Tag Archives: NEHW event

Dec 20 2011

What To Do After Writing Your First Novel

What To Do After Writing Your First Novel

by David Price

This is all new to me. I finished writing my first novel just five months ago. It’s been a long time coming. There’s been so much to do since I finished the first draft, more than I ever imagined. I knew I’d have to edit it, but I never guessed how much work that would be, because I’d only written short stories before. I found out I needed to have a website, start a blog, as well as get active on facebook and twitter. Last and not least, I needed to network. As far as networking goes, the best thing I have done to date was join the New England Horror Writers.

The NEHW seemed like a good, solid group, right away. I immediately got involved in the facebook discussions and tried to help by contributing to the website. I had a chance to meet some of the members at Rock and Shock, and then about a month later at Anthocon. Those two events were great places to start and meet a few people, but the best chance to really get to know some people was going to be the Christmas party at John McIlveen’s.

Driving there was a bit of an adventure for me. I had trouble following the mapquest directions, and found myself wishing I had taken the GPS from my wife’s car. Overall, Haverhill is not that far from my home city of Peabody (pronounced Peebuddy, Jason), but once I got past Georgetown, I was in unfamiliar territory. It probably took me about a half hour longer to get there than it should have, because I turned around and backtracked so many times. In the end, I made it though.

From left to right: Scott Goudsward and David Price playing pool (picture courtesy of John M. McIlveen)

Now, I’ve been an introvert all my life, so meeting new people isn’t really my specialty. I’m sure a lot of you other writer types out there can relate to this. I walked into the conference room where the party was being held and all those old anxieties came to the surface. All the seats at the table were taken, which didn’t make it any easier to blend in. Luckily, Dan Keohane got up from the food table and asked in anyone wanted to play pool. A few of us teamed up and we played some pool. This gave me a chance to mingle with just a couple people to start and break the ice. As an added bonus, our host John McIlveen brought down enough alcohol to supply a frat party. I’ve been in enough social situations to know the lubricating powers of alcohol, so I grabbed a beer and tried to relax.

People came and went, but I had the chance to talk to Paul McMahon, Scott Goudsward, John McIlveen and Tracy Carbone during the day. Eventually, Stacy Longo and Jason Harris showed up, the two people who I’ve had the most contact up until now. I’m not so good at mingling that I had the chance to meet everybody, but hopefully I’ll get there eventually. I’m learning more all the time. Everybody had their own experiences and their own advice to share. The NEHW is a very friendly, supportive community, and I’m glad I can be a part of it. As day turned to night, the partygoers dwindled to a level I was more naturally comfortable with.

At eight o’clock, those of us who had stuck it out that long, gathered around the television so we could check out Tracy Carbone’s appearance on Animal Planet. This was the best time for me. We all got a kick out of Tracy’s appearance on some show that had to do with exotic pets. It lightened the mood up for a fun conversation. At that point, Scott Woolridge and Gardner Goldsmith were telling stories about convention experiences, other writers they have met, and the British sci-fi comedy, Red Dwarf, a show I had never seen before. Gardner really had some great stories to share about Red Dwarf and what the show meant to him. Gardner and a friend of his even flew over to England one year, just to watch the show on tv.

As Gardner was telling us this story, he described his big, burly friend who went with him. He looked around the room, reached over and tapped me on the shoulder, “Kind of like this guy,” he said. I have to chuckle about this. I have been part of a few different social circles over my life, such as hockey players, construction workers, Boy Scout fathers and now writers. Everything being relative, I seem to be some sort of hybrid. When I am around the athletes and construction workers, I am generally one of the smaller guys, but when I hang out with Boy Scout dads and other writers, it goes the other way.

Anyway, it was a fun day filled with interesting people. I’ve never completely fit in with the athletes and construction workers. Nothing against them, mind you, I’ve been part of that crowd for over twenty-five years. Still, it’s nice to finally find a group of people who can sit around all day talking about H. P. Lovecraft, Star Wars, the next Stephen King mini-series and the zombie apocalypse. I hope I get the chance to get to know more of this group over the coming year. Maybe by the 2012 Christmas party I’ll even know the names of the others that I didn’t get a chance to meet. I guess I’ll wrap this up now. I think I’ll watch one more episode of Red Dwarf on Netflix before bed.

