Where has the time gone? I mean, seriously, where?
I don’t know how long it has been since I sat down and enjoyed writing a blog post. I love my blog. And I love each of you for reading it. I apologize for neglecting it, and here I am to breathe new life into it! Thank you for your patience.
Since today is December 1st, I’m feeling festive. I love the Holiday Season. I dug out one of the lovely holiday mugs my dear mother gave me. I like this one. The fancy French look and pasteries is definitely reflective of the things I enjoy. Why not superimpose a photo of my website in the background, because what makes the Holiday Season even better than Holiday Horror?
It has been a busy time, in a good way. There has been a lot of great writing related things going on. October found me delving into the month of Halloween with enthusiasm, as always. There was pumpkin carving, creepy makeup (I pushed my limits this year), handing out of candy (and glow sticks), and horror movie watching.
October also saw the launch of October Blood, an anthology that I was honored to have a story (Candy Lady) in. It was a beautiful project executed by Hawke Haus, and all proceeds went to the Calgary Food Bank.
November was packed full and it was a lot of fun! I was able to get into a fantastic Holiday Market and sell some books! The vibe at the market was incredible. The other vendors were excited and friendly. The patrons were thrilled to be out and shopping for the holidays. I loved interacting with new readers and putting vintage print books into their eager hands. It was quite exciting for me to see how far my collection of books has come and how much my vendor booth has evolved.
November was also NanoWrimo (National Novel Writing Month). I use this month to put my writing at the topmost priority, and I join a community of writers in a super motivating over the top fun boot camp. We gather in the virtual space from all over the world and write together.
The goal is to write 50,000 words, thus finishing the first draft of a novel. I set my goal to finish the entire first draft of another book in the Det. Mahoney series. For me, that means writing closer to 80,000 words. I planned for Nano by prepping aspects of characters, settings, stories, and investigation in October. I also allocated chunks of time in November to allow myself the luxury of writing. I am thrilled to say that I wrote over 100,000 words. The novel came in around 92.000, and I pulled out a horror novella I’d been working on to blast through the 100 K line.
The first time I did Nano, I was struggling to finish my first novel. This year, I had so much fun and am really happy that I stuck to it, worked hard, and have improved my craft and my process.
Now that we are officially into December, I will leave you with a festive treat. I am running the Holiday Gift Guide by Killers and Demons for the entire month of December. It will be posted on my Instagram and FB streams (@killersanddemons). On Day 1, I share one of the most moving books I have ever read. Hope to see you on my socials!
