It’s time to start a new book.
NaNoWriMo begins on Sunday, and the word is that some 150,000 adults and 35,000 kids and teens will be up for the challenge of writing 50,000 words in a mere 30 days (damn, that’s a lot of zeroes in one sentence). I’ve registered twice for this crazy thing, but I’ve never gotten around to actually doing it. But I’m up for it this year. The timing is perfect. I need to work on something new so I don’t have the energy to obsess over every rejection and wonder whether I should be writing at all.
I have a pretty concrete idea for the next novel, which, under normal circumstances, would be enough to get me started, but with a goal of 50K in a month’s time, I’m going to have to flesh it out a bit more before I start writing. So that’s this weekend’s project (in between giving out candy and watching horror movies). I need a beginning, middle, and an end. I’ve tried writing a novel before with no idea of where it was going, and it was a gigantic mess. A little planning is good.
Speaking of candy and horror movies, it should be no surprise to anyone that Halloween is my favorite time of year. October in general, actually. The leaves turning yellow and orange (God, I miss the view of the Credit River from the Burhamthorpe Road bridge where I grew up – someone email me a picture, please!), Thanksgiving, Halloween, the way the air smells as it turns from cool to cold… October is the best month ever.
And boy do I love Halloween. Ghosts and ghouls and goblins, oh my! My favorite horror writer is, obviously, Stephen King (and when I was younger, Clive Barker, who wrote the Books of Blood series). Favorite horror books are IT, Pet Sematary, Thinner, Carrie, Salem’s Lot, Misery, and Interview with a Vampire (by Anne Rice).
Favorite horror movies are The Exorcist (which gets my vote for Scariest Movie Ever), Carrie, Interview with a Vampire, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, The Others, and The Silence of the Lambs (which could be classified as a thriller, but it’s scary as hell, whatever the genre). Oh, and Witchboard, a B-movie groaner that scared the shit out of me when I was 16. I watched it alone one Saturday night when my parents were at the cottage for the weekend… so not a good idea. Don’t play with a Ouija board, kids! A Ouija board is not your friend!
What are your favorites?
And on that note…
;} catch(e) {})
By the way, if you’re dressing up this year, please try to do Halloween justice and be something evil. I’m so tired of people – girls, especially – using Halloween as an excuse to pair a slutty outfit with some kind of animal ears. Ladies, we have all year to dress like Playboy Bunnies (and I say this without malice or judgment – back in my club days, I rocked the midriff top, mini-skirt, and platform heels, as did most of my girlfriends).
But Halloween is special. When else can you walk around in public with brain matter all over your face? When else can you walk into a grocery store with ragged, bleeding stumps instead of arms, and have people smile at you appreciatively?
It’s Halloween. Go scare someone.