Blog – Page 9 – Kit Campbell Books

Poking at Everything

Good morning, squiders. We’re having new trees put it to replace the seven (7! 50 ft or more tall!) trees we lost during the tornado. Only four (my arborist says we have to wait a few years to put trees back where there were ones growing, so the root system can decay enough that a new tree can establish itself), and relatively small (between 8 and 12 feet tall, though taller than we thought we were going to be able to afford) but it will be nice to have some trees again. Fingers crossed that they all survive and establish themselves and are happy campers.

I ordered books to sell at MileHiCon and most of the copies of Hidden Worlds arrived damaged. Because of course. I tried to return them with the thought Amazon would just replace them and send me some new ones, but apparently because they’re author copies, they don’t do that, and shipping costs almost as much as the books themselves. If I ever get a free minute I’m going to go bother Amazon customer support but I don’t maintain hope. Sigh.

Also looked more closely at my panels for the year, and I had to email the programming director and ask to drop the indie publishing one, which is tragic. Why are the best panels always the ones I can’t make? But I have a charity gala that night and I’m already going to miss a chunk of it with a different panel (though I would have kept this one if I could). Alas.

I also got another reading panel this year, this one on -punks, and I did have a -punk story published earlier this year, so I can read that, though I don’t know how long the story can be. Hooray for not having to find a story a few hours before. But I did realize I hadn’t gotten paid for said story so I had to email the editor for that too.

Anyway, I did make a to do list for the convention, which mainly consists of making sure I know where everything is and packing it up, and–oh, cripes, I never requested a co-op table spot. Did I? Good grief.

Okay, now I have done that.

Yes, packing things up and printing out some things if I don’t have any more (flyers and business cards), making sure people can give me money, and getting ready for my panels. (I am on a panel with Mary Robinette Kowal! I may die.)

Otherwise, Chapter 11 is going okay. Needs some rework in the middle but I haven’t gotten there yet. May need to ponder Malana’s motivations in general. I’m afraid I may have left some of them in the dust as we’ve moved into Act 2 so I’m going to stare extra hard at those. Critique group on chapters 9 and 10 this weekend, so we’ll see what they say on the non-marathoned chapters (and also if I did drop some of Malana’s stuff in Cpt 9).

I did very briefly poke around and see where I was keeping potential novel ideas, for Nano, which I am not doing despite all my brain seems to not understand that. And the answer is…I don’t really have a good system. What I seem to have done is to make a Google Doc for a story idea when I have it (“Backyard RPG story idea,” “Maze Story Idea”) and they are all separate and hence impossible to find if you don’t remember what you called the document.

(Ask me how long it took me to find my planning document for the story that became Across Worlds with You)

So I think, if nothing else, I need a better organization system. A master document, with links to the other documents. And I KNOW that somewhere I have a big long list of novel ideas but apparently that is NOT on the cloud so now I’m going to have to go looking for that stupid thing. (And hope it’s not on the external hard drive that I currently have no way to access because I lost the power cord.)

Looking back over these documents has been somewhat good for the “help I haven’t had an idea in years” existential crisis I had last week. Because in most cases, the idea is just a premise, or maybe a setting or some characters. They all need to be built up. Very rarely do I get the whole story in a dream.

(Though I did have a story-y dream last night. Will ponder. Or forget it, as dreams go.)

In one case, the document is literally a list of Arthurian texts with the sentence “If I ever get around to doing an Arthurian based novel” at the top.

My writing forums and groups are all in Nano mode, so I have had other ideas as well. Someone mentioned rewriting a novel, and I do have one that I need to do that for–full rewrite, not a revision. But you do have to, you know, plan that stuff out, or you get a rewritten novel that’s just as bad as the first time you do it. Another friend has been using a Discord bot to get writing prompts, some of which I might steal because they did set off delicious ideas in my head. But not necessarily to write for Nano.

Because I’m not doing Nano.

Seriously.

I may consider a compromise, though. Maybe a novella? 20K-30K words on something new. A collection of interconnecting short stories. Something like that.

We’ll see how I feel after I organize my ideas.

Happy Friday, squiders. See you guys next week.

Chapter 10 Took a Week and a Half

Howdy, squiders, how’s your October going? Mine has so far featured two deaths, the failure of my furnace right before it got cold, and yet somehow is still better than September was.

