From Cover Idea to a Published Story: All the Beautiful Things is a new novella that took time to write

 

 

We authors have different ways of formulating ideas for the books we choose to write. Sometimes we’ll have the idea for the story from beginning to end, an idea for a story based on something we read or dreamed about, or we’ll overhear something that sparks an idea for a story.

 

Or, we’ll get the image of a book cover in our head!

 

That’s exactly what happened with my most recent book, a psychological horror novella called All the Beautiful Things, just released by PsychoToxin Press. Getting the idea for the cover of the book grabbed my curiosity. If you’re curious, the actual cover of the book is pretty much what I saw in my own head! It was that cover, with my name on it, that got me thinking: Exactly what kind of book IS that??

 

It took me a while to find out. In fact, a VERY long while!

 

Sometime after that cover popped into my head, a scene with two characters was next! In the scene, there was a man and a pregnant woman. The man threatened to kill her if she ever ran away from him. He threatened to kill her, cut out the baby, then kill it too. The woman told him he would never get to see the baby. Her baby would live and she would name him QL. The man started mocking that name, saying it was a stupid name and making up fake names that “QL” stood for.

 

The story I ended up writing, though, didn’t include the man and woman. The story was about QL. I was so taken by this very interesting character that baby grew up to be. I got snatches of what QL’s childhood was like as well as his adult years. I also got that he was fixated on his neighbor, Danielle.

 

This all came to me in bits and pieces. At one point, I tried sitting down to write the story, but I could only manage one chapter. Everything else was closed off. So I put it away and went on to write other things and do other things. I just lived life while I waited until I had the whole story.

 

Years later, I came across that chapter again. By then, QL had been stored in the back of my mind, living out his story in my head.

 

What’s interesting is that after I read that chapter I wrote, the rest of the story came to me and I started the next chapter and the next. I didn’t stop writing it until I had the whole story written down.

 

And that is how I managed to finally write the novella now known as All the Beautiful Things. At the time, I felt the story was complete. It was rejected by several publishers. I remembered reading about a publishing company called PsychoToxin Press in the Horror Tree newsletter, so I decided to submit my novella to them. It was accepted last year and now, finally, the cover of the book that popped into my head one day is now the cover of an actual book, which I wrote! Yes, it took me a long time to get this story written and longer to find a publisher for the book, but I’m happy with how it all worked out.

 

I believe that things happen when they are supposed to happen. In an article I read in praise of slow writers, "The Virtue of Slow Writers," writer Lauren Alwan mentioned a book which also supports the art of taking time to write things and writes about a book included in the article “The Art of Slow Writing is a manifesto for giving a book the time it needs, for cultivating patience and connection.” I believe that All the Beautiful Things is a story that took the time it needed to grow and piece itself together. Some books get written quickly, but others need more time to be written. This particular book is one of mine which required some time, and I’m happy I gave it the time it needed, because I am satisfied and thrilled with how the story turned out.

 

Thank you to Christopher Pelton of PsychoToxin Press, cover designer Ruth Anna Evans, and formatter Cat Voleur for all of your hard work in getting All the Beautiful Things published as the book that it was meant to be.

 

Here is the blurb:

 

QL likes to collect heads. Not just any heads, mind. The heads of the things he loves. And he likes to keep them all on his special wall of beautiful things, so that even in death, they can still be his forever.

 

QL Buscemi grew up with a hard life. Abandoned at birth, he was raised by his aunt and uncle in an abusive home. That was until his fixation for collecting the heads of dead animals became a problem. Soon he started talking to a voice in his head and acting strangely around other people. Fed up with his issues, his aunt and uncle place him into a home for "special children," despite its reputation for neglecting patients. There, QL encounters even more abuse, neglect and intolerance for his mental health issues, which only get worse since he refuses to take his medication. He finally leaves "the center" after twenty brutal years.

 

Finally free to live on his own at last, a 31-year-old QL becomes infatuated with his pretty neighbor who lives across the street, 20-year-old Danielle Pinota, who is herself finally free of a home where she was a "second mom" to her kid brother. As QL's attachment to Danielle grows, he wants to get to know her better. And keep her close to him forever. But he has to be careful. He always hurts the things he loves. At least if he hurts Danielle from loving her too much, just like he had with his pets, she could still be his forever ... on his wall of beautiful things.

 

 

And here’s the ebook link

 

Print coming soon!

Scared to Death: New anthology for young readers offers spine-tingling stories of ghosts, vampires, zombies – and more!

 

Shortly after I had a couple of books accepted by PsychoToxin Press, I was brought onboard as Marketing Manager. Then I was invited to submit a short story for an anthology the then YA Editor, Brandon Wills, was putting together for the YA imprint. I was thrilled because I actually had a short story to submit.

 

What was even better is that this particular anthology was a tribute to R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps™ series! I am a huge fan of the series – yes, even as an adult! I just love reading spooky stories meant for all ages. Also, the story I had to submit was inspired by the Goosebumps™ books! (No book in particular; I just got the idea for the story after spending days reading several of the books.) I submitted my short story, “My New (Dead) Best Friend,” and it was accepted. Yay!

