Howdy!

Sorry for all the blog posts that will be coming from me this week. I posted yesterday which isn’t my usual day, but I had an interesting epiphany so… Also, I’ve taken about a two month hiatus from blog tours mainly because I got over-committed a while back and needed a break. Also school. But tour season is once again upon us, so be expecting some awesome books coming your way starting tomorrow!

I don’t know if I’ve officially brought up the subject of The Scriptorium here. About 4-5 months ago, a writer friend of mine approached me with the idea of forming a group of writers with the eventual goal of publishing an anthology. Since I’m talking about it, obviously I said yes. (I didn’t think I was busy enough at the time. Not.) And The Scriptorium was born! My awesome counterparts are Stephanie Gregory, Michael Gunter, Nathalie London, and Allison Rose.

Currently we are writing flash fiction every month based on the results of a poll. We’re also moving towards blogging at least twice a month and if a certain someone who runs this blog could remember that she’s writing the next post that would be great.

This month’s topic was Demons. A bit unusual for my standards but I figured I could make it work. I didn’t want to write anything scary, so this is what I came up with.

The Chimney Sweep

I know no one believes me. That’s OK. I think I’m crazy too. But you’re here now and said you’d listen, so I’ve got you.

    It was a fine spring day, warm enough to do some cleaning. It had been a long winter so I decided that the chimney probably needed some cleaning out. It had been some time since the last good scrubbing. So I get the brushes, cover the furniture, and get to work. It’s going splendidly, soot everywhere and I’m loving it. Until I hit a bit of a rough patch. So I give it a good scrubbing and I finally break through only to hear something screaming. From inside the chimney. Ah! See this is where people shake their heads at me like you’re doing. Let me finish. This screaming continues, getting louder and angrier, and I lean to look in the chimney.

    That’s when I see it! Something’s coming down the chimney! I had looked before and hadn’t seen any animals. Naturally this was a bit puzzling. Even weirder was the fact that I could understand what it was yelling.

    “You idiot! Can’t a chimney imp find a decent place to live these days? No, had to go and clean it out, didn’t you?” 

Finish Reading at The Scriptorium!

If you enjoyed all of our stories, spend some time hanging out at the site and vote on the poll for September’s Flash Fiction!

Now for some other stuff!

I had a post written up complaining about how awful my birthday last Friday was, but decided against it. I already had to work for 10.5 hours but then my car decided to die on me that morning. It was great. But I survived and then got to go see my new niece!! Tiny humans are amazing! I got to change a diaper for the first time in about 10 years. I still have mad skills.

Since I liked the word count goal of Camp NaNo more than I thought I would, I’ve decided to give myself small monthly writing goals as evidenced by the meter to your right. This month’s goal is 5K. It will probably be smaller during the upcoming months due to school starting back up. But I’m hoping this will encourage me to relieve some stress and get back to at least two of my projects that are languishing in writer’s purgatory at the moment. You can find out about them here.

Last but not least (if you’re still reading at this point, you’re an intrepid human being). I’ve finished up all my betas’ edits on Adela’s Curse. I have some other people reading it right now, but if you would like to be a beta2, please let me know! Warning: I can only give you a month to read over it because I would like to publish it fairly soon. My cover art is almost done! So be looking out for cover reveal sign ups at some point! 🙂