The Little Drummer Girl

I didn’t do any writing last night. I went to the movies instead and saw The Boy in the Striped Pajamas which left me feeling very sad and a little disturbed and not even wanting to write or read or think about either. So, I still don’t have an ending for The Little Drummer Girl. The story is three quarters of the way done but the ending is eluding me. I sort of know where I want to go with it but I’m having trouble coming up with an idea for the actual scene. I think I have verbal constipation. I think I’ll just stop “trying” to think about it and it might come to me. I think I need a long nap.

Monday

I call my blog Monday because quite frankly I can’t think of anything else to call it.

I got in some good work on the novel over the weekend but as is the way, as soon as I get comfortably buried in editing, ideas for short stories start stomping around in my head. And yesterday I was at an inner city gallery to see a photography exhibit and I got a great idea from one of the photos. All I’ve done though is make notes. They’ll have to wait because apart from the short story for the Festive Fear Anthology (which is now titled The Little Drummer Girl) and finding homes for The Pennyroyal and The Death Blossoms, I’m concentrating on the novel.

I’ve entered Desolation and The Baited Psychopath in the AHWA Flash and Short Story Comps respectively so they’re done and out of the way.

Oh, and I got my copy of Phantasy Moste Grotesk by Felicity Dowker on Friday. I started it last night and it’s spectacularly creepy.

Toowong Cemetery Tour

Last Saturday night a group of my writing friends and I went to Toowong Cemetery and I’m finally getting around to blogging about it. I haven’t been slack (for once), I’ve been editing. And not short stories but the manuscript!

Anyway, to the cemetery tour: We had a great time traipsing around a dark cemetery with our torches. There were about 20 people in all and the guides were dressed in old suits and role played the whole time. I had expected to be a little unnerved, yes me, ghoul that I am, but it was one of the calmest, most peaceful places I’ve ever been. We had the perfect evening, a carpet of stars in the sky (it clouded over a little later) and as the cemetery is built on a hill, it provided the most stunning views out over the city.

We heard stories of ghost sightings, stories of how they’d died and all the time I was taking mental notes about where I can use certain bits of information. I even now have an idea for a short story for Tasmaniac Publications Festive Fear Anthology which I have titled The Manic Gatekeeper.

A group of us are going back soon during the daytime for a “research trip” and picnic. I can’t wait to take my camera and photograph the graves, some of which were the most beautiful I’ve seen (and I’ve been to a few cemeteries in my time).

Also, I have a release date of 25 May 2009 for Sinister Tales 4.3 in which Sister Sunday will be appearing. Plus, The Child Villain should be out next month too so it will be a double whammy of publications. And here I was excited about April :)

Favourites

I too have shamelessly pinched a blog idea from Aaron Polson, although decided to do characters from my short stories.

Does anyone else favour certain characters over others? It doesn’t make the others any less worthy or likeable, it’s just that I have a soft spot for some of them. Here are my top 5 favourite characters:

Tallulah “Tally” Todd is in The Child Villain which is coming out in a few weeks in Atrum Tempestas. She’s a silver haired little girl with a pet raven named Frederick who likes listening to Black Sabbath while she plots to kill her neighbours.

Oliver Lambert is in The Baited Psychopath which is being submitted to AHWA Short Story Comp. Ollie is a complex guy who values his privacy and relationship with his brother above all and will let no one come between them.

Mia Millington is in Sister Sunday which has just been accepted for publication with Sinister Tales. Mia is a sad, unhinged little creature who covets all that her sister has.

Agnes Gunn is in The Pennyroyal, not yet published. Mia has a terrible secret and suffers from a hopeless case of paranoia.

The Stone Goblins are in The Witching Hour, not yet published, and are evil little cretins, green in colour with onyx eyes who prey on “sinners”, attacking them at night, feasting on human flesh until they gradually take on the human form.

Oh, and I must write up my trip to the cemetery on Saturday night. It was very inspiring.

CURRENTLY READING: The Hunted by Andrew Neiderman

Lola Rides Again

Lola (my trusty little Toyota Corolla) returned from the mechanic yesterday afternoon all spruced up with a new regulator. Apparently it had worn down over time and was just about to kick it in. The regulator for those not in the know (people like me who have absolutely no clue about cars whatsoever) is attached to the alternator. Meanwhile, while my boss was driving me all over town his car started smoking and turns out it has a cracked radiator so now its down at the mechanics. Hopefully today will be calmer than yesterday.

