HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Today’s the best Holiday. Why? CANDIES, of course!

Had a Halloween party to go to Saturday, and even though I’m not a fan of dressing up, I still did it. That’s why, for my friends’ Halloween soirée, I went with the easiest costume ever.: PJs, pigtails, exaggerated freckles, and a doll.

Don’t I just look extra comfy? 😊

And yes, that’s a sippy cup. And it’s filled with fizzy grown-up apple juice (or Apple Cider, as you adults call it). 

October. Autumn. It’s just such a beautiful season. But what I like most is that it’s a “spooky month.” I’m a member of many streaming services, and they usually don’t disappoint this time of year. There are so many horror flicks 💜.

Sadly, the trend has been to make movies as gory as possible for a while now. Not my cup of tea, I won’t lie. In a “watch from behind your hands” kind of way. I legit almost puked at that one scene from the “Sissy” movie. Brrrrr!

Still, I watched many of them because horror’s my favorite genre. Most of the time, I will laugh my way through them: They’re just so ridiculous. Sometimes it’s on purpose, but sometimes it’s not. Some, I can’t say for sure if they want to scare me or make me laugh. As for that Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation movie, with young(er) Matthew McConaughey and Renée Zellweger. I still can’t tell if it was funny on purpose or not! All I know is that I find it hilarious.

The movies that will really make me cower in my seat are usually more spiritual in nature. Like the Paranormal Activity series or the Japanese horror movies like Ju-On and Ringu (Remade in the USA under The Grudge and The Ring). If you haven’t seen the originals, believe me, they are far scarier. 

I also hate stuff that moves that shouldn’t be, and also sentient reflections. You know, the action in the mirror not “mirroring” what’s happening or turning evil? A lot like that whole Poltergeist II movie. I tell you, faulty mirror (or reflections) gives me the chills EVERY TIME. Slasher flicks don’t do that; they are often far too ridiculous to be scary.

I’d love to be able to write a true-to-form scary novel. I’ve been a long-time fan of Stephen King, so you’d think he’d be my inspiration. If some of my short stories could be categorized as “horror,” they’re still mostly psychological in nature. Realistic horror can be so damn scary. 

While you’re here, if you’re curious about my short stories and want to read them, you can click here. You can also access that same page through my website.

Still, I do have this one story in mind. It’s been there for years, actually. I started the plan and made a character interview (not sure anymore if I completed it) some years ago. I just haven’t started writing it. I’m not yet sure if I’ll make it a short story or a novella. I don’t think it would need to be a novel, though. 🤷‍♀️ I guess we’ll see.

I also have this other one I started a while ago. Fantasy, if you can believe it. Like, fairy-realm-adjacent fantasy, with “invented language” and everything. I’d like to make this one as a novella as well, but it’s already a little over 30K. Not sure I can’t finish this before I reach the 40K mark.

As for current news, The Salvation of Judas has been left untouched by me, respecting my promise to my proofreader (yay, victory). Overall, I haven’t written much this week, but I did write two new chapters for The Book of Avery, the first novel in my Redwater Creek series.

Things are coming along, just not as quickly as I would like them to. I would love to be able just to plug my brain directly into the computer and think my stories at it. And no, before you ask, speech-to-text is not something I can do. My typing skills are far more advanced than my thinking/talking ones, especially in English. 😬

Once more, this is not a big newsletter. It’ll get more interesting in the coming months as we get closer to my book’s yet-to-be-determined launch date. Bigger and bigger things are coming, and that’s a promise!

Thank you for being there, and I hope this is entertaining enough for you to stay. Take care of yourselves, and I’ll see you again next week!