Change of Pace

I'm still working on my novel, but I've decided to write a Science Fiction short story or two for something different.

Wish me luck ;)

Short term goal reached!

I just got an email telling me that my story, The Office Zombie, was accepted for publication at Untied Shoelaces of the Mind.

That's it! My short term goal has been met. The payment for that story will be just enough to qualify me to join the HWA as an Affiliate Member.

Woohoo :D

Busy Busy

Wrote two new short stories (yeah, I know, I was supposed to be working on a novel).

Midnight at the Morgue has been subbed out to an anthology titled Fear of the Dark.

Honeysuckle Manor has been subbed out to an anthology titled Haunted.

I've heard that The Office Zombie has now reached stage three at Untied Shoelaces of the Mind. I'm not sure but I think stage four would mean it made it.

Still working on the novel, just not as much as I'd like because short stories keep calling to me. I think I'm going to try and spend some time on the novel each day, and reserve some time for short stories. I have an idea for a Sci Fi story I want to write, it will be an interesting deviation from the Horror stuff I've been writing lately ;)

More good news!

Found out this morning that my short story, Revenge is a Dish of Warm Brains, made the short list for the zombie anthology Hell Hath No Fury.

I'm psyched ;)

Woohoo, got some news!

I just received notification that my flash fiction piece The Office Zombie made it to "Stage Two" at Untied Shoelaces of the Mind.

That will be funny as Hell if it makes it considering it was the little piece that I wrote for my daughter based on her Facebook status one day.

It would be funny as Hell because the paycheck for that story would be 26 bucks and change. Just enough to join HWA as an affiliate ;)

Meanwhile I'm working on my Novel. I'm up to chapter three so far. Trying to keep the momentum going...

Okay, somebody kick me in the butt

I need to get outta my funk and get back to writing. I'm going to try and schedule a two hour time slot for myself where I'm not allowed to do anything but write and see how that works for me. I need to get serious about this stuff.

It would be really nice right about now if one of my short stories I have subbed out would actually get accepted somewhere, that would give me the little boost I need I think.

Looks up at the sky, taps fingers on desk. Well? I'm waiting...

That was a weird feeling

Today I gazed upon the faces of two of the men who murdered my brother, well, their pictures anyway. The family had a meeting with the prosecutors of the case, so they could tell us what was going on and give us an idea of what was going to happen.

Towards the end they asked if anyone had any other questions and I asked if I could see what they looked like. They conferred with each other and agreed there was no reason why I couldn't so they took their mug shots out of their files. Turns out, everyone else wanted to see them too. We passed the pictures around. I guess it's all part of closure.

I don't feel much like writing today. I think I'll take a break and start again tomorrow. Maybe I'll just relax and read a bit.

Decided to turn the short story into a novel

The one I was going to start work on, about a woman who's brother was just murdered. I've known all along it really is a story that requires a novel length, I'm just afraid I'm too ADHD to finish a whole novel. I'm going to try though, so this will be my first novel.

I already have a pretty good idea what the second one will be, an adaptation of a screenplay that was already written but needed major revising. I think it will be easier for me to make the revisions as I write it as a novel, and then go back and add them into the screenplay.

I was going to keep writing short stories until I got a sale good enough to join HWA, but I've got 7 of them subbed out right now that I am waiting on, for all I know one of them could end up being the one that does that for me.

Write on ;)

I think my house is haunted

Yesterday early in the day my cat was chasing a bug around my office. I went outside to water some flowers and vegetables and when I came back in I didn't see him.

As I sat here writing I kept hearing what sounded like human footsteps upstairs. It got my attention enough that I looked outside to make sure my sisters car wasn't in the driveway, thinking maybe she came home early when I was outside and I didn't notice. No car.

At that point I gave up and figured I was just imagining things. Until my son came home from school. He asked me why I locked the cat in the basement. I said I didn't, and to make my point I got up and checked the basement door. It was open. I called out "Cat!" down the basement stairs, nothing. He almost always answers me. My son said he heard the cat meowing somewhere. I checked my bedroom downstairs. No cat. I checked the downstairs bathroom. No cat.

I went upstairs and yelled "Cat!" and heard a response this time. I figured maybe he got into the attic again via my sister's closet because she seems to leave her door cracked open and her closet door open so he can get to the access panel and push it in. But when I went in her room and called for him the response was not coming from that direction.

Stumped, I checked my sons room, which also had the door left cracked open. No cat. I checked the bathroom. No cat. The other two doors up there were closed. Those two doors are always closed as I insist on it. They are the doors to my stepsons rooms, and they are total slobs. I don't want my son or sister bringing a friend home and seeing in there.

