Konn Lavery's Blog: Posts from konnlavery.com, page 21

Podcast: Seed Me – Episode 08

Chapter 8 of Konn Lavery’s horror novel Seed Me. As with previous weeks, a new chapter will be shared on Thursdays. Enjoy the podcast below and share it around:

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Logan and Janet decide to confront the old man at the Northern Delights booth. He’s been stalking Logan, and he’s related to his ex’s death. It’s time for some answers.

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I Love You

In a remote town, a terrible curse has plagued the good people. Their home is haunted by a ghost – or something otherworldly – that is killing them off one by one. The government has locked them in with no form of communication, and only one man knows the truth behind the horrors.

I Love You is November’s short story taking you into a paranormal horror where survival is looking slim. Enjoy the story in written form, the artwork, and in audio through the podcast with improv synths.

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“I love you” is supposed to be a phrase you use for those you hold dear to you. Never did anyone think that those three words would become the kiss of death. The funny thing is a lot of people also do not believe in the supernatural. Such naïve simpleton. Some of us do know the truth, like me. I am also relatively efficient in practicing the art. My former wife didn’t believe, for she couldn’t see any proof, like the others. Wouldn’t she be surprised now? Not everything real can be seen with our naked eyes. Our vision can deceive us so easily, especially when we focus on that single human sense. We have so many more! Smell, touch, hearing, and taste are equally important, letting us tune into our world. Then, let’s not forget about the lesser-known sixth sense – extrasensory perception.

Even then, people question how effective it can be. Human beings are limited – true. This is why we must rely on trinkets, rituals, and tuning into the otherworldly to harness powers that we can even fathom. It takes an awful lot of willpower to manifest and control something from the other side. I know this first-hand as I tried to combat The Lover. Others have too. Hell, some of the world’s most capable magic users have attempted to take control of the situation.

I could have learned so much from them if they weren’t now dead. Just like anyone else that has encountered The Lover, she takes them. Everyone in the town can hear the haunting shrills of “I LOVE YOU” before she frees her victim from this world. I’m not sure what she does to them. Maybe she’s trying to harvest souls to fill a void. Or perhaps she merely is eradicating them from the flesh, making them like her. If so, where are the others? We don’t have a solid understanding of what she is – I mean, I have a better idea than most. No one believes a warlock. Her presence has frightened the government, and they have thrown us into a lockdown state where no one can enter or leave our town. We are on our own.

Thankfully, most of us are farmers and can make food to last as long as we need it. Every once in a while, our supply truck drives into town with needed supplies. We have some people who are at the border of the lockdown to negotiate with the military. We don’t have any other choice. A riot would only end with the army shooting us. We aren’t even able to post videos online because they’ve locked out all Internet and cellular connections to our town. They don’t want this going out to the rest of the world. Our best bet for survival is cooperating with the government and avoiding The Lover until they figure out what to do with us.

A portion of me wants to try and reason with her. Of all people in our town, I am the most capable. Then, I hear the shrilling, “I LOVE YOU,” as she takes a new victim, and the fear sinks in. I cringe, knowing that she has outdone the other great mystics. Then I think about what I know. No . . . I can’t. Fear can keep you alive.

I’ve seen her a few times. It’s hard to describe what she looks like. The Lover appears as a sad woman in a nightgown. Her face is deformed. No one would ever know who she is. That poor soul stuck between this world and the next, which is the only way to describe her. She is proof of undead, wandering up and down our crooked, potholed, streets.

The latest sighting I had of The Lover was probably a couple of days ago, just before dusk. Truthfully, I’ve lost track of time, staying inside all the time in this bland house. My ill-fated wife’s blue eyes may have kept me a little too entranced to ever noticed. I remember watching from the window as the church bell rang. Oh, we use the bell to indicate when it is no longer safe to go outside or when someone spots The Lover. Her schedule is reasonably consistent, but on occasion, she has fabricated during the day. I derail, anyways, poor Ivan, our neighbour – my neighbour – was on his way home after picking up supplies. He was running. My neighbour didn’t have a car, and quite frankly, people aren’t willing to share the limited supplies, including vehicles.

