New Story in the Works

I’m editing my newest horror story tonight. It should be ready and up by this weekend sometime. This is my favourite part of writing: when it’s almost ready for you guys to read. It’s like watching someone open something you bought them; half the fun is had by the person who knows what’s in the box.

Things I need:
-an image of a coffin that isn’t stupid
-a few more hours of editing work
-a strong cup of coffee

Keep an eye out this weekend for the new piece. It…goes in a new direction from my other stories (WINK), and I’m pretty happy with it.

In the meantime, check out my previous stories:

Needles & Pins

Feed

What’s Inside

Overtime

Mr Buster’s Bodies

Dump Room

Better Fat Than Dead

Double Creature, which contains the shorts ‘Screee’ and ‘Boogeyman’

Dark Side: Seven Repulsive Stories

Short Sips is Here!

My copies of Short Sips: Coffee House Flash Fiction Collection 2 came in! This one has my short story, If It’s An If. It’s a lot less gross and a lot more…eerie…than my other stuff.

What if you couldn’t have a baby? What if you were desperate?

What if your husband suggested the unthinkable…

Short Sips, Featuring Yours Truly, is Available Now!


Short Sips just hit Amazon! I’ve been waiting ever so patiently for this one to be published.

Hah, not really. I’m not a patient person.

Anyway, this collection is the only place you’ll find my story, “If It’s an If”. It’s a little different than my usual; this one is more subtle, but just as chilling. It’s one of my favourites, not least because this was the story that got me started in publishing. Awww…

It’s Read an EBook Week!

Haven’t tried e-books yet?

This week Smashwords is hosting Read an E-Book Week. What does it mean? Thousands of independent authors, like me, have put our work on sale.

We’ve done it because e-books are a great way to try out a new author. Because we want you to step outside the rules of traditional publishing and see what it’s like when authors control their own work. Independent authors set our own rules and publish our own truths, without having to bend to the will of publishers. You get a pure story, as it was meant to be read, as the author envisioned it.

Supporting indie authors means you’ll see more unique voices than you would through traditional publishing. Indies have more freedom to experiment with new formats, new ideas, and new niches that traditional publishing simply doesn’t have the resources to support.

It’s exciting, and if you haven’t tried e-books before, this is your time.

This week only, my Dark Side collection is on sale for 25% off. Don’t have an e-reader? Don’t worry; you can read it right on the site at Smashwords.

Click on the cover to get your own copy of Dark Side: Seven Repulsive Stories, and use coupon code REW25 to get 25% off at checkout.

My New Tattoos Part 2

I posted about my new tattoos a couple weeks ago. They’ve healed up beautifully; the colour on the typewriter came out exactly like I wanted.

So! The big healed reveal!

(I forgot to mention: the stars are about ten years old and desperately in need of fixing. I know. And as everyone on the entire internet says, I swear it doesn’t curve like that all the time!)

And…Harriet the Spy! I’ve always been a big reader, and when I was a kid Harriet the Spy was one of my favourite books. She wanted to be a writer, just like me, and I loved the idea of sneaking about looking in windows and learning about people. (Okay, creeping, but let’s not split hairs here.)
Anyway, I’ve told myself for years that I’d get a Harriet tattoo the first time I got published, and I couldn’t be happier.

(I got her on my inner bicep, opposite the typewriter. I’d thought about putting her on my outer shoulder, but I realized she looks somewhat like I do. And I didn’t want to pull a Steve-O.)

Rejected.

It finally happened.

I got rejected this week—twice!—for two different pieces, from two different markets. Honestly, until now I’ve been incredibly fortunate. The work I’ve been submitting traditionally has hit the right publishers at the right times and was accepted every time. Up until now, I’ve enjoyed a perfect run.

It was bound to happen, and to be honest I thought it would be upsetting when it did.

But I’m okay.

I thought I would take my first rejections personally. I thought I would judge myself harshly and feel rejected as a person. But I don’t. I’m still new to the publishing game, and it would be unfair to myself to expect perfection. Either the work I submitted was good, just not for those particular markets, or it sucked and I just didn’t see it.

That’s the important distinction. The work might have sucked. And if the work sucked, it doesn’t mean I suck. It means I have more to learn, and hundreds of thousands of practice hours ahead of me.

Everyone expects to be able to write right from the start, because we all know how to put words on paper. But to be able to write well, that’s the part that only comes with hard work. It comes with failing, and hating it, and starting over.

And now that I know it’s not the end of the world, I’m less afraid of the next time. It’s a little liberating, actually.