I stood in the middle of the hallway and called out to the cat again. The response sounded like it was coming from my oldest stepsons room. I opened the door and sure enough, the cat ran out, all freaked out looking with his pupils wide open. Very strange. :/

Finished the Zombie story

I think that's the last of those I'll write for a while. I'm all zombied out. I went ahead and subbed it out to the previously mentioned anthology. If they don't take it I know there are several other markets looking for that kind of thing, so no worries.

I think I'll start on the next short story. This one hits a bit close to home and might be hard to write. Could take me awhile to get it just right. It revolves around someone who's brother was just senselessly murdered and well, my brother was senselessly murdered last November. Figured I could bring a bit of realism to that character.

Write on ;)

Plugging right along

This zombie story isn't coming to me as easily as I'd hoped. Oh well, that happens sometimes. When I'm done with this I have a killer idea for another short story and I think I know what I'm gonna do for my first novel, but it will require a lot of research. Should be cool as hell when I am done though.

I'm still sticking with my original plan of writing short stories until I get one published for enough money to join the Horror Writers Association at least as an affiliate. Then I'll start the novel.

I guess there is nothing stopping me from doing the research for the novel now though, and that will keep me busy when I am bored ;)

And...More Zombies

Sometimes when I run out of inspiration I'll go look through Duotrope and check out what different markets are looking for and try to write something specifically for that market. That's what I did for the piece that got published in Sex and Murder magazine, and obviously it worked.

Here's me hunting for a market for a story I wrote and I come across the name Sex and Murder magazine. I chuckle, then I think about it for a moment, then I think to myself: I wonder if I could write a story that has both sex and murder in it and get them to take it?

So Robbing the Cradle was born. Sure enough they snatched it right up, it was in issue 6. I must note that normally my stories do not contain sex, as for some reason I am just not comfortable writing those scenes. I guess I'd suck as a romance novelist. Snicker.

Anyway, as I looked through the markets yesterday I came upon an anthology that was looking for Zombie stories. But there was a catch. They will only accept stories from female writers. Hell Yeah! My last two stories involved Zombies, but they were primarily animal Zombies. This one wants the traditional human brain eating variety. I think I've come up with an idea that involves both traditional Zombies with a little man hating thrown in. It's gonna be awesome ;)

I'm such a sicko!

Yesterday I wrote another short story. This one may be my sickest yet. Turned out pretty good though, if I do say so myself. It's called Nightmare at the Farm.

Now to try and publish the thing, so that other people can enjoy it. I've given Pseudopod another go. I think the pacing on this one is better for their purposes. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

On another unrelated note, one that I find quite humorous, my husband got a bite from an agent from his query letter. She wants to see a partial MS, and a Synopsis. What's funny about this is that try as I might, I can't find a single male author that this agent represents.

So my husband writes stuff that appeals to women, and I write Horror. Go figure ;)

Well that's just Sucktastic!

So yesterday in my email I received an unwelcome surprise. A "not really a rejection" rejection of one of my short stories from Strangetastic magazine.

Seems the guy got in over his head and can't keep up with the submissions, so he's just sending everything back and starting over with some seriously more limited submission guidelines. My story would have fit those guidelines except that it was about 250 words too long.

Can I tell you how bad that sucks? I spent a long time searching through Duotrope looking for just the right fit for that story. Now, well, just let me give out a Charlie Brown "Augh!"

Oh well, all is not lost, I found another possible home for it. I just submitted Grandmother Dearest to Arkham Tales. We'll see how that goes ;)

A story borne of a Facebook status update

The other day my daughter Caitlin posted this as her Facebook status:

"it is seriously deader than that cat in pet semetary in here. Do I work with live people or corpses? (yikes, zombie coworkers. nope, zombie coworkers would at least be trying to eat my brains)"

To which I responded:

"You just gave me an idea for a short story ;)"

And the story The Office Zombie was born. I kinda intended it as a joke, but it turned out to be an awesome horrific and funny flash fiction piece, so I couldn't help but try to find a home for it where it would be loved and cherished ;)

I've submitted it to and ezine titled Untied Shoelaces of the Mind, we'll see how that goes ;)

In a sea of many agents, one bad fish

In a previous post I told you that my Husband recently finished his first novel and we've been sending out Query letters to agents. I've been monitoring the e-mails for him as they come back. So far we've gotten a few rejections and I am pleased to note that most of them are at least professional and nice about it, even the ones that use form letters still use a form letter that is professional and nice.

Except for one guy. He sent back a one line response.

"Thanks, but we will pass."

Thinking I may just have a thin skin and that wasn't maybe as rude and dismissive as I thought, I Googled the guy.

Where I found other authors complaining that he was rude and dismissive.

Then I looked up some web pages on him.

