The Yearly Spiderpocalypse - and FLIP BUGS ATTACK

So last night it got into the 40sand apparently this triggered the yearly SPIDERPOCALYPSE… wherein all the spiders that live in the country came inside because it’s gonna be winter soon, right?

And I am loathe to say that I could live with this – I mean, I do expect the yearly Spiderpocalypse, it is YEARLY after all – but last night I had something else. After being asleep for 3 hours, those flip/click beetles came inside too, and decided that my bed was the BEST PLACE EVER…

If you are unfamiliar with this particular critter, they don't bite or sting, they just crawl and click in woog-inducing fashion. See this video for an explanation if you want to be thrilled about beetles.

I woke up at 1am with two of them on my neck<--(I'd make this part flashing in red if I could). One of which I had trapped between my shoulder and my neck and he was flipping his fool head off trying to get free. And I don’t care if I’m a country girl, I don’t like bugs. And having them on me when I’m sleeping? Freaks. My. $#%*. OUT!

I woke up squealing and grabbing/flinging the bugs across the room. After I calmed down enough that my heartbeat didn’t sound like a techno drum track, I got up, went potty, SAW A SPIDER AND KILLED IT WITH A BROOM RAWR, came back, shook out my blankets and roughed up my bed to make sure there were no bugs there. Climbed in and settled down, feeling all Xena Warrior Princess(or pretending I did because dude, I hate bugs). Got the light off.

And felt something crawling on my arm.

Grabbed flashlight, shined on arm, ANOTHER BALLSY FLIP BUG… who got flicked across my apparently buggybuggy bedroom.

I’m about as harebrained as they come today. There was no sleeping after the flip bugs mounted their midnight assault. I was Totally Awake for hours. Now? Now I'm sleepy ... stoopid bugs.

JUDGMENT DAY... DUN Dun dunnnn

So, the first round at New Voices has ended, and I am relieved(the list in a couple posts below is out of control!). About mid-week last week, I thought the number of entries was going to roughly match last year's, but the entries started pouring in the last three days. It took 3 weeks to get to 466 entries, and the last five days of the contest added a couple more than that total(some uploaded and were taken down just after closing bell).

• 1090 first chapters uploaded, the rough equivalent of about 109 of the shorter length category romances

Currently, the judges/editors at Harlequin Mills&Boon are trying to cull 20 from the herd, and advance them to round two. The math on this is not pretty.

• 1.8% of all entries will advance to round 2 -- or --
• 1 in 55 chapters make round 2 (slightly less scary for some reason)

Those are not good odds. It's better than the lottery or being hit by lightning, but if you had a 1.8% chance of surviving an operation, you wouldn't sign up, yea?

Thankfully, there are other wins to take from the competition:

• The comments. 
• The chance to see the competition so you can decide if you're bringing your A-Game when you submit. 
• The chance to learn from the mistakes of others. 

These are the 'thanks for playing' prizes(which is part of why I've been managing that list -- some folks have gotten a wealth of comments, and some have not gotten any. Granted, most of those without are from the last 3 days of uploads, but still... everyone deserves feedback regardless of when they bellied up to the bar.)

The suspense is killing me. I didn't call any of the semi-finalists last year, and when I read them some of them were actually quite surprising to me... so I'm curious to see if my eye has been honed at all, and also to see what currently is catching the editor's attention.

The list goes live Thursday, and then I will return to this WIP on a more normal schedule, and hopefully to posting regularly. It's about time for the Spiderpocalypse report--the warmer weather has kept them mostly out of sight so far, I think. but around Halloween when it always gets quite cold, they'll be inside. A flipping beetle got into my room the other night and about drove the cat crazy(which was totally fun), so: flipping beetles seek warmer accommodations before spiders do -- bless their little clumsy hearts.

Yearly Spiderpocalypse

My home is located in a small cleared area within a national forest, and although I honestly love the area, I frequently long for the speed and convenience of the city. And at this time of year, I also long for the lower Critter to People ratio of the city.

The nights are getting cold and tonight I have been forced to admit that Summer is over due to the multitude of spiders seeking warmer accommodations inside the house.

They are everywhere. I am illogically terrified of spiders. I scream every time I see one, no matter the size. It is a wholly instinctive reaction, since I scream first and then only after I've run, do I realize what I am afraid of. The realization generally comes when I am several feet away.

I've screamed and run away four times today. Once when I was in the potty, which made my 'jump up and run' reaction tricky.

In addition to spiders, field mice have come inside as well. I think. I am pretty sure I saw one out of the corner of my eye last night, or perhaps I am hoping it was a mouse -- if that big scrambling thing was a spider I am going to have to move out of STATE. Also, I can't keep my cat off the counters the past few days, she's usually not so bad about the counter-walking, and I want something to blame there. Mouse it is!

On the plus side, I have had a refresher course on exactly what it feels like to be crazy terrified. I noted physical sensations in my plots book so I am prepared to scare the living daylights out of one of my characters. DUN Dun dunnnn.