Scarlet Letters

Hey buster, wanna buy a book? This is the chorus most often found in convention dealer's halls, as we're all getting so desperate we're nearly mugging the passers-by. While sitting behind the rack of books at Midsouthcon this past weekend, I tried the Jedi Mind Trick: "These ARE the books you're looking for." I got a lot of amused giggles. Not so much with the sales. We're all in trouble. Nobody's buying books. Heck, Borders itself may go under any day. So I beg you to participate in the 2009 Horror Bail Out! The banks got one, so did Detroit (but not newspapers!). Here in the horror world, we're dying on the vine. Books aren't selling, magazines are folding and publishers are clinging by fingernails. So take a whole $20 and go buy a horror novel or subscribe to a magazine. Any magazine, any book. (Though you can try mine if you really want to - I make a great birthday present!) Go buy from one of Choate's participants and you'll get ...

Midsouthcon was held this past weekend in a strange Escher-like hotel with ramps and staircases leading to nowhere in particular. I have to say, it was a neat environment, even if the hotel policies annoyed me to no end. But this is not the place to gripe. Also, bourbon is evil. Instead, I'll tell you something interesting that happened in Memphis. I had just finished a panel on pulp fiction in which I was completely and utterly faking it - no idea what the hell I was talking about, but I've never yet missed an assigned panel, so I wasn't about to start. As I left the panel, I nearly bumped into a woman arriving for the WATCHMEN panel. She stopped and said, "Oh, I LOVE YOU!" This threw me off my step just a tad, and grinning, I stopped. She pointed at me and said, "SETTING SUNS!" Squee. You know, sometimes I still think SETTING SUNS is my favorite book. About half the stories seem horribly amateurish to me now and it's been out for years so just abou...

For reasons passing understanding these colors are all screwed up. Pretend the colors are normal. I cannot make up my mind.

It's fun what you find when you wander around looking for yourself. I was checking on Amazon's ABADDON page and saw that someone was selling a "collectible" version of the book. Since I'm not familiar with a collectible edition, I clicked it. Seems a Lisa Marie (Presley?) ordered a personalized copy of the book and never picked it up from this seller. This is quite a trick, since personalizations would only be available at conventions or by direct sales. Either this bookstore special-ordered it from us for her (and didn't get the money in advance) or they actually stood in a (very short) line at a show last year to get it done. Or, y'know, it's used. :) They're asking $11.99. Until the price kicked up on Jan. 1, the book retailed $5.99. Now I know what my signature is worth: six bucks. HEE. I will not be satisfied until it's at least twenty! Hey, Stephen King's early hardbacks go from $55-70 to $500-plus when he signs them, depending on ho...

In my sophomore year of college, I took a class on playwriting. I kept meaning to take a fiction writing class, but it was always cross-scheduled with something required by my theater major. I figured playwriting was the closest I would get and still satisfy my adviser. The playwriting professor was Dr. Stephen Malin, one of the finest teachers from whom I ever had the privilege to learn. I had already taken theater history from him. Dr. Malin was not satisfied with my writing, regularly giving me C's. It was quite the conflict for me at the time - my writing had always skated me by in other classes. I might not have understood very much about World War I, but my charming prose usually got me higher marks. My writing was my strong point. But Dr. Malin didn't grade us on what we accomplished. He graded us according to what we were capable of doing. He knew I could write circles around much of the stuff I turned in, and he would not accept the bare minimum. Naturally, I was nervo...

Last night I dreamed I was flipping through an electronic Writers' Market, which is funny because a) I haven't used WM for years, and b) I don't own a Kindle. Maybe it was actually Ralan.com, best market listing on the web - sort of Ralan if it was on a booklike reader. I was flipping through guidelines searching for new novella markets, because I have this really great novella and I can't find a good home for it. That part is true. And clearly it's taking over my subconscious. So I'm reading the guidelines for market after market, and for some reason I'm also sitting beside the lovely pool at my ex-husband's house, which is funny since I've never been there. And I find a great market, but oops! It pops up a preemptive rejection note, very polite but very firm. Addressed to me. Yes, in my dream I am rejected before I even submit. Methinks the whole slush fight might be getting me down a bit. But we all fight the slush wars, don't we? Okay, maybe ...

Reposting from damn near everywhere: Online "Lottery" to Benefit the Shirley Jackson Awards Takes place from February 9 through February 23, 2009 Boston, MA (January 2009) – The Shirley Jackson Awards will hold a "lottery" to raise funds for the award. This on-line event takes place from February 9, 2009 through February 23, 2009. Persons buy as many "lottery tickets" as they want in hopes of being selected the winner for any of an array of donated prizes from well-known authors, editors, artists, and agents. "Lottery" tickets are $1 each and can be purchased from http://www.shirleyjacksonawards.org/store/ Persons may purchase as many tickets as desired. Tickets will be available from February 9th, 2009 through February 23rd, 2009. At midnight on February 23rd, "lottery" winners will be selected randomly for each item and announced on the website. Prizes will be mailed to the lucky winners. In recognition of the legacy of Shirley Jacks...

