Exploring the House: Mark Z. Danielewski’s House of Leaves

Welcome to Killer Thursdays, where everything goes bump in the night…

*Winners for author Jay Squire‘s giveaway are announced at the bottom*

At long last, I have procured a copy of Mark Z. Danielewski’s House of Leaves^[1]. I was hesitant to read it for two reasons. Yeah, I know it’s been out for a good long while^[2] and I’m kinda late to the party.

Happy Haunting!

It’s that time of year again.

You know what I’m talking about. Pumpkins, candy, assorted monsters taking off their human skin and walking around as they really are, extorting the neighborhoods for treats…

…and hauntings. We cannot forget the hauntings.

Ants in the Mailbox – Postcards from Hell, Part 2 (a 500-word story)

My friend, the lovely historical fiction writer Haley Whitehall, issued a flash fiction challenge in the horror genre and this time it involves a prize! The contest runs until 10/31/11, so there’s still time to enter. My entry is Part 2 of a story I wrote for BeKindRewrite’s Inspiration Monday IX. You can find Part 1, Postcards from Hell here.

And now…

Ants in the Mailbox

They stood at the edge of the front lawn gone almost knee-high with weeds. The figure in the filthy postal uniform lay still on sidewalk.

Steve looked right. Left. Nothing else moved anywhere on the street.

Deanna squeezed the stock of her crossbow. “He really dead? Dead-dead?”

Making the ROWnds

ROW80 Check In for 10/26/11

I’m feeling good about last week. Still didn’t nail every goal but I was successful overall. The shorter blogging schedule is really working for me and I’ve fallen in love with my MIP again. Suddenly, I want to sneak off at every opportunity and dive into my story.

Here’s where I’ve been:

• Work on MIP tasks 4 days/week: Figures that when I cut back on my goal days, I’d end up doing more. I did a whopping 6 days this week. And I downloaded my free Scrivener trial 2 days ago…that’s really perking up my writing. Woohoo!
• Exercise for a minimum 5-10 minutes at a time, 5 days/week: Still hitting 4 days/week. Perhaps that’s what really fits into my rhythm and I should focus on building up the length of each workout and not trying to hit all 5 days first.

Once Upon a Curse

Welcome to Parallel Tuesdays, where magic and science are two sides of the same coin…

What if your happily ever after was taken away along with everyone you ever loved? What if you were ripped from your world and imprisoned forever, without hope or even the memory of hope? What if your one chance at freedom didn’t even believe in happy endings?

That’s the premise of the new ABC show Once Upon a Time. Jealous of Snow

Are You the Main Character of Your Life? by Jess Witkins

Welcome to another Life List Club Friday. Today, I’m at Jenny Hansen’s, fessing up to my not so secret love of tacos. And, over here, we have the super-funny and always-cool Jess Witkins with us, talking about dreams and fear and cute little zombie kittnens. Take it away Jess…

Are You The Main Character of Your Life?

Do you ever start to dream about the things you’re doing, watching, or reading?  I didn’t use to.  But lately my dreams have taken on a very suspense/horror feeling about them.  I think I need to stop reading Dan Brown books and watching zombie/vampire/witch shows before bed (but I so love Walking Dead and Vampire Diaries!)

The Zombies Have Arrived!

Welcome to Killer Thursday, where everything goes bump-in-the-night…

The Walking Dead is back and opened with an episode every bit as stunning as last season’s (check out Jess Witkin’s awesome post on the Season 2 Premiere here).

And the Writer Said, Let there be Blogs (and a ROW80 Check-In)

blog fatigue: (blawg fuh-teeg) noun

1.  the condition of being overwhelmed by one’s blog and/or the number of blogs to read, often characterized by an avoidance of blogging related activities and a loss of the pleasure previously associated with those activities

Last week, we discussed whether or not an epidemic blog fatigue was on the horizon. The consensus seemed to be that the risk of blog fatigue has indeed sky-rocketed but it doesn’t have to take any of us down.

Blogging and social media gives writers the opportunity to connect with a vast number of other writers, to see

Got Blog Fatigue?

Recently, author and blogger Nathan Bransford asked if there was an epidemic of blog fatigue on the horizon. Are blog readers having a hard time keeping up with all there is to read? Are (some) bloggers beginning to wear out from a heavy posting schedule or from balancing work, writing, and family demands with blogging?

For me, the answer is: yeah, kinda. Lately, I’ve been struggling to keep up with all the great blogs I want to read. There are so many posts that catch my eye

Do the ROWky Pokey

ROW8O Check-In 10/12/11

The first week of ROW is done! I got off to a bit of a slow start but I’ll be up to speed soon. Here’s my progress so far:

• Start exercising, minimum 5 minutes at a time, 5 days/week:
  I worked out 3 days this week for an average of 10 minutes each time. Not exactly the 5 days I’d planned for but still better than 0. I’m getting into the habit now, so hitting all 5 days next week should be no problem.
• Update ROW8O page for the new round: Haven’t updated the page yet.
• Have Friday’s Life List Club guest post ready to go by Wednesday: Got this one done!