Bins, Boxes, Bubble Wrap - Oh My!

Hmm, apparently in my packing frenzy, I misplaced some items: 

Creativity

Energy 

Focus

 

I didn't realize how fragile they were. I can only hope I wrapped them carefully in bubble wrap. (I know I'm not myself when I haven't played with popping all of those delightful little bubbles.) 

 

Of course, I found some things so easily they might as well have jumped out of the boxes on their own:

Anxiety

Exhaustion

Stress

 

Pfft. Isn't that always the way?

 

Really, though, I am incredibly grateful for all the good in my life and things are definitely okay overall. They're just progressing at the pace of a tortoise dozing in the sun. So, much like the bubble wrap, I'll still pop in and out, but I'm extending my blogging break a bit longer. 

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What's new with all of you? How's your summer been? Looking forward to fall? 

  

Goodbye, Sleep!

In celebration of Halloween month and all things that go bump in the night, I've got a few treats - no tricks! - for you:

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My flash fiction collection, Garden of Lost Souls, is FREE this week (Monday - Friday.) Think of these creepy tiny tales like those miniature candy bars - some are full of nuts, none are particularly good for you, yet they're so small, so yummy, they keep you coming back for just . . . one . . . more.

Available on Amazon

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I've opened up the Ask the Author feature on Goodreads, so if you're a member over there and have questions about my stories, my writing or how I sleep at night with all those creepy-crawlies lurking in my imagination, please stop by. I'll keep my eyes peeled for your questions. (Peeled eyes. Sleep? What sleep?) 

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And so I won't be the only one around here not sleeping . . . . Back in September, I entered one of lit agent Janet Reid's flash fiction contests. (Some of the rules include keeping the word count to 100 or fewer and using the required words, which in this case were - snap, gator, ask, tie, iron.) My story didn't win or place, but it did receive one of my favorite mentions ever by the Shark herself -

"THE START OF A STORY (OR NOVEL) THAT I'D BE TOO CHICKEN TO READ"

Mwahahaha! Enjoy!

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Beneath a sky the color of iron, through air as heavy, Lily paddles her kayak. Spanish moss, gray and tangled, hangs like the hair of bent old women.

The river is blocked. Gnarled fingers of branches reach, twine across the water.

Gators watch with hooded eyes. Their silence ties her nerves in knots. Lily focuses on one task – leaving.

No breeze caresses Lily's skin yet the Spanish moss shivers. A rattling rips through the silence. She looks up. Hanging bones judder, collide. Lily's sanity snaps. She screams as a creature older, deeper than the dark, creeps down toward her. 

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