Every year I recap the writing triumphs and disappointments of the previous twelve months. Every year I feel like I haven’t done enough. This year in particular, with my kid’s still-undiagnosed constant headache, I spent way too much time calling doctors, driving to medical appointments, and sitting in hospitals. I wish I’d had the energy to hustle more. Hopefully next year will be better.

Book publications:

Nothing major came out this year.

I did put out a collection of cemetery essays called Graveyard Field Trips: A Memoir on Wattpad in July and August. It gathers essays I had published on Gothic.Net and GothicBeauty.com, along with the introduction to the original edition of Death’s Garden: Relationships with Cemeteries.

I have a proposal out for The Pioneer Cemeteries of the San Francisco Bay Area and another for a project with Lisa Morton that I’m excited about.  Hopefully those books will find homes in 2019.

Short fiction publications:

“Elle a Vu un Loup,” the short story I’m most excited about this year, was published in Weirdbook #40. My recurring character Alondra DeCourval traps a predator in a graveyard on an island in Northern Michigan.

“Letter from New Orleans” is about the first day Alondra spent in the Crescent City, when she wanders into a ghost story. It introduces characters who appear in “Last-Born,” the most anthologized Alondra story (most recently republished in Alondra’s Investigations). “Letter from New Orleans” was published in the Ladies of Horror Flash Project.

“Mr. Moonlight,” a very short story from Alondra’s childhood, is also available at the Ladies of Horror Flash Project. I’m really proud of how this one turned out.

I put together a chapbook of “The Fatal Book” to give away at WorldCon.  It served its purpose, in that it got me to talk to people so I could hand them a copy of the booklet.

I made 3 ebook collections of previously published Alondra stories:

Alondra’s Experiments was published on Valentine’s Day. Alondra explores alchemy, vampirism, and just how far she will go for love.

Alondra’s Investigations was published at the end of April. Alondra faces elemental magic, a ghost story, and a book that can cause the end of the world.

Alondra’s Adventures appeared in June. Alondra befriends a nature spirit in the heart of Tokyo, solves an ancient vendetta in Venice, and stumbles into a Japanese ghost story.

Short fiction sales:

“Something in the Water,” an Alondra story set in San Francisco’s Academy of Sciences-in-exile, will appear in the next issue of Occult Detective Quarterly. My name made it onto the cover! (This issue may be out before the end of 2018. They are very close to having it published.)

Other than that, I collected 12 rejection slips for a handful of stories. Maybe next year my hit ratio will be better.

Short Nonfiction Publications:

“10 American Cemeteries to See Before You Die” appeared on The Daily Beast on April 7, 2018. This is my collection of cemeteries to see in springtime.

I wrote 9 columns for the Horror Writers Association’s newsletter about the histories of burial and cremation, cemetery ghost stories, and gravestone iconography.

I interviewed 44 authors on this blog, including my idols Gemma Files, Nancy Kilpatrick, Yvonne Navarro, and a whole lot more. You can search on “5 Questions” to find all the interviews.

On CemeteryTravel.com, I was proud to put together a two-part series on the “Resting Places of Horror Icons.” Here’s part one.

Guest Post Publications:

Despite good intentions, I didn’t get many guest posts written this year.

“Four Graves for Harvey Milk” appeared on The Cemetery Club on February 1 to kick off Great Britain’s Gay Pride Month.

“The Madam’s Haunted Tomb” was part of the Ghosts in the Graveyard series on Roxanne Rhoads’s All Things Halloween blog. It appeared on 9/14/18.

I wrote about my “Ghost-Inspired Fiction” for the Halloween Haunts feature on the Horror Writers Association blog. It was published 10/18/18.