Editor’s Note: Along with being a NEHW member, David Price is part of the NEHW Publicity Committee.

Oct 3 2011

Bios of the Authors Appearing at the Middletown Open Air Market

Here are the bios for authors Stacey Longo, Kristi Petersen Schoonover, Rob Watts, Kasey Shoemaker, and Dan Foley who will be appearing at the Middletown Open Air Market.
Stacey Longo’s Bio:
Born in CT in the ’70s, she grew up with two parents that had the audacity to be loving and supportive role models.
She and her sister found themselves among the fluorescent nightmare that was the ’80s, a wash in legwarmers and off-the-shoulder “Flashdance” tees. It was their love for Duran Duran that pulled us through these tumultuous fashion times.
After college (WE ARE – PENN STATE!) she moved to Block Island, RI, where she eventually began her writing career as a weekly humor columnist for the Block Island Times. For six years, she waxed poetic on such topics as how to make a man change a roll of toilet paper (a trick topic – it will never happen) and how difficult it is to tell the difference between wild grass and corn when weeding the garden. During this time, she also published articles in the Island Crier and The Works Magazine.
In 2005, she returned to her home state of Connecticut amid little fanfare, something she hasn’t quite gotten over (where’s her ticker-tape parade, people?) She works a regular job to support her writing habit, and live a happy life with her husband, Jason, and two cats, Wednesday and Pugsley.
Kristi Petersen Schoonover’s bio:

Her short fiction has been featured in The Adirondack Review, Barbaric Yawp, The Illuminata, Chick Flicks, Afternoon, The Circle, Citizen Culture, I Like Monkeys, New Witch Magazine, MudRock: Stories & Tales, Waxing & Waning, Wrong World’s multi-media anthology, I’m Going to Tell You One More Time, and many, many others. Skeletons in the Swimmin’ Hole: Tales from Haunted Disney World, a collection of ghost stories set in Disney Parks, is now available at www.haunteddisneytales.com, Amazon and all the usual outlets under the imprint Admit One Literary Theme Park Press. My short story “Doors” appears in Carpe Articulum Literary Review‘s Fall 2010 issue.

Her horror novel Bad Apple is forthcoming from Vagabondage Books in late 2011.

She’s the host of the “Dead Letters” paranormal fiction segment on The Ghostman & Demon Hunter Show, an editor for Read Short Fiction, and the recipient of Norman Mailer Writers Colony Winter 2010 and 2011 Residencies.

She holds a B.A. in Creative Writing in Literature from Burlington College in Vermont and an MFA in Creative Writing from Goddard College; prior to all of that, I was a student at the University of Rhode Island, where today I’m a member of a monthly writing critique group. My influences include Joyce Carol Oates, Edgar Allan Poe, Daniel Pearlman, Haruki Murakami, Koji Suzuki, Gina Ochsner and David Means, among at least thirty others. I’m constantly looking for ways to blend my favorite genres’ hallmarks, film’s visual qualities, and literature’s human themes in my writing. When do I have the most fun? Revision, actually. That’s my favorite part.

She lives in the Connecticut woods with my housemate, Charles, my fiancé, Nathan, and three cats, and I still frequently go to bed with the lights on.

http://kristipetersenschoonover.com/

Rob Watts’ bio:

Born and raised in Boston, Massachusetts, Watts embraced his creative personalities early in life and ventured hand-in-hand through life with each of them ever since. From his early days of furniture making in high school to Culinary Arts in college, Watts craved creative environments and the satisfaction it supplied. Throughout the nineties and beyond, Rob spent twelve years working in the culinary industry in and around the Boston area. During that period, he possessed an urge to write, mostly songs and short stories, and with that he created Ocean View Press, an entertainment magazine and publishing company. The first major project was extensive research into the history of the Boston music scene for a book now titled “The Sounds from Boston.” This project led to a freelance career in the local, as well as international music industry. From live reviews and album critiques to one-on-one interviews, it was fully embraced and fondly remembered. These days, Watts is in the process of completing his latest horror-themed project titled “The Crooked Roads through Cedar Grove” which is a collection of interrelated novellas released one-at-a-time over the span of two years, beginning with the paranormal thriller Huldufólk. T.C.R.T.C.G. is an epic mosaic of several intertwining tales and characters based in the small New England town of Cedar Grove. Combining sub-genres of horror and fantasy, Crooked Roads is an experimental approach at independent book releasing. Four stand-alone stories will be released one-at-a-time every few months, each accompanied with its own original soundtrack of music. In addition to his writing works, Rob is now one-half of a successful custom stainless steel design company based in Boston. He still loves to cook, build, review music and travel.

