You Can't Keep a Good Blogger Down...

Yes. I have been way too serious lately on here when I have bothered to post. And I've been distracted too much by my worrying, acutely-emotional side (ok... overwhelmed by it) to the point of madness. But it that my sole reason for not posting? Well... not exactly.

For starters, I was hoping to start mentioning more about the new book. So far, I have no updates for you, unfortunately. Except for one: there has been a change of title. Queer Paranormal will not be titled Queer Hauntings. Why? Oh, silly issues with categorizatio

n. You would think "paranormal" would be the least troubling term of the two! Otherwise, nothing has changed. And as soon as I know about cover art, page count, pricing, etc. I'll pass that information along to you all. You're not the only ones getting anxious about it. Just over a month remains until the expected release date! If I weren't keeping up on trimming my fingernails they would all be gnawed off by now.

Otherwise, my life has changed in some ways over the past few weeks. Feelings toward people have shifted forms, whether by nature or with some prodding from them. I hate to call one of these changes becoming "single" because in most ways, nothing has changed. I have a wonderful, funny, charming man in my life... we just aren't sleeping together or picking out furniture for that little dream cottage. I took my time to mill over things, "turn emo" as some uncouth people might say, and come out on the other end content with the people who make my life enjoyable. The list isn't long (and rarely consists of Ohioans) but it's a good one.

And more changes... Spooked! is now brought to you via Vista! That's right, after almost a decade, my old laptop was on its last legs so I made the leap and upgraded (frighteningly enough, the new one cost 1/3 the price of the old one and has 5 times more space and 12 times more RAM) to a Compaq Presario. In widescreen. Yay! I'll decide later what to do about upgrading to Windows 7 in October (that month will already be insanely busy for me, no doubt). For now, there are other changes on the horizon...

I've decided that I truly want to do a little reinventon. I hate growing too stagnant and I've spent so long waiting on that bench at the station of life that it's time to jump on a new train... whether people like it or not. Perhaps a few wardrobe changes (I did get a hoodie this summer... and I like it) and such. But the biggest thing I've been pondering it a change of hair color. No, not that horrible mistake of bright yellow I made years ago. I've been seriously thinking about going black ("once you go black..." lol). Why? Well, aside from blue, it's been one of the colors I've always wanted to try. And after a nice chat on a Greyhound bus with a sweet emo kid (if you read this, Jason, thanks again for cheering me up), I have some confirmation that black just night suit me. Aside from that Gothic demeanor I can give off. And with Halloween approaching, how could it go wrong?

But I'm pondering it a but and am seriously thinking about leaving it up to you folks... to some extent. I've thought about saying, "Since the Tip It button has never yet been useful, if I get 13 tips of $1 or a total of $13... that nice, unlucky number... I'll dye my hair black," but I wonder if that would ever happen! So, I'll make it slightly more interesting: either $13 in my Tip It jar for the blog, or 13 unique comments from separate readers (anonymous comments won't count toward that, so you'll have to log in with Open ID (Livejournal, Wordpress, Typepad, or AIM) if you're not on Blogger) with a majority in favor of black (or more unique comments might be necessary if the first thirteen are not a majority "yes" votes)--whichever comes first--and I shall make the change within 48 hours of said events. At least this gives you all a little incentive to comment, right?

Otherwise, bear with me as I get the last of the software on the laptop, learn to navigate my new technology, and return to your regularly (un)scheduled strange tales and rants. Spooked! is back.... and those dead queens and crazy people who land in the headlines had better watch out...