Cate Gardner's Blog, page 51

National Novel Pantsing Month

Three weeks to go and already I'm hyperventalating.

Okay, maybe only a little. But I was so cocky in August when I decided I was going to do NaNoWriMo this year and I was already working on my plan and now it's almost here and....argh!!!

So much to do between now and then, and one of them is a spectaular book trailer for Strange Men... We may remove the word spectacular once it's done. In fact, we will definitely remove the tag once it's done. I think my boys should dress up in their wedding suits and allow me to draw chalk lines down the fabric and take photographs of them in ridiculous poses. Okay, back to my box of old photographs so that I can abuse long-dead relatives instead.

Works (Once) in Progress Wednesday

Hadley Rille Books are five years old and to celebrate they're hosting a contest and you could win an Amazon Kindle 3G. All you have to do is sign up for their newsletter. Plus if you buy any of their books direct from the publisher between now and December you get an extra entry for each book.

I just picked up 'Sweet Potato Pie and Other Surrealities' by Lawrence M. Shoen via Amazon - I know, I know, I lost out on my entry, but I don't suppose a future Hadley Rille author (that's me - yay) can or possibly should enter to win the Kindle. Oh, and I'm sure you'll agree that not many covers outclass Camille Alexa's 'Push of the Sky'.

And Hadley Rille are not the only independent publishers offering amazing deals at the moment. Morrigan Books are hosting a variety of sales this month - the current is for Dead Souls. I may already have that on my shelf. Ahem! And check out PS Publishing's FantasyCon releases sale - fantastic. Erm, I maybe have a story in that little lot. I've ordered myself Rio Youer's End Times, Gary Fry's The House of Canted Steps, Catastrophia, and The Company He Keeps (an extra copy for me to lick).

I fear my collection of wallet moths are going to starve.

My Kingdom for a Meme

The wonderful Kara tagged me and thus I bring you the below meme.

1. If you could have any superpower, what would you have? Why?

Aside from the superpowers I already have (which must remain top secret), I would love to be able to swim. What do you mean that's not a superpower? It is to me. Of course, I don't want to just swim goldfish-like around a swimming pool; I want to head out into the ocean.

2. Who is your style icon?

My niece - I want braids. I want to be able to stick gold stars to my face. I want to wear feathers in my hair when I go to the shops. I want to wear clothes that don't necessarily go together and still manage to look eccentric-cool.

3. What is your favorite quote?

"It's not the bang that terrifies but the anticipation of it." Alfred Hitchcock. Actually, I'm boring myself quoting that--I quote it everywhere.


I'm rather fond of singing saying, "The sun will come out tomorrow."

4. What is the best compliment you've ever received?

"You're weird."

5. What playlist/CD is in your CD player/iPod right now?

Erm…I don't know. Something cool and modern I'm sure. Not Abba. Not The Carpenters. Not…



6. Are you a night owl or a morning person?

Oh mornings, definitely. I ache to stay up all night and write (or play on the internet/watch movies), but the truth is, I'm better at 5:30 in the morning.

7. Do you prefer dogs or cats?

Chameleon's

8. What is the meaning behind your blog name?

It's my name… duh! Though originally it was called The Poisoned Apple after the book I was writing and because I love (twisted) fairy tales.

The Spectre of October News

In my last blog post, I hinted at a super sekrit project. The super sekrit is still super but not so secret.

Simon Marshall Jones has announced that I along with - oh my goodness, wait for this list of names - Gary McMahon, Gary Fry, Simon Kurt Unsworth, Simon Bestwick, Steve Lockley, Willie Meikle, Thana Niveau, Alison Littlewood, Mark West, RB Russell, Nicholas Royle and Johnny Mains - will all have chapbooks forthcoming with his new imprint, Spectral Press.

I'm super excited.

And this will be my second chapbook, and my fourth (huh!) little book just by me. I'm slowly filling my bookshelf shadows.

Accountable to September

A few blog posts back, I promised I'd return to making myself accountable for what I had (or hadn't) achieved the previous month. So here goes...

I completed my #10bythen submissions by subbing to: Lightspeed, The Vandermeer's Thacker T Lambshead project, The Zombie Feed, IGMS, Clarkesworld, Shimmer, Poe Little Thing, Ideomancer, Brain Harvest, Moon Milk Review, Fantastique Unfettered and Shock Totem.

