My rainy day craft box

There is an episode of the show Futurama where the hero, Fry, and his friends have to film a new episode of a television show cancelled centuries ago to appease an alien overlord who is invading Earth. They start broadcasting it live only to discover they only have a few seconds' worth of dialogue. Fry explains that "It took me an hour to write. I thought it would take an hour to say."

It's funny because it's true. The act of writing alters your perception of time in truly mindfucking ways. If you're not a writer there really isn't a way to convey the bewilderment and disorientation that comes with looking at the clock and realizing you have been laboring for an hour only to have six sentences staring back at you. They might not even be sentences you want to keep, at that.

I started writing almost the minute I woke up this morning. And the chronological disconnect actually wasn't that drastic. I got an entire page of handwritten, single-spaced material cranked out in an hour and a half and I was happy with every jot and tittle of it. That's rare for me. But still, it felt like I should have no fewer than ten leaves, their every centimeter covered in ink, staring back at me. I know a lot of people who read what I say here are writers and I'm curious if you notice this phenomenon as much as I do. Is it a source of frustration in your work or just something you accept or don't think about that much?

( Seasons in the Abyss progress report. )

I should stop talking before I get spoilery or ruin the mystery for future readers. Of course, by the time this story finally sees the light of day - which could be a year or more from now - it may have turned into something else entirely again and everything I've said here will be moot. In which case the joke will be on you. But I promise I will make being the brunt of said joke worth your while :)

This week and this week only, from March 6th through March 12th Smashwords, one of our online distribution sites is selling Apocalypse Woman for 50% off the cover price. So if you've been wanting to download it but cost has been an issue now is the time to do it.

Here is the link for your clicking pleasure.

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/16919

The Pagan & The Pen published a good, if a bit spoilery review of my novel Apocalypse Woman. You can read it here.

I've got a maudlin, paranoid sort of feeling that I can't seem to shake today. I have no idea why and no reason for it, as usual. I suppose I should accept that I just feel this way sometimes. I think I just notice it more now that I have the ability to blog about it.

Part of it might be unexpressed excitement. All this week I've been typing up a final draft of a story set in the Apocalypse Woman world for an anthology. We have some business to take care of after I get off work, (more on that tomorrow, hopefully - don't want to jinx anything good by saying to much,) but I should be able to finish it tonight and get it sent where it needs to go. I've been promising a second AW-related work ever since the main novel came out and it feels amazing to final be able to deliver. I actually wrote this story several months ago, hoping it would turn into a larger project. But looking at it now after time has passed I realize it stands perfectly well on its own and hopefully will be just right for the release it's being submitted for. I've only got a few pages left of this draft to type and it's going to feel really great when I type that final sentence.

So here I am, counting the hours until I can finish it, and until other good things can happen. Happy Thursday, everyone!

So a few days ago I started a Facebook. Didn't really want to, but hey, I want people to buy my novel and anything to reach a broader audience, right? Well who just friended me but my high school youth pastor? And here's my profile advertising a nice big smut novel, naked woman posing all suggestively and everything.

He hasn't said anything to me yet - and he might not because he tends to be circumspect - but I know him and know that he must be thinking... something. I was, after all, a "good" Christian kid, even if I did wear Metallica and Suicidal Tendencies t-shirts to youth group and ask the difficult questions that make clergy flinch. He never flinched though, and that's one of many things that made him earn my admiration and respect. But unless he's changed just as much as I have in the last fourteen years, then he's not going to understand what I write and why I write it. And I doubt he's changed. With me you could see it coming; not so with him.

So... this may be interesting. Erotica writers are often asked "how does X feel about what you do? How did you go about telling them what you do? Do they even know what you do?" For all of us the answer is different. I have been blessed with very supportive family and friends. But like so many others there are people in my life whom I know won't understand and I don't expect them to. I made the decision when I started this that I wouldn't hide what I write. So while I'm not shouting it to those folks that I'm writing very explicit hardcore sex scenes and selling them to people, I'm not hiding it either. If you you've caught me at it, good for you. Pull up a seat and let's have a talk.

But my old pastor... that's one I had not expected. Granted he's got more on his plate to deal with right now then what someone he hasn't seen in over a decade is doing, (according to his profile he's a missionary in Bulgaria right now,) but I know him. I know he will remember what he saw.

Interesting. Very interesting.