Bwah-ha-ha!!!! Happy Halloween!

Posted by Jeanne Adams Oct 31 2007, 5:02 pm in Jeanne Adams

by Jeanne Adams

HAPPY HALLOWEEEEEEEN!

Are you going Trick-or-Treating tonight? I hope so. I love Halloween. It’s my favorite holiday. There’s just nothing like being able to play dress up as an adult, not to mention watching the kids decide who and what they want to be. Its really a study in psychology, in some ways. Do they want to be a powerful wizard? A diminutive fairy? A princess or prince? An Army Man or a baseball player? I think it shows what kids love and what they fear, both of which often show in the choice they make. Then again, sometimes, it’s just fun.

Same thing with pumpkins. My older son and I always carve pumpkins together. We have seven this year, lining the walk. It’s the most fun I have all year, dragging out the carving tools, deciding on faces, arguing about whether the face is scary enough or not. I haven’t mentioned to him that one of the reasons people started carving scary faces on gourds, turnips, and various members of the squash family was to scare evil away from the door and protect the dwelling place from harm. He probably wouldn’t care even if I did tell him, he just likes carving the pumpkins and so do I. Same thing with the apples we cut and cook for Halloween dinner, reading the seeds to see if fortune favors us for the coming year. They were originally symbolic of the harvest, of plenty and of the fertility that carries through to spring, culminating in the birth of lambs and calves aplenty, hopefully. Now, they’re just great fare on a cool night.

Off they’ll tramp, my Baseball Guy, my Dalmatian, and their Dad to knock on doors and ring bells, laughing with their friends and delighting in their loot. As writers, we conjure up images, and people, some scary, some not. We create demons – inner and outer – and divas with the proverbial stroke of the pen. Just like Halloween, our characters can be anyone or anything we choose.

What would you choose to be, on Halloween, if you could be anything and anyone? Would you be a sorceress or a wizard? A queen or a peasant girl? Was there ever a costume you wish you could have had, just for ONE day, that you didn’t get? What was your favorite Halloween as a child?

Success guru Jack Canfield of Chicken Soup for the Soul fame does an amazing thing in his workshops. He throws a Come as You Will Be Party. He has people invision themselves with all their wishes fulfilled, arriving at the party as they Will Be. If you could have three Halloween Wishes, and go to the party as you Will Be, what would you be?

30 Comments

Ghosts and Goblins and Ghouls, Oh My!

Posted by Jo Robertson Oct 30 2007, 5:55 pm in books, Hollywood, Jo Robertson, movies

by Jo Robertson Psychologists theorize about why people enjoy being scared half to death in the name of fun. Rides at amusement parks, scary movies, and recklessly fast driving all apparently give risk-takers some sort of vicarious thrill. But what’s so fun about being frightened? Those same doctors suggest that scary movies and books, fast thrills, and watching others engage in risk-taking behavior provide a release for our natural inclination for daring excitement in a safe environment. In a movie we can watch the heroine get the mysterious phone call, hear a strange noise, and YEP go into the basement
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31 Comments

And the winnahs are . . .

Posted by Nancy Northcott Oct 30 2007, 10:41 am in prizes

Here are winners from some recent giveaways: In the drawing for Gerri Russell’s books: A copy of The Warrior Trainer goes to Keira Soleore, and a copy of Warrior’s Bride goes to Cherie J. To claim your prizes, e-mail your snail mail addy to Gerri: gerri AT gerrirussell DOT net. In the drawing for a $10 Borders gift card from Nikki Nelson-Hicks’s paranormal blog, the winner is Dianna! To claim your prize, please e-mail your snail mail addy to Caren: carencrane AT gmail DOT com. Congratulations, ladies, and thanks to all our visitors and commenters!