Pre-planning my mad escapade novel/novella - 10,867 words

Of the above submissions 3 were stories completed this month: Six Feet Above (2300 words), The Quiet of the Hour Glass (500 words), Name Carved on Empty Space (750 words).

With some thanks to Walter (my dictaphone), I completed the following stories which are awaiting redrafting/editing/help from the beyond: Broken Spokes of an Umbrella Sky (1339 words), Fractured Divide between Him, Her, Them (627 words), unnamed spooky story (3518 - draft in progress), In the Middle of Nowhere, Just Left of 1974 (1159 words), If... (1568 words), Lost Shoes (1034 words), Ash in his Lungs, Dust in his Belly (my mailbox man story that isn't quite working out - yet - a pathetic 319 words).

Other delightful things September brought - I finished up a blurb for a book of awesomeness and I became involved in an awesome super sekrit project.

Holding myself accountable wasn't so scary after all.

A Mouth with Many Uses*

A word of advice for you this delightfully, productive Wednesday - buy a Dictaphone.

While scribbling notes in the dark (too lazy to get out of bed and switch on the light) I thought, I need a machine that records your voice so I could jot this down and know it'll be readable (in a way) in the morning. Boy, but I wish they'd invent something. Doh! In my defence it was the middle of the night and I was a little bit unnerved by the dream I'd just had.

Okay, a lot unnerved. Why didn't I switch on the light? Because I wanted to stay huddled under the duvet. Things could have been watching me and I couldn't let them know that I knew they were there.

Anyhow, come the light of day, I declared I was going to buy a Dictaphone.

Most wonderful purchase ever.

Bought the Dictaphone on Monday - Monday night I rambled at it - Tuesday afternoon I typed up 1339 words of 'Broken Spokes of an Umbrella Sky' - very, very rough draft, but it exists and it wouldn't have done if not for the rambling. It doesn't end there.

Tuesday night I rambled at the machine - lets call him Walter - and this afternoon I typed up 2601 words of an as yet untitled project. How lazy am I? I didn't take time out to come up with a title. Unless my title was yawn - oh, and I yawn alot.

In contrast. I scribbled some notes into a book last week - I have 223 words of an as yet uncompleted draft and haven't a clue where I'm going with it. Dictaphone, I am sold. Seriously, go out and buy one. Unless of course, you're already prolific, then please don't--you'll make me look bad.

And in other news, you may have noticed the pretty picture above - if you head over to Barry Napier's blog, you'll find a little contest with some awesome prizes (I want) for his book 'A Mouth for Picket Fences'. Go enter, or better yet, buy a copy (that way you're guaranteed to win).

*Goodness, but the blog title sounds dirty.

Let's Start the Week with Thank You

This is my thank you post. It's not at all comprehensive. Without tooting my own horn - because frankly, there's nothing to toot - I think my writing has improved a hundred percent since I first surfed the net as a writer (returned to the fold after a long, long break) about three years ago. If you've helped me along the way and you're not mentioned below, I apologise.

First, Lane Adamson (Permuted Press editor) who rapped my knuckles a couple of years back for my bizarre use of commas and in...

Pulling Tongues at the Dark

I am annoyed with myself - note: this is nothing new.

Waking up from a most-hideous dream, I jotted down the main plot points of said dream in my notebook and went back to sleep. It was five-thirty in the morning, it was dark, I am obviously lazy.

Monday thru Friday I get up at five-thirty. I should have got up at that time today. If I had, I'd now be sitting here with a complete first draft rather than a notebook full of illegible scrawl. Luckily, my brain remembers most of it. My brain is aw...

Do I ever shut up?

If you aren't tired of reading my tweets, blog, facebook (okay, I rarely post at the last one), then there's a short interview with me over at The Red Penny Papers website. I'd love it if you could check it out (and comment about my brilliance - oh wait, this is Katey's mag, she already knows how brilliant I am - in fact, she mailed me a bottled of Brasso so I could perfect my shine).

My story 'Postcard Wings above Blackpool Sands' appeared in the magazine earlier this month.

That be all.

WIP Wednesday - Rhyme, No Reason

I almost posted the below rhyme today...

It's raining, it's pouring
and Cate is feeling boring
she went to bed with a story problem in her head
and hadn't solved it by morning

...and I guess I did still post it. Only that wasn't all I posted because there's more (you're safe, no more rhymes).

Still working on ideas for my mad escapade novella, which now has 7,500+ words of notes and a pretend title - The Museum of Impossible Artefacts. The story construction reminds me a little of Theatre of...