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Join Me For A Reading

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Tomorrow at 9 PM EST I’ll be taking part once again in the Southern Nightmare Reading Series with the Atlanta Chapter of the Horror Writers Association!

It’s always great to hear authors read their works, and I’ve had the pleasure of working alongside many of my fellow readers this year. If you dropped by the Decatur Book Festival last year, you might have seen Marc and I sharing a table!

One of the things I love most about being part of this group is getting to see my fellow authors grow as I grow with them, and it’s so cool to see where people are today compared to a few years back. Being an author is an ever-changing journey and a challenge, and having a group of friends to cheer you on is empowering!

I hope you’ll come join us! The event will be streamed live on Facebook. Check out the link listed below for details:

https://atlantahwa.com/the-southern-nightmares-reading-series/

A Big Thank You!

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First of all I want to say thank you to all the people who came out for my Facebook Launch Party last week! We had such a great time. There were giveaways, people talked about what essentials they would want in a city overrun with werewolves, I had an impromptu book unboxing – it was amazing! Yes, it was my first book release party and yes, it was more tiring than I expected. It’s taken me a few days to sort through all the giveaways and come to the realization that yes: that book really was published. I’m so grateful though and I’m looking forward to doing it all again in (*checks calendar*) 9 months omg!

If you haven’t already, I hope you’ll pick up a copy of The She-Wolf of Kanta, found on many platforms. If you enjoy it, or heck even if you don’t, I hope you’ll leave a review either on Amazon, Goodreads, or even Barnes and Noble. These all help!

Some housekeeping to address: I’ve added a new section for my 2018 Appearances which now requires its own listing. I’ll link the events I’ll be part of and the Facebook events associated with them so you can add them to your calendar. I’ll be selling copies of The She-Wolf of Kanta as well as signing copies too! Plus I’ll be sharing a booth with Morbid Smile so you’ll get a chance to buy some of her amazing work.

That said, I just added another event to the list. I’ll be a vendor at Henry County Fireworks on July 4th. Yes, this is a very local event (just down the street in fact), but it’s going to be a blast! I love supporting local groups and seeing these kinds of events make more of a showing south of Atlanta. I have other potential events on the horizon too, but I’ll hold off on sharing until I know for sure!

2018 is turning out to be quite a busy year and I’m excited to see what happens next! Thank you for following my journey and encouraging me to continue. I couldn’t have done this without so much support. My goal is that this is one of many books down the road, as you’ll hopefully soon see.

Thoughts on Georgia Snowpocalypse 2014

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I’ve lived in Georgia just about all my life, and I’ve been commuting to Atlanta since I started college back in 2001. That said, I don’t think anybody really knew just how bad things were going to get when Snow Storm 2014 struck on Tuesday.

GAisClosed

I woke up around 4:00 that morning to check the weather so I could decide whether or not I should take the hour long commute in to work that day. After seeing that my county was going to be heavy hit (relatively speaking of course, to most places north of us, 2-3″ of snow is nothing), I told my boss that I wanted to work from home because I was concerned about getting home after work as the snow came in. I was very lucky that I could make this decision and that my boss supported it. Little did I know at the time that my co-workers really should have been doing the same thing.

I-75 Traffic Jam due to Ice – Warning: Graphic view of a multi-car accident.

My social media feed was flooded with friends who were fighting the traffic despite the odds. One friend not only had to navigate around abandoned vehicles in the middle of the road, but also had to get out and push his car through ice patches. Yesterday the Georgia National Guard and probably every police officer and firefighter available was out on the streets passing out food, water, and other supplies to motorists who had been stranded for going on 24 hours at that point. Two days after the dust has settled and temperatures have finally started to make it out of freezing, the interstates are still peppered with abandoned cars on either side and some people are only now able to get home. For many it was a nightmare that still hasn’t completely cleared.

GAWalkingDead

Amid all the finger pointing and declarations of innocence among the politicians involved, I’ve found some very insightful articles that have tried to pinpoint how we got to this point to begin with.

How 2 Inches of Snow Created a Traffic Nightmare in Atlanta

The Day We Lost Atlanta: How 2 lousy inches of snow paralyzed a metro area of 6 million

For me, I felt lucky to not be in that mess, to have very narrowly avoided what was sure to be an all night commute home on treacherous roads. Somehow it didn’t help me much though. As the road outside of our home iced over and we no longer heard a single car pass by our house, it seemed to be the perfect setup to get some writing in. I wanted to write and knew that I ought to be taking advantage of the situation. Looking at the weather report, it would likely be a few snow days, but for some reason I just couldn’t.

It’s taken me days to realize that I felt guilty. As my co-workers and friends spoke about all the trouble and difficulties they had dealt with over the days after the snow and ice hit, I felt bad that I had somehow avoided the same fate. There wasn’t anything I could do of course, and learning to embrace that realization has made me feel better. That and seeing how others, who were able to help where I couldn’t, banded together.

The Silver Lining of Atlanta’s Snowpocalypse 2014

This event won’t be forgotten. From kids who had to spend the night on freezing school buses, to children who had to bundle up in school gyms without heat, and to commuters who had 12+ hour long commutes home, you can bet that there will be push back. If there was ever a time to make an argument for reliable public transit in the city (that doesn’t rely on surface streets), this would be it. I just hope it isn’t too little too late.