For Valentine’s I wrote a special post over at New Babel Books about how choosing a book can be a lot like finding a date.

So what are you doing for the 14th?

Readers (and I count myself as a reader and a writer) are also very involved online. There are some amazing communities of readers out there that share what they’re reading and make suggestions to one another. I’m going to share a few of the places that I use and then I welcome you to share some with me.

1. Goodreads

What a great site! This site allows readers and authors to interact with one another with ease. You can get recommendations, create shelves of books, maintain contact with authors you like and even enter into tons of great contests!

2. Friday Reads

Friday Reads is a weekly sharing of what thousands and thousands of people are reading. You can respond on twitter and facebook and it’s really amazing to simply scroll through all of the books being read and engage in a conversation with a total stranger about a book. I know I’ve done that more than a few times!

3. Book Club Meetup

Maybe internet discussions aren’t your thing. That’s fine! But how in the world do you find out about book clubs? Well, Book CLub Meetup allows you to pop in a zip code and bam they’ll give you the provided information about local book clubs.

Now, those are my favorite three ways to connect with other readers and compare notes. What are yours?

*shrugs* The wonders of the internet I guess?

Anyways, since the wordpress site blew up and pretty much ate anything and everything in sight for the time it was out, I was unable to access any entries into the Scare My Pants Off contest… so…

I am re-launching the contest and extending it until NEXT Tuesday, Feburary 7th. For more details on the contest you can go here (or you know… scroll down on the main page….)

Now get to the scaring people!

The prize: An unopened copy of the short horror film, Oculus. A summary of Occulus from Amazon:

A smash hit on the festival circuit, “Oculus” has won numerous awards for Best Short Film and Best Actor.
22 years ago, Tim Russel’s father committed an act of unspeakable violence, leaving him orphaned. But Tim believed his father was innocent – and that the antique mirror that hung in his father’s office had more to do with what happened. Now grown, he’s tracked the mirror’s horrifying history and is determined to prove and document its abilities. But what he sees and hears in that room could cost him his sanity – or his life.

You can check out the trailer here:

It’s a fantastic short film running at 32 minutes long and is a very minimalistic horror movie that takes place entirely within a well lit room. I’m happy to be able to share this film with you all.

Now, what do you have to do to win?

It’s simple: share this post, and write me something creepy, post it on your blog and post a link here ( or just post it in the comments section). It can be as long or as short as you like, and can be about whatever you want. I want you to creep me out. I will choose my favorite entry and mail the winner their new DVD. Entries close at 11:59 pm on Tuesday, January 24, 2012 and a winner will be announced (WITH A NEW EXTENDED DEALINE JUST FOR YOU AWESOME PEOPLE!) Saturday Febraury 18, 2012.

So, what are you waiting for? Get writing and scare my pants off!

The Hollow Men

T. S. Eliot

Mistah Kurtz—he dead.

      A penny for the Old Guy

      I

We are the hollow men
We are the stuffed men
Leaning together
Headpiece filled with straw. Alas!
Our dried voices, when
We whisper together
Are quiet and meaningless
As wind in dry grass
Or rats’ feet over broken glass
In our dry cellar

Shape without form, shade without colour,
Paralysed force, gesture without motion;

Those who have crossed
With direct eyes, to death’s other Kingdom
Remember us—if at all—not as lost
Violent souls, but only
As the hollow men
The stuffed men.

      II

Eyes I dare not meet in dreams
In death’s dream kingdom
These do not appear:
There, the eyes are
Sunlight on a broken column
There, is a tree swinging
And voices are
In the wind’s singing
More distant and more solemn
Than a fading star.

Let me be no nearer
In death’s dream kingdom
Let me also wear
Such deliberate disguises
Rat’s coat, crowskin, crossed staves
In a field
Behaving as the wind behaves
No nearer—

Not that final meeting
In the twilight kingdom

      III

This is the dead land
This is cactus land
Here the stone images
Are raised, here they receive
The supplication of a dead man’s hand
Under the twinkle of a fading star.

