Carey Burns

There are times when I have about ten different ideas that all seem perfect and all would fit nicely in an upcoming anthology.  They pop in and out of my thoughts at inopportune moments and I can never really pin them down the way they deserve so that I feel like I'm being run through a blender--the kind on TV that blends other blenders--and it is exhausting.  Days like today when I get zero words put to paper it frustrates me.  Really bad.  It isn't that I'm blocked.  I just can't stop long enough to get it all out. So, instead I'm Facebooking and blogging and bumming around the forum--anything but actual writing so I can slow the heck down.  I'm sure I will be awake until 2:00am and finally start writing around 3:00am.  I hate days like these.  The deadlines loom closer on days like these. 

I think I've finally chosen a fitting ending for my deer tale and now I have to choose a title so I can get on to writing my next scary story about vampires.  Yes, vampires.  Don't roll your eyes just yet because these are heartless, cruel, selfish vamps (well, one is) and things get very bloody and very horrible.  I hope I can finish it before my deadline! As we've discovered that cake can't mend a wounded knee, it turns out that cheesy curly fries are equally useless for strained back and leg muscles.  Live and learn, I suppose.  I spent the day painting yesterday and I ache like you wouldn't believe and I get to do it all over again tomorrow and the day after that.  And maybe again on Thursday or Friday.  What a week off! Also, the anthology No More Heroes will be out soon-ish so you can pick it up and read my tale called "Picking Up the Pieces."  My hooping and hollering will tell you when it is available for purchase.

While I've been patiently waiting for Alienology to be published, another book I'm in is now live on Amazon and CreateSpace:  Horrorology .  My story "The Dark Ride" is in this one and I can't wait to read the other stories.  As if that weren't enough, the table of contents for Baconology (which features my story "BLT Summer") has been posted.  Things are moving right along and it looks like I'll have a slew of books to read over the summer.   

Well, I survived the 5K and we had lots of fun despite my knee being angry with me the whole week leading up to the walk.  I can't wait until next year to do it all again, sans the knee injury.  Man, does it suck to get old!  I shouldn't have tried to self-medicate with cake.  Nope, shouldn't have done it.   It was delicious though.  Since I'm still limping today, I must conclude that cake is not the proper medical care.  In the world of wording, I'm at the end of my deer tale and torn between two endings.  I think I shall just write both and see what happens from there.  Perhaps I'll pester a couple readers to see what they think... I've got some cool news that I'm not sure I can share yet, but it involves an upcoming anthology, me, and a story.  Oooh...mysterious!  I'll post more when I can.  Until then, join me in awaiting the very near release of Alienology:  Tales from the Void.

I had a story idea twitching in my brain while in the shower the other day so I asked the hubby to take notes for me as I dictated them (I'm a dictator!).  That was 1500 words ago and the story seems to be writing itself.  One of the main characters is a talking deer named Joel and he makes me laugh.  With any luck I'll finish the tale by the weekend so I can get it typed up and revised.  I'll have to do some hunting for a potential home for Joel.  Wish me luck! The slimming is going very well.  I'm down 5.5 pounds and I feel really, really good.  This weekend will be tough because of a birthday party on Saturday, but I will do my best to resist cake.  But we all know how much I love cake...wish me luck here too!! 

In accordance with my slimming plan, I started the Fat Smash Diet (as seen on reality TV, "Celebrity Fit Club") and after the 9 day detox, I lost 4 pounds and felt better than I had in a long, long time.  Day 10 was a bit of a fail because it was birthday treat day at work and I was the only April Baby...I only had a small spoonful of a couple "bad" things like cake.  But then a friend gave me 1/2 a loaf of raspberry rozek.  This is a Slovak pastry that I LOVE and only have once a year so yeah, that rozek is no more.  It has ceased to be.  But, I'm back on the eating well train and am about to hit the gym.  Gotta keep moving forward! In writerly news, my tale "All Fun and Games" will appear in the forthcoming anthology Made You Flinch--Again! and (as of right now) holds the first spot in the table of contents.  This gets me all sorts of excited and squealy.  I've also seen the cover for the upcoming Groanology:  Amusing Monster Mash-ups Un...

Not long ago a friend made the comment that I wasn't really a writer because I only had short stories published.  I was surprised and a little hurt and immediately thought "Well, YOU have never had anything published so THERE!"  But then I calmed down and breathed through the threatening tears and just smiled. So then I saw on a forum another writer that basically didn't consider herself a writer for this very reason.  It made me wonder "What Makes a Person a Writer" and it has been bothering me since. To me, if you put pen to paper in any attempt at poetry or fiction or nonfiction, you're a writer.  You could be an unpublished writer or a published writer, a short story writer or a novel writer.  Heck, you could even be a good writer or a bad writer.  You're still a writer no matter what format. Don't get me started on the word "author."  Seriously.