Christmas Bonus: A Visit with Henry

 I originally wrote this to amuse myself (and Rhonda Jones, Henry's biggest fan), but I can't resist sharing it here as well, as a little stocking stuffer for anyone who's read and enjoyed Spookygirl: Paranormal Investigator. Enjoy this little holiday visit with the ghostly custodian Violet originally encountered in Spookygirl's first chapter.




A Visit with Henry ('Twas the Night Before Christmas)

'Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the school
Not a spirit was stirring, no ghost and no ghoul.
I walked past the mural displayed in the hall –
A misshapen Trojan assured to appall.

The tiles underfoot were in need of a clean,
A layer of grime over yellow and green.
The trophy case covered in handprints unclear,
Obscuring its contents (so lame yet so dear).

My Gothlings stayed close, all poised for a spectre,
With cameras, recorders, an EMF detector.
The numbers went crazy, gone right off the scale!
And the air here grew colder with each sharp inhale.

When down near the gym there arose such a fuss –
A grumpy old voice, a gripe and a cuss –
I shouldered my bag – a comforting weight –
And headed on down to investigate.

As I approached, I soon caught the sight
Of a grouchy old phantom who worked through the night
Just cleaning and mopping and scrubbing the place
With lead in his step and a scowl on his face. 

"Missy!" he said when he saw me so near. 
"Look at these smudges of dirt – right down here." 
He pointed and snarled at a place on the floor. 
"Did you track that in when you walked through the door?" 

Before I could answer, he tossed me a frown
And went back to mopping the hall, up and down.
'Twas the very same job he’d done all his life
(And he still did it now to avoid his dead wife).

Oh, how he worked! And oh, how he tried!
It was never an issue before he had died –
But now that had changed. Though he put in the time,
A ghost can’t do much against flesh-and-blood grime. 

"Henry," I said, "I've brought you some aid.
I'm here to be Palmetto High's merry maid.
It's the night before Christmas, you silly old dude,
So quit your complaining. No need to be rude." 

With that we brought forth the supplies we'd amassed –
My friends and I cleaned, and we did it all fast.
We polished the trophy case, swept up the floor,
And sent all the dirt right back out the front door.

The hallway, it sparkled, so overly clean,
Even ol' Henry couldn’t bear to be mean.
He surveyed the place, and he let out a sigh,
And hurriedly blinked a stray tear from his eye.

"Missy," he said, "this I wasn't expecting.
I thought you were just here for spirit detecting.
Can't clean like I used to, which makes me quite blue.
It pains me to say it, but . . . Thanks. All of you."

"No problem," I said, suppressing a scoff. 
 "Just have a good evening. Enjoy your night off." 
And I heard Henry say as he faded from sight, 
"Spooky Christmas to all, and to all a good night."

------

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, everyone! And of course, it wouldn't be a properly spooky Christmas without some creepy decorations, so here are a few of my favorites:

 

Halloween: I Win

My friend Dava sent me what just might be the coolest Halloween decoration ever:

ZOMBIE LAWN FLAMINGO.

(Totally worthy of capslock.)

He might just have to be a part of the year-round decor. I'll get him a scarf and a teeny Santa hat for Christmas. Because, you know... It's not a proper Christmas without at least one zombie, right?

Busy Days are Here

Can't believe Halloween's already less than a week away! I'd originally planned to be Effie Trinket from The Hunger Games, but then I got lazy and ended up as a witch instead. Here I am on my way to my friends' Halloween party last weekend.

Early this month I finished a pretty major revision of my current work-in-progress, Underbed. It's now back with my agent. We decided to make it a middle grade project rather than YA, and I think the change suits it well.

And of course, NaNoWriMo is only a few more days away! I'm all set to start working on a somewhat gritty YA fantasy project called Moth & Moon. Can't wait to spend my afternoons curled up in coffee shops with a mug and my laptop! I'm Fire and Air over on the NaNo site.

Recently I've been interviewed by two blogs, The Book Cellar and YA Librarian Tales, about Spookygirl. Spookygirl is also getting more and more reviews online, including this lovely one by indie author Amy Martin, who was guest-reviewing on YA Reads. Thanks, everyone!

Also, Young Adult Books Central is giving away five copies of Spookygirl! You can enter until Halloween, so stop by and take a chance. That link also includes my guest post about the most haunted house I've ever encountered.

And finally, I just noticed that Spookygirl's Publishers Weekly review has been posted! PW mentions Spookygirl's "straight-talking, level-headed protagonist and smooth storytelling" -- not bad, not bad!

Guest Posts Galore

If I've been quiet here lately, it's because I've been posting elsewhere! Several blogs have graciously hosted Spookygirl-related guest posts -- read on:

For In Bed with Books, I answered my favorite frequently-asked question about Spookygirl. (You can also read In Bed with Books' review of Spookygirl here!)

I shared some information about poltergeists with The Children's Book Review. (Short version: Real-life poltergeists? If they exist, they're not nearly as friendly as Spookygirl's Buster.)

Finally, I wrote a destination post about southwest Florida for Ticket to Anywhere. Although Spookygirl's fictional towns are situated on the state's east coast, they're heavily inspired by Marco Island and Naples on the Gulf of Mexico. I also included some photos, like this one I took of dolphins swimming under the Jolley Bridge that connects Marco to the mainland. (And click here for Ticket to Anywhere's review of Spookygirl!)

Thanks for having me, everyone! It was fun!

The Road to Publication: Part Fourteen

[This is part 14 of a summary of Spookygirl’s journey toward publication. Use the Progress tag to access all related entries.]

Here it is! The big one. On Thursday, this happened:

 
There it was, shelved in Books-A-Million! I held it overhead like it was a boombox and I was John Cusack. I also got reports from all over of other Spookygirl sightings -- other parts of Florida, Georgia, Ohio, New Jersey, and more. My assistant editor found it at the Barnes & Noble in Union Square in NYC.

I spent the day stalking bookstores with my family before a celebration dinner. I also insisted on stopping at Office Depot for a supply of purple pens (since Violet would never stand for her writer signing books in plain ol' black ink).

Sadly, in one store I was nearly as excited to find a stuffed TARDIS as I was to find my own book. The wee TARDIS came home with me. (Come on -- it lights up and goes VWORP VWORP VWORP. I needed it in my life!)

I don't know how to express what it felt like to see my work in a bookstore. As a writer, I should be able to, but it transcends words. It's awesome, but also strangely humbling -- a reminder of how much support and encouragement I was gifted with while I fought to get to this point. I'm so very thankful for all of it.

I'll conclude the "Road to Publication" series with a list of five things you might not know about pub day:

1. If you've ever been a nail biter, you'll relapse. ASK ME HOW I KNOW.

2. Have your phone charger with you; all that tweeting and Facebooking and photo-taking (and obsessively peeking at your ever-changing Amazon sales ranking) will kill your battery.

3. Unless you've written a pretty major release, don't expect every store to have your book in stock yet. My agent tipped me off on this one, confirming what I'd already suspected. Sure enough, several branches of Books-A-Million had it in stock, but Barnes & Noble did not, although it's on the way.

4. There is such a thing as Post-Publication Hangover, and it had nothing to do with that lemon drop martini I had at dinner. I was exhausted yesterday!

5. You'll be reminded of just how many people are rooting for you, and that will feel amazing. Okay, so I already kind of said that above. Hey, it's worth repeating.