You say it's your birthday?

Hey, it's my birthday, too, yeah! That's right. On this day in history thirty-nine years ago, yours truly came kicking and screaming into the world. Mom and Dad (R.I.P.) have been shaking their heads ever since, as have my siblings who were witlessly under the impression the parental units were done having kids eight years prior to my arrival.

How am I spending my day? That's easy: I ain't doing jack squat. I took off from work, content to sit here and do a shitload of absolutely nothing. But I figured I'd use the time to type up a blog. Consider it PT for my gimpy pinky finger.

Undoubtedly you're all dying to know what goodies I've received on this day that shall live in infamy. Here's the list:

• Socks (which I desperately needed...don't ask)
• An Amazon gift card (ALWAYS WELCOMED!)
• A variety of comic book-themed T-shirts (can never have too many of those)
• A sports watch (picked out by my very own almost-eight-year-old-daughter...AWWWW)

And that's not even counting the little things. The wife treated me to a Schwartzie from Primo Hoagies . It was delish. (Note: If you haven't had a sub from Primo's and there's one close to you, I highly recommend you drop what you're doing and go get one right now. They'll ruin all other sammiches for you. Holding a busload of nuns hostage and demanding one of their delectable deli delights as ransom is a distinct possibility once you've experienced their splendor. You've been warned. (Also note: I do not suggest in any way, shape, or form, that you take anybody hostage for any reason, nuns or otherwise.)) Then there was Babyface Vinster, my sixteen-month-old who strutted to 'What Does the Fox Say'. I witnessed much twerking, grinning, and arm waving. Not one to be left out, The Boo (previous aforementioned almost-eight-year-old daughter) got in on the movin' and groovin', and managed not to trample her baby brother. Winning!

But wait! There's more! What's a birthday without well-wishing and good vibes from some of my bestest book buddies? Joooooood (that's Jude to you and me) has the spotlight trained on me and Ghosts of Demons Past over on her blog. In addition to that, my great friend and fantastic author pal, Belinda Frisch, went so far as to buy me advertising for GODP. How cool is that? It was as unexpected as it was touching. It's nice to know that someone believes in the book so much they'll go out of their way to help it be seen.  Thanks to you two, Angela Pratt, and Venture Cecena, who've been flooding twitter with pimpage and birthday wishes!

In other news:

My most recent foray into the world of short story anthologies is live, right in time for my birfday. Padwolf Publishing's latest collection, "Lucky 13: Thirteen Tales of Crime & Mayhem" is now available in paperback on Amazon. My story is entitled 'A Dollar and a $cream', and it's, like, groovy in a far out way. The e-book version will be available soon, and marks the first time anything I've written will be read by a professional. Yep. There's gonna be an audiobook version. Despite my lobbying, James Earl Jones was unavailable to commit to the gig, but it'll be awesome regardless.

As far as Funeral With a View goes, I cranked out over two thousand words yesterday, thus increasing the feelz factor by 26.7%. Don't delve into the math. It's a series of highly complex equations and algorithms that would explode your head like Michael Ironside in the movie 'Scanners' if you were to dwell on them for an extended period of time. Because I typed so much awesomeness yesterday, I do not feel the least bit bad about sitting on my buttocks all day doing next to nothing. Anyway, I'm so very close to completing the final draft of this book that has been following me around for the past few months. Is my summer release target feasible? You betcha.

And that's all there is for today, folks! As always, thanks for reading, and see ya 'round Teh Intarwebz.

M.J.S.