Carey Burns

I've had training as a helpdesk person where I work and the first thing we always have to ask a caller is "Did you reboot?"  If the caller hasn't, we then ask them to do it.  This Techno Magic usually fixes whatever issue they are having and then the caller thanks us and goes about their merry way.  The last couple weeks, I've been struggling with my writing, revising, and life (in general) and yesterday, I determined that I too, need a reboot.  My boss gave me the go-ahead and here I sit, in my pajamas after the best night of sleep in a long (very long) time.  Today, I'm rebooting myself:  no looming To-Do lists...no self-imposed word counts or editing.   I've got my iTunes on shuffle and not skipping any songs.  I'm even going to nap.  Heck, I might even read for fun.  If you have deadlines or a cram-packed schedule or just a lot of crap on your plate, take some time to reboot yourself.  If you t...

Okay, so recently I posted about being brave and now I'm really walking the walk.  I've schedule an author/artist event at a local book store for the end of March and I'll be contacting the local newspaper for an interview regarding the event.  I am now an official member of The Horror Writers Associaton (at the affiliate level).  I decided to query several small presses to see if they would be interested in publishing my collection "Hair Baby and Other Weird Tales."  If they are not, I'll be self-publishing that.  Now, I challenge you to do something that scares you.  Write a story.  Send that story out to publishers.  Sing in front of a group.  Teach a class.  Skydive.  We spend too much time worrying about what will happen IF we do something.  Sure, we might get rejected or sing off-key or students may tie you up and lock you in a closet or your parachute might not open.  But wha...

I'm Carey Burns, I'm a writer, and I'm a mess.  I have four flashdrives for my writing.  Four.  With multiple versions of all of my stories on each of them.  That's a lot of stories.  So finding something I'm working on is a chore in itself.  This week, I'm on an organizational kick.  I'm wiping out old versions of stories and getting down to just two flashdrives:  one working and one backup.  I know, I know, there's some Cloud out there and other services that will gladly store my stuff, but I'm paranoid and don't embrace change easily.  I still have 3.5 inch floppies!  (that sounds wrong...)  Anyway, the point is, I'm making a huge effort to treat my stories better than I have been.  Next up is getting all of my handwritten scribbles in some sort of organized fashion.  That might take a while. In other writerly news, I've decided to throw caution to the wind and join the Horror Writers Association (HWA) as an...

Each year, one thing I put on my "To Do" list is to be braver.  If you would meet the me from 10 years ago and have her stand next to me, I think you'd see she was horribly shy and timid.  She would never dream of sending out any of her stories or talking to new people or *gasp* starting a blog to talk to people she didn't even know.  I'm pretty proud of how far I've come and how I've dealt with setbacks along my journey.  Each day I try so hard to be the girl I want to be and live the life I want to live.  Yesterday and today, I did some pretty brave things.  I participated in Neil Gaiman's #KeepMoving and tweeted some pretty personal things.  Things I think I've been trying really hard not to express.  One thing, I miss my dad quite a lot and cry more often than you can imagine.  I've been filling my last 4 months or so of my life with so much activity that I don't really have time to dwell and grieve.  But I'm getting tired and wor...

Surprise, surprise!  I'm getting better, I promise.  I've been very busy lately formatting my Sketchbook Project and right now it is available on Smashwords.  It is called " Sounds Fishy:  Mermaid Haikus and Wisdom " and is free--free--free!  A lovely handful of quasi-naughty haikus and my own illustrations...just for you!  Hopefully soon it'll be available for Kindle and Nook, etc.  Now that I'm finished with that formatting joy, I'm in the process of putting together my own collection of short stories.  Right now, I have just over 34,000 words accumulated and I'll be adding a couple more stories.  I already have the cover concept done and am getting a few new beta readers lined up.  With any luck, I'll have a PDF to give them within a week or so.  Then I can get back into my novel. Slimming is still a work in progress.  I  haven't gained, but I'm not losing big numbers each week like in the first cycle of The Shred...

Hello there, Blog and Happy New Year!  This year has a lot in store for it and my head is already swimming... First off, I need to announce that the Slimming is going very well.  Since April of 2011, I have lost 20 pounds.  It has been a long, sometimes difficult process, but I've got faith in myself that I can get down to my goal weight.  This is the ultimate birthday present to myself since nobody, and I mean nobody, can do this for me.  It feels very good. Next, I need to say a huge thanks to everyone that has bought a copy of Haiku Horror Stories .  I'm humbled beyond words.  To celebrate, at the end of the month I will be giving away a free copy on my Facebook page.  By the way, I have an official page on Facebook so go ahead and like it if you would. My Sketchbook Project got mailed in a smidge late, so I hope it makes it into the collection and they digitize it.  When it is available, I'll share the link ...

I figured if the world is supposed to end tomorrow, I better get one last blog in... Let's see...I'm officially a 5-time NaNoWriMo failure, but I'm okay with that because I got an A+ in my class.  Priorities.... My contributor copy of The Snuff Syndicate arrived and I'm pleased to see my story "Tipping the Odds" in print.  I did get a rejection for my story "The Witches in the Walls," but the editor was kind and gave me some really good criticism.  Now I have a new twist for the story, but I can't quite bring myself to write it yet.  We'll see what happens. Right now I'm enjoying the first day of my vacation and gearing up to make almond bark and stories sing.  If we're all still here after tomorrow, I'll do something fun on the blog.  Maybe share a story for free or post bits from a project (hint:  cartoon crabs)...hmm....