An award? For me? Awesome!

So I got nominated for a Liebster award. Never heard of it? Me neither. But so what? It's an award, and I'm rather fond of those. It also allows for the answering of questions and I really like to talk about myself so (um... wait? Did I say that out loud? Ugh...)

The purpose of the Liebster Awards is to help fellow bloggers gain greater exposure. I’m glad to help out my fellow blog writers in this way. Thanks much to Steven Rose Jr who nominated me for this lovely award. The rules are:

1) Thank the person who nominated you
2) Answer the questions given by the nominator
3) Nominate 11 bloggers with 100 or less followers and link them to your post
4) Create another 11 questions for them to answer in their blog
5) Notify them

So, here are my answers to Steven's questions:

1) What is your dream car?
Dodge Charger

2) What is your favourite/favourite kind of food?
Mexican. I could eat it every night. But then again, I'm very fond of food in general.

3) What is your favourite genre/sub genre of reading?
Horror, of course!

4) Do you prefer Star Trek, Star Wars or neither?
I love both!

5) Of these classic/old school horror films, do you prefer Halloween, Friday the 13th, Universal’s original Frankenstein, Psycho or none of the above?
I'm not a huge fan of the slasher flick. I love the old Universal black and white films, and I love Psycho. But my all time favorite is Rosemary's Baby.

6) If you won the lottery, you would . . . (do what?)
Pay off all of my bills and buy a new car. Then I'd pay off my kid's bills and buy them new cars, then I'd call my financial planner and do what he says. He's a smart man. I'd probably take an expensive vacation he'd frown on though. ;)

7) How would you respond to a film agent who offered you a part in a big budget film?
After I got done screaming and hugging him??

8) Do you have anything (interest, toy, habit, etc.) from childhood that you will not let go of as an adult? If so, what is it?
So many things. My fear of the dark, my love of horror, an old doll named, "Sugar," my Raggedy Ann & Andy dolls.

9) What do you do when a person you’ve met for the first time bores you with their talk?
I've perfected the ability to look interested when I'm a million miles away. Then I avoid that person like the plague.

10)  Do you believe the world’s ready for commercial space flight? If so, why? If not, why not?
Wow. That's an odd question. I don't think so. I think we need somewhere to go first.

11)  What is more important to you, money or love (of humanity, including significant others/family and friends)?
Definitely love. No question.

And now on to my nominees **cough cough** victims. In no particular order:

1. Jaime Johnsee
2. Lisa C. Hinsley
3. Malina Roos
4. Caren Widner Hanten
5. Mckenzie Fawcett
6. Aaron Gudmunson
7. Kirk Dougal
8. Allison M. Dickson
9. Frank Michaels Errington
10. Paul Dail
11. Matthew Scott Baker

Some of the above are authors, some are reviewers, all are fantastic. Some of them I can't tell exactly how many people follow their blogs, but they all deserve more love. Doesn't everyone? So check them out, watch them play along, stalk them. I mean, uh, follow them.

My ten questions for them:

1. What is your favorite ice cream flavor?
2. Favorite animated movie?
3. Thing you must have before sitting down to blog?
4. Reason for blogging?
5. All time favorite horror film?
6. Favorite holiday?
7. Name you wish you'd been named in an alternate universe?
8. Favorite childhood memory?
9. Dream vacation?
10. Cause most likely to get your donation?
11. Ultimate goal in life?

And there you have it. More newsy post coming soon.


♥Stacey

This Bubblews Thing

So as many of you know, I started doing this Bubblews thing. I saw it in someone else's post a while back and thought it might be a way to make a little extra cash on the side. Someone else asked me about it after I began posting links to my posts. I've been doing it for almost two weeks now, so I thought I'd let you all know how it's going.

