Fat Tuesday

As I posted on my Facebook wall--- "It's Fat Tuesday Bedelia, and I WANT MY King CAKE!" It's one of those favorite lines from a movie that I still use today. The movie/graphic novel was Creepshow, by Stephen King. When I was around eleven or twelve years old (not all that long ago, HA!) it was one of the movies my family watched together when you were able to rent a VCR for the weekend and a bunch of movies. My parents were on a horror movie kick so most of the movies we watched were in that genre. Although my parents no longer enjoy watching horror movies, they sparked my love for it and I haven't stopped watching/loving them since. I think watching horror movies makes me feel like there are worse situations I could be in and that's what draws me to them. Then I think about movies or shows I've seen and books I've read and think, hmm...what if this happened instead? and the characters were switched around? and they were in a big city? And that's how some of my ideas for novels come to life.

I recently read an unpublished novel by friend and colleague, JG Faherty that I enjoyed a lot despite the fact I didn't think I would, only because the topic matter was something I wouldn't normally choose to read about. But it was no surprise I enjoyed it considering his YA novel, The Ghosts of Coronado Bay is nominated for a Bram Stoker Award in the YA/Horror category. Here is the link to the full list of final nominees. http://www.horror.org/ A big congratulations to all of them. JG Faherty also has a book out that I've recently preordered titled, The Cold Spot from Darkfuse Publications. I'm looking forward to reading it. http://www.darkfuse.com/the-cold-spot-by-jg-faherty.html

I'm also in the process of reading Lee Thomas', The German, which I will blurb about when I'm done. It's also a Bram Stoker Award nominee and has really good reviews posted everywhere.

In fashion news, (my other love), NY Fashion Week ended a few days ago and I've been busy shopping the sales from previous seasons/years. One item that stood out for this season were these cool Prada shoes that seemed so unlike the brand. (Their spring/summer purse line was very unimpressive.) But these shoes! They're like Batman shoes, and a couple of them even come equipped with rocket boosters in the back. Although Italian-made shoes don't fit my big American feet so well, I'd almost consider the torture of wearing them for a few hours.

CAKE

http://youtu.be/__PU5CVSegg

"Bowel-shaking earthquakes of doubt and remorse..."

Today this old CAKE song pretty much sums up how I'm feeling. It doesn't matter how many times I go over a piece of my work, there's always that feeling of I'm not so sure it's all that good milling around. Don't know if there's anyway to get over that, but tomorrow I'm leaving the house, maybe catch a movie. Then it's time to get back to work on my next novel, a fantasy/horror/romance (but not really, because the lovers die) story that was a lot of fun to write when I started it over a year ago. It needs a lot of work, but the different will be a good change for me, I hope.

New Website's DONE (for now)

YAY! I'm SO glad my website is done. And thank you to the host site for making it fairly easy. It only took me two and a half days. I just wish there was a quicker way to download photos. All of this came about by a recommendation from a friend/fellow author, Lincoln Crisler. He essentially told me it needed some work like, "just make a new one." I'm sure he said it more directly, however ;-) Here's some thanks to him for getting me started on it. http://lincolncrisler.info/  Check him out, he's got some great stuff in the works.

Alas! It is a cloudy day today in Vegas. Very rare, and good working weather for me, but since I've been stuck in the house for the last few days working on the website, I'm heading out to do some fun stuff.

New Year, New Stuff

Yes, it's been nearly a year, or over a year since I've blogged, but I was busy. Not only did I move back to Las Vegas, I finally finished editing my novel and have it out for submission. I also finished a short story that will soon be published in Horror For Good: A Charitable Anthology. YAY! This will be my first published piece of work.

I will be at the World Horror Convention 2012, in Salt Lake City, Utah from March 29 thru April 1. Very much looking forward to it, visiting with old friends, and making new ones.

I'm also revamping my website with a little help from a friend. http://renamasonwrites.com Hope to be keeping this blog up to date as well.

Stoker Weekend 2011

Want to write horror? Give yourself a deadline and simultaneously go on a diet. Suddenly, everyone's dying gruesome deaths. Well, that's what I've taken on. Originally, I'd planned on finishing my novel by the end of June to leave time for fixing editor's remarks, then ready to send out to previous inquiries in early July and possibly pitch again in September. I've been convinced to attend Stoker Weekend in Long Island, New York from June 16 thru June 19 which ups my work ante to an insane level. I'm prepared to do it though. Determined.