My family got me a recurve bow and some arrows for my birthday last week, so I’m hoping to finally go back to my archery hobby some time soon. She said, laughing in her head, when she hasn’t gotten an off day in three months.

(In theory I don’t work Mondays and Fridays and should be able to do whatever I want those days. In practice, I don’t get to.)

I finished Chapter 10 this morning and started Chapter 11, meaning Chapter 10 took less than a third of the time to revise that Chapter 9 did. And I sent both chapters off to my critique group, so we’ll see how this goes. These are the first two chapters my critique group is getting that didn’t get run through the Critique Marathon, so we shall all wait and see if the quality has dropped off sharply.

(But seriously, fingers crossed.)

MileHiCon is in a week and a half. I did remember to order new books, but I do need to sit down and actually think about what else I need to do and make a plan for it. Dates attached, all that jazz. Just not sure when that’s going to fit into everything else, hahahaha.

That’s not hysterical laughter, I swear.

Nano is still floating around, not like anything has changed. No ideas. Still not a good time. I think I will go to the kickoff though, just for fun. I’ve done that before without actually doing a real Nano, and it’s like 10 minutes from my house for my region.

I just…I feel like I’m always playing catch up lately, but not actually getting anywhere. Like, I haven’t had time to deal with SkillShare, I just now got my newsletter out (two months late), I don’t have any time or energy for marketing. I am making progress on the revision, which is the most important thing, but so much of being an author these days includes juggling in marketing and business stuff and I’m just…not managing that. At all.

Oh well. Things are what they are, and we keep on keeping on.

See you later in the week, squiders.

Promo: This is How He Collects Them by Eric Woods

Good morning, squiders! Hope you’re having a good week! Today I’ve got a horror story for you.

Horror

Date Published:10-13-2023

photo add-to-goodreads-button_zpsc7b3c634.png

A series of haunting nightmares draws five former residents of a New York City high-rise back to their one-time home. But this is not a reunion. These five strangers have never met. But they are connected.

The depressed photographer with telekinetic abilities … the paralegal who reads evil thoughts of strangers … the struggling author who can predict dark futures … the malicious hypnotist … the witch’s daughter …

They have met in their dreams, and they have observed the shadows who follow them until they awaken. Now they want answers. And when the five board the same elevator at the same time, an ominous reality surfaces. They did not return on their own. They were drawn back. Drawn by their nightmares. Drawn by darkness.

Drawn … to be collected.

About the Author

A writer since grade school, Eric Woods resides in Springfield, Illinois and finally published his first novel in 2018. Today he has five novels, two novellas, and one book of stage plays. Most recently, his short story “The Taurus Bull” was featured in HorrorScope: A Zodiac Anthology.

If you want to be spooked in person, Eric hosts the Lincoln Ghost Walk in Springfield (through October). Come take the tour and learn some creepy tales about the 16th President of the United States!

Eric earned a Bachelor’s Degree in English and a Master’s Degree in Communication from the University of Illinois Springfield. He served as a collegiate speech and debate coach for seven years, and has been a local freelance writer since 2005.

Contact Links

Purchase Links

a Rafflecopter giveaway

See you next week!

Why is This Idea Lingering?

Good news, squiders! I finally finished Chapter 9. Still a mystery as to why it took so very long, but hoorah.

Started Chapter 10 today and have already made decent progress. Admittedly my notes for updating this chapter basically just said “Good shape, just streamline” so perhaps that’s to be expected. Or not! Who knows how anything is supposed to work anymore.

That being said, the idea of doing Nano continues to raise its head. Very strange. Normally after I make my determination to do or not do Nano, that’s the end of it. (The sole exception being my very first one, back in 2003, where I said to myself that, as an upperclass engineering student working toward two degrees, surely I did not have time to do Nano, and then on Nov 3 I woke up with a full story idea and went for it anyway.)

(And only made it to 29K because I got a concussion during a broomball game and then got the death flu for two weeks.)

(It was the most I’d ever written on a single story to date, though.)

(And it went into a drawer and will never ever see the light of day.)

My normal arguments don’t seem to be working. I’m in the middle of a revision, so I shouldn’t start a new story. I don’t have a story idea, so I don’t even have anything to start. And I had this thought the other day that I haven’t actually had a new story idea in…who knows. Like, I’m writing older ideas that I wrote down years ago and never got to instead of coming up with something new.

