Happy Hearts Day, guys and ghouls! How are you celebrating this day of love? Me? I’m curling up with a couple of books I purchased this week, including The Burning Girls by C.J. Tudor and All the Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones. If that’s not exciting enough, I’m also anticipating the BEHIND HER EYES series (based on the book by Sarah Pinborough) coming out on Netflix this Wednesday! It’s all so perfect for the freezing cold, iced-in, pandemic times season of life we are currently experiencing. I’m sure I’m not the only extrovert coming out of this time with an INFJ personality.
As of late, I’ve been trying to interact more with the horror community on Twitter. I tend to lurk more than interact, and as such I’ve squandered years of opportunity to connect, seek inspiration, and garner some support in my writing. This year I’m looking to find more short story submission opportunities and hopefully connect with a few writers in the genre.
I recently submitted a story to Crystal Lakes Publishing’s Shallow Waters flash fiction challenge and it made it to the voting round. I never realized how difficult it is to tell a complete story in 1000 word or less—and that is coming from someone who can’t imagine writing anything longer than a novelette, novella, or a collection of short stories or vignettes. I don’t have the patience or attention span for anything long-winded. Plus I get bored easily. (Believe me, I wish neither were the case.) Still, I found writing something that short incredibly challenging, yet a good exercise in slimming and trimming all that is superfluous.
The story is about a grieving daughter, revenge, and…pomegranates. Yes, I find inspiration *everywhere*. My grandfather had a pomegranate tree in his front yard and I’ve loved that gorgeous fruit ever since I was a wee lad visiting his house in between PCS’. (I was an Army Brat.) Anyway, you can find the story here. You have to become a $5 tier or higher Patron in order to read and vote, but if you’re a fan or writer of horror it’s a pretty sweet investment.
I hope you all have a wonderful Valentine’s Day Sunday, full of chocolate and rich foods, and maybe even a few spooks.
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