Carey Burns

Well, I've spoken with my beta reader and she is so much awesomeness that I can't get over how lucky I am that she agreed to read my book. I should have the manuscript with her remarks and lots of info on a cool forensic technique maybe in the next week or so. So exciting! (especially about this mystery technique...I can't wait to find out more and try to incorporate it in Molly's story) I love forensics!!! Ahem, sorry about that. So other writing endeavors are looking good as well: I received the edits for my story for Horrorology and The Scroll of Anubis might be available soon. *fingers crossed* Now to get back to crafting a respectable query letter. Hope you have a good Thanksgiving.

Well, I didn't see my beta reader so...I'm still waiting to get their final comments. This weekend I've been making ornaments and various polymer clay sculptures. Here is one such sculpture: The goal is to make more little snowmen and other goodies to sell them along with my jewelry. We'll see how it goes. Even if they don't sell, they were a nice distraction. I needed a little break from the pressure of writing. So, when December rolls around I'll get back in the writing habit again and perhaps (fingers crossed) The Scroll of Anubis will be out.

November is nearly in the can and if I could turn back time I think I would spend this month a little more productively. Ah well, live and learn. Anywho, my story for Cafe Doom's contest wasn't as much of a bust as I feared it would be. I actually got a 3rd place and a 2nd place vote and a few honorable mentions. It warms the heart and makes you want to keep plugging along. Who knows? After some revisions I might even send it out someday... NaNo is sooo not going well for me. I think I chose too depressing of a novel idea and it makes me dread writing it. Not good. Not good at all. I'll finish it though, in bits and chunks over the next few months I think. At least I've started. Tomorrow I ask one of my beta readers if they're finished with my novel. They've had it a while and I really want to get back into that project. *fingers crossed that they're done*

Read 50 stories and pick my favorite three? Okay! Try to write 50,000 words by the end of the month? Sure! Get jewelry ready and a display set up for a craft show December 1? Why not? I really don't know what I was thinking, but here I am. Come December, I should be brain dead, but I think it'll be worth it. Excuse me though because now I have to get back to writing again and also try to get the plastic skull away from the cat. She is such a nibby nose!

Well, I've almost hit the 'send' button for my Cafe Doom submission five times but I keep chickening out. I'm used to having an editor or two read my stories and that's terrifying, but this will be out for other writers to judge. That scares the crap out of me. I need to just hit that button and let it be out of my hands but... Maybe later I'll have a wee nip of courage (aka Jose Cuervo) and 'accidentally' hit that button. Maybe. We'll see.

So I'm home alone on a rainy, dark day listening to my iTunes while writing but I keep hearing voices coming from the living room. I turn the music down, and all is quiet. I turn it back up and a few second later I hear voices again. It isn't the cats meowing at each other, but nobody is here. It's almost like when you're drying your hair and you hear a phone ring, but when you turn off the dryer, it isn't ringing. Are these voices just "chatter" or am I hearing something from beyond? Now I've done it, I've spooked myself. Let's change the subject, that may help. I'm nearly finished with my story "Death From Above" and I'm thinking of submitting it to Cafe Doom 's big contest. I'm just hoping that my dark comedy is dark enough for the judges. Only one way to find out... Yeah, still hearing them. This might just make its way into a story I thought of last night. Or not.

It is NaNoWriMo time again...this year I'm going to bust my butt to finish in time and I have 2 different book ideas to work with so it should be interesting. 30 days...50,000 words. Yipe. This means, of course, that I have to knock out several short story ideas and make a boatload of jewelry all before November 1st. I may need to clone myself. I'm nearly done with "Death From Above," which is a lovely tale of 3 friends (who happen to be vultures) and their quest to finally eat human flesh. Yes, it is a feel-good kind of story. Once I have it complete and error-free, I shall screw up the courage to submit it to a contest. Scary! In other scary news, I have a doctor appointment tomorrow for a full physical. It is scary because I've been having recurring dreams that the tumors I had removed returned and weren't benign. I'm sure it is just nerves, but it is scary nonetheless. And now in happy news, we have just over 10 days until Halloween!