Indie Gathering

This past weekend, I attended Indie Gathering International Film Festival in Hudson, Ohio, just outside of Cleveland. I went with two author friends, Amy and Missy, and we had a table in the vendor hall, so I took copies of the Reel Dark anthology to sell. I also had rack cards of Death Sword and Exterminating Angel, my two paranormal angel suspense stories. They were the reason I was at Indie Gathering. Both short novels had received an award each.

I'll admit, this is one of the best-run festivals I've been to. All events took place in the hotel, and there was plenty of networking as well as viewing films and attending panels. I went to the short thriller-suspense films and Missy attended the panel on crowd funding. Amy had a couple of short films also screening.

Which got me thinking, could I come up with a short film for submission for next year, plus another screenplay or two? Seeing how they show micro films, maybe it's a possibility that I can enter a project I'm currently playing around with.

Anyway, I have one more con to attend this year in Louisville, Kentucky: Imaginarium. It's a multi-genre writers' conference, with panels, a vendor hall, and a film festival, plus awards banquet.  I'll be sharing a table with Amy and Missy in the vendor hall, which is free to the public this year. Looking forward to meeting new people and seeing old friends again.

Playing with Pinterest

Had to admit, I wasn't too keen on this social networking site. Fellow authors seemed excited about it, but what with all the brouhaha over copyright infringement, to be honest, I was scared away.

But I'm a visual person. And Pinterest looked as if it would be something I'd like. If only I could figure out how to use it. What pictures could I pin without getting in trouble? If I used Pinterest to help market my books, where was the line between being an engaged pinner and a spammer? (And I don't want to spam any site if I can help it.)

I found this article via my Sisters in Crime loop. And I decided to implement the ideas. I started an inspiration board for Exterminating Angel, updated my book covers, and added Silent Film Stars and Favorite Mystery Writers. I have other boards I plan to create, including one featuring Kentucky authors, as well as inspiration boards for my other works in progress, and my interests, such as Victorian houses and aviation. A balance between marketing and just sharing who I am.

If you'd like to check my boards out, you can do so here.

Now, to use Tumblr more than I've been doing. :-)