Final Blogfest Reminder, Y’all!

So, my Resurrection Blogfest is coming up this Wednesday, November 7—have you selected the blog post you want to bring back from the dead? (So to speak.) Click here if you need a refresher on all the details. Please note that I’ve slightly tweaked dates for:

• the posting of the 7 semi-finalists (should now be up by Saturday, November 10)
• voting (will now run from November 10 through to/including Monday, November 12)
• announcement of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd prize winners (by noon on Tuesday, November 13)

I had to adjust the dates due to a stupid-early flight I had to book for a conference on Thursday of that week, so I want to be sure to get the Amazon gift certificates e-mailed to the prize winners before my trip, if possible. (Participants, it'd be super helpful if your e-mail addresses are shown somewhere on your blog!)

The following participants have requested reminder e-mails, which I anticipate sending out on Nov. 6:

Trisha (WORD + STUFF)
Wayne Assiratti
David Macaulay
Andrea Teagan

If you’d like to get an e-mail reminder (or if I missed ya), e-mail me before noon on Nov. 6, otherwise, I can't guarantee I'll be able to get the reminder out to ya in time.

And, hey—do a Goth Mom (Lite!) a solid and Tweet* this post by clicking the little "T" icon underneath this post's tag: "Posted by Mina Lobo at 12:00 AM," toward the bottom left of the post. (You know, if you’re on The Twitter, of course.) (Don’t sign up just to Tweet this.) (Unless you really, really want to.)

*You could also Gmail, Blogger, Facebook, and/or Google Plus it!

She rocked us...

Pic courtesy de moi.

...like a damn hurricane.

Tuesday, October 30
I'll not bore you with the minutiae of the havoc wreaked by Hurricane Sandy in my neck of the woods, as I imagine you've either heard stories aplenty or lived your own personal nightmare. But I will note that I've been without Internet, electricity, or hot water since just before 8pm on Monday, October 29. Commuter rails into Manhattan have been suspended since Sunday night, so I've also not been in to work.

I hand wrote this post on Tuesday, having spent two fairly quiet days at home with the 'rents. Monday was ok, as I'd had power for most of the day, but going without light has been rather surreal. I never knew how very dark one's home can feel. Add to that the fact that I've been passing the time re-reading the very gothic Lasher by Anne Rice (sequel to The Witching Hour, which I scribbled about here), and the gloom only deepens.

Strange as this enforced quiet feels, it's served as a much needed respite. Midway through October, I came down with bronchitis. Due to an inordinately full and heavy plate at work, I couldn't take any time off to recover (indeed, I've worked at least two hours past my normal quitting time, every day, for the past couple of weeks). Now, I've no choice but to relax. I hesitate to say I'm glad of it...perhaps it's best to note simply that my body and mind needed this break.

Readers, if you and/or your loved ones have been similarly stricken by Sandy, I hope things soon turn around for you and yours.

And to Sandy, I cordially extend an invitation to self-procreate. Self-procreate into a stupor, you heartless cow.

:-)

BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE!

Wednesday, October 31
Happy Halloween, all youse ghouls and goblins out there! Still no power/hot water, Internet access is being paid for at a local Kinko's type place (where the fella on the PC to my left is talking to someone on his cell phone in fluently sexy French - Le swoon!). Commuter rails to start up again on a limited basis this afternoon, so it looks like I'm bound for work tomorrow morning.

I'm bummed about the continued lack of electricity, especially since it means I may possibly miss American Horror Story: Asylum tonight, but I'll cross my fingers and maybe leave an offering out for The Great Pumpkin, you know, to cover all my bases.

I did get some amazingly excellent news today, though...

I'M JACKIE FELGER'S WINNING PICK FOR SPOOKTOBERFEST!!!!!

W00T, W00T, and a thousand times W00T!!!!!!!!!!

It's the first time my writing's been publicly recognized since I started scribbilng (lo, so many moons ago), so W00000T!!!!! Thanks again to Jackie of Bouquet of Books and Dani of Entertaining Interests for hosting this blogfest and for the honor!