That last one is a bit concerning. Of course, I know that you can’t be a consistent writer if you’re only writing when inspiration strikes, but surely some story ideas should be popping up here and there. I know how to find inspiration if necessary but I haven’t had a story pop up, fully formed, in God knows how long.

Maybe I’m misremembering. Maybe I have been having ideas, and I just write them down in my idea document and keep going. Or maybe, you know, life has been a disaster lately and we’re just getting by, and that’s okay, and when things get better–and I have to believe they will–my creativity will pop back up too.

But anyway, that’s all well and good, but why do I keep wanting to do Nano?

Very strange. Not sure what to do about it. Do I do a quick poke through my idea file and see if a story pops up? And if nothing does, see if the idea will finally die? Do I continue to ignore it and see if the feeling just goes away?

To be continued, I guess. Promo on Friday!

Oh Yeah

Last week I got an email from MileHiCon with the schedule of panels for this year, and then I didn’t do anything because, you know–oh, actually, you probably don’t, I was in a play last week, I was a teenager which was very funny to me but also very fun. But I didn’t have a lot of free time. And then a few days ago I got the updated MileHiCon schedule and was like, crap, I haven’t even had a chance to look at it, I know they gave me Sunday panels and I need to see if they overlap the Critter Crunch, because that would be tragic and it might be too late to change it because I haven’t gotten on it.

So last night I finally went to look and, they’re not doing the Critter Crunch at all this year. D:

(For those new to the blog, the Critter Crunch is apparently the first ever robot fighting competition, going since the mid-’80s. They have 2 lb and 20 lb categories, and the bigger, mobile one has been talking about making a robot to fight in it for years. He’s actually making a robot at school this year so this news has been DEVASTATING.)

Anyway, so I guess it’s fine that I didn’t check the schedule.

I HAVE checked it now, and I’m on one panel with Connie Willis and another with Mary Robinette Kowal, which is more bestsellers than I normally interact with and I am freaking out a little bit about that.

Also I have been reminded that MileHiCon is coming up in three weeks and I need to prep for it.

This includes looking at the descriptions for the panels I’m on more than a few days out (no trying to find a short story a few hours before it needs to be read this year, thank you), and I’ll need to order more copies of Hallowed Hill and Hidden Worlds.

Also need to find my con supplies and make sure they’re all where they’re supposed to be, and maybe print out more flyers.

Probably something else, but that’s a good place to start.

Nano is still kind of gnawing at me (it’s the 25th anniversary!) but no story has miraculously come into being, so we continue to mostly ignore it. But it is hard, sometimes, to watch people in my writing communities gearing up and getting excited while we continue on continuing on. Alas.

How’s October treating you, squiders?

The Neverending Chapter Nine

(Which was Chapter 10 until I realized during my critique group meeting last week that I had, once again, misnumbered my chapters, since I took Chapter 6 out completely.)

(I was commenting on one of the other members’ use of fun little news clippings at the beginning of each chapter and how I’d like to do something fun at the beginning of mine, but I had trouble even numbering them correctly. And then I realized I had, indeed, not numbered them correctly–though, to be fair, it was only Chapter 9 that was misnumbered. So far.)

(We all have strengths and this is not one of mine.)

The critique marathon ended at the end of August, so I’ve been working on Chapter 9 since then, and it is STILL NOT DONE.

I was doing a chapter a week all summer–sometimes with MAJOR rewrites–and I can’t manage a chapter in a month? What the hell.

Now, to be fair, Chapter 9 is longer than the other chapters. Somehow, over the many many revisions, Chapters 1-8 have all streamlined to be about 3-3.5K. Some sort of weird magic. Chapter 9 is probably at least 5K, if not 6K. So it’s like two chapters! But not really.

(I did have the thought that perhaps I should break it up, but there’s no clear place and then it messes with my viewpoint rotation which I JUST FIXED so…)

It’s also right at the act change so that probably makes sense.

But it feels like I’ve been working on it forever. The chapter that never ends, it just goes on and on, my friends…

I’ve counted the pages on my paper copy and it’s 18 pages long (double-spaced). The other chapters were more in the 11-13 page range, so it is definitely longer and not just my imagination. I’ve done 12 of those pages thus far and so have 6 left, though the last page is just a paragraph.

