Sunday, October 24, 2010

Happy Halloween!

Hello everyone,

I'm just writing this blog early since I know this week is going to be crazy busy, and I know I need to keep up with this better than I have been. So, here we go with more adventures in the world of Nancy.

Wow, this is going to be such an awesome week! I get to go to the Muse concert on Tuesday, play Rock Band three on Wednesday, carve pumpkins on Thursday, see RiffTrax live for "House on Haunted Hill," Thursday night, have my Halloween Party Friday, go to (possibly) two Halloween Parties on Saturday, and maybe go by the church for a Halloween celebration Sunday. (A run on sentence for a run on week...) The point is, though, I probably won't have a spare second. Even now, I'm taking a break from working around the house to write this. I'm hoping to have as many of my chores done as possible now so that I just have to touch up a few later in the week when I'm working out the final preparations for the party.

I'll be sure to blog later about the Muse concert. Even if I don't get a chance to blog on that this week, I will be sure to next week. I'm very excited about it. It's been a long time since I've gotten to see a good concert and Muse is one of my favorite bands. It makes me wish I had enough money to buy a decent souvenir. I'll try to buy a small one anyway. Hopefully I'll still get to go to bible study Wednesday night, but I'll have to see how tired me and my husband are when we get back. Not only will we be up late on Tuesday for the concert, but we'll be driving back from North Carolina on Wednesday morning. We'll see. At some point that day, probably shortly after we get back, we'll also be rocking out to Rock Band three. That will take some energy as well.

Even though it isn't looking like I'll be able to write much this week, I'm not complaining. I'll be busy with lots of fun, and sometimes a week of fun is enough to spark a little bit of inspiration, especially when you're writing a horror novel and it's around Halloween. We'll see about that as well.

Well, since I probably won't get to write again before then, everyone have a happy and safe Halloween!

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

This is Halloween...

Once again, sorry that I haven't been keeping up with the blog like I should. I've been crazy busy lately. I'm always crazy busy in October because there's a lot to do around Halloween.

This weekend was the big Halloween party that my friend Gini throws every year. Once again, it was a lot of fun, and her awesome decorations once again put me to shame. She had candles suspended from fishing line in her living room as though they were floating, ravens suspended the same way in the bathroom like something out of a Hitchcock film, not to mention the large cloth hanging from the ceiling in the living room like the nest of a giant spider, including said giant spider. Gini's decorations always impress me. And, as always, the refreshments were awesome, the music was good, and there were movies playing outside projected on a big screen and inside on the big TV. She puts a lot of thought into her parties. It's nice to go visit her and I feel like I've become decent friends with some of her guests as well, even if thus far I only see them around Halloween. It's always fun to meet new people and hang out with friends that you don't get to see very often.

There are a lot of parties for me to attend this year. It sounds like, aside from Gini's party, there are two more parties being thrown by friends of mine that I don't get to see very often. I'm hoping that I'll get to go to both parties, but since they're being thrown on the same night, I'm not sure yet. I'm going to try, though. Aside from both of those, I'm throwing my party on October 29th, so I have a lot of work to do around the house to get ready. I also just need to sit down and plan for it. I have the rough theme of zombies and undead, even though I'm not dressing as a zombie this year. The theme at my party really doesn't dictate costume, mostly just the movies shown, the pumpkin designs, and sometimes the food. As long as my friends come in costume, I'm not very particular about what they come as, assuming it's tasteful. This year, I'm dressing as Carmen Sandiego, and my husband is dressing as Waldo from "Where's Waldo." I think the costumes turned out pretty good.

Other than Halloween parties, I've also just finished my "Everburn" synopsis, so at some point today I'm going to send it in to the publishers that my friend Josh suggested. Wish me luck on that. I really want this one to work out. Honestly, I think I like this book much more than my first trilogy, and there's plenty of potential for a trilogy with this novel as well. I just need someone to give me a chance. My writer's block is still here, but it's slowly disappointing. I'm hoping to do some sort of writing work this week to make up for all of the time I've lost. Some people can get over writer's block by writing, but I don't think I'm one of those people. I usually just end up producing something that seems like regurgitated trite, which makes me feel bad about myself. Like I said, though, I'm thankfully getting over it now.

Well, I'd best be off to do some decorating and to send off that proposal for "Everburn." Wish me luck. Maybe at some point today I'll also get to finish up the sixth book of the Dresden Files. Thanks for reading.

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

What's Up?

Well, sorry I didn't get around to blogging last week. I've been working very hard trying to finish up my summary of "Everburn" so I can finally start submitting it to publishers and agencies. I should have it done by the end of this week, or the beginning of the next. I have higher hopes for this book, and I'm really not sure why I didn't start working on the submission process sooner. I guess I've had other things on my mind. The writer's block also was making me feel down on myself again, which never helps.

I still have writer's block, by the way, but it's starting to go away. I was able to pick up my horror novel last week and managed to add another chapter. I know that doesn't sound like much, but for someone who hasn't written a story in at least a month (I think it's been more like months), it was heaven. I swear, it's like my creativity took a swan dive off of a cliff and now is looking for footholds to crawl it's twisted zombie ass back up, but can't quite find any. I really hope the writer's block ends soon.

Still, I guess this is a good month for it. It's October, which means I've got several things coming up to look forward to that would normally eat into my writing time (if I wasn't having trouble writing). For one thing, my friend Gini's annual Halloween party is coming up. It's always fun and I'm really psyched up about it. Then the Muse concert, then my annual Halloween party, and possibly one other. I've got lots of decorating to do this week. I also really need to think about the details of my party, like what theme I'm going to use, what I'm going to carve on the pumpkins, what I'm going to serve in terms of food, and possibly about making another Halloween song mix as well.

There's always a lot to do in October. I'm a little sad that I won't be able to attend Halloween Horror Nights this year, or Walt Disney World, but it's for the best. We're saving money for more important things, and sometimes you have to be responsible. I'll get back there one day. Probably not next year, but sometime soon enough I'm sure.

In the meantime, I'm going to finish the Everburn summary and submit it, work on my new book, keep my house clean, decorate for Halloween, finish reading the Dresden Files (I'm on book 6) and get back into my exercise routine (I've gotten a good start on that the last few weeks). Wish me luck. Keep reading and writing!