First off, I got the G&A job. Second, on Friday I went to the hospital with chest pains, getting rolled out of work in an ambulance. No worries, turns out I have severe acid reflux brought on by stress.
After that, nothing much is going on. Working on a rework of the Dead Bait submission, using a longtime character idea called Rex Storm to see if he works as well as I think he will. The first draft of the submission was decent, but reading it over I realized it didn't carry into a short story all that well. This Rex Storm angle just might work.
Alright, baby crying, I'm off.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Poop: It's Everywhere
Guess what I just finished doing with my kids?
Anyhow, my weekend thing. Got off the pot today and started wrapping up the first draft of the Dead Bait story, starting the edits after a bit more in the way of grocery shopping. In the same not, Cate Gardner has received her first acceptance of 2009, much later than I expected. Seriously, Cate is a pro in a dabbler's world. This woman needs an agent and a contract just so I can say "Oh, yeah, I know her on the internet!". Great writer, and a friendly person. Congrats Cate!
Outside of that, not much going on at Casa Del Tabler. We had company over last night, and agreed to do a weekly potluck rotating between three houses. On the bright side, we may be moving again from a rental home to one we own. My sister is moving out to the country with her husband, and if she does they're offering to sell us their Ranch Home at the price they paid for it about 7-8 years ago. It was a foreclosure home at that point, and has a lot of work that was done to remodel it since, so getting it at that low of a price is a steal for us. We'll see how it pans out.
Finished a few short-shorts this month, and I realized that since I've become a father of babies again my horror mind tends to go towards the evils and fears of child-rearings, from zombie stillbirth to demonic, cannibalistic infants, down to the fear that something out of our power can hurt a child (think my fear of snakes...I hate snakes, yet have this worry one will somehow crawl through our heating vents and end up in the crib). "Trolling Nature's Bounty", my Dead Bait story, is a nice break from that, and injects a little dark humor in.
Now, my end of the year submission wrap-up:
"No Deductible" at Weird Tales
"Tribe of Harry" at Annalemma
"Parable of Judas" at St. Anne's Review
"Ain't Gonna Dig No More" at Abyss & Apex
A few more that came back, getting sent back out today.
No, to drive for diapers and Happy Meals!
Peace,
J.C. Tabler
Anyhow, my weekend thing. Got off the pot today and started wrapping up the first draft of the Dead Bait story, starting the edits after a bit more in the way of grocery shopping. In the same not, Cate Gardner has received her first acceptance of 2009, much later than I expected. Seriously, Cate is a pro in a dabbler's world. This woman needs an agent and a contract just so I can say "Oh, yeah, I know her on the internet!". Great writer, and a friendly person. Congrats Cate!
Outside of that, not much going on at Casa Del Tabler. We had company over last night, and agreed to do a weekly potluck rotating between three houses. On the bright side, we may be moving again from a rental home to one we own. My sister is moving out to the country with her husband, and if she does they're offering to sell us their Ranch Home at the price they paid for it about 7-8 years ago. It was a foreclosure home at that point, and has a lot of work that was done to remodel it since, so getting it at that low of a price is a steal for us. We'll see how it pans out.
Finished a few short-shorts this month, and I realized that since I've become a father of babies again my horror mind tends to go towards the evils and fears of child-rearings, from zombie stillbirth to demonic, cannibalistic infants, down to the fear that something out of our power can hurt a child (think my fear of snakes...I hate snakes, yet have this worry one will somehow crawl through our heating vents and end up in the crib). "Trolling Nature's Bounty", my Dead Bait story, is a nice break from that, and injects a little dark humor in.
Now, my end of the year submission wrap-up:
"No Deductible" at Weird Tales
"Tribe of Harry" at Annalemma
"Parable of Judas" at St. Anne's Review
"Ain't Gonna Dig No More" at Abyss & Apex
A few more that came back, getting sent back out today.
No, to drive for diapers and Happy Meals!
Peace,
J.C. Tabler
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
IT LIVES!