If you've not yet read my flash-fic submission, you can check it out here*. To read my co-winner's piece, Randomness by Von L Cid, click here. He was also a runner up for Dani, so kudos, Dude! Your story freaked me out!

Runners up are:

Carving by L.G. Keltner (Truly chilling!)

Veil Hill by Tamara (Raised the hairs on my arms, for realz!)

The Dare by Tiffany Price (Haunting! Literally!)

(*Hmmm...maybe y'all had better read these other cats' stories first and then read mine for a giggle.)

So yay, yay, and yay again, verily! I reckon sometimes good things do come to those who wait in the dark...

Edited on Thursday, Nov. 1 to add: We got electricity/hot water back Wednesday night, I WAS able to catch AHS:Asylum, and I made it in to the office today. Baby steps to normalcy, y'all! ;-)

Writerly Things ~ On Formatting...

Many moons ago, when I was just beginning to make myself a slave to debt, thus necessitating gainful employment with a “day job,” I attended some corporate-type seminar that aspired to help us poor unfortunates make the most of Microsoft Office suite (whatever the hell iteration it was in at the start of this millennium). The fella who led the workshop was a reasonably attractive blond (as opposed to unreasonably attractive), probably in his late 30s/early 40s at the time, and bore the sun-wearied look of an ex-golfer. (You know the type.) (C’mon, you surely do.) (OK, I’ll stop calling you Shirley.)

His instruction style was affably informative and only once did he pierce us with a glare which positively dared us to do stuff like add up figures in Excel using an external calculator, rather than using formulas in the spreadsheet itself, and whatnot. Mostly, he outlined best practices for productivity and provided us with loads of helpful tips which I promptly forgot, excepting one: Write first, format later.

Now, this may be obvious to you, dear readers, but to me it was as though the sky had split wide open and the rays of heaven shone upon the PowerPoint projection, while the soaring harmonies of androgynous angels swelled about us. Write first, format later. By all that’s holy, what brilliance!

If you’re anything like me, you tend to futz with your stuff as you write it, tweaketty-tweak-tweaking every italic, every bit of boldness, every underline, bulleting furiously as you go and then swearing like a sailor (who's on leave at some seedy port and finds himself down to just one condom and no drugstore around for miles) when you can’t rid yourself of the bulleting without reverse formatting everything you’d bulleted before. It’s fun, in a way, to prettify your prose; hell, it’s certainly easier to do that than to create new prose, ain’t it?

And I reckon that’s the problem—we get hung up on what we’ve already written and dither over its comforting existence, rather than boldly moving forward and wrasslin’ with our psyches to wrench every bit of magic out of our heads and onto the screen (or paper; I don’t judge). (Plus, I compose most of my first drafts with pen and notebook, so I’m right there with ya.)

The instructor explained all this and repeated the phrase “Write first, format later,” several times, with such intensity and conviction that it, alone, remained within ready grasp in my memory banks. I find it frequently pops to the forefront of my mind, whether I’m sweating over day-job correspondence and reports, or during the sweeter toil of writing stories and crafting blog posts. It snaps me out of the break in generative flow and helps me to push on and write more, more, more. I’ll admit, though, that when I first implemented this strategy, it made me crazy to know I had to italicize a thing but mustn’t till the first draft was complete. Cra-zee. (OK, crazier than is my wont.) But I got over it. Eventually.

And because I’ve come to believe in this concept with the same fervor as ex-golfer dude, I, too, will repeat it: Write first, format later. You may feel all twitchy and out of sorts the first few times you try it, but keep at it for a bit and you also may be bathed by a celestial spotlight and transported by the strains of cosmic choirs. (Or you may simply dig it, which, though less lofty, is nothing to sneeze at.)

Spooktoberfest Blog Hop!

Click here to learn more!

Welcome to...

Spooktoberfest!

This blog hop is hosted by Jackie at Bouquet of Books and Dani of Entertaining Interests. The challenge? Compose a 300-word piece of flash fiction in which you use the following five words (singular or plural):

1. cobweb
2. cauldron
3. jack-o-lantern
4. ghost
5. razor

There are no restrictions on genre; the tale can be scary, funny, or all romantical-like, so long as it follows the above guidelines. SO, here's my entry. Hope y'all enjoy!

