M.J. Southworth

[m-l-rio]

The good plot twists aren't the ones that are wild left turns out of nowhere, they're the ones that make all the other little things that didn't quite add up before suddenly click

[mj-southworth]

So, rejection. Every writer goes through it. But lately it's been really crippling me. I sit down to write and I find myself second guessing everything. Will people want to read this? Is my grammar perfect? Am I in passive voice again? Is there even a market for this? Why even work on another novel when you have three finished, unpublished ones?

It's been maddeningly unhelpful, and I don't know what to do about it other then write things I know are unmarketable from the start, like fanfiction or scenes from my pathfinder campaign. And yet even then I feel guilty for not furthering my goals.

Its an insidious, depressing pit.

[mj-southworth]

Well hey, it’s BetaPitchWeek. I’m going to try and give it a shot with the YA horror novel i wrote during quarantine.

https://www.betapitchweek.com/

[mj-southworth]

Well hey, I finished editing my novels so while I try to find them a home its time to get back to writing! Let's see if I can break that Covid Writers block XD

[mj-southworth]

It's here!

Monsters in Spaaaace! [Michael Cieslak] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. One of the most common fears is the fear of the

[mj-southworth]

Monsters in Spaaaace!

A collection of short fiction in which classic monsters terrorize a space setting.

I’m very excited to have a short story appear in this anthology! Not only is it sci-fi and monsters, but some of the proceeds are going to help animals! Check out the kickstarter if you can, there are some really cool rewards.

[mj-southworth]

Re-blogging from my professional blog

[mj-southworth]

Monsters in Spaaaace!

A collection of short fiction in which classic monsters terrorize a space setting.

I’m very excited to have a short story appear in this anthology! Not only is it sci-fi and monsters, but some of the proceeds are going to help animals! Check out the kickstarter if you can, there are some really cool rewards.

[alsafysh]

The Addams family was, in fact, both magical and supernatural for its depiction of a healthy, loving, supportive, and fun married m/f couple.

[alsafysh]

This is now officially an Addams family appreciation post

[alsafysh]

In order to depict such purity and love in a m/f relationship, one must first set the foundation that these people are odd and not the norm. (per media standards)

They cared about their children, their children’s interests, and wanted the kids to always be true to themselves. How peculiar!

Gomez and Morticia never showed negative jealousy towards each other’s past love interests. Even going to far as complimenting them for being special to their true love.  How bizarre!

They could forgive almost any character flaw in a friend or relative. The only thing that could not be forgiven was betrayals and pastels. Weird amirite?

Morticia is a woman’s woman. She allies herself with other women instead of competing with them. She even seeks to understand women different from herself and her beliefs. Strange.

Gomez wants Morticia to have whatever Morticia wants. He doesn’t give her permission, he actively supports her and motivates her. Fa-reaky.

[quasi-normalcy]

I seem to recall once reading a review that said that Gomez and Morticia were the only couple on television in the 1960s whom you could actually imagine producing children.

[mudfleas-deactivated20171217]

[northwangerabbey]

Sulu’s like “whatever, drama queen.”

[sirdef-deactivated20160624]

is sulu texting

[percychekov-deactivated20180908]

he’s livetweeting chekov’s problems

[mj-southworth]

That's the reboot we should have gotten

[mj-southworth]

It's a gooood feeling when you think "Huh, I haven't heard from that anthology call in a while," then check their facebook page and realize that they sent out their first round of rejections and you did not get one.

[mj-southworth]

Ages ago I was working on a YA novel called Nearly Human with the thought to self publish. That Idea has been shelved, and Nearly Human will probably sit in my writer’s trunk for quite some time, if not indefinitely. But before  I drooped it in there, I came up with some potential cover art. I was going through my files and found the art and thought, Hell, why not post these? So here they are in all their amateur glory.

[mj-southworth]

My first time finding a book I'm in out in the wild!

[mj-southworth]

My contributor copy of Bubble Off Plumb came today! Super exciting!

Bubble Off Plumb [Dan Kalin, Marie Brennan, David Tallerman, E.E. King, Art Weil, Sarah M. Lewis, Pepper Hume, Karen Ovér, Liz Schriftstell

[mj-southworth]

October Horror Challenge

Write a short horror story each week.

Week 1: Monster and/or Cabin in the Woods

Week 2: Aliens and/or Deep Space

Week 3: Ghosts and/or Cemetery

Week 4: Wild Card!

Week 5: Halloween Bonus

All of the October challenges I could find were daily, and I wanted something more doable. I tried to keep it vague enough for wiggle room creativity-wise.

I’ll probably post titles, descriptions and word counts rather then the whole story, but we’ll see. I may change my mind.

[mj-southworth]

Week 1 done! “It Waits in the Attic” Stella is invited to stay at her friend’s mountain cabin. She discovers a door leading up into the attic with locks on the wrong side. Afterwards, a monster with a deer skull for a head appears standing over her in the night. But the monster is not nearly so bad as what waits in the attic. Week 2 is space…. wish me luck

[mj-southworth]

Week 2 done! I didn’t think I’d make it because I got swept up in other projects, but it’s done, and I’m fairly pleased with it. “I Know Why You Left” In an undisclosed future, earthlings are expected to become hosts for an alien parasite when they turn twenty-five. Briar chose to immigrate to the moon colony instead. Four years later, her younger sister makes the same decision, but soon returns to earth with dire consequences.

