So I was asked to work today (Saturday) because I work for a company that deals with taxation and immigration, and a big tax day is fast approaching (if you haven’t filed already, your tax return is due Monday, April 18th or April 19th if you’re in MA).
The company was afraid there’d be hoards of people pounding our doors needing assistance with their returns.
I’ve had one e-mail.
What a let down.
I won’t say that I haven’t been keeping myself busy though, because I have. I’ve gone through all my e-mails (both personal work related and the central mail box messages relating to tax returns), I’ve entered some data on a client into our several databases, I’ve backed up said databases and I’m sitting (2 hrs deep so far) on an inquiry archive. I kind of feel like Jack Torrance being all alone in this large office building, things echoing, printers turning on and off (making their rumbling/whirring sounds). It’s interesting.
I’m on my lunch break and wondering about genres. There are authors out there that seem to stick with one genre. Stephen King with horror/suspense, Susanna Carr with romance/women’s fiction, and now even Stephenie Meyer with her paranormal romance books.
Me … what kind of genre writer am I?
I’m not entirely sure. My first book is coming-of-age (I guess), I’ve got short stories that could be horror, romance or something else, From Heaven could sort of be considered paranormal romance (if you call angels paranormal), and The Last Curl is coming-of-age too (I think). When I wrote The Kindness and set out to publish it, I wanted it to be inspiring. I wanted it to have words that lifted off the page and set into real life. Yes, not everything is honky-dory or a fairytale ending, but neither is the book – really.
So where does my horror dabbling fit in?
I don’t really know. I was told you really shouldn’t mix genres if you’re an author. That is, unless you have a pen name. Nora Roberts has one – she’s actually got four (including Nora Roberts – which isn’t her ‘real’ name). M. R. Mathias has one also to separate his children’s fiction from his horror fiction. So I’ve decided (and I’m sure I’ve posted this in another blog somewhere down there) I’m going to use a pen name to separate my attempts at horror.
In high school I wrote for our literary magazine, Stylus Magazine. (Actually, the reason for that was because my English teacher was a major hottie and any time I could spend with him was gravy! I knew there was a boundary between teachers and students, and I respected that. I just enjoyed being in his presence.) So to not embarrass myself, and to not have classmates make fun of me for my writing attempts (in case they were truly horrible), I used a pen name.
How, at the tender age of 14, did I come up with that name?
Well, I was watching or reading an interview on Kelsey Grammer (you know, the beloved actor from Cheers!) and I saw that he had a daughter named Spencer. I immediately fell in love with the name.
Also, I was once told by someone (upon receiving a rejection from Scholastic, but can’t remember who) that women in the publishing world didn’t receive a lot of respect. That the big-wigs in publishing wanted to keep things in a ‘mans’ world, and I was told to come up with a masculine name to hide my gender. (You’ve got to understand I was only 14, young and impressionable. I didn't know anything about publishing back then.)
So I knew I wanted ‘Spencer’ to be my first name, but what would I use for a last name? I thought about this and thought about it. Then I remembered a very feminine person; a very wildly sexy and creative person, Joan Collins. Her last name was PERFECT! Not only would I have a little piece of her and her attitude (she WAS Alexis on Dynasty after all). ALSO, Collins is a very popular name (I can name at least four people I know, not even related, who have that last name).
My thinking, no one would ever guess it was me and that was my intent.
I wanted to hear people’s comments after they read the magazine, and I wanted to be able to giggle when they’d ask around, ‘Who’s Spencer Collins? Is that a new kid in school?’
Only Mr. Stahler and I would know the truth. *snicker, snicker*
With that little history being shared with you, I’d like to say that I will be releasing a short horror story collection very soon. The title of the book will be , Sensing Evil (thanks to Glendon S. Haddix of www.streetlightgraphics.com for not only coming up with the best, sexiest cover ever, but for also pulling that title from out of his bag of tricks). And this new collection will be released under my pen name, Spencer Collins.
