The World Horror Convention is in Portland this weekend. Time to get your fangs sharpened and your ghouls groomed. It’s the first time I’ve ever attended a World Horror Con, and since this is on my home turf, I couldn’t wait to see what it’s all about.
I saved some $$ by registering early, and even managed to snag a spot in the writers workshop. I love both reading and writing horror, so I was hoping to get some tips that might help me moved into the professional rank of horror writers. I submitted my very best horror short story and to my surprise and delight, I got the luck of the draw: pros Nancy Holder and Steve Perry agreed to give me feedback. Insightful, engaging, and absolutely spot-on with their comments, I learned a ton in less than an hour. Their advice was positively priceless to me.
After my critique session with Nancy and Steve, I headed over to the dealers room. Several swipes of the AMEX later, I had a new baseball cap and a couple of other too-cool-to-live-without items to add to the bag of swag I got when I picked up my registration badge.
Tomorrow is the big day for me; there are a couple of panel sessions I want to sit in on and a couple of books I’d like to get signed. Maybe it’s still early, but I didn’t see any particularly um, ghastly costumes, and no gratuitous blood whatsoever.
Of course, I stayed away from the dark corners, just on general principal. Bwa-ha-ha.