Horror Fiction Class – Week 1

· 1 Comment ·

Week 1 is coming to an end. It’s Wintermester, which means cramming an entire semester’s worth of content into 3.5 short weeks, and I can easily say I’m overwhelmed by the amount of material to cover… but in a good way.

Last night, the first true horror experience came out of the class as I, fingers typing furiously, submitted my short story at 11:59 PM. One minute to spare, I trimmed the fat, deleted it, saved it, submitted it, and opened the attachment only to find my 16 page story had now been reduced to 12 pages. Also, the ending… gah. I’ll just say it’s a work in progress. The story ended abruptly, only due to running out of time, and so…

Tomorrow, the residency portion of the class begins, which means workshopping what I,and twenty others wrote, as well as reading a novel by Sara Gran while tucked away in the rainy/snowy Rocky Mountains with others in my “tribe” of weird.

Stay tuned for week 2 updates.

 

Judging books by their covers

· Leave a comment ·

I remember being twenty-five and all that mattered were what bands you were into, what books were displayed on your bookshelf, and what your life motto was. Those things defined us. Decided our compatibility with one another. They were our self-created book covers by which others judged us, and half the battle was discovering how true these things actually were about others. And even more so, figuring out how true these things were aboutourselves. Do I really like that American Analog Set band, or am I just saying I do because so-and-so likes them? And if so-and-so likes them and I like them too, then so-and-so will like me—nay, respect me. Right? (ie. Was Kafka’sMetamorphosis really that good, or does saying I liked Metamorphoses make me look smart even though I didn’t enjoy it as much as I said I did?)

“Look at me! I’m an intellectual! And check out my diverse Indy CD collection!” Alas, I was never cool enough to have a record player and a box of old vinyls which would have undoubtedly put me on another level, but I digress. I guess what I’m getting at is that lately those old songs keep finding their way onto my playlist (I swear I keep updating my iPhone playlist, but it’s not as easy as only worrying about not effing up the songs on my iPod many years ago), and in turn I find myself evaluating my hypothetical “book cover” from years past.

So when The Postal Service comes on, I find it hard to remember why I liked them so much. Even (I can’t believe I’m about to say this) Radiohead doesn’t do it for me anymore. Instead I find myself listening to the Brick and Mortar station on I Heart Radio because Honeybadger don’t you know what. I no longer care about what’s cool and instead just like stuff because it jives with my personality. Makes my brain light up in the right places.

Here are some things that make my brain light up, and things that don’t.

  • Authors: Isaac Marion, Chuck Palahniuk (although I can’t get through Haunted and after a few books it’s inevitable that they all sort of start to sound the same), Erin Morgenstern whose in progress “slightly more book-shaped” novel is something I can’t wait to get my hands on! Ally Condie, Gillian Flynn (Dark Places rocked my world), Jeffrey Eugenides (I admit I’ve only read The Virgin Suicides and not Middlesex), Stephenie Meyer, J.K. Rowling (the HP books but not The Casual Vacancy which I put down without finishing), Flannery O’Connor (god, her short stories are amazing!), and Suzanne Collins.
  • Books I’ve abandoned without finishing : Haunted, Ismael, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, The Casual Vacancy, Angelfall, The Poisonwood Bible, The Giver
  • Bands I currently like: The Hives, Masked Intruder, Riverboat Gamblers, Against Me!, Gaslight Anthem, Alkaline Trio (the older stuff), The XX
  • Bands I used to love but can barely stand to hear anymore: Radiohead, Elliott Smith, Coldplay, Portishead, The Beta Band
  • Bands I used to think I liked (wanted to like) but in actuality probably never really did: Mates of State, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
  • Bands I’ve been told I should love but I can’t stand: Sonic Youth, The Smiths, The Rolling Stones
  • Favorite TV Shows: Dexter (seasons 1 to 4 but after that it goes down hill—WAY down, but I own all the seasons on DVD anyway), Six Feet Under, Dead Like Me, The Joe Schmo Show (Season 1 only- Season 2 was terrible, terrible, terrible!), Breaking Bad, Mad Men (but what’s with the “on the next Mad Men” previews? Those never give us anything to work with), The Walking Dead, American Horror Story, Orphan Black (but the boy clone in season 2 was a head scratcher), Band of Brothers (sooooo good!), House of Cards, Being Human, Orange is the New Black, Fargo, Face Off, Humans, and Homeland.
  • Other favorite things: I love horror and macabre/creepy chic things! ::evil laugh:: I also love the 40s era and the atomic era (Midcentury mod). I’m getting signs that I should write a horror novel:

So that’s my current “book cover”. For now. Judge away. 🙂

Mile High Horror, Prim and Grim, and still writing!

Gallery · · Leave a comment ·

Since my last post I’ve been really busy. Not so much with book stuff, but with my Etsy business, my day job, and the tedious process of house hunting and prepping our house to go on the market.

First, for the 2nd year in a row I took Prim and Grim to the Mile High Horror Film Festival. This was my 4th year attending the festival. I volunteered in 2012, attended as a member in 2013, attended as a member AND as a vendor in 2014, and went as a vendor this year but managed to squeeze in some films thanks in HUGE part to my amazing mother and to my friends Marissa, Corinne, and Vincent. But none of this would be possible without my husband who is just so, so supportive. He works a LOT of behind the scenes magic with the creation of many of our awesomely creepy lamps and gives up lots of time to essentially be a single parent during the month of October.

This year I sold necklaces to Lisa and Louise Burns (the Grady Twins from Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining), Ari Lehman (the original Jason Vorhees), the Scissor Sisters, and the always awesome and down to earth Dan Myrick (writer and creator of The Blair Witch Project). I also met some awesome folks which I hope to see more of in coming years, such as the creators of the upcoming Colorado Monster Madness and even a lovely gent whose son worked on Fox’s Scream Queens!

I enjoyed meeting Monster Midian, Daniel Crosier, Ryan Policky, William Wyman, Christenia Colvin, and Keith Eyres. For the myriad other friends I ran into along with the MHHFF volunteers–I was so happy to see you all! So much work goes into this top-notch festival every year. It just keeps growing and it’s NOT to be missed!

Here are some pics from this year’s festival:

A shout out from Lisa and Louise Burns from The Shining- they love the custom necklaces I created for them!
A shout out from Lisa and Louise Burns from The Shining- they love the custom necklaces I created for them!

 

After that, I took Prim and Grim to Share Denver for their Halloween Pop Up.

So that was October. Phew!

 

There has actually been quite a lot of activity on the book front too, even if it hasn’t been action on my part. Meaning:

  • I’ve received valuable feedback on my first two chapters of Shelved from a published author, Holly Bodger, who kindly donated her time as part of the Red Light Green Light contest which I was a top 10 finalist in. I’ll soon be busy working on her recommendations.
  • I also had 50+ high-school-aged beta readers read the first two chapters and answer 10 questions!

To be honest, it took me a while to open both of those emails–afraid enough that just seeing them sitting there in the queue gave me the chills. I’m a perfectionist, and I’ve always had terrible stage fright. At least in my day job as a manager and trainer, my public speaking topics are based on something NOT my own; I didn’t create the system we use… I didn’t create the laws that govern most of what I’m responsible to monitor in my day job. But this book- the writing– is ALL mine. The criticism always feels very personal. So now I’m left to decide where to take this draft of Shelved, but in the meantime, I’m REALLY enjoying reading again! I missed it so much while writing Shelved. I just finished Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty and now I’m halfway through Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake. I recommend both!

Well, that’s all for now! I’m still here, still working, still writing, and still looking forward to next October. 😉