Not much to say

My mom turns 60 today. She won’t read this, but … happy birthday, Mom.

I’ve decided to go ahead an pay my dues to stay in the Horror Writers Association. It was conversations with and Lisa Morton that changed my mind. Of course, my dues are late, so I’ll pay online Monday or Tuesday, when the next freelance check arrives. Nick didn’t know he was helping make up my mind. He just offered advice on other stuff and I wouldn’t know people like him if not for my HWA membership. If you haven’t heard of Lisa, go visit her site. She’s a busy lady.

I have even more respect for Kelley Armstrong today. It’s due to a funny post she made on a private board, so I won’t go into the details. Once again, though, let me highly recommend her work. She creates some of the most engaging characters I’ve ever encountered, and I’m not saying that just because some of them are werewolves.

Oh, here’s a piece of writing advice. I was working on revisions/rewriting The Prometheus Syndrome last night. In this particular chapter (remember, written in about 1988 or 1989) I’d tried to build suspense. The characters are escaping the bad guy’s place. Every freaking little detail was spelled out. He walked to the car. He got in the car. He turned the key. That kind of stuff. The idea, I think, was to lull the reader prior to the baddie stepping out of the trees. But it was just maddening. I put away the editing scalpel and brought out the axe. The big one. The advice: We don’t need to see every minute movement of a character, so find some other way to build up to the scare. Unless you want to wait 16 years to realize you’re doing things wrong now.