Carey Burns

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!

I just got back from Hell, Michigan and boy is my skin burnt! Yeah...I know I'm not very funny. It was a fabulous trip: hit several haunted houses, met Creepy Clyde and attended the Ghoultide Gathering. Sooo much Halloween I could burst with orange and black innards flying out of me like confetti. I've learned that "Dracula Meets the Packrats" will appear in the forthcoming Groanology 2: Monsters, Madness, and Mayhem from Library of Horror. I can't wait for Drac's stories to see the light of day. The Library of Horror has another anthology that I'm subbing for, this one has ghosts in it. If anything on this planet (besides serial killers, sharks, the Bermuda Triangle or spiders) can terrify me, ghosts do it. I'm not sure why, but even hearing "true" haunting tales at night can keep me awake for hours and make me not want to go to the basement alone. True story.