Maybe It Was the Moonshine

Slow but steady

noreply@blogger.com (Folly Blaine) — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 16:33:05 PST

I'm still rewriting the dark fantasy story I've been talking about for two weeks. I had hoped this would be the post where I could say, "Hey! I finished another story. Look at how awesome I am!" But--and not for the first time--my ambitions have exceeded my reality.

Not that I'm beating myself up over it. No, ma'am. There's a chance this might be my best story yet, and if it needs a little more time to gel then that's what it needs. Right now I'm rewriting the climax through to the end. Everything else I'm pretty happy with at this point.

Also, to put it in perspective: The first draft was 2,900 words. It's now at 4,300 words. And many of those initial 2,900 words are different/better than before. I wonder if I'll ever be able to sit down and write a story without ripping it apart and putting it back together again because it's really inefficient to write this way.

The week is looking fairly busy. I'm venturing downtown to see some friends tomorrow night. I'm going to a reading on Wednesday, and Thursday is writing with other friends. I also owe five pages to my novel revision class for Saturday. I'm struggling with this because my story is in abysmal shape and I should rewrite those five pages to be more in line with the rest of the work. I sort of switched genres mid-way through the WIP. No big deal, right? Ugh.

My philosophy for the month: If I flounder enough, maybe I'll stumble into something that resembles progress.

Flailing, for the win!

Short stories, taxes, and public reading

noreply@blogger.com (Folly Blaine) — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 08:24:49 PST

I think this is the last day my story will be featured on the main "Shorts" page of InfectiveINk.com. If you haven't read The Hero Garden yet and would like to, here's the link. It won't be disappearing after today, but it may take a couple of extra clicks to find.

I finally sat down and figured out how much I made last year for my photography business taxes. There are always lots of little things trickling in, so I sort of dread getting everything together, but it worked out just fine. My taxes are filed and now I just have to start looking forward to our personal taxes in a couple of months. Yay.

I'm still writing the dark fantasy story I mentioned before. I'm trying to give this one lots of thought up front and not settle for what I first put down. I have a list of questions I keep asking myself like, how can I make the danger more personal? What if x was x? Why does he make the choice he makes that leads to that result?

So it's slow going, but I think the end result will be better for it.

Last night I also asked for a reading slot at the World Horror Convention in Salt Lake City at the end of March. I'm hoping to read from British Guiana, 1853, which will be part of the new anthology, Dark Tales of Lost Civilizations, scheduled for release at the convention. Hopefully that all works out. If it does, it will be my first public reading.

If you have any interest in hearing me read, I recorded myself reading Eau de Public Transit for Every Day Fiction, and you can listen to the flash fiction piece through their web site here. Takes me back to my all-too-brief high school acting career. :)

First draft of new story completed

noreply@blogger.com (Folly Blaine) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 14:20:08 PST

I just finished the first draft of a new story -- my first finished draft since my monster 7,900-word horror story last month. (Not counting flash fiction or rewrites.)

I finished the draft then immediately opened Notepad and listed out all the major problems. I came up with seven structural issues I need to address before I let anyone else read it. Mostly I need to do some more foreshadowing and establish the main conflict sooner. You know, the little things I didn't know the answer to until I was finished writing. Hopefully I can find some simple solutions.

The story is about 2,900 words but will probably grow another 500 to 1,000 words since I tend to underwrite in the first draft. I guess I also need a name for it -- make that issue number eight. :)

You could say this one is dark fantasy. I wrote the first 500 words a year ago and then stalled out, so I've been thinking about this one for a while. Feels good to be making progress again.

A tiny, predictable rant about weather

noreply@blogger.com (Folly Blaine) — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 08:55:00 PST

By yesterday afternoon our side streets were almost entirely clear of snow. I was able to leave in the morning and get to to my novel revision class on the East side without incident, which was good because it had been six days since we'd left the house and I was going stir crazy.

I bet snow is really nice in places where the city plows the side streets. And where there aren't steep hills everywhere to go sliding down. Of course the entire time it was happening the internet had to weigh in on how wimpy Seattle-ites are and/or how the rest of the country doesn't understand our situation.

Whatever. Here's what happened: it snowed 9 inches at my house this week. When that happens, it is difficult to get anywhere reliably. You can improve your chances by living on the main drag (which gets plowed) or walking to the main drag to catch a bus or owning a Subaru (which can apparently tackle any weather condition).

