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So what kind of progress have I made on the website update?

  • I changed my little Cthulhu divider so that it better matches the new site design.
  • I decided I hate this new design and really wish I could go back to the old one, lol. Oh, well, what can you do? Change is inevitable.

On the writing front, I’ve finished my second new short story of the year and sent it out into the world. The first of my stories to be produced as a podcast should be in production soon, and I’ll let you know when it’s released for your listening pleasure. Not too long after that, another of my stories will be available at a different podcast. I’ll keep you updated!

While it’s great when I have good writing news to share, writing really tends to be one or two acceptances followed by long, difficult droughts of rejection. An average acceptance rate for a writer of genre short fiction is 3-5%. Think about that. That means the average is that you need to send a story out 50 times before it is accepted. That’s a lot of work, especially when “sending it out” doesn’t just mean popping off a new email. A lot of publishers have special formatting guidelines, which means you’ll probably be making small tweaks—or major formatting changes—at least 1 out of every five times you send it out. Worse still there aren’t even 50 pro-paying markets for horror, which means your odds of professional publication in a horror magazine are even more stacked against you (and I believe it’s the same situation for scifi).

To make matters worse, you experience a lot of “false starts.” You send out works to publishers, and then they close. This has already happened once this year, as I sent a story to Factor Four Magazine, waited a few months, and then received an email saying they were shutting down and releasing all stories.

I appreciated their email notification, though, because most sudden closings end up ghosting the writer.

These ghostings generally fall into two subsets. The first are those that I like to call seagulls: they put out a call and vanish. I had four last year. I subbed works and heard nothing back. I queried and received no response. Eventually their social media goes dark (or hasn’t been updated in the last 18 months).

Then there are the stringers. They sometimes start out like seagulls, just vanishing off the face of the earth, but then, like the undead, they resurrect to give an update. What happens from here on out is what distinguishes a stringer from an unexpected hiatus. With an unexpected hiatus, a publisher runs into problems, maybe disappears for a while, then returns and gets everyone updated and get back to work, accepting and rejecting work and meeting their commitments. For the record, I’m totally fine with unexpected hiatus. Life happens. But stringers pop up with an update. Then they vanish for a little while again. Then they pop back up with an update . . . then vanish . . . then update . . . Stringers seem to live lives that are a series of unfortunate events. Unfortunately, this keeps people hanging on, because they want to give the publisher the benefit of the doubt. Nobody wants to kick someone when they are already down, but where do you draw the line? I had two of these last year (and one publisher is still doing this; I’ve pulled my stories, but others are still hanging on and waiting).

If you’d like a more in-depth look at the state of genre publishing, check out the following link. It’s a very good and thorough analysis: #SFF2020: The State of Genre Magazines

On the reading front, I’m still on track with my participation in #500Stories500Nights. I’ve even added a few new podcasts to my regular “reading” list. I don’t know what the deal is with the Gallery of Curiosities podcast list, if it’s my reader or what, but almost all of their older stories appear in my podcast reader with the same date (12-31-16). So until I get through the back catalog, we must deal with a little confusion.

