Horns by Joe Hill

Stepping in his father's footsteps, Joe Hill is making a name for himself. In 2007, Heart-Shaped Box: A Novel hit the shelves. A paranormal thriller wrapped up in a nicely written piece set me seeking more from this young man.

Oh, I guess some of you may be wondering who this author's father is. Stephen King. Trust me the acorn did not fall far from the tree. Joe Hill pulls you into his stories, gives you great characters, and drags you with him to The End.

Horns is a story of a man who has lost it all. He wakes up one morning with horns, yes horns, growing from his head. The horns cause people to tell him things, awful things, about themselves. They also lead him to discover the villain who took his life and tore it to shreds. There's mystery, humor, a love story, and a murder all wrapped up in the pages of this book.

This author's writing reminds me of the young Stephen King. I have no doubt that Joe Hill will be a big hit in the future.

Help is not always helpful

A few years back I had a lady offer to be my writing coach and teach me how to write. (At no cost, well no money anyway.) It ended up costing me a couple years of my writing career. It is very important to think about the help you are receiving and rather it is helpful or not.

The lady had the best intentions. She just wasn't what I needed in a coach. The signs were there, but I was determined to become a better writer so I continued on my course with her. One day, I woke up and realized that I wasn't getting anywhere on the road I was taking. I thanked her and took a left at the next stop sign.

Have I made progress since? Yes. I may only have one short story published, but I enjoy writing what I write.

You may be wondering what the signs were that I missed.

The largest sign, bright red, was that she did not want me to write anything that she found offensive. I'm a horror writer, yet here I went down a narrow road, in hopes to learn to write.

Another sign was she felt that genre writing was not real writing. Yet, I continued on.

So here I was a horror writer, a genre writer, attempting to write literary work, which I've never read and to be honest did not care to write at all. Yet, I continued on.

Did I learn anything? I believe I came away with a little knowledge. At the end, I knew more about using description to set the scene. But, most of all, I learned if you don't enjoy writing what you write, then there's not much point in it.

My point is for you to be cautious of the help you accept and follow. Not all help is good help. And believe me bad help is not better than any help at all.

Rejection

My short story, 'Friends Forever' has been rejected by Shock Totem. I received a form letter at the beginning of this month for my February Submission.

If nothing else, they are true to their two month response time.

Rome Wasn't Built In A Day

And neither was the story of Star Wars, Harry Potter, or Spider man.

Valuable projects take time.

It is important to remember this when you begin a novel.

You may begin at a rapid pace, but you will reach the middle, and most likely your enthusiasm will dwindle.

You will feel discouraged and wonder why it is taking so long.

You may find that your story has made a left turn and is headed toward the dumpster.

Take a breath. The journey toward a finished novel is a long one. You will need patience. Don't toss it in the trash because you've hit a roadblock. Pause, refresh, and go at it again.

Remember 'Rome was not built in a day.' and neither will your novel be completed.

War of the Words

Last year, my poem 'War of the Words' was accepted by A Long Story Short. It has been published in the April 2010 issue.

If you'd like to read 'War of the Words', go here. It is located near the bottom of the page.

I welcome any feedback you wish to share.

Home Sweet Home

Here is a photo of my new home.

Unfortunately, a few days of no internet service turned into a few weeks.

The day after we moved, we found out there would be a delay in service due to the issue of a necessary bury drop because the line had to go across the road.

The good news is this gave me plenty of time to get everything unpacked without worrying about internet business. Of course, I haven't wrote anything during this time either, which is not good news.

But we are all settled in and I'm geared up to move forward once again.

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter.