Final Halloween Decorating Commences

I got a few seasonal things up before I left for West Virginia. The front door wreath, the skeleton light string in my art room.

Now I need to finish. Dress my posable skeleton (he's going redneck this year). Set up my inflatables. Set out my light-up pumpkins. I hope to have the house organized by next year, so I can retrieve the boxes of decorations still in the storage unit and display those next year.

What do y'all do for the Spooky Season?

Happy Labor Day!

It's Labor Day here in the U.S. For many, it's a day to swim, play games, and barbeque. For me, it's the first day of Halloween season!

The driveway lights have been changed to orange and purple. Skeleton lights have been hung in the art room. I'm about to put one of the Halloween wreaths on the front door.

However, I need to wait until DH mows the grass before I put out the inflatables.

And to top it off, it'll be chill enough this evening to enjoy a pumpkin spice latte!

A Day Off That Wasn't

I didn't get my post written yesterday. There was too much going on. Lot's of stuff that needed to be taken care of before the end of the month like the car registration, the AAA membership, dog supplies, etc.

I'm glad I did get everything done because it's snowing right now. Has been for the last two hours. It's hard to believe it was 82 degrees five days ago. The ground is too warm for the flakes to stick, but they're lining the edges of the raised flower beds and the branches of the tiny evergreen trees along our patio.

Halloween itself is quiet. The town's trick-or-treating was Saturday night, so the streets are still now that everyone's home from school and work.

Tomorrow, I'll hit the grocery store, stock up on some chocolate, and start on my NaNoWriMo story. And in between sessions, I'll work on cleaning the house since GK and the Grandpuppy will be here sometime on Sunday.

So for now, I'll enjoy the quiet and the snow.

Happy Halloween!

No Movies, Not Even a Little Taylor

DH and I didn't make it to the theater this weekend. He really wanted to see Dumb Money, but the entire theater was taken over my Taylor Swift's concert. Well, except for the new Saw movie and some other horror flick. He's not interested in Taylor, and I had too much work to do after losing a day and a half to side effects from the new Covid booster.

The side effects were minimal: fever, headache, chills, but I'm immuno-compromised, which is the reason for getting the blasted shot to begin with. However, I woke up on Wednesday morning, feeling pretty damn. Even the arm soreness was gone, and that usually lasts 4-5 days.

It's one of the reasons I said screw it, and I moved the release of Fae and Felonies to Halloween. There's a lot of stuff that goes into a release. It's not just writing the book (or rewriting the book in this case), editing, and formatting.

And if I can getting that stuff done while I'm in Chicago, maybe I can go see Taylor Swift's concert on the big screen. I may not be a Swiftie, but I can appreciate another artist's work.

Halloween Is Coming

It feels a little weird writing a Halloween story at the beginning of August. Somehow, it felt normal while working on it in July, but I was on the Oregon Coast. The cooler weather, the fog, and gallons of coffee and tea helped a lot to provide the appropriate mood.

But now, I'm in Ohio. It's in the 80's. The humidity is running between 75 and 90 percent. And everyone is either cramming in their last summer trips or freaking out about  school starting.

Or in some cases, both.

But I love the Halloween season, in case you hadn't noticed over the last fourteen years I've been writing this blog. And on Labor Day weekend, the decorations are coming out!

So this story will get me in the mood enough to clean the house so it's ready to be decorated. Maybe I need to place some Halloween music while I'm working on this story to help it along.

WInter Is Coming

There's a certain tang in the air when Mother Nature sheds her colorful finery and the skeletal fingers of the trees rattle in the wind. The temps are falling, and this time, you know you won't feel real warmth again until the Spring Equinox rolls around.

Or you go to Cancun.

But I can't pull out the Christmas/Yule decorations just yet. Halloween lights and blankets will stay out until Thanksgiving. Or even December 1st.

Because I'm in the middle of NaNo, and dammit, I want to finish it this year!

So what do you all do in this little quiet space between Halloween and Thanksgiving?

