Happy Halloween!!

I hope everyone's got big exciting sugary plans for tonight!!  Our office Halloween party was a blast, especially the part where Harry Potter fought with Darth Vader. Epiiiiiiiiiiiiiic.

Don't forget, you have until midnight to post/email your scary flash fiction for a chance to win swag!

Have fun, everybody!

Only 4 days left to enter my Halloween contest!

Remember, your scariest flash fiction is due by midnight on Halloween.  Post it as a comment on the original post, located HERE, or, if you'd prefer, you can email them to me directly at beckahrah @ gmail .com.  Limit of 750 words, and the winner (or winners) receive a glass tile pendant/keychain, etc. as a prize.  Huzzah!!

Halloween Flash Fiction Contest!!

I don’t know if you know this about me, but I love horror.  The scarier, the better. Freak me out, give me nightmares, and make me afraid to turn the light out at night, and you’ve won me over.

And, since it is almost the scariest time of year, I thought I’d host a scary little contest. Flash fiction-style. Time to channel your inner King, Lovecraft, Barker, Craven...whoever gets your juices flowing.

The rules are simple: You have until midnight on Halloween (OoooOoooO, spoooooooky!!) to post your scariest flash fiction (no more than 750 words) as a comment on this thread. The scariest stories win a free pendant! I’ll give away at least two pendants but perhaps more, if you’re all on your scariest writing behavior.

This can be about anything. Zombie teddy bears, angry robots (smiley face), cannibalistic Santa Claus, cybernetic ghost sharks in a blood ocean, alien Frankenstein-monsters…whatever. The sky’s not even the limit. It just has to be original and scary. Blood & gore are totally cool, but please limit the “adult situations” & language so I don’t have to put a warning label on my blog. :P

And this should go without saying but, NO sparkly/angsty vampires, please, or I’ll slap you on the hand and take away your Halloween candy.

As always, the pendant(s) can be of anything you like. I can also make it into a keychain, zipper pull, etc. for the menfolk out there who might not be especially interested in jewelry.

I specialize in writing gods (see the list HERE, and you can see examples HERE, at my Etsy shop).  I have it on good authority that they bring good writerly luck.  I also have a large template collection of liquor bottles and retro/rockabilly-style zombies, but I can make any image/pattern/photo, etc. into a pendant.

Good luck! I can’t wait to see what you guys come up with! :D

Random Noise...I mean, News...Day

For those who don’t know, I’m still awaiting the results of UK publisher Angry Robot Books’ March 2011 Open Door Submission Month. Those of us who remain have formed a support group of sorts over at Absolute Write, in which to whinge and moan and gnash our teeth collectively. You can check it out here: The AW Waiting Club

So far, from what we can gather, there were around 22 manuscripts escalated to the editors’ desks. Of those, so far one has resulted in a book contract and at least 2 have been rejected. I think. The rest of us are following their every tweet, facebook status, website update, and Formspring answer while going slightly mad. We’ve also formed a private writing group that we’ve called “Anxious Appliances,” which seems to be slowly degenerating into a more private place to chew our hands off, lol.

Incidentally, Angry Robot Books have some of the coolest covers I’ve ever seen, and you should check them out: Angry Robot Books

In other news, I have acquired my first smartphone, and I love it and I’ll bite you in the face if you try to take it from me. I was so engrossed in Twittering and Facebooking and downloading games and such that I forgot it was a phone until I got a call last night, and for a second I actually thought, “Wow, it can do that TOO??”

And, lastly, I’m beginning to hate that Goblin Humiliator Badge. It taunts me, just hanging out there underneath the WIP word-counter that hasn’t changed in a month. “It’s not my fault!!” I scream at it. “I have a new job…and I’ve been sick…and I have homework to do…and Betas to critique…and dogs to feed and bills to pay and a husband to play with and bells to answer and eggs to fry and I HATE YOU!” I’ve been counting my schoolwork and blog posts as word counts just so I don’t get to Day 7 of no writing and have to explain myself to my mother.

I just need another 8-10 hours a day, that’s all. Just enough so that I can get some writing done and get a second job for Christmas money, and still have some “me” time. Or a clone. Or just a great big pile of cash. Yeah, that’d about do it.

Blog Award! Yay!

