Category: Posts Page 9 of 10

Don’t worry, it’s just a working title for another novel I’m writing.

It might not be as terrifying as it sounds. But, on the other hand, I’m a horror writer after all. One of the highest compliments a reader can pay me is to say my work truly scared them. It’s something many horror writers strive for, but probably few ever attain. One reader who recently read Rule 14, my latest horror, said she was truly stressed and scared reading the work, which she also enjoyed. After I got over my concern for her mental health, I have to admit I was pretty elated about the compliment.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again; positive feedback is the fuel that keeps my creative fire burning. But, alas I digress. Except for the burning part, or in this case burn-out. I’ve kept such an insane writing schedule this year, the rate of production has started to take a toll on my health. I’ve hit the wall a few times, only to recover for a few days and start anew. I’ve often tweeted; write, write, write. Rest, rinse, repeat. It’s easy to say, quite another to do consistently.

I also found my inspiration waning ever so slightly. Too much time at the keyboards, and not enough time actually living. I started thinking about it recently and realized that an adventure was exactly what I needed to reignite that spark and passion. Isn’ t the story much more poignant if it has its roots in actual experience? I suppose one could debate that until they are blue in the face. But I won’t bother. To my mind, it is, or at least it’s what I need right now to refuel that creative engine, tune it up so it’s firing efficiently and effectively on all cylinders again.

See, experience, enjoy life and write about it; in an exotic and dramatic country.

That’s the plan anyway. Hence, the trip to Ecuador. In a few days, I’ll be leaving the frequently frigid winter of Canada and flying into Ecuador. Quito, to be precise, the capital of the country. I’ll be gone almost two months and it should be plenty of time to explore the many wonders of the most biodiverse country on the planet (it’s said to have more plant and animal species per square mile than any other country in the world).

Sure, a few people say I’m crazy. Things like, “You spent all that time cranking out all those titles, now you should be working hard on marketing them.” To that, I say screw it. With any luck, over time the art will stand on its own. If not, at least I’m enjoying the ride; hell addicted to the ride. Besides, how often will I get an opportunity to travel to a Quichua Indian village deep in the Amazon jungle and witness a traditional shaman healer perform his magic?

Obviously a rhetorical question. We only have one finite life. At least in the physical realm. Who the hell knows what happens after that. And I believe travel is not only the best education a person can get, but in my case a necessary accelerant to refuel my fire for writing; inspire me with dramatic, educational and (let’s hope anyway) compellingly entertaining material.

I plan on spending some time in Quito, a city rich in history and culture, situated high in the Andes and surrounded by picturesque mist-covered mountain peaks. Then it’s off to The Oriente, a vast jungle landmass with unparalleled biodiversity and spectacular awe-inspiring, raw beauty. Nature, truly at its finest.

Also on the itinerary is The Galapagos Islands, a wonder of nature that, according to Lonely Planet, “might inspire you to think differently about the world…Nowhere else can you engage in a staring contest with wild animals and lose.” The animals have no fear of humans.

Also on the list is the big modern city of Guayaquil, the gateway to the Costa Del Sol, where Esmeraldas, Isla de la plata ( the poor person’s Galapagos), Montanita, Canoa and Manta make the cut but not necessarily in that order. The beauty of the itinerary is that it is not etched in stone. If I like a particular place, I may just decide to hang around a little longer. I know that after the initial sightseeing burst of activity, I’ll be looking to lock in a peaceful hotel by the beach in some sparsely-populated village where I can admire the ocean view daily and tap into its seductive beauty to inspire the creation of more words.

Perhaps more important than the sights, I hope to meet locals and pick their brains to find out what makes them tick, what are the things they hold dear to their hearts, what motivates them, and what are they really like on the inside. I’ve often said when the world becomes too boring, mundane or stressful, I tend to retreat into the familar comfort of my wild imagination. But not this time. This time, I’ll also be retreating into a country vibrantly alive with beauty, culture and history and a resilient people who, so I’ve read, are inherently friendly and happy for the most part.

At least I can talk the talk (it’s a Spanish speaking country and I’m fortunate to be conversant in the language). Time will tell if I can walk the walk. But the journey has already started. In Terror In Ecuador, 17,000 words later, the stage has been set for my arrival in Ecuador. The story will unfold as my adventure unfolds. Perhaps reality will be stranger than fiction. And the beauty of creating that way, is it’s unstructured, passionately raw and real; elements many writers claim constitute the ingredients of a good yarn. Look at Hunter S. Thompson.

Who knows, on Christmas day, I might find myself having dinner with a poor Ecuadorian family and I might be the one playing Santa Claus bearing gifts and food. To truly be able to provide for others less fortunate on this important holiday would surely bring me a joy and satisfaction unmatched by any Canadian Christmas celebration.

Without further adieu, let the adventure begin.

Happy holidays! Feel free to offer comments, advice or travel tips in the comments section below.

And, as always, thanks for stopping by.