Here's how it works (taken straight from their site):

The Bubblews community is a patent pending system that enables our users to enjoy our community (without a cost) and share in the ad revenue growth. In fact our revenue model is simple: We split the ad revenue we make off each post with the author 50/50. You will get paid for every view, comment, like/dislike and social media share that your posts gather. Write Your World. Speak Freely. Join the movement. The time of not sharing revenue with the very people who create your content is OVER! Bubblews.

So basically, you sign up for an account and begin making posts. They can be about anything and there are many categories to choose from. There are some legitimate news articles posted, a few movie/TV/music reviews, and a lot of what I refer to as "fluff" (and I don't mean that in a condescending or bad manner, it's mostly what I've put up). It's sort of like a blogging sphere, only with money involved.

I've actually experimented somewhat with what I post. I tried humorous personal posts, some flash fiction, and a commentary on reality TV. So far, people like the fiction best. It seems to attract the most viewers.

You get paid varying amounts (I'm not sure how their algorithm works) for all views, likes, comments, etc. And judging by the people who's posts I've read, you can make decent money at it. But to do so, it seems like you have to put in far more time than you are actually getting paid for. The thing that seems to drive the most traffic is "connecting" with others and then commenting or liking their posts. This in turn, prompts them to do the same. To me, this seems exactly like what goes into building a popular blog.  And yes, it's time consuming.

But with that in mind, I set out to devote a bit more time to it to see if I got desired results. And it worked. I made two bucks overnight. Not a lot, sure. But it's better than I'd originally done in a week. So that's something. But I don't feel that it will ever reach a point where I'm making even minimum wage for the time I'm putting in. Just my conclusion based on what's happened so far. Two weeks in and I've posted 8 articles and made $7.42.

I will probably continue to do it for awhile longer, just to see if anything changes. But so far, I'm unimpressed. However, if you join, be sure to connect with me. I'm happy to share the (limited) wealth and help you get the word out about your posts. If you're going to blog anyway, might as well get paid for it, right?

♥Stacey

So I got tagged with a blog meme and it was time I posted again anyway, so here I am. Thanks to Cindy Keen Reynders over at Saucy Lucy Wisdom for the tag. The rules are:

1. Go to page 77 of your current MS

2. Go to line 7

3. Copy down the next 7 lines, sentences or paragraphs and post them as they're written. No cheating.

4. Tag 7 authors.

5. Let them know.

Umm... My work in progress is a novella. It doesn't have 77 pages yet. It might never. So I've randomly selected a page and copied 7 (or 8ish) paragraphs. Here you go:

It took me a moment to realize what had awakened me, but then I became conscious that Phoebe was in fact half sitting on me, her body stiff, her finger pointing towards a corner of the room. My eyes followed her finger and came to rest on the figure of a young girl. She was probably six or seven, dressed in the clothes of a bygone era and she was standing in the corner, just staring at us and humming. I could not make out the tune, but it stirred a memory somewhere in the back of my mind. At first, I was not afraid, only bewildered. Where did this child come from? Why was she in my bedchamber in the middle of the night? It only slowly came to my attention that I could see the wallpaper through her figure. I was seeing a ghost. The house was indeed haunted. Phoebe still seemed paralyzed by her fear, but I felt only a crushing sadness at the sight of this child. Her loneliness and longing seemed to reach out from her small form and envelope me like a cloud. The weight of her sorrow was near to crushing me.

I found that I was not afraid of her, far from it. I wanted only to help this poor melancholy soul. I was afraid to move though, lest I spook her. And only now do I comprehend how ironic it is that I was worried about spooking a spook. At that time, it was as though a more fundamental part of me took over and shoved reason firmly to the side.

“Why do you linger?” I asked quietly but firmly. She met my eyes with hers and I could feel her searching for something I only hoped I could give.

“They won’t let me go. They won’t let me go!” she cried, her eyes leaving mine and glancing nervously about the room.

“Shhh….shhh…” I uttered in an attempt to soothe her. “Who won’t let you go, dear child?”

She appeared most frightened then and her eyes widened at something I could not see. She pointed to a far corner of the ceiling.