February 2020 #500Stories500Nights

  • Feb 1: “Space Samurai,” by Rachelle D. Lawrence (Space Squid https://www.spacesquid.com/space-samurai/)
  • Feb 2: “Chasing A.I.M.E.,” by Sean Patrick Hazlett (Overcast 36)
  • Feb 3: “Elo Havel,” by Brian Evenson (Nightmare Magazine podcast, 1-15-20)
  • Feb 4: “Do Not Resuscitate,” by Dan Fields (Nocturnal Transmissions 57)
  • Feb 5: “Mr. Jinkies,” by Brandon Faircloth (Nocturnal Transmissions 58)
  • Feb 6: “No Signal,” by Larry Fessenden (Tales From Beyond the Pale 16)
  • Feb 7: “Not the End Yet,” by Nicole Flattery (Electric Lit 1-29-20)
  • Feb 8: “Decay,” by Richard Saxon (Nocturnal Transmissions 55)
  • Feb 9: “Symbios,” by A Konrath (Nocturnal Transmissions 1; NOTE: This story DEVASTATED me. The deep dread, sadness, and profound sorrow I felt while listening to this one were feelings not evoked by a mere “story” in a very long time. I know part of it is I’m a dog nut, so maybe the story won’t break you as bad, but it really hit me right in the feels. Well done, A Konrath. Well done!)
  • Feb 10: “Help,” by Hailey Piper (Tales to Terrify 411)
  • Feb 11: “The Repossession Man,” by Evan Osborne (Nocturnal Transmissions 7)
  • Feb 12: “The Galactic Tourist Industrial Complex,” by Tobias S. Buckell (LeVar Burton Reads 5-14-19)
  • Feb 13: “Tunnels,” by Brian Trent (Podcasts from 3F-Third Flatiron 12-20-19)
  • Feb 14: “Hierarchy,” by Patrick Meegan (Nocturnal Transmissions 9)
  • Feb 15: “Void Song,” by Travis Heermann (Tales to Terrify 418)
  • Feb 16: “Eight O’clock in the Morning,” by Ray Nelson
  • Feb 17: “The Happiest Place,” by Kevin Wabaunsee (Pseudopod 661)
  • Feb 18: “Trick-or-Treat in Hell,” by Robert Jeschonek (Tales to Terrify 405)
  • Feb 19: “1884,” by Michael Grey (Nocturnal Transmissions 2)
  • Feb 20: “The Boyproof Watch,” by John Longenbaugh (Gallery of Curiosities 12-31-16)
  • Feb 21: “The Yellow Wallpaper,” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (I read it for class, but I’m listing it because it’s one of my favorite stories, right up there with “The Lottery.”
  • Feb 22: “Grizzelka’s Bridegroom,” by Mary E. Lowd (Overcast 122)
  • Feb 23: “Mud,” by Salinda Tyson (Podcasts from 3F-Third Flatiron)
  • Feb 24: “The Call of Cthulhu,” Lovecraft (Nocturnal Transmissions 4 & 5)
  • Feb 25: “Food Chain,” by April Snellings (Tales From Beyond the Pale 8)
  • Feb 26: “At Lorn Hall,” by Ramsey Campbell (Night Magazine Podcast 11-28-12)
  • Feb 27: “Night on the High Desert,” by Connie Vigil Platt (Podcasts from 3F, 10-4-18)
  • Feb 28: “Animal Cruelty,” by Martin Smith (Nocturnal Transmissions 10)
  • Feb 29: “The Lake Manawaka Meat Lover,” by Sheldon Birnie Kyle (The Wicked Library 903)

That’s it for this month! Until next month, Stay Spooky!

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New & Improved

Well, here we are. As you can see, I finally made the plunge and updated the website from the old, discontinued template to a new one . . . which is still an older template and so it will probably be discontinued any day now that I’ve chosen to use it for my site.

I’m not completely happy with the design, some elements don’t work (like I haven’t figured out to get rid of the “Add a comment” text all over these blog posts; I don’t have commenting turned on, so I’d like to get rid of that text), and some pages aren’t complete yet. And, my little Cthulhus need to be changed because they look weird standing in that little white divider bar. So as you pop back for visits, there will be changes and upgrades, but at least it’s a start.

School is back in session, so writing progress has been slow. I did manage to write up a fun little piece of vampire flash fiction and get that sent off, but most of the writing work in January was resubmissions and biting my fingernails as not one, but THREE of my short stories were shortlisted. I’m still waiting to hear back on the third one, but the first two didn’t quite make the cut for the publications they were submitted to. As I’ve said before, I have a love/hate relationship with shortlisting: it seems if I’m told my story has been shortlisted, it’s like a curse and the work is rejected; if there’s no shortlisting (or I’m not told about it), then my work is accepted. It’s the “always a bridesmaid” for writers, I guess.