Thank you, Cate, for tagging me. It woke me out of my stupor and back into the internet.
Anyhow, here goes a short post and a long meme. First off, I'm bucking for a promotion at work, sort of. Lateral transfer, but a good chance that there's a pay bump involved.
Secondly, finished a few stories, but not sure where or when to shop them around. Right now I'm puttering through a draft of a submission for the Dead Bait anthology, as well as plunking out a few short shorts for personal amusement and outlining a longer piece, basically a restart of the NaNoWriMo piece that I blazed through half of before stopping to be a father again.
In short, I'm doing alright. 2008, my first year of submitting pieces to paying markets, started with an acceptance to Allegory and ended with an acceptance to Sand , with a couple of anthologies in between. All in all, I sold/had accepted 8-9 pieces (too lazy to do my exact count) under my name, and a couple off-the-beaten-track, embarrassing works under another name. Not a bad start, though I hope to do better next year...this year...whatever. Anyhow, goals are toned down. A story a month, something I can manage with the kids and the job right now, plus finishing this damn novel before this time next year. Along with trying to get the promotion at work, which takes me off the call floor and gives me back my evenings and weekends.
Anyhow, to Cate's MeMe:
Share seven facts about yourself in the post. Tag seven people at the end of your post by leaving their names and the links to their blogs.
1. I've always wanted to be a writer, but along the way I had several other professional choices, including cop, lawyer, psychologist, journalist, and history professor. I now work in insurance, pray to go to law school, and fully expect to one day actually sell a novel...moments before my death of old age.
2. My favorite job, to this day, remains bartending at night while working on a boat in the morning.
3. I'm a romantic. I admit it. Every relationship I'd had end in the past was followed by drinking binges and melancholy for months at a time. I view my DUI arrest as being a good thing, merely because it was recounting the tale of that arrest that got me noticed by my wife the first time we met.
4. I never intended to write horror, and remain a little disappointed that's where my effort is focused these days, althouh I find it to be a freeing genre and well-suited to my screwed up mindset.
5. I've never really seen the whole appeal behind CSI or Law & Order .
6. I was raised in a courthouse, quite literally, as my father was a prosecutor and would take me along with him to court. I used to draw on legal pads beneath the table in the prosecutor's room where my father would offer deals to defendants on child support cases. I still love being in the courthouse, and my love of the law knows no bounds. It's why I spend my off days, when not writing, working as a gofer at my father's office.
7. If my wife didn't control the checkbook I'd blow every penny we have. I like buying people gifts, and will loan almost anybody I know money if they need it. When at a bar, I often buy the next round. I like to have a good time, and too often that means taking my kids to movies when we can't afford it, or taking my wife to an antique store so she can buy something old and funky. I pull a lot of extra hours to make up for this, and am thinking about just handing my money over to the first bum on the street on paydays to make up for it.
I tag everyone. Go ahead. I'm tired and there's corned beef in the kitchen.
Peace,
J.C. Tabler
Anyhow, here goes a short post and a long meme. First off, I'm bucking for a promotion at work, sort of. Lateral transfer, but a good chance that there's a pay bump involved.
Secondly, finished a few stories, but not sure where or when to shop them around. Right now I'm puttering through a draft of a submission for the Dead Bait anthology, as well as plunking out a few short shorts for personal amusement and outlining a longer piece, basically a restart of the NaNoWriMo piece that I blazed through half of before stopping to be a father again.
In short, I'm doing alright. 2008, my first year of submitting pieces to paying markets, started with an acceptance to Allegory and ended with an acceptance to Sand , with a couple of anthologies in between. All in all, I sold/had accepted 8-9 pieces (too lazy to do my exact count) under my name, and a couple off-the-beaten-track, embarrassing works under another name. Not a bad start, though I hope to do better next year...this year...whatever. Anyhow, goals are toned down. A story a month, something I can manage with the kids and the job right now, plus finishing this damn novel before this time next year. Along with trying to get the promotion at work, which takes me off the call floor and gives me back my evenings and weekends.
