Eldritch Thoughts Hits 100

Monday was a good day for me. I logged onto Eldritch Thoughts and saw I hit the 100 follower mark. At the time, I had 102 posts. Take out all the none quote posts out and I have had roughly a new follower for every post since I restarted the project. I’m absolutely amazed! Add to that the people following on the Facebook page and the Twitter account, and there were 193. All I can say is thank you to all of you reading.

The project started as just a way to get my mind back into writing and creating ideas after my transplant. The first version was crazy as I tried to build a storyline under the humor. Bad idea. It quickly got to the point when I was more concerned about mapping out plot points that the humor fizzled. The few that read it then were there for the humor and nothing else. Why mess with a good thing?

After a break, I came back to it. I moved it to Tumblr and kept the twitter and face book accounts open as feeds. I didn’t want to alienate that already enjoyed it. I wanted to give them better content. But I had learned something from my blog here. It is also something that I have been lacking the last few months.

Consistency.

Back before the transplant, I did my best to have two posts a week. Tuesdays and Fridays new there was going to be something here for them. After I started doing that, I saw the hits climb to my best so far. When I decided to re-start Eldritch Thoughts, I wanted to see if could make it “Appointment Blogging,” for lack of a better term. One post a day, at a time during the day when I thought most people I know would catch it. So I set a schedule and I stuck to it. Since then, people keep finding it and many of the re-blogs, re-tweets, and likes are around the time it posts. Is it working? I can’t say except anecdotally.

I’m at a point now, though, where I’m thinking of the future of Eldritch Thoughts. When I started it, I had the thought of creating small humor books a lot like the Deep Thoughts books that inspired the project. Technically, I could compile what I’ve done so far and have enough for a similar book. Of course I wouldn’t do that. I’d add new stuff that no ones seen as well. Anyways, I really thought if I did, I would have to do it myself. I can’t think of a publisher that would do a humorous horror coffee-table book. Unfortunately, I can’t find a service that does the small books. So I have a feeling, I’m going to have to start looking for an actual publisher to print this book. It may be a while until the book comes, but it is next big goal for Eldritch Thoughts.

And again, thank you to all that have been reading. You all keep me going to give you more of what you love.

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Eldritch Thoughts

Some of you might have stumbled upon a project late last year called Eldritch Thoughts. It was something I started to get my head back into the writing game. I only did it for three months. Each week there was a blog post, soon followed by translator notes. Every day there was a tweet. All of it centered on humorous wisdom give by Cthulhu and translated by a character of mine, Enrich von Brandt. There were a few reasons I stopped the project.

The first was that it did what I wanted it to. It got me back into doing regular updates and creating new ideas to write about. Second, my idea was much bigger than I had planned it and I wasn’t ready for the next step. I had wanted to tell a tale of the translator going mad from reading all these Cthulhu texts. And I may do that at some point. It is a great idea and there is a lot of things to play with. Lastly, it was soon taking up the time I wanted to use for my other writing.

So I put it on hold for a while, but I’m going to bring it back.

There are a few changes. The biggest is that I’m going to consolidate the blog and tweet portions onto a Tumblr account. The Twitter and Facebook page will stay up and Tumblr will send everything to both those accounts so no one has to join Tumblr to follow it. Through out this new run I will re-post all old posts and tweets so anyone that hasn’t seen them doesn’t have to go through both the tweet stream and the blog. Third, there wouldn’t be a underlying story, at least for know. I’m going to plan for at least one new post a day. This way, though, I’m not splitting myself between two places because of character count.

So, for those that enjoyed the “pilot” of Eldritch Thoughts, I can assure you more of the same. For those new to it, I hope you enjoy it and see that even Great Old Ones have their eccentricities.

A Year Later

It has been a long year. The operation took up most of it. The recovery has been long and, in a way still, ongoing. Still having a problem with my legs. So, that’s keeping me from doing a lot of things. Since therapy hasn’t been working for a while, it was stopped and now I’m getting set for some neurological tests to figure out what’s going on.

I’m hoping to be able to get back to Seton Hill to get the M.F.A. program. I want to aim for June, but not knowing how fast my legs are going to get better, I may have to wait for the next January Residency.