There's a form I have to fill out to "open" pitch. I've got to research the agents/editors/publishers. It'll be like my two minute speed pitching experience at the PNWA convention last year, but to a lot more people than four. I've got to tighten up my first fifty pages, get my synopsis into shape and practice the loathesome "pitch". It comes natural to some people, but I've always been horrible at selling anything, and the pitch to me is like the dentist to a candy fiend. Yes. I can do this.

The thing I learned last year and readily forgot, was that it's not about selling. It's about telling. And who knows my story better than me? No one. I remember now, how I did it last year. I had my pitch "somewhat" memorized, but spoke it naturally and left time for questions. Just like they tell you to when you read about pitch sessions. Once I was able to relax and get into a groove, it felt like giving friends a quick overview of the story. Something I'd done many times before.

This memory has me feeling a little more confident, but it's still going to be an interesting day I'm very much looking forward to.

Getting Back To It.

It's been SO long, I had to go back and read my first three blogs. Ha! A lot has gone on since I wrote last. I never heard anything back from anybody about the novel I'd queried last year, but then I decided that I needed to make it less YA, and more "my style", which is dark. That project will be on hold for a while, and has become a bit of a saga.

Currently, I've been working on rewriting/revising/editing what I call my "alien story". I'm over halfway through, then I'll fix all of the edits and hopefully "pitch" it at KillerCon Vegas which I'll be attending in late September. I've received more positive feedback from my writer peers on this story, than any other so far, and that keeps me motivated to finish it.

Last month, I attended World Horror Con in Austin, Texas. It was pretty big considering it was mostly only for horror. I didn't pitch while I was there, so I wasn't stressed out, except for meeting new people. I got to meet Jack Ketchum and Peter Straub, among many other horror author favorites. Everyone was very friendly, especially at all of the hosted parties which all lasted until the sun came up. Funny though, people would ask me what I was reading, or who my favorite author was, and it was hard to respond. My reading is truly across the board, which is probably why my writing is such a mash up of genres.

Last week, I attended the Saints and Sinners Literary Festival held every year at The Bourbon Orleans in the French Quarter. It was a lot fun too, but I didn't drink hardly at all because I'm still recovering from Austin. This year, I ate my way through. I didn't read, and wasn't on a panel, or pitching. Actually, I didn't attend any of the classes or panels either. I mainly went to support my friend David Matthew Barnes, who has a few Young Adult books out. I left early Sunday and missed his reading. It was still a great trip however, because I got to spend time with friends and the weather was fantastic, although the Mississippi River flood warnings loomed over everyone like a dark cloud.

As for reading, I recently finished Jack Ketchum's, The Girl Next Door, which I thought was well done. It reminded me of a "Wonder Years" gone wrong. Previous to that, I read the novella Wild, by Lincoln Crisler, whom I met at WHC, Austin. It was a great Western Zombie story. I'm currently reading Brian Keene's, A Gathering of Crows, which he also recommended. There were so many books I got from the convention, it'll take me forever to read them. I never thought of myself as a slow reader, but compared to some of my new friends, I guess I am. I used to find it hard to write while I was reading, but it's getting much easier.

My new goals are to finish the alien story, pitch it, then keep my fingers crossed. I've also been writing some short stories which I'd like to start sending out. And I'm going to try and keep up with posting blogs.

It's Been Way Too Long...

Anything to avoid writing at the moment, I've finally decided to write something for my blog. As for the queries I had out---one came back with a not-so-standard rejection letter, telling me what wasn't working for them, which totally bummed me out. (Maybe the standard rejections aren't so bad after all.) I never heard anything back from the other agent that I sent my query to. (So much for the "personal" meeting agents at conferences angle.) Since then, I've decided to rework a few things, like the short story. I'm currently revising two short horror stories I've been working on for submission. I'm also writing a short story for an anthology. Eventually, I will get around to revising the science fiction novel I wrote last year. It's been hard getting motivated after this round of rejection letters, but I've been using the time to gather up ideas. When I'm ready again, I'll start over.