The snow's a fallin'

I’m sitting here watching the snow fall. Some of you know I live in the mountains of Southwest Virginia, and we generally have quite a bit of snow each winter. Up until 15 months ago, we lived in an isolated area, on a gravel road far, far, far off of the highways and it was not uncommon to be snowed in for a few days at a time during the winter. To give you an idea of what the winding, hilly back roads were like, our first winter there, my car slide into a ditch not far from home and I called every tow truck operator in the county. Each said “Oh, I know that road. We’ll come get you when the snow melts.”

In November of 2010 we moved in town (much to my chagrin, it was not by choice we had to leave), but the up side of that is we rarely are snowed in for more than a day. Even with the snow, I’m only a tenth of a mile off of a major road that the highway department keeps fairly clear. This winter we’ve had no significant snowfall – in those past winters, we often had a few 12-inch or greater snows, and three years ago the ground was white from early November until mid-March.

One of my goals is to reach a point where I can write fulltime, from home.  When I get there, snow will be no big deal. Until then, when the white stuff begins falling, my main concern is usually how I’m going to get out for work.

For today, though, I’ll sit and write (well, revise, actually) while the snow falls. I'll concern myself with getting out tomorrow.

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On Wednesday of this week I’ll have an interview with author, editor, and geocacher Stephen Mark Rainey. To give you a quick run-down, for ten years Mark edited one of the best small press magazine around, Deathrealm. He’s written a half-dozen novels, including one built on the Dark Shadows mythos, and he’s seen nearly 100 of his short stories in publication. To learn more about his writing career, his favorite restaurant, his preference of Mary Ann or Ginger (for you Gilligan Island fans), and much more about Mr. Rainey, come on back to my blog on Wednesday, Feb. 22.

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On the basketball front (remember, I coach a girls high school basketball team), our team went into the playoffs this past weekend. We were shorthanded, with our leading rebounder out sick, and we fell behind the No. 1 seeded team Friday night by 20 points in the third quarter, but my players rallied, sent the game into overtime and won!

Saturday, still short-handed, we gave it a good go, but the team we were playing was huge – two players six-foot or taller, and a couple of others pretty good sized. Again, we fell behind by 18, pulled within six, but fell short. By virtue of finishing in the final two in the regionals, we advance to the final four in the state, where we’ll still have a shot at the state title!

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Don’t forget my blog contest this month, giving you the chance to win your choice of a trade paperback copy of the Stoker-nominated Horror Library Vol. 2 (including my story “Extra Innings,”) or a paperback copy of the recently released Night Terrors 2 (including my story “A Mother’s Love.”)

All you have to do to enter is join this blog by listing yourself as someone who is following me, AND leave a comment on this blog at some point during February. Some have joined, some have left a comment, but you must do both!

For those who were already members of my blog before February, all you have to do is leave a comment, here on my blog. At the end of the month, I’ll put all the entries into a hat and draw a winner!