#6 of 31 Days of Halloween: ghost stories

I've loved ghost stories most of my life. I like the scary ones, the comforting ones, the silly ones. One of the first times I scared myself silly with a book, it was a short story about a ghost child who wanted a friend so badly they nearly killed another child to make her a ghost, too.

I like the non-professional ones, too--the ones people tell when you're sitting together in the right setting and something inspires such confidences. When someone you know and respect as a rational being admits that they've seen something they can't explain that left them feeling unsettled…well that's the best kind of chills!

A few of my favorites (from books and stories):

Jane-Emily by Patricia Clapp was given to me by my middle and high school librarian. It might be responsible for my loves of evil children and gazing balls.

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson. I'm pretty sure that same librarian gave me this one, or maybe something else by Shirley Jackson. The quintessential haunted house story, a book that set the tone for all the future ones.

Beloved by Toni Morrison. Written from events that haunt a person even if nothing supernatural is involved. I cried more than once reading this one.

Heart Shaped Box by Joe Hill. I read this one pretty recently and it made me a fan of Joe Hill's work. I loved the ghost and the vengeance plot as well as the living characters.

The Black Cat by Edgar Allan Poe. This is one of those stories where you're not sure if there's a ghost or not. The narrator could also be misinterpreting events, or seeing through an unreliable lens. Sometimes I like this kind of story better than the ones with real for-sure ghosts.

Got a favorite ghost story I should check out? LMK in the comments.

#5 of 31 Days of Halloween: Reese's Peanut Butter Pumpkins

Reese's peanut butter pumpkins.

I love Reese's cups. Definitely too much. I love the traditional ones. I love the Reese's minis with that thicker edge of chocolate. The Big Cup that's practically a meal replacement. Those little ones in red and green wrappers you get in December. Reese's Puffs cereal.

Even the ones that aren't that great like Fast Break and white chocolate cups are still pretty good.

But the peanut butter pumpkins are the bestest of all.

My perfect proportions of chocolate vs. peanut butter.

The right size to give me a nice sugar zoom without a horrible crash thirty minutes later.

Smooth edges instead of the traditional hard-straight edges.

Plus, they're a sure sign that Halloween is almost here.

You got a favorite Halloween treat? I'd love to hear about it in the comments.

#4 of 31 Days of Halloween: Classic Monster Movies

Classic monster movies.

I love to revisit old monster movies during this time of year. From the serious ones like Bela Lugosi's Dracula and Boris Karloff's Frankenstein to the campy ones with Vincent Price and Peter Lorre. From the purposely comedic ones like Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy to the "little bit of both" ones like The Creature From the Black Lagoon.

My mom and I have always enjoyed old movies together and my dad and I like cult classics or just outright bad movies, and Halloween gives me the opportunity to enjoy all of that together in one bowl.

A local theater, The Carolina Theatre, has a long running retro film series and October is the best! Jam-packed with the full range of Halloween goodness. We also own a lot of these at home, so it's pretty easy to set myself up with a Halloween movie festival without even leaving my house.

I love more modern films, too, and I'll talk about them in another post, but there's something about the classic ones. Black and white is atmospheric in a completely different way and the storytelling style was more direct. Simple isn't always an insult. My love for these films is less complicated than the love I harbor for other movies.

Do you have any must-watch Halloween classics in your library? Got a favorite classic movie monster? I'd love to hear about it in the comments.

#IWSG: Life and Writing

Welcome to October! It's the first Wednesday of the month which means it's time to let our insecurities hang out. Yep, it's the Insecure Writer's Support Group blog hop. If you're a writer at any stage of career, I highly recommend this blog hop as a way to connect with other writers for support, sympathy and networking. If you're a reader, it's a great way to peek behind the curtain of a writing life. 

The October question - How do major life events affect your writing? Has writing ever helped you through something?

After you check out my post, be sure to check out the rest of the hop! Especially our co-hosts:  Dolorah @ Book Lover, Christopher D. Votey, Tanya Miranda, andChemist Ken!
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In my author bio, a line I often include is: "I write because it's cheaper than therapy."

I'm not really joking. Writing has been my main coping mechanism since I could write. Maybe even before that. I still kept a journal before I could write, it was just full of drawings. When I was mad at my mom as a child, she would find a long letter shoved under her door expressing all the way in which I'd been wronged.

