talented and there are always these obscure musical references scattred throughout.  Brian Eno, Joy Division and the Pixies to name a few.  Favorite line: “No, you can’t be in my band.  Why not???  I’ll tell you why…because you had no idea that Kim Deal was in the Pixies before she was in the Breeders.”

7.  I always made fun of Trekkies and Star Wars nerds.  But this came back to bite me.  I am the equivalent of that, only with the X-Files (and no, I do not refer to myself as an X-Phile).  I know a depressing amount of trivia about the show and was literally floating on a cloud while the second movie was in production.

And if there is anything else you want to know about me, it is going to require various torture techniques.

Some lines are meant to be crossed (and tripped over)

Somewhere, at some point on here, I was complaining that anything in the realm of horror that I have tried to write in the past 2 months has come out to be this much more literary thing that has a “Look At Me, I’m So Important” complex.

Even my acceptance at 52 Stitches ended up being pretty heavily philosophical at the end (if you take the time to think about it).  It also happened to The Masks of Our Fathers (my failed NaNo project) and it happened to the story I was writing for the Footsteps anthology.  It is also an epidemic that is currently ailing a short story that I like very much that will not find a home until I decide what world it wants to reside in (horror, literary or slipstream).

So then I saw the guidelines for Devil’s Food.  My first reaction was, “Well, no use in even trying.”  And then last night I came up with an idea that is perhaps the sickest idea I have ever conjured.  It crosses a few lines, though.  The one I was most worried about is one that I think all aspiring horror authors struggle with.

See, in my opinion, the gross-out factor is pointless–dare I say even somewhat childish–unless it is done correctly.  And this story is disgusting at all angles.  But what I battle with is not only convincing myself to write it, but to write it in a way that makes the story sound as if it were written for something more than to be gross.

The idea in itself is too good to abandon so I’m going to try to write it.  I started the first draft this morning and have my typical problem…too much talk…I got 4 pages in and nothing horror-esque has happened yet.  But I think I have written so that you know from the first paragraph that something terrible is coming.

Anyway, that’s my whining for the day.  Tentatively titled “Today’s Bargain”, it’s about special discount products sold at a convenience store that keeps some very unusual hours…

Oooh, also, I got the first 3 pages of art from Issue 1 of Birdwatching From Mars today.  Thinking ahead, this story is also going to cross some lines.  (Then again, maybe there’s a bit of conceit in thinking that I’m being “new” or “edgy” in these ideas).  With permission, perhaps I will post some of the art next week.

Until next time…

“Hi, Inbox. Remember me?”

Something’s got to give.  My Inbox is scaring me.  Typically, on an average day, I get anywhere between 15-18 e-mails.  These usually consist of story rejections and freelance-related stuff.  But ever since Monday, I think I have gotten 16 mails total.  I wonder if this is the calm before some very beautiful and life-altering storm.  I am, after all, awaiting e-mails related to the following:

• A follow-up for the hold request from Allegory for my story “Jinx”
• A yes or no on the final full read of The Bleeding Room
• Weren’t the Dia De Los Muertos replies supposed to go out sometime this month?
• Some word on my interview from Monday (hopefully this will come in the form of a phone call, but who knows?…)

The only real writing-related things to announce are fairly minor.  For instance, I have been asked to do a re-write and full 22 page treatment for what will be Issue 1 of Birdwatching from Mars(see previous posts).  I have been given the privilege of selecting some very skilled artist to work on the project and if all goes as planned, I’ll have some sketches to see very soon and the initial draft of Issue 1 looks to be done sometime in late December or early January.  More on this as it comes in.

Also, due to NaNo and my near obssesion with trying to end Broken Skies, I have only written one piece of short fiction in the past month.  This was “An Eight Becomes Two Zeros” which will be included in 52 Stitches.  This has broken my goal of trying to churn out at least an initial draft of 2 short stories every month.  However, speaking of NaNo, I have not yet admitted defeat.  I read this week that Stephen King (writing as Mr. Bachman) wrote The Running Man’s first draft in 4 days.  Of course, I’m no Stephen King, but that’s still a pretty good motivator.

Now, on to some small freelance stuff and hopefully then to the NaNo novel The Masks of Our Fathers.

In stitches…

I received my first acceptance of November yesterday. My flash piece “An Eight Becomes Two Zeros” will be included in the 52 Stitches project. I was particularly pleased with the comments from the editors; they were perhaps the best compliment I have ever received from anyone in regards to my writing…especially for a story of only 709 words.

The story was brutal and uncomfortable–in a word, horrific.  The last line–fantastic.

In other news, I do believe that there is no way I will reach my goal of 13,000 words on my NaNo novel by the end of the week…well, maybe if I cheat and carry the week over into Sunday. But we’ll see.  I’m just glad that I finally started the damned story at all.  And the more I keep fleshing out the plot within my head, the less it seems like a horror story.  Oh, it’s dark, but not quite horror.  I’ll post some excerpts as it comes along and let you guys be the judge.

Update:In titling my story for 52 Stitches, I thought that it sounded familiar but couldn’t place where I could have heard it before.  I then did some research and found that there is a Glassjaw song titled “When an Eight Becomes Two Zeros.”  I used to have the album that the song was on.  But man oh man, I love the title.  Is this considered a form of plagiarism?  I know that Bentley Little has a few short stories titled after lines of classic poetry…is this the same sort of thing, or do I need to change the title?  Anyone know the laws behind this?