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A Writer’s Life

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Let’s Talk Updates . . .

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For those of you following along on social media, you will already know that I have moved to the UK.

For those of you not following along, SURPRISE! I have moved to the UK.

Earlier this year, the husband received a pretty amazing job opportunity to help his company open an office here in Europe. While we told the people closest to us, we kept pretty quiet about it because well, moving is stressful enough. Organizing a move to a different country is a whole other level of crazy. Considering we’ve been here for over a month now and have moved into a cozy little flat, I’d say that things are pretty much off to a good start.

Now, as I tend to lean towards being overly ambitious, I figured I could still handle the move AND finish Book 3 by November. Yes, Yes. I can just see you readers out there, staring at the screen and saying, SHE CRAZY.

You would be correct.

I did everything I could to get the stars to align and my brain to spit out the story. However, that’s not how writing works (at least not for me). It took longer than expected get the beginning third of the novel in order. I’ve got so many more characters now to work with, and some of them just don’t want to play nice.

The good news is I’m happy with where my WIP at right now. The majority of the book is written. (Hooray!) This basically means that I’m deep into the nitty-gritty bits, which is what takes time and patience to smooth out. So, thing like, “Didn’t he just get a stick shoved in his eye? Why is he perfectly fine in the next chapter?” and, “Oh hey! This critical thread completely drops off and then magically reappears at the end.”

What, you might ask, am I trying to get at?

Well, the planned release date for Book 3 has simply had to change.

This book will now come out in the Spring of 2019. But you know what? This new release schedule actually works out well because one of the major themes that play out is love . . . er, and a whole lot of lust. I’ve been told that Spring time is a pretty great month to celebrate both. 😉

In the meantime, I’ve got some cover updates for you. I decided over the last little while that the covers for my books needed an update. While my uber gorgeous sister gives amazing face, I wanted my covers to look a little more updated.
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During a conversation with fellow author J.H. Moncrieff, she mentioned that she had worked with the crazy talented Kelly Martin. I love Moncrieff’s covers and approached Kelly with the hope that she could help, and boy did she deliver!

While you’ll have to wait a little bit longer for the Book of Eve Series covers, I do have one I can share! This one is for my short story collection, The Last Gardener.

Here she is:

I’m very much in love.

If haven’t already, you can grab your copy of The Last Gardener (Six Tales of Love, Loss and Longing) on Amazon. It’s a quick read (for less than the price of a cup of coffee!) with a few creepy tales that are certain to put you in the mood for Halloween.

In case you’re interested, The Last Gardener, contains a short story that also appears in Group Hex Vol. 1, an anthology that includes many more creepy horror tales from several wickedly talented Canadian authors.

Be sure to check back here in the upcoming months for more cover updates and release news . . .

As always, thanks for reading.

boost success writing advice

Behind the Scenes: Writer Approved Ways to Boost Success Every Year

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Many of you lovely readers have asked what I do to stay on target and keep writing. If I want to boost success every year, it’s important to take a good hard look at both the good and the bad. It can feel painful, but it really forces you to think more about the bigger picture.

I’m not going to lie to you friends. Being your own boss is fun. I love waking up in the morning, making a cup of coffee and settling into my well-worn chair behind my desk. There’s nothing more satisfying than turning on my laptop, and pulling up the latest chapter I’ve been working on for my book. The sound the keys make as my fingers race over them keeps me going long after my mug is empty.

Just like anything else in life though, nothing is ever perfect. This means that sometimes being your own boss can suck. It’s extremely easy to lose focus, get distracted, and try to spin too many plates at once. It’s also frustrating at times because you’re often alone and the only one making any decisions. Making the right decisions can often feel overwhelming and impossible. I know I find this particularly true on days when I just can’t find the right words.

Setting deadlines and goals for books and short stories is something that I must do at the start of every year. There’s no avoiding it if I want to keep the ball rolling and actually finish anything. To give you an idea of how I do this, I’ve put together a list of the different things I plan to focus on in 2018.