Later some of this came out in poetry. My adolescent work is all pretty directly about the drama and pain of my teenaged life, though I was starting to make some attempt to write about it more universally.

As an adult, I still journal from time to time (especially during times of stress), but now that writing is separate from my fiction. That's probably good, because I'm fortunate enough to lead a pretty boring life: stable, full of love, and light on serious trauma. It makes a good life, but it would make a boring book.

Not that my issues don't come out in my fiction.

It's just less direct now. Sometimes I don't even know it until it's all written and I'm reading it afterwards.

Anyone reading my Menopausal Superhero series will see that I have a profound mistrust of the medical establishment, for example. I'll recognize relationship dynamics from my real life among my characters, showing me that I must have been working through my feelings through my art again. 

The subconscious is always processing things behind the scenes, and often the results are delivered to me in story form.

I'm grateful to have found an outlet that works for me and isn't dependent on my financial state or access to outside resources. I hold out hope that it will always be enough to keep me feeling balanced. 

#3 of 31 Days of Halloween: Costumes!

Costumes.

One of the great joys of Halloween is the opportunity to dress up, to be someone else for a few hours. I used to be that kid who decided what they were going to be for Halloween like the day after the previous Halloween.

A costume collection of Bryants and friends

I had elaborate plans. When possible, roping others into my vision, like the time I was Cleopatra and my friend Chris was a mummy. Or the year (much more recently) when my sister, brother-in-law, me, and my husband all did characters from True Blood. I got to be Sookie :-).

Now that I'm a writer and attend conventions regularly to promote my work and network with other writers, I get to enjoy costuming all year round from cosplayers.

But Halloween is special. It's when *everyone* does it (well, almost everyone).

What was your favorite costume experience? Do you dress up as an adult?

#2 of 31 Days of Halloween: Halloween Songs

🎤 On the second day of Halloween, my true love gave to me 🎧 Halloween songs!

I know, songs are more the territory of Santa and his elves, but there are some really fun songs associated with Halloween. It's a great excuse every year to listen to some favorites.

Like:


I've loved that one as long as I can remember. My dad isn't a grinning sort of guy most of the time, but he always smiles when he hears this one.

Then there's:



In fact, you should probably just watch that whole movie again if you're needing some Halloween spirit.

Then, there's the ode to my teenaged horror movie favorites, from Will Smith, back before he saved us from aliens, and very underrated DJ Jazzy Jeff.




How about you friends of the Internet? Got any favorite music you revisit during spooky season?

#1 of 31 Days of Halloween: Wednesday Addams

Halloween is my favorite holiday. I like the combinations of cute and creepy, fun and frightening. Maybe it's the candy. Maybe it's the cooler weather. I don't know. I just know I love it. 

So this year, I've decided to do 31 Days of Halloween here on my blog and chat about 31 different Halloween-y things I love. 

So, for day #1, let's talk about Wednesday Addams. She's one of the first "creepy" characters I can

remember loving. The Addam's Family was something I saw in re-runs when I was a little kid (it aired before I was born).

I fell in love with the character as created by Lisa Loring. That cute, but macabre little gal in the wonderful black dress with her headless doll. I was like: hey! that's me!

I was a cute little girl, too, often wearing long braids. I got compared to Pippi Longstocking or Melissa Gilbert from Little House on the Prairie more often than Wednesday, but that's probably because of the freckles. It's harder to be perceived as hardcore when you are covered in cute little polka dots.

When Cristina Ricci recreated the character for the feature films, I fell in love all again. She was even better at the absolute deadpan and the writers weren't afraid to really up the ante on the creep factor. That glowing white forehead, reminiscent of Edgar Allan Poe, was perfect! Moving her into color didn't diminish her darkness one bit.

Melissa Hunter's Adult Wednesday Addam's series created for YouTube is well worth the watch for fans, too. She really has captured what I think Wednesday would grow up to be like. My favorite episode is still the one where she takes down the cat-callers: 

I walked into a Halloween shop with my daughter the other day (who's also creepy and kooky, mysterious and spooky) and spotted a Wednesday Addam's dress! Perfect!

Come on Halloween! We're ready!