Nether Weekend

My Halloween celebration started one week early with a trip to one of the best haunted houses in the country.  Netherworld is a multi leveled haunted house that features amazing special effects, live actors swinging from ceilings, and the most detailed set design I’ve ever seen.

I’m usually not one for haunted houses and I am very easily startled.  Most of the time I have to sleep with my lamp on for a week after watching a scary movie.  No, being terrified is not my idea of “fun.”  However, this is one haunted house that just has to be seen.  So, with my mouth dry as a desert and heart nearly pounding out of my chest I went through the doorway to the first attraction entitled “Raw Meat.”

 

It was very dark in most places with the only light being insane flashes of strobe. You couldn’t see the severed body parts hanging from the ceiling until your face was smacking into them and at one point the floor was so coated in fake blood I could barely pick my feet up.  Charming.  🙂  There were several tight spaces to squeeze through and a swamp area with a grated floor that shook so bad I could barely stand up straight.  My favorite part was the chainsaw weilding asshole who I knew was waiting to chase me out the door.  We’d seen him earlier while waiting in line for tickets and I actually saw one girl hit the ground tripping over herself trying to get away from him.  But they aren’t allowed to touch you at least.

 

The bigger attraction was much more detailed but somehow less scary to me.  It was more impressive and amazing than scary.  Although the creepy man that popped out of the wall and whispered weird devil words in my ear was a  little scary.  Mechanical monsters and giant aliens with snapping jaws were among the more elaborate attractions.  I got up close and personal with one of these attractions as my boyfriend lovingly tried to push me into it’s mouth!  He was rewarded with a swift elbow to the ribs.

Achievement

It feels strange to finally be done with a writing project.  Not that I am actually done, because I’m sure there will be more editing to do, but I’m going to go ahead and give myself a high five anyway. The revising part is not nearly as fun as the initial creating part, but the story is almost unrecognizable from what it started out as being.

I have been a writer for many years but everything except my newest project is just a half finished file on my computer.  I wrote 300 pages of a fantasy novel that I was going to call “The Daughter of Creation,” and then just stopped one day never to pick it back up.  I have a 50 page graphic novel script that has no pictures and countless unpublished short stories.

However, all this has changed now.  No more writing 3o or 50 pages of something, deciding I don’t like it and then starting something else.  I was loaned a very useful book on writing that warned me about doing this.  It said to only work on one project at once or you’ll never finish.  The book was completely right.  I also got some advice from a friend and local author Suza Kates, on planning, the importance of outlining and basically having a blueprint before I start writing.  This was not my style as I preferred to sit down and start typing. My method would maybe get me through the the first thirty pages at which point I would get stuck because I didn’t know where the story was going.

Now I am a changed woman! The 9th Dimension, my paranormal romance novel is coming soon from the very supportive and  understanding publisher ICASM Press.  I haven’t received a release date yet but I will be updating as soon as I know. Yipee!