Examine the Facts

What do I do well? What should I keep doing? What should I stop doing?

Part of knowing what you did do well over the course of the year, is also knowing what you need to do more of, and even what you need to quit doing altogether. The key here is to try and stay as objective as possible. It’s not a pity party where you make a list of all your flaws and wonder what the hell you were thinking. Examining the cold hard facts helps you to make changes to bring improvement to your work moving forward.

For example: I did a lot of work on Book 3 in the Book of Eve Series this year. However, I often found myself buried in freelance work, which meant that I was almost working 40 hours a week on stuff that wasn’t my own. Now, I didn’t quit my job only to take on more work that wasn’t mine. I quit my job to have more time to dedicate to writing books. I realized that I needed to make a firmer commitment to that goal.

Taking the time to look back and evaluate what was happening helped me to understand that my freelance work was having a direct impact on my number one priority. Starting the new year with this in mind has already made all the difference in the world.

Seek Input

What do you think? How can I improve? Do you have any advice to help boost success? 

When I first started writing, I never sought out anyone’s opinion on my ideas. For some reason, I had it in my head that writing was something that I had to do on my own. If I couldn’t figure out how to get from A to B, well it was because I wasn’t clever enough. Now that I have a bit more experience, I know that this is a really terrible way to approach writing and, let’s be honest, life.

After taking a few writing classes, I started to get feedback on my work. I made writer friends, who offered suggestions and constructive criticism free of charge. I realized that in talking through problem areas and asking questions, my writing improved. Seeking input helped me to make better decisions,

Today, I have people who I turn to when I can’t quite figure out what happens next–in both my career and writing. They help me to move forward when I’m feeling stuck and cheer me on when I succeed. When it comes to being your own boss, you don’t actually have to do it alone. In fact, you shouldn’t. You’ll feel better for it. Trust me.

Read More

What can I learn? How can I improve? What do I do differently to help boost success? 

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I think its fairly common knowledge that if you want to write, you need to read. You need to discover what you like and what you don’t like about a particular story. Examining those elements carefully will help you to better understand the craft. When you better understand the craft, you can figure out how to introduce all the good bits into your own writing.

If there’s anything I miss about having a morning commute, it’s that it gave me the time to get some serious reading done. I would finish a book every week or so, and it would fill me with inspiration. When I started to work from home, I would try to read before bed, but most nights I would get caught up in whatever it was that I was doing (Hey Netflix!). The next thing I knew it was time for bed. No reading for me.

It’s why I decided to participate in the Goodreads book challenge. Basically all you need to do is tell the site how many books you want to read before the end of the year. As you read and update your number of finished books, the site will let you know if you’re on the right track. So far I’ve read two novels that have been on my to-read list for what feels like years (The Alice Network, by Kate Quinn and The Night Circus, by Erin Morgenstern). Both books have helped tremendously.

Say ‘No’

Do I actually have time for this? What do I need to spend my time on to boost success?  

There’s nothing I love more than helping people solve problems. While this makes me good at things like freelancing, it also a great way to avoid finishing my novel. The underlying problem is that saying ‘yes’ to everything only feeds into my desire to please others. As a result, what I want to accomplish suffers. I end up not feeling very happy with myself. I often end up feeling like I have nothing to show for the day, week, month and even year.

Saying ‘no’ is scary sometimes, especially when the answer is tied to a paycheque. Believe me, I know. This is why it’s so important to know the facts. They help you to see whether or not you’re focusing too much on one thing and not enough of the other.

Stop Overthinking

Let it go? That’s right. Let it go.  

Yeeesh. This is a huge one for me and I’m writing it down not as something that I know will get fixed immediately, but because it’s something I’ll be working on for a while.