If you’d like a taste of what to expect … for a VERY brief time (and I mean once the book is released, this page will no longer work) you can read one of the shorts right now (unedited): TOUCH
Be forewarned, it does contain graphic descriptions of sex, some violence and can be considered disturbing. I’m curious to hear what you all might think …
I’ve had one e-mail.
What a let down.
I won’t say that I haven’t been keeping myself busy though, because I have. I’ve gone through all my e-mails (both personal work related and the central mail box messages relating to tax returns), I’ve entered some data on a client into our several databases, I’ve backed up said databases and I’m sitting (2 hrs deep so far) on an inquiry archive. I kind of feel like Jack Torrance being all alone in this large office building, things echoing, printers turning on and off (making their rumbling/whirring sounds). It’s interesting.
I’m on my lunch break and wondering about genres. There are authors out there that seem to stick with one genre. Stephen King with horror/suspense, Susanna Carr with romance/women’s fiction, and now even Stephenie Meyer with her paranormal romance books.
Me … what kind of genre writer am I?
I’m not entirely sure. My first book is coming-of-age (I guess), I’ve got short stories that could be horror, romance or something else, From Heaven could sort of be considered paranormal romance (if you call angels paranormal), and The Last Curl is coming-of-age too (I think). When I wrote The Kindness and set out to publish it, I wanted it to be inspiring. I wanted it to have words that lifted off the page and set into real life. Yes, not everything is honky-dory or a fairytale ending, but neither is the book – really.
So where does my horror dabbling fit in?
I don’t really know. I was told you really shouldn’t mix genres if you’re an author. That is, unless you have a pen name. Nora Roberts has one – she’s actually got four (including Nora Roberts – which isn’t her ‘real’ name). M. R. Mathias has one also to separate his children’s fiction from his horror fiction. So I’ve decided (and I’m sure I’ve posted this in another blog somewhere down there) I’m going to use a pen name to separate my attempts at horror.
In high school I wrote for our literary magazine, Stylus Magazine. (Actually, the reason for that was because my English teacher was a major hottie and any time I could spend with him was gravy! I knew there was a boundary between teachers and students, and I respected that. I just enjoyed being in his presence.) So to not embarrass myself, and to not have classmates make fun of me for my writing attempts (in case they were truly horrible), I used a pen name.
How, at the tender age of 14, did I come up with that name?
Well, I was watching or reading an interview on Kelsey Grammer (you know, the beloved actor from Cheers!) and I saw that he had a daughter named Spencer. I immediately fell in love with the name.
Also, I was once told by someone (upon receiving a rejection from Scholastic, but can’t remember who) that women in the publishing world didn’t receive a lot of respect. That the big-wigs in publishing wanted to keep things in a ‘mans’ world, and I was told to come up with a masculine name to hide my gender. (You’ve got to understand I was only 14, young and impressionable. I didn't know anything about publishing back then.)
So I knew I wanted ‘Spencer’ to be my first name, but what would I use for a last name? I thought about this and thought about it. Then I remembered a very feminine person; a very wildly sexy and creative person, Joan Collins. Her last name was PERFECT! Not only would I have a little piece of her and her attitude (she WAS Alexis on Dynasty after all). ALSO, Collins is a very popular name (I can name at least four people I know, not even related, who have that last name).
My thinking, no one would ever guess it was me and that was my intent.
I wanted to hear people’s comments after they read the magazine, and I wanted to be able to giggle when they’d ask around, ‘Who’s Spencer Collins? Is that a new kid in school?’
Only Mr. Stahler and I would know the truth. *snicker, snicker*
With that little history being shared with you, I’d like to say that I will be releasing a short horror story collection very soon. The title of the book will be , Sensing Evil (thanks to Glendon S. Haddix of www.streetlightgraphics.com for not only coming up with the best, sexiest cover ever, but for also pulling that title from out of his bag of tricks). And this new collection will be released under my pen name, Spencer Collins.
If you’d like a taste of what to expect … for a VERY brief time (and I mean once the book is released, this page will no longer work) you can read one of the shorts right now (unedited): TOUCH
Be forewarned, it does contain graphic descriptions of sex, some violence and can be considered disturbing. I’m curious to hear what you all might think …
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