Hi there happy reader,

I flew out to LA last Friday to experience a fun Halloween with my older grandson (assistant #1, lol!) who turns three this February. This holiday seems to bring out the creatives… I saw some awesome costumes!

It’s always interesting to see how young children react to different things. 

My grandson loved wearing his costume… for a bit. He did love getting candy (not so interested in eating it, just collecting it!) and running around with his friends.

But the blow-up costumes scared him, as did the mechanical rat on his neighbor’s porch. Honestly, I’m not sure why this neighbor thought it was a good idea to put a scary, screeching rodent out on a block filled with young children, but… to each his own, I guess. Every morning since Halloween, my grandson has checked the front window to make sure the offensive decoration is still gone. Happily, it is!

And now we move on…

I don’t know about you, but I love Thanksgiving. 

We always host a large blow-out feast. As our own children have grown up, so have our nieces and nephews, so they bring their significant others and it’s a lot of fun! I’ve begun to make my shopping list, have ordered a turkey and am planning what I’m going to bake. What about you? What does your family do on this festive holiday?

I’m also celebrating the month of November with a writing challenge. 

I’m trying my best to complete the final draft of my work-in-progress, “Below the Horizon” in the next thirty days. It’s a concentrated effort to get the last part of this story told. And once I do, I’ll be sharing it here with you first!

I’m not the only one doing this very thing. Many of my author friends have designated this month as the time to head into their offices to write. We have a friendly competition in the works, and I’m here to come out on top!

That’s it for now because I have a few more chapters to write. I hope you’re enjoying some glorious fall weather in your part of the world. As the nights get longer, it’s time to curl up with a good book and read… take the time to escape into the mind of your favorite author – you won’t be sorry!

Hey there happy reader!

Tomorrow is Halloween, one of my favorite days of the year!

I’m ready for those adorable trick-or-treaters… 

I’m lucky enough to live in a neighborhood full of children. When school’s out, the fun begins. I think that one of the major perks of childhood is going out to find your favorite candy on your walk in the brisk autumn air, costume on, pretending to be someone else – your favorite superhero, the animal of your choice, or my usual go-to as a kid – a gypsy!

This year I’ll be trick-or-treating in Los Angeles with my assistant #1. 

He’s going to be dressed as an airplane… he does love to fly! I will be accompanying him dressed as a flight attendant, lol. His neighborhood shuts down the streets to traffic and loads of kids come out. There’s an actual committee that provides the candy and surprises, and since lots of parents there are in the entertainment industry, the costumes tend to be very creative.

Plus, you never know who you’re going to see… lots of celebrities live nearby and often can be found with their own children, going door to door for the fun of it. I’m sure a good time will be had by all!

The concept of wearing a costume goes back to when people believed that ghosts would appear on October 31st, and that dressing up would chase the spirits away. 

I don’t know just how scary multiple Elmos and airplanes are – the outfits my young grandsons will be dressed in this year – but the tradition has most certainly endured. All I can say is bring on the pumpkin spice!

More seriously, though, as a writer, I can truly relate to the idea of wearing a costume. Authors need to get inside our character’s skin, creating a persona that we hope feels real to our readers.

We wear a lot of different hats while writing a novel – those of the protagonists, the minor characters, the heroes, the villains – all these “people” need to feel authentic for a book to resonate.

Maybe that’s why I love Halloween so much… on that one day a year, anyone pretending to be someone else is doing that exact thing, if only for a few hours. When I’m writing, I tend to jump into the mind of my characters. I hear their voices, I understand their worries, I walk in their shoes. It’s a transformative experience!

I do hope that you’ll greet your trick-or-treaters with the same joy that they display by wearing their costumes and carrying those bags for candy.