The reason why overthinking is such an issue for me is that it literally slows down my productivity to the point where I don’t write anything. For example, in my freelance work, I can create and write a blog post in 2 hours. However, when it comes to my own blog posts, it takes weeks for me to finish and hit that publish button. All I can think about are potential mistakes, being misunderstood, whether or not people will like or hate what I’ve written and so on. Overthinking literally prevents me from moving forward in my career. It’s frustrating but I’m pleased that I’ve actually taken the time to evaluate and acknowledge the problem. It’s the only way to understand what’s going on when I start to overthink.

Recognize the Good

You are awesome. Keep going! 

After all is said and done, it doesn’t do me any good to ignore what I’ve accomplished. Sometimes it doesn’t feel like a lot, especially when I’m waist deep in manuscript edits. The truth is it’s easy to bury yourself under the massive list of things that you didn’t do or didn’t happen. This is why examining the facts is so helpful. When you force yourself to focus on what went well over the course of 12 months, you’ll see that you’ve achieved more than you thought.

Writing is all about the long game. Hold onto these achievements. Tell people. Cut yourself some slack and take a moment to live in your accomplishments, big or small. It will make the whole process a hell of a lot more enjoyable. Even on the days when you can’t find the words.

Now it’s your turn. What do you think? Did I miss anything? Sound off in the comments below! 

writer retreat laptop

Secrets of a Writer’s Retreat — Is it Really Worth Your Time?

It’s no secret that I’ve wanted to attend a writer’s retreat for years. The only problem? When I looked into different options, I just couldn’t justify the cost or the length of time I would need to take off from work. I figured there was some sort of secret to it, something I just couldn’t quite put my finger on– and then, Camp Creepy (a Great Lakes Horror Company run writer’s retreat) came into my life.

I made the commitment to attend this writer’s retreat because it was very affordable. Plus, it was the right length: start on a Friday, return on a Sunday. The only part I wasn’t so sure about was what I would get from the experience, which made me wonder: will this writer’s retreat really be worth my time?

Talk to any writer and you’ll hear mixed opinions on writer’s retreats. Some can’t focus in an unfamiliar environment, while others would love to attend but need to make sure there’s available room in the budget (hi!). Whatever your feelings on writer’s retreats, or just plain old retreats in general, I’m here to tell you that there isn’t just one answer. A retreat is what you make out of it, and there’s plenty of ways to do just that.

The Price is Right

I’ve done a lot of digging into different types of writer’s retreats. I can tell you that most of them don’t come cheap and require at least a few vacation days. I’ve also priced out going away for the weekend on my own. When you factor in a car rental, hotel or cottage rental, plus food, it really doesn’t help to make the experience cheaper. So, when I found out about Camp Creepy, I evaluated the cost against what was included, plus the amount of work I could get done. For me, this particular writer’s retreat was definitely worth the price of admission.

That being said, there are so many different ways to go on a writer’s retreat. You just really need to define what that means to you. No matter your financial situation, there are ways to get your writing done. You can do a small retreat to a local library or coffee shop. If you need a change of scenery, you can contact friends or family and visit them for a few days. You can even turn your writing space into a writer’s retreat for the weekend, or even a week.

If you set aside the time, you’ll find that the location doesn’t matter so much. You know what will work for you. The whole point is to write. So, even if you can manage to set aside one Sunday a month, your “writer’s retreat” will be well worth your time.

You’re Going . . . Where?

If you can, pick a retreat that is well out of the city in which you live. Camp Creepy was about 3.5 – 4 hours away from where I live. It was a diamond in the rough, a massive cottage by a lake with trails to walk along. Basically, there was gorgeous scenery every which way I turned. The best part? No access to WiFi. As you can imagine, it made focusing on writing just a little bit easier.

If you can’t find the time to get out of the city (or you don’t want to use up any vacation days), no problem. There are options for you too! Pick a weekend. Any weekend. Book it off in your calendar, or your mind– whatever works for you. Pick a place to write. It could be a local library, coffee shop, or even a room in your home. All you need is your computer, laptop or even a notebook.

