I have never been to a World Horror Convention. I’ve never been to WorldCon or Comic Con. Despite being an officer for three years and electronic newsletter editor for several more years than that, I never attended a Horror Writers Association Bram Stoker Award ceremony. I’ve never been to NECon. Or DragonCon. The list could go on and on.

Between 2003 and 2007 I did go to Horrorfind Weekend every year. I miss that. It was a chance to physically visit with other people working in the genre … writers, actors, make-up people, directors, etc. Despite being a former journalist and now a teacher, I’m really not that outgoing, but I did make some friends at Horrorfind. We signed some books together, listened to each other read, spent a lot of time in the bar and room parties, talking about the industry and life and writing and all that goes along with it.

I miss that.

Yes, I still go to SoonerCon every year, and try to make it to FenCon, too. But those are smaller regional conventions where the focus is always more on science fiction. Not many horror authors come in from the coasts or from Canada. Not to say the folks who come to those conventions aren’t good people. I consider some of them almost family … but they’re not the whole family.

I miss talking to those people I used to see at least once each year. I miss them personally and professionally. While I haven’t found the success Brian Keene predicted for me when Shara first appeared in 2003, I have made a little money off my writing and next year I plan to attend at least one major horror convention to mark the release of the new book written with Carrie Jones, and hopefully something more. (I’ll talk more about some career changes in a later post.)

So … which major horror convention should I plan on attending?