They have been called the toughest race on Earth. “The greatest race the world has never seen (Christopher McDougall). ” They are a mysterious, peaceful and spiritual race of people who live off the land and have largely resisted the exploitatve advances of modern day civilization and a commercial economy. They can drink excessive amounts of corn beer well into the night, wake up the next morning and effortlessly run barefoot sixty miles or more through treacherous mountain terrain (you wouldn’t want to see me the morning after excessive drinking). They have been called the greatest runners on Earth. They are the personification of the notion of a simple life, wildly juxtaposed with our desire to accumulate material possessions and complicate our life with the stresses of modern day society.

Who are they? They are the Tarahumara Indians.

They live in what some travelers call a hostile and unforgiving landscape, the Sierra Madre Occidental or Sierra Tarahumara mountain range in the state of Chihuahua, Mexico. They number about 70,000 and most still practice a traditional lifestyle, living in cliff overhangs, caves, or in some cases small cabins constructed of wood or stone.

Their staple crops are corn, beans and squash and they rarely eat meat, knowing that if their supply of food gets destroyed by the elements or rodents, they may need to trade a sheep or goat for more food supplies. Since their average life span is forty-five years, a live goat could mean the difference between life or death.

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I’ve always been fascinated by the paranormal. Growing up, my mother used to tell us she would occasionally hear someone shovelling coal into the basement furnace. Only problem was, the furnace had long ago been converted to oil. But she insisted she heard the scraping of a shovel in the middle of the night. And she was convinced the ghost of a former resident was going through the motions of insuring his family, or our family, stayed warm and toasty through the night.

It didn’t take me long to develop an interest in the sound. And I swear, a few nights, standing shakily outside the basement door entrance, I too heard the scraping sound of a shovel and the unmistakable sound of something being dumped, kind of an eerie gravelly sound. Needless to say, at six-years-old, I was far too petrified to venture into the basement to the source.

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Scott Nicholson, a best-selling indie author, has written more than twenty novels, about eighty short stories, comic series, children’s books, screenplays and a couple of non-fiction books. Prolific is an understatement when describing this successful author of horror, mystery and suspense thrillers.

Living in the Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina, Nicholson tends an organic garden, successfully eludes stalkers, and lives the dream, creating at a furious pace and winning awards for his work.

His latest release, The Home, takes place in a group home for troubled children. Experiments lead to paranormal activity and ghosts appear from the home’s dark past as an insane asylum. The Home is currently being developed as a feature film.

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J.L. Doty is a successful indie author with a clean, crisp narrative style that catapults his characters right off the pages. Born in Seattle, he now makes his home in California.

From a very early age he made up stories in his head, but never considered writing for a living. So he got a Ph.D. in optical engineering, and went to work as a research scientist. But he was still making up stories in his head, so he wrote the first draft of A Choice of Treasons, and, according to Doty, “It was 250,000 words of pure, unmitigated crap. It was terrible: poorly written, poorly plotted, shallow characters that no reader could come to care about. It was the hardest decision I ever made, but I literally threw it away and turned to other projects.”

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What do you do if you’re backed into a corner? Your life or the lives of your loved ones is threatened. Or, your livelihood is threatened? Do you fight, flee or freeze, a new possibility now incorporated into studies on the fight-or-flight mechanism?

Unless you’ve been tested, which many of us have, it’s hard to predict a given response to a life-threatening situation. And you might have reacted one way previously, but what if the new threat is far more dangerous and deadly than any previous threat? How would you respond?

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With all the buzzwords related to internet marketing these days, it’s no wonder people get confused. Blogs, blog posts, podcasts, hashtags, status updates, WIP (work in progress, so you know) likes, unlikes, follows, unfollows, bitly your urls, hootesuite, subscribe, unsubscribe, friend, unfriend and tag (you’re it).

Wow! It’s enough to make any newbie want to angrily smash their computer to smithereens.

Get a platform, we keep hearing. Build a good marketing platform and the wave of gold will flow right into your living room and saturate your pockets. But, what the hell is a platform anyway, you ask? Can I stand on it? Will it hold me up? How do I build one?

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Chapter One

 “Where am I?”

“You’re in a hole.”

“I know, but where am I? Where’s the hole?”

“You don’t know? How many times do I have to tell you?”

“Would you mind telling me again?”

“You’re on Earth, or what’s left of it.”

“What’s Earth?”

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 Chapter One

Kathleen Freeborne opened her eyes slowly to bright lights shining intrusively from overhead. Where am I? How long have I been here? What happened? She strained her aching mind to try and make sense of events but initially nothing came to her that made any sense, only disconnected images, some violent and surreal. She knew one thing—her head throbbed from a hangover.

I’m in you and you’re in me.

She felt her heart rate quicken, took deep breaths to try and slow it down, something her counselor Betty Shifert, a recent addition to her life, had told her would help. She blinked and studied her unfamiliar surroundings, a private hospital room. Where? She picked up a food menu sitting on a serving table next to her bed, flipped it over and read the back: King’s County Memorial Hospital, Montague, PEI.

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