Is it like this
In death’s other kingdom
Waking alone
At the hour when we are
Trembling with tenderness
Lips that would kiss
Form prayers to broken stone.

      IV

The eyes are not here
There are no eyes here
In this valley of dying stars
In this hollow valley
This broken jaw of our lost kingdoms

In this last of meeting places
We grope together
And avoid speech
Gathered on this beach of the tumid river

Sightless, unless
The eyes reappear
As the perpetual star
Multifoliate rose
Of death’s twilight kingdom
The hope only
Of empty men.

      V

Here we go round the prickly pear Prickly pear prickly pear Here we go round the prickly pear At five o’clock in the morning.

Between the idea
And the reality
Between the motion
And the act
Falls the Shadow
                                For Thine is the Kingdom

Between the conception
And the creation
Between the emotion
And the response
Falls the Shadow
                                Life is very long

Between the desire
And the spasm
Between the potency
And the existence
Between the essence
And the descent
Falls the Shadow
                                For Thine is the Kingdom

For Thine is
Life is
For Thine is the

This is the way the world ends This is the way the world ends This is the way the world ends Not with a bang but a whimper.

Networking is a way to find work, to sell your writing, to find readers, fans and friends, it helps create a support base and a sounding board for ideas. Networking is a way to establish yourself as a writer and a way to keep yourself visible.

Now, I could go on forever about Networking but I’m going to instead provide 5 tips for networking that anyone can follow.

1. It’s impossible to network if you don’t talk to anyone.

Plain and simple, you can’t network with anyone if all you ever do is write alone in a dark room. Now, I’m not saying to stop writing and spend all your time tweeting about writing, no way! But, finding a balance between writing and networking is the way to go. I’d recommend a 2 to 1 ratio for the time spent on writing versus networking.

2. Don’t be an asshole.

This one is simple enough, don’t step on toes, burn bridges, or make enemies, especially when you are first starting out. Smile and say thank you even if you don’t want to. Don’t be a doormat and don’t be afraid to say no, but focus on meeting people and making friends.

3. Be thankful.

If someone helps you out, if you read something that inspires you, etc. then send that person a thank you. Share your gratitude for the people who have gotten you where you are.

4. Do favors for others.

Networking is not all about ‘What can you do for me?’ but it’s about creating a friendship, a partnership where two people help one another out to better both their lives. Know of a romance anthology calling for submissions? Let your romance writer friend on twitter know. See a place that needs a super hero author to interview? Suggest your friend who works on comic books.

5. Keep your word.

Do not make promises you cannot keep. Period. End of story. Yes, life happens and there may be some deadlines you can’t meet, but they should be the exception not the rule, and that should only happen under the most extreme of circumstances. Do not become known as someone who can’t meet deadlines or who never does what they promise.

And there you have 5 simple tips for networking. This is not an end-all, be-all list and there are a ton more to comment on. One day I hope to do a whole panel about networking and I’d love to hear all of your tips and ideas about networking. So share away!

Plot Summary From Amazon.com: Six years ago, Police Detective John Bartlett and journalist Benjamin West were instrumental in the capture of notorious master criminal Darrin Morehouse. Their story played out in the media, rocketing both Bartlett and West into local celebrity status.

Today, Morehouse, still a master game player and manipulator, commits suicide while in prison. His death initiates one final game of survival for the people Morehouse felt wronged him the most. At that top of the list are Bartlett and West, who must set aside their differences to save the lives of Morehouse’s other victims and solve one last game before a dead man’s hired killers catch them and his other enemies.

I bought Bobby Nash’s newest book, Deadly Games, at the Atlanta Comic Convention and was soon diving headfirst into this thriller. Nash is an expert at creating this overarching tension throughout the novel. The reader knows something is going to happen and every little thing becomes a clue in this puzzle of a thriller.

