The best-laid plans, and all that…

I didn’t expect to still be posting a blog here. I parked my website here a year ago, intending to move it somewhere else…eventually. So when the year anniversary of that “temporary” parking neared, I decided I’d better get on it and find a new website home.

As you can see, it hasn’t quite worked out! The first host I tried didn’t allow enough customization. The second host allowed a wonderful amount of customization, but the pricing was sketchy. The price that led me to sign up was not the price after I created a site; I literally had one window open that said one price and another price within their editor. And when I sent an email to their customer service, I got back an email saying:

“XXX web host pricing may vary depending on time, currency, geographical location and eligibility. Eligibility is a combination of individual factors which are being defined by XXX’s Team responsible for preparing and advertising our Premium offers, at their sole discretion. At this point, we’re unable to give you any further insights regarding the particular mechanisms behind the Premium pricing in your location.”

I don’t know much about how the web hosting business works, so I don’t understand a lot about their response. Why does pricing vary depending on “time”? Do I get a better deal if I sign up after midnight? And Eligibility? The two different prices were on the company’s own website, not a promo email, and neither was a “sale” price. So what do they mean by “eligibility”, and specifically, eligibility determined by team members? Do I need to friend one of them on Facebook and exchange funny cat videos to get better pricing? And then that last part, about not giving me any further insights, that just sounds like they’re telling me to bugger off. So I did.

So I’m still looking. I found another provider that I’m trying to test out, but we’ve almost swung to the other end of the customization scale, and this host almost allows too much customization. I haven’t used HTML or CSS in years, and I don’t remember much, so too much customization means I can really screw things up good. Plus, the host is definitely on the expensive side (for my taste; for someone who wants absolute customization power, I think the price is worth it).

So I’ll keep looking and building test sites, in between work, school, and writing. Hopefully, you’ll be visiting a redesigned new site by next month.

On the writing side of things, I’m excited to announce that my short story, “Indian Uprising,” will be appearing in the Third Flatiron anthology, Hidden Histories. More information will be coming soon!

See you next month!

We’re having a “snow day” (cold day?) here, so what better way to spend it than updating the blog?

North Dakota is famous for its cold weather, so imagine our surprise when pretty much everything shut down today (January 29^th, as I write this) because of extreme cold. When North Dakota and Minnesota shut down for extreme cold, you know it’s got to be like a scene from “The Day After Tomorrow.”

I’m using the day to do some editing and complain about the weather on Facebook.

I’m editing a new story I wrote in January for a deadline of the 31^st. Yes, I know I’m cutting it close, but I’ll make it. The really great news is that it will be the SECOND of two new stories getting sent out, and January is only just ending! Go me!

Of course, you know I like to write short stories, but they have always been my favorite form to read. They are like a snack, and mixed-author anthologies are like a buffet; you get to sample all kinds of different stories from different writers.

My first read of 2019 was the short story anthology, The Best American Short Stories 2018. The editor for this edition was Roxane Gay, which made me even more excited for it because I’m a big fan. I even had the opportunity to take a fiction workshop she gave a few years back.

My favorites in this anthology were, in no particular order:

“Suburbia!” by Amy Silverberg;

“Items Awaiting Protective Enclosure,” by Tea Obreht (this is dystopian, by the way, and my absolute favorite of the collection);

“The Art of Losing,” by Yoon Choi;

“Boys Go to Jupiter,” by Danielle Evans.

My second read of 2019 was Best New Zombie Tales, Volume 1, edited by James Roy Daley. It’s a great collection with a variety of interesting takes on zombie lore.

My favorites, in no particular order:

“Wings,” by Jessica Brown;

“The Man Who Breaks the Bad News,” by Kealan Patrick Burke;

“Paradise Denied,” by John French;

“Pegleg and Paddy Save the World,” by Jonathon Maberry;

“Groundwood,” by Bev Vincent.

Next up, I’ll be diving into some of the books by authors coming to the local writer’s conference and trying to read my way through my pile of “The Best New Horror” anthologies. I haven’t quite decided what story I’m going to work on next on the writing front, but I do plan on brainstorming a bit on a Halloween project and see where that goes.

Until next time!
Carpe Corpus,
Brenda

How about that! I’m ending the year on a good note and actually getting things done ahead of time! Don’t get your hopes up that it’s going to happen very often, because it won’t.

First, I want to start by reminding you that Test Patterns: Creature Features is available for your reading pleasure. It includes my story, “From Little Acorns Grow.” It’s available in both paperback and Kindle. Pick up your copy today!

And Welcome to Miskatonic University is available for preorder directly from the publisher. It includes my story, “Wyrd Science.”

On the new writing front, I was able to meet my goal (just by the skin of my teeth) in getting one more new short story written and sent out before the end of the year. Now I can start thinking about what I want to accomplish in the coming year.

Speaking of 2019, there’s a lot of good stuff (well, HOPEFULLY good stuff…MAYBE good stuff) happening in television and movies this year.

We’ve been promised a new season of Stranger Things in 2019. Of course, by this point, the kids are all grown up and the scariest thing they’re dealing with now are mortgages and property taxes, but still… Stranger Things Season 3.

