Archive for December, 2022

2022 in Review

Posted: December 31, 2022 in real life
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Fuck 2022.

2019 was an unpleasant year for me. Since then, every year has leveled up the bullshit. Even having the audacity to make things global.

This post is brief and mostly pictures because much of it is personal and tender bruises to poke. I also just don’t want to talk about it. This year could largely be summarized by dance and medical adventures. With a lot of life sprinkled in between.

I hit the last year of my 30s. It feels like the pandemic swallowed half the decade. I celebrated with goats and yoga.

I attended Telluride Horror Show, of course. The festival was great. However, the experience resulted in some family drama. I have always had tense and complicated relationships with my close family. I was taken off guard when the same sort of issues arose in my chosen family. It hit harder. But I guess people and core dynamics are all the same.

I returned to a bit of horror modeling, which felt like an old glove sliding on.

I danced and performed a lot, basking in expression and community. I’m not very good, but I do keep finding a spot on the occasional lineup. The events at Club Q hit very close to home, a place I know and have danced at, a community I’m a part of.

And more than me, my family is constantly dancing. It’s a lifestyle for us.

I have had a sprinkling of minor health issues for a while. However, they seemed to culminate this year. They have developed from insignificant and inconvenient to barging into my daily life. I don’t want to go into a detailed medical history, but so many acute conditions have taken over.

I’ll write about it later, but the most recent and noticeable is losing my hair. It has been more traumatizing than I realized it would be.

As part of these health changes, I lost many of my coping mechanisms (unhealthy as they may have been). So I dealt with ink therapy. Getting tattoos seemed to be a way to exercise some control over my body again.

Author-wise, I did finish another novel (using NaNoWriMo to focus) and worked on the previous. I wrote a few short stories. “Enjoy Your Show” is published in The Horror Collection: Sapphire Edition. “Elves Watching” is up on Meghan’s Haunted House of Books.

So pretty productive for a shit show year.

I also finally got back out there and did some vending and signings. None were wildly successful, but I did see more action than most of them.

There were plenty of bright spots in a dark year, plenty of life and memories being made amidst the stressors. I told myself over and over during the year to not let the bad things take over, to not let them steal this time from me that I would never get back. I’m not sure how successful I was, but I did try.

I know the new year is just an arbitrary date on the calendar we made it, but that doesn’t mean I can’t treat it like a fresh start, year after year, and hope it actually takes one year.

Christina Bergling

https://linktr.ee/chrstnabergling

Like my writing? Check out my books!

  • Followers – You never know who is on the other side of the screen. Followers is a mystery and thriller that blends women’s fiction with horror.
  • The Rest Will Come – Online dating would drive anyone to murder, especially Emma.
  • Savages – Two survivors search the ruins for the last strain of humanity. Until the discovery of a baby changes everything.
  • The Waning – Locked in a cage, Beatrix must survive to escape or be broken completely.
  • Screechers – Mutant monsters and humans collide in the apocalyptic fallout of a burned world. Co-authored with Kevin J. Kennedy.
  • Horror Anthologies

NaNoWriMo 2022

Posted: December 31, 2022 in writing
Tags: , , , , ,
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To continue catching up on posts and topics… November!

Once again, I participated in National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). I don’t get too deep into the event, but I do use it as an excuse to track my work and set lofty goals.

And I made it!

This year, I did not start a fresh story. I rarely do. Usually, I have something in work. In this case, I had to return to a novel in progress, review what I had, then continue writing.

Returning to a project is always interesting. I had been revising a different, unpublished novel, so my brain was living in that world. Coming back to the WIP novel, I had to switch worlds. And as I read, I remembered all the details that brought it to life.

Like coming home to old friends.

Once I was reacquainted, it was just a matter of continuing the story. Only I had no idea where I was going. I had a premise; I had a map to get about halfway. Then… nothing.

This story is my first “monster” novel. The majority of my work focuses on the monster in someone, everyone. To do this, I avoided the archetypal monsters (vampire, werewolf, etc. etc.) and attempted to invent one. Time will tell how successful I was. I blended these monsters with haunted house lore. The typical small town urban legend about a creepy house and its history.

So I got my victims into the house with the monsters right about the time I returned to the story. My month began with figuring out where the hell I was taking them.

I did not end up where I expected. Hopefully, that’s a good thing.

The novel is still raw and, no doubt, will need heavy changes and development. But I made it in November. I even threw in a couple short stories that month, one of which was published in The Horror Collection: Sapphire.