Worried that the Internet will distract you? No problem. There are plenty of free tools on the market that will help you to focus, including an app called Focus (that author, JH Moncrieff mentioned in one of her amazing blog posts on resources for writers). So, no matter where you are, you’ll be free to get your writing done.

Generate Creative Energy

Finding the energy to focus on writing for almost three days straight is tough. For those of you who follow me on Instagram, you might have noticed that I definitely took some time away from my laptop. I was also with a group of writer folks who I admire, and really enjoy their company. As you can imagine, the urge to sit and chat was strong.

The funny thing is, the moment I put money down on anything, my brain flips a switch. Suddenly, all I can think about is getting the absolute most out of whatever it is I paid for. Like wringing a wet cloth dry, I managed to write almost 10K, plus outline a few key changes in the draft for Book 3. In only 2 days.

Increased Output

To give you an idea of my general output: when I participate in NaNoWriMo (which is coming up fast, friends!), I manage between the 1,600 to 2000 words, which hovers around the minimum daily word count. Now, are those good, usable words? Sometimes. But not often. Outside NaNoWriMo I can generate between 800 – 1000 good, solid words a day, and that’s if I’ve got time between freelancing gigs. These estimates don’t even include my editing pace, which is sometimes fast, but mostly turtle-racing slow.

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I think I’ve made my point. Dedicating the time to writing, and only writing was a great way to make some progress.

Breaks & Encouragement

I don’t want to give off the impression that I wrote for 24 hours straight and sustained myself only with coffee and chips (as tempting as that was). It’s impossible, not to mention unhealthy to write for too many hours without breaks. At Camp Creepy I was incredibly spoiled. All meals were prepared for us, which meant that we didn’t have to worry about cooking for ourselves. When lunch was served, we all gathered and ate together. Conversation touched on this and that, but the main topic on everyone’s mind was, how is your writing going?  Everyone would give a little update, and it really helped to boost my creative energy and get back at it once the meal was over.

You HAVE to WANT to Write

Are you ready? Here’s the biggest secret of all: If you want to participate in a writing retreat, you have to want to put in the work. Otherwise, what’s the point?

Admittedly, there have been times where I’ve picked a random Sunday, determined to make some progress on my latest writing project, only to give in to distraction within two hours (alright, fine. Thirty minutes). So, when it came to signing up for this writer’s retreat, I spent some quality time digging into two things:

    1. The project I wanted to work on.
    2. What I thought I could realistically accomplish.

The first part was easy. I wanted to work on Book 3. The second part? Well, that was a bit more difficult to figure out.

I think the word realistically is incredibly important when approaching what you want to accomplish on a writer’s retreat. Deciding that you will write 10 chapters and 3 short stories in two days is only going to leave you feeling defeated. Be kind yourself– a writer’s retreat isn’t NaNoWriMo. If you think you can only get through one chapter because that is your natural pace, then that’s your goal. At the same time, don’t set the bar so low that you end up finishing in less than an hour and then hang out by the chip bowl for the rest of the retreat.

After re-reading the beginning of Book 3 I realized that I needed to slow the pace down. Way down. So, I settled on writing 3 chapters over 2 days (which included a bit of editing and rethinking a few other chapters). It felt like an achievable goal but also made me sweat a little. The pressure helped me to focus and I managed to finish with a couple of hours to spare!

So the next time you find yourself wishing you could get away and focus on your writing, know that you CAN. You just need to make the commitment. Take it from me, rest will follow and ultimately whatever trip you take will absolutely be worth it.

Writing in a coffeeshop

Van Gogh and the 3 Keys to Better Creative Writing

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Last year I managed to snag a seat at Guy Gavriel Kay’s book launch for his most recent novel, Children of Earth and Sky (which I loved and highly recommend!). I found Kay to be very insightful, and enjoyed what he had to say on his writing process and the craft.

