Stutter Creek Trilogy Winner

Congratulations to Sharon E. 

You are the winner of the STUTTER CREEK TRILOGY!

I've sent your email telling you how to claim your books. Of course I wouldn't mind a review after you've read them 

(hint, hint). 

And for the rest of you who may be thinking of starting NaNoWriMo today . . . carry on. The best writing advice I ever read was short and simple:

Put your butt in the chair and your fingers on the keys and start writing. It doesn't matter what, just write. Don't stop until your eyes blur and your fingers seize into talons.

You can always edit later. In fact, you must, so just let go and write. Go where the Muse takes you.

And when you're done, tell me how it felt.

I look forward to hearing from you!

Stevie-girl and the Phantom Pilot Book One

What does this song have to do with Stevie-girl and the Phantom Pilot?

Stevie-girl and the Phantom Pilot ~ Book One ~ http://tinyurl.com/6wl3oe2

Stevie-girl and the Phantom Student ~Book Two ~ http://tinyurl.com/6wl3oe2

Crybaby Bridge http://tinyurl.com/6wl3oe2

Also available on Audible.com http://tinyurl.com/p4gr2cb

Desert Willow ~ My Hero

We are in a years-long drought in our part of west Texas, but a couple of weeks ago we got an inch of rain. This resulted in lots of green grass and pretty wildflowers. Here is a picture of one tree that blooms with or without water. It's called the Desert Willow and I think it is my hero. Just as a single image can inspire an entire novel, so can a drop of rain bring forth immense beauty.

Afterthought: Someday I will take up painting again. I think watercolor would be the perfect medium to capture these fantastic blooms. Just look at the contrasting pinks exhibited in each flower. A little sustenance goes a long way...

How Much is Too Much?

Okay, here's the question . . . how much gore is too much gore?

I love horror.  I grew up reading Poe, King, Koontz . . . I get it.  And I love The Walking Dead.  But do I have to see the zombie's head bashed in over and over again?  I know what it looks like.  I know how it sounds, been there, done that.  So why beat a dead horse, er, zombie?  I like the scare, but not the gore.  Am I simply getting old?  Okay, that was totally rhetorical, no answer necessary.  My main question is this, how much is too much?  What happened to the envelope?  Is there an envelope anymore, or has it been completely decimated?

The Walking Dead is almost old news, right.  But the reason I'm rehashing it now is because I felt the same way when I watched the premier of The Following starring Kevin Bacon.  Big fan of Bacon (LOL), but the opening of the show, with the tortured animals in the basement, no.  Lost me right there.  I gave it another chance on the second or third episode (not really sure which one), same thing.  The focus on the victim's face as he was dying, no.  Don't need that either.  Where's the darn story???  I think it should be retitled The Gory Faces of Death.  What a let down.

Okay, those are just my opinions, but hey, I'm sometimes honest to a fault.  Either that, or I'm just getting tired of watching TV between my splayed fingers, i.e. "Dude, is it over yet?"  (No, I'm not a teenage boy, Dude is my hubby.)

Now, for the real reason I'm writing this post . . . how much gore is too much?  I really wanna know!

You see, I write gory stories from time to time (check out the freebies in the title bar of this blog, and then go to Amazon and cough up 99 cents for Chems, my sci-fi pseudo-zombie short story), and I am now writing a horror novel that is getting gorier by the chapter.

So I'm not kidding when I ask for your thoughts.  I'll tell you my opinion: I think gore in books is much easier to take than gore splashed across my TV in living color.

Does that make me a gore-hypocrite?  Or would that be a gore-pocrite?

What do you think?  How much is too much?