I read (or listened to) three long-form works of fiction in January:

  • Huckleberry Finn (yes, it was for class, but if I have to slog through it, I’m counting it!);
  • The Utterly Uninteresting and Unadventurous Tales of Fred, the Vampire Accountant, by Drew Hayes (Cute and funny, sort of like Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum series, but with vampires, werewolves, and other supernatural creatures);
  • Chernobyl 01:23:40: The Incredible True Story of the World’s Worst Nuclear Disaster, by Andrew Leatherbarrow (there are two nonfiction topics where I read *everything* I can get my hands on: biohazards and nuclear accidents).

Here is the list for this month’s #500Stories500Nights. I recently discovered Third Flatiron Publishing has a podcast, so you’ll be seeing those pop-up in next month’s reading list. Though all the stories on the list are good, the single asterisk means the story stood out to me in some way; a double-asterisk means it *really* stood out and I really enjoyed it (and probably wish I had written it, lol).

  • Jan 1: “The Thames Valley Catastrophe,” by Grant Allen (Pseudopod 665)
  • Jan 2: “Hunger,” by Daniel Willcocks, (The Other Stories 3.1)
  • Jan 3: * “The Miner’s Door,” by Daniel Willcocks (The Other Stories 1.4)
  • Jan 4: * “Sugar and Spice,” by Jennifer R. Donaohue (Overcast 99)
  • Jan 5: ** “All the Hidden Places,” by Cadwell Turnbull (Nightmare Magazine Podcast, Mar 6, 2019)
  • Jan 6: ** “Small Medicine,” by Genevieve Valentine  (LeVar Burton Reads 52)
  • Jan 7: “A Night of Many Months,” by CL Holland (Pseudopod 681)
  • Jan 8: “Doll Re Mi,” by Tanith Lee (Nightmare Magazine Podcast, May 15, 2013)
  • Jan 9: “Stitched Wings,” by Beth Cato (Overcast 27)
  • Jan 10: “Rubber Jungle,” by John Crinan and Hannah Mariska (The Other Stories 47.4)
  • Jan 11: “Pupae,” by Ben Errington (The Other Stories 12.3)
  • Jan 12: ** “Cannibals,” by Joe Maggio (Tales From Beyond the Pale Ep 14) (note: if you’re a Vincent D’nafrio fan, you’ll be able to “see” his face throughout this whole story. . .so awesome)!
  • Jan 13: * “Sea Girls,” by Daniel Wallace (Levar Burton Reads, 7-31-18)
  • Jan 14: “The Flier,” by Joseph O’Neill (New Yorker The Writer’s Voice, 11-5-19)
  • Jan 15: “Frozen,” by DJ Tyrer (Flame Tree Fiction Newsletter, Jan 2020)
  • Jan 16: “Someone Decorated My House for Christmas,” by Brandon Faircloth (Nocturnal Transmissions Ep 66)
  • Jan 17: “Peripheral Work,” by CC Smith (Tales to Terrify 415)
  • Jan 18: “You-Go-Back,” by Elise Fourier Edie (Gallery of Curiosities 12-31-16)
  • Jan 19: “Daddy’s Girl,” by Eleanor R. Wood (Overcast 33)
  • Jan 20: “The Eight People Who Murdered Me,” by Gwendolyn Kiste (Nightmare Magazine podcast, 11-20-19)
  • Jan 21: ** “Yiwu,” by Lavie Tidhar (LeVar Burton Reads 10-2-18)
  • Jan 22: ** “Missing, Presumed Dead,” by R. T. Raynaud (Nocturnal Transmissions Ep 64)
  • Jan 23: * “Lambing Season,” by Nicole J. LeBoeuf (Tales to Terrify 413)
  • Jan 24: “Pomegranate, Pomegranate,” by Jack Westlake (Pseudopod 682)
  • Jan 25: ** “The Infamous Bengal Ming,” by Rajesh Parameswaran (Nocturnal Transmissions Ep 60)
  • Jan 26: “Rotting Pumpkins,” by Max Lobdell (Nocturnal Transmissions Ep 61)
  • Jan 27: “Next,” by David Greske (The Wicked Library TWL 915)
  • Jan 28: “Full,” by Seras Nikita (Tales to Terrify 416)
  • Jan 29: * “Gentlemanly Horrors of Mine Alone,” by Donald J. Bingle (Gallery of Curiosities 11-20-19)
  • Jan 30: ** “Cold Reading,” by Glenn McQuaid and April Snellings (Tales From Beyond the Pale 15)
  • Jan 31: “DST, INC,” by Robert McCammon (read by the author himself: https://www.robertmccammon.com/2019/11/26/robert-mccammon-reads-a-new-story-dst-inc/)

