10/30/25 – It’s spooky season, and I’m all in!!

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.