Where I found out he is a pompous ass.

Now I won't do this, but I sure am tempted to reply with:

"That's okay, I think you did me a favor. Besides, I was apprehensive about sending a query to an Agent who's main office is in Florida anyway. Would you like a coupon for some depends? I think I have one sitting around here somewhere. Snicker."

Write on ;)

The Cat and the Multi-legged Disintegrating Bug

My cat, Anubis, spends his days keeping me company while I sit around and write or edit. He will lounge nearby and whenever I get particularly bored I will call out "Cat!" and his head will whip around and he will respond with a "Meow!". I amuse myself by Meowing back a few times and he will continue the conversation until either he or I get bored with the endeavor.

He also does a pretty good job as a bug slayer. Actually, he does a pretty good job as a slayer of mice too, although those come with a price. The price is paid when I step out of my bedroom in the morning groggy and barefoot and my foot lands squarely on a moist crunchy heap, the remains of a gift that he has left for me.

I am a little happier with his bug slaying abilities however, as we have some pretty awe inspiring bugs in this house. There is a creek behind our abode, and apparently that brings some interesting inhabitants. One of those is the Rabid Wolf Spider. I'm not exaggerating there, that is actually the name of the thing. It's a cousin to the tarantula and it looks the part. My husband calls them Gerbils. Anubis will not eat those, but he will kill them and leave the dead curled up husk on the floor, all the easier to pick up with a paper towel.

That is not the subject of this post however, rather I meant to discuss the House Centipede, something which I have long referred to as the Multi-legged Disintegrating Bug, due to the fact that it doesn't take a whole lot of pressure from a shoe or whatever and these things just disintegrate. Their multiple legs all fall off at once. It's really creepy.

So last evening I was sitting here in my office at my desk, an art deco knee hole model, the kind where there is an opening all the way through for your legs, when I noticed that the cat was stalking something that must have gone under the couch that sits across from me. I watched his antics with interest for a moment, wondering what kind of beastie he might be after, when the beastie in question climbed up the wall behind the couch and I saw it was a House Centipede. Anubis saw it and continued his stalking endeavors and I lost interest and went back to what I was editing.

A little while later I suddenly became aware that something was touching my bare foot, and I looked down and saw it was the cat, looking around my feet with interest. It took me a few seconds to process what that meant, before I shot out of my chair like I was being chased by the hounds of hell and jumped around the room frantically brushing at my pants. I didn't see anything, and then a thought struck me with horror. What if the thing had actually crawled up inside the leg of my jeans? That thought inspired a renewed flurry of jumping around and running my hands down over my pant legs. Of course, that led to the realization that if it had done that I'd just covered my bare leg with slimy nasty bug carcass. Eww!

Thankfully, there was still no sign of the bug. So I gingerly rolled my chair away from the desk and searched for the beastie. I found it crouching in the divot left by one of my chair wheels. So then I got the bright idea to perform a particularly pointless move, and I tried to get Anubis to follow my pointing finger and go after it. Mental note to self: Cats do not give a shit what you are pointing at and they generally will not respond to your efforts to get their attention in this manner. Strangely enough though, Anubis did eventually notice the bug and go back after it.

I decided to go let the dogs in and do some other mindless housekeeping tasks for awhile before coming back to my desk and finishing what I was doing. When I finally returned, I noted that the cat was still sniffing around the base of my desk, but no bug was in sight. Great! Now I still don't know where it went and as I sit here typing, my legs are off to the side rather than under my desk, and I am living in fear that the Multi-legged Disintegrating Bug is actually crawling around in the crevices made by the center drawer of my desk. Yuck!

Whew! I've been busy lately. Unfortunately not on my own endeavors. I'm STILL waiting for responses to the last three stories I sent out. I'm beginning to think I am going to start my own "Don't submit to these guys ever again" list.

Anyway, I've been book doctoring my husbands first novel and helping him get everything ready to submit to agents. He can tell a kick ass story, but his "technical" writing ability is hampered by the fact that he is Dyslexic. So you can imagine what a nightmare that was. Hey, I made a funny! This blog being the Stuff of Nightmares and all. When he told me he was writing a book I rolled my eyes at him and told him not to expect me to edit the thing. I told him he'd have to pay a real book doctor. Much kissing up, puppy dog eyes, and pleading indigence later I agreed to take it on. I made him print it out in manuscript format and three hole punch it so that I could stick it in a large three-ring binder, then grabbed a red pen and snuggled into my favorite couch expecting to be bored to tears, well, in between bouts of pulling my hair out at the atrocious spelling and grammar. Much to my surprise, while I am a little more bald than before, I loved the book. There's just something about it that, well, I'll tell a little backstory.

