Insecure Writers And A Resurrection

Today is a double book posting with Mina Lobo's Resurrection Blogfest and Alex J. Cavanaugh's Insecure Writers Support Group.

Insecure Writers Support Group

First up is the ISWG, in which we writers get to air our insecurities, fears and even our triumphs. You can check out my fellow brilliant writers here. Today I am talking about depression. That soul-sucking, creativity stealing, lethargic state of mind that affects millions of people and a condition that writers are often prone to. I am in the midst of one right now.

With all that has been going on these last weeks, this depression creeped up on me and with a deadline in less than three weeks, this is NOT good. I sit in front of my computer and stare. I feel like my brain is wrapped in cotton and my fingers are frozen. I'm trying all I can think of to fight...Music, movies, my favorite books, but they all seem to bounce off this giant wall. I've got 22,000 words to go and when I am on, I can punch that out in a week, but I am stuck. My WIP is looking like the Black Gate of Mordor sitting there on my computer and I am a little Hobbit with no will to go inside because The Ring has covered me in this depression.

I managed to write three whole pages this past weekend, a little crack in the wall, but I don't know what else to do.

So I am asking you all. How do you fight depression?

Resurrection

Mina, from Some Dark Romantic, is hosting this fabulous fest in honor of resurrecting a post from your first year of blogging that you feel didn't get the love it deserved. You can find my fellow participants here. This is a post from my inaugural year, 2010, and it's one of my faves, but got very little love. So without further ado...My favorite Horror Authors

I talked about my favorite scary movies, now I'm going to talk about my favorite horror writers. These guys paint chilling, vivid, blood-curdling images with their words. no f/x masters here, only a keyboard or pen and paper. I double dog dare any of you out there to read one of their stories and not be afraid of every noise you hear in the night.

Stephen King - What can I say about a man who is responsible for a lot of my nightmares? My werewolf fixation started with his "Cycle of the Werewolf". I kept looking twice at the grumpy priest in my church. Salem's Lot had me terrified of my dad's home town, but the worst for me was The Girl Who loved Tom Gordon. I do not like the woods and I had such a hard time getting through this book. I own it, but refuse to read it ever again. He is terrifying to me because he works on your mind, he takes normal people and breaks them down like a maniacal crew attacking stage sets.

Rick R. Reed - Oh my God, can we say hide under the covers and never come out? King breaks people, but Reed stomps them into quivering little bits under his crazed boot heels. Do not read Penance after dark, I'm warning you. It is horrifying because it has it's basis in the harsh realities of street life. Every page I wanted to stop, but couldn't. I was put through the wringer, at times scared, other times uncomfortable, sometimes angry. In the Blood is a twisted, heart-pounding vampire tale that makes you remember in these days of sparkly blood suckers that vamps are indeed monsters. His most recent, Blue Moon Cafe, ramps up the terror with werewolves. I read this in the daylight and you should, too. Rick Reed knows how to get into the minds of monsters both human and non.

Caitlin Kiernan - Holy hell can this chick bring on some serious monsters. After I read Silk, I was jumping at shadows. She subverts reality and twists it into unrecognizable images. The Red Tree left me with a creepy dread feeling for days after that I just couldn't shake. Man, did I have the nightmares.

Edgar Allen Poe - No one spins a nightmarish tale better than this man. His prose defines madness and suffering. "The Cask of Amontillado", "The Tell-Tale Heart", "The Fall of the House of Usher", all give me the shivers. I cannot read them at night.

Shirley Jackson - This woman reaches deep inside and knows what terrifies you the most. Best haunted house story of all time, The Haunting of Hill House. I had a hard time sleeping in my room after this one. Every sound echoed a thousand times louder. "The Lottery" made me want to avoid small towns forever.

Clive Barker - His novellas and short stories are insanely gruesome and demented. I had a tough time getting through the Books of Blood, both volumes. He creates such terrifying and twisted realms that you feel like you're going crazy right along with the protagonists.

These authors make my blood run cold and send me running to turn on every light. Who are some of your faves?