Inklizard's Random Ramblings

Hello, all! The insanity that is National Novel Writing Month has come to a close and I am very pleased to report that I WON!! I set out to write FIFTY THOUSAND words in 30 days and I did it. Final word count at the end was 50, 478 words. I now have a complete first draft of a story that has been lurking in my head since 1997. It feels good to finally have it out.  It is, by no means, a complete story. There are holes in the plot you could drive a truck through, but it's only a first draft. Edits and rewrites will make the story complete, polished and publishable. Someday. In the meantime, I'm still riding the high of setting a very ambitious goal and achieving it on the first try. This exercise (NaNoWriMo) has been the kick in the pants I needed to get back on track with my writing. My next project will be finishing the Urban Fantasy piece I've been working on since 2009. The first draft of that story took 10 weeks to complete. And, like every first draft I've ever w

I know, I promised to wrap up the Ouija Board story. And I will. Eventually. It's a spine-tingling ending. I meant to have it all done for Halloween, but illness reared its ugly head yet again. More on that next month. November is National Novel Writing Month ( NaNoWriMo ) The object of the exercise is to write 50,000 words in 30 days. And guess who decided to give it a try. Yup. You guessed it. So for the next month, I will be banging away on the keyboard, trying to get the story out of my head and into Google Docs for eventual editing and someday, publication. Hopefully by that time, Stephenie Meyer will not have ruined the Ghost Story genre. Updates to follow, as the insanity waxes and wanes. Happy reading, everyone.

 Marissa was on her way back to her dorm room after an evening tutoring remedial biology students. Science was Marissa's passion. She scoffed at superstition. Her roommate, Nikki, believed in everything from aliens building the Pyramids to the boogeyman. Marissa made a hobby out of proving to Nikki why such beliefs were a waste of energy. Just off the walkway leading from the library to her dorm, was a piece of cardboard with handwritten letters and numbers on it. A shot glass was next to it. Marissa saw an opportunity to prove another of Nikki's myths to be false. She picked up the makeshift Ouija board, stuffed the shot glass in her backpack and walked home. The room was empty. Nikki was probably at one of her ghost hunter meetings, Marissa mused. She put the board and the shot glass on the shelf in her closet. A few days later, Nikki asked if she could borrow one of Marissa's shirts. When Nikki opened the closet door, the Board slipped off the shelf and into her han

How could a Sharpie and a shot glass turn a box into something malevolent? When you turn them into a Ouija Board, it becomes a Door to the unknown and all hell breaks loose. You don't know who or what is on the other side. And once it comes in, you'll have a devil of a time trying to get it to leave.  Kara needed a place to live and didn't have the time or money to be particular. She didn't know her new roommates well, but they weren't home much and the rent was cheap. She was home alone (again) one evening and pleasantly surprised when three of her friends dropped by for a visit. Kara mentioned that her roommates were a little odd, and seemed to be “into weird stuff”. “What kind of 'weird stuff'?” Emily asked. “I don't know for sure, but I just feel creeped out even when they're home,” Kara said. “You didn't get the creepy feeling before you agreed to move in here?” Zoe asked. Kara ducked her head, embarrassed. She hadn't thought t

I'm continuing the 31 days of Halloween theme by telling you a spooky story. And it's up to you do decide a) if you believe I'm telling you a true story or b) if I'm a complete crackpot. Here goes.... Inky Presents: The Bigfoot Myth It was a warm November evening in 2001. My then-husband Dan and I were relaxing in the hot tub at my parents' house after dinner. When we were relaxed and pruney, we shut off the jets and climbed out of the tub. There was no other sound outside, which was odd. There should have been something. Then, piercing the silence, was the most blood-curdling wail I've ever heard. No human vocal chords could have made this sound, and yet it was not an animal's cry either. After the wail ended, every dog in the area began barking and howling as if they were scared to be outside. We hurried into the house and told my parents what we heard, but they didn't hear anything inside the house. Dad is so hard of hearing he has the television

October is almost here!! It's my favorite month of the year. Sometime this month, I'll do a brief Samhain 101 for the Halloween enthusiast who aren't sure what this holiday is all about. Hint: more than just costume parties and candy. Speaking of Halloween, this is the time of year to indulge in our favorite spooky pastimes. Check out a haunted corn maze, watch Ghost Hunters marathons, read scary books or rent scary movies. Since most scary flicks are written about haunted people/houses, I'm sure I'm not the only one who has ever asked: Now why the hell did that fool move into a haunted house? Didn't he know it was haunted? Well, maybe they didn't know, because they didn't have....(drum roll please) INKY'S TOP 10 SIGNS YOU'RE MOVING INTO A HAUNTED HOUSE 10.  It's a huge palace, and yet your broke ass can afford it, including the extensive renovations it will need. 9.  The developer "forgot" to tell you about the cemetery he b