When I saw that Clint Eastwood had the best opening of his career, I mentally kicked someone, because I'm so sick of box office records being made every day because of ticket price inflation instead of "number of butts in seats." In the latter category, GONE WITH THE WIND is still champ, thanks. But this little chart from BoxOfficeMojo.com could be useful for you writers. It lists the average ticket price for movies each year since 1910. Now, take with a grain of salt - the current average price is listed at $7.20. The average resident of New York City or Los Angeles would love to pay that price. So if you're writing about either city, you might want to adjust accordingly. But the chart should give you a little perspective for a historical piece, and is interesting to see as well - those GWTW viewers paid an average 23 cents to get in. Of course, a quarter went a lot further back then. Now if only there was a comparable chart for the price of popcorn...

A beautiful, fulfilled life requires nothing more than what you already have. Fulfillment depends solely on your decision to accept and experience it, in the moment where you are. There are some achievements that may take a lifetime to reach. Yet at any point along the way, from the very moment you begin, you can know fulfillment. Reaching any goal is a matter of commitment, discipline, intention and effort. Fulfillment itself is immediate, for it is a matter of knowing that you are living true to your highest purpose. Do not become trapped by measuring success based on what you’ve already done or failed to do. Learn to see that success is entirely a function of how you are feeling and thinking and acting right now. Your past cannot hold you back and your future cannot intimidate you, unless you allow it. This moment has every possibility of being the most fulfilling time you’ve ever known. Your life is infinitely more wonderful than any possession or event or circumstance that you ca...

As many of you know, I was diagnosed with thrombophilia last year. I've been informed this means I will never be able to give blood again. This is a great disappointment to me, as I've always believed it is very important for us all to give blood. Giving blood saves lives. It's as simple as that. In case you needed one, gives you more reasons and more ways to help. Everyone who needs blood will get it, but when someone gets it, that supply needs replaced. When someone requires massive amounts of blood to keep them alive after an accident or through surgery, or a burn victim needs 30 units of platelets to help rebuild and heal tissue, those platelets need to be replaced. By healthy people like us. So if you want to give a gift to the world, keep in mind that there are places where these vital fluids are being rationed. Yes...rationed. That means the low-priority patients (and if it's you or a loved one, it's NEVER a low-priority) go without or with a reduced allocat...

For anyone confused by the YahooGroup messages today: • My sister uses autofill in her email handling program. She tried to send me an email describing the Christmas ornament she made with her daughter. But autofill sent to the elizabethdonald YahooGroup instead of my personal email. • She then sent an email to the group apologizing. I snickered and remarked that only she and my mother ever do this. • My mother then sent an email snickering as well. • Only Mom's autofill... you guessed it. So she sent another email to the group apologizing as well. • I have declared that they all need to turn off autofill. Hee. Merry Christmas, mi familia!

THIS BLOG ENTRY REDACTED BECAUSE THE AUTHOR IS A MORON WHO PUT IT IN THE WRONG FUGGING BLOG. MOVE ALONG, NOTHING TO SEE HERE.

Now that Black Weekend is over, all your holiday shopping is done, right? *waits for laughs* Well, it just so happens an Elizabeth Donald book makes for an excellent gift! And so I'm going to make it very easy for you. My books are on sale! • ABADDON, $7.00 • NOCTURNE, $12.00 • The entire Nocturnal Urges series for $15.00 • SETTING SUNS is also available at the regular price of $13.00. Shipping is a flat rate of $5 regardless of the size of your order. For an additional $5, I will gift-wrap it as well. Order by Dec. 10 and you'll get the books autographed and shipped directly to your recipient in time for Hanukwanyulemas! Also, all orders will be entered into a drawing for prizes! Order by emailing booksales@elizabethdonald.com! But here's where we get serious, folks. Today is World AIDS Day, and there are plenty of people from Starbucks to Apple Computers offering their own Product (RED) promotions today. I urge you to patronize those businesses. And I'm going to do my...

