Shanna Wynne

I told you I’d be finishing up the Writer’s Online Tool Box Part 2 and throwing it up here for your amusement, and perhaps education, a few days ago.

However, I received this notice earlier today:

To Shanna Wynne, writer extraordinaire:

We must unfortunately inform you that the links you wish to provide on your latest and greatest blog are down. They have crashed and appear as Network Not Found. The internet equivalent to the Blue Screen of Death.

When these links are resurrected, we will update you immediately. Then you may proceed to write and publish your blog.

With deepest regrets,

The Internet

There you have it. The problem-at-hand. I could post the blog unfinished, without the links, but it just wouldn’t be the same.

As such, here are funny pictures to amuse us while we wait.

One of my favorite Calvin and Hobbes comics.

This one makes me think….. Would I do that?

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I suppose two funny pictures are enough. Not only is the Internet ashamed for messing up my links, but for some reason, it’s also interfering with my blog – writing. (Buttons and stuff getting stuck. Had to undo stuff several times. It wants to put everything in block quotes. *sigh*)

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RANDOM PARANOID FEAR OF THE DAY #56

That there will be that fateful day on the escalator when my shoe laces or the hem of my jeans will get caught in its vice-like teeth and I will be chewed up into fajita meat.

That thing is just scary looking…. It is in disrepair, I admit, but even the working ones terrify me.

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Have a terrific Sunday. I will return and post more. Hopefully the Internet fixes my link problem so I can post Part 2 to the Writer’s Online Tool Box series.

As an in-between blog, this is going to be a quickie. (Sometimes those are the best kind.)

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On the Online Front:

The blog after this will be Part 2 of my Writer’s Online Tool Box series. In it, we’re going to discuss the various market websites and tools writers can use to help them organize their schedule of upcoming deadlines and such. (Google Calendars, I love you.) I’m also going to download Google Chrome and see how it performs as a browser, and I’ll let you all know how it goes.

On top of that blogging project, I’ve got several book and movie reviews to write. For esteemed horror/fantasy fiction such as Neil Gaiman’s American Gods, Bentley Little’s The Store, Richard Laymon’s Body Rides, and so much more I can’t name them all. As for movies, I’m going to go over the backlog on my Netflix and write up all the reviews I haven’t written up. As for Saturday Night Horror Fest, everybody’s schedules are so busy, we haven’t really had one in a while. But I’m going to try to get back in the habit. My movie reviews are what bring people to the site the most, ironically, so I need to keep up with those.

I will also finish the blog on Passive Voice soon enough, and follow that craft/grammar blog with another about Stereotypes and Cliches. (This one is irking me right now because of the anthology story I’m working on. The “chick-flick” story that I don’t want to dip into cliches in, but there’s a certain expectation of “women sitting around talking” scenes that I might have to give in to.)

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On the Writing Front:

There’s a lot of upcoming anthologies I would like to submit to, and need to write stories for. I generally don’t do this type of thing. I am a “write first, submit later” kind of gal, but there’s some interesting anthologies that are just screaming at me to submit to.

There’s a Zombies VS Vampires anthology that could be a lot of fun. Another called All About Eve, which is the “chicky” story I’m working on in my spare time right now. (This one I make no guarantees about. It’s a whole new area of writing for me. More dialogue than anything, though that’s not a problem. It’s just making the conversation between two women realistic….. I’m not much of a gossiper, so I’m not sure how women talking gossip really talk!)

First and foremost is the novel. I have a title now, finally. My grandiose work of fiction will be called “The Monsters Among Us” (Or perhaps, “Monsters Among Us”… Haven’t decided on the “The” yet.) I’ve had a busy couple of days, very little time to do more than lay down notes and such, so I’m looking forward to this evening. I’m going to write my little tail off.

When I’m done with my word count goal for the novel, I’m going to clean up a couple stories and submit them somewhere. *sigh* Hardest part of the biz. Sending your babies out to impress people and crossing your fingers they do a good job.

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There you are. My work list for a day, maybe two. I always overload my brain, but it’s the way I function best.

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Thanks for listening. Here’s a cookie.

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Here’s a new segment I was going to start last year and forgot about.

RANDOM PARANOID FEAR OF THE DAY # 78:

That one day while cleaning my ears with Q-tips, I’ll get distracted and forget it’s there, slap a pair of stereo headphones on my head and send that neglected Q-tip 2 inches into my brain. I’m very careful with Q-tips.

OOPS

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Have a great Sunday! Remember to come back for more of … well, more of … whatever you want to call this Shan-tastic weirdness!

So.

I’ve got a new Taskmaster.

He’s finally started really kicking me in the butt about my writing. Mostly because I started the first real novel and now he’s excited.