Recently I read On Writing, by Stephen King. Toward the end he tells a little about authors he personally likes to read. I was surprised to see J.K. Rowling on his list, but he explains that the reason he likes her books is because they are non-stop action all the way through, and therefore fun to read. That's what Jason's book is like. Non-stop action. Plus a lot of really compelling, and frankly sometimes hilarious, dialog. It's quite a bit dirtier than a Harry Potter novel, in that there is more cussing than I would normally allow my kids to read that are younger than teen-aged, but I think the Young Adult crowd will love it.

So, we've query'd some agents, and are waiting somewhat impatiently for one of them to bite. Just one will do.

Meanwhile, I can get back to my own writing ;)

Well, Grandmother Dearest was rejected by Pseudopod and I'm not really surprised, in hindsight it's not really suited for a podcast due to the pacing of the story, and they did reject it very nicely while pointing that out and saying that it was well written though. I just subbed it out to Strangetastic, and we'll see how that goes. They do pay the minimum I need to join HWA, so I'd still meet my goal. ;)

Updates

I finished Boogeyman and subbed it off to Dark Discoveries and am now somewhat impatiently waiting for a response. Still have not heard back from Beyond Centauri and I now am pretty sure I will never again sub anything to that publisher (insert irked face here). Working on a new story titled Grandmother Dearest which my Husband assures me qualifies me as "one sick puppy". When I am finished with that I might try sending it to Pseudopod, or maybe I'll send Boogeyman there if it gets rejected by Dark Discoveries. I think that one might lend itself better to a podcast. Right now my short term goal is to sell something for enough moolah that I will qualify to join the Horror Writers Association at least as an Affiliate, so I am only subbing things out to places that will achieve that for me. I think when I am done with my latest short story I am going to go back to the screenplay that my Husband and I wrote together. I sent it out to an agency that did coverage for me and indicated that they might accept it if I did a major rewrite and indicated what they wanted changed. I've been putting that off, because it's a pain in my butt, but the payoff could be huge so I really need to buckle down and finish the darned thing. I'm waiting for some mood music I ordered from Nox Arcana, I think that will help me stay on track ;)

TTFN

Skulls

I love skulls. Always have. Not because I am a dark goth weirdo, I just find them fascinating from an artistic perspective. I used to carry a skull key chain (which got me a lot of sideways looks considering I am a suburban Mom). I have skulls in both of my fish tanks (I love fish!). My teenage boys love me because I buy them all kinds of clothes with skulls on them. So I have an idea for my picture for this blog and my upcoming Facebook page, but I had to tell my husband that I want a full sized skull replica for my birthday which is on the 24th. It will also make a nice interest item to place on one of the bookshelves in the library in my house that my husband is currently working on. I'm excited! Oh, and my son says Hi! See ya!

Two weird dreams in one night...

Often I get fodder for my stories from dreams I have. I guess I am lucky that I dream every night and I always remember them. Some of them are quite weird. Last night I had two of them because my lovely male teenage children woke me up in the middle of the night when they decided they needed a midnight snack.

So the first one I can only remember had something to do with flooding and trying to plow a field with help from my Ex Husband who later hooked up with my MOTHER! Dude. Can you say YUCK! On both counts.

The second one was very vivid, I remember lots of colors from it. Yes, I dream in color. Always have. I have previously had a real estate license, so I dreamed that I was acting as a real estate agent trying to help my current boss find a new house in some kind of surreal desert gulch kind of setting. The houses were really neat, architecture wise, and the area was like a busy touristy area. We got lost though, I found the house once but when I went to take her back to it we couldn't find it. Figures. We did find it right before I woke up. I remember that the house was a dark teal color with wood shakes as the exterior, and the interior was like a lodge kind of thing with wood beams and a stone fireplace and slate floor. Very nice. Nothing I think I can make a story out of though. Oh well.

Welcome to my blog

Welcome to The Stuff of Nightmares, the blog of Carolanne Patton, writer of Horror and occasionally Science Fiction. I thought it was about time I start a blog since I have a couple of stories published. You can read Robbing the Cradle in the 6th issue of Sex and Murder Magazine (www.sexandmurder.com) and Night Thief will be in the coming first issue of Night Chills Magazine (www.blackmatrixpub.com). I have a flash fiction piece currently offered out to Beyond Centauri Magazine (man they take a long time to get back to you!). Right now I am working on a short story titled Boogeyman while occasionally thinking about adding to a feature length screenplay I started called Walter's Crypt. One of these days I am going to start a novel (yeah, we all say that don't we?). One of my short stories would actually make a good prologue for a novel, I might take it in that direction. Anyway, that's all for now, I better get back to the actual writing and stuff ;)