Crocked

by Mina Lobo

(293 Words)

    “Stupid, not-working spell.”

    “Sophia, how can you say that when the happy result sits before you?” Hecate asked, elegantly waving a hand over herself.

    My eyes shot razors at the Witch Goddess. “I wouldn’t say ‘happy.’”

    “Well, if you’re unsatisfied, you’ve only yourself to blame. Perhaps if you’d used an actual cauldron instead of that…that…what was it?”

    “A crock pot.”

    “Yes, that.” The platinum-blonde deity from ancient Greece sniffed her disdain. “Proper technique is the key to successful spell-casting, my dear.”

    “Keep your voice down, unless you want everyone at this Halloween shindig to know who you are,” I snarled.

    “I’ve nothing to hide, nor did I ask to be summoned.”

    “I didn’t summon you, I invoked the ‘Beauty of Hecate.’”

    “And here I am!” Hecate did the hand waving thing again.

    I downed my fourth (fifth?) vodka shot. If only she hadn’t been so gorgeous. The diaphanous gown Hecate wore made her look all Sexy-Ghost-Going-To-A-Very-Adult-Party, whereas my jack-o-lantern ensemble miserably failed to highlight my (dubious) assets. Damn that costume shop clerk; I’d said pumpkin colored, not—

    “Who’s that toothsome terror?”

    I took another shot, then looked. My heart sank. “That’s Troy. The reason I cast the spell.”

    Alerted by some sixth/sex sense, the muscular “werewolf” turned and locked eyes with Hecate, then goggled as she rose sinuously to her feet.

    “Well, sack my walled city,” Hecate purred, beckoning Troy with a crook of her finger.

    “Oh, no…you’re not going to—”

    “—clear the cobwebs from my cave? Oh, yes.” She gave me a lurid wink as the wolf man panted his way over to her. “Leave a torch lit for me, would you?”

    “Woof!” said Troy, proffering an arm.

    “Indeed,” said Hecate, taking it.

    And then they left me there.

    Crocked.

A Teaser...

...because I promise (threaten?) to blog on Mondays and Thursdays. So here's a Thursday post but the GOOD STUFF hits TOMORROW, FRIDAY, OCTOBER 26!!!!!

No, nothing amazing's happened, more's the pity.

But I gots a fun post ready for the morrow and yes, it does have to wait till then. Hey, dudes—I don't makes the rulez, I just follows 'em.

So please check back with me tomorrow for a wee bit of Halloween fiction.

TTT!

(Toodles Till Then!)

(Yeah, I just made that up.)

Blog Props ~ Random Stream of Consciousness

In a recent post, I invited participants in my Resurrection Blogfest to reach out to me if they wanted a reminder e-mail close to The Big Day, in case they also were sufferers of Momnesia (like me) or its sinister counterpart, Dadnesia. Not too long after that post went live, I received the following e-mail:

*stands up from chair, looking nervous*

"Hi everyone. My name is Wayne and I have Dadnesia"

*everyone* "Hi Wayne."

"It affects almost everything I do. The other day I went to work with one brown shoe and one black shoe on. I'd forget my face if it wasn't stuck to my head. I fear it may control my life soon."

*helpful person in group with a shiny badge that says "I didn't forget for three months!"* "Don't worry Wayne, we can help you."

*everyone else makes positive sounds and says things like "Hang in there buddy."*

"You see I have this really important Blogfest on November the seventh. Mina Lobo might be disappointed if I don't post on time."

*helpful person* "Ah, Mina. She was in here last week. Now she remembers things by tying knots in a dark purple silk 'kerchief."

"I don't have a dark purple silk'kerchief. Woe, woe and thrice woe. I am undone."

"Maybe you should email her to get her to remind you?"

"Sounds great. How will I remember to do that...?"

"Hmm. Have you a 'kerchief?"

"Sadly no."

"Ah. Looks like you're fucked then."

*everyone else shows 'kerchiefs of myriad colours with knots in and murmur things akin to "Yep, fucked." and "Where did this loser come from?"