But I have got to pick up the pace. Holy crap. A chapter a month! This revision will never get finished.

(Also, I’m through Chapter 8 with my in-person critique group so I will need 9 and 10 done by about the 15th so I can send them out. But maybe the deadline will help?)

To also be fair, September was kind of a nightmare on several fronts. The bigger, mobile one’s best friend’s mom asked about doing a playdate, and I literally could not find a single day ALL MONTH where he was available. October is already better (and also I should text her) just in terms of not having SO MUCH on the calendar, plus most of the house stuff related to the flood and the tornado is in the final stages. The flooring goes into the basement on Friday and the last of the damaged trees was removed on Saturday (God, my poor trees), so then it’s just putting the bathroom back together (caulking the shower, putting the toilet back, installing new sinks) and putting the furniture back, and we’ve got to pick out new trees and get them planted, but the hard stuff is mostly behind us.

Fingers crossed. Also no more natural disasters this year THANK YOU PLEASE even though they’re forecasting some sort of massive weather event this winter due to El Niño.

(Although since the tornado destroyed all my big trees I guess I don’t have to worry about snow taking off any major branches. Yay.)

Anyway. Wish me luck on FINALLY getting through this chapter. And I’ll see you later this week! AND HAPPY OCTOBER, best month of the year, woot woot.

It Comes!

It’s that time of year, squiders. I have received at least half a dozen emails this week about it.

NaNoWriMo.

It still is so so strange to me how commercial it has gotten over the last two decades. But never mind that.

Every year, in September, when the “Hey, Nano is coming up, GET READY” emails start showing up, I take a moment to ponder whether or not I am, indeed, doing Nano.

This is silly. On the years that I am doing Nano, I generally have determined my intention to do so on my own before this point, and I’ve also, you know, picked a project and have outlined the necessary prep work and my timeline for said prep work. Or done said prep work! Depending on the project, of course.

On years that I am probably not going to do Nano, I have completely forgotten it exists until someone or something brings it up.

(I did my first Nano in 2003, did nine years straight, and have done it on and off over the past decade when it fits in my schedule.)

So, seeing how the emails surprised me, I am probably not doing Nano this year. But my brain still insists we sit and think about it anyway.

I don’t have anything in the prep stages right now. The last Nano I did was 2021, where I wrote most of what would become Hallowed Hill. I did do 2020 as well (the first time I’ve ever finished a draft during Nano itself, doing my cozy mystery), and 2019 (World’s Edge, fantasy). I wrote Across Worlds with You (serial, going up monthly at TDP) in April and haven’t spent any time on prepping any other stories since then.

So. Nothing in the wings, as it were.

Last year I thought I’d use the Nano momentum to get somewhere on my Book 1 revision. This did not work. (I did go to the Kickoff party and make myself sick by drinking coffee after 10 pm. -100/10, do not recommend.) While, in general, you can make and track projects on the Nano website, you cannot actually track non-standard Nanos during Nano.

And I’m still in the middle of this revision (well, actually in the middle. Last year Hallowed Hill had come out in October so I was a bit in recovery mode and hadn’t really started). No reason to think that anything is going to be different this year.

But part of me really wants to do it. To come up with a new story, and pound out 50,000 words, and see what happens.

This is irresponsible. And, as I mentioned before, I don’t really have any stories waiting to be written at the moment. So I would like to say, no, no Nano for me, unless I can figure out a way to leverage it for revision. (Also not a great idea because revision needs thought and intention, and Nano relies on chaotic creativity.)

But there is always a small chance that I will think of something, and I will really want to do it, and that I will jump in feet first come November.

Small.

But there.

Anyway. I can’t believe we’re a week out from October, the best month of the year. Where has the year gone?

See you next week, squiders!

Ah, September

Good evening, squiders. I don’t mean to be a mess but alas, I am.

(Also, in the last 24 hours I’ve picked up a nasty cold, which I wish would not happen right before I have a couple of days to myself. I can barely think straight. Yay.)

All my fears have come to fruition with the end of the critique marathon, in that I haven’t gotten a single chapter finished since it ended.

