Sep 23, 2015 | Mysterious Places, Scary True Stories
I first was introduced to horror author Catherine Cavendish when I read her book The Pendle Curse. I’m not a fan of witch stories, but Catherine had been so nice to me during my launch that I decided to give it a read, and I’m so glad I did! It’s an...
Sep 21, 2015 | Mysterious Places
In our search for a quiet tropical island, we stumbled across one that is more quiet than most. The Palmyra Atoll has between four and twenty people living on it at any one time, all of whom are U.S. government scientists. I found this intriguing bit of info on...
Sep 2, 2015 | The Writing Life
When I saw my friend Niki’s new necklace, my first thought was, “That’s exactly what I need.” My second was, “But only if it’s real.” I think J.K. Rowling tapped into every writer’s–and or at least every...
Aug 5, 2015 | The Writing Life
Like most writers, I’m often glued to a computer. I don’t need medical science to tell me this isn’t good. Before I went to Romania for a Horror Writer’s Workshop in Transylvania, I was getting migraine headaches almost everyday. Since...
Jul 26, 2015 | Mysterious Places, The Writing Life
At long last, the day we’d been waiting for arrived. We were finally going to visit the childhood home of Vlad Tepes, otherwise known as The Impaler, otherwise known as Dracula (which is Romanian for son of the devil). After an epic bus ride, we stumbled onto...
Jul 25, 2015 | Mysterious Places, Tales of the Supernatural, The Writing Life
Hasdeu Castle has a strange, sad history. After his daughter Iulia (pronounced Julia) died of tuberculosis at the age of nineteen, Bogdan Hasdeu claimed to receive instructions from beyond the grave. For some reason, Iulia, a brilliant prodigy who had written several...
Jul 19, 2015 | Mysterious Places, The Writing Life
This week in Romania has been stretching my muscles, literally and figuratively. At least three hours each day is spent in a writing workshop with author Richard Thomas. Richard has been throwing us some curveballs. Just when you start to relax, he wants you to write...
Jul 17, 2015 | Mysterious Places, The Writing Life
Transylvania Horror Writer’s Workshop, Day 3. Here’s something I don’t say very often. I’m scared. And I don’t scare easily. Finally got inside Bran Castle, and it has it all–a secret passageway, a connection to Bram...
Jul 16, 2015 | Mysterious Places, The Writing Life
You know those decorative strands of garlic everyone had in their kitchen back in the ’80s? Well, the trend started here in eastern Europe, and it had nothing to do with style. Here, garlic is used for protection, and this is taken quite seriously. What, did you...
Jul 15, 2015 | Mysterious Places, The Writing Life
Every house is haunted. It’s only to be expected in a place with so much history. Most of the buildings in these little Romanian villages are hundreds of years old. I’d spent a total of about fifteen hours in planes and airports, but I had a surprising...
