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IWSG: A Real Writer is Like Nobody Else; Formatting the Fiction

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'm having to double up between the weekly Monday post and the IWSG post again. I had to take off the weekend and recuperate from a busy last few weeks of trying to make changes in my life for both health and financial reasons. So, for this post, I'm answering the IWSG optional question of the month, and I have updates on the stories I'm currently working on for my upcoming short fiction collection, "Bad Apps". I’ll also show you why it can be helpful to format your story before doing a proofreading of it.  IWSG Question for March The IWSG monthly question for March is: If for one day you could be anyone or *thing* in the world, what would it be? Describe, tell why, and any themes, goals, or values they/it ...

Unofficial Book-To-Movie Review: 'Dracula's Death'

Credit: Wikimedia Commons One reason I'm calling today's post an "Unofficial" Book-To-Movie (BTM) is because this review of a movie adaptation of a book is not resuming the BTM series of posts [link]. That monthly series is still on hiatus until I release " Bad Apps " which I still don’t have a specific date for but am getting towards the end of the revision process for the whole book. Another reason for titling this post the way I did is because it can’t really be called a review. That’s because I did not view the movie in question since it cannot be viewed. (You’ll find out why in a bit.) I recently found out that in my BTM of the 1922 silent film, "Nosferatu", I had gotten two things wrong: 1) I said that the movie was the first film adaptation of Bram Stoker's novel, "Dracula"; and 2) that Universal's 1930s "Dracula" starring Bela Lugosi was only the first legally made adaptation of the novel. (I’ll be revising that...

IWSG; Making More Productive Fiction Writing Time; Book Progress

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 missed posting on Monday, which is the day for my weekly blog post. I apologize for that; it was a busy and tiring weekend so I just wasn't up to blog writing. So, I'm doubling up on today's post with the IWSG topics and make-up for Monday’s missed post. For the IWSG, I have the optional question of the month, and a little bit of an accomplishment with my fiction writing I'd like to share. For the Monday make-up portion of the post, I have progress on my upcoming book of short fiction to share and some news about an upcoming change to my blog. So, keep reading! IWSG  Question of the Month So, starting with IWSG stuff, here's the question of the month: Is there a story or book you've written you want to/...

Sci-fi/Fantasy Movies in 2025; Writer’s New Year Resolutions

Credit: Pixabay I know, I’m posting this first weekly post of the year very late and I apologise. I did post earlier in the month, but that was for the monthly Insecure Writer's Support Group blog hop . If you haven't had a chance to look at it, please do so. I talk a little about working on my writing over the holidays and how you can be a beta reader for “Bad Apps” , my upcoming book of short fiction! [link]  After that posting, I had a sinus infection that was keeping me awake too many nights and so was not up to writing as frequently as I normally do. My doctor subscribed me some meds, and so I’m doing much better.  For today’s post, I have my new year’s writing resolutions and a list of 13 science fiction and fantasy movie adaptations of books releasing in theatres in 2025! 2 New Year’s Writer’s Resolutions of 2025 In this new year of 2025, one resolution I’m trying to make is coming up with a clear schedule of all my writing projects, and that includes “Bad Apps”. I’ve b...

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...

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...

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Book-To-Movie: Stephen King’s 'The Raft'

Credit: Pixabay.com It's the third Saturday of the month and so that means it's time for another Book-To-Movie ! In a Book-To-Movie we review a book and its movie adaptation. One of the reasons I as a horror fan don’t read a lot of Stephen King’s work is because most of it consists of novels that go more than 400 pages. I have a short attention span when it comes to reading, ironically since I consider myself an avid reader, and so I normally won’t read a work that is much more than the equivalent to a 350-page mass market paperback. The other reason why I don’t read a lot of King’s work is that, as literary scholars will tell you, a lot of his writing is poor. However, he does have some good writing in his works, especially his earlier stuff, including his short horror tales. So if I read anything by Stephen King it’s usually his short stories or novellas. One of his collections I’ve read is Skeleton Crew which includes some of his good, or at least...

Book-To-Movie: ‘The Hound of the Baskervilles’

Credit: Wikimedia Commons I apologise for posting outside our regular post-day which is late Saturday night/early Sunday morning. However, I got behind on several things last week and so had to postpone the post to today.  I’ve been a reader of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes books ever since I was 11. What I’ve always liked so much about the series is that, like a good horror story, the stories often take place in dark settings and involve bizarre cases. Conan Doyle’s novel, “The Hound of the Baskervilles”, definitely contains these elements. It’s a detective story that crosses over into the gothic horror genre. Several movie adaptations of the novel have been made that go as far back as a 1915 German silent film. In 1959 Hammer Studios released a version starring Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee. As much as I’m a fan of the Hammer horror films, I have not seen that one yet. The only one that I’ve seen so far is the 1939 adaptation starring that other big name in classic...

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...