Since it was after Necon that my leg trouble really seemed to become a problem, it will be iffy if I will be doing any cons this year. But if I do, Necon is closest to definite. The next would be the Shroud convention that is premiering this summer. There are other places I would really like to be: WHC Austin, Stoker Weekend, and Context.

As far as writing goes, I have word that Dead Bells will hopefully be out for this year. I really can’t wait to see what other people think of “January.” Unlike “The Tethering” where I just came up with a storyline and wrote it, “January” has a lot more thought behind each element of the story. It was struggle for me not to over think as I wrote it. It’s one of my favorite stories I’ve written and hope others will enjoy it too. Other writing projects are in mixed stages. Since this past year’s goal of getting two accepted stories was pushed back with everything else, that will be my writing goal this coming year. I’d like to get a novelette or a novella written too.

The year has been marked with different projects related to writing. From finishing my time with Sonar4 to helping start up The Non-Horror Reader Survey, I have tried to keep myself busy. NHRS is coming up to the first quarterly results and I’m anxious for the response to the data so far. I also hope to get back to a regular schedule of posts here. One reason was the recuperation, the other was just being out of practice. Before last December, I was on a roll and it was easy (now that I look back at it) to get 2 posts a week. Now just getting two a month is a task. So, I can’t say starting next week it will be like the old days, but I’ll be working back to that. I think there will be more reviews of tv, movies, and games here and, as I get back to my reading pace, more reading journal entries.

It was a long year, but I’m lucky since it could have been a year that never happened. A sobering thought, but also an invigorating one to make every choice important this next year and all the years that come after.

Have a Happy New Year and don’t make resolutions this year. I’ll tell you why next time.

Non-Horror Reader Survey

I just wanted to let everyone know about an effort that has recently started up. It’s called The Non-Horror Reader Survey. There are a lot of stereotypes and misconceptions of the Horror genre that seem to still haunt, no pun intended, writers, editors, and publishers.

What the site hopes to do is be a place where those that don’t read or tend to read Horror can answer a few questions about what they think about Horror. That way, those in the genre can see an ever-growing look of the genre outside of itself. It will also be a place where those in the genre can then come and set the record straight on issues about the genre that may be driving people away or not letting them test more grounds in Horror fiction.

Right now, there is not much but the survey and a place for anyone to add their thoughts on Horror that weren’t covered in the survey. November will be the start of interviews. There are plans to spotlight books key to the genre, evolving the genre, and those mislabeled as Horror and why they aren’t. There will also be posts highlighting other sites, people, or organizations doing something to help broad understanding of the Horror genre.

So, if you don’t read much or any horror, or have friends and family that don’t, take a few minutes to take the survey. Afterwards, keep going back to see the results grow and hopefully learn something new about Horror fiction.

Onwards and Upwards

So I know quite a few people have been wondering what been going on with me. I know, majorly long time since anything from me. Not even one of my ill fated Big Blog Posts to fill in the weeks since my last post. To be honest, for the most part there wasn’t much to update.

Physical therapy is kicking my butt, I had a lot of muscle atrophy when I was in the hospital. Most of the week is recovering and resting from the 2 hours I do a week. I had a bit of a SNAFU with my white bloods cells not too long after my last post that has taken almost up until now to fix. There was a lot of changes in meds, treatments to get my white blood cells back to normal. So, its been busy, but nothing noteworthy. Or at least I didn’t think it was. I was just planning to stay out of things till i was back to about 75% again.

But I have some fairly big news. One is that for an indeterminate amount of time, this will be the last personal post here. If I have news or info that about my writing, I’ll post, but I’ll soon have my hands full that I just won’t have the time to keep this up to date.

The reason for that is I will soon be working over at Choate Road in a more significant role. Also, I think the July update of Choate Road will be the last Prescott’s Pulpit. We have some really fun and interesting things being worked on over there so keep your eyes peeled, because I promise that before summer is over, big things are going to happen there.

Other than that, just still recuperating from the transplant, trying to make sure I can get to Necon in July. I hoping to be able to stand for extended periods of time before I get there. There is a lot of standing at Necon.

So, for now, as He-Man said in the movie,

Good Journey,

W. D. Prescott