Heartache and Other Good Times

It's been a very rough and exhausting week, yet an enlightening one. Man, have I learned some great lessons that will help me for the rest of my life. But I think I still need work on forgiving. I have some values I will not bend on and when someone else tells me they agree, hell, they feel the same way and would never do that certain something... and then their actions contradict their empty words, it makes me furious. But there are a lot of gems hidden inside conflict. Oh yeah. Things we wouldn't learn any other way.

One thing I've learned is that I need to limit my writing time. I've been at it hard for a few years, working 8 hours a day on top of my normal job. That has a hard impact on relationships and there's no one to blame for that but myself. Good lesson to learn. I think I can cut back work to two hours a day (maybe three--then I can get a novel, two novellas and a half dozen short stories a year) and take the weekends off to get out and have fun, learn new things, indulge in other interests I love like music, theater, martial arts, jogging, hiking, art, etc. There is a neat aviator course I'd love to take this summer (I'd probably giggle a lot), and I'd really like to start rock climbing again (Oh, how I miss Colorado.)

I have some great friends. Man, do I. Thank you for the support, for love, for your time, for your advice, for listening, for your faith, for everything. I enjoy the hell out of so many people (though there are some people I'll never like, god knows why.)


Pretty cool to see that the paperback for NURSERY RHYMES 4 DEAD CHILDREN will be available in ***Whitcoull's stores in New Zealand.*** I have no idea where that is, but it sounds spiffy.

NURSERY RHYMES 4 DEAD CHILDREN is also ***#2 on Horror Mall's pre-order bestseller list now.*** Sweet. Thanks to everyone who has dropped their hard-earned cash for a signed/limited hardcover! It's going to be a beauty and include some of my dead flesh (I had to sign a lot of signature sheets!)

My last guest blog is up on ***Blu Gilliand's October Country*** for anyone to check out who hasn't read it. I should have had the next one finished by now but I've been unable to focus as I sorted through a mountain of emotions. I've got things in order now; I'm feeling ready to start on it this week.

Also received news there's a new review of AS I EMBRACE MY JAGGED EDGES in ***Morpheus Tales April Supplement.***

I hope everyone else is loving hard and living large. Embrace those who treat you well because they don't have to give you anything. They do it out of the goodness in their hearts. I'll be back around on Fb and all that pretty soon. Got a bunch of emails to catch up on over the next two or three days! Thanks again!

New reviews and next guest blog

I hope everyone is doing well. Just dropping three links to new stuff. I hope you dig 'em.

My next guest blog is live on Blu Gilliand's cool site *October Country: Using Destruction to Build Something Beautiful.*

Jennifer at Book Den reviewed my short story CROOKED STICK FIGURES. *Here*

And Sheri White landed the first review for my forthcoming novel NURSERY RHYMES 4 DEAD CHILDREN. *Here*

Thanks Blu, Jennifer, Sheri, and anyone who takes time to check out what they sacrificed time to do.

Put a pistol to her belly

because she likes being scared.

Been a busy bee.

Working on my next guest blog post for *Blu Gilliand's October Country*: Using Destruction to build something beautiful (the art of conflict, subplot, and backstory. Should have it finished in the next couple days and will announce when it's live. Thanks to the great people who've let me post on their blogs and to you for reading and commenting! You can read all of them via the "2011 Blog Tour" at the top there.

I'm boycotting Dorchester/Leisure because they've become assholes--stealing authors works they no longer have the rights to and selling them, not paying those authors monies long-past due, and for being trolls. You can read about it *Here*

And Brian Keene mentioned my name! How cool is that? Thanks Brian!

Also going to run a contest soon. I'm getting two of these Crowmother shirts from The Bag and The Crow and will give them away to one lucky man and one lucky woman. It's for a great cause and for a great friend. You can pick one up for yourself or someone you care about, too, and get entered in a contest with some great prizes. Please check it out! *Details*

There's a new review up on The Crow's Caw by my buddy Sheldon Higdon. *Here*

I've seen the artwork for my deluxe hardcover of *AS I EMBRACE MY JAGGED EDGES* which will go up for pre-order on Sideshow Press the 1st of April. It's going to be a fantastic production and have a never before published short that I'm pretty proud of as well. Nifty. The digital version is cheap and has gotten some great reviews you can read in the "Reviews" tab at the top of my blog.

Working on the second Division book and had some revelations that will make them much more than I ever thought they could be. The first book *NURSERY RHYMES 4 DEAD CHILDREN (Delirium Books, May 2011)* is already in the hands of some talented reviewers and I'm looking forward to what people think of it. It's the starting place for the world I'm creating, and it only gets darker from there. I'm pretty damn proud of this series and everything my characters go through.

My short *CROOKED STICK FIGURES* is only free for a short while longer. People have been digging it, which makes me smile. I never thought I'd care so much about feedback, but it turns out I do. What a dork, eh?

Life is pretty good. I'm tired more than I want to be, but thrilled to have so many wonderful people in my life and so many good things happening. It's a big shift from the way my life used to be.

How is everyone else doing? Whatcha reading that has tugged on your heartstrings or scared you silly?

Guest blog #4, Honorable Mentions, etc.

My fourth guest blog "On Pushing Boundaries" is live on Literary Mayhem. A big thank you to Peter Scwhotzer! And a big thank you to anyone who reads and/or comments!

*On Pushing Boundaries*



I also came home from work the other day and found three of my stories (all three my first sales where I made some money last year!) are on Ellen Datlow's Honorable Mentions list for Best Horror of the Year, volume 3. Thanks, Ellen! And thanks to Shaun and Kevin (who also has an Honorable Mention! Yay for Kevin!) for their editing skills, and the publishers (Shane Staley, Steve Clark, and Boyd Harris) who picked them up!

*Year's Best Horror, volume 3: Honorable Mentions*

Some other things that are cool:

A neat little story by Cate Gardner. I have her fantastic collection Strange Men in Pinstripe Suits and other curious things. *And, the bride wore ashes*

Also just saw that Cate's great collection is available on Kindle now: *Buy it!*

My Sunshine Lady, Kara, got a new job! Very proud of her!

You can find some great book reviews at *The Crow's Caw.*

And a great review of one of my favorite writer's new books: *Greg Gifune's Dreams the Ragman.*


I don't know if it's the time of year where writers compare themselves to their peers but it seems to be going around. So... um... stop it. That doesn't help you do YOUR thing. Or maybe it does. Maybe you need to get angry, disappointed, or jealous to write your best work, to move to the next level. Just keep an open mind. None of our paths are exactly the same even though the bedrock is usually fashioned of certain elements.

I'm feeling good. Could be the pride I feel for my wonderful gal, the honorable mentions, the progress on the novel, or a combination of them all, who knows, who cares. Life can always be a lot worse. Always. A lot. So smile. You've got good things going for ya!