Holly Walrath's Blog, page 9

Now Available for Pre-Order: "The Asylum" in Other Terrors: An Inclusive Anthology

I'm stoked that my short story "The Asylum" is in the Other Terrors anthology from the Horror Writer's Association, available July 2022. Here's some info on the anthology: 

An anthology of original new horror stories edited by Bram Stoker Award winners Vince Liaguno and Rena Mason that showcases authors from underrepresented backgrounds telling terrifying tales of what it means to be, or merely to seem, “other”

Offering original new stories from some of the biggest names in horror as well as some of the hottest up-and-coming talents, Other Fears will provide the ultimate reading experience for horror fans who want to celebrate fear of “the other.” Be they of a different culture, a different background, a different sexual preference, a different belief system, or a different skin color, some people simply aren’t part of the dominant community—and are perceived as scary. Humans are almost instinctively inclined to fear what’s different, as foolish as that may be, and there are a multitude of individuals who have spent far too long on the outside looking in. And the thing about the outside is . . . it’s much larger than you think.

In Other Fears, horror writers from a multitude of underrepresented backgrounds will be putting a new, terrifying spin on what it means to be “the other.” People, places, and things once considered normal will suddenly appear different, striking a deeper, much more primal, chord of fear. Are our eyes playing tricks on us, or is there something truly sinister lurking under the surface of what we thought we knew? And who among us who is really of the other, after all?

Pre-Order on Amazon and wherever books are sold . . . 

Turning Over a New Leaf in Your Writing: A Longform Essay on the New Year and Writing

I don’t think I’m alone in saying that writing right now is complicated. Well, it’s always been complicated, but in the midst of a global pandemic, it feels deeply different. Like apples and oranges. Or maybe a dumpster fire and a serene lake.

I remember a few years ago I would write with a kind of wild ferocity. Lately, my writing has felt softer. My schedule has been upended with the constant shift from in-person work (poets have day jobs too) to at-home. Before the pandemic, I was a freelance editor. Now I freelance while working a more stable job, partly because of the stress of the pandemic. Oh, and I have a spouse at home now too.
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At the beginning of the year, we look back on what has come before us. We reflect on where we’ve been and why. But this feels extremely traumatic and difficult to do in a time when the last two years have felt dystopic and many of us have lost loved ones, jobs, livelihoods, houses, or any number of casualties to the world.

Read the full article . . .

Review of The Smallest of Bones at Heavy Feather Review

Shout out to Heavy Feather Review for this amazing, stunning review of my new poetry book, The Smallest of Bones. Reviewers are absolutely my favorite people in the whole wide world and I am so grateful for the kind words about my poetry <3

If you haven't grabbed your copy yet of my book, it's available at all major booksellers and at CLASH books. 

Read the full review here . . . 

Applying the Japanese Idea of Wabi-Sabi to the Writing Life: Accepting the Ephemeral and Imperfect in Your Craft

As a freelance editor, one of the main problems my writers face is the ideal of perfection. I struggle with this myself as a writer. If my project isn’t complete, it feels utterly imperfect, and that creates a mental block. I can’t write.
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Or else, I look at the work of other writers and think: They wrote this perfect thing. I’ll never be good enough to compete with them.

Putting aside the idea that writing is a competition (News Flash: It’s not.), I think this is a perfectly natural desire — the desire to be perfect. After all, as humans, we are always striving toward something in our lives. Writers are a special type of human in that we are striving towards creating — and we have high levels of perfectionism because we care about our work!

Read the full article on Medium . . .

How to Write a Book and Grow Your BusinessNo Matter What You Do, Writing a Book can Help You Succeed…And Make Money!

Thousands of business owners have dived into publishing as a way to reach more customers and engage their clientele. Whether it’s Standard Baking (my favorite little bakery in Portland, Maine), who put out a book of their best recipes, or Ryder Carroll, the super-famous creator of the Bullet Journal, or Marie Kondo, organizer extraordinaire. Writing about what you do is a fantastic way to grow your business.
Read the full article at Write Weird . . .

Journaling for Writers: Creating a Safe Space for Your Writing in a Notebook

Right now, I think we’re all struggling to get by as writers. When I poll my writer friends on their current writing life, everyone says that it’s a struggle to get words on paper. So keeping a journal ABOUT your writing might feel counter-intuitive. How can I write about my writing when I’m not getting much writing done?

Read the full article at Write Weird . . .