At the time, I was working through some extensive revisions on No Escape. I remember this because I was at the point where I pretty much wanted to throw my laptop off my apartment balcony. About halfway through Kay’s interview however, he mentioned something that really resonated with me (and saved my work in progress from certain death).

Now, my memory isn’t perfect, so I’m going to paraphrase here. Kay mentioned that for him, writing a book is like painting.

You might start off with the colour blue to add a little bit of sky and water. Then you might move onto using green for the grass and then trees. Eventually, you’ve covered the canvas in layers of paint that form a complete image. When you write a book, the process is very similar. You might start off with a very light outline or scene, and you keep adding to it, shaping characters, plot, themes and so on, bit by bit, until you have a complete story.

Today, if I feel overwhelmed because the story I’m working on isn’t quite right, I remind myself that all I need is a few more layers of “paint”. Seriously, it really prevents me from getting too carried away when hammering on the delete button.

So . . . What’s up with Van Gogh?

During my vacation I visited the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. At first, I wasn’t sure what to expect. While I had taken Kay’s advice to heart, it hadn’t turned me into an art expert. What I discovered however was the story of a man who decided at the age of 27 that he wanted to paint. Ten years later, he had completed over 900 works of art when an undiagnosed mental illness convinced him to cut off his own ear. He committed suicide at only 37 years old.

While he was alive, Van Gogh didn’t see too much success until a few years before his death. Even then, his fame only came well after he had died. His legacy is his work, which some argue is some of the most influential in the world.

My friends, Van Gogh’s story and approach to painting is what helped me to realize there is a much stronger connection between writers and artists than those necessary layers of “paint”. So, without further delay, here are the three key things that I learned from Van Gogh that would benefit any writer, at any stage of writing.

1. Repetition. Did I Mention Repetition? Yeah. Repetition.

Van Gogh considered himself a painter before the rest of the world did. He didn’t seek validation, he pursued the craft with a passion that bordered on mania. Now, I’m not advocating that writers should put pen to paper with the same level of intensity. What I am trying to get at is that repetition and practice is the only way to hone your skills. His paintings, especially his never-ending series of portraits, helped to remind me that to get really, really good at something, you have to push through the doubt, park your behind into your chair and keep at it. 

Want more proof? Here: Van Gogh didn’t start off with The Starry Night (1889). He first created, The Potato Eaters (1885).

Looking at those two paintings, side by side, one would think that completely different artists did them. In reality, they were completed only 4 years apart. Like many creatives, he too had to put in 10K hours of practice, and then some, to really find his signature style.

Writing is no different.

2. Learn from the Best

While Van Gogh knew he needed practice, he gradually came to the realization that he also needed to surround himself with other, better, artists. He moved to Paris, where he lived for 2 years. During this time, he met several painters including, Paul Gauguin. In fact, they lived together for nine weeks, each influencing the other’s work.

I think it’s important, at least for my writing journey, to remind myself that I still have a long way to go. How do I know this? Well, I’m working on my third novel. There are days where I feel like I’ve don’t know how to write a single word let alone sentence. There are also days where the words feel sticky, days where I can clearly see where the story is supposed to go but just can’t figure out how to get my fingers to convey the message.

Despite my introverted nature, I’ve managed to meet some amazing writerly folk over the years. This group is made up of people who are there for me when I need advice or even a little support. I’m also lucky enough to have people that I can go to just to talk when I feel stuck. I trust and admire these people, and in turn, they help me to see my writing in different ways.
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The writing lesson here is that the learning is never, ever done.

3. Writing with a Deadline

Before I left on vacation, I saw Dunkirk with the husband. It doesn’t really matter if you’ve seen the movie or not. If you’ve seen the trailer you will have heard the ticking clock that seems to get faster and faster as the intensity of what’s happening on screen increases.

I think this is how Van Gogh must have felt towards the end of his life. To give you an idea of his state of mind: he managed to finish 73 paintings in 70 days.

