Scary Pumpkin

Well, I think it’s the scariest pumpkin of them all. Total nightmare fuel!  How about you?

Vote!  Vote!  Vote!  Vote!  Vote!  Vote!  Vote!  Vote! 

The First Draft Scare: A Halloween Tale of Terror

It’s been a long time since I’ve been scared on Halloween, the American holiday that repackages fright and death into fun and games. But today, I got my heart pounding. Today was the day I hauled out the NaNoWriMo draft of my novel and looked at it for the first time since August.

It’s been almost a month since I promised to do this, and only three days before the day I’m committed to reading my opening to the good people at R-SPEC (Rochester Speculative Literature Association). I have been actively avoiding reading what I wrote, or even thinking about it very much. At first it was because, really, you should let your draft sit for a bit before you start editing. Everyone knows that, right? And then the school year started and I had a ton to do to get my classes off and running. And I keep finding other things to work