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Are holidays for rest or productivity?
I’ve spent the last few days on holiday planning. I’m an academic, and my university shuts down from just before Christmas till just after New Years, giving me ~10 days off during which I don’t have to monitor email or think about work in any way. I don’t have much family, so I don’t have holiday houseguests, and I’m not expected to travel anywhere. Yet I manage to stress about Winter Break every year. Why? Because overthinking is one of my superpowers (the others are being so lazy my FitBit thinks I’m dead and eating my body weight in Extra Toasty Cheez-Its). Before we get to my overthinking of Winter…
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My Christmas horror story will be published!
My new Christmas horror story, “The Fine Print,” will be published in the 2022 Deathlehem holiday horror anthology! Actual footage of me seeing the acceptance hitting my inbox: I signed the contract this morning and am now basking in the warm glow of external validation. Also basking in the warm glow of a stomach full of pumpkin pie. Mmmmm… Now I need a nap. But before I take one: Welcome to the Weekend Coffee Share, hosted by Natalie the Explorer! Grab a slab of pumpkin pie and let’s chat!
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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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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…
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My story became an audio drama (#IWSG)
It’s the first Wednesday of the month, also known as IWSG Day. For those of you who are new to my warped corner of the interwebs, IWSG=Insecure Writers Support Group, a wonderful online community of, well, insecure writers. Once a month we organize our insecure selves into a blog hop, where we (you guessed it) share our insecurities. Or in my case, some of them. If I were to share all my insecurities, I’d fill a warehouse the size of that one at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark: If you’re as impatient as I am, skip to about 1:10 in the video above to see the warehouse…
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“A Christmas Duet” is published in Harmony Magazine
My short creative nonfiction piece about my mother’s last Christmas, “A Christmas Duet,” was just published in Harmony Magazine! I wrote the first draft right after visiting my mother on Christmas Day 2018. After a little revision and a lot of tears, I’m thrilled that this story has found a home. Harmony Magazine is a visual arts and literary journal published annually by the Medical Humanities department of the University of Arizona College of Medicine. Issues are available free online. You can find my story in the 2022 issue beginning on page 12. Note that it’s written under my real name, so now y’all know my not-so-secret identity. What’s “A…
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New story published, Organ Pipe Cactus trip, blog recap, recap, and New Years memes (Weekend Coffee Share #20)
Happy New Year, friends! I hope everyone had wonderful winter holidays. And a big thanks to Natalie the Explorer intrepid hostess of the Weekend Coffee Share! Thanks, Natalie, for helping me connect to so many awesome bloggers like yourself. Writing News–my latest short story is published! My big writing news: My Christmas horror story, “Woe is Me, Poor Child, for Thee,” has been published in the annual Deathlehem holiday horror anthology. See the linked post for deets. SQUEE!
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My short story, “Woe is Me, Poor Child, for Thee,” is published!
My Christmas horror story, “Woe is me, Poor Child, for Thee,” is published in the 2021 Deathlehem anthology! One foggy Christmas Eve, an ex-con mall Santa seeks camaraderie in a California Delta watering hole—and learns that the spirits of the season don’t always rest easy. Billy Foraker had it all: lovely family, big house in the ‘burbs, good job making good money. Then he lost it all and traded the American dream for a prison cell. Now he’s a free man again, trying to rebuild his life, but his past is still out there, waiting for him in the Delta tule fog. The Colour Out of Deathlehem contains 24 holiday…
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Snippet from “Open House,” my newly-published short story
Good morning, and welcome to this week’s Weekend Writing Warriors post! Today’s snippet is the first 10 sentences of “Open House,” my 80s haunted house story that JUST GOT PUBLISHED on the Storyteller Series podcast! Why yes, I am just a wee bit excited. Yes, I did squee all over this blog announcing it. Those of you who are veterans may shrug, but this is a big ol’ deal for little ol’ me. OK, on to the snippet: The woman in the Nike jacket was staring at Kim Idlewood’s husband. Oh, she was trying to be discreet about it—they usually tried to be discreet, unless they were young, hot, and…
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Open House is published on the Storyteller Series podcast!
It’s up! It’s up! It’s up! SQUEE!! Ahem. Let’s try that again. I’m delighted to announce that my short story, “Open House,” is published on Night Shift Radio‘s The Storyteller Series podcast. The Storyteller Series presents original short stories (like mine! SQUEE!) as audio dramas with a full cast of voice actors. Check it out on Spotify (use the player above) or your favorite podcast player (and while you’re there, check out the other great stories on the podcast. I especially liked Tom Witkowski‘s, “The Guardian Devil”). So why am I squeeing all over the place? Because I’m a teenager trapped in a 50-something body (Get me out of this…
Janet Alcorn
Suspense | Horror | Romance
