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...

Falling In With The Crowd...

Photograph by Andrea Allen

So...a friend talked me into giving NaNoWriMo a chance this year. And I have to say, that I am exceedingly nervous. For those of you who don't know,  NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month. Its a challenge put forth by various sponsors to write a 175-page, 50,000 word novel from November 1st to November 30th.  Its a seat-of-your-pants approach designed to get the words on the page...no editing allowed. Yikes!

For anyone interested in joining or learning more about it. Andrew over at The Write Runner did a fabulous post yesterday all about it. He even has a countdown clock and everything.


Now, writing by-the-seat-of-my-pants is the EXACT OPPOSITE of the way I go about writing a book.  I am a planner. A list-making, outline-constructing, plot-blocking fool and the thought of just...writing is sort of putting me on edge here. You see, they SAY that joining gives you permission to "Write With Abandon", but that probably doesn't take into consideration the incredible depth of my control issues.


So...I am going to work on my Snowflake program during the month of September and October...really plot out where I want this book to go, and THEN...I can write with, you know, semi-abandon.


You see this book, Bayou Blue, is the third in a series of Romantic Suspense novels that I'm looking to publish for the Christian market. The series is called Shades of Hope, and I truly hope to find a home for them soon.  The first two are complete and delivered so getting this one done will put a nice feather in my cap.


In December I want to begin converting my Intelli-Trace series to screenplay...a task that looms over my head like a black cloud roiling with lightning.  A huge task, yes.  I am currently studying how to format and write a screenplay and its VERY different than writing fiction. Its going to be a wonderful and terrible challenge.


For now, I am constructing my NaNoWriMo profile page, putting my synopsis and what not in the novel description section, and begging people to join and be my writing buddies. Oh, and I got a nifty word counter all ready and on my side-bar. Pretty, yes?


I encourage you all to join in on the fun and "abandon" during the month of November. Though you may not go about writing in the seat-of-your-pants manner normally, its said to do wonders for those that give it a go.  I'm willing to try...what about you?


Until next time...Go Write!