Category: Creative Sparks

2022 Willamette Writers Conference in Portland, Oregon Brings in Horror

On By RoniIn Creative Sparks, EventsLeave a comment
(Originally published in the September HWA Newsletter)

September 1, 2022 by HWAWeb

Roni Stinger

Willamette Writers is a community of writers based in the Pacific Northwest. Like many organizations, much of their offerings have gone online since the pandemic, and while we all miss in-person events, going online opens the door to writers from all over the world.

This year’s conference was a hybrid event with both in-person and online offerings that drew over 300 attendees. It also happened to be my first in-person conference, and I’m hooked. My anxiety has kept me from doing these things, but now I’m ready for StokerCon™ 2023. I need to see my Halloween people! But, back to the WW conference.

The in-person conference kicked off with a silent auction boasting signed Dean Koontz novels, wine baskets, and much more, along with a Writer’s Fair featuring many local and national organizations. These were open to the public and brought in a nice-sized crowd.

The conference hosted master classes, workshops, pitches, critiques, and panels with over fifty industry professionals. Keynotes from Laura Stanfill (publisher of Forest Avenue Press and author of Singing Lessons for the Stylish Canary) and Mark Oshiro (author of Anger is a Gift and Each of Us a Desert) were interesting and inspiring, as were the delicious appetizers, desserts, and brunch. The fledgling juncos hopping around on the patio were adorable, too!

The highlight this year, for us horror folks, was a panel with Wendy Wagner (Editor-in-Chief of Nightmare Magazine and author of The Deer Kings), Kelly McWilliams (author of Agnes at the End of the World and Mirror Girls), moderated by Mark Teppo (Underland Press). The full-capacity attendance attested to the fact that our genre is going strong.

Here’s a few of the subjects discussed at the panel:

– The need for more middle-grade horror and the value of giving kids the opportunities to inhabit experiences that aren’t theirs to provide empathy, insight, and understanding of the world beyond them.

– The vibrancy of the small-press horror market. Wendy Wagner said, “Be a freak. Somewhere out there are a dozen people who want to read that.” Will do, Wendy!

– And, how marketing for horror at the agent/editor/publisher level and the bookstore level are different. A book can be as “upmarket, buzz-ready, contemporary classic, genre-buster” as it likes, but, if it has monsters, it goes on the horror shelf, because horror fans show up for the monsters, whereas everyone else wants buzz words but are freaked out by monsters.

I had an amazing conference experience, and loved making new writer friends, as well as connecting with those I’d only known online. Next year, we’ll have an HWA booth at that writer’s fair!

2021 Goals

On By RoniIn Creative Sparks, Ramblings2 Comments

So, I’m figuring these out as I write this. Not the way I’d recommend setting goals, but I don’t want to go into February without a plan.

Today I submitted the first 3,000 words of my novel to Futurescapes workshop. I was thrilled to be accepted and am both excited and nervous about workshopping my novel in March. My main goal this year is to have my novel ready to submit by June 1st.

Secondary goals are:

Write a poem a day in April for National Poetry Month.

Write, revise, and submit 12 new flash or short stories this year.

Revise and submit any previous stories that are worth developing.

Read 20 books. I’ve reduced this goal from previous years due to the hours of reading I do each week for Flash Fiction Online.

Still aiming for 100 rejections, and a handful of acceptances would be nice, as well. 🙂

Think that’ll do it for my writing life this year. Wishing everyone a productive and peaceful 2021!

These two little pen stealers haven’t helped my productivity, but they’re worth it.

2020 Goal Accountability

On By RoniIn Creative Sparks, Shiny ObjectsLeave a comment

I’m not one for making New Year’s resolutions, but I do like goal setting. So here’s a look at how well I met them last year.

The number one goal was writing my novel. I finished the first draft and am about halfway through revisions. Then, I’ll send it to Richard Thomas for line-edits. Once he sends it back, I’ll do one more round of edits before sending it out to agents and publishers. I’m happy with this, even though I’d hoped to have it in Richard’s hands by the end of the year. The novel is coming along nicely. It’s dark, tense, and disturbing, with a touch of humor and, maybe even, hope. I’m excited to share it with readers.

I’d planned to revise and submit 16 short stories. I’ve finished 8. Those, along with a few stories that were completed the year before, plus a few poems were submitted 71 times. My goal was 100 rejections and a few acceptances. Didn’t quite hit the rejection mark, but my short story “Wolf’s Bane” and two poems, “Haunted Basin” and “Witch’s Garden”, were accepted to publications I’m honored to have work in.

Adding to my collection of print publications 🙂

Intersections: Science Fiction, Fairy Tales and Myth workshop led to six new stories. Plus, I signed up for a couple micro-fiction challenges with The New York City Midnight Challenge, as well as, wrote a new story in the short story challenge.

My goal of reading 52 books last year fell short, at only 37. But including the 8 novels I read and critiqued for my peers and all the flash stories read and reviewed for Flash Fiction Online, I feel pretty good about my reading for the year.

All in all, it was a pretty successful year, amongst all the chaos. Next week I’ll post goals for 2021!

More Publication News

On By RoniIn Creative Sparks, Poetry, Publication Announcements, Short FictionLeave a comment

Honored to announce that my short story Wolf’s Bane will be published in Through Other Eyes anthology by All World’s Wayfarer, and my poem Witch’s Garden will be published in the Fall Issue of Hypnos Magazine.

Both the story and poem were first written in Carina Bissette’s fabulous Intersections: Science Fiction, Fairy Tales, and Myth workshop from The Storied Imaginarium.

Updates to follow when cover reveals and publication drop dates are announced.