“THEM!” she screamed. Just then a cold sensation passed through my body as a large dark shadow swooped from the corner she’d been pointing to through me and into her. Both shadow and shade blinked completely out of view. I shuddered and shivered and Phoebe’s paralysis seemed to end.

“My Sweet Lord!” she shrieked. “What was that thing? And why were you talking to it?”

Now I have to answer some questions:

What is the title of your current WIP? Tell us about it.

It doesn't have a set title. I'm kicking around "Olivia's Tale" or maybe "Starkraven." It's a gothic style novella about a group of bored, rich kids who decide to visit an estate that's said to be haunted. It's set in the summer of 1824 and the group is highly influenced by Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. They get a lot more than they bargained for and only Olivia is left to tell the tale.

When did you start blogging and why?

I actually started blogging over at What Passes for Sane on a Crazy Day in 2009 to deal with some issues. Surprisingly, I got a good little following going and continued on in a humorous vein with tales of my family. I started this blog in 2011 when I started working as an editor and submitting more stories. This blog was a way for me to reach out to other authors and also to let people know what was going on with me in my professional life.

If you could do anything tomorrow, what would you do?

Hmmm... that's a tough one. I have so much work to do before WHC at the end of the month, but if I had to take a day off, I'd spend it on the couch watching old horror movies on Netflix.

Describe your happy place.

My dinner table. We eat dinner at the table, as a family most nights, and the conversations are sometimes unbloggable. We get so carried away and ridiculous that we spend most of dinner laughing. It's really not a successful dinner unless someone spits their drink out their nose. It's also where we all talk about our day and I will miss that the most when the kids leave home this fall.

What is your first happy memory?

I don't know. My memory is horrible. Lol. But I've had a lot of happy things in my life. Too many to list.

What was the scariest thing you've ever done?

I don't know. I don't really do a lot of scary stuff. I guess you could say a tour of the Mansfield Reformatory, one of the most haunted places in the U.S. Or it could be IM'ing the great Ellen Datlow on FB to tell her I found a flaw in her book. I thought she'd hate me. Quite the opposite. Whew!

What is the funniest thing you've done today?

I said "Pussy Willow." I know right, it's just a tree. But my kids had never heard of it and my daughter wanted to know why I randomly said it to my grandson. I was just throwing out silly words so he'd smile and I could get another bite of his lunch into him. They thought it was hilarious that was the first thing that came to my mind. *shrugs* That's just how I roll.

What is the strangest place you've ever gotten a story idea?

The movie theatre, right before the movie started. I just suddenly started thinking of this political article I read and it totally led into this fantastic story idea. I was so afraid I'd forget it during the movie! But luckily it stayed with me. I also work out a lot of plot problems in the shower. I think it's because it's one of the few times I relax.

Where do you write?

In my bedroom/office. Currently my hubs and I are using the room as a bedroom, but once my daughter's family moves it will be my office again. I have my big desk and all of my creepy framed artwork. It does look a little frightening at night. I'd take a photo, but currently my desk is a mess.

If you'd just won a ticket to anywhere in the world, and you had to take me, where would you take me and why?

England. I lived there for four years in the eighties and I love it there. Plus we could visit Penendon Heath, which is the inspiration for my novella.

And now for passing it on:


1. Lisa McCourt Hollar of Jezri's Nightmares.
2. Marissa Farrar of Something Wicked This Way Comes.
3. Ruth Barrett of Spirited Words.
4. Gordon Bonnet of Tales of Whoa.
5. Jeffrey Hollar of The Latinum Vault.
6. Lisamarie Lamb of The Moonlit Door.
7. Claudia Lefeve of Claudia Lefeve.

