Laura Benedict's Blog, page 42

The Glitter is Over. Long Live the Glitter.

My son (not the one pictured above) started listening to Christmas carols back in September. That is not a typo. Yes. September. We told him that those songs were NOT ALLOWED until after Halloween, and then they could only be listened to in his room up until Thanksgiving. But thirteen year-old boys are notoriously unreliable in the obedience department. In mid-October, I walked in on him in his bedroom, and casually asked him what music was coming out of his iPad and into his precious little...

A Particular Procrastination

I am SUCH a procrastinator.

This is not a surprise to anyone who knows me well. I get a big rush from plowing all my energy into things at the last minute. It's intoxicating. I think I'm probably an amateur adrenalin junkie. You won't find me on thrill rides at amusement parks, or jumping out of airplanes. I'm not into extreme sports. But I do like a low-key, constant buzz of--what is it? Energy? The Life Force? Microscopic buzz saws in my blood? Yes, maybe that.

I toyed with the idea of having...

Costume A Literary Giant and Enter My Nook Giveaway at Book Riot!

Me, as a zebra, 2009.

I've never been a big one for costumes. As a writer, I tend to keep my fantasy in my head and on the page. Okay. That's a lie. I costume myself every day.

There's the Laura, Field Trip Mom Turtleneck. The I Feel Icky Because I Ate too Much Cake Fatpants Ensemble. The Freakin' Good Hair Day/I Feel Gorgeous Jeans/Sweater/Boots Outfit. The Hey, Buy My Books! Dress I Paid Too Much For But Love Anyway. The I'm Trying to Look Like My Husband's Mistress, Not His Wife Little Black...

The Day Summer Ended

Forgive my melodrama, but am I the only one who felt like the summer of 2012 would never end?

I've done a lot of driving over the last week and, here in the Midwest, it has just started to look like fall has arrived. The first week of October is over, and the leaves are wan--chalky red and gold like faded satin. No fiery bursts of color or breathtaking hillsides. The drought (we're still about eight inches short of rain for the year) seems to have bled the trees dry. It's as though they are de...

A Spooky Start to October: A Buggy Short Story, Book Prizes, and a Sparkly New Ad

You know how I hate to send you away from here, but I've been busy at a couple of other places around town. The good news is that you can win goodies. Books, specifically. My books, very specifically!

The Horror Writers Association is doing an entire month of Halloween blogs. Halloween Haunts kicked off on the 1st and continues through the 31st. October 2nd, I wrote about terrifying a sweet young boy at my daughter Opera Poodle's first Halloween party. (Yes, there are days when I am the worst...

Throwing Spam at the Apocalypse

Is there anything more depressing than talking about The Apocalypse? Talk about the Apocalypse is inescapable online and on our car radios and televisions. But what do people mean when they say the word Apocalypse?

Biblical Apocalypse. This one is easy. It's about the Anti-Christ showing up to cause all sorts of grisly trouble before Jesus comes back. Plagues, famine, international wars, mass murder, enslavement, brother killing brother killing sister killing strangers. Fire in the sky. People...

In Which I Visit a Sideshow and Find Myself Onstage

Being a kid who was attracted to the unusual, the disturbing, the alien, and otherness, I always wanted to visit a sideshow, but I was discouraged from it by my folks and, later, friends. Mostly on the grounds that it was a rip-off. But, finally, at my advanced age of *ahem*, I decided it I am at last the mistress of my own purse and psyche and shelled out the two bucks for a peek inside.




What did I see? Hey, that wouldn't be fair, now would it? Carnival sideshows are supposed to rem...

Another Quiet Place

Life is awfully quiet around our house these days. With a daughter off at college, and her brother starting seventh grade, it's often just the husband-on-sabbatical and me in the house. Sounds like a writer's paradise, yes? It is, and yet it isn't.

Sometimes I have to get away from the domestic distractions--critters, laundry, the garden, the temptation of Netflix, shelves full of books, and, of course, the Internet. They call to me in loud voices, familiar voices. They tug at me with comforta...

Stop Motion

For years I've been a fan of stop motion animation. Not just Wallace and Gromit, but The Brothers Quay, Jan Svankmajer, et al.

My first efforts were years ago--lost now, of course. I think they're still on a 3.5" floppy disk somewhere. One was of a Barbie doll climbing up to take a ride on a giant wooden shore bird. The other was a Brio train extravaganza. The train's belonged to my son, who was maybe four at the time. He's almost 13, now. Today, we spent several hours playing with iStopMotion...

Devil's Oven, Devil's Oven, Devil's Oven, and My New Favorite Interview

I know. Posting a blog that links right to someone else's site is cheating, isn't it? I'm just so delighted with the interview of me that Diane Landy did over at her lovely blog, The Princesston, that I want to send you over there. She asks me some challenging questions, and lets me natter on about life with a writer spouse, why I write what I write, and what a challenge it is for me to face the page everyday. Plus, if you're feeling even just a little adventurous (and spooky), Diane has arra...