“I’m Sally O’Malley…”

While I’ll never be as flexible as Sally O’Malley at 50 years old, I do feel as if I’ve accomplished a few, little things in just over the past couple of years alone. It’s weird to start a writing career while edging so close to 50. I keep going over the “if only’s” again and … Continue reading →

Invasion of the Splatter Westerns (and the inspiration for Red Station)

Last year, Death’s Head Press’ co-founder, Patrick C. Harrison III, did something pretty amazing. He reached out to a number of authors to write standalone novellas and novels in a genre he coined as “splatter westerns.” A splatter western is a mad hybrid of splatterpunk horror and western genres. In other words, the western would have … Continue reading →

Things I’ve Learned As a New Author (Part 2)

  Yesterday’s list of things I’ve learned as a new author seemed to go over quite nicely, but I saved the more controversial things I’ve learned for today’s post, Part 2. You can love it or leave it or mull it over for a bit before giving up entirely on me…   No one wants … Continue reading →

Things I’ve Learned As a New Author (Part 1)

  There’s a writing memoir trend happening right now among beloved horror authors (e.g., Jeff Strand, Tim Waggoner, Brian Keene), and I’m enjoying every bit of it. Because I was never an It Girl as I was always taking up the trend rather than being a trendsetter, I’m going to embrace the follower in me … Continue reading →

Gifts I Won’t Buy For My Nephews (2020 edition)

While I’ve a couple of weeks to write, I figured the way I can effectively get back into it just after a truly hellacious year (thanks to COVID and all the problems that come with teaching online) is to return to something short and sweet I’d traditionally done here. The empty Amazon boxes everywhere from … Continue reading →

This Entry on Writing Has No Focus

I’ve not kept this up much as I’ve been attempting to multitask writing projects this summer and failing miserably at it. It’s a balancing act that is so hard for me to manage. I’ve put aside the project I’d started last November, a psychosexual horror thriller, and have started a new one that has a … Continue reading →

So I did this thing…

You can listen to this thing here. If you’re curious as to what you’re listening to, it’s a radio show hosted by horror author James Longmore and dark poet princess (the most amazing title ever) Xtina Marie, and it’s all about writing and horror…and there’s an 11 questions bit that was fun…and oh, yeah, I … Continue reading →

When Certain Writing Turns One Vulnerable

Okay, so, yeah, about this horror novel stuff that’s been going on… I didn’t think my first big piece of published work, the one that’s going released for mass consumption in a few months, would be a horror novel. In hindsight, I should have. I’m good friends with the genre. Have been since I was … Continue reading →

Dueling Worlds

Nobody told me it was going to be like this… Regular Working World: One in which I plod through, day to day, nodding and smiling in support towards colleagues and students and the occasional administrator. I teach, I answer questions, I grade papers, I question myself, I re-grade some papers, I teach some more, I … Continue reading →

When Writing Truly Became My Therapy

I’ve been stagnant here, and for that—as well as my lack of participation in the blogging community—I’m sorry. I’d a single writing goal over the summer, and that was to FINALLY finish my horror novel, that beast that’s been keeping my mind and soul occupied when other things should have been. I’d promised myself it … Continue reading →