What is it about knowing (or feeling) like there’s some kind of deadline that makes us work harder? What is it that makes us dig deep, do the work, and in most cases, do our best work?

I find that so many writers, myself included, come up with pretty flakey deadlines. Since there’s no big bad boss demanding to know why I haven’t finished my deliverable yet, it is incredibly challenging sometimes to get the work done. I come up with all kinds of reasons not to tweak the plot on that short story or finish that first draft of a novel. I even recite these reasons to myself, convinced that I have all the time in the world to accomplish my goals.

What if instead, we treated every day as if it were our last? How much writing would we get done? I’m willing to bet that we would all accomplish a hell of a lot in a short period of time.

Write like there’s a ticking clock hanging over your head. You might surprise yourself at what you end up with.

The Last Word: Wheatfield With Crows

This Van Gogh is called Wheatfield with Crows. Take a moment to really look at it. Go on. I want you to really think about how it makes you feel.

Image borrowed from: http://www.vangoghgallery.com

Okay. Now, would it surprise you to know that it is the last painting Van Gogh did before he died? (Although in some circles, this is up for debate.)

The moment I saw this painting hanging in the museum I felt like it had something to do with death, and it wasn’t just because of the crows. In fact, I stood staring at it for a very long time because I was amazed to see the incredible difference between Van Gogh’s early works compared to his later work. In particular, the movement he created using a simple brush technique in combination with the right colours.

He found his groove. In only ten short years he found the techniques that made his art his and his alone.

I can only hope to achieve the same with my writing.

Writing in a coffeeshop

New & Improved: Welcome to My Official Author Website!

Well hello! It’s been awhile, hasn’t it? Those of you who have been with me for a few years will notice that I’ve made a few changes to my official author website. This includes a completely new URL (surprise!). If you’re popping in for the very first time, then things won’t seem too different. Either way, I’m glad you’re here.

Under Construction . . .

The website is still undergoing a bit of construction! I hope you’ll bear with me as we work on putting together the final touches. And by ‘we’ I mean my fantastic artistic director/graphic designer, total lady boss, Sarah.

Thanks to the indecisive summer weather we’ve been having here in Toronto, I haven’t been able to nail down a date for a photo shoot. Twice now, I’ve been ready to go, only to have to cancel the day of thanks to a wicked thunder and lightening show. Don’t worry, I haven’t given up hope! It just means there are a few changes left to come to the website.

In the meantime, keep your fingers crossed for me and pray to the weather gods for a little more sunshine.

Stay Tuned . . .

As much I want my author website to be perfect before officially releasing it into the world, I also need to get on with regular scheduled programming. Those of you who have already signed up for my author newsletter will be getting something in your inbox towards the end of the week. Word on the street is that there will be advanced access to another short story (so if you haven’t signed up yet, now’s your chance!).

If you don’t want to sign up for my author newsletter, that’s fine too. Freebies will become available to everyone about a week or so after its pre-release.

What’s New on this Author Website. . .

The one thing that makes me a happy is that this new author website has an awesome little shop where you can pick up my books in either eBook or paperback format. This currently includes the first two books in the Book of Eve Series, as well as a collection of short stories.

Head’s up: the ebook version of Eve’s Return is FREE here on my author website, Amazon and Kobo. When you sign up for my newsletter, you also get a FREE copy.

So, what are you waiting for? Go ahead. Pick your poison!

What this Author is Working On . . .

Book 3 is coming along nicely. In fact, I’ve got an extremely rough first draft done and am now working my way backwards, fleshing out the story as I go. It’s great fun actually, as this is the part of the process that I really enjoy. It’s the part where I turn off any thought of editing and just let my fingers fly over the keys.

While I highly doubt the book will be ready this year, I’m fairly confident I’ll have it out by late 2018.
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I’m also still working on the series of 6 short stories that tie into the Book of Eve Series. As mentioned, the second story will be out in the next two weeks, and I can’t wait for you to give it a read. All of my free content is available on my new author website, so if you’ve missed something, just head on over to the FREE STUFF section.