Next months’ reading list will probably have a few more text-based (rather than podcast-based) stories because it is Bram Stoker Awards time, so I’m reading with an eye as to which I’m going to vote for. It’s also been a situation where I’ve learned something: the best way to share/get something widely read is to use the path of least resistance. By this, I mean that some authors share a link to their work, often in Dropbox, so you can download it. Most authors share an email address where you can contact them for a copy. Guess which one I do more often? Food for thought!

That’s it for this month! Until next month, stay spooky!

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HAPPY NEW YEAR! I love a new year and all the possiblities it holds. We all have so much optimism at the beginning of the year . . . but usually my optimism runs out by March, lol.

#500Stories#500Nights Update

As will probably be the case most of the time, my list is skewed toward audio. I can listen to half a dozen stories a day via podcasts or audible, but I have a hard time chiseling out the time to read even one text-based story. So if you’re thinking, “Sheesh! Why is the list mostly podcasts?!” it’s because the format is easier to consume in great quantities. And why these particular podcasts, aside from they have an awesome variety? The more frequently listed podcasts (like Overcast and Pseudopod) make their stories available to the major podcast feeds; some mags create a podcast but only make the cast available on their website. Visiting individual websites is something I don’t have time to do because I’m usually listening at work.

I’ve put an asterisk by the stories I particularly enjoyed, and a double asterisk by the stories I *REALLY* enjoyed or found interesting.

Dec 1: “The Curfew,” by Roddy Doyle (The New Yorker: The Writer’s Voice, Nov 26, 2019)

Dec 2: *“Bulletproof,” by J. Askew (The Other Stories, 46.3)

Dec 3: “For your safety and Comfort. . .” by Michelle Ann King (The Overcast 111)

Dec 4: *“The Crusted Depths,” by Daniel Willcocks (The Other Stories podcast, Oct. 20, 2019)

Dec 5: “Well Enough Alone,” by Holly Schofield (The Overcast 112)

Dec 6: *“The Bleeding Maze: A Visitor’s Guide,” by Kurt Fawver (Nightmare Magazine Podcast, Aug 7, 2019)

Dec 7: *“The Lesser of Two Evils,” by Shane Halbach (The Overcast 113)

Dec 8:  *“Antripuu,” by Simon Strantzas (Nightmare Magazine Podcast, July 10, 2019)

Dec 9: *“In the Walls,” by Robert Reed (Daily Science Fiction, 12-6-19)

Dec 10: **“The School,” Donald Barthelme (Read this one. Seriously) https://www.npr.org/programs/death/readings/stories/bart.html)

Dec 11: *“The Vaults of Yoh Vombis,” by Clark Ashton-Smith (Pseudopod 611)

Dec 12: “The Night Princes,” by Megan Arkenberg (Nightmare Magazine Podcast, June 5, 2019)

Dec 13: “Mofongo Knows, by Grady Hendrix (Pseudopod 612)

Dec 14: “Mastiff,” by Joyce Carol Oates, read by Louise Erdrich (The New Yorker Fiction Podcast, Nov 2, 2013)

