Sylvia Shults's Blog, page 72

It’s Okay. It Really Is.

Ever have words of wisdom show up just when you need them the most?

So I’m getting ready to start promoting Spirits of Christmas, and I’m thinking back to just about a year ago (exactly a year ago yesterday, how ’bout that?), to when 44 Years in Darkness came out. I’m thinking about the hopes and dreams I had for that book when it came out. Man, I was gonna take over the world!

I was at work today, covering books, and I came across a book called The Self-Love Experiment by Shannon Kaiser. In it, she described her “real life” ( as in, “as soon as I accomplish XXXX my “real life” can start … we’ve all been there): sitting next to Oprah, with Elizabeth Gilbert heaping praise on her book, standing on the stage for a TED Talk and getting a standing ovation. This is pretty much identical to the hopes and dreams I had for 44 Years, I’m not gonna lie. Of COURSE I wanted to do a TED Talk on Rhoda Derry’s life. (I still do.) And I really, REALLY wanted to get onto NPR with Rhoda’s story, on Weekend Edition or The Diane Rehm Show, before she retired.

Well, none of that happened.

But another book had more words of wisdom for me. In the book Code of Trust, by Robin Dreeke, I happened upon this little gem:

“Dreams don’t always come true. Sometimes they don’t even come close. But falling short of your ultimate goal can be fine, if you come close enough to savor most of its rewards.”

That is really, really what I needed to hear. And I DO get to savor most of the rewards of the goals I set for myself. So maybe I’ve never been reviewed by Publishers Weekly. So maybe I’ve never been interviewed on NPR. So maybe I’ll never get to sit next to Oprah. Instead, I get to do one of the things I love best in all this world. I get to stuff myself silly with true ghost stories, and cherry-pick the best of them and share them with you guys.

(I still want to do a TED Talk on Rhoda Derry, though. Someday…)

Something Very Cool To Share …

I’ve just hit a personal milestone.

I wrote a book that’s over 100,000 words long.

I’ve never written anything this long. Most of my books come out to around 75,000 words–78,000 if I’m really smokin’. But this? This is something else entirely. And I’m not yet done typing!

Seriously, I cannot wait to share this book with you guys. It’s gonna be awesome!

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Schedule Update

Okay, so, you know how I said I was going to be at Lincolnland Community College in Springfield on Halloween? Well, that’s where I was last year, and I thought we’d be doing that again. But I just found out last night that plans have changed.

For the better! I’m going to be partnering with the awesome Loren Hamilton for a presentation at Jacksonville Public Library (201 W College Avenue, Jacksonville) at 7 pm on Halloween night. It’s going to be a blast … Loren will be talking about ghost hunting, and I’ll get to talk yet again about my beloved Peoria State Hospital. So change your plans, stay flexible, and join us! (Or not. But if you go out trick-or-treating instead of coming to see us, you owe me some candy. And the good stuff, not the Double Bubble.)

October’s Here!

Hey, it’s October, and that means extra-crunchy ghostie goodness!

Here’s a fairly complete list of where I’m going to be during the month, and when:

— This Saturday, October 7, I’ll be in Galesburg for the afternoon. At 2 pm I’m doing a program on Fractured Spirits for the Galesburg Women’s Club, and at 3:30, I’ll be at the Galesburg Library (40 E. Simmons Street) for a talk on 44 Years in Darkness. Then I’m driving up to Chicago for the Chicago Ghost Convention, which will be at Brauer House in Lombard.

— Next weekend is a doozy! On Friday, October 13, I’ll be doing a program on Fractured Spirits at Lake Villa Library (1001 E. Grand Avenue, Lindenhurst) at 3 pm. Then on Saturday October 14, I’ll be giving another talk on Fractured Spirits at Gail Borden Library (270 N. Grove Avenue, Elgin), then shooting on over to the Barnes and Noble in Crystal Lake (Bohl Farm Market Place, 5380 US-14, Crystal Lake).  Wheee! (Good thing I have Weird Al to keep me company as I drive.)

— On Monday, October 16, I’ll be at work at Fondulac Library (400 Richland Street, East Peoria). But! At 6 pm, I’ll join with GUARD Paranormal to bring you guys a fun look at the life of a paranormal investigator.

— On Saturday October 21, I’ll join several other authors for a book signing at the Book Nook (6944 N. University Street, Peoria).

— On Thursday October 26, we’re switching things up a bit. It’s a Thursday night, and at 6 pm I’ll be at Salem Township Library (101 N. Burson Street, Yates City) to do a presentation on Hunting Demons.

— And on Halloween night, Tuesday October 31, I’m planning on being on a panel with other paranormal nonfiction authors at Lincolnland Community College (5250 Shepherd Road, Springfield). We’ll talk about ghosts, what else?

— Oh, and while we’re on the subject, I’ll be doing two author fairs the first weekend of November, too. On Saturday November 4, I’ll be at Peoria Public Library’s North Branch (3001 West Grand Parkway, Peoria) from 2 to 4 pm. Then on Sunday November 5, I’ll be at Bloomington Library (308 W. Olive Street, Bloomington) from 2 to 3:30 pm.