I’m also really excited about a few other projects. All I can say for now is that one of these projects involves a zombie clown.

(Yes, indeed! I’m going to do that really annoying thing we all hate where I tell you that I’ve got secret awesome things coming to you in the near future but not tell you what those secret awesome things are! Honestly though, most of these projects are in the very early stages. So, I really can’t tell you much about them. I promise when I know more, you’ll be the first people I tell.)

Where You Can Find Me Next . . .

If you plan on heading down to FanExpo here in Toronto (Aug 31st to Sept 3rd at the Metro Toronto Convention Center) my books will be available for purchase (booth TBD).

While I would really (REALLY) love to be there in person (hello cast of Stranger Things!), I’m going to be away on vacation. This year it’s, Copenhagen, Amsterdam and Paris. As you can imagine, I’m more than a little excited to go on this adventure. I plan on investigating a few Viking sites for a future project, but also because: Vikings are awesome. I also plan on eating my way through each city, and enjoying as many outdoor patios as I can.

Any tips or suggestions on what I should do, eat or see are absolutely welcome.

Get in Touch . . .

Because branding is so critical to an author website and platform, I’ve recently switched up my social media accounts. It was a difficult decision because I so loved working under Everything’s Temporary. The thing is, it’s time to take the plunge and make things a little more official. So. Here we are!

I’m most active on Instagram if you want to follow along.

Well, that’s it from me for now. I’m excited to get things up and running around here in the next month or two and hope you’ll consider stopping by now and again. Until then, happy reading!

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The One Place that will Haunt Me Forever

Before I started working on Book 3 in the Book of Eve Series, I headed to my photo archives (as I usually do) for some much needed inspiration. I came across some photos from several years ago when I had the amazing opportunity to explore the Catacombs of Paris.

The Catacombs themselves have an interesting history. They were constructed in the late 18th century after churches ran out of burial room. Cave-ins around Paris, and the threat to the water supply highlighted the need for new burial space. A plan was developed to move the remains of approximately 6 million people even deeper underground. The project took over two years, but once finished, the Catacombs offered the peace of mind the city need at the time.

As many of you already know, I am just a girl who loves to write about things that go bump in the night. The one thing you might not know about me is . . . I am afraid of the dark.

Part of what helps me come up with so many of my story ideas is that I have an incredibly overactive imagination. When I was young, for example, I could only fall asleep if the blankets were tucked in around my neck. Why? I didn’t want the witches to have anything to grab onto when they tried to snatch me away from my family.

Obviously.

While I’ve come to accept the fact that I’m too old for witches to kidnap, my imagination still doesn’t do me any favours, ever, especially when human remains are involved. Case in point, just look at that body language (photo below)! At this point I haven’t even reached the creepiest part of the tour. However, I have made the husband walk behind me because of the ghosts.

Obviously.

Which brings me to the unexpected element to the tour. The actual catacombs don’t appear until you’ve spent about fifteen minutes wandering through a dimly lit tunnel. Despite my fear, I have to admit it was pretty fascinating to stumble across different historical markers carved into the stone walls.

When we finally reached the entrance to the catacombs, I almost missed the telltale sign that we had arrived. It’s a little tricky to see in the photo below, but the warning reads, ARRÊTE! C’EST ICI L’EMPIRE DE LA MORT. This of course means, STOP! THIS IS THE EMPIRE OF THE DEAD.

With a gentle prod from the husband, I headed inside.

Already in a sombre mood, I was prepared for a hushed, maybe even reverent atmosphere. I was mostly right. Visitors bottle necked, gasping at the sight of so many bones piled up on either side of the tunnel. I had never seen so many human remains in one place before. The part that really gave me the heebie-jeebies was that the walls were constructed from skulls and other bones. Behind them lay piles of bones, as high as the walls themselves.

