Halloween Treat - Cherie Reich interview and giveaway

Happy Halloween!

No tricks today. I'm giving everyone a fantastic treat.

Please welcome my good friend and critique partner, Cherie Reich.

She's willing to fill someone's treat bag with a copy of her horror story, Once Upon a December Nightmare.

Cherie has so kindly agreed to do an interview. My first interview! Thankfully she knows me well enough to forgive all my quirks in trying to conduct a proper interview. I won't waste any more time. Let's jump right into it!

I know that Once Upon a December Nightmare was inspired by something that happened to you. What's the short version?

Cherie: It's loosely based on true events. In late December 2002, my friends and I were going to go to a movie and out to dinner. The movie was sold out, so we ate at Subway and went riding around some country roads. We went up this trail along the Jefferson National Forest and the truck broke down. We had to walk to the main road to call my dad to pick us up. The entire way I talked about all that could go wrong--aliens, mass murderers, big foot, wild animals, etc. I think I scared everyone, but it made me feel better. More prepared. It also made a good story to write later on. Also, the dead deer in the clearing are a true fact. Creepy. Seriously.

That's frightening! I'm sure you had your friends jumping at every little noise. What about the horror genre interests you?

Cherie: Not that I think I'll meet up with a vampire or zombie or something anytime soon, but I love reading horror and thinking "what would I do" in that situation. How would I survive to the end? I love to see who can live. Who dies. I suppose I just like to be prepared. Perhaps it's the former Girl Scout in me. 

I'm the same way. Why do you think people like to be scared?

Cherie: I think people like the thrill. A lot about horror and scary stories includes intense emotions. It's a high and rush. It gets the adrenaline flowing without having to exercise. 

I definitely like the rush! What was your first introduction to horror literature?

Cherie: My very first introduction to horror was R.L. Stine's GOOSEBUMPS series. Then, I graduated to Stephen King. Both can be scary.

King is my favorite. He's a horror genius. Any tips for writing scary stories?

Cherie: Pacing, pacing, pacing. Keep an eye on it. Know when to prolong the tension and when to speed it up. Short sentences can pack a lot of punch. Also, know what scares you and find ways to show people that terror.

Great tips! Finally, what is your favorite Halloween treat?

Cherie: Halloween is great for candy, but I do like having some candy corn around Halloween. It's something I look forward to each year.

Thank you, Cherie. Now on to the giveaway! One lucky winner will win her e-book, Once Upon a December Nightmare. Just leave a comment below with your email address. The winner will be picked by Random.org. Also, three people will win postcards signed by Cherie. You have until Thursday at midnight to enter. The winners will be announced on Friday.

Have a safe and fun Halloween!

Author Bio: Cherie Reich is a writer, freelance editor, book blogger, and library assistant. She enjoys writing horror, fantasy, and mysteries, but she doesn't let that stop her from trying other genres. Her short stories have appeared in magazines and anthologies, and her e-book Once Upon a December Nightmare was published in August 2010 by Wild Child Publishing. She is a member of the Virginia Writers Club and Valley Writers and placed third in Roanoke Valley's BIG READ writing contest. When she isn't writing short stories, flash fiction, and blogging, she's working on her work-in-progress novels.

Author Links:
Website http://cheriereich.webs.com
Blog http://cheriereich.blogspot.com
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/authorcheriereich
Twitter http://twitter.com/#!/bookworm0753

Blurb:

They were only going out to dinner and a movie.

But when their plans go astray, friends Cassie, Mary, Denise, and James decide to take a detour down a lonely mountain road. A felled tree blocks their passage and forces them to turn around in a clearing containing a disturbing arrangement of four deer carcasses.

But when their truck breaks down, and their cell phones don't work, they must brave the cold December air, nightfall, and a long hike. Yet this is the least of their troubles. Tension runs high between the four young friends…and they are not alone. Each step brings them closer to safety, but will they make it to the main road alive?

Chocolate for the rejected, please

I queried my latest WIP and I was rejected. Rejected fast and hard.

Right now I'm eating chocolate and ice cream, feeling like it isn't worth it in the end. The rejection depression is not good right when NaNoWriMo is due to start. I lost the desire for it. I ask myself why I bother when I'm never going to be good enough.

I know when Tuesday rolls around, I'll force myself to start up on NaNoWriMo even if I'm still feeling depressed. I have no doubt I'll get caught up in it and let that creative rush bring me back my love of writing. Even if it isn't NaNoWriMo, it will be another story. My compulsion to write, the ecstasy of it, always comes back.

It's just at moments like this that I feel the lowest of the low.

I aimed high. I queried the number one epublisher of romance. I'll go over my cover letter, synopsis and manuscript again. I'll query the number two press next.

I also wanted to let everyone know that my posts will be shorter and less frequent in November. Some posts might just be my NaNo word count for the day. I won't be able to read and comment on blogs as often either. Most of you know how NaNoWriMo consumes you. Please don't think I've forgotten about you. Come December, I'll be making the rounds routinely again.

Good luck to everyone doing NaNoWriMo! The buddy tool still isn't working. I hope they get it fixed soon.

Update: A big thank you to Josh Hoyt and Krista for giving me The Versatile Blogger Award. You made me smile today.

Saturday Snapshot for October 29th

Saturday Snapshot is hosted by Alyce over at At Home With Books.

There's my adorable little bat.

You can only imagine how many times it took to get a decent picture!

Posed pictures are great, but I like random in-the-moment shots best.

He likes autumn as much as I do.

Any pile of leaves I make gets immediately destroyed!

Halloween Treat Tease

On Monday, I'll have a special Halloween treat for everyone. It includes a

GIVEAWAY!

Here's a little peek of what it will be:

Be there or else.

Or else you'll miss out on an awesome treat!

Wicked Wednesday - demons

Vampires have their sensuous bite. Shapeshifters have their animal magnetism. Then you think demons and the fearsome red skinned devil comes to mind. Yet demons can have sinfully hot bodies, unlimited powers and immense hearts to entice not only the protagonist but the reader into temptation.

Demons are my favorite paranormal romance characters. Sometimes I like to read about the traditional Christian version of angels and demons, but the nontraditional versions are endless. A writer can stretch her imagination any number of ways. Demons from different dimensions, a secret world right under the feet of humans, within human bodies themselves. Not every demon lurks in the dark shadows. Some don't shun the sun, but revel in it clad only in enough clothing to be considered barely legal.

Readers do expect familiarity. The trick is to add your original spin onto something that they know. Have one form that is human in appearance while the other is monstrous. The dark personality mixed with compassion and vulnerability. Demons can have souls. They can be good. They can love.

Do you like to read about demons who can love or do you prefer them to stick to being the bad guys? What are some of your favorite paranormal romances that feature demons?

My favorite: Barrons from Karen Marie Moning's Fever series.

Another friendly Halloween reminder: join me Monday for a special treat!

Teaser Tuesday with Please Ignore Vera Dietz

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Please Ignore Vera Dietz by A.S. King is one of the prizes I won from the First Campaign Challenge. I've heard great things about it. It's not something I would have picked up on my own, but the premise intrigued me. I've only read the first few pages. Please don't tell me how it ends! Well, maybe you can give me a hint.

 Here's your teaser:

"But you even know she's a mythomaniac!" I said.

"Stop using those big words. You sound like a fu@king geek." (page 53)

Revising, planning and deciding

This week I'll be doing some more revisions on my latest WIP. Hopefully I'll get the majority of it done before November. I might send out my first query for it on the weekend. The cover letter and synopsis have been worked over about ten times now. Are they perfect? No. I don't think I'll ever get a cover letter and synopsis perfect, but they're good. Much better than what I started with.

I did some planning for my NaNo novel. I usually don't plan ahead and I'm finding it difficult to do so. I gathered a list of names and monsters from the net. This will keep me from searching for something online when I should be writing. I have all the main characters named, described and generally settled into the plot. That really means I know who the good guys and bad guys are. I know the general overall plot. I know how it will start and how it will end. The middle, well, I have no idea. I tried to plan out each event, but after the first five, my muse smacked me with a stop sign. I'm not allowed to know until I get there. That's how it usually goes with my writing. I know it might drive some people bonkers, but I like the surprise. I like just writing and seeing where it takes me. Do my stories make sense that way? Yes, they do. Somehow I'm able to keep everything together. Sometimes I'm jealous of the plotters, because it seems it would be much easier in the long run. Yet I'm happy to be a pantser. (I really wish there was a different word for that!)

I still haven't decided on a Halloween costume yet. I went out this weekend, but there wasn't anything that caught my eye that I could afford. I thought about just going in a silly outfit as a character from someecards with a little poster board around my neck with the sarcastic saying. Ah, those ecards make me laugh!

 

 My other idea was making a big poster with a hole cut out for my head and design it as a MySpace page for a zombie. When I don't get enough sleep, I look like the dead!

Finally, please come by on Halloween when I'll have a special treat for you.