The other television series I’m looking forward to is the remake of Rod Serling’s Night Gallery. I love Twilight Zone, but Night Gallery was my favorite.. I’m just hoping the new writers can do it justice. Night Gallery coming to SyFy.

And, in case you’ve never heard of the wondrous Night Gallery, here’s the Wiki for the original series. Night Gallery Wiki.

There are a lot of great movies coming in 2019 (including IT part 2), but there are two I’m both looking forward to and feeling very skeptical about.

The first is Rise of the Living Dead, Cameron Romero’s prequel to his dad’s Night of the Living Dead. His dad essentially invented the modern zombie, so he’s got some big shoes to fill. It’s a must-see, for sure, but I’m expecting to be disappointed. Rise of the Living Dead.

The second is another remake of The Blob. I absolutely loved the originals (cut me some slack, I was a kid), but I didn’t care for the 80s remake. To be fair, I really should watch it again before I watch the latest one. Maybe I’ll see if I can do a whole blob-a-thon before I watch the newest. I am a little worried that everyone is touting this one as being more sci-fi, but that might be okay. A lot of people classify the Alien franchise as sci-fi, but it is one of the scariest franchises ever (at least Alien and Aliens are, anyway). So this is also on my must-see list. Of course, it does have Samuel L. Jackson in it, so that’s an automatic point in the “win” column for it. The latest Blob.

World War Z 2 WAS on my must-see list, but it looks like it won’t be released until 2020. Just gives us something to look forward to besides political ads in 2020!

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Don’t forget to follow me on Facebook and visit my Amazon page!

I am working away in earnest to finish up a few things before the end of the year.

Before we embarked on the adventure of buying a new house and moving, I had set a goal of finishing at least one new short story before the year was over. At the time, I thought I was setting the bar low…HA! HA! HA!

I WILL achieve that goal (the first goal met in a while, woot!) with a new sci-fi comedy story I’m working on. The publications I intend to send it to have a deadline of the end of the month, but so far I’m on track (knock on wood, rub the rabbit’s foot, and anything else that brings me luck).

I’m also finishing up my first college course. I’m working on the final project, a revision of all the works produced in class, but that also is progressing smoothly.

Once those tasks are complete, I have a new goal for the new year.

Thanks to a writer’s workshop I took this year (and writing for my college class), I’ve realized I waste an awful lot of time when I should be writing (says every writer everywhere).

Ray Bradbury once advised that a short story writer should write one short story a week! That would be impossible for me, but my current rate of one or two short stories a year is ridiculously pitiful.

So, for 2019, I’ve set a goal of writing eight new short stories.   

Don’t forget to check back and see how I do.

 

Guess what? I didn’t make the new story deadline!

You probably already guessed that from the fact that there was *no* October update.

See, when life happens, it happens by the butt-ton (and yes, that is an official measurement).

Let me tell you a story.

Hubby and I decided to sell our home, a mobile home we had lived in for 20+ years, due to new ownership of the park. We were prepared for the worst, because mobile homes around here often take *years* to sell. I didn’t want to look at any houses to buy because of that.

Hubby, though, browsed the Realtor app daily. And he had a front-runner that he wanted to look at. I declined. Not until our home sells. It doesn’t do any good to fall in love with a house and have it sold out from under you.

And then our house sold…eleven days after being listed. We had a helluva Realtor!

So we signed the papers and set up a list of houses to see…but the house hubby loved had been pulled from the market and was about to be put up as a rental. Our realtor talked to the other (previous) agent and got us a 48-hour opening to see the house and make a decision. We looked at many, many houses, and then went to see the one hubby loved… and it was perfect.

And just like that, we were moving. We had 45 days to close on our mobile home, which meant we had two weeks or less to pick a house, and only forty-eight hours to decide on the house hubby liked. It all came together so fast…

So we bought the house. We closed the third week in September on the new house, and the last week of September on the mobile home.

But, things can never go smoothly, can they?

Keep in mind, while all this home-showing, home-looking, packing, etc. is going on, I’m working full time, taking a class that requires multiple papers to be written, and still trying to write.

So the moving begins. However, six hours into the move, hubby falls off the deck at the mobile home and breaks his ankle in three places. Yeah.

In addition to all the above stuff, I’m now responsible for: all the unpacking, all of the household duties that we used to share, AND taking care of hubby while he recuperates.

Thankfully, we had wonderful friends and family who stepped in to help us move everything to the new house. I don’t know what I would have done without them!

And, as the weeks went by, hubby became more mobile and was more able to take care of himself and help with some household chores. But those first few weeks? Yikes. I was one stressed out maniac!

So I didn’t get my story written for the deadline. With the way things were, I’m just glad I got my homework done for my class and I didn’t let the dogs (or hubby) starve to death, lol!

But with optimism in my heart, I’m trying to get things back on track. I’m working on a new story (in-between research papers). I’ve not set a deadline for it or picked an anthology I want to write it for. Right now, I’m keeping it casual and not putting to much pressure on myself for the rest of the year.

There is good news to share on the writing front, though. Test Patterns: Creature Features is now available! It includes my short story, “From Little Acorns Grow…” Be sure to grab a copy! It’s available in paperback or Kindle.

See you next month! (Knock on wood)