At the time of our visit, my imagination took me in a stereo-typical, horror-filled direction.

Not pictured was a young girl. Her mother had given her a camera. Now, I’m not sure what this girl’s deal was, but she insisted on holding that camera about a foot away from a skull, screeching, “say cheese!”, before taking a picture of it and moving on to the next.

I wanted nothing to do with her. I mean (aside from being completely disrespectful) was she trying to pick up a curse on her family vacation? Today’s agenda:

  • Baguette
  • Cheese
  • Anger spirits
  • Wine

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No. Thank. You.

While the writer in me knows that elements of the situation might make for a great story idea one day, my current interests lie elsewhere. Without giving away too many spoilers, I’ve got some great scenes in Book 3 that lend themselves to what I witnessed down in the Catacombs. Looking at these pictures now really help me to effectively put my characters into the scene. I can take elements of how it felt to walk through an empire of the dead, what it smelt like (not great), the sound of dripping water, and the dark corners where age and decay have made the tunnels unsafe to explore.

Or, you know, because that’s where the demon’s love to hide.

Obviously.

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One Big Conference Lesson

When I was thirteen, I decided I was going to write a script for Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

At the time, our household had one computer, which had to be shared between three teenagers. If we weren’t doing homework, our butts had to be in a different chair.

I needed professional equipment to write a killer episode, so I improvised. I lugged my mom’s well-loved, one hundred pound typewriter out from the closet, and got to work.

It was a brutal process. My fingers weren’t used to typing slowly, and to make matters worse, there was no easy way to correct any of my mistakes.

Three weeks later, however, I had thirty pages of what I thought was damn fine television.

I secretly used some of my homework computer time to research how to write a query letter. In hindsight, I probably should have spent time investigating the actual number of pages needed for an hour length script, or even how to go about formatting the thing.

In any case, I wrote a query letter. I told ‘to whom it may concern’, all about a girl Buffy meets at Sunnydale High. This girl is terrified because she has the ability to see into the future, and what she sees, is her own death.

I sent it off. A few months later, I had a response, which went along the lines of:

“Thank you very much for your interest in the show, unfortunately due to our writer’s union contracts we don’t accept outside submissions.”

I still have the letter. It’s taped to the inside of a journal. Beneath the folded page, I wrote that I wasn’t upset. Instead, I was thrilled that the studio had actually taken the time to write me back.

Present day ‘me’ wants to know what the hell I was thinking. Aside from the fact that my script reads like a cheap n’ cheesy horror flick, how did I ignore my fear and do something so…brave?

This year at SIWC, one of the final keynote speakers was Laura Bradbury. She spoke about the life threatening auto-immune disorder that is part of her daily life. Despite this, she was brave enough to write and then self-publish her first novel and is now releasing a third. She is a writing warrior, and encouraged all attendees to forget about fear and finish whatever it is that we’re working on.

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I won’t lie, by the end of her moving speech, I had to blink back ALL of the tears.

When I got home from the conference, I took a look at that script for old times sake.

(As a delightful aside, I cringed (as I do every time I read it) mainly because on the first page, I had Buffy say, “I’m pooped.”

There are two things wrong with this:

  1. The dialogue is completely out of character
  2. The sentence actually reads, “I pooped.”)

If you’re familiar with Buffy, you might remember Season 7, Episode 4: Help. Buffy has returned to Sunnydale High as a guidance councillor. She meets a student who states that she knows she is going to die.

I don’t know how the writer came up with the idea for the episode, nor do I really care. What I want to focus on, is this:

At thirteen years old, I came up with the same hook that was used in an episode of one of my favourite shows of all time. At thirteen, I knew a good idea when I saw one and wasn’t afraid of what might happen if I took a chance at something I was passionate about. I also finished the script (to the best of my ability at the time).

I was a word warrior, and I’m determined to become one again.

For those of you who are looking for writing inspiration, SiWC is the place to be. Check out their website for more information!