A lot of that is a transition thing–the end of August and beginning of September is full of them–we’ve entered our busy season at work, the small, mobile ones have gone back to school, the weather is finally changing–and sometimes it takes me a minute to find my groove again.

And part of it is that without the deadline the marathon affords, I can’t necessarily justify dropping everything else like I was.

Sometimes I yearn for my younger days, when I didn’t have anything to do after work except write or draw or play computer games whenever I wanted. Ah well. Choices have been made, and most of them I would not take back. Just gotta adapt.

And, you know, not be full of snot.

I hope things are going better for you than they are for me, squiders. Wish me luck!

Promo: The Damned

Good morning, squiders! I have a teaser for you this morning, for an anthology coming out soon! Just in time for spooky season!

Anthology Stories Include:

The Drain, The Enforcers, The Fog, On a Spring Day, and The Trial.

Flash Fiction, Horror

Date To Be Published: September 23, 2023

Bite-sized horror stories are brought to you by thirteen authors. From creepy crawlies to the seemingly normal pets. From hideous monsters lurking in the dark to charismatic people showing their true colors.

Each tale is precisely 100 words and leaves a long-lasting chilling effect. Some will make you question the security of the world around you, and what’s more terrifying than that?

Featuring drabbles from Storm Lomax, Jonathan Reddoch, Zari Hunt, Kellee Kranendonk, Andreas Flögel, Simon Clarke, Jacek Wilkos, Ferenc K. Zoltán, Vanessa Bane, C.L. Hart, Natascha Eschweiler, Angela Zimmerman, and J.E. Feldman.

Excerpt

The Drain

Professor Vladimir Reed-Field wished he had never taken the job at Miskatonic University. He’d never had problems like this when he was teaching at the University of Hawaii. A volcanic eruption would be a welcome change over the sound coming from that damn kitchen sink.

The plumber from Blizzard Pipeworks could find nothing wrong with the drain. She’d scoped it, snaked it, and performed a full flush. She said that sometimes the plumbing in Arkham’s old houses just made odd noises.

The problem wasn’t the pipes themselves. It was the thing inside the pipes that kept whispering the professor’s name.

Purchase Your Copy Today

About the Author

C. L. Hart, the owner and sole employee of Naughty Netherworld Press, is spoken of in hushed tones. She is described as The Mad Scribe of the Northeastern Colorado Plains, The Terrible Old Woman, and The Author That Should Not Be.

When not penning sanity-destroying works of dystopian fiction, Lovecraftian fantasy, or old-school horror with the occasional sweet romance thrown in to upset the cosmic apple cart, Ms. Hart enjoys creating baked goods she hopes will be considered palatable.

Ms. Hart shares a home in a remote rural town of 134 souls with her adult son and three cats. Her sense of fashion is best described as Early Twenty-First Century Unmade Bed. This disabled former nurse can usually be found arguing with herself about subplots or rehabilitating eldritch horrors.

Follow C. L. Hart

C. L. Hart Amazon Author Page

Naughty Netherworld Press Blog

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A Lack of Direction

How’s it going, squiders? I’ve had two very busy weeks, meaning today was the first day I’ve gotten to sit down and work on my own projects since the marathon ended last week.

So, of course, I was super productive and everything went well.

hahahahahaha no

With the marathon, it was very clear what needed to be done each week, which allowed me to focus on specific revision tasks.

In theory I should be able to just keep on keeping on.

In practice, apparently, I have too many options.

I sat down this morning with the idea that I would look at the comments from my in-person critique group and integrate them (3 sessions worth, consisting of 6 chapters). But then I got distracted by something, and found my time shortened, so I decided I should just get going on Chapter 10, with the thought that I would still get through a chapter this week.

But then once I got that out, I remembered that I wanted to write the end of Chapter 9 from the other viewpoint character’s point of view, so I was up to date with what she knew and what she was thinking going into Chapter 10 to make sure I was in the right place in her head.

And in the end I got like 500 words on the alternate Chapter 9 and no further, because I had plans to have lunch with my mom and had to go.

Very frustrating. But at least we made some progress?

I’d like to say tomorrow will be better, but it does seem like whenever I’m like “ah, yes, today will be the day I catch up on everything and make great progress” life tries everything in its power to trip me up. Yet hope springs eternal.

Anyway, wish me luck and concentration, squiders. See you next week!

Books by Kit Campbell