Closing in on the New Year

The Celtic New Year that is.  I follow the Celtic calendar for a myriad of creative and personal reasons, and the Gregorian calendar for tax reasons.

Halloween is a nice cutting off point for me creatively. I try to have all my projects for the secular year finished at this point, and it gives me a little breathing space to focus on my prime project(s) for Kindlemas.

For those who don't know, Kindlemas is the indie term for December 26th through the end of February. Folks who have a Kindle or received one for their winter holiday gift go on a book buying spree. That period is the indie equivalent for the Black Friday through Christmas sales for brick and mortar retail stores.

I came up with a good holiday story idea for one of the side characters in the 888-555-Hero universe. It'll be a novella, so I should be able to finish it before Halloween.

But next year? I'm taking off September, October, and November. With the chaos, both good and bad, in our lives, I would like to kick back the week of my birthday and catch up on reading and watching TV and movies that I've missed out on during the pandemic.

Really, I need some decompression time. Something I haven't had since my two-week trip to Las Vegas in February of 2020.

I hope all of you can find their measure of peace in the upcomimg holiday season!

Balancing Work and Home

Right now, I'm juggling the writing of A Very Hero Wedding and organizing the kitchen and baths, i.e. unpacking the boxes I haven't touched since March.

Which means I'm very tired.

I'm going to need to focus on the book the first half of October since its release date is the 15th. And then scramble with the unpacking since GK and his family will arrive the following week.

I'm so excited to spend Adorable Spawn's first Halloween with him.

Even better, I found a replacement for my skeleton dragon lawn decoration, and it should be here on Friday!

Catching Up

Last night, I updated links on on my master sheets and one of my websites while DH watched TV, and I chatted with a writer friend online while she also did managerial tasks.

With the Delta variant of COVID-19 surge, I don't dare go places I don't have to. So I have to resort to phone calls, texts, e-mails, and various social medias to keep in touch with friends.

The need to distance is chafing my psyche, even for someone as introverted as me.

We bought a house with a guest room, added some awesome furniture, and yet none of our friends have been able to visit.

Heck, I haven't even had a chance (or the bravery) to shop for patio furniture and a barbeque grill. I only wave to the neighbors. And it looks like I'll need to figure out how to incorporate medical masks with my Halloween costume.

Maybe Psycho Surgeon?

Anyway, for those of you who don't like shopping Amazon, I've been uploading the files on the other e-book retailers as I get them from my formatter. In regards to the paperbacks, I'm uploading files, but Ingramspark is also behind due to employees out with COVID-19. So far, only one book out of five loaded have made it through the gauntlet.

In the meantime, I'm trying to finish A Very Hero Wedding in between file reviews. And I'm really hoping to have a very special announcement soon!

The Halloween Wreath

This is one of my Halloween wreaths, the current one hanging. I thought the green and black was a little too garish for my front door.

By the way, a red door brings good fortune under the principles of feng shui.

Under the Gun

Once again, I find myself with limited time and a ton of stuff to do.

I got very behind over the last two years in getting paperbacks out. So far behind, a couple of readers contacted me to find out if I was still doing paper versions of my novels.

Ironically, just as I'm getting caught up on that end of the production, Ingram is having problems with file reviews, production, and distribution thanks to the Delta variant of COVID-19 that's currently sweeping across the U.S.

I've got to finish A Very Hero Wedding and buckle down on the Soccer Moms of the Apocalypse series, not to mention finish revisions on the Millersburg Magick Mysteries series.

I also need to finish unpacking the boxes in the living room and get everything put away before the kids bring Adorable Spawn here for Halloween.

I also need to shop for new Halloween decorations and a new area rug for Adorable Spawn to crawl on to replace the few things I lost in the unintended indoor pool situation.

However, it's September 1st, which means I WILL hang one of my Halloween wreaths on the front door this evening!

The Doggie Trick or Treat

That look says it all. "Mom, why are you doing this to me?"