"You know what, I want my money back."

"Sorry friend, no refunds."

Remind me Mina. Otherwise I am lost.

Folks, I was giggling like Wilma Flintstone on acid after reading, "Woe, woe and thrice woe. I am undone," which doesn't happen often. (Fine—not as often as you'd expect, all right? Sheesh.) Anyway, this brilliant bit of fun came from Wayne Assiratti (OMG, isn't that the freakin' coolest last name?????) of Random Stream of Consciousness.

Click here to feed the frog. (Not a euphemism.)

So, who is this Wayne fella? Well, in response to a previous blog post of mine, Wayne wrote of himself, "I'm a husband and father, rocker and roller, sometimes a right out of controller with a penchant for words, music and a tendency to be over generous (sometimes a fault my wife complains), also I always believe that people are inherently good and circumstances change their behaviour and perspective, that viewpoint can sometimes affect me detrimentally!"  You can learn more about his sordid past and raison de blogging by clicking here.

Wayne explores writing of various types on his blog, from very short fiction to a longer work in progress he's putting up in installments. Here are some more samples of his work, posted here with his kind permission:

Scarlet

Of late, things in town were getting worse and worse. The newcomers had been taking liberties with land, property and now the women. She knew that it was only a matter of time before they got to her. First with honeyed words that after refusal would turn to curses, knives and taking by force. She picked up the gun.

***

An excerpt from the second installment of Reunion

He turned around to see the young man in the bed looking at him. He couldn't have been more than 21. His skin looked like dark satin in the light from the city through the window. Unblinking, the young man said in his thick accent "Again?"

"No. Thank you."

"Then you pay me. I go." He smiled.

"Do you know who I am?"

"Yes." That smile again. "Don't worry. I tell no one." He pulled on his clothes in a way that was almost as pleasing to the eye as the way he took them off earlier. "If I told a news man what I know about the powerful men in this city, I would be dead one hour later."

"Ah. Well, here is your money." said Richard, feeling awkward "You really are quite beautiful you know."

"The young man kissed him on the lips. "So are you. Goodnight Mr Blake. Maybe another time, yes?"

Richard grinned "Next time I'm in Riyadh." Both men smiled at this little game.

"Now go," said Richard, shutting the door. "I really should call my wife."

***

Oh, SNAP! OK, so it's not all fun and games with Mr. Assiratti of the Colossally Cool Surname, but it is entertaining writing which I highly recommend y'all check out (do it, Do It, DO IT NOW!!!). Ahem. You know, when you get a chance...

Blogfest Reminder!

Click here to sign up!

Y'all, don't forget that my Resurrection Blogfest is coming up on November 7! Sign up to enter a blog post from your first year of blogging (one which didn't get enough TLC or that you think deserves a second look) on November 7, and you may win a gift card for Amazon.com! Click here to learn more and sign up.

Folks who've already signed up—if you suffer from Momnesia, like me (or its evil twin, Dadnesia), and need LOTS of reminders about things, e-mail me at aoorooo (at) gmail (dot) com, and I'll send you a reminder about a week in advance of the 'fest. (And I hereby solemnly swear that I will send you only one e-mail to remind you of the blogfest and will NOT use your e-mail for any other purpose.) (I may in future, however, build an e-mail list, which I will invite folks to sign up for, but this is not that time.)

Also, please keep Tweeting and spreading the word—I'm happy to see that 20 folks have signed up and would love to see more bloggers get involved! (Even if you're not participating, you can still help me boost awareness of this blogfest by sharing this post on the social media of your choice. You can do this easily by clicking one of the little icons underneath this post's tag: "Posted by Mina Lobo at 12:00 AM," toward the bottom left of the post. THANKS!)

On the very day of my move (September 30), fellow writer/musician/blogger Laura of Laura + the Voices promoted the blogfest, which I only realized this week, when I had a few moments at work to Google myself (if you'll pardon the expression). That warmed my bitter, shattered heart so much, I wanted to give some love back. So please go check out Laura's blog and, like, follow her, and stuff, 'cause she's le awesome!