— And holy cats, I’m going to be a recurring thing on the radio! Ron Hood, host of Ron’s Month of Spooky, has invited me back for my third appearance on his show. And he’s doing replays of the first two shows. So if you missed it, tune in to Ron’s Month of Spooky here . Volume 1 (2015) will air October 17, Volume 2 (2016) will air October 19, and the brand-new show (2017 — duh) will air October 24. Download it on iTunes, or stream it here . Or you can go old-school and find your closest radio station here. Ron will also be a guest on an upcoming episode of Lights Out, so keep an eye out for that.

So! That’s the schedule so far. Good thing the book’s done! (Did I mention I have a new book coming out in November?) A moving target is harder to hit, so I’ll be moving all through October. Hope to see you out and about!

 

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So What’s the Book About?

Yes, I’m still typing.

Those folks who saw my “yay, I got to 55,000 words typed” post last week may have seen a few of the titles of stories that will be included in the book. That’s sort of a sneak peek for you, if you’ve got sharp eyes (and can decipher my chicken-scratch scrawls to myself).

I was going to post a Table of Contents about now, to whet people’s appetites for what’s coming for Christmas. But geez, by the time I was done, there were over 120 stories in the book! And I refuse to bore you with a list that long. So instead, here’s what you can look forward to in the pages of Spirits of Christmas.

The book is divided into seven parts.  “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” takes a look at the Victorian tradition of telling ghost stories at Christmas. “We Wish You A Merry Christmas … Or Else!” outlines some of the stranger Christmas customs over the years. “He Sees You When You’re Sleeping” is a rogues’ gallery of Christmas demons and monsters. “In The Bleak Midwinter” tells of strange happenings in the dead of winter, not just in December. “The Darkest Midnight in December” is about tragedies that happened during that cold month. “‘Tis The Season” is for ghost stories and spooky experiences in December. And “It Came Upon a Midnight Clear” is for ghost stories that happened on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

So that’s what’s on tap for the book! I had a blast writing it, and I truly can’t wait to share it with you guys. And keep an eye out for special Christmas-themed episodes of Lights Out in the next couple of months too. Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good fright!

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Rough Draft is Done!

Woo-hoo — the rough draft of Spirits of Christmas is DONE!

And for everyone who has followed this particular saga thus far, I have a special treat for you. I get champagne, but you guys — you guys get to see the brand-new cover art!

Stay tuned for more haunted Christmas goodies coming in the next few weeks!

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An Apology of Sorts … And News!

Okay, so I know I’ve been sorta kinda MIA from Facebook for a good long while. (Sorry about that. And thank you so so so much to everyone who was still kind enough to post birthday wishes on my wall, like [mumblemumble] three weeks ago. I love you guys!)

But there’s a really good reason for the recent radio silence. I am THISCLOSE to finishing the new book! I expect to have it done by the end of this weekend. And to celebrate, I have yummy pictures for your enjoyment.

So here’s the story: my publisher wants my books to be at least 55,000 words long. So for encouragement, I went to Pandora’s Box in Pekin (hi Lori!) and picked out fifty-five lovely little stones, things like hematite and rose quartz and maybe there’s some citrine in there and a bunch more I can’t remember, but they’re pretty. These are all supposed to have qualities like, oh, inspiration, creativity, FINISHING PROJECTS, things like that. And every time I write a thousand words, I get to move a stone from the “To Write” jar over into the “Words Written” jar. Which is now full! So that’s an awesome milestone.

But here’s the very best part, guys: I have a LOT more typing to do, which means that lovely word count is going to go up up up in the next couple of weeks. I’m a slow typist, because I only use two fingers. And they’re not even mine. So I write everything out longhand, then type it up. That means you guys can look forward to waaaaay more than 55,000 words. That’s just what I’ve got typed up so far.

Stay tuned for lots more book news over the next few weeks, including a cover reveal this weekend to celebrate getting the writing done!

[image error]Lookit the empty “To Write” jar! And the full “Words Written” jar! And the badass dinosaur!
[image error]Ah, that beautiful beautiful word count …

All Caught Up!

I’m pleased to say that all of the episodes of Lights Out are now available on iHeart Radio. And all future episodes will be posted there too, as well as in all the usual places. Enjoy!

 

[image error]Now available on iHeart Radio

Lights Out Goes to India

It’s time for another episode of Lights Out, your virtual campfire! In this episode, we’ll travel to India — no passport needed. We’ll explore the incredibly haunted Bhanghar Fort. Join us! https://youtu.be/AmVJ6lfdbTM

 

[image error]Now available on iHeart Radio

Well This Is Nice!

It’s always fun, since I work at a library, to stroll past a book display in the course of my day and see something familiar.

In other news, I’m going to be at work today when the eclipse is at totality. Bleh. My boss assures me that we’ll all have a chance to go out to look at the sky, but it may not matter. When I got up this morning, the sky was overcast, and it’s just gotten gloomier since then. It’s like living inside Tupperware. So all this fuss over eclipse glasses may have been for naught. We’ll see around one!

So what plans do you guys have for eclipse-watching? Any parties planned? (I know, a party in the middle of the day on a Monday, kinda weird, but hey.) Does anyone else have to (gasp) be at work today?

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