Ivan was doing his damn best to be quiet while hurrying down the street. I guess she had already spotted him because I saw her come up from the hill. As she hovered to the top, all light in the sky turned dark, leaving us under blackness – darker than any night!

She was radiant, for she glows blue and white. Those haunting eyeless sockets are something I will never forget, radiating a dark blue flame of anger. The pointy teeth stretch across her elongated mouth, forming a scowl of pain and hate. I’m sure she uses them to feast on the souls once they have passed from this world. It’s my best guess.

My viewpoint was limited, peeking from the curtain. Just like everyone else in their homes, we watched poor Ivan run down the street. He was crying for help. What could we do? Physical objects go right through her, and no one else in this town practices demonology. I’ve dabbled in it, after The Lover, but alas it is not my specialty.

The shrilling words of “I LOVE YOU!” pierced from The Lover’s open mouth. It’s as if the voice projects from her throat, for her jaw does not move. The sound is too much to bear, and many of us cover our ears when she shouts. The Lover continued to scream over and over, “I LOVE YOU! I LOVE YOU!” like a broken record. Ivan wasn’t able to keep up his pace, and The Lover was closing in. I wanted to look away, but I had never seen her take a soul. My poor wife, who didn’t believe my powers, crying, “I love you!” before I cast that fateful spell on her, binding her to the demon.

Ivan tumbled onto the floor, dropping his groceries in the process. Knowing the people of this town, I figured they would scurry around like rats to grab the supplies once Ivan died. The Lover was only half a block away as the mysterious fog she brings with her surrounded the area. Her mouth closed, and she seemed innocent at this point. Just a sad lady who wants closure. Who can blame her? I felt sympathy for her only for a brief moment because, after that, the fog surrounded Ivan. The Lover’s jaws expanded like a snake – three times the size of her skull as her mouth plummeted towards Ivan. His hand extended upward through the fog, begging for mercy, as she dove down onto him. Ivan’s screams erupted as one more, “I LOVE YOU!” boomed throughout the town.

I couldn’t blink, watching the fog swirl around and around. I’d never seen anything like this before. One moment Ivan was there, begging for his life, and the next, he became the fog. I could hear his voice continue to scream for mercy. The voice . . . changed, as if he were underwater, bubbling, muffled, and then nothing. All the smoke pressed inwards to the single point where Ivan and The Lover once were. Then, it dissipated into nothing.

That was it for Ivan. The sky returned to a familiar orange hue as the sun prepared to rest. The disturbing light change happens every time The Lover takes a victim. Already, people were leaving their homes to salvage whatever supplies Ivan left behind, as I expected. Not I, for I remained at the window, watching, and wondering how many more souls The Lover would take before she was satisfied. Then, as always, an overwhelming wave of guilt rushes through me, knowing what I had done. The fear. The anger. I’m sorry.

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Podcast: Seed Me – Episode 07

Chapter 7 of Konn Lavery’s horror novel Seed Me. As with previous weeks, a new chapter will be shared on Thursdays. Enjoy the podcast below and share it around:

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Logan and Janet are digging deeper into the Vicky look-alike scenario and the linkage with the 4-20 cases. They are going to meet Donald Wate at the Remand Visitation Centre, the man who was driving the truck containing the girl’s corpse. What will he have to say?

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MJ Preston, Canadian Horror/Thriller Author’s new novel Four, the conclusion of The Highwayman series.

For November, we welcome MJ Preston, a Canadian Horror author, and a visual artist. His debut novel The Equinox has received great praise, being a semi-final contender in the Amazon Breakthrough Awards. His Syfy Horror, Acadia Event, called “An Epic Page Turner,” was inspired by his time as an ice road trucker. Now he’s written two crime thriller books to kick off The Highwayman Series, starting with the self-titled, Highwayman and Four, the concluding novel of The Highwayman story.