I've been away for a bit due to some gastrointestinal distress.  Sorry about that.

Anyway, I've returned now, weak-stomached but largely intact, and now I have another blog award!  Yaaaaay!!

Much thanks to the lovely & talented Lisa Ann over at Kicked, Cornered, Bitten, and Chased for my shiny new blog award! According to Lisa, "The purpose of this award is to ask bloggers to identify their own blog posts in certain categories."  So. Here we go:

1.  Most Beautiful Post:  Amarantian Palace - my sketch of the Amarantian Palace from my WIP, Eyes of Stone, which is (as you well know) still awaiting judgment from the editors over at Angry Robot Books.

2.  Most Popular Post: Books to Movies I'm Super-Excited About - I guess a lot of people around here read. ;)

3. Most Controversial Post:  Not-So-Great Betas - There seemed to be a lot of mixed feelings about this one.

4. Most Helpful post:  How to Change a Tire - It'll keep you from being raped, murdered, and left in a culvert. You're welcome.

5. Most Surprisingly Successful post:  Dream Log #3 - Second-most hits of all my blog posts. Who knew people were so fascinated with Santa Claus kidnapping people from strip clubs?

6. Post that Didn't get the Attention it Deserved:  Creativity Exercise #8 - I thought it was one of my funnier ones, but apparently Mr. internet didn't agree.

7.  Post I am Most Proud of:  Writing gods - Wasn't sure whether to cap that "gods," but oh well.  This took me many moons to complete, and I'm still adding to it.  All the old writing gods, patron saints, etc., from as many mythologies as I could locate.  I turned them all into jewelry, and I have it on good authority that they bring good luck. :D


And now to pass it on to three other worthy bloggers:

1. Going From Nobody to Somebody

2. Rise of the Slush

3. Mary Ellen's Musings


Huzzahs all around!  I hope to step up the blogging soon; it's just been hard to find the time lately between the new job and the sickness and the school and all. :P 

Dream Log #3

Last night, I dreamed that my sister talked me into going swimming with her at this strip club’s indoor pool, which turned out to have a chemical in it that dissolves your clothing. Then, of course, we saw the pervs watching from the underground pervert rooms. We got out and were promptly man-handled by creepy homeless-looking strip club patrons, and then we got kidnapped by Santa Claus.

No kidding.

Somehow in all this, my sister was kidnapped and held hostage by someone else. In order to save her life (and I don’t remember exactly how or why this would work), I had to go with the other strippers to put on a “water show” for Santa Claus at the North Pole. When we got there, the security guards said we had to be careful to avoid Mrs. Claus. She found us anyway and was really sweet and sad that her husband enjoyed sexy parties. I felt like a jerk, but hey, I had to save my sister’s life, right? Except we never got around to doing the nude water ballet thing (thank goodness), because someone (I suspect Mrs. Claus) set the North Pole on fire. Then we were magically transported back home, and then I woke up.

That dream sucked, by the way.  I feel all skeezy just thinking about it, lol.  I thought the creepy squirrel clip art was a good fit for that. ;)

Looking for a few good guest bloggers!

Picture is unrelated; I just think it's pretty. :D  Thank you, Windows Clip Art!


Whoo, this has been a crazy and very FULL couple of weeks! I’m finally settling into my new job (I think), and while it won’t be quite as all-encompassing as I initially feared, it does require more of my attention than my previous position. Which only makes sense, as I am now a supervisor. Squee!!

Anyway, my blogging may still be sporadic over the next few weeks as I get used to this new position. Frankly, it’s been a challenge just keeping Goblin’s motivator from getting too nasty.

This job is a much more physically demanding one than I’ve ever had, so it makes me very tired on those days when I have to haul dozens of boxes of magazines around campus. So, in the spirit of togetherness, variety, keeping the blog diverse, expanding new horizons, and keeping you lovely people interested (as well as easing the strain on my poor back and brain), I am looking for guest bloggers.

If you’d like to guest blog here, email me at beckahrah @ gmail.com (sans spaces, of course) and include the material you’d like to contribute. It can be something you’ve already posted on your own blog, as long as it’s yours and I won’t get sued or anything horrible like that.

Much thanks and karma and book contracts upon you all for your help!