Thanks,
♥Stacey

Someone thinks I'm versatile

Thank you to Cindy Keen Reynders for my lovely blogging award, The Versatile Blogger. She writes a wonderful blog about writing that's humorous, sassy and fun. You can find it here. And you can look for her book, The Seven Year Witch, to be put out by Angelic Knight Press in January. I haven't gotten to know Cindy that well yet, but I'm looking forward to working with her as her editor for the book. I can tell you that the book is very funny, a little fantastical and a little romantic. Isn't that a great combination?!

So the rules for the award are that you have to thank the person who gave it to you (see above), list seven things about yourself and pass it to 15 other lucky winners. So seven things about me...

1. I grew up an Air Force brat. My father was in the Air Force for 26 years before he retired. I've lived in Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Colorado, Arizona and North Carolina. I also lived in Okinawa for two years and England for four. I've visited more than half of the 50 states.

2. I met my husband 3 days after I returned to America from England. He was my cousin's best friend. I was 17 and he was 16. We have been inseparable ever since.

3. I love winter. I love snow and storms. Most people want to retire somewhere warm, I want to move north. I hate being hot. You can always put more clothes on, you can only take so many off.

4. If I could have lunch with any writer, living or dead, I would choose Stephen King and Joe Hill. I just want to figure out how their minds work. Besides that, they are kind of goofy and look like they'd be fun to hang with.

5. I read magazines from back to front. They always put the good stuff in the back.

6. I've wanted to write since I learned to read at age 4. But I originally majored in psychology in college. I switched majors to English when I went back to school after having my children.

7. I love to act. I've did a lot of it in high school and even won a few awards at the Speech & Drama festival. I've also done some Community Theatre here. My children caught the acting bug and participated in our Community Theatre's student theatre when they were younger.

Okay, now on to the next participants:

1. Carson Buckingham- if you haven't read Carson's blog, then go there immediately. Do not pass "Go". Do not collect $200. It is sarcastic, humorous and undeniably addicting. Her novel, Home, is also addicting.

2. Lisa McCourt Hollar- Lisa's blog is full of her scary works of fiction. Bite sized little pieces of horror to consume during the day. Be careful they don't torment you at night...

3. Rebecca Treadway- Rebecca is the very talented cover artist for Satan's Toybox: Demonic Dolls. She's also a talented author and does some fantastic interviews and book reviews on her blog.

4. Scott Niven- Scott is the author of three books of short stories that defy labeling. Part sci-fi, part speculative fiction, all fantastic. He also does book reviews, author interviews and blogs about writing and marketing strategies.

5. John Wiswell- John's Bathroom Monologues blog never fails to amaze me. I'm either laughing or thinking when I get done reading his posts. The man is a talented writer and often offers a new perspective on things that I might not have thought of on my own. Visit his blog, you won't be sorry.

6. Lisamarie Lamb- Lisamarie's blog is a mix of her fiction and her life as a writer. I've only recently discovered it, but I'm already a fan.

7. Sam Williams- Sam Williams is another talented author. I worked with him on his book and loved it. His blog features his fiction.

8. Claudia Lefeve- Claudia is another author I've worked with and loved. In fact, I bought her book as a Christmas gift for my sister, whom I know will also share it with my daughter. Claudia's blog is about her life, both as a writer and a person.

9. Jason McKinney- Jason is a good friend. Sometimes on the internet we're lucky enough to meet people and become friends. That's what happened with Jason and his wife Tab. I haven't met them in person, but you can bet that if I'm ever close enough to their house, I'll be stopping by. Jason is also a talented author that I've been lucky enough to work with. His blog features his fiction and his thoughts about writing.

10. Ray Garton- I can't claim that Ray and I are friends, but we are acquaintances and we've had a couple of Facebook conversations. Ray has several published works and has been at this game far longer than I have. I enjoy his books and I really enjoy his blogs. Some are humorous and some offer the story behind the books.

And that, my friends, is that. I know you're supposed to do fifteen, and I probably could, but it takes a long time and I'm short on time today. So give these blogs a try and find some great new reads. And thanks again to Cindy for thinking of me!

Stacey