Unless we're talking about Abigail Williams, Betty Parris or Ann Putnam, Jr., and their cohorts. Then children should be Bitch-slapped. And not heard. I've been studying the Salem Witch Trials. This is one of the more tragic periods in our nation's history, and should serve as a warning of what can go wrong when a nation is ruled by Theocracy. It's difficult to pinpoint a single cause of the witch hysteria. This was a time when only members of the Puritan church were allowed to make and enforce laws. And Massachusetts Bay Colony was in crisis because their Charter was declared null with the dismissal of the former Governor. Prominent Church member and Harvard President Increase Mather was in England pleading with the King to send a new governor and reinstate their theocratic Charter. This was a time when women and children had no credibility, yet the ramblings of undisciplined children directly led to the deaths of 20 people and the imprisonment of hundreds. Why? Wha

I know what you're thinking: The Twitter withdrawals have her mind all wonky. How is Shakespeare a feminist? Well, he's not exactly. But then again, have you read Much Ado About Nothing? If you haven't, allow me to introduce you to one of my favorite figments of The Bard's imagination: Beatrice. Beatrice is a bit past her prime as far as marriageable women go. So given the time, she was probably around 18. Spinsterhood by all accounts. She wasn't ugly. She just had opinions, they differed from those of the men around her, and yet she expressed them anyway. Her uncle Leonato tried to encourage her to see reason and someday get married. Her response: “Not til God make men of some other metal than Earth. Would it not grieve a woman to be over-mastered with a piece of valiant dust! To make an account of her life to a clod of wayward marl?” What she's saying is that she's not willing to settle for a man who is beneath her intellect and emotional matu

At 4:28 a.m, I heard the snap. It woke me from a sound sleep, and I knew. Somewhere in my kitchen, the mouse was dead. I didn't feel relieved. Somehow, I knew that there would be more than one. Much to my dismay, I was right. Earlier this afternoon, I heard another snap. This time, under the kitchen sink. Just now, more rodenty scuffling. I think the invasion is in full swing. Not that I'm not getting my catnip's worth out of Vitto, but I was really hoping he could have this taken care of quickly. Just had a meeting with him and... well... Me:  Vitto, I thought you were going to take care of my little problem. Vitto:  You think you got problems?  Last week my old lady dropped a litter... looked like the freakin' Tabby down the street, but I'M the one that's gotta take a little trip to vet. Me: Um. Sorry to hear that but back to the mouse infestation? Vitto: Yeah, about that. See, I can finish the job for you, but it's gonna cost you, see. Me: I a

One mouse does not an infestation make. However, THIS house is not big enough for me AND The Mouse. The Mouse has to go. I know, he's only a little field mouse. If he were in a FIELD instead of my HOUSE, I wouldn't have a problem with him. The Dog used to be good at keeping critters out of the house. Once he caught a rat before it could nest in my laundry room. The down side was that he had the dead rat on his doggy bed. Daddy removed the rat, and Mommy burned the doggy bed. I can't have dead rat cooties near my dogs. What kind of conscientious pet parent would I be? But back to the mouse... at first, I just wanted him gone. Relocated safely back to the field, government check in paw. I also thought The Dog would take care of this little problem quickly. Then, I didn't just hear the mouse, I SAW the mouse. And of course, screamed like a little girl. I'm not afraid of the mouse, I'm just completely grossed out by his presence in my home. He's track

Things I've learned from The Shining The other day I was in such a bad mood that the violence of a horror movie seemed like the perfect balm to soothe my angry soul. I popped in Stanley Kubrick's vision of Stephen King's The Shining. I learned a few things from this movie, and thought it prudent to share with you all. They are as follows, in no particular order. SPOILER ALERT If you haven't seen this movie, there be spoilers here. Never drive a VW Bug in Colorado in the dead of winter. Kids are creepy. EVERYTHING is built on an Indian burial ground. Never take the creepy kid on a tour of the kitchen, then leave him alone to eat ice cream with the creepier cook. The 1970's were just as bad a decade for interior design as it was for clothing. If your creepy kid has imaginary friends in his mouth, it's time for medication. For everybody. Riding a tricycle on a hardwood floor would get your ass killed in my house. There&

As an unpublished author with only one manuscript out of 11 to have actually made it to "Complete First Draft" status, I try not to read too much about how to get published. I feel it's a bit of putting the cart before the horse to immerse myself in the politics of publishing, getting an agent, etc. I don't have anything to show them. So my first priority has been and will remain, finishing projects. Getting them to that coveted "Complete First Draft" stage so I can get to editing, polishing, and preparing a draft to be reviewed by an editor. I'll worry about query letters etc then. Other aspiring or published authors may disagree with my process. Please feel free to tell me why you think I should do things your way. I may or may not take your advice, but I promise I'll be nice about it. Speaking of being nice, that's one of the things I read about "What to do to become an author". It was more of a what NOT to do, and that is: Do not