New Posting Schedule

Image courtesy of luigi diamanti / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

I'm experimenting with a new posting schedule. I'm not promising anything, because you know how flaky we artistic types can be. But, if all goes well, the new schedule will be:

1st Monday of the month: "From the Desk of" (the familiar monthly update);
2nd Monday: "After Hours" (a meme or some other type of "getting to know me" post);
3rd Monday: "For Writers" (a post with handy links or info for writers);
4th Monday: "For Readers" (a post with info on the latest releases in horror/fantasy/sci-fi movies or books, or my opinion--for what it's worth--on the latest book/movie I've read/seen).

And, since I know someone out there is thinking it: if there is a fifth Monday, there will be no post, because no person should have to put up with five Mondays in a single month! It's just wrong.

And now, welcome to the first "After Hours" post!

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1) Describe what you're looking forward to doing this autumn.
Autumn is my favorite season. Not only does it hold my favorite holiday (Halloween, of course), it’s also hunting season. Plus, it’s the spookiest season of the year, even without Halloween: cold dark knights, bare trees creaking in the window, leaves clattering across the road like a bone necklace rattling.


2) How many rings before you answer the phone?I’m not a slave to the phone. I’ll let the machine pick up if answering is inconvenient (sometimes even when it’s not). I’m the same way with a ringing doorbell. It drives everyone around me crazy, because they seem to think if someone’s calling/knocking, you HAVE to answer. Not me. My home is my castle, and I decide who I went to talk to and when.


3) What is the first thing you think of when you wake in the morning?“Aw, shit” (I’ve never been a morning person).


4) If you won a million dollars, what would you do with it?Probably spend most of it on books, or an isolated cabin on acres and acres of land. I’ve always aspired to be a hermit (see item #2).


5) When trick-or-treating as a kid, was there any kind of candy that you didn't like to get?I’ve always been a fussy eater. I didn’t like anything that had peanuts or peanut butter in it (I was not a peanut-butter sandwich kid). I didn’t like licorice. One of the candies I hated the most was that candy that has licorice at the center and is covered in two kinds of coatings: one looked like the kind of plastic that coated wires (but was pink or white), and the other was like little gravel all over the candy. I'd groan every time I found it in my Halloween treat bag.


6) Why do you live wherever you live?Entirely by accident. My parents dragged me back to North Dakota from New York when my father retired. While I was in the process of working two jobs to earn enough to move back to New York, I met my husband. I’ve been here ever since.


7) When was the last time you spotted an unwelcome visitor (i.e., bug, rodent, etc.) in your house?
I have cats, so unwanted visitors are quickly devoured (hmmm… that would make a good sign for my door; see #2). In the fifteen years we’ve lived in our home, we’ve only had one mouse dumb enough to come in. I heard him squiggling around under my bed one evening and, by noon, he was on my pillow . . . with his feet in the air and one of my cats (Cairo) sitting beside him, purring, as if to say, “Look what I have for you momma.” I was so proud, I rolled the mouse in catnip and gave it back Cairo to enjoy (we want to encourage that mouse-killing behavior, of course).

See you next week!