Other than a handful of news and feature articles and the occasional freelance job, my writing production has flatlined. There are a few things rattling around the inside of my head–an essay here, a short story there–but nothing that makes me want to carve out some time to write for hours. The inspiration just hasn’t been there. Then last night happened.
Thanks to Twitter, and my growing dependency on it, I discovered “Write like a girl: An evening of women in horror,” hosted at Salem’s Witch House and sponsored by Creative Salem, Witch House, and FunDead Publications, a small publishing house in Salem. The event was also a fundraiser, with ticket proceeds going to Safe Child Africa, an organization that assists children in Nigeria who have been accused of witchcraft.
Six female writers, published in a number of FunDead anthologies, read stories for 90 minutes, rotating between rooms on the first and second floor of the museum, the only remaining structure in Salem with a connection to the Salem Witch Trials and dating back to the mid-17th century.
I’ve been a fan of the genre since I was a teenager, but this was my first time attending a reading and I really didn’t know what to expect. Stepping in to a dimly lit 300+ year old house in Salem, with creaking floorboards and countless shadows, was escapism at its finest. And then The Widow (above) stepped in to start her reading. Bliss. I even was a lucky winner of two FunDead anthologies.
I think it may be time to try my hand at horror writing. I even have an idea.
Karina Coombs 