Dec 15: “Figure 8,” by E. Catherine Tobler (Pseudopod 614)

Dec 16: *“Ten Excerpts from an Annotated Bibliography on the Cannibal Women of Ratnabar Island,” by Nibedita Sen (Nightmare Magazine Podcast, May 15, 2019)

Dec 17: *“Different Kinds of Darkness,” by David Langford (LeVar Burton Reads #19)

Dec 18: **“Eternity Plus Package, 89.99/Month,” by Michael Milne (Overcast 118)

Dec 19: “The Lottery,” by Shirley Jackson, read by A.M. Homes (The New Yorker Fiction Podcast, Nov 12, 2008) (Of course, this is a given absolute favorite)

Dec 20: *“The Solstice,” by Kev Harrison (The Other Stories 47.1)

Dec 21: “The Fliers of Gy,” by Ursula K Le Guin (LeVar Burton Reads podcast, 6-19-18)

Dec 22: *“A Fate Worse Than Death,” by Matthew Butcher (The Other Stories 3.2)

Dec 23: “Dimensions,” by F.I. Goldhaber (Overcast 104)

Dec 24: *“Malotibala Printing Press,” by Mimi Mondal (Nightmare Magazine Podcast, May 1, 2019)

Dec 25: “How to Date a Brown Girl (Black Girl, White Girl, or Halfie),” Junot diaz (The New Yorker: Fiction, podcast, Jun 1, 2007)

Dec 26: *“Soft Mary’s Flood,” by Steven Pirie (Overcast 100)

Dec 27: “58 Rules to Ensure Your Husband Loves You Forever,” by Rafeeat Aliyu (Nightmare Magazine Podcast, Feb 20, 2019)

Dec 28: *“Jackalope Wives,” by Ursula Vernon (LeVar Burton Reads 32)

Dec 29: **“Fyrewall,” by Stefani Cox (LeVar Burton Reads 31)

Dec 30: “Blue Christmas,” by Jessica Levai (Overcast 119)

Dec 31: *“Terry Rowlings, Success Coach,” by Luke Kondor (The Other Stories 3.3)

What Else I’ve Been Reading

During mornings at my day job, I’ve been listening to the short story podcasts. During the afternoon, I’ve been listening to audiobooks. I started with Trail of Lightning by Rebecca Roanhorse. This one is interesting because, in my opinion, it fits in three genres: Native American fiction, fantasy fiction, and new adult fiction. I wasn’t sure if I even wanted to try it because I avoid young-adult and new-adult fiction like the plague (not that there’s anything wrong with it; I just know from experience I don’t enjoy YA & NA at all). I dabble in fantasy, but it’s not my go-to genre. On the other hand, Native American fiction is my jam.

It was good, and I can see why it has received so many accolades, but it was also very YA-NA and wasn’t my taste. However, if you enjoy the genre, I would highly recommend it. It’s like if Bella was Native and a fiercely independent monster hunter (watch out Edward!); or if Hermoine was!

My second audiobook didn’t quite work out, either, though I thought I’d made a solid choice: Something Wicked This Way Comes, by Ray Bradbury. I’ve read this one before when I was a kid, and it illustrates the danger of revisiting a beloved story/movie/etc from the past. I love Bradbury, and I remember loving this story back in the day. But this time around, the story felt incredibly dated. The dialogue was way too Leave it to Beaver for me. “Aw, Gee Wally, that’d be swell.” And every word out of Mr. Halloway’s mouth seemed contrived and forced. His dialogue just didn’t seem natural. Then again, this is really YA too, so maybe that’s part of it. I just have no taste for the genre at all anymore. So now I’m all disappointed that I don’t like the story anymore.

2019 Goals Update

I actually did really well on my goals this year. I’m pretty damn proud of myself.

Update the website: Nope. Okay, so this one didn’t work out so much. Carrying it forward. Hope I can do it this year.