Anyhow, to Cate's MeMe:
Share seven facts about yourself in the post. Tag seven people at the end of your post by leaving their names and the links to their blogs.
1. I've always wanted to be a writer, but along the way I had several other professional choices, including cop, lawyer, psychologist, journalist, and history professor. I now work in insurance, pray to go to law school, and fully expect to one day actually sell a novel...moments before my death of old age.
2. My favorite job, to this day, remains bartending at night while working on a boat in the morning.
3. I'm a romantic. I admit it. Every relationship I'd had end in the past was followed by drinking binges and melancholy for months at a time. I view my DUI arrest as being a good thing, merely because it was recounting the tale of that arrest that got me noticed by my wife the first time we met.
4. I never intended to write horror, and remain a little disappointed that's where my effort is focused these days, althouh I find it to be a freeing genre and well-suited to my screwed up mindset.
5. I've never really seen the whole appeal behind CSI or Law & Order .
6. I was raised in a courthouse, quite literally, as my father was a prosecutor and would take me along with him to court. I used to draw on legal pads beneath the table in the prosecutor's room where my father would offer deals to defendants on child support cases. I still love being in the courthouse, and my love of the law knows no bounds. It's why I spend my off days, when not writing, working as a gofer at my father's office.
7. If my wife didn't control the checkbook I'd blow every penny we have. I like buying people gifts, and will loan almost anybody I know money if they need it. When at a bar, I often buy the next round. I like to have a good time, and too often that means taking my kids to movies when we can't afford it, or taking my wife to an antique store so she can buy something old and funky. I pull a lot of extra hours to make up for this, and am thinking about just handing my money over to the first bum on the street on paydays to make up for it.
I tag everyone. Go ahead. I'm tired and there's corned beef in the kitchen.
Peace,
J.C. Tabler
Friday, December 19, 2008
One Day Late, But A Dollar More
A belated Birthday gift...
Sand has accepted "Crib Death", a 716 word piece, for inclusion in Issue #3, due out in February of 2009.
I'm happy. More later.
Sand has accepted "Crib Death", a 716 word piece, for inclusion in Issue #3, due out in February of 2009.
I'm happy. More later.
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Busy, but...
Just wanted to take a break from editing to pass out a novel website I came across (pun intended).
Paperbackswap is a website that allows users to trade books for the cost of postage. You send a book out, they mark it received, you get a credit to order a book from another user, who then has to pay postage to get it to you. As a writer and bibliophile, I believe no book should go unread, and this is a great way to send off those old ones you've read hundreds of time. Share the joy, people! If I ever were to get famous, man oh man, I'd be using this site to send off stuff just for the heck of it.
Anyhow, back to the grindstone.
Paperbackswap is a website that allows users to trade books for the cost of postage. You send a book out, they mark it received, you get a credit to order a book from another user, who then has to pay postage to get it to you. As a writer and bibliophile, I believe no book should go unread, and this is a great way to send off those old ones you've read hundreds of time. Share the joy, people! If I ever were to get famous, man oh man, I'd be using this site to send off stuff just for the heck of it.
Anyhow, back to the grindstone.
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Our Ghostly Encounter
Well, I promised a ghostly encounter from our trip to PA, and here we go.
My wife's family lives about 15-20 minutes away from Jim Thorpe, PA. This used to be known as Mauck Chunk, and was a location of miner's labor movements in the 1870's, most well known among them being the Molly Maguires. The Mollies were miners, Irish descent, who rebeled against the company and their foremen due to the unsafe working conditions, deadly job status, and low pay. Ire raised by being treated more like dogs than men, they began to meet and organize with deadly results.
