It Comes!

It’s that time of year, squiders. I have received at least half a dozen emails this week about it.

NaNoWriMo.

It still is so so strange to me how commercial it has gotten over the last two decades. But never mind that.

Every year, in September, when the “Hey, Nano is coming up, GET READY” emails start showing up, I take a moment to ponder whether or not I am, indeed, doing Nano.

This is silly. On the years that I am doing Nano, I generally have determined my intention to do so on my own before this point, and I’ve also, you know, picked a project and have outlined the necessary prep work and my timeline for said prep work. Or done said prep work! Depending on the project, of course.

On years that I am probably not going to do Nano, I have completely forgotten it exists until someone or something brings it up.

(I did my first Nano in 2003, did nine years straight, and have done it on and off over the past decade when it fits in my schedule.)

So, seeing how the emails surprised me, I am probably not doing Nano this year. But my brain still insists we sit and think about it anyway.

I don’t have anything in the prep stages right now. The last Nano I did was 2021, where I wrote most of what would become Hallowed Hill. I did do 2020 as well (the first time I’ve ever finished a draft during Nano itself, doing my cozy mystery), and 2019 (World’s Edge, fantasy). I wrote Across Worlds with You (serial, going up monthly at TDP) in April and haven’t spent any time on prepping any other stories since then.

So. Nothing in the wings, as it were.

Last year I thought I’d use the Nano momentum to get somewhere on my Book 1 revision. This did not work. (I did go to the Kickoff party and make myself sick by drinking coffee after 10 pm. -100/10, do not recommend.) While, in general, you can make and track projects on the Nano website, you cannot actually track non-standard Nanos during Nano.

And I’m still in the middle of this revision (well, actually in the middle. Last year Hallowed Hill had come out in October so I was a bit in recovery mode and hadn’t really started). No reason to think that anything is going to be different this year.

But part of me really wants to do it. To come up with a new story, and pound out 50,000 words, and see what happens.

This is irresponsible. And, as I mentioned before, I don’t really have any stories waiting to be written at the moment. So I would like to say, no, no Nano for me, unless I can figure out a way to leverage it for revision. (Also not a great idea because revision needs thought and intention, and Nano relies on chaotic creativity.)

But there is always a small chance that I will think of something, and I will really want to do it, and that I will jump in feet first come November.

Small.

But there.

Anyway. I can’t believe we’re a week out from October, the best month of the year. Where has the year gone?

See you next week, squiders!

Ah, September

Good evening, squiders. I don’t mean to be a mess but alas, I am.

(Also, in the last 24 hours I’ve picked up a nasty cold, which I wish would not happen right before I have a couple of days to myself. I can barely think straight. Yay.)

All my fears have come to fruition with the end of the critique marathon, in that I haven’t gotten a single chapter finished since it ended.

A lot of that is a transition thing–the end of August and beginning of September is full of them–we’ve entered our busy season at work, the small, mobile ones have gone back to school, the weather is finally changing–and sometimes it takes me a minute to find my groove again.

And part of it is that without the deadline the marathon affords, I can’t necessarily justify dropping everything else like I was.

Sometimes I yearn for my younger days, when I didn’t have anything to do after work except write or draw or play computer games whenever I wanted. Ah well. Choices have been made, and most of them I would not take back. Just gotta adapt.

And, you know, not be full of snot.

I hope things are going better for you than they are for me, squiders. Wish me luck!

Promo: The Damned

Good morning, squiders! I have a teaser for you this morning, for an anthology coming out soon! Just in time for spooky season!

 

Anthology Stories Include:

 

The Drain, The Enforcers, The Fog, On a Spring Day, and The Trial.

 

Flash Fiction, Horror

Date To Be Published: September 23, 2023

 

Bite-sized horror stories are brought to you by thirteen authors. From creepy crawlies to the seemingly normal pets. From hideous monsters lurking in the dark to charismatic people showing their true colors.

Each tale is precisely 100 words and leaves a long-lasting chilling effect. Some will make you question the security of the world around you, and what’s more terrifying than that?

Featuring drabbles from Storm Lomax, Jonathan Reddoch, Zari Hunt, Kellee Kranendonk, Andreas Flögel, Simon Clarke, Jacek Wilkos, Ferenc K. Zoltán, Vanessa Bane, C.L. Hart, Natascha Eschweiler, Angela Zimmerman, and J.E. Feldman.

 

Excerpt

The Drain

Professor Vladimir Reed-Field wished he had never taken the job at Miskatonic University. He’d never had problems like this when he was teaching at the University of Hawaii. A volcanic eruption would be  a welcome change over the sound coming from that damn kitchen sink.

The plumber from Blizzard Pipeworks could find nothing wrong with the drain. She’d scoped it, snaked it, and performed a full flush. She said that sometimes the plumbing in Arkham’s old houses just made odd noises.

The problem wasn’t the pipes themselves. It was the thing inside the pipes that kept whispering the professor’s name.

 

Purchase Your Copy Today

 

 

About the Author

C. L. Hart, the owner and sole employee of Naughty Netherworld Press, is spoken of in hushed tones. She is described as The Mad Scribe of the Northeastern Colorado Plains, The Terrible Old Woman, and The Author That Should Not Be.

When not penning sanity-destroying works of dystopian fiction, Lovecraftian fantasy, or old-school horror with the occasional sweet romance thrown in to upset the cosmic apple cart, Ms. Hart enjoys creating baked goods she hopes will be considered palatable.

Ms. Hart shares a home in a remote rural town of 134 souls with her adult son and three cats. Her sense of fashion is best described as Early Twenty-First Century Unmade Bed. This disabled former nurse can usually be found arguing with herself about subplots or rehabilitating eldritch horrors.

 

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