Conferences, 'Grams, and Craziness

We're 1 WEEK away from the HorrorAddicts.net Online Writers Conference coming February 25-27! Are you ready to chat with authors near and far and get your writing brain on in your pajamas from any and all time zones? 🙋

On one hand, it's much easier to plan an online conference than a real world one. Last year I didn't participate in or host and cover any writing events. Was I too busy, were there not that many events anyway, and did real life just get in the way for a lot of my local literary friends? Time, surgeries, families, travel, work, and more can all impact the energy and inclination to just sit down and write.

We've all been there. In fact, one of my workshops for HOW addresses real world setbacks and finding inspirations. There is of course, a different apprehension that comes with an online event. You begin soft promotion in December inviting participants, but people can have a change of plans in the coming months, forgot about it, sign up and not come back, or just plain forget. With an online event, sometimes people don't realize it is a real thing until you tweet about it fifteen minutes beforehand while I panicking and pray there are no technological issues as people continually ask where is it, what is it, and how does it work? 😕

HOW is just a forum message board, presenters post workshops, articles, and writing tips and you can comment and they will get back to you. There are real time Shout Box live chats with publishers and authors, so the platform runs on ye olden time boards and chats, you know, like what us oldsters used before social media - leave a message and I'll get back to you after the beep and party lines with everyone talking at the same time.  ☎

(on top of the crazy, exercise for Lent!)

On that note, somehow I made the decision to join Instagram as Kbatz Krafts. Of course, after the fact I realized making it two Zs would have been cute, but meh. In no doing Craft DIY articles and Halloween How-To videos year round, I need another place to put photos and step by step documentation. The trouble is, when you are doing a project, I find it very difficult to...stop and take photos and document everything step by step. I don't use a smartphone - gasp get over it - so I video and photograph with my tablet. I'm not in the habit of taking it everywhere, and for me, projects aren't about stopping to show everyone everything at all times. Accomplishing a goal is reward in itself, and as a writer first and foremost, my second joy comes in then writing down everything that I've done.

To me, one reading how I did it is what's the best part, not waiting for the little heart thing on Instagram to light up. It's a little extra craziness to keep refreshing to see who liked a picture or how many views a Youtube video has. Look at that SPAIF segue there! I've never been one to seek attention and validation, so all these like me, please like me social media promotions to highlight my work still feels weird to me, oldster that I am. 👵

This month almost feels like it is more craziness than I can handle. The heck with timeliness and deadlines! Kick rocks 2020! Yeah right. So join HOW if you can, morning, noon, or night, and follow me on instagram, subscribe to my youtube channel, and follow me on twitter but above all, read what I write, mkay? 🙏

Crafts, Capes, and Carols, Oh My!

Tis the festive season my friends, and that means like most of us, it is the busy, busy, busy time of the year for me. Most of that I brought on myself in making Christmas gifts, baking, baking, and doing yet more baking, and did I mention there's more baking yet to come? Pizzelles, people, pizzelles. 

Some of my efforts, however, can be found at HorrorAddicts.net, as I've taken my crafting skills from Halloween into the merriment with some kind of pseudo Victorian ensemble featuring an outrageously tacky bonnet, shiny red cape, and a goofy little muff made with the leftovers. Oh, there's a bell brooch, too, so I can jingle all the way. What I thought was going to be a day's worth of hot glue and done turned out to be a quadruple fold project that took more than a week. You can head over to our Horror Addicts Facebook Group and discuss how I rolled with the sewing punches and made my lemons into some spicy ye olde wassail or you can laugh at my video of the glue gun drama. Whenever I actually get to finishing the video and putting it on Youtube, that is. It should have been today!

Naturally, this means a lot less of priority number one aka writing has gotten done this month. For me the point of documenting projects and making crafts, videos, audio, and all the other bells and whistles is to notify each audience of the writing behind it – the how to article, reviews, and essays. So, it's tough to balance doing everything in December when all the happy festivities intervene moreso than the rest of the year when real life obligations always push the pen and paper to the back burner. My fellow authors know exactly what I mean! Will the craziness chill by time we get to the next Horror Addicts.net Online Writers Conference in February 2020? I hope so.

