Upcoming Story

Most of my friends from Absolute Write have already heard the good news: I have a story to be published in an upcoming issue of Horror Bound Online Magazine. Hard work is finally paying off! I'm absolutely psyched! Now, I have to keep going, and build my reputation and my publishing credits, and this is the first step. I have to thank my friend Effie for pushing me to submit the story--though she doesn't want the thanks, but if she hadn't pushed I might not have submitted it. So, thanks Effie (and I mustn't forget Bettielee! Thanks Bettielee!), now, it's off to write some more! (Yes, I LOVE exclamation points!)

Four Years

Yesterday, September 29, 2009, I celebrated four years of sobriety. It's great to not have to rely on alcohol to function, and I never thought I would make it this far. But here I am, sober, happy, I pray for many years to come.

Dreams

So I don't have what most people would ever call "good" dreams. Sometimes they're nightmares of the wake up sweaty with your chest pounding variety, sometimes they are just strange, like Willy Wonka invaded my subconscious. I don't know if it got this way after my coma in '07, since it was a chemically-induced coma I did dream the whole time, and they were unimaginable. Terrifying. And maybe one day parts of them will fill in the pages of a best-selling novel.

It does seem like the string of "bad" dreams began after the surgery and coma. Maybe some of it has to do with the medications I'm on, but whatever it is, I don't want to lose it. I like the nightmares. What does that make me? When I wake up from a scary dream and the situation wasn't resolved I want to get back into it. No matter how bad it was. Of course, so far the dreams don't have to do with harm to my family... THAT I wouldn't want to get back to.

Oh well, just musing out loud here.

Back!

Well, I've been on hiatus for a while. The reason, som of you know, was due to my second thoracotomy in two years. Almost two years to the day--the first, to remove scar tissue from my right lung, was 7/23/2007. The second, to remove the lower lobe in the same lung and parts of the other two lungs, was 7/31/2009. So after having close to half my lung removed I've been recovering. The weird part--in the hospital I wrote almost every day, over 3,500 words. Since I've been home I have done less than a thousand. And I was discharged on 8/16/2009. But I am starting to feel a bit more like myself, so hopefully it will pick up. And the good news is, so far, I think there is going to be a lot of benefit from this surgery.

Got Muse? A Writer to Writer Meme

Got Muse? A Writer to Writer Meme

Got Muse? A Writer-to-Writer Meme:
1) Where do you write? In my living room. My desk is sadly three feet from the television. But it's the only place in the apartment I can put it.
2) When do you write? Usually between 1 and 4 in the morning. But I have to change up my schedule to accomodate the baby. It's both great, and a great pain in the ass being a stay-at-home DAD/WRITER. I wouldn't change it for the world.
3) Planner or Pantser? Both, and neither.
4) Coffee or tea? Coffee. Only tea with lemon, and instant tea with lemon at that. Got hooked on it in prison. It was cheap, and better than plain water.
5) Pen and paper, or computer? Both. The computer 90% of the time. But if I get ideas for other parts of a piece I'll jot them down in a notebook. Or when I'm in the hospital I have to use pen and paper.
6) What gets you in the writing mood? Sunshine and rainbows. Usually I get inspired when I'm watching some television program or movie I've seen a thousand times, when I'm really only half watching it.
7) What pulls you out of the writing mood? Not much pulls me out, but I can sometimes be distracted easily. Various life-stuff; feeding the baby,m my son also loves to talk to me when I'm at the computer. Can't wait to have a real office where I can lock the door.
8 What’s the best writing advice you’ve ever read/heard/received? JUST WRITE! Even if it's crap it needs to be put down on paper/in the computer. You can go back and change it later. And Stephen King's "On Writing" is full of little tips. For anyone who hasn't read it, it's a memoir, not an instruction manual--but it has a lot of gold in it.
9) Got muse? Got milk?
10) Who is the biggest supporter of your writing? My wife, and my Mom.
11) Sound or Silence? Depends. If I put on music it's usually Iron Maiden or Stevie Ray Vaughan. But alot of the time the TV is on because, as I said, my "office" is the living room.
Instructions: Please answer the Meme with a post on your blog, and reference the original link: Got Muse? A Writer-To-Writer Meme. Leave the link to your Meme in my comments section, so we can go read it!

Desperate Need

I seriously am in desperate need of a laptop. Who wants to give me an early Christmas present? Okay, so I know THAT's not happening, but you can't blame a guy for tryin'. I need one, with my frequent hospital stays and stuff, and how much easier it would be to sit on the couch and type sometimes with my chronic back pain, you get the picture. So, if anybody has an old notebook or netbook they would be willing to sell, and let me pay in installments, shoot me an e-mail. smsarber@charter.net And if not, just pray and wish me luck in finding one.

Carve Magazine - Submissions

Carve Magazine - Submissions

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