Taking the bus means standing on the street for possibly hours, hoping one shows up and when it does, sometimes the driver (due to physics, not poor driving) can't get up a freeway onramp and no one can tell you where to go from there. So you end up hopping on a random bus that is standing room only and hoping it gets you close to where you need to go. God knows how you'll get home again because all the buses are also on snow routes, which are impossible to guess.

Or maybe I'm just bitter because that's happened to me. Too much.

This is the point where I fully embrace my crochety-old-person-persona.

When I first moved here, snow in Seattle was cute. Then I realized it's actually kind of dangerous. At one point this week, 230,000 people had no power. Some of them still don't. Some dude repeatedly punched a Metro driver in the face when he refused to pay the full fare, causing the bus to crash. People think it's acceptable to drive their cars around the streets with skiers hanging on to the back because it's fun. Whee.

You know, if you die in the snow, you die in real life, right?

Yeah, I get it. It snows other places. We're not special snowflakes. Suck it up. But it's these damn, wonderful hills we have in abundance that really make life difficult and different from other places. And the truth is, I can put up with the snow for a week at a time; as long as I avoid everybody else it's not going to kill me. But I'll be damned if I keep ignoring everybody making fun of us because we can't get out of our neighborhoods. Most of us really can't. Scout's honor. Heck, we haven't even had garbage collection in a week because the city can't get to our houses either. But you know what? We've had mail delivery every day. I think that's pretty freaking amazing.

The heroes in this situation are the city's bus drivers and mail delivery personnel. And all of the men and women working to fix the power outages. And the road crews clearing fallen trees. And everyone who can figure out how to navigate the arbitrary snow route system. You all have my respect and gratitude for keeping the city moving, despite or in spite of dumbasses riding around neighborhoods towing skiers and whipping them around corners.

Oh? Is my bad attitude showing again? Whoopsies. Maybe some more coffee will just fix that right up.

Happy Sunday, everyone!

New short story published

noreply@blogger.com (Folly Blaine) — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 08:38:43 PST

I'm pleased to announce my superhero-fantasy short story, "The Hero Garden," is now live over at InfectiveInk.com.

You can read "The Hero Garden" now.

The story follows a teenage girl on the verge of discovering her own power, as she grapples with the question: what's so great about being a hero, anyway?

This is my longest story published at 2,000 words -- although in spring my 5,600-word horror story is scheduled to come out in the anthology, "Dark Tales of Lost Civilizations," so it's not technically my first short story sale.

I hope you'll check out "The Hero Garden." And thanks so much for reading!

Raiding the pantry

noreply@blogger.com (Folly Blaine) — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 08:56:59 PST

My car, our street, and snow

I don't cook as much as I should, so being "snowed in" has brought its own set of culinary challenges. Luckily my pantry and the freezer are better stocked than normal and -- while they haven't been gourmet meals -- I've kept Jer and myself alive.

Last night I made grilled cheese sandwiches and heated up a can of chicken soup. For lunch today I am thinking Tasty Bite (Madras Lentils) over brown rice. I improvised nachos with a bag of cilantro-lime tortilla chips, shredded cheese, a can of refried beans, and olives, and we've been eating a lot of fried egg sandwiches. (This is not punishment. We both really like them.)

No foodie awards for sure, but I think you underestimate the "keeping us alive" part.

So why are we snowed in when there's maybe 4 or 5 inches on the ground? Well, the city of Seattle doesn't plow side streets to start, and my car is not good at staying on the road when it's slick. Also, because of that one time I wanted to buy a snow shovel and Jer talked me out of it, our driveway is becoming treacherous. Freezing rain and what not. (The 'what not' being that I am a wuss.)

I amused myself yesterday by knocking snow off the tree branches around our house, scraping the snow off my car (just in case), and liberating the yard waste bin from its ice prison. Jer is working from home so I'd come stomping back inside, my hair dripping with melting snow and grinning and he'd say, "What did you do now?"

Heh. I stopped short of making snow angels. That seemed like all kinds of unnecessary cold.

I learned yesterday you pronounce Pepys, as in Samuel Pepys, famous diarist, PEEPS. I had no idea. Thank goodness his name rarely comes up in conversation. I would've looked like such a fool.

Winky face.

This entry brought to you by Not Leaving the House in Five Days.