And did I almost forget about our Horror Addicts special holiday Pumpkin Podcast? Yes I did. 

Fortunately, for those two of you who have missed my literary events, author panels, and speaking engagements, I will be taking part in A Christmas Carol reading alongside a Carol Hymn Sing at the FUMC Hammonton! If you are looking to belt some old time Christmas tunes or are just local Dickensian trash like me, feel free to join us 6 p.m. Sunday December 15. My spats, pocket watch, and top hat are ready!

"Wake Me on Christmas Morning."

One Con Down, One to Go!

Greetings all!

My brain is still infused from our first HorrorAddicts.net Online Writers Conference. HOW about you?! 🙋 


The Conference archive remains to inspire all, so even though our week of writing smorgasbord is over, you can still give us a browse!

Here are a few of the Round Up Posts from HorrorAddicts.net to use as a HOW Guide:

HOW Guest Authors

Chat Transcripts

Our Video Workshops

If you're still unsure about how the HOW forums work, you can always go back to my How to HOW Video, too.  


Or, if something more spooky is to your liking, don't forget you can watch my Video Reviews for Horror Addicts, including Dark Shadows and Edgar Allan Poe.

 (I gesture, sue me)

Speaking of spook-tacular, don't forget March 29-31 your friendly neighborhood Kbatz is going to the New Jersey Horror Con and Film Festival doing coverage for HorrorAddicts.net! 

If you're in the AC area be sure to stop by and say hello! Follow the NJ Horror Con on Facebook for guest announcements and join our Horror Addicts Group for my con updates and more!

See you soon! Wooohaaa 

 

HOW Conference This February!

Happy 2019 Everyone! 

I don't know about anyone else, but I need to get on the writing ball! It's tough to focus and get on schedule post holidays. It feels like the entire month of January becomes a hibernation month!

Fortunately, HorrorAddicts.net has our writing backs! This February 24-28, I'll be taking part in the HorrorAddicts.net Online Writers Conference. 

It's Free, It's Online - all I have to do is show up from my easy chair. This I Can Do! 

I am a supposed to be a writer, but I need a refresher on HOW (get it?!) to do the little things. It also seems like folks have forgotten how to use internet forums, because everyone keeps asking me HOW the Conference is supposed to work. Writers, Staff, Editors, and Publishers from HorrorAddicts.net and company will post articles, essays, prompts, and workshops on the forum, and participants can comment and interact all week at your own speed and leisure. There will be some chats too and live events, but again, I like a go at my own pace project, none of this deadline stuff! 

Big caveat also, this is NOT JUST HORROR! It's important to gain general writing and non genre wisdom, amirite?


So where is all this happening? Again, simplicity:
http://horroraddictswriters.freeforums.net

If you would like to participate or submit a workshop, all the details are already on the Conference Forum.

You can also forcibly remind yourself to check us out with our Facebook Event Page: https://www.facebook.com/events/1998091380240780/

 

See you at the Conference! 

 

South Jersey Writers Conference Media and Mayhem!

Was YOUR November busy? 

Ditto, in no small part thanks to the South Jersey Writers Conference that was November 7&10. This 2 day conference is the inspiration that keeps on, well, inspiring thanks to the wealth of photos, videos, and media captured by Yours Truly!

To those who didn't want to be photographed and were reluctant to be on video, I am so, so glad we have your words of wisdom and author stories now saved for posterity! 

 

But enough grandstanding! Here is a complete rundown of the videos and playlists from the South Jersey Writers Conference on my Youtube Channel, and dual coverage can also be found at HorrorAddicts.net.


Networking Night speaker Ilene Schneider

Brainstorming 101 Workshop

Authorship 101 Workshop

NaNoWriMo Community speaker K.A. Magrowski Part 1 and Part 2

Paranormal and Horror Author Panel Parts 1-5 Playlist

Fantasy and Speculative Fiction Panel Parts 1-5 Playlist


You can also follow along with more happenings from the South Jersey Women Authors or visit the South Jersey Writers Conference on Facebook for MOAR!