Fall Workshops and Events

I wanted to make sure you saw these upcoming events I'll be at (in-person events pending black death). Come say hi! Poetry Barn Self-Paced Course: Journaling for Poets
DATE: Ongoing
TIME: Asynchronous, Self-paced
PRICE: $99
Poets are observers. One way to keep track of your observations and ideas is through a writing journal. In this workshop, we'll cover the basics of journaling for poets, not just as a method of processing and keeping track of your thoughts, but as a method of improving your writing life and working towards a career as a writer.  In this workshop, you'll cover how to manage large ideas or projects, track submissions, create goals, revising, and more, all while exploring popular methods of journaling to find the one that works for you. If you feel out of sorts or disorganized in your writing life, this workshop is for you! Writing Speculative Fiction
DATE: Starts August 30 
4-Week Online Workshop with Writing Workshops Dallas
​PRICE: $249 
*This class is filling up fast! Sign up before it sells out like last time :) The world of speculative short fiction is a highly competitive but welcoming community where a new writer can make a start in their career. In this workshop, we'll explore the fine art of writing short stories for genre markets, with an exploration of the main tropes of each genre from science fiction to fantasy to horror. Picasso said, "Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist." This workshop dives into the rules of speculative fiction and how to break them while honing your writing for pro markets. ​ Writing Resistance Through Erasure, Found Text & Visual Poetry
Format: Independent Study, online

Hybrid poetry forms can be a powerful form of resistance. From Jerrod Schwarz’s erasure of Trump’s inaugural speech to Niina Pollari’s black outs of the N-400 citizenship form, contemporary poets are engaging with the world through text, creating new and challenging works of art. Heralded by the rise of the “Instapoet,” visual works are a way to take poetry one step further by crafting new forms and structures that often transcend the page.
In this four-module self-paced workshop, you’ll study the forms of poetry that draw from outside sources and texts, learning how artists are reshaping the narrative of resistance and how to draw from news, media, canonical works, and other found texts to create our own work in conversation with the current world. Fencon
September 17-19, Dallas, TX
Panels TBA
I'll be hosting a table at this con for Interstellar Flight Press! Come say Hi! 

Armadillocon 
October 15-17, 2021, Austin, TX 
Panels TBA 
I'll be hosting a table at this con for Interstellar Flight Press! Come say Hi! ​

The Leader’s Guide to Writing: How Keeping Track of Ideas Can Fuel Leadership Skills through “Awareness Writing”

As a freelance editor, many of my clients are respected business leaders and community civic leaders. I’ve seen how they’ve taught themselves to succinctly summarize an idea — boiling it down to its essence so that it’s easy to understand. The most successful leaders use writing as one of many tools to succeed and focus their thoughts.
Business owners and leaders already spend a lot of time writing. From emails to orders to proposals — professional writing skills are essential. You may notice that the most successful leaders are often articulate, quick-witted, and shrewd communicators.
Read the full article here . . .

Goodreads Giveaway: The Smallest of Bones Signed Copies

Enter to win a copy of THE SMALLEST OF BONES
​by Holly Lyn Walrath

A haunting ossuary of tiny poems covering a wide range of topics such as love, romance, relationships, queer sexuality, religion, death, demons, ghosts, bones, gender, and darkness. The Smallest of Bones guides those on an intimate journey of body acceptance, with sparse words dedicated to peeling back skin and diving bone-deep into the self. Raw, honest, and powerful, this collection is an offering to those struggling to find power in the darkness.

​"ABSOLUTELY. FRAKKING. STUNNING POETRY."
—Rebecca Crunden, author of These Violent Nights .goodreadsGiveawayWidget { color: #555; font-family: georgia, serif; font-weight: normal; text-align: left; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; background: white; } .goodreadsGiveawayWidget p { margin: 0 0 .5em !important; padding: 0; } .goodreadsGiveawayWidgetEnterLink { display: inline-block; color: #181818; background-color: #F6F6EE; border: 1px solid #9D8A78; border-radius: 3px; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; outline: none; font-size: 13px; padding: 8px 12px; } .goodreadsGiveawayWidgetEnterLink:hover { color: #181818; background-color: #F7F2ED; border: 1px solid #AFAFAF; text-decoration: none; }Goodreads Book Giveaway The Smallest of Bonesby Holly Lyn Walrath

Giveaway ends September 13, 2021.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter Giveaway

Poetry Reprint: Dear John Cusack - A Love Letter to My Favorite 80s Heartthrob

Thank you for age sixteen when I, bashed apart by loneliness,
curled up in your dark hair and white skin and the spaces
between your crooked teeth...

Read the poem at The Junction . . .