A real successful month in the middle of my current shit show life.

Christina Bergling

https://linktr.ee/chrstnabergling

Like my writing? Check out my books!

  • Followers – You never know who is on the other side of the screen. Followers is a mystery and thriller that blends women’s fiction with horror.
  • The Rest Will Come – Online dating would drive anyone to murder, especially Emma.
  • Savages – Two survivors search the ruins for the last strain of humanity. Until the discovery of a baby changes everything.
  • The Waning – Locked in a cage, Beatrix must survive to escape or be broken completely.
  • Screechers – Mutant monsters and humans collide in the apocalyptic fallout of a burned world. Co-authored with Kevin J. Kennedy.
  • Horror Anthologies

Telluride Horror Show 2022

Posted: December 29, 2022 in film festivals, horror, horror movies
Tags: , , , ,
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Every time I vanish from the interwebs and writing, I say life has been wild and complicated. And it always is. Yet, it seems like every time that happens and I get back on top of things, life seems to level up on the challenges. Here we are in December, and I haven’t even written about October! I had the Father Death chapters to cover my absence, but now it is plain to see.

So let’s play catchup. Let’s talk about the Telluride Horror Show way back in October. My memory is well past faded, so forgive less detailed opinions and reviews.

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Ah, October. The most wonderful time of the year. Halloween, horror, and the Telluride Horror Show.

The trip is more than the festival for us. It is a tradition, and it is a vacation. As always, we prepaid for a weekend of sitting and eating with a hike. This time, we tried Little Hawaii.

The hike was easier and shorter than we usually do but gorgeous — as the mountains and Telluride are in the fall. It was a great start.

Then it was all movies and all horror the rest of the weekend.

It was a solid lineup of films this year. Of course, there were good and bad, but the ratio favored us. Since I currently have the memory of a Pomeranian puppy, here is a (brief) summary of what I saw.

Ice Cream Man: Somehow I had never seen this cult classic. I loved it. Clint Howard serving ice cream before and answering questions after made it all the better.
A Wounded Fawn: This was like two movies smashed together. The first was interesting and entertaining. It really reminded me of Fresh. But then the second half wandered off in an incongruent direction and lost me. The ending credits were hilarious but not enough to right the ship.
Something in the Dirt: I’m usually not too dazzled by Lovecraftian/cosmic horror. However, these filmmakers have my number. The Endless was great, as was this one. The movies stays with mostly two characters, and that tight scope had me locked in that apartment with them.
Christmas Bloody Christmas: This was like Silent Night, Deadly Night meets Terminator. With gratuitous violence and cheesy holiday cheer, it was pure entertainment. A great one to watch with a night fest crowd.
Mad Heidi: Swissploitation is all I have to say. This movie is utterly ridiculous but, in so, just hilarious. It is great for mindless entertainment.
V/H/S/99: The V/H/S franchise has been hit or miss with me. The first is great; then the rest are less impressive. Until this one. I enjoyed all the segments. Each section is different, but all are well done and entertaining.
The Harbinger: OH MY FUCKING GOD! To say this was my favorite of the fest is an understatement. It is likely my favorite movie of 2022. It is definitely one of my favorite horror movies. On the surface, it is a well made, engaging horror tale. Yet it is so deep and nuanced. It hits on so many levels.

The only screening that was utterly unenjoyable were the high elevation (elevated horror) shorts. We walked out of that one.

Of course, in addition to the movies, we made sure to cram in social events. The ice cream social with Clint Howard. The pig roast.

As every year, I made time to go to the campfire tales, author summit, and book signing. Part masochism and part inspiration hunting, I enjoy just listening to other authors. This year, I was introduced to Alma Katsu and have since read two of her books.

We also did trivia, but this year, we utterly lost our asses. The questions just get harder, and we had no surprise film makers on our team.

Overall, great movies and great weekend. Until October, Telluride!

Christina Bergling

https://linktr.ee/chrstnabergling

Like my writing? Check out my books!

  • Followers – You never know who is on the other side of the screen. Followers is a mystery and thriller that blends women’s fiction with horror.
  • The Rest Will Come – Online dating would drive anyone to murder, especially Emma.
  • Savages – Two survivors search the ruins for the last strain of humanity. Until the discovery of a baby changes everything.
  • The Waning – Locked in a cage, Beatrix must survive to escape or be broken completely.
  • Screechers – Mutant monsters and humans collide in the apocalyptic fallout of a burned world. Co-authored with Kevin J. Kennedy.
  • Horror Anthologies