Since his first novel, MJ Preston has continued to publish books and has appeared in anthologies. Now, let’s welcome MJ Preston to the blog and learn about his writing!

MJ Preston, thank you for joining us. Can you give readers a brief intro about yourself?

MJP: Sure, first and foremost, I am a Canadian writer who has been a soldier, a property manager, a long haul, and an ice road trucker. Trucking has taken me all over Canada and the United States, including the Northwest Territories. Somewhere in all that chaos, I managed to write the four books you so eloquently introduced. My first three novels, The Equinox, Acadia Event, and Highwayman, were all written on big trucks’ steering wheels. Which is to say, every time that truck stopped, I would put my laptop on the steering wheel and write. The genres I write in are horror, Syfy, and crime thriller. Some people ask me where I get my ideas, and I respond, “By watching you.”

Your latest novel Four, is part two of The Highwayman series. Tell us about the new novel and the series itself.

The Highwayman series is about individual cases of serial murderers and the law enforcement officials who hunt them. The first two books, Highwayman and Four, envelope a single story. The Lance Belanger case file. The first book introduces readers to the aspiring murderer, Lance Belanger, aka Highwayman, who longs to be a household name in the world of serial murder. He considers murder his vocation. And like other career-minded individuals, Lance wants to be the best, the most prolific, the most wanted, the most infamous. Book one takes us on an eight-year journey where Lance experiments, learns and becomes more proficient at killing and working toward his goal of being number one on the FBI’s ten most wanted listed. He accomplishes that mission, becoming an enigma known as The Highwayman.  The issue for investigators is that he leaves little evidence to go on. There are no fingerprints, no DNA, and no witnesses.  His signature is that he cuts his victims into six pieces and stages them like a starfish. His victims turn up all over the United Staes in multi-state body dumps. It seems almost fruitless for the FBI, but there is always something if you listen hard enough for the crazy

In my latest novel, Four, the pace is much faster. The investigators have identified who Highwayman is, and the hunt is in full swing to take him down.  Highwayman continues to increase his kills, always working toward a life goal of being the most infamous killer of all time. Through the dark web, he recruits three other killers, and together they perpetrate mass murder in Pittsburgh and in the outlying Pennsylvania rural communities.  This book is chock full of murder, betrayal, and even abduction.

Four is the concluding novel . . . is there more planned or are you moving onto new writing projects?

I am working on a new Highwayman novel, with returning characters from the first two books and a completely new case file. Although this is not the finished title, it has a working title called THE ICE CREAM MEN. I don’t have a publication date just yet because I’m just getting revved up. But I’m the first on the scene of the crime and having great fun, so I think fans of this series will be happy.

Most of your work falls under the horror and thriller categories, do you take genre into consideration when writing a new book?

I certainly do, but I don’t limit myself to a specific genre. I have been called a horror writer, a sci-fi horror writer, and now a crime thriller writer. I just think of myself as a writer who digs penning tales about dark subjects and even darker subject matter. For a long time, there existed a snobbery in the writing community when it came to horror. Back in the 70s and even 80s, horror was looked down upon by many in the mainstream writing community.  Even Stephen King ate crap about his writing from critics. I think we are moving away from that now. Horror writers have gained acceptance, but here’s the truth. It’s all just storytelling. While I’m not John Steinbeck, and my work will never be up there with such greats as The Grapes of Wrath or Of Mice and Men, I am still a storyteller. I have a place in the storytelling community afforded to me by readers willing to set aside time in their schedule to indulge the madness that is MJ Preston.

You are also a visual artist, using digital and camera work to do your own covers. Do you enjoy the cover creating process?

I do very much. I like to do renderings, but I’m certainly not as good as artists such as yourself, who put my work to shame. Regardless, I believe that it helps me in my writing to do these visual things. Whether it’s a silhouette of a man standing in front of headlights of a car machete in hand, or it’s a bone-eating alien buried beneath the tundra of the Northwest territories. These renderings and photographs help get me into that weird headspace for writing. Often, if I find myself wondering where I’m going to go next with my writing, I’ll open up my paint program and put on some tunes to help me focus.

