Happy Halloween! (and may the odds be ever in your favor, Nanoers)

Happy Halloween to all of my ghosts, ghouls and goblins out there this lovely day! It’s hard to believe that October is coming to a close, and in a mere few hours the hustle and bustle of Nano (and the upcoming holiday season) will be settling in.

I will be honest, I did not accomplish everything that I set out to do in October. My editing projects floundered a bit, but I did get some good ideas ready to go for my Nano project, and got some fresh content for this humble little blog sorted out. All in all, I would rate it as a successful month. After all, I did get to run through downtown Portland dressed up as a banana while being chased by Gorillas.

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And I got to spend a little bit of time visiting one of my favorite spooky spots, Halloweentown:

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Not to mention trying on a few costumes at Target, and carving pumpkins with the family. I didn’t hit all of the holiday things that I wanted to do this year, but let’s be honest- there isn’t enough time in the month to do everything on my list.

I had a blast and went out into the world instead of spending so much time lost in my own thoughts. Sure, I could have managed to get a bit more work done, but every now and then we need to stop and remember that life is about more that a word count. And sometimes the best inspirations you will encounter will be out there in the world, not at home staring at a screen.

Now we are quickly hurdling towards November. I already went over my goals for the month yesterday, so I wont bore you by repeating myself. But I cannot believe that Nano will be here in a matter of hours! I feel like a little kid at Christmas, only instead of getting presents, I’ve been invited to work a season in Santa’s workshop- it’s a lot of hard work, but its also a dream no self-respecting child would pass up.

I planned ahead this year and even managed to snag a few days off from work so that tonight I get to indulge myself and stay up late for the midnight start! Woohoo! I think I’ve only managed to do that once or twice in all of the events that I have participated in.

So tonight, I will be dressing up the dog and taking him for our nightly walk. I will come home and eat pizza while I watch Hocus Pocus. I will glance at the clock every five minutes or so to see how close I am to midnight. And when that clock strikes, poof- I will turn into a moonlight writer, chasing my dreams through the flitting words on the page.

Good luck, my dear friends, have a safe and happy Halloween. And when you get a chance to sit down and start writing, my wish for you is that the words flow smoothly, the ideas never wane, and the characters dance through your dreams with a lively enthusiasm. This is what we do, this is why we can’t stop. We spill our souls onto the page and hope someone will read their own when they see the words. May the odds be ever in you favor.

Ghosts, Goblins and Ghouls: October is here

October is finally here! It is the time for pumpkin patches, corn mazes and haunted houses, the time for spiced cider, skull-shaped chocolate and silly costumes that I will try on in Target (spoiler: this has already happened).

It is the time of year I get to watch my favorite scary movies with my sister (and a few not-so-terrifying holiday gems: Hocus Pocus will probably be playing on repeat for most of the month). It is the time of year we will try to get through all of our spooky baking- brain jello molds, coffin chocolates, pretzel bones- a day or two of extreme sugar and lots of laughs. I get to re-read some of my all-time favorite books (Hello, Dracula, it’s good to see you again), and perhaps dust off a few of my unfinished writing projects to get into the spirit: zombies and vampires, oh my! This is the time of year where I get to feel like a kid again, with the single adult benefit of being able to buy as much candy as I want.

I adore everything about this season. I am infatuated with the holidays, I am head over heels in love with the promise, the sparkle, the fun frivolity that comes with the next few months. So please excuse my giddiness, my excitement for life knows no bounds this time of year. There are some things that you should never grow out of, and remembering to have fun is one of them.

That is why October is going to be a little bit different for me when it comes to my goals. I am still going to be working and writing- that never changes, I don’t know how to be me when I’m not doing these things. I will be continuing to plod the editing path while planning for my Nano project this coming November. But this is the season to step out of your routine and do new things, create memories, live adventures. And that, my friends, is what the next few months will be about. So this month there will be: creepy crafts with the littles (nieces and nephews), pumpkin patches with the family, baking and movie night with my sister, a possible Halloween party, a few treks through the haunted houses and races in the corn mazes. This month I am going to sign up for a class with my mom and reach out to some old friends I haven’t seen in ages. I want to break out of this comfort zone I’ve been cuddled up in. Halloween is the best time of year to face your fears and learn to have a little bit more fun. We could all use some more of that in our lives.

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