Send out 8 new short stories (which implies *writing* eight new short stories): CHECK (on a technicality). I began eight new pieces of short fiction this year, but I only finished and sent out seven. The reason the eighth didn’t get finished is because my English class required 10 short papers, 3 long papers, and a group project. So, for that class, I wrote and edited over 35 pages. My short stories are usually only 8-10 pages. So I’m counting all that writing for the English class as the eighth story.

Make a decision on four older, as-yet-unpublished stories: trunk or fix. CHECK! I ended up working on them a bit and sending them out again…only to have them rejected. I’m probably going to trunk them in 2020.

Resubmit at least four previously published stories to reprint markets. CHECK!

Read one long form work every month. CHECK! Did it, and then some, and added the:

Read #500Stories500Nights. Started a long-term short story challenge. CHECK (so far, so good, anyway).

2020 Goals

Update the website. I’m not giving up on this goal!

Write and send out eight new short stories again. I’m going to use lessons learned from my 2019 attempt to make reaching this goal easier this coming year.

No goal related to the four or five older, unpublished stories I have lying around. I’ll probably just trunk them and concentrate on new stories and reprints.

Resubmit three previously published stories. This goal is slightly reduced from last year in order to give me more time for new stories.

For a reading goal, I’m going to stick with #500Stories500Nights.

And for something totally different: dabble in horror poetry. It’s so VERY different from what I normally do that I don’t even want to set a “send out X poem(s)” goal; I’d just like to try to write one horror poem, just for kicks.

That’s it for this month! Until next month, happy reading!

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Well, here we go. The last month of the year, and it is CRUNCH TIME. My class has three papers AND a group project due the first week of December, and a longer paper due the second week. Then it’s Christmas break and I get a few weeks to catch my breath–catch my breath as far as school goes, that is. I’ll still have a lot on my plate for the rest of December.

On the writing front, I’ve got two stories to finish this month to complete my goals for the year. One story is mostly written, because it was written for a submission call that ended up closing early, while I was still tweaking the story. That one will be a snap to finish off and send out. The other one? Well, it’s a great idea, and I’ve got quite a lot written, but there’s still a lot of story to go. It’s going to be a photo finish on that one.

On the reading front, I’ve met my goals for the year and then some. I recently signed up for membership to Audible, which helps a lot as I can listen to audiobooks while I’m at working at my day job. I wasn’t sure I’d like listening to audiobooks (it just reminded me too much of the old cassettes of books-on-tape; yes, I am an old fart, lol), but then I started listening to (and enjoying) podcasts, and audiobooks are just really long podcasts. Reading a dead tree book can take me a month (or more–I’m still working on The Best of the Best Horror), but I can finish an audiobook in three or four days. I’m actually making substantial progress on my “to be read” list for the first time in a loooong time! If you’d like to sign up for a free trial, you can use my affiliate banner above and then I earn a little bonus, too.

Speaking of reading, I also jumped on board the #500Stories500Nights Challenge, where participants read (or listen to) a short story per day for 500 days. Of course, this challenge is very near and dear to my heart because short stories are all I write. I’m all for anything that promotes the greater readership of the format. It looks like most participants started the challenge on November 14, so that’s when I started, but my plan is to go ad infinitum. It’s a great way to explore new publishers and mediums, and a great way to promote the publications that publish short stories; many of which (at least on the list I’ve been reading from) pay a decent wage to their authors, too, so they deserve all the shout-outs. Here’s my list for my November participation in the challenge:

Nov 14: “The Devil Came to Mamie’s on Hallowe’en,” by Lisa Morton (Pseudopod 670)

Nov 15: “Zanders the Magnificent,” by Annie Neugebauer (Pseudopod 669)

Nov 16: “Sweet Dreams Are Made of You,” by Merc Fenn Wolfmoor (Nightmare Magazine podcast, Sept 18, 2019)

Nov 17: “Growing and Growing,” by Rich Larson (Nightmare Magazine podcast, Oct 23, 2019)