I had friend read one of my short stories last night. She's a fellow writer and she made a comment that the story might work better in first person. I had a think about it for a while and I don’t know how anyone else feels about first person viewpoint (I know a lot of people hate it), but I have tried it and it doesn’t always sit well with how I want to portray a character. I wrote the first six chapters of a manuscript in first person but ended up changing it to third person. In theory, I guess it could be easier in relation to showing/telling because you’re permanently inside the person’s head, but there’s also the limitation if you want multiple view points. I personally don’t mind reading books written in first person but I don’t know about writing one. I don’t think I’ll give it a try with this story but maybe with another short story.

Tomorrow night I’m doing a cemetery tour of one of our biggest inner city cemeteries with a ghost tour company. It’s a beautiful old cemetery and quite a landmark so there will be lots of interesting stories. It’s been months in the planning, trying to get 7 of us to be available at the same time, but I am so looking forward to it and will blog about it next week. I’m sure there will be a short story or two to come out of it.

Traffic: The Bane of My Existence

While I was sitting in an insanely bad traffic jam this morning (there was a three car accident on the main bridge into the city from the south), and after I hadn’t moved so much as an inch in oh, about fifteen minutes, a little light shone on the dashboard.

So, having the time, I reached across and grabbed the manual from the glove box and whadya know, apparently my battery is discharging (sounds rather unsavoury, doesn’t it). If this happens I must "STOP the vehicle IMMEDIATELY", "get out of the car" and look at the alternator belt (because I know where that is, Owner's Manual writer!) because apparently it could mean the alternator belt could be loose or broken and if so, won’t charge the battery properly, and apparently I must get the car straight to the dealer or my mechanic.

I don’t know whether the Owner’s Manual meant to panic me while I was sitting in a traffic jam that looked like a modern day pilgrimage to Mecca, or whether I actually have a little bit of time left to get to the mechanic before the car blows to smithereens. Oh, Owner’s Manual writer, you are so very vague.

Anyway, Lola is off to the mechanic soon to have her little problem looked at.

And today, between going backwards and fowards to the mechanic, trying to work, and dreaming up ways of injuring the Owner's Manual writer (yes, yes, I know its not technically his fault my car is discharging, but I feel like blaming him), if I get the time, I’m sending Desolation off to the AHWA Flash Fiction Comp and The Baited Psychopath off to the AHWA Short Story Competition.

Finally...A 2009 Acceptance

Sister Sunday has been accepted for publication with Sinister Tales Magazine. I had a lovely acceptance email in my inbox when I returned to work this morning. Finally, Sister Sunday has a home. This is one of the first dark fiction short stories I wrote and the main character, Mia, is one of my favourites.

Meanwhile, I had quite a productive Easter. Got plenty of editing done, both on short stories and Kiss Butterfly. I also managed to sleep a lot and read. I also bounced back quite well from a hangover (Saturday night drinks - I don’t recover as well or as quickly as I used to) and have only made a mild indent in my Easter eggs (once upon a time they’d have been scarfed down come Monday).

If only every weekend was four days long…

CURRENTLY READING: The Falls by Joyce Carol Oates

Easter

I’m going to be offline until Tuesday so I just want to wish everyone a safe and happy Easter. I’m going to be kicking around the homestead, not going away this year, but have a few get-togethers organized. I’m also going to be working on my Christmas horror story and Kiss Butterfly in between reading and scarfing down copious amounts of Easter eggs.

Congratulations to my dearest friend Roseanne Smiles who has finaled in the First Kiss Comp held by Romance Writers of Australia. I have my fingers and toes crossed for you.

Head over to Flashes in the Dark to read a very creepy story by Aaron Polson called Fuzzy. Its worth the trip over there, I promise -
http://flashesinthedark.com/2009/04/05/fuzzy-by-aaron-polson/

Ahh, to be healthy

Am feeling much recovered today and hope to get some serious writing done over the weekend. I’m going out tomorrow night but my days are relatively free so I should be able to make good inroads into the edits for my novel. We’ve had torrential rain here the last few days so I’m hoping it continues throughout the weekend as in my opinion, rain is the best writing weather.

And maybe I’ll come up with an idea or get some notes down for the Inaugural Festive Fear Anthology to be released by Tasmaniac Publications. Anyone interested should head over and have a look and submit! The first one is only open to Australian writers but there’s always next year :)

Also, check out two quite disturbing stories by Catherine J Gardner and Barry Napier over at The New Bedlam Project - http://newbedlam.com/zine/?p=31

And I forgot to say last week, a huge YAY!!! to Ben Eads for his short story, Full Circle, being accepted by Shroud Magazine.