These men were pinpointed as the murderers and conspirators behind the deaths of mine foremen, and after being penetrated by a Pinkerton were convicted and sentenced to be hung. Four of these men were held in the Carbon County Jail, a structure that at the time was recent, but torturous as many small American jails were during that time. Innocence was protested, and even today there remains a debate about the actual guilt of the Molly Maguires, but it didn't stop them from being hung. Among these, and the most notable for folklore, was Alexander Campbell, who purportedly placed his hand against his jail wall, stating an innocent man was being hung and his mark would remain there forever as a stain on the record of the county, state, and country for their grave injustice. The handprint, accoridng to legend, remains.
I recently began working on a few stories using an Irish Immigrant sort of background, sci-fi stuff, nothing scary or hard. However, the Molly Maguires serve a huge role in one of the three stories, and I decided to visit Jim Thorpe to get a feel for the place while I was up there. Unfortunately the jail itself was closed to tours that day, so I had to satisfy myself taking pictures. After a few good shots of jail, which really primed the pump inspiration wise, we clambered back in the car to head downhill. Turning around in a gravel lot beside the jail, where a stone wall that was obviously once part of some structure stood, our car died. The brand new car.
The funny thing is, our van never "dies". Even when the engine is off, the radio continues to play for three-four minutes. This time it went dead, as did all the electrical. Luckily, gravity was on my side as we were headed down a steep hill, and through muscle (power-steering was a no go) while riding our brake I made it to an alley, and turned the key. Van started right up...
Big things on this, because I'm never comfortable saying I met a ghost and it played auto mechanic on my car. The van was checked out, completely, before we left with no problems in the electrical system or under the hood being found. It started with no problem, and went to a mechanic upon our return, once more with no problems to explain the sudden stop. Still, it was a steep hill, and this van was used to the relative flatlands of northern Kentucky. Could be a fluke, right?
Then my wife showed me a couple pictures from the jail, pointing out something she found. Could just be a glare, but you be the judge, eh?
Here's the picture:
Don't see it? Here's a more close-up version. Look at the second column of bars, about four up from the bottom...
Let's go a little closer...
Is it just me, or is anyone else making out a face?
Not sure I believe,
J.C. Tabler
My wife's family lives about 15-20 minutes away from Jim Thorpe, PA. This used to be known as Mauck Chunk, and was a location of miner's labor movements in the 1870's, most well known among them being the Molly Maguires. The Mollies were miners, Irish descent, who rebeled against the company and their foremen due to the unsafe working conditions, deadly job status, and low pay. Ire raised by being treated more like dogs than men, they began to meet and organize with deadly results.
These men were pinpointed as the murderers and conspirators behind the deaths of mine foremen, and after being penetrated by a Pinkerton were convicted and sentenced to be hung. Four of these men were held in the Carbon County Jail, a structure that at the time was recent, but torturous as many small American jails were during that time. Innocence was protested, and even today there remains a debate about the actual guilt of the Molly Maguires, but it didn't stop them from being hung. Among these, and the most notable for folklore, was Alexander Campbell, who purportedly placed his hand against his jail wall, stating an innocent man was being hung and his mark would remain there forever as a stain on the record of the county, state, and country for their grave injustice. The handprint, accoridng to legend, remains.
I recently began working on a few stories using an Irish Immigrant sort of background, sci-fi stuff, nothing scary or hard. However, the Molly Maguires serve a huge role in one of the three stories, and I decided to visit Jim Thorpe to get a feel for the place while I was up there. Unfortunately the jail itself was closed to tours that day, so I had to satisfy myself taking pictures. After a few good shots of jail, which really primed the pump inspiration wise, we clambered back in the car to head downhill. Turning around in a gravel lot beside the jail, where a stone wall that was obviously once part of some structure stood, our car died. The brand new car.
The funny thing is, our van never "dies". Even when the engine is off, the radio continues to play for three-four minutes. This time it went dead, as did all the electrical. Luckily, gravity was on my side as we were headed down a steep hill, and through muscle (power-steering was a no go) while riding our brake I made it to an alley, and turned the key. Van started right up...