 

Then, sometime later, I was informed that Brandon resigned. I was asked if I would take his post as YA Editor and I said yes. (Later, I resigned from my post as Marketing Manager, because it was not possible to juggle the two roles very effectively.) Now I read both YA and middle grade (MG) submissions for PsychoToxin Press.

 

So now not only was I in the anthology (as Dawn Colclasure), but now I was co-editor for it (as Dawn Wilson).

 

Brandon had already edited my story, and thankfully, he took some time to go over my revised story after I revised it per his suggestions. He also worked with me on ideas for a cover for the book. Both he and PsychoToxin founder, Christopher Pelton, helped out to make sure everything was provided so that we could work as a team in getting this anthology filled and edited. Once edits were complete, I sent the stories to each contributor for approval. Some of them requested changes and additions and these were done. Once I had final approval on all stories, it was time to work on the cover!

 

I worked with the cover designer Ruth Anna Evans and she came up with something so amazing that I was super excited to buy copies of this book in the near future just so I could show off such awesomeness.

 

Then I sent the files to Cat Voleur, who was in charge of formatting everything for publication. Cat was up late working on it and emails, as well as messages on Twitter, were sent back and forth. Finally, the formatting work was done. I’m so grateful to Cat for her hard work and time spent on it!

 

The book, Scared to Death, was scheduled for a March 7 release but, unfortunately, there were delays. Today, however, the book is now available! Woo-hoo!

 

Thank you, Christopher Pelton, for entrusting me with this book. Thank you, Brandon Wills, for creating this project and helping me out after stepping down as YA Editor. Thank you, Ruth Anna Evans, for an awesome cover. And thank you, Cat Voleur, for the time you spent on the formatting! It was a pleasure working with you all.

 

Here is the book’s blurb:

 

Vampires! Ghosts! Zombies! RUN FOR YOUR LIFE!! Within the pages of this anthology lurk stories guaranteed to make the hair on the back of your neck stand up! From a cursed game that turns its players into monsters … a ghost cat on a quest for revenge … and killer snowmen on a rampage, these ten terrifying tales will have you sleeping with the lights on! Read these stories, if you dare!

 

This book includes stories from the following contributors:

 

R. Jeanie Burroughs ● Dawn Colclasure ● Marcus Damanda ●William F. Gray ● Michelle John ● Cyan LeBlanc ● Eric McMillion ●Caitlyn Pace ● Sharon Wagner ● Brandon Wills

 

Buy link

 

Check it out on Goodreads

The GHOST Group, Book One, is OUT NOW!!

It's Launch Day for my middle grade paranormal mystery series! Hooray!

The debuting stories in The GHOST Group series, The Ghosts of Sarah Travers and The Crying Valentine, are now available as an ebook! There will be a print edition in the future containing the first 4 stories. Each print book will contain 4 of the 12 stories as they are published. For now, you can read the first two as an ebook in Book One!

I got the idea for this series several years ago. The characters were there, their treehouse was there, but I didn’t have all of the pieces of the story just yet. It was as I was working on the haunted cities book many months later when the whole story came to me. I was curious about what it's like to live in a haunted city and the many accounts from people living in those cities caught my interest! I realized the characters I'd created in that workshop of my mind were part of a ghost hunting team, but instead of finding ghosts, they helped them! But each story would have a theme. Now I knew what kind of series it would be. Each story would center around a holiday for each month of the year – thus why there are 12 stories. I’m playing around with the idea of continuing the series after the 12 are done, with the kids in high school and with the stories on a new theme, but not sure if I’ll move forward with that just yet.

Many thanks to Denise Bartlett and Charlotte Holley of Gypsy Shadow Publishing for accepting this series for publication, as well as Manon Daniels for the amazing cover! I would also like thank Beth Bartlett for her help, as well as my beta readers.

You can check out these stories, The Ghost of Sarah Travers and The Ghost of The Crying Valentine, at this link.

You can also read an excerpt at that link.

Here is the synopsis for each story:

There’s something different about Sarah Town. It’s brimming with ghosts—and some of those ghosts need help! That’s where the GHOST Group comes in—the Ghost Helpers of Sarah Town. The GHOST Group is made up of five 11-year-old team members: Jesse, Jenny, Ryan, Trent, and Cassie.

The Ghost of Sarah Travers is the story about Sarah, who Sarah Town was named after. Her ghost haunts what used to be her home, but can the kids help her find who she is looking for before the town skeptic brings an end to ghosthunting in Sarah Town for good?

The Ghost of the Crying Valentine has the Ghost Group solving the mystery of a sad ghostly girl haunting their school. Rumors about this girl ghost catch the attention of a TV show, and the kids lock horns with the show host as they try to help the crying ghost.


These stories are written for middle grade readers but I hope adult readers will enjoy the stories, too. This is my 13th book!  (I also have an electronic short story published by Gypsy Shadow Publishing.) On an interesting note, this is also my third book in three months this year. April saw the release of Hunter's Upcycling Adventures, in May we had Satyrs Are Cool, and now in June we have The GHOST Group! On another interesting note, all 3 books were written for kids.

I have completed the third story in this series and I'm currently working on fixing up the fourth story. I look forward to seeing more books in this series released in the near future!