 (Meta...)

In case you haven't heard yet, we're also taking the Conference theme one step further, as Horror Addicts.net is hosting a Free Online Writers Conference this February! If you're interested in participating, visit the HOW (get it?) forum. Register early and join the Pre-Conference area or submit your workshop!

Keeping it simple, right? http://horroraddictswriters.freeforums.net/



And lastly, my article on Military Records Research is feature in the latest All Veterans issue of Search Magazine. Hip, hip huzzah!

Horror Addicts.net Round Up and Beyond!

Happy Halloween one and all!!


For those looking to revisit my Halloween DIY Craft series at Horror Addicts.net - you know this November when you are supposed to be writing for NaNoWriMo! - here is the complete run down:

DIY Stuffed Pumpkins Video
How to Make a Pumpkin Cat House
Creepy Cloches 
Tea Stained Labels and Spooky Bottles
How Not to Make a Spooky Spell Book

I was also able to take in a Batty for Bats visit by the Rancocas Nature Center at the Monroe Library, and you can find my write up of the event on Horror Addicts.net as well.  Everyone is all up in the spooky events for October but they forget how the rest of us morose folks remain so 365 days a year. Now that things have somewhat quieted down, I'm hoping to do some scary Pine Barrens reporting, but we'll see. 

I enjoy doing audio, video, and new types of media as a companion to my writing work. The key is to not let all the fun extras or bells and whistles over take the "real" writing job. 


Which means we can't forget about the big South Jersey Writers Conference! 

Sign Up ASAP with our Online Registration Form:
https://goo.gl/forms/OI7e16s1dlDKjsYL2


Event Page: https://www.facebook.com/events/2166228133640112/

Facebook Group: facebook.com/groups/southjerseywritersconference


This has been a tremendous undertaking expanding the Conference to multiple days and venues, but our local author community, including the South Jersey Writers Group and South Jersey Women Authors, is ripe and eager for area opportunities to hone writing skills, network, and learn from other authors. I enjoy working with authors who are a step above me, gaining insight from their experiences, so I am looking forward to all the speakers and panelists at the Conference and I hope to see YOU there!


For those taking part in NaNoWriMo, you can also join us at South Jersey NaNo. I don't officially sign up as November is truly the worst time to try and rush the writing journey, but I enjoy the extra motivation and write ins. There were times in my youth when I would take November and December off from writing, it was too busy and I needed the time away from writing in order to want it more. Now, I just want more time to write!

 

Festive Fall Appearances!

October tis the season for Horror Authors, amirite?! 

Saturday October 13 I am jumping back into the talking shop foray at the Indie Authors Day, 11 a.m. at the Heggan Library in Sewell. 

Yes that is tomorrow. Yes I realize I didn't blog about it until now. But who really reads a blog for the latest these days? Get with the social media, I've been tweeting and posting about this all over the place! If there is a real world event, and no one posts about it on social media, did that event really happen?

And now here is my obligatory picture:

If you follow my social media, you will also notice the hullabaloo everywhere about my November event. The Mount Holly Conference is now The South Jersey Writers Conference. New Name! New Venue! Even More Writing Inspiration! Our Dates are still the same with chances to Mingle November 7 in addition to an entire Conference Saturday November 10 and a Dinner Reception, however our venues are now in Berlin. 

Is it short notice to change a conference a month a way? Yes. Did I accomplish planning in a day what our old venue complicated for over a month? Also yes. The folks in Mt. Holly were great to help us start the conference, but we had a feeling it was time to leave the nest and expand, so we did. 

That is one of the biggest most important things about being an author - going with your gut. I could have delayed and risked a time with winter weather or played it safe with a sub par event, but the time was now! When you are a writer, you have to decide if you are going to write right now, sign on with that agent asap, or accept that publisher's contract. There is no time to twaddle. 

That's all my free nuggets for today. If you want more from even bigger and better and more fancy authors than me, See You at the Conference! RSVP: facebook.com/groups/southjerseywritersconference/