Halloween Party

Okay, I couldn't wait until I got back from DragonCon to think about the Halloween Party.  Joel and I have decided that, assuming the costumes fit, we're going to be "programs" from Tron this year.  We're going to get the costumes for Tron Legacy, some glow paint from a craft store and paint the white strips within the costume either blue or red to glow under black light.  We would love to actually buy the strips of light that you can use to light up your costume, but that's just too expensive.  We think the glow paint will get mostly the same effect.  We're also going to buy Frisbees and paint them to look like data disks.  The inflatable data disk that comes with the costume just didn't look good enough.

The general theme of the party will be 80s, (though no one has to dress that way or use that theme for their costumes) so we'll primarily be watching 80s horror movies.  Still, I do want to watch Trick R Treat, a very good independent horror film that came out fairly recently.  I might make an exception to the theme for that movie.  Still, there are plenty of good ones from the 80s to choose from.  I'm thinking "Poltergeist" because it's so damn scary, "Gremlins" because it's campy and classic, "An American Werewolf in London" because, honestly, I haven't seen the whole thing yet, and "Evil Dead" or "Evil Dead 2."  And of course, the "Lost Boys."

I like to vary it by scary, not scary, scary, etc.  Still, nothing is set in stone yet.  I just want to actually have a list this time because last year we couldn't decide on anything to watch.  I kind of let people put on what they wanted, which basically meant that nothing stayed on for a long period of time.  Someone would be like "this reminds me of that movie" and then we ended up not watching anything at all.  Not again.

I'm going to try to think of ideas for 80s themed pumpkins as well.  If anyone has a good one, please leave your ideas in the comment section.  I could use them.  I've seen some very good carvings of gizmo from "Gremlins" and David from "The Lost Boys."  Whether I actually have the skill to pull off those designs, though, is yet to be seen.  I like to think I'm pretty good at pumpkin carving.  I've had some very good ones in the past, but I'm nowhere near competition level, so those designs might be too challenging.  If they come out well, maybe I'll post the pictures on the blog.

Other than that, probably we'll do the usual.  Rock Band will be set up in the blue room, the kitchen will be for refreshments, movies will be in the main room, and people can mill around as they see fit.  Hopefully it won't be raining if anyone wants to sit on the porch to talk.  I would like to have access to board games and table top role-playing games, but we might not be able to because we actually have a room-mate in the extra room this year.  Maybe we can clean up the office and put the games in there.  That might be better anyway so that if people want access to the extra computer.  We'll see.

Anyway, Happy Haunting.  Keep reading and writing.

Glad to Join the Wrimos

Hello all,

I finally got to meet up with a few of the SC writing group involved in National Write a Novel Month and I'm pleased to say that it went very well.  It turned out that I had a good deal in common with them, and I think this is going to be a very good and rewarding experience.  It's very nice making new friends, especially those that are involved in writing. 

Being part of this group has also has made me get into the spirit of "competition," (I only say that loosely...we try to beat each other on word count, but that isn't the main reason we do it.  It's just another motivation that helps us continue to write.) and I'm actually working harder on my writing than I have in a very long time.  It'll be nice to have more people to run ideas by and it feels very good to try to help other people come up with ideas as well.  Getting stuck in writer's block is very easy to do.

"Blood Moon" is up to 80 pages and around 25,000 words.  I think that I can probably hit thirty thousand by Monday if I set aside a little time to write and finish up the chapter that I'm working on and start the next.  If I continue to write at this rate, I'll definitely be done with "Blood Moon" by the time I go to DragonCon.  It's hard to believe that will be coming up so soon. 

This month has flown by.  It occurs to me, I've been so preoccupied with preparing for DragonCon and with writing that I haven't even thought about the Halloween Party.  I usually start planning it several months in advance, but I'm not even sure what I want to be this year.  We'll just have to see.  I'll try to concentrate on that as soon as I get back from DragonCon.  By then, most of the annual Halloween shops should be open, so hopefully I can find a costume ahead of time.  Wish me luck.

Well, I guess that's about all that's new.  Anyway, take care and keep reading and writing. 

Busy, busy, busy!

Hello everyone,

Sorry I missed blogging last week.  I'm going to try to do better.  I joined the WriMo group for South Carolina and I have to say it's really motivated me to write.  I've been a writing machine for the last two weeks.  So far, I'm at 20,000 words in the second novel of the trilogy, "Blood Moon."  I hope that I can keep it up.  Wish me luck.  It really does help me to have my novels planned out and to have a deadline that I'm trying to keep.

I also am getting geared up for Dragoncon and am very excited that I'll be able to attend the writing workshop.  It sounds like Jody Nye got my manuscript and everything is set up.  I'm also planning to pack my steampunk outfit for the masquerade ball.  This party is going to be epic.  :-D

Other than that, there isn't much new to report.  I need to take a look at my website and update a few things.  I'll probably do that later this week.  I also need to make sure that I keep up my housework and get back into my exercise routine.  While I have been working very hard on writing lately, other things sometimes get pushed back, which I don't like.  Still, I don't think you can have everything.  I'll keep you posted on anything new.  Hopefully, I'll have the intro to the new book on the website soon as a writing sample.  Keep reading and Writing!