Going to Canada

noreply@blogger.com (Folly Blaine) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 14:38:26 PST

In my whole life, I've only spent about five hours in Canada. Jer and I took a day trip to Victoria in 2003, and it was memorable for reasons that weren't great. Jer was ill, it was hot, I hadn't done enough research on what to see in our short time there, and the first person we passed made fun of us (it was a street performer playing to a crowd.) We ended up tired and broken at a McDonald's, after window shopping for several hours and going on a lackluster double-decker tour bus ride. The only thing I remember about the tour was brown grass and a cemetery that lost many of its graves during heavy rains.

It was not a good day.

Now I finally have the chance to try again. In November, I am going to Toronto for the World Fantasy Convention. Granted, I won't have time to sightsee, but I am hoping it will erase any bad associations I have with our neighbors to the north. I would really like to get over those, because it would be stupid to let a five-hour day trip unjustly color an entire country. Stupid and arbitrary.

So I'm excited about that. Of course I'm also excited to attend the convention. It will be my second WFC and I had a great time at the last one.

We've had light snow all morning here in Seattle. It is nice to be inside and warm, with lots of coffee and frozen meals. I boiled angel hair pasta for dinner last night and baked a batch of brownies, so we aren't in danger of starving.

I am grateful we haven't lost power.

I was considering walking to the grocery store to get some exercise, but I think I'm going to be lazy instead. I don't own any boots, I'm still getting over a cold, and icy, wet feet are counterproductive to health. Or so they would have you believe.

Great performances on TV - Company and Anna Deavere Smith

noreply@blogger.com (Folly Blaine) — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 08:37:45 PST

We had snow yesterday, and today the ground and the cars and the deck and the ivy and the leaves are all covered in a layer of icy encrusted white.

I haven't been feeling well lately, and the sore throat I woke up with sealed the deal. So today I will probably be imbibing warm fluids and taking it easy.

PBS has been showing some wonderful live performances. Last night they showed Sondheim's "Company," and Heather Laws shined as Amy. Here, watch this (my favorite part starts about 1 minute 15 seconds in):

If the embedded video fails to load, click here.

A few days before they showed Anna Deavere Smith's "Let Me Down Easy." If you don't know her work, she invented a kind of documentary theatre. To prepare, she interviews a number of people on all sides of a specific topic -- a socially charged topic -- and then performs their interviews on stage, nervous tics and all.

"Let Me Down Easy," is known as the health care play. Here's the trailer:

If the embedded video fails to load, click here.

It's hard to explain what Smith creates on stage, but it's important work and you should be aware it's happening. These are real people, real stories, and they are not always easy to hear. But I think that's what makes the play so powerful.

"Let Me Down Easy" is theatre at its best: a strong performer giving us insight into universal truths. It's hard to pick my favorite bit, but if I had to pick one, watch Smith's portrayal of Kurtz-Burke starting at 48:35.

Stream "Let Me Down Easy" for free at PBS.org now

Mental preparation

noreply@blogger.com (Folly Blaine) — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 07:51:37 PST

I've been putting off working on my 50k WIP revisions, but today is the day. Last night I created the spreadsheet for keeping track of everything and started splitting the big chunk into bits in Scrivener. I charged my iPod, I don't have to leave the house until evening, I have plenty of coffee and food, and Windows Update has already hijacked my computer once this morning so no more automatic updates to worry about for a while.

I still have a few other projects on my mind--the main reason I've been putting this off--but I'm giving myself permission not to work on those right now.

Dear Self, let's make a plan to spend at least 3 hours on the WIP today. Okay?

Okay.

Ugh.

Full of Busy

noreply@blogger.com (Folly Blaine) — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 07:42:20 PST

Yesterday was full of busy, but important work. And if it looks suspiciously like procrastination in my word count log, I forgive myself this one time.

I sent a submission to a new market
I sent a revision draft for a workshop
I submitted an application to a different workshop

Looking back, last year feels like the stumbling-around, let's-get-my-bearings-straight year, and this year feels like I've just graduated high school and now I'm hedging my bets on getting into a good college.

Probably because I spend so much time staring at my inbox, willing it to contain something other than spam and newsletters.

I'm still tracking the food I eat, which makes me grumpy. I turned to Jer last night and said, "You know what I hate most about Weight Watchers?"

"What?" he said, humoring me.

"It's that it works," I said.

Stupid Weight Watchers.

Added a new Schedule page and happy Sunday

noreply@blogger.com (Folly Blaine) — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 12:45:01 PST

I added a Schedule page to the site so you can see all the conventions I've registered for in 2012. I'm still debating a couple of others, so it's not a final list, but it's pretty close. If you're going to any of these too, let me know if you'd like to meet up. I've wandered these things alone and I've wandered them with friends; knowing people is usually preferable.

