Carey Burns

I didn't get to wear a tiara Saturday, but I had a candy buffet for my birthday and it was awesome!  Pixy Stix, Snickers, Fireballs, Smarties, Dove eggs, Butterfingers, Whoppers...and that ain't the half of it!  We still have two huge bowls filled with sugary goodness and I hope they never run dry.  Next year, I'm doing it again! It was so hard coming back to work after a week off, but I've been keeping myself busy non-stop so the days go by quicker.  I've been encouraged to write more teasers about our programs and activities and it feels good to be creative at work.  I wish more of my colleagues had the same encouragement.  Imagine what we could accomplish!

I think my 20K challenge for this week was a bit...optimistic.  I neglected to factor in real life, which tends to get in the way of writing a lot.  Anywho, I have made progress by finishing a short story, nearing the end of another, and creating a scene in my vampire novel where my main character meets...wait for it...Vlad Dracula.  The real, historical Dracula, with impalements and all.  I've been doing quite a bit of research on Hungary and Romania and well, it all just seemed to fit.  We'll see how it rolls in the final draft, of course. For a while I've been wanting to make PMC Silver jewelry but lacked a kiln to fire it in.  Since there's no kiln in my future, I enrolled in a continuing education class and made 2 pendants plus a bead.  I get to pick up the fired pieces next Tuesday and brush/polish them.  Once I get them home I will definitely post pictures--even if they look like silver crap. Taking the class has given me a few inspirations for using polymer

One day a year I get to be the Queen and that is today.  38 is looking great and there's cake in the fridge.  They call it "Cake for Two" but let's get real.  It is "Cake for Me" and I'm just biding my time until I can snarf it all down. I worked on "Hunting the Boogie Man" all day yesterday and shall get back to it after lunch.  There will also be some action on my caterpillar story and I'm thinking of changing the title.  "Forced Migration" doesn't quite fit now that I know why they were moving.  I've slapped up a couple reviews on Amazon:  one for Hater by David Moody and another for Black Corners of a Blood Red Room by Patrick Rutigliano.  Both great reads--you should give them a try! Now, to enjoy a bottle of Coke and hang out with some vampires.

This is my birthday week and staycation all rolled into one.  My goal for this week is to write at least 20,000 words.  I will work on my NaNo novel "Hunting the Boogie Man" and finish up a few other projects and if I break 20,000 words, I will wear a tiara all day on Saturday.  If not...well, the guilt will be suitable punishment enough. My story "Being Neighborly" has been accepted into the upcoming anthology "Zombies Gone Wild" by Collaboration of the Dead.  I'm particularly jazzed about this because the story was slated to be in a different anthology but was killed.  A zombified story about zombies...rock on. Okay, better boogie if I want that tiara!