I’m not sure if this one is horror so much as dark sci-fi, but oh well. Time to give ghosts a try.

[mj-southworth]

Week 3 done! “Let Them Out” Mark, a handyman, is hired to clear out a old woman’s house after she died. A big job, since she was quite the hoarder. Little does he know, her spirit is hanging around and needs his help. This one was…. sad, really sad. 4 out of 5 dead cats, guys.

Wild card is next, and can I just say I have no idea what to do….

[mj-southworth]

Week 4…done? I’ll admit it, this one almost tripped me up. I think not picking a theme was a bad idea. I ended up with two half finished stories that were bogged down with way too much exposition. So I scrapped em, took a step back, and wrote a spooky poem. It’s called Spider Mamma, and its kind of children’s book-esque. Maybe I’ll illustrate it soon and post it.

We’re in the hone streatch! 5 days to write a Halloween bonus story!

[mj-southworth]

Halloween done! I really wanted to pull from historical Halloween traditions. “Eyes of Lead” takes place in Victorian England, and is about Beatrice Avon. Beatrice takes part in several of the traditional Halloween fortune telling games, but things go awry when her future husband turns out to be a monster.

Aaaaand that’s got it! All told I wrote a total of 15,988 words for this project, and I’m really proud of the results. Happy Halloween!

[briar-witch]

I’m going to reblog my victory here.

[mj-southworth]

Pft, accidentally deleted this. Thank goodness for other accounts.

[mj-southworth]

October Horror Challenge

Write a short horror story each week.

Week 1: Monster and/or Cabin in the Woods

Week 2: Aliens and/or Deep Space

Week 3: Ghosts and/or Cemetery

Week 4: Wild Card!

Week 5: Halloween Bonus

All of the October challenges I could find were daily, and I wanted something more doable. I tried to keep it vague enough for wiggle room creativity-wise.

I’ll probably post titles, descriptions and word counts rather then the whole story, but we’ll see. I may change my mind.

[mj-southworth]

Week 1 done! “It Waits in the Attic” Stella is invited to stay at her friend’s mountain cabin. She discovers a door leading up into the attic with locks on the wrong side. Afterwards, a monster with a deer skull for a head appears standing over her in the night. But the monster is not nearly so bad as what waits in the attic. Week 2 is space…. wish me luck

[mj-southworth]

Week 2 done! I didn’t think I’d make it because I got swept up in other projects, but it’s done, and I’m fairly pleased with it. “I Know Why You Left” In an undisclosed future, earthlings are expected to become hosts for an alien parasite when they turn twenty-five. Briar chose to immigrate to the moon colony instead. Four years later, her younger sister makes the same decision, but soon returns to earth with dire consequences.

I’m not sure if this one is horror so much as dark sci-fi, but oh well. Time to give ghosts a try.

[mj-southworth]

Week 3 done! “Let Them Out” Mark, a handyman, is hired to clear out a old woman’s house after she died. A big job, since she was quite the hoarder. Little does he know, her spirit is hanging around and needs his help. This one was…. sad, really sad. 4 out of 5 dead cats, guys.

Wild card is next, and can I just say I have no idea what to do….

[mj-southworth]

Week 4...done? I'll admit it, this one almost tripped me up. I think not picking a theme was a bad idea. I ended up with two half finished stories that were bogged down with way too much exposition. So I scrapped em, took a step back, and wrote a spooky poem. It's called Spider Mamma, and its kind of children's book-esque. Maybe I'll illustrate it soon and post it.

We're in the home streatch! 5 days to write a Halloween bonus story!

[mj-southworth]

October Horror Challenge

Write a short horror story each week.

Week 1: Monster and/or Cabin in the Woods

Week 2: Aliens and/or Deep Space

Week 3: Ghosts and/or Cemetery

Week 4: Wild Card!

Week 5: Halloween Bonus

All of the October challenges I could find were daily, and I wanted something more doable. I tried to keep it vague enough for wiggle room creativity-wise.

I’ll probably post titles, descriptions and word counts rather then the whole story, but we’ll see. I may change my mind.

[mj-southworth]

Week 1 done! “It Waits in the Attic” Stella is invited to stay at her friend’s mountain cabin. She discovers a door leading up into the attic with locks on the wrong side. Afterwards, a monster with a deer skull for a head appears standing over her in the night. But the monster is not nearly so bad as what waits in the attic. Week 2 is space…. wish me luck

[mj-southworth]

Week 2 done! I didn’t think I’d make it because I got swept up in other projects, but it’s done, and I’m fairly pleased with it. “I Know Why You Left” In an undisclosed future, earthlings are expected to become hosts for an alien parasite when they turn twenty-five. Briar chose to immigrate to the moon colony instead. Four years later, her younger sister makes the same decision, but soon returns to earth with dire consequences.

I’m not sure if this one is horror so much as dark sci-fi, but oh well. Time to give ghosts a try.

[mj-southworth]

Week 3 done! "Let Them Out" Mark, a handyman, is hired to clear out a old woman's house after she died. A big job, since she was quite the hoarder. Little does he know, her spirit is hanging around and needs his help. This one was.... sad, really sad. 4 out of 5 dead cats, guys.

Wild card is next, and can I just say I have no idea what to do....

[mj-southworth]

Ok, I realize that the first Lije Baley book came out in the 70s... but is it too late to say that Daneel is a sweet boi and I love him and want him to be happy?