Business

1. Welcome and introductions, including member news and announcements
2. HWA news
   1. Waiting for October HWA Newsletter, and the HWA is requesting chapter updates for the November issue by October 25, 2025. Please send me your updates or add them to Discord.
   2. Read Halloween Haunts features at HWA website
   3. Angela Yuriko Smith stepped down as HWA President
      1. Lisa Wood is stepping up as president for the rest of the term, through October 31, 2026, and will fill the Vice President role with someone else by the end of this month 
      2. Not sure what this means for HWA or chapters, but I expect the transition will be smooth
   4. Election results
      1. Vice President, Lisa Wood, and Treasurer, Marc Abbot were re-elected.
      2. Lisa Kröger, Brian Matthews, and Patrick Barb on being re-elected as Trustees;
   5. HWA Operations and Communications Coordinator part-time position open
   6. Open Enrollment for 2026 health coverage is now open
   7. StokerCon 2026 logo revealed
3. Upcoming October Chapter Events
   1. On Friday, October 24 at 7:00 p.m., our Halloween party at BOLD Coffee and Books in Portland
      1. Costume contents
      2. Readings
      3. Open mic for your real haunted happenings
      4. If you are reading, you should have received the schedule
   2. On Saturday, October 25 at 1 p.m., Meet a Horror Author at Beaverton City Library
      1. Readings
      2. Table of horror books and candles
      3. Candy
      4. If you are reading, you should have received the schedule
   3. Next book club meeting: Sunday, October 26 at 6:00 p.m. on Google Meet to discuss Maeve Fly by CJ Leede
   4. Next chapter meeting: November 16, 2025 at 6:00 p.m.
   5. Heath is organizing a winter 2026 reading for cold horror

Rebecca M. Zornow

• Richard Leis introduced Rebecca M. Zornow, “a writer and speculative fiction book coach from Wisconsin. Her books include It’s Over or It’s Eden, Dangerous to Heal, Negotiated Fate, and Landsome Roads. Rebecca is the co-founder of the book coaching firm Conquer Books where she transforms budding writers into dynamic professions and wild ideas into powerful books. She is also a Hal Prize winner, SFWA member, and Returned Peace Corps Volunteer. Though not a horror writer herself, she is an avid reader of the genre and consumes scary movies via 15-second TikTok videos.”
• Rebecca gave a presentation about “How to Build an Author Business Plan” that included startling facts about ravens. She covered the various sections of a business plan, including executive summary, biography, bibliography, analysis sections, and operations plan, with examples taken from her own past business plans. She also suggested the right order to complete each section and provided alternatives to author business plans for those who might find business plans too onerous.
• Then Rebecca answered questions about how long to spend on our author business plan, how much to share publicly, and more.