Fright Fest Horror Readings Oct 27th Noon Eastern/9am Pacific

Don’t tell anyone I snuck into this reading with these amazingly talented writers…okay, tell everyone. Come hear them read, and then stick around and listen to me too. I’ll read a few horrifying poems and a scary little tale. Free registration through Eventbrite here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/fright-fest-horror-readings-thurs-oct-27-noon-1-pm-est-tickets-401426125347

HWA Poetry Showcase Volume lX Now Available

HWA Poetry Showcase Volume IX, edited by Angela Yuriko Smith
 
The Horror Writers Association presents their ninth annual Poetry Showcase, sharing the best in never-before-published dark verse. Edited by Angela Yuriko Smith with judges Lee Murray, Maxwell I. Gold and Frances Lu-Pai Ippolito, this year features the poetry of Stephanie M. Wytovich, Geneve Flynn and Naomi Simone Borwein along with other poems from Mary A. Turzillo, Christina Sng, Alessandro Manzetti, Victoria Nations, K. H. Vaughan and many more works of merit from the talented members of the Horror Writers Association. Cover artwork by Kyra Starr.

Honored to have my poem “Hide and Seek in Haunted Spaces” included in this year’s HWA Poetry Showcase. Available in paperback and Kindle here.

Under Her Skin: A Women In Horror Poetry Collection, Volume I

There’s been much buzz about this one and rightly so. I may be a bit biased as I am honored to have three poems, “Intimate Communion”, “Molting”, and “Zombification”, in this amazing collection, but the TOC, the sneak peeks, and the spotlights have been spectacular.

This collection edited by Lindy Ryan and Toni Miller with incredible cover art by Lynne Hansen, a foreword by Linda D. Addison and illustrations by Marge Simon releases April 2022.

Until then, check out these spotlights and reviews:

https://www.glitterandgravedust.com/blog/under-her-skin

Another cover and TOC reveal:
https://thenerddaily.com/under-her-skin

Poem Previews:
https://www.fangoria.com/original/under-her-skin
https://www.scifinow.co.uk/books/under-her-skin-cover-and-poetry-reveal

Release announcements:
https://www.horrorscreamsvideovault.co.uk/2021/10/ https://joyhorrorentertainment.blogspot.com/2021/10/
https://horrorpatch.com/2021/10
https://www.pophorror.com/black-spot-books
https://horrornews.net/169853/black-spot-books
https://www.horror-asylum.com/news/black-spot-books
https://dreadfulesque.com/review-under-her-skin-a-women-in-horror-poetry-collection
More NetGalley Reviews:

April: National Poetry Month

April was National Poetry Month and to celebrate I set out to write a poem a day. I finished my 30th poem of the month today, April 30th. These are all first drafts. They will need a bit more refining before I submit them to markets. Nevertheless, I have 30 new poems.

Three of the thirty, I polished and submitted to Under Her Skin: A women in Horror Poetry Showcase. I’m honored that they were accepted and will be included in the showcase slated for release in April 2022.

I also enjoyed reading a few poetry collections this month: A Collection of Nightmares by Christina Sng, Cradleland of Parasites by Sara Tantlinger and Brothel by Stephanie M. Wytovich. All wonderful reads by fantastic horror poets.

For more poetry inspiration, though the women above provided plenty, I read two books on the craft of poetry: The Triggering Town: lectures and essays on poetry and writing by Richard Hugo and Poemcrazy: freeing your life with words by Susan Goldsmith Wooldridge. I learned something, or several somethings, from both of them and would recommend.

The above are my reads for this month. There are many more amazing poets and craft books I’d recommend, as well. Perhaps I’ll do some future blog posts on them, or feel free to email for personalized recommendations.

2021 Goals

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.