Yesterday was the first day of my novel revision class. It was good. Nice to see a lot of familiar faces there. Immediately after I raced off to writing group across town so it ended up being a long day. Not too tough though, which is good since this schedule has to last the next two months.

Speaking of racing places, it was my first time crossing the 520 bridge since tolling went into effect. I checked the Good To Go web site and my tolls processed correctly, so no complaints there. And it was awful nice to see a bald eagle perched on a streetlight as I passed over the floating bridge.

As far as fiction goes, the words are coming slow, but nothing else to report.

Happy Sunday.

First week, first month

noreply@blogger.com (Folly Blaine) — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 13:02:01 PST

This morning I've been tackling bureaucratic tasks that have piled up. I finally broke down and made myself a to-do list to keep everything straight. Little things like, "Put the Good to Go pass on the car," "Register for convention," "Submit story to workshop," "File business taxes."

Doesn't mean I've done all of these things yet. Just means I know what I need to do now.

I submitted my first week's Write 1 Sub 1 story yesterday. The novel revision class I'm taking starts tomorrow. And I just finished my first week back at Weight Watchers with a loss, so that's good. (I'm doing the etools only version this time.)

I haven't made it back to the gym yet. Baby steps.

As for writing, I have a few short stories I'm playing with, but nothing solid yet.

So I'll just keep chugging along.

Failing at patience again

noreply@blogger.com (Folly Blaine) — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 12:58:39 PST

Although I have around six stories out, only one would receive publication if selected. So I'm getting just a little antsy thinking how far behind I am.

Crazy, huh? The things my brain worries about...

I've got a Write 1 Sub 1 story started, and I spent the last day rewriting a short story whose first draft I finished last July. I think I'm on the fourth draft now? It's definitely a lot better than it was, at least. Much tighter and with an actual point.

I already have a couple places in mind to send the rewritten story, but neither of them would mean publication either. I really need to get some new stories finished and circulating.

Today was the first day Jer went back to work in a couple of weeks and I wish he didn't have to. It's been nice having him around, and it didn't affect my productivity too much. In a perfect world we could both work from home all the time, so I guess that's another goal to aspire to. You know, making money. Always a good goal.

January 19 is the day to read my first short story

noreply@blogger.com (Folly Blaine) — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 21:11:57 PST

I've been told my new superhero-fantasy story, The Hero Garden, will be published at InfectiveINk.com on Thursday, January 19th. I'm pretty excited since it will be my first published short story, if you don't include my flash fiction.

It's not my first short story sale however. But then the first sale story won't be available until spring, so "The Hero Garden" remains my first chance to prove to the world I can write over 1,000 words at a time. In this case, 2,000.

Assuming that is the sort of arbitrary proof that needs proving...

All day I've been rewriting a totally different short story and I keep looking up at the clock and seeing another hour has passed. I can't tell you how many times I've rewritten this silly thing, but I think the end is finally in sight. I'll leave it until tomorrow and then send it to writing group.

It is nice to have a plan.

Reading my way through another Dec 31

noreply@blogger.com (Folly Blaine) — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 09:08:18 PST

I hope everyone had an enjoyable New Year's Eve.

Jeremy built a fire in the living room fireplace and I settled in with my books, afghan, and Kindle, while he took to the opposite couch with his laptop to play Eve. Then the cat sat on me and all was lost.

I hardly ever read just one book at a time, so I read a couple chapters from Murakami's "1Q84," a story from Kelly Link's "Magic for Beginners," and about a quarter of the first book in the "The Hunger Games Trilogy."

So after I read and read for hours next to the fire, Jer and I shared a bottle of Prosecco and watched "Young Frankenstein," as you do.

A nice, laid back, low-key night.

Plus I found out I sold a story about heroes, and that's always good news.

Coffee calls.

Happy New Year (Eve Edition)

noreply@blogger.com (Folly Blaine) — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 16:04:54 PST

Firstly, I wish you all a very happy new year. Thank you for following my crazy adventures and I hope 2012 brings us all good health, good times, and good news.

Some years I write a wrap-up post. I go through month by month and sum up everything, but this year I will share my 2011 experiences in a general way. (And with lots of namedropping of authors I was too shy to approach)

Back in January, I shot a corporate event. I invested in a portrait lighting kit and learned how to use it. The whole experience set a great tone for the year.