Big things on this, because I'm never comfortable saying I met a ghost and it played auto mechanic on my car. The van was checked out, completely, before we left with no problems in the electrical system or under the hood being found. It started with no problem, and went to a mechanic upon our return, once more with no problems to explain the sudden stop. Still, it was a steep hill, and this van was used to the relative flatlands of northern Kentucky. Could be a fluke, right?
Then my wife showed me a couple pictures from the jail, pointing out something she found. Could just be a glare, but you be the judge, eh?
Here's the picture:
Don't see it? Here's a more close-up version. Look at the second column of bars, about four up from the bottom...
Let's go a little closer...
Is it just me, or is anyone else making out a face?
Not sure I believe,
J.C. Tabler
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Of Travel and Children
So, here I sit at a HoJo in PA. We've driven up to coal country to visit my wife's parents for the Turkey Day festivities, and are now on our way back home. I've gotten a few things done, finishing the first drafts of a couple stories over the past couple days and getting the inklings done for a couple more to be finished in the next couple weeks.
So...November...
Still have a few stories out at Space & Time , The New Yorker , Saint Anne's Review , Guigonol (Sp?), Fantasy & Science Fiction , and Underground Voices . Looking to polish a few turds and get them out before the Ho-Ho-Holidays.
Personal news, not so good. See, let's go in depth about why writing has become a little more difficult to find time for. My oldest was recently diagnosed with high-functioning...yes, you see it coming...autism. Not a surprise, but still disheartening. On top of that, though it's a positive, I'm doing more at work than before as I'm helping with training classes and becoming a walking policy manual on the center's floor. Then the babies, who are fine by the way, but I'm still worrying they'll stop breathing in the middle of the night, and since these worries started about the same time I was reading Stephen King's new short story collection, Just After Sunset (Wonderful, as always. Look for more this week) and child death was a big theme, I'm freaking out.
Weight of the world, won't bore you with it. Just know, I am trying to get back in the game and back into play with all of you prolific, talented, and successful people. Considering what a hack I am, I'm not sure if that should scare you or not. Just with figuring out what school to send Sophie to next year, and, consequently, how the hell I'm going to afford it, along with everything else...something has to go on hold until things calm down, and right now I seem to be shoving writing aside in order to keep my family sane and healthy. Not a hard choice to make, but I'm still in the game...just a few moves behind.
On the bright side, I think we met a ghost in PA. More on that tomorrow night. Now, I'm curling up with my wife and children in a motel bed. Hope everyone had a good Turkey Day, and I'll be talking to you all soon.
Best Wishes,
J.C. Tabler
So...November...
Still have a few stories out at Space & Time , The New Yorker , Saint Anne's Review , Guigonol (Sp?), Fantasy & Science Fiction , and Underground Voices . Looking to polish a few turds and get them out before the Ho-Ho-Holidays.
Personal news, not so good. See, let's go in depth about why writing has become a little more difficult to find time for. My oldest was recently diagnosed with high-functioning...yes, you see it coming...autism. Not a surprise, but still disheartening. On top of that, though it's a positive, I'm doing more at work than before as I'm helping with training classes and becoming a walking policy manual on the center's floor. Then the babies, who are fine by the way, but I'm still worrying they'll stop breathing in the middle of the night, and since these worries started about the same time I was reading Stephen King's new short story collection, Just After Sunset (Wonderful, as always. Look for more this week) and child death was a big theme, I'm freaking out.
Weight of the world, won't bore you with it. Just know, I am trying to get back in the game and back into play with all of you prolific, talented, and successful people. Considering what a hack I am, I'm not sure if that should scare you or not. Just with figuring out what school to send Sophie to next year, and, consequently, how the hell I'm going to afford it, along with everything else...something has to go on hold until things calm down, and right now I seem to be shoving writing aside in order to keep my family sane and healthy. Not a hard choice to make, but I'm still in the game...just a few moves behind.
On the bright side, I think we met a ghost in PA. More on that tomorrow night. Now, I'm curling up with my wife and children in a motel bed. Hope everyone had a good Turkey Day, and I'll be talking to you all soon.
Best Wishes,
J.C. Tabler
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