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Hosting a write-in and trying to finish a book
I’m going to open this week’s post with the same lament I’ve been lamenting for the last several weeks: work is crazy busy, which is cutting into my blogging time. Specifically, a colleague and I are editing a book, and the manuscript is due on October 31, which therefore will be the most terrifying Halloween of my life. I’m at the wake-up-at-4-AM stage of book deadline panic, so this post will be short. I do have some news to share, though, besides the aforementioned book. Before I get to that: Welcome to the Weekend Coffee Share, hosted by Natalie the Explorer! Grab a treat, have a seat, and let’s get…
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7 things I love about reading (and writing) crime fiction
As I noted in last month’s IWSG post, I write in several genres, and I will read almost anything, but I keep coming back to crime fiction. Why? Let me count the ways. But before I do: Happy IWSG day! I participate in the monthly IWSG (a/k/a Insecure Writers Support Group) Blog Hop, which happens on the first Wednesday of each month. We offer words of encouragement to our fellow writers and share our doubts, fears, struggles, and triumphs. Thanks so much to our wonderful October co-hosts, Tonja Drecker, Victoria Marie Lees, Mary Aalgaard, and Sandra Cox. Each month our fearless leaders provide an optional question we can answer in our posts. This month’s question is:…
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My poem is a finalist! (and there are memes)
This week’s update will be short, because as I lamented last week, my day job is kicking my butt. Also, I’m trying to get a whole bunch of stuff done before next Friday, when Long-Suffering Husband and I are escaping to the White Mountains (the ones in AZ, not NH) for 3 days of forested fun to celebrate our 32nd (!!!!!) anniversary. That said, I do have some exciting writing news to share this week, plus a fresh batch of memes, but first: welcome to the Weekend Coffee Share, hosted by Natalie the Explorer! Grab a treat, have a seat, and let’s get to it. Writing News My poem, “The…
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Literary genres that are not for me
One of my author bios reads something like, “Janet writes everything from romance to horror, because genres are suggestions, right?” In my rather brief writing “career,” I’ve written: romantic suspense with time travel (see what I mean about genres being suggestions?), a post-apocalyptic short story (subscribe to my newsletter for a free copy), romance, and suspense/mystery/thriller–and even a few poems and personal essays. So when I saw this month’s IWSG question, What genre would be the worst one for you to tackle and why?, I had to pause and think: Is there anything I absolutely wouldn’t write? Yeah, there is. But before we get to that: Happy IWSG day! I…
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Long-Suffering Husband catches a backyard serial killer, and I meet some deadlines
It’s been a busy week here at Camp WTF. Long-Suffering Husband caught a serial killer* in the act, and I met a couple of writing deadlines. But before we get to those thrilling tales: Welcome to the Weekend Coffee Share, hosted by Natalie the Explorer! Grab a treat, pull up a seat, and let’s chat. * Note: a nonstandard definition of, “serial killer,” is used in this post.
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Lockett Meadow, writing news, memes, and more
Good afternoon, and happy Saturday! It’s a balmy 100F here in Satan’s Anus, which is a helluva lot better than the 108 we endured yesterday. In this week’s missive, I bring you some pretty pictures of Lockett Meadow in the San Francisco Peaks near Flagstaff, my writing progress (such as it is), a few interesting dribs and drabs I found on the internet when I should have been writing, and a fresh batch of memes I also found on the internet when I should have been writing. But first: Welcome to the Weekend Coffee Share, hosted by Natalie the Explorer! Grab a treat, pull up a seat, and let’s get…
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Wupatki National Monument + the usual nonsense
While the rest of the US is going to the beach and planning picnics and lounging outside in hammocks, I am cowering in my house, afraid to open the front door. Why? Because this is what awaits me outside: And if I go out there, this will happen: So I don’t have any current pictures of, well, anything (can’t risk the camera melting along with my face), but I do have a collection of pictures from summers past that I can trot out, so we’ll do that today. But first: Welcome to the Weekend Coffee Share, hosted by Natalie the Explorer! Pull up a seat, grab a treat (I recommend…
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Paying the price for my procrastination
Good morning and happy Friday! June is shaping up to be a hectic month, and it’s all my fault. I have a couple of major deadlines this month, which I’ve known about for many months. But did I get the pieces written ahead of schedule? Nope. Did I even start them at a reasonable time? Also nope. So now here I am, doing the authorial equivalent of writing the term paper the night before it’s due. Why, oh why, do I do this to myself? Because of my sloth–and because it’s been too hot to go outside and take pictures of interesting stuff–this post will be shorter and duller than…
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How to keep writing when the writing gets tough
Writing is tough. Yeah, I know, I spend my writing time in a comfy chair in an air-conditioned room, lifting nothing heavier than a can of Diet Pepsi while other people are working construction in triple-digit heat. Trust me, I know how privileged I am. But while writing isn’t particularly physically demanding, it demands quite a bit of mental and emotional toughness as well as a huge dollop of faith–mostly in yourself. In this post, I take a look at the challenges writing presents and offer a few suggestions for pushing through when every cell in your body is screaming at you to quit.
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Uranium Springs postapocalyptic town and pre-enactment site (plus the usual news and memes)
In this week’s update, we’re going to visit Uranium Springs, a postapocalyptic town outside Holbrook, Arizona. Uranium Springs is the site of the annual Detonation festival, a postapocalyptic “pre-enactment” (read: cosplay) event. Long-Suffering Husband attends every year, along with a few hundred other Mad Max maniacs who are much more optimistic about the postapocalyptic aesthetic than I am. Attendees at Detonation, and its larger, better-known cousin, Wasteland Weekend, make the woman on the left look drab. I’m kind of fascinated by the whole postapocalyptic pre-enactment thing, and I love a good postapocalyptic story. I even wrote one: “Collateral Damage,” first-place winner in the Arizona Authors Association 2020 literary contest (learn…
Janet Alcorn
Suspense | Horror | Romance