I attended three classes at Bellevue College lasting at least six weeks each. I feel especially privileged to have had the opportunity to attend a class taught by Cat Rambo. Cat has taught me (and continues to teach me by example) so much about what it means to be a professional writer, and I can't thank her enough for that.

Check out Cat's excellent book of short stories on Kindle: Eyes Like Sky And Coal And Moonlight

I attended four one-day workshops over the course of the year, two of them offered through Clarion West. I attended nearly 20 readings, beginning with John Scalzi and most recently Timid Pirate authors at the Wayward Coffeehouse, where I also took pictures.

Other readings I attended include: George R.R. Martin, Neil Gaiman, Neal Stephenson, William Gibson, Paul Park, Nancy Kress, L. Timmel Duchamp, Margo Lanagan, Minister Faust, Charles Stross, and C.S. Friedman. At World Fantasy I also saw/heard readings by Parke Godwin, Connie Willis, Genevieve Valentine, Cat Rambo, Keffy Kehrli, and Tim Pratt.

It's not possible to do my 2011 reading list justice by sharing everything here. (Though here's a list of book recommendations my friends and readers helped me compile in August.) I read so many incredible things and met so many talented authors, I would forget someone or something and the picture would be incomplete, so I'm not even going to try and recite it. Let's just say I discovered Margo Lanagan's fantastic short stories, how much I love Dan Simmons' Song of Kali, and how much I enjoy reading on the Kindle.

I went to my first conferences and conventions: Pacific Northwest Writers Association, Foolscap, Steamcon, and World Fantasy Con.

I sold my first horror short story to an anthology.

I learned about steampunk, and then I wrote a vaguely steampunk story.

In May, we lost our cat, Vash, to lymphoma of the kidneys. I miss him, but I am glad for our new cat Niviane and of course, Chiana.

I joined writing groups galore (Writers Cramp, Write Stupid, Wayward Writers, and Cloud City Wordslingers) and met scores of smart, talented local authors. (I apologize for not listing all of you individually, even though you deserve it. If I know your blog it is in my sidebar.)

To sum up 2011: I wrote a lot, I sat in the same room as a bunch of authors I admire and listened to them read, I took classes and workshops, joined groups, attended conferences, and read in the dark so often I probably undid my LASIK.

I've been thinking about what's in store for 2012 and the short answer is: more of the same. Only more so.

See you on the other side.

December Submissions Update

noreply@blogger.com (Folly Blaine) — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 22:21:30 PST

Now that we're in the last days of the last month of the year, it's time to ask the question: Did I see 2011 out with a bang or a whimper?

Acceptances for 12/11: 1 (Eau de Public Transit podcast to Every Day Fiction)

Rejections for 12/11: 2

Submissions for 12/11: 3

Pending subs, carried over from November: 5

Overall 2011 Statistics: For the last seven-ish months I've been tracking, I've written 21 stories and received 5 acceptances, 26 rejections, and have 7 stories out for submission (1 of those 7 is a play). Many of the 21 stories I wrote have been trunked, however I may revisit them. I also wrote 50,000 words in November, but that doesn't show up on any lists yet.

Not a bad year for a first-time fiction writer. I'm certainly happy with it. In 2012, my goal will be to sell a story to a professional market.

2012 Plans = Made

noreply@blogger.com (Folly Blaine) — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 19:50:31 PST

Okay. Let's do this.

Draft Two: Finished

noreply@blogger.com (Folly Blaine) — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 19:26:34 PST

The horror story I've spent the last month wrangling is finished. I may or may not get some feedback on it still, but the hardest part is done: the story has a beginning, a middle, and an end. My first reader -- that (patient and long-suffering) guy I married -- has given me feedback, which I've incorporated. And I've read through the whole thing a dozen more times to fix a few typos and inconsistencies.

I'm sure there are more nit-picks left to fix. I've been staring at the damn thing so long the lines blur together. Tomorrow I'll read it aloud again and then let it sit. With hope, none of the beta readers will bring up major plot problems, but I'll deal with those as they come.

The final count was 7,800 words, which is 42 pages double-spaced in 12 point Courier font. The process for this story was weird. I had the idea mid-November and set it aside because I was working on NaNoWriMo, though I did manage to write the first 1,000 words in between projects. I started writing the story for real about the second week of December, although some days I could only eke out 150 words max.

But here I am and I have finished. Just in time for the new year.

Hallelujah.