61,458 / 60,000 (102.4%) Love always takes. Love cuts deep and watches the blood flow. There is power in love, the power over another, leveraged whether or not the recipient is even aware of it. Love is ties that bind, love is agony digging into the skin. Love always hurts. That's why I firmly believe no one can choose to love and certainly doesn't choose who they love. No one would choose the abyss. It chooses you. -- the author Love and faith have to overcome death. Otherwise, what good are they? -- Angiss the bayou halfling

60,958 / 60,000 (101.6%) Okay, just about finis. Of course, as soon as I declared the damn thing done, my brain coughed up another brilliant idea, right in the middle of our trip through the Way of Lights. That little something missing from the ending. Another voice in Alesia's head. Except, of course, it will require several additional moments throughout the second half of the goddamn book. Which at least gives me something to do at tomorrow's write-in besides spellcheck. Still, tonight is the Wineglass Ritual. And tomorrow I will send it to the publisher, and pending edits, I'm done. Now what to do next. This has been bugging me for some time. Oh, I have a handful of things I've procrastinated on, edits due on a couple of projects sent back to me with a "fix this and we'll reconsider." And there's the Christmas sale to kick off, next year's tour to plan, plenty of work to keep me occupied. I suppose I'll also spend at least a mon...

I really hate the golem battle. I originally intended them to face only one golem, but it was so dull I added two more, and still I don't like it. It needs something, a twist or a trick I could have implanted earlier on. Can't think of a thing, but that might be because it's 1:52 a.m. Hating this scene. Granted, it's "and then there were two," but yikes, my guys need to actually have a good fight or something. On the other hand, the Chapter Twelve heartbreak was sufficiently destructive that I felt all warm inside. There might be something wrong with me. Plus: "Go back to sleep, Kiddo, I've got golems to kill." I am the weirdest mom in Illinois. Yesterday's Favorite Fuckup: • They rushed at the cage, dragging out their own man out before Slive. (Department of Redundancy Department) Today's Favorite Fuckup: • The phrase "thrashing throes" is not a good phrase. No, really. It's just not. It's a sign that you need to hang ...

47,474 / 60,000 (79.1%) Take another look at that wordcount. It's 47474. I could not do that again if I tried. Not a bad session, considering I spent a good portion of the afternoon restructuring Chapter Eight and had to stop for dinner and a two-hour game of Disney Monopoly. Yes, my sunny Sunday afternoon consisted of swamp battle, barbecued ribs, Monopoly and cannibalism. There is nothing weird about my life, not at all. Many thanks to Ohari for explaining to me the proper way to treat an arrow wound. For those of you keeping score at home, you don't want to pull out an arrow because it's duh, triangular, so you'll rip hell out of the victim pulling it out. Best is to shove it the rest of the way through, break off the arrowhead and pull out the shaft. Of course, depending on its placement, you could be screwed anyway. Today I did a lot of Twittering while working. Here's a few choice conversations: GINGERSNAPS: It probably isn't proper for me to ...

As of today, I am officially moving my target word count to 60K. Longer would be even better, but I believe in aiming for reasonable goals. The work is going well enough that I think I'll hit 60K. 43,156 / 60,000 (71.9%) I'm dithering over the chapter after they leave the elf village. This is how it's currently structured: a) Angiss has another vision of Wynter. b) When he wakes up, Tam and Kance fight over the Quest. c) Alesia wakes up from a nightmare and cuddles with Kancethedrus. d) They are all awakened to fight the ghoul. e) They are captured by the Evile. It could happen this way: a) Alesia wakes up from a nightmare and cuddles with Kancethedrus. b) They are all awakened to fight the ghoul. c) Time passes. Angiss has another vision of Wynter. d) When he wakes up, Tam and Kance fight over the Quest. e) They are captured by the Evile. I rather like the second structure better. For one thing, it gives more passage of time so everything doesn't happen at...

I know a lot of authors read me here and elsewhere. Here's my suggestion for us this holiday season: A Recovering American Soldier c/o Walter Reed Army Medical Center 6900 Georgia Avenue,NW Washington,D.C. 20307-5001 Send a signed book. Do it today. Hell, do it today and do it again next month. Surely those folks could use something besides daytime TV to occupy their minds. I'm not the only one. Let's see if we can't make this a big thing, eh? Pass it on.

I should dock the payment for all the FirstReaders. In the first draft, the boat lands on a sidebar, folks. SIDEBAR. As in an article that accompanies a larger article in a newspaper. Usually, see, a boat would land on a sandbar. I think I was a little tired when I wrote that. Also, I don't pay the FirstReaders. Well, some of them get cookies. Met up with the Nanoers again today. I find this is very helpful in keeping me going. I really think it's valuable. I've never been able to write with anyone else around before, and it's good when everyone's on the same work ethic: crank it out. Also, I can never remember whether farther or further is distance, and someone always knows that shit. Tomorrow: major rewrite of the elf village sequence. That's going to take some serious caffeine. 37,094 / 55,000 (67.4%)