What got you into writing, with your debut The Equinox?

The Equinox was my 18-year novel. [Laughs.] When I started it, I was just a young man, and by the time I finished it, I was middle-aged. From 1986 to 1998, I was a Canadian soldier, and I was also married and the father of three children. Often I was gone for months on training exercises. At some point, I realized that finishing that first book wasn’t going to happen, at least not yet. So, I put the manuscript into a box, intending to revisit it later. I had no idea that it would be almost 16 years. I continued to write military reportage, editorials, and commentary, but the manuscript was forgotten. In 2010, I found that dog eared manuscript in a box and decided it was time to finish it. Even after I published The Equinox independently, I had no idea that I would write another novel, but here we are.

Any advice you’d like to share with aspiring authors?

Do what you love. But don’t expect overnight success. Writing is a very tough gig, and if you’re lucky and you work hard at it, you will get more out of it than you put into it. Fair warning, there is a mandatory period of suffering that all writers must endure on their journey to success. Please don’t ask me how long it lasts. I’ve been at it for over fifty years

Podcast: Seed Me – Episode 06

Chapter 6 of Konn Lavery’s horror novel Seed Me. As with previous weeks, a new chapter will be shared on Thursdays. Enjoy the podcast below and share it around:

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Logan shares his thoughts about the 4-20 cases with Janet who encourages him to research the deaths of Emily and Vicky. His investigation online takes him on an unexpected path.

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Time Management for Writing

Time management is a challenging skill to master. This applies to every aspect of life. When it comes to time management for writing, managing your time is critical if you want to stick to a publishing date or have due dates for the project. Without time management, projects can derail and be left in a strange state of limbo. Plus, life’s other responsibilities can get in the way when we want to write. So, how do we manage a time for writing?

Let’s look at three different scenarios and some methods of handling your time within these hypothetical situations. There will be some crossovers because the techniques are mostly universal. Then, you will be able to juggle your time better and start writing!

Scenario One: The Perfect World

Ah yes, the perfect world. Probably an unrealistic scenario for most people. It is applicable, though, because some people do have rigid routines. If you happen to have a steady day job and consistency outside of your work life, you’ll find it easier to make time for writing.

Block Out Time to Write

This is a no-brainer and the main focus of all time management. It would be best if you blocked out time to write. We won’t get into inspiration or writer’s block, or distractions interrupting your time. Those are more in-depth topics. With time management for writing, you need to block out a section of the day or night. If life doesn’t let you, we will look into this method further down too.

A Calendar

They work wonders. Most of us have smartphones or computers which provide digital calendars. You can also get a physical calendar to pin on the wall or a notebook with one in it. Calendars have been around for centuries and are still the most effective ways to manage yourself. Blocking out time for writing can be taken care of if you jot it into a calendar. Even if you are in a perfect world and have predictable day-to-day activity, blocking out time and jotting and calendar will keep you focused and on track.

Scenario Two: A Normal World

Most people have varying schedules from day to day, week to week, if not month-to-month. Busy seasons come in as the fall ramps up, and summertime is often for vacations. There are many other examples, as well. So how do you keep a writing schedule for time management?

Flextime

The term is used a lot in schools and the work world. Flextime is free periods of your day that you use for anything. If you can’t consistently block out time to write every day, note the periods you do have. If there is a window between getting home from work and cooking, you could write. Even if this is only half an hour or 15 minutes, you will get a lot more done than if you didn’t. Plus, writing even a little bit can spark the brain to start thinking about what’s coming next in your story, making the next session easier.

Binge Writing

Everyone has busy periods and downtimes in life. Take advantage of the lower! If you can foresee the slow time coming, plan, and write as many hours a day, multiple times a week, as you can. If you didn’t see the free time coming, now you have nothing but time to focus on writing or planning. Remember, every little bit of writing gets you further than not doing anything.