http://www.robwattsonline.com/

Kasey Shoemaker’s bio:

Shoemaker currently resides in Connecticut with her husband and a fur-kid, also known as a Boston Terrier. She received her MA in writing, media writing, and rhetoric from Trinity College in Hartford where her thesis was a novel about witchcraft. Having grown up in Florida, she still considers herself a transplant and misses the beach. However, she gladly trades the sunshine state for a place where she can watch the seasons change. Plus, she sunburns really easily.
In Florida, she studied at a small liberal arts school, which she attended on an academic scholarship. She majored in Psychology and minored in English. She was a member of the English honor society, Sigma Tau Delta, where she was integral in the decision to not put the initials on the group’s T-shirts.
Shoemaker has been writing since she was seven years old and has been known to author everything from poetry to blogs. But, the novel is her favorite medium. Also, she loves reading (a necessary addiction for writers), spending time with her husband, walking the dog, practicing yoga, and dancing when no one is home to witness it.

http://www.kaseyshoemaker.com

Dan Foley’s bio:

Foley is a fugitive from New Jersey who now lives in Connecticut with his wife. He developed his rather dark sense of humor while serving on nuclear submarines. Dan’s professional writing career started writing late in life, publishing his first short story at the age of fifty-seven. His stories have appeared in Maelstrom 1, Dark Notes From NJ, Nocturne Magazine, Wicked Karnival and Hellbound Book’s Damned Nation and Death Grip: Exit Laughing to name a few. A novel, Death’s Companion, will be published in the coming year.

Dan has six grandchildren, the oldest Caiti also enjoys a good horror tale. And as she tells her friends, “This is my grampa, don’t believe a thing he says.

Some past publications include:

It’s In The Bag, Cyber-Pulp’s Second Annual Halloween Anthology.

Talking To Robert, Be Mine Anthology, February 5, 2004.

Friends, Maelstrom 1 Anthology, Lighthouse Media One, December 2004.

The Sixth Victim, Anthology, Garden State Horror Writers, Dark Notes From NJ, March,
2005.

Premonitions, Nocturne Magazine, Issue 1.5, March, 2005. (UK)

Premonitions, No Longer Dreams Anthology, LiteCircle Books, April 2005. (USA)

Fat Tuesday, No Longer Dreams Anthology, LiteCircle Books, April 2005.

Future publications include:

The Yankee Cap, Dark Elation Volume One, Lighthouse Media One, December 2005.

Roses For My Lady, Contest Winner, Wicked Karnival Ezine, Issue 3, February, 2005.

The Yankee Cap, Nocturne Magazine, Issue 5.0, September, 2005. (UK)

Simon’s War, Damned Nation Anthology, Hell Bound Books, October 2005

Roses For My Lady, Wicked Karnival #3

Creepy Mouse, Wicked Karnival #4

The Merchant, The Witch, and the Christmas Tree, Wicked Karnival #5

Foley doesn’t have a website, but is planning on creating one in the future.

There are five authors signed up for this event so far. The response has been great. There is still room for more authors. If you would like to participate, email Jason Harris at dudley228@gmail.com.

Sep 29 2011

NEHW at Ninth Annual Middletown Open Air Market

Authors Stacey Longo, Kristi Petersen Schoonover, Rob Watts, Kasey Shoemaker, and Dan Foley will be at the Ninth Annual Middletown Open Air Market being held on Oct. 23 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Wadsworth Mansion at Long Hill Estate, located at 421 Wadsworth Steet.

There is still room for other interested authors to be involved in this event. Please contact Jason Harris at dudley228@gmail.com. The cost for participating will be $10. Room will be limited.

For more information about the authors check out their websites: Longo (http://www.staceylongo.com/), Schoonover (http://kristipetersenschoonover.com/), Watts (http://www.robwattsonline.com), and Shoemaker (http://www.kaseyshoemaker.com). Foley doesn’t have a website.