In the Silence of a Quiet Car

So I’ve been horribly negligent about updates, haven’t I? Well, I could post a long apology, but I’d rather just get moving forward again and catch you up to speed on the writing side of things which has been somewhat dominating my time. I’m currently back onto my 500-words-a-day wagon, since that seems to have a greater impact on my total word count than attempting to write at least a sentence a day. While the latter gets props for accessability even during the most busy of times, the former gets mad props for actually making me stick to the keyboard, even when I don’t feel like it.

Going back to a word count requirement has also meant the resurgence of sticker awards! This has brought me an untold amount of childish, gleeful joy. :-)

Since the summary draft is smoldering off by its lonesome until October (when I go back, tear it down, patch it up, fix the major problems, etc. to prep for the beginning of Nanowrimo–which I’ve also never participated in before, and still don’t know if I’ll do “officially” or not), my goal for September was to get some short stories finished. In particular, I was hoping to get my July Challenge stories all wrapped up into nice, messy little rough drafts. I’m currently working on seven stories at the moment (I guess novel work makes me ravenous for variety), listed below:

“His Last and Second Chance” – SF – Current word count: 3724 words

“In the Shadow of the Mons” – SF – Current word count: (estimate*) 1500 words

[Untitled/PEA] – SF – CWC: 2087 words

“The Screaming Trees” – H – CWC: 2857 words

“The First Ghost of Oldshore” – Dark F – CWC: 5478 words

[Untitled/Angel] – H/spec – CWC: 1648 words

“A Shepherd of the Valley” – H – CWC: 1622 words

Needless to say, I’ve been keeping myself busy, and I’m feeling great about it! I’m jumping around a lot, but even so, I feel myself making more progress in the last two weeks than I have in months of time. So huzzah for progress!

The (*estimated) word count is due to my early b-day present from awesome pals Kaku and Kayla, which I will post picture of soon, and which will explain why the word count must be estimated. :-)

Oh! I also got my first copy of DARK FUTURES! It’s so shiiiiiiney! Just ignore the fact that I’m listed as Maggie Jamison in the ToC and Maggie Slater on the story itself. ^_- I do answer to both names. *ahem*

I’ve been having some fun geeking out recently to the old Batman: The Animated Series episodes which I can get through Netflix! YAY! I gotta say, I was thinking about it last night, and that cartoon has some of the coolest female characters. Catwoman, Harley Quinn, Batgirl, Poison Ivy–they’re pretty, they’re smart, and they kick a lot of butt–good and bad. Okay, Harley is *insane* but she’s still pretty darn cool. Just sayin’. Any chick that can hang with the Joker has to be pretty bada$$.

Also, if you’re looking for something to read while I get my blogging here back in gear, check out my interview with author Lavie Tidhar over at the Apex Blog, or my recent review of Zombieland for The Zombie Feed!