Nov 18: “The New Mother,” by Lucy Clifford (Pseudopod 675)

Nov 19: “The Collective Unconscious and How to Get Out,” by Hamilton Perez (The Overcast 116)

Nov 20: “Small Evil,” by Aeryn Rudel (The Arcanist, Oct 18, 2019)

Nov 21: “Tiny Teeth,” by Sarah Hans (Pseudopod 660)

Nov 22: “Necessary Cuts,” by Bryan Miller (Drabblecast 416)

Nov 23: “Wendy Woke Up,” by Mary Crosbie (Space Squid)

Nov 24: “The Cats of Ulthar,” by H. P. Lovecraft (Lovecraft Archive)

Nov 25: “The Witch,” by Shirley Jackson

Nov 26: “Shoggoths in Traffic,” by Tobias S. Buckell (LeVar Burton Reads podcast)

Nov 27: “Kennel Club” (author not credited?) (The Other Stories podcast)

Nov 28: “Frankincense and Myrrh,” by Megan Arkenberg (Kaleidotrope)

Nov 29: “Hannah-Beast,” by Jennifer McMahon (Electric Literature Recommended Reading)

Nov 30: “Overtime,” by Charles Stross (Tor.com)


On the publishing side of things, I have two bits of news. The first is that my story, “Spring Fever” has been published in issue #37 of Dark Moon Digest. Look at that cover! Couldn’t you just die?! The protagonist in this story is one of my favorite characters. I hope you enjoy the story as much as I did writing it.

Also, contracts have been signed for the first of my stories to be produced as a podcast. The publishing podcast, by the way, has quickly become one of my favorite podcasts not only because they have the good taste to “publish” one of my short stories (lol), but also because it’s a podcast full of the kind of stories I like to listen to: not splatterpunk or slasher, not experimental and obtuse, but creative, sometimes funny, and almost always with a little kiss of the weird. These are the kinds of stories I love to read (and listen to), and the kind I strive to write. So I’m hoping I’ll have other stories at this podcast in the future. I’ll provide more info and a link once my story is available at the podcast’s site.

And for the writers reading this, I have a little recommendation and sale to pass on. The end of the year is always such a financial crunch, with the expenses of the holidays and all the memberships coming due, like Horror Writers Association (or whatever your writer group is) and Duotrope, etc. So if you’re a writer looking to save a little cash (or someone who loves a writer and wants to get them a really great gift), then you should check out the sale at ProWritingAid. It’s one of the handy editing programs I use, and memberships are discounted right now, but hurry, the sale prices at this writing are only good through December 2nd. I’ve been doing a yearly membership, but since they’ve discounted the lifetime to cost less than two years of membership, I sprung for Lifetime membership. Now I don’t have to worry about it ever again. Or, as it lists in my profile details, my membership doesn’t expire until 2060 . . . which means if I’m 91 and still writing and using my editing software, then I might have to shake an ancient, grizzled fist at them when my membership expires. If you sign up using this link (even if the sale is over) I would appreciate it, because I get a little something-something as an affiliate.

Sign up for ProWriting Aid

See how this blogging thing works? Last month, my blog post was three sentences long; this month, you can’t get me to shut up. But now it IS time to shut up and get back to work. December is barrelling in like a runaway train.

Until next month, Keep on creepin’ on!

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Oh, brother, am I ever SWAMPED with things I need to get done before the end of the year. Here it is, winter already, and I’ve got so much school, work, writer, and home stuff that is still left undone. How did this happen? The next few weeks are going to be chaos for me.

There’s no time to hide under my desk and cry. There’s also no time for a decent blog post for you, dear readers. Instead, go read this:

My story, “Spring Fever,” available in Dark Moon Digest!

If I’m lucky, I’ll have made some progress and December’s blog post will be a wee bit longer. Maybe I’ll even finally finish the antho I’ve been TRYING to read, and I’ll be able to give an update.

Until next month (hopefully), Stay Spooky!