Happy Halloween, boys and ghouls!

I’ve loved horror stories and costumes since I was a kid, so it’s no surprise that Halloween has long been my favorite holiday. I love the excuse to dress up as something imaginary and the call on the creepy and strange with spooky decorations.

As an adult, I haven’t indulged in my love of Halloween nearly as much as I would have liked. Although, having a niece and nephew has certainly brought some of the joy of the holiday back to me. Watching them pick our their costumes, take joy in carving pumpkins (I was ordered to design Nightmare Before Christmas pumpkins featuring Jack, Sally, Zero, and Oogie-Boogie), and run around delighted with the act of trick-or-treating makes me delightfully happy. I always make sure to wear some sort of a simple costume for them, since I know it makes them happy.

Once upon a time, I would have planned out my costume in advanced and would have tried to be more inventive. But since I have not been attending any parties or going out with friends in the last few years, my costumes have become more and more simple — just enough to go trick-or-treating with the niece and nephew. This — combined with the fact that I’ve had zero decorations at my home — has made me feel somewhat disconnected from the holiday I love.

So, at the last minute, I hit up the dollar store and other inexpensive stores, and I invested in some inexpensive Halloween decorations that make my heart swell with happy. Sometimes it’s the little things — like a few decorations — that make life all the better.

Now that I’ve started up a little collection, my plan is to add to it, bit-by-bit every year, gathering and growing my Halloween joy like I’ve always wanted.

A sampling of my #Halloween decorations. . . . #bird #skeleton #pumpkin #skull

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ANNOUNCEMENTS!

Just in time for Halloween, my poem “Summer Hauntings” is up in The Ghosts Issue of Eye to the Telescope.

On a related note, Shannon Connor Winward, the editor of The Ghosts Issue, has been doing a series of blog posts highlighting each of the poems she selected for the issue and why she chose them. I’m really honored by the kind words she had to say about my poem.

What I’m Reading

In honor of the holiday, I’m starting A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness, which was inspired by an idea from Siobhan Dowd. I’ve read and loved Ness’ Chaos Walking trilogy, so I’m fully expecting this one to be excellent. Also, I’m already in love with the dark, sketchy artwork which loosely reminds me of the wonderfully creepy artwork form one of my favorite books as a kid, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (which is being adapted into a movie by Guillermo del Toro, news that makes me all kinds of happy).

What I’m Writing

THE POEMING 2016 — a 31 day found poetry challenge comes to an end today. I’ve finished up all of my daily poems, which you can read over at Tendrils of Leaves. I’ll probably be taking a few of these down here and there as I start sending stuff out on submission, but they’ll stay up for at least a day or two.

Nanowrimo starts tomorrow, but I will not be nano-ing. I will however be doing another challenge, an eclectic do-something-everyday challenge, which I’ll talk about later.

Goals for the Week:

  • November Challenge ahoy!

Linky Goodness

9 Horrifying Books That Aren’t Shelved as Horror

Icy Sedgwick has a great post on the history of spirit photography.

10 Essential Horror Movie Scores

snakesnakesnake

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