Closure, reviews, friends, etc.

All right. One of these days I'm going to get back to writing. I swear. But I did get a lot of rest today and I feel recharged.

Off to an interview for a new job this week! Pretty excited! Hopefully I'll be working there in the next couple of weeks after I get my Commercial Core license. Yay!

I also tried something I've never done before (Closure) and even though it was tough, I think it was necessary. I learned some great lessons and had a lot of laughs and really can't complain about anything that's happened over the last year. Life is right. No use getting bummed about what may or may not have been when what I had was definitely the best thing for me at the time and she gave more than anyone else ever has. (I can be quite demanding and unmovable.)

I am eager to write again, just need a little more time to process what the hell happened. Until then, a couple things:

Got a wonderful review of NURSERY RHYMES 4 DEAD CHILDREN at ***Literary Mayhem***. Thanks, Peter! And thanks to anyone who reads and comments!

My talented buddy Bec has a story in this you could check out: M is for Monster

I'm working on an adaption for a local theater production which should be pretty awesome and something I've wanted to do for a while! Once everything is finalized I can't wait to get some pics!

My story THIS FINAL DECEMBER DAY is out in Apex's The Zombie Feed anthology, volume one now. Good deal! *Clickie*

I also worked in the few edits for my story BENEATH THE WEEPING WILLOW (my favorite short so far) which will be in Shock Totem issue 4 this July. I can't wait until people read it. I hope it shakes them up as much as it did me.

My buddy Jassen Bailey is making some great tees and the proceeds are going to Lungevity, which is awesome. Plus there are some great prizes to be had from the likes of author Jack Ketchum and artist Zack McCain. Take part! Make a difference! ***Here***

And I heard from my publisher that ***Nursery Rhymes 4 Dead Children*** is at the binder. Can't wait to have the signed/limited hardcover and the trade paperback on my bookshelf!

Been getting some great feedback on my direct to digital coming-of-age novella ***BEFORE LEONORA WAKES***. It's a damn good little story. I love this kid who is essentially me at that age (though he's probably a helluva lot smarter than I was. Probably a helluva lot smarter than I am now.)

Read a sweet novella by Brian James Freeman called The Painted Darkness. I'm working on a review for the Crow's Caw right now. Good stuff.

I'm also working on my next guest blog "On Editing," which will be on Ms. Cindie Geddes blog in the next few days! These things are a lot of fun to write and help me in ways I can't explain. Kinda like Fruity Pebbles.

I think I'm pretty blessed. People don't owe me crap yet they support me, make me smile, they're there for me. It's kinda numbing really. Where the hell did all of this luck and good fortune come from?!?! People used to hate me.

It creeps me out a little. :P

But thank you!

2010 in the Rearview/ 2011 Giving Me a Lap Dance…

***
Wow. This was a landmark year for me and the most enjoyable I've had since found stumbling around this mortal coil.

I met the woman of my dreams. Then we learned that a dream is just a dream and a real loving relationship takes work, which turned out to be kinda fun, and well worth the effort on both our parts. We've taught each other things, we've learned to listen, we share so much and give like you wouldn't believe. I was happy before. She makes me happier. I hope I can always do the same for her.

I've come to love limited edition books. They make my blood sing, my fingers tingle, and my hair stand on end. It's amazing the talent and skill that goes into making them, an outer beauty to match the inner glory of the stories. Perfect. I'll do everything I can to support authors and publishers I believe in. Like Steve Clark’s Tasmaniac Publications, Tom and Billie Moran’s Sideshow Press, Shane Ryan Staley’s Delirium Books, Brett Alexander Savory’s Chizine Publications, RJ and Julia Sevin’s Creeping Hemlock Press, as well as Centipede Press, Bloodletting, and Bad Moon Books, as well as magazines like Shock Totem, Dark Discoveries, and a dozen others. And authors they publish: Greg Gifune, Brian Hodge, Tom Piccirilli, Douglas Clegg, Peter Straub, Shaun Jeffrey, Clive Barker, Sam W. Anderson, Erik Williams, John Mantooth, Tim Lebbon, Cate Gardner, Gary Braunbeck, Mark Allan Gunnells, Sheldon Higdon, Ronald Malfi, Brian Knight, and a host more.

I learned that sometimes I need to step away from the Internet, to strip my life down to what matters most—the barest essentials: my relationship, my family, my closest friends, and my work. Energy ebbs and flows. I have to stay in step with it to keep dancing so smoothly. Pretty fly for a white guy, eh?

I learned a lot from writing this year from those who have critted my stories (Shaun Ryan, Kevin Wallis, Kara, Ken Wood, Ben Eads, Wanda Clevenger, Shaun Jeffrey, and Mark Allan Gunnells) and I give them all a big butt smack filled with appreciation to carry them into 2011. Not only are they great critters, they're great people with great butts.

I've met amazing editors who have helped me develop faith in myself that goes beyond the normal, and sometimes tiresome, back-patting you see among writers. So a big thanks to Steve Clark, Tom Moran, Shane Ryan Staley, Ken Wood, Claire Nixon, Michael Louis Dixon, Jassen Bailey, James Beach, and Jason Sizemore. Not to mention their great teams with people like Maggie Jamison, Mercedes Yardley, Nick Contor, John Boden, Jason V. Brock, etc., etc.

I had a blast while helping select stories for Horror Library Volume 4. It's such an excellent collection.

I found some great shows that made me laugh. Spaced; Spartacus: Blood and Sand; Peep Show; and some others that elude me because I'm a dork.

I've read a hundred great books (my top five would be: Greg Gifune’s The Bleeding Season; Tom Piccirilli’s Shadow Season; Sam W. Anderson’s collection Postcards from Purgatory; Douglas Clegg’s Neverland; and Jack Cady’s Street (which I copied the entire novel by hand to learn more. LOl. I am insane.)

I got to see some of my friends sell stories, collections and novels. Outstanding! I expect they'll all sell much more in 2011. I’m excited for them!

I gave my first blurb! (Kevin Wallis’s fantastic collection Beneath the Surface of Things)

I had my first interview! (AJ Brown interviewed me. What fun! And an equally fun second interview performed by Mark Allan Gunnells!)

I had my first professional sale! (Shock Totem issue 4, baby! Where my story “Beneath the Weeping Willow” sits in wait to get its hands on your throat, and maybe your heart.)

Hosted our first Scary Sad Stories Talent Show (We will repeat every Halloween!)

I found a career after a lifetime of living as a hooker and part-time vagabond!

I had my first limited-edition hard cover release! (As I Embrace My Jagged Edges—which was released in digital, is also being released in a limited hardcover run for collector's and features a bonus story! Drop kickin’ a pregnant watermelon.)

I’ve learned that there is more pleasure in having work through publishers I love and having my work among my heroes than the measly satisfaction given by money. A whole lot. But the money is nice because then I can buy people stuff (like breath mints.) :D

I wrote several long pieces (45-90,000 words). Four of them to be exact. Everyone of them was fun—we danced, we laughed, we cried, we collapsed, exhausted! And I am proud of them all. And you'll see some of them released in 2011!

I hope others have had such a wonderful year. It’s overwhelming at times. Surreal. But I'm grateful and looking forward to hitting my stride this next year! Dig it! And the great thing is 2010 is not even over yet and more wonderful news might arrive!