I wanted to get a shirt for Bella before cold weather really sets in. This little fashion arrived Sunday morning, and she wore it while the temps were still in the 60's.

NO, I'm not one of THOSE dog owners. Since both Yorkies and Maltese have one layer of hair, instead of a double-layer of fur like most canines, they have trouble regulating their body temperature. They need protection from cold weather just like we humans do.

Once it warmed later yesterday afternoon, we took the shirt off our baby. It's supposed to in the 90's for the next three days, so she's not going to need it.

For now, the A/C's running, Bella's cuddled in my lap, and  it's time to write.

Different Tone for Halloween

My regular readers know how excited I am about Samhain, the Celtic New Year. This year will take a serious turn, and what I hope is an uplifting message.

A couple of weeks ago, Moise Morancy was on the bus when he saw a man sexually assaulting a fifteen-year-old girl. No one else intervened, but Mr. Morancy did. As it seems to happen all too often, when the police arrived, the sexual predator started screaming that Mr. Morancy attacked him for no reason.

You see the predator was white and Mr. Morancy is black.

The police cuffed Mr. Morancy. But they also took statements. And listened. Mr. Morancy's actions were vindicated. He was released, and the predator arrested.

For artists, well, we deal with our emotions through our art. Mr. Morancy is no exception. He wrote "No Means No", and it's a sad, poignant, and hopeful message.

At a time when it's all too easy to do nothing, Mr. Morancy did something that made a difference in a teenage girl's life. Please support this young artist and share his story.

Halloween with Deadpool and the X-Men

Well, it was relatively clean for the little ones...

21 DAYS UNTIL DEADPOOL!

Happy Samhain!

Or Halloween. Or New Year's. Or whatever floats your boat.

All Hail the Pumpkin King!

NSFW Cartoon

This is totally inappropriate. Or is it? After all, Jesus is supposed to kick ass when the dead rise from their graves.

New Year. New Ways.

It's Samhain. Halloween. The Celtic New Year. And here's a New Year's resolution that needs to be heard and repeated. It's already happening in publishing. It needs to spread.



Video link courtesy of Pam Noles.

When the Monsters Are All Too Human by Guest Blogger Tess St. John

Continuing our Halloween series this week is the terrific Tess St. John! In her books, the bad guys do despicable things to her heroines, so I wondered, "What actually scares Tess?"

When Suzan asked me to blog about “Books that give you chills” I couldn’t wait!!!

I didn’t read as a kid (not even required reading, don’t ask how I passed in school, I got by with what I learned in lectures), but I went to the movies all the time. HOWEVER, scary movies were not my thing. I spent all of HALLOWEEN (the original, yes, I’m that old…don’t go there) and JAWS sitting on the floor with my fingers in my ears humming to myself. I won’t even discuss THE SHINING or I’ll have nightmares tonight.

And while I might be totally frightened with movies, I found books were a different story.

After I married, my husband traveled a lot and would leave books behind after he’d read them. That’s when I discovered how much I enjoyed reading scary books. And Dean Koontz was one of my favorites. The first book I read of his was WATCHERS—From a top secret government laboratory come two genetically altered life forms. One is a magnificent dog of astonishing intelligence. The other, a hybrid monster of a brutally violent nature. And both are on the loose—OMG, I can still visualize the monster holding the Mickey Mouse cartoon he and the dog used to watch together, while begging the hero to kill him. **goosebumps**

And his book STRANGERS—THEY WERE STRANGERS. A handful of people. From different backgrounds, living in different towns and cities across America, they had nothing in common - except fear. THEY WERE VICTIMS. Cold and stark, an unknown terror gripped their dreams and turned their days into living nightmares. THEY WERE CHOSEN. And they could not escape. Deep in the heart of a sprawling desert, a dark memory called out to them drawing them to the Tranquility Motel - where the terrifying truth was waiting—I’m not sure how many of you have read it, but I still have the words “the moon” go through my mind every once in a while and feel a shiver race through my body!

