I was so busy “throwing it all away” that I forgot to include the link for my tarot card reading over at HT: https://horrortree.com/september-2023-tarot-cards-for-writing-inspiration/.
Or you can just sing along with me. C’mon, you know you want to…
Author: Willow Croft
Willow Croft
Bringer of Nightmares and Storms
Horror and Speculative Fiction Author
It’s back to school we go!
Even if you’re not actually going back to school, you can make believe you’ll be in attendance with the best and the brightest…or the most evil and depraved!
Learn what your fate will be at the posh private academy of your dreams…
https://horrortree.com/september-2023-horrorscopes-how-youll-die-at-a-posh-private-academy/
I’m still trying to find ways to flee the state of Kansas to a safer, supportive, inclusive locale, but it’s slow going.
What’s going good (or so I think) is my first week(s) of my latest academic endeavor! The assignments are quite challenging, but fascinating.
Aside from that, things are pretty dreary in my part of the world, but I’d love to hear about all ya’ll’s quirky adventures.
Horrorscopes, Heartbreak, and Horrifying Book Reviews
One of the most difficult parts of living in small-town Kansas is dealing with the overall attitudes here towards the nonhuman animals we share our world with.
I have been trying to help animals since I moved here, and every day is a new level of heartbreak and agony.
It hurts me more than I can possibly describe to bear witness to the things that go on here.
I used to think I was pretty resilient, but most days I worry about even getting through the day. I keep trying to fight for the animals here, especially the cats. But to say things are rough going is an understatement. It feels like a living hell–for animals and the people that care about them and their welfare. And I say that even after my experience in working with animals and animal rescue back in my hometown, and getting up close and personal with the ways people mistreat animals.
My experience residing in my current locale has definitely the stuff of “real-life horror” where animals are concerned, I tell ya.
This weekend was especially hard in regards to local animals, so I’m still not as present in the blogsphere as I usually try to be.
I did start a citizens’ advocacy discussion group for animals, and I got interviewed by the local paper (it should be coming out soon, and maybe if I feel brave enough, I’ll post the link in the comments), and I’m attempting to get an item on the agenda at the local city commission meeting. I’d like to help my fellow animal advocates that have joined the group start a nonprofit to have an official platform from which to launch the ideas we’ve been discussing, but that’s a little ways off.
In other, lighter news, August’s horrorscopes and the tarot reading for writing inspiration are up over at Horror Tree.
And I’m still taking a stab at writing reviews over there…hopefully they aren’t too horrifying!
https://horrortree.com/august-2023-horrorscopes-how-youll-die-in-a-national-park/
https://horrortree.com/august-2023-tarot-cards-for-writing-inspiration/
Book Reviews (I’m still kinda new at this):
https://horrortree.com/epeolatry-book-review-the-midnight-lullaby-by-cheryl-low/
https://horrortree.com/epeolatry-book-review-the-ghost-of-laurie-floyd-by-courtney-lynn-mroch/
https://horrortree.com/epeolatry-book-review-maskerade-6-by-kevin-smith-and-andy-mcelfresh/
https://horrortree.com/comic-book-review-miss-truesdale-and-the-fall-of-hyperborea-3/
https://horrortree.com/comic-book-review-conan-the-barbarian-1/
I hope everybody’s weekend is fabulously spooky!
Beware the Beach!
And not just because of the higher temperatures!
July’s horrorscopes promise to drag you down to the depths of pure zodiac terror…
https://horrortree.com/july-2023-horrorscopes-how-youll-die-at-the-beach/
And, slightly less terrifying is my tarot card reading for writers/creatives:
https://horrortree.com/july-2023-tarot-cards-for-writing-inspiration/
In other news, I’ve started doing book reviews for The Horror Tree. Simply search the HT website for “Epeolatry Book Review” to access tons of great book reviews from myself and others–a perfect opportunity to find your next summer (or midwinter) read!
Lastly, I may be more of a ghost around the WordPress world, at least while I transition into a new schedule (and, perhaps, even after that).
I’ll be working full time, going back to school full time, and making sure my kitties get enough attention (not that they’d let me forget!), and I’m trying to organize a concerned citizen advocacy group here to act on behalf of nonhuman animals here in small-town Kansas–with the hope it will turn into a nonprofit someday. Because this place has an abysmal track record when it comes to animals and animal welfare–as some of you may remember from the heartbreaking owl incident.
So, yes, apologies in advance if I’m not as active over the coming months on here as I should be.
Seeking Serenity during the Summer Solstice…
I’m going to really try to take my own advice & tips that I laid out in this post. Because I am really stressed. Wish me luck!
