Happy SpoOKTOBER!

I am a total child when it comes to October. I love it. Like...LOVE it. You see, its the month with no pressure.  No big holiday meals to prepare or houses to clean for guests.  In fact all the guests stay right outside my door...so, so nice.  

It is time when color combinations like orange and purple are not only acceptable, but encouraged.  I love bats and creepy "crystal" goblets and frothy black lace sleeves.  It is the month that brings joy to the Goth girl still hiding inside my head.

I totally ROCKED one of these!

I think is has to do with imagination. October is the month where whimsical and terrible play together. Pretty, pretty princess dresses hang next to the tattered shreds of a mummy suit. And the candy...THE CANDY!  

I love the creativity that comes out during this time of the year. I remember making costumes that were necessarily 'punny' because we could not afford real costumes.  So I was the "Freudian Slip"...aka the girl in the body suit and white dress slip with "Freud" cut out of construction paper.  It think I saw that in a movie and thought it was the height of sophistication...costume wise, anyway. 

ALAS, the night was misty and the black cut-out letters shriveled into dark clumps and people asked me if I was a girl snowman...?  Whatever, people. It was glorious in my living room.

All the good things are in October...

I was the "cactus" which was really a green sweat suit with glued on sponge wedges.  

It was awesome, I tell you.  AWESOME!

The one year I did buy a costume...I chose a bizarre inflatable, hat-like, goblin head. Why? Because it came with BOTH a cape AND face paint!  Whaaaa?!  I was in heaven.

October to me still means creativity and freedom from the expected. This time, however, I don't plan costumes. I plan books.  It is the month leading into NaNoWriMo. 

So I do all my outlining, planning, and preliminary research this month.  Last year it was for my final book in the Blackburn Chronicles...so lots of cogs and gears...zombie flesh...and pretty, pretty dresses that happen to have hidden weapons.  I AM still a girl, after all.

This month, I am planning my next book...a creepy fantasy with monsters and daggers and...pretty, pretty magic cloaks!  Wish me luck!

What is your favorite part of the year? Is it the pastel springtime?  The balmy summer?  What about the crisp winter?   What about them makes you smile?

Until next time...