4 Comments

Nikki Nelson-Hicks: Where the Haunted Things Are

Posted by Caren Crane Oct 29 2007, 4:01 am in Caren Crane, guest blogger, Halloween, prizes

interviewed by Caren Crane Today, we welcome to the Bandit Lair a true Ghost Hunter and seeker of things that go bump in the night. Nikki Nelson-Hicks has pursued knowledge of all things paranormal since she was a child. Nikki is also a writer of short stories with a sometimes slight and sometimes quite lethal paranormal bent. With Halloween just around the corner and the paranormal romance market hot, Hot, HOT, we wanted to take a closer look into this extraordinary field of investigation and see what makes a Ghost Hunter tick. Welcome to Romance Bandits, Nikki! Can you tell
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47 Comments

CHOCOLATE

Posted by Suzanne Ferrell Oct 28 2007, 4:18 am in chocolate, M and M's, writing life

By Suzanne Welsh I have a motto at my house: CHOCOLATE OR HOMICIDE, YOU DECIDE. Raising 3 children, all prone to talking a lot and all born within 3 years tends to make a mother learn patience. If not, at least learn to hide her own personal stash of Chocolate. Once the kids discovered this stash, we had a heart-to-heart talk. I talked and for once, they listened! I explained that mom needed her chocolate to keep from KILLING them. Suddenly, the stash was safe from little hands. I find chocolate to have medicinal puproses too. Ibuprophen, Coke and chocolate
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51 Comments

Getting to Know You

Posted by Guest Oct 27 2007, 3:32 pm in Uncategorized

By Kirsten Scott After I graduated from college, I spent a couple of years working in outdoor education, doing group team building and leadership development. One of the standard parts of the day was the “get to know you game.” This morning, my husband and I were brainstorming for activities for a church group he’s leading, and I recalled one particular game that I always enjoyed. I thought maybe we could play it here on the blog. Sort of a virtual get to know you. So I’m going to give you the names of four animals that represent different ways
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37 Comments

Gerri Russell on Building a Career

Posted by Nancy Northcott Oct 26 2007, 4:02 am in career, Gerri Russell, ideas, research, Scotland

interview by Nancy Northcott Your first book, The Warrior Trainer, was a January release. Now you have your second, Warrior’s Bride, on the shelves. Yet your success was a long time in coming, as you told our own Anna Campbell in the September issue of The Romance Writer’s Report. How did you persevere to reach this point? Partly it was having faith in what I wanted, partly it was being too stubborn to give up. I had to ask myself every day if I wanted to be published. If I wanted to publish, then I had to do what it
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54 Comments

The Call … Finally!!!

Posted by Kate Carlisle Oct 25 2007, 6:25 am in first sale, Kate Carlisle, The Call

By KateWill it ever ring? Will they ever call? They never call. Sigh. I think I’ve been waiting for “The Call” since … well, probably since I had a phone that looks like this one. Fifty years? Okay, maybe not that long. Maybe only ten or twenty years. But the waiting is over, my friends. I GOT THE CALL!!! And oh, it was a sweet moment. And at the risk of sounding really silly–like that’s ever stopped me!–I’ve got to tell you, everything changed in that single moment when my agents told me that a senior editor at a top
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Meet Margie Lawson, Psychologist, Writer, Presenter

Posted by Guest Oct 24 2007, 11:33 am in guest blogger, Margie Lawson

by KJ Howe If you haven’t heard about Margie Lawson, you’re in for a real treat today. Margie’s classes and lecture packets will change the way you read and write fiction. Her explanation of non-verbal communication, rhetorical devices, and writing craft will revolutionize your writing! The Bandits are lucky to have her on board to talk about Self-Defeating behaviors–a topic that touches most writers. Let’s get Margie to help us defeat our demons today! Championing Your Dayby Margie Lawson — Psychologist, Writer, Presenter Hello Everyone! A big THANK YOU to KJ HOWE for inviting me to guest blog today. I
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143 Comments

Chesty History

Posted by Donna MacMeans Oct 23 2007, 4:01 am in Donna's posts, T-shirts

by Donna MacMeans The holidays will soon be upon us. I see the signs everywhere. It’s not the trees turning colors, it’s not that maternal instinct to bake, it’s the plethora of catalogues that are overflowing my mailbox. Yes, every vendor on earth is sending me their holiday catalogue ON A WEEKLY BASIS! I suspect they do it because they know my weakness. I love looking at the Tshirts. Not to buy, just to read. I did a little research on Tshirt history. There appears to be a dispute over exactly when the light undershirt came into being, but American
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