Of course, I’m referring to my husband. The wonderful Marquis Wynne. Who punishes me harshly when I don’t get my pages done. When he sees that I wasted time blogging he’ll probably beat me with razor chains and fluffy bunnies.

(I stole the razor chains line from a friend on Zoetrope, Lucas Pederson. Thanks Lucas!)

He’s also pushing me to blog more often, and unload some of my back log (the stuff I’m concerned doesn’t really belong anywhere in the publishing world) onto the website. Since I haven’t posted any new stories for reading, he’s making me. It’s a good thing. I don’t post them in the hopes an editor will brush across the website and fall madly in love with my writing style. (Though if that happened, I’m not going to argue.) I post it for you, my lovely readers, of which at least 4 stop by every day. Which I think is amazing. I’m nobody and four different people stop by my website a day? Wow.

There’s going to be a new feature, as you’ve probably already noticed. It’s called “Free Fiction of the Month.” I’ll post a new story up on the main page and you can stop by and read, as well as comment. (Which you can’t do in the Free Library.) It’ll stay up until the end of the month, where I’ll retire it to the Free Library and post a new story. I will also do my darnedest to keep it fairly close to the top for the entire month.

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As for the Novel front, it’s coming along pretty good. I’ve got a goal, the hubby is brow-beating me to keep it. I want to finish around page 400. I’m going to sit down for some time today or tomorrow to start an outline, something to keep me focused on the story.

My only real problem writing the novel is that I tend to ramble in my writing. I know that not everything in the first draft will be good. That doesn’t concern me. It’s when I write something I just KNOW I will end up editing out, and then I wonder, “Why bother writing this?” And I feel the urge to just go back and erase it all that I get into trouble. Where do I draw the line?

So I keep pushing forward. Through the tough scenes and the boring mud until I reach a fresh, back on track point. Mentally I make a note that this area will require serious editing.. .when I’m done.

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Well, it’s Saturday night. That means it’s Saturday Night Horror Fest. We’ve got Feast and the straight-to-DVD Feast 2: Sloppy Seconds. As well as “The Midnight Meat Train.” There will be reviews tomorrow.

So keep on trucking, readers and writers. There will always be room for a little more horror in your life. Maybe in the next year I’ll be the author on the shelves providing it.

Vampire Skeleton Found! (click to read the actual article)

Looky here! A second blog in March. Maybe I’ll get back into the habit of writing 3 or more a week.

As is, a friend in the Horror Library office on Zoetrope turned me to this article about archaeologists digging up a mass grave in Italy. The grave was a dumping place for people who died of the plague. Along with some other interesting pictures, there was this.

Since people back in the day didn’t understand the decomposition process, they believe a body that had black, viscous fluids dripping from its mouth was a vampire, resting after a night of feeding. Especially when the shroud covering the body was torn around the teeth. It was sign the vampire had been “chewing” on its shroud. They also believed this was how the plague spread. To prevent this, they shoved a rock into the mouth of bodies believed to be that of the Undead.

Interesting, huh? Go ahead and click the picture to read more.

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Right now, on the writing front, I’m working on a new project to help me finish my novel. A story that was supposed to be 5 or 6 thousand words is turning into a novel. The story in my head has grown too big for its britches and needs the space to grow. So, first novel it will be.

Also I’ve got some stories I’m looking for places to sub–as we speak, in another tab.

And I still need to buy my hard copy of Darkened Horizons. There can’t be anything better for a writer’s confidence than holding a hard copy of their work. I can’t wait to put it on my bookshelf so I can point it out to friends and family and say, “See? I have been put in a book!”

I’m still figuring how to set up my “writing zone.” I’m debating on whether or not to really take that spot in the garage or just settle for turning the computer desk in my station, and use the hallway closet for my office stuff. But really, is there enough room on this desk for all my office supplies? No. My habit needs space. So soon enough, when the pictures are on the wall and everything really is put away I’ll have time to set up my office in the garage. Either way, I’m happy.

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Spring Break is coming up. I don’t know what I’m going to do with the boy at home for a week. I’m kind of terrified of summer now.

Just this Sunday, we had a friend and her daughter over for dinner. After we’d eaten and were just chit-chatting, my son stands up–finds the missing new pair of underwear I couldn’t find earlier, still taped into a tube shape, and says, “I’m going to put my underwear on!”

We all laughed a little and I couldn’t help but ask, “Are you wearing underwear now?”

He nodded in the affirmative, turned around and pull down his pants to show us his Scooby Doo undies.

Can you see why I fear the coming week? That boy is crazy!

I wonder who he gets that from….

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I haven’t a clue what else to put here. I’ve got laundry to put away. So technically, it’s not Laundry Day, but a continuation of Laundry Day. Either way, it’s still a dangerous day.