In any case, I hope you enjoy your summer. Let me know how you like this post!
https://horrortree.com/chilling-the-bleep-out-cultivating-calmness-for-the-2023-summer-solstice/
Summer is Abuzz with Horror!
One of the few things I actually like about summer (I’m an autumn aficionado!) is the return of the insects and other creepy crawly life forms.
For the set of June horoscopes I did over at Horror Tree, I wanted to attract attention to insects that are threatened/endangered by the activities of people.
Hope you enjoy, and remember to look where you step…there’s a whole world of amazing lifeforms at your feet!
https://horrortree.com/june-2023-horrorscopes-the-creatures-that-skitter-in-the-night/
As I’ve been trying to figure a lot of stuff out over the past few weeks, I drew upon that energy for June’s tarot reading as well.
https://horrortree.com/june-2023-tarot-card-reading-for-writers-and-creators/
I’m sadly still playing catch-up and not quite back into my usual schedule yet, and 99.9% of the time I’m not even sure what day it is, much less anything else. But I’m making progress, however slowly.
What are your summer plans? Reading anything good so far?
Black Birders Week Takes Flight Today!
Black Birders Week starts today! I’m going to try to be in attendance for the upcoming events, but I have to go work at the megacorp, sadly. (I’m still trying to catch up on life stuff, but I hope to return to reading blogs full force soon.)
Check it out, or look for the hashtag #BlackBirdersWeek across social media!
https://www.blackafinstem.com/
And, find out your terrifying bird doppleganger here: https://horrortree.com/may-2023-horoscopes-birds-of-a-featherkill-together/
Beware the Birds of Spring!
May’s set of horoscopes find us under attack from our feathered friends. Find out which bird will have the last tweet*!
https://horrortree.com/may-2023-horoscopes-birds-of-a-featherkill-together/
In addition to watching the skies for avian adversaries, you’ll have to survey your surroundings at ground level. Or your characters will, anyway. Read on for inspiration for your Spring survivalist stories!
https://horrortree.com/may-2023-tarot-cards-for-writing-inspiration-2/
*Not affilated with the Twitter apocalypse
In other news (as such), I managed to get a day job and I have a little breathing room, but the work environment is wearing me out. I’m just burned out, methinks.
Plus, I still have a lot of figure out about the next stage of my life, and I’m probably going to have to take another break from dedicated blog reading and all that to try to come up with a plan. Because things are still a big ole mess, and, although I’ve been scanning the horizon, there’s still no sign of my “ship that will come in” as the saying goes.
Maybe I’ll see you on the open seas soon…
Testing Post 1-2-3!
Okay, if you all remember the issue with the April Fool’s post going up a day early, I had that almost happen with another post. I know I checked all the settings after that post, and they were all correct, but I scheduled another post and kept a closer eye on it, and, yep, even though I scheduled it for Sunday at 3 am, it was posting up Saturday at 3 am.
So, I got on with WordPress chat help on Saturday, and there might have been a bug causing it (around the UTC settings) which is exactly what I thought. “It’s like I’m in another part of the world, time zone wise!”.
Which would be really cool if I suddenly woke up in a non-USA location, but, sadly, wasn’t the case.
(But I was “time travelling” after all!)
It’s good it might have been a bug, because I really thought I was losing my shit–I mean, more so than the sheer mental and emotional strain of living where I am.
So, that’s the point of this post…is to do a test run after I switched my time zone from “Chicago” to “UTC-5”.
That’s one way the WordPress representative suggested I try if there is a bug.
Another “fix” they mentioned is to check the post date in the list of posts (which I had actually done after the post mix-up had occurred before), to see if it’s the same as the other posts. So, if you’re reading this, and you have had a similar problem, I hope these fixes help!
The Mystery of the Mushy Pumpkins
I impulse-bought two pumpkins at the store last year, as they were on sale for a dollar each!
I had them on my little porch for a while, but then put them out in the yard.
They took FOREVER to decay.
Which was kinda creepy.
Visions of scary GMO-zombie pumpkins (delightedly) filled my head.
They actually stayed pumpkin-like for months, until one disappeared, leaving its partner all on its lonesome.
Then I saw this post about a doppelganger pumpkin! I mean, what are the odds? LOL! [I love the chain in the picture–it’s almost as if it really was a “Walker” (Walking Dead reference) zombie pumpkin!]
https://oosgreens.wordpress.com/2023/04/21/deflated-pumpkin/
Here’s my spooky ooky gooky pumpkin pics!
Willow Croft 