Nash paints a picture of all of the different people touched by the madman, Darrin Morehouse. He dives into the lives of several different people who are all tied together by a criminal, he manages to give each character a distinctive voice and despite the ‘head-hopping’ from chapter to chapter it’s always clear whose head the reader is in.

My one complaint would be that I wanted to action to last longer. There’s such a build up to the real action that I wanted it be sustained for a longer period of time. The action is so great and gripping that I had trouble putting the book down and I loved the rush of excitement created with the wild game all of the characters play! Not to mention, what a great twist at the end!

If you enjoy wild thrillers that will leave you breathless than Bobby Nash’s Deadly Games is just for you. You can buy Deadly Games here and learn more about Bobby Nash at his website here.

Being able to manage money is important for anyone, but it takes on particular importance when you take on responsibility for your own income, especially by having writing as your primary income.

A lot of writing income cannot be 100% planned on. This includes royalties from book sales, contracts falling through, etc. It’s not a job that includes a steady, always the same amount paycheck.

This is a job that requires you to maintain a reserve. In fact, I would not ever plan on jumping into writing as your primary income until you’ve got a reserve of money to survive off of for at least 6 months.

Maintain a list of what things are essential and what they cost each month: rent, water, electricity, food, health insurance (I know some would argue it’s not essential but accidents happen and I think it’s better to have that covered). Have a back up plan and have an idea of when you need help.

For example say you’ve decided that you need $800 a month to survive, and you usually get $1200 a month from your writing. If it looks like you’re only going to make $700 for that month then you need to start looking for ways to find money. Ask friends, family and loved ones if they know of any places hiring, need any work done, etc.

Make sure you set aside time and money to advertise your work because writing is no longer about simply creating a great story. Now it’s about creating, advertising and taking full responsible for creating sales for yourself.

Alright, well I’m diverting into other areas so I’m going to ask for your thoughts on things writers need to be aware of for budgeting. I would recommend Pocket Idiot’s Guide to Living on a Budget for a great step by step advice for creating and sticking to a budget.

1) Set a word goal per week. Do something manageable, don’t expect to move from writing nothing a week to writing 5000 words a week.

2) Give yourself a concrete goal. ‘Write more.’ is a great goal but what does it really mean? Set an actual goal and hold yourself accountable.

3) Start keeping a writing log. If you already have a calendar then just add something in at the bottom or top of each day that keeps track of how many words you’ve written each day.

4) Join a writing group. Especially if you’ve never been a part of one before. Or at least try to find someone you feel comfortable sharing your work with, it’s nice to have a soundboard to test your ideas on.

5) Read. Read books about writing, read books about things you like, things you hate. The main thing is to read.

And those are some of my suggestions for Resolutions for Writers. What are some of your resolutions?

COMING SOON TO A BOOKSTORE NEAR YOU! The Chair In The Room- A Novel by Andrea Judy

Now, that’s not to say a story can’t consist of a setting made up of this chair in a room. Take the picture above, that’s actually a pretty cool setting, looks like an interrogation room, or maybe a prison of some sort. That sounds like the beginning of a story.

Alright, let’s take this idea in two directions: 1) The entire story is about a man alone in this room. 2) The story is about a man who breaks out of the room. Now, here we’ve already found two of many possible options.

In our first option we are probably not going to see very much movement or action. Certainly no bloodshed, fighting or arguments between several people. This story will primarily focus entirely on internal action. Perhaps this man is a prisoner and has been here for years. Perhaps he is composing an epic novel in his mind, maybe he’s meditating and discovering a truth about the world. The action of this story will take place internally.

Now, the second option we have all kinds of potential for action outside of the main character’s head. He is actively and physically pursuing a goal. Odds are there will be fights, struggles, bloodshed and probably a confrontation with whatever force is trying to keep him in this room.

Now these examples are very simplified and dumbed down to be as bare bones basic as possible to really just create a simple explanation. The main thing that all action needs is to help create tension and move the story forward. Not that I doubt people to understand the difference but I think it’s nice to boil things down to their simplest level to better understand them. How would you best describe the differences between internal and external action?