Draft One

noreply@blogger.com (Folly Blaine) — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 21:56:55 PST

Good evening. I hope you all had or are having an excellent holiday.

I just finished a first draft of my Victorian horror story. It stands at over 7,100 words, which means I should revise with an eye for cutting. (It is also the longest complete story I've ever written.) I have no idea how it got so long. I just kept writing what happened next and before I knew it I had 38 double-spaced pages.

By this evening I had hoped to complete a draft for review, but it's not ready for readers. There are still some rough passages and at least one foreshadowing bit I need to add.

Better to sleep on it or I'll just make mistakes. As it is my brain feels fried.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

noreply@blogger.com (Folly Blaine) — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 18:11:22 PST

I sort of celebrate Christmas. Our presents are stacked on the pub table, still in their beige Amazon boxes. We didn't bother with a tree mostly because I didn't feel like doing all the work. And I'm drinking my favorite German beer in honor of Christmas Eve: Marzen, Original Schlenkerla Smokebeer. It tastes like smokey goodness.

Jer's disappeared upstairs to play video games, so I'm here with the internet, a sleeping cat, and an untapped capacity for evil.

Er. Holiday spirit.

I submitted a story today. I wrote the first draft in September and since then I've added another 500 words and reworked it considerably. It was one of those stories where my first readers gave me feedback like: Yeah, but what's the point? Okay. So now there's a point; I aim to please. I'll find out in a month if my attempt at pleasure paid off.

My horror story continues to be a monster in itself. The first draft is now at 5,600 words, which is about 30 double-spaced pages. At least I think the end is in sight now, or it better be. But not until it's finished can I attack it with a scalpel and a sander, as is fitting. Buzz whir boom click.

So if you celebrate Christmas, I hope you have a good one. If you celebrate another holiday, I wish you equal amounts of cheer and near beer and/or jolly fun times.

There are worse mannequins to be

noreply@blogger.com (Folly Blaine) — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 18:40:41 PST

I took my show on the road tonight, grabbed my laptop and found a quiet table at a nearby coffeehouse, which is where I report to you from now. The weatherman says we'll have freezing fog tonight. I think I'll be done playing with MS Word before the worst of it hits.

I, of course, assume "freezing fog" involves turning people inside out. Or into mannequins. Imagine a virtual army of Kim Cattralls circa 1987.

Jer is on vacation this week so my schedule is all higgledy-piggledy. We've even been a little productive, despite our best efforts, although I admit to playing many hours of "House of the Dead: Overkill."

Yesterday we saw Hugo 3D at Cinebarre. While I was in the moment, I enjoyed the movie. The settings are fantastic in 3D. Bits of it moved me to tears. But after it was over I started thinking about all of the structural problems with the plot. My primary problems (without spoilering) is that coincidence is responsible for pretty much everything. And flashbacks are relied on too heavily.

I think it's worth seeing though. I definitely enjoyed it more before my inner editor jumped in and started picking it apart. If you're lucky you don't have one of those beasts taking up space in your skull. Mine grows bigger all the time.

I just counted and somehow I only have three stories out for submission. This makes me antsy, so I better get back to my horror story.

My podcast is up!

noreply@blogger.com (Folly Blaine) — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 13:19:50 PST

My podcast is up! Only five minutes long! Check out my dramatic reading of my first published horror story, "Eau de Public Transit." The length is about five minutes and you can play the reading through your browser.

Since this is my first time doing anything like this, it'd be great if you could vote on the page as well. 1 star is the worst, 5 is the best.

Here's the link: http://www.everydayfiction.com/edf059-eau-de-public-transit-by-folly-blaine-read-by-folly-blaine/

Thank you for listening!

Did I mention it's only five minutes?

Timid Pirate Publishing at the Wayward Coffeehouse

noreply@blogger.com (Folly Blaine) — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 21:42:32 PST

Books for sale

Last night I took photographs at the Wayward Coffeehouse in Ravenna (65th and Roosevelt, Seattle, WA) for Timid Pirate Publishing's reading/book launch event. I had a fantastic time listening to all of the stories and drinking tasty coffee.

In addition to the three pics in this post, the full set of pictures are available for browsing and buying here: http://gallery.onfocusphoto.com/timidpirate

Jeremy Zimmerman reads his story

A great turn-out

Listening to Gotye - Somebody That I Used To Know

noreply@blogger.com (Folly Blaine) — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 13:35:42 PST

I'm loving the heck out of this song.

If the embedded video doesn't load click here.