Skip to main content

Posts

IWSG: Returning to the Writing Routine in the New Year

It's the first Wednesday of the month and so it’s time for another Insecure Writer’s Support Group (IWSG) blog hop! In an IWSG post, we writers bring our writing challenges and problems out into the open to share with each other and try to offer solutions. 2024 was an upside down year for me with my mom having passed away back in October (God, rest her soul) and so I had to ease off of most of my writing projects due to that. So, things got backed up a little at the end of last year and the beginning of this year. Plus, I had to ease off the regular writing routine for the holiday season. So, below is the current status of my overall writing activity. I normally answer the Question of the month which this month's is Describe someone you admired when you were a child. Did your opinion of that person change when you grew up?  However, I'm going to skip this one because, even though I admired a lot of people when I was a child--from my own dad and grandfathers to uncles and e...
Recent posts

Year's End Book Sale; New 'Nosferatu' Remake; Story-in-Progress

Credit: Pixabay.com The holidays are almost here! That means the Hallowday edition of my author’s newsletter coming out soon and end of the year book sales. It also means ghosts at Christmas and . . . vampires at Christmas?  Well, there’s one coming soon to a theatre near you. A vampire movie, that is. So, keep reading for the details! ‘Nosferatu’ Remake to be a Holiday Release The new remake of the 1922 German unofficial “Dracula” movie adaptation, "Nosferatu", releases December 25th (US). This will probably be fitting for some horror fans since many of the scenes are of dark, frozen landscapes, and it’s actually set during the Christmas season according to a review at Slashfilm .  So, it's kind of a black Christmas film, but don’t expect gore exploitation in the ugly manner of “Silent Night, Deadly Night”. This movie, directed by Robert Eggers (“The Lighthouse”), is a more psycho-sexual interpretation of the original. It appears to have a more dream-like (as in nightma...

IWSG: Fiction Cliffhangers; Upcoming Stephen King Novel

It's the first Wednesday of the month and so it’s time for another Insecure Writer’s Support Group (IWSG) blog hop! In an IWSG post, we writers bring our writing challenges and problems out into the open to share with each other and try to offer solutions. Well, I just can't believe how fast November raced by and now we're into December! Before we know it, it will be Christmas and then New Year’s! Speaking of which, I have some news about an upcoming end-of-year book sale which will include my own books at reduced prices! That news, along with news about Stephen King's upcoming novel, will be in the part of this post that will make up for Monday’s missed one which I apologize for. So, I'm doubling up today for both the IWSG blog hop and for Monday.  The Cliffhanging Ending in Fiction The IWSG optional question for December is: Do you write cliffhangers at the end of your stories? Are they a turn-off to you as a writer and/or a reader? Ever since my big ‘60s “Batma...

Slow PC Slows Down ‘Bad Apps’; Boris Karloff's 138th Birthday

Actor Boris Karloff,  23  November 1887 - 2 February 1969  Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons Earlier on this Saturday that I’m actually writing this post for the Monday I will have released it, I was going to concentrate more on writing and revising stories for " Bad Apps ", my upcoming book of short science fiction horror stories. However, my desktop has been running so slow during the past two weeks that it’s been slowing down the writing that I do on it, including my story revisions for “Bad Apps”. So, I decided to uninstall several apps that I never use because they’re probably what was causing the computer to process so slowly. Because doing that took so long, I'm keeping this post short. I thought I should talk a little about actor Boris Karloff, since the Saturday that I'm writing this is his 138th birthday! (His posthumous birthday, of course.)  Karloff played some big roles in movie adaptations of books by famous authors of horror. The most notable of these is...

Return to Fiction Writing; Graphic Novel Based on Lost Horror Film

Credit: Wikimedia Commons Some of you may had noticed that I skipped posting back on the 4th of the month, as far as Monday posting goes. I posted for the IWSG blog hop that Wednesday and it didn't make up for that Monday's missed post since I said I had to keep it short. I had to reduce the writing during that week because, as I also said in that IWSG post, my mom passed away back in October and so that was the week of her funeral. I just got back on track earlier last week (Wednesday I think it was) and so that included returning to working on my fiction projects, namely my upcoming short story collection, "Bad Apps". Needless to say, I'm back on track with my weekly blog posts. So, I have some about my latest progress on "Bad Apps" and, in sci fi/fantasy news, about an upcoming graphic novel adaptation of a lost silent horror film that starred Lon Chaney Sr. Back On Track with ‘Bad Apps’ My short hiatus from my fiction writing wasn't really a ful...

IWSG: Creative Activity that I Do Besides Writing

It's the first Wednesday of the month and so it’s time for another Insecure Writer’s Support Group (IWSG) blog hop.  In an IWSG post, we writers bring our writing challenges and problems out into the open to share with each other and try to offer solutions. I apologise, but I'm going to have to keep this month's IWSG post short. It's been a hard three weeks because my mom died on October 18th and so I haven't been getting a lot of writing done. I have family from out of town for the funeral that comes up at the end of the week, and so I've been very busy helping in the preparations on top of my day job and getting done whatever writing I can  in between. It's a wonder that I got the newsletter out a few days before Halloween. Again, if you haven't signed up for my free author's newsletter, you can do so here .   I think I'm just going to have to stick to the IWSG question of the month for this post. The question of the month is: What creative ac...

Latest Newsletter; Halloween BOOk Discounts; Zombie Fest

Credit: Pixabay.com I apologise for posting so late. I was busy all weekend putting together the Halloween edition of "Night Creatures' Call", my free author's newsletter. If you're not subscribed to it, then you can do so here . In the newsletter, I talk about writing project details that normally are not discussed here. I also offer discounts on books that you'll often be the first to know about like the case has been with the latest edition of the newsletter with my current subscribers. Speaking about discounts, I was busy putting together those as well. Afterall, it's my Halloween treat to you! So, be sure to check that out below. But first, some highlights of a zombie fest that I attended over the weekend. Davis Zombie Bike Parade This past Sunday, I attended the Zombie Bike Parade in Davis California, home to UC Davis. In its sixth year, one of the event's hosts was the Independent Order of Odd Fellows of Davis, a lodge chapter. Although I didn...