And I’ll never forget the first time I read Dan Brown’s The DaVinci Code. That first scene where the man is dying and positioning his body to be found as a clue, WOW. I still feel a bit of a tremor thinking of it.

I’m in awe of writers who have written something so visually and emotionally compelling, that I can remember the scenes decades later!

I thought when I started writing I would write thrillers, but found I didn’t have that jagged edge talent. But I do write Romantic Suspense, and I hope I raise a few hairs on people’s necks every once in a while!

Here’s an excerpt from my latest release, EYES OF JADE:

Eve peeked from under the jacket Jake held over them. Something was familiar about the guy on the motorcycle. Cloaked in black, the only color on the rider was a rainbow helmet. She’d seen that helmet before. When he reached inside his jacket, panic pulsed through her. This was a scene from Legally Mine.

“He’s got a detonator!” she screamed.

“Her car!” Stewart yelled.

Jake grabbed her shoulders and shoved her toward the building, away from her car.

A sonic boom exploded and shook the ground.

She tripped and lost her footing, landing on her hands and knees. Like a rag doll, her palms skidded out from under her, scraping the rough wet bricks. She turned her face, just as her cheek smashed to the pathway.

A body instantly covered hers—knocking the air from her lungs.

Heat assaulted her like an unharnessed furnace.

Gray smoke engulfed the air.

A car engine roared to life and peeled out—no doubt chasing the motorcycle.

Eve wished for a way to melt into the blood-red bricks.

Jake jumped up, seized her arm, and hauled her to her knees. “Can you walk?”

Stewart gripped her other arm and the two men lifted and carried her toward the street. Her feet hit the ground every once in a while, but she wasn’t using them. Her palms stung, and her head and cheek throbbed. The ringing in her ears resembled the bells used to wrap a day of shooting—except the ringing wouldn’t stop.

The men hustled her to one of the cars still waiting on the street. Agents surrounded the vehicle with their weapons drawn. One held the back door open, while Jake helped her inside and slid in beside her.

Stewart shot into the driver’s seat and sped off.

She glanced back at the inferno. A sickening déjà vu struck her as she remembered the same scene from Legally Mine. Her voice was nothing more than a coughing whisper. “My movies are coming back to haunt me.”

“Don’t.” Jake nodded toward the front of the car. “Don’t look back. Only forward.”

She twisted toward the front seat. Bullets. Explosions. Her life had become an action/adventure movie. Not one she wanted the starring role in, but it seemed she had no choice. She didn’t realize she was trembling until Jake cradled her hands in his. His touch a comfort she desperately needed. Rocking back and forth in her seat, her body jerked every so often.

Don’t look back. Only forward.

Easy for him to say. He hadn’t been shot at and almost blown up.

Wait.

Yes, he had.

But this was a life he’d chosen, signed up for. He promised not to let anything happen to her. She hoped he’d be able to keep that vow.

“Get down,” Stewart yelled.

Jake shoved her upper body to the seat and crouched over her.

The back window shattered.

She bit her lip to keep from screaming.

Stewart turned corner after corner and sped through the streets.

Flattened on the leather, facing the front seat, Jake’s now familiar body protected hers. Eve caught a whiff of his citrus cologne. Considering how close they’d been this morning, she was surprised she hadn’t noticed his subtle, clean scent earlier.

She tried to think of anything besides the motion sickness plaguing her. And the fact they were being chased. But she was too terrified for rational thought.

***
I want to thank Suzan for having me today, what a blast!

You can find out more about me and my books at my website.

Happy Halloween/Samhain/New Year!

Honor your dead and rejoice in the love they gave you. Honor your gods for the bounty you've been blessed with. And honor Danny Elfman for his wicked songwriting skills. I dare you not to sing along.

Happy Halloween/Samhain/New Year!

In honor of the holiday, check out the bestest theme song of the bestest Halloween movie EVAH!

Feel free to sing along.