Scenario Three: Pure Chaos

What if your life is entirely unpredictable? You might have a family of five kids, or are hopping jobs regularly, or maybe the pure chaos is only short-lived, but it will derail you from everything you have planned with your writing. In this case, there are ways to handle time management for writing still.

Spot Writing

A similar concept to the flex time mentioned previously, but more aggressive. If you barely have time to breathe and are on the go every moment of the day, this is the timesaver for you. Most of us have smartphones. Believe it or not, you can type on them– no way! It is a bit of a learning curve to type on such a small screen, but some people are texters and are good at. You can also learn to type this way.

Have 5 minutes between your lunch break? How about first thing in the morning while you are drinking your coffee? Spot writing can get you a lot further since little bits add up over weeks and months.

Working Smarter, Not Faster – Technology

There are all sorts of books about writing more efficiently and planning. I’ve also discussed them previously on the blog with How to Finish NaNoWriMo in Two Weeks, Working Smarter, and A Year with Dictation for Writing. In this post, we will review technology.

Back to smartphones, most of them have some form of dictation software available. People speak faster than they can type, which can be advantageous. Learning to speak your words instead of typing can be a massive timesaver. If you are doing spot writing, five minutes of talking wall get you further in your manuscript than typing. Not always in revisions, but as a generalization, it will.

More expensive software like Dragon offers a conversion as well. Using a voice recorder on your phone, you can take that file and load it into Dragon, which will transcribe it to text. If you are on the go, speaking your story can be significant.

Break All Foundations

Here is an unconventional tip – go wild with your writing. Be fearless, and don’t listen to the inner chatter – say yes to every idea. This applies to time management for writing as well. Write anywhere and everywhere. If you bring your computer out and about, fire it up and do some writing on the bus. Push away all thoughts of “no.” Beat down your critical mind and let yourself explore freely to get those words in. Sometimes under pressure, we can create the most exciting work. Other times, it’s garbage, but that’s okay because you still wrote, which is a lot more than doing nothing.

Summary of Time Management for Writing

All seven of these points are valid and work depending on the situation that you are in. Of course, you can block the time and write freely in a perfect world without any worries or distractions. Unfortunately, life doesn’t work that way, and we are all juggling extra responsibilities.

People are busier today than ever before, which is the double-edged sword of technology. We are constantly stimulated by ads, media’s ongoing psychological warfare, and trying to have a life with family and friends. Managing time isn’t easy, but it can be learned. I hope these pointers have been helpful for you, and if you have any additional ones feel free that it in the comments.

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The Writer’s Block show at Sound Sugar Radio

Earlier this month I was on The Writer’s Block show at Sound Sugar Radio with Mike Deregowski . We chat about writing, dark fantasy, and all things creepy. It was a ton of fun discussing fantasy and melding genres. Listen to it here:

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Podcast: Seed Me – Episode 05

Chapter 5 of Konn Lavery’s horror novel Seed Me. As with previous weeks, a new chapter will be shared on Thursdays. Enjoy the podcast below and share it around:

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The gig at the Aging Gorilla ends, and the group goes to an after party to celebrate. Logan gets himself wrapped up in his buddy Skip’s drama while the Vicky look-alike situation becomes more unsettling.

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NaNoWriMo 2020: Experimentation Time

We are at the end of October, hooray! This means Halloween is here and two months left of 2020. Where will 2021 go? Let’s not get into world concerns or politics. However, it is always in the back of our minds. Perhaps all the wacky world events has given you some writing inspiration. Speaking of writing, the end of October means that November is here, and NaNoWriMo 2020 will start! Are you in?

Welcome to another edition of Unprocessed Thoughts

Many writers have opinions on NaNoWriMo. Some of these thoughts are positive, while others are negative. Lots of writers don’t care. I see both sides of the debate when it comes to participating in NaNoWriMo. On the upside, it is a great way to hammer out words, pressuring you to finish the manuscript. You can also network with other authors to build professional relationships. On the opposing end, I have heard people talk about how the forced word day count encumbered creativity and can create poor writing. Others have also said there are politics.

All points are probably valid, but I haven’t been involved enough to know. I’ve only done it three times, while other writers have done it well over 10. NaNoWriMo works for some writers while it reflects poorly on others. It seems to be a personal choice, and neither is right or wrong. I’ve only partaken in NaNoWriMo when it lines up with my writing schedule, and I have had positive experiences.

Plus, the NaNoWriMo crew in Edmonton is fantastic. I’ve gotten along with everyone quite well and have enjoyed the write-ins at the library. It gives me an excuse to write somewhere else and visit the library – shame on me for not going more frequently.

The funny thing about writing is it puts you into a bubble of your work. You’re sucked into the world, characters, and creative trance that all writers are familiar with. While I am working on a new first draft, I am transported into this new story and become the characters, becoming completely oblivious to everything that is around me, including world situations . . . Maybe it will be a good thing with the US election coming up.

Now, I am excited about participating in NaNoWriMo 2020 for two reasons:

Reason one: I can explore a brand-new story idea.

Each time I have participated in NaNoWriMo, I experimented with an entirely new story concept. 2014 was Seed Me. 2015 was YEGman. 2018 was The White Hand. 2020 expands on the short story Ash, a story concept that has floated around in my head for the past 12 years.

Reason two: expanding my writing craft.

Every time I partake in NaNoWriMo, I also push my writing craft into uncharted territories. Instead of cranking out the same style, the same genre, or working on a sequel, I’ve always tried an entirely new project.

This year, I am moving away from my usual process of systematically breaking down a story – outlining. For many years I was what is called a panster, then I switched to outlining. Then, I read the book Writing Into the Dark: How to Write a Novel Without an Outline by Dean Wesley Smith, which drastically opened my mind. Already I have been exploring writing into the dark with the monthly short stories. These stories felt the most organic and most exciting pieces of fiction that I have written. I have been able to explore writing styles, genres, concepts, and exciting characters. I was unintentionally following a similar process that Dean Wesley Smith mentions in his book.

Writing is fun

People’s writing styles can change as the years go by and work on new projects. After many years of outlining, it seems like I am circling around, and I’m writing more on intuition. I’ll be taking influences from what Dean Wesley Smith mentions about writing into the dark, which is outlining after writing a chapter is done (this is drastically simplifying his book). Other writers have talked about outlining after writing a chapter, so it is not an unheard-of process. Plus, outlining was beginning to feel like work, and quite frankly, I was not enjoying it anymore.

Exploring new writing processes, styles, and genres will help expand your abilities as a writer. Sometimes it is fun. Other times it is a complete nightmare where a project crashes and burns. That’s okay; you’ll become a better writer by learning your limitations and pushing your boundaries. Always write and always experiment. Exploring the unknown as part of the fun of writing, isn’t it?

So to close off, I’ll catch you all in NaNoWriMo 2020!

Beer Note: Zero Issue Multiverse Pale Ale

for this month, I tried the Zero Issue multi-pale ale. It is a 5.4% alcohol level. The beer is made in Calgary, Alberta and the artwork on it is by Scott A. Ford. My tastes have moved away from exceptionally hoppy to lighter beers, which is why I have fewer IPAs and have moved more to pale ales. The beer is an easy drink, goes down smooth, plus the artwork as a fun colour scheme.

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Podcast: Seed Me – Episode 04

Episode 4 of the Seed Me novel episodic audiobook is here. As with previous weeks, a new chapter will be shared on Thursdays. Enjoy the podcast below and share it around:

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Logan’s band is going to play their new gig. Looks like there’s trouble at the bar, and more hints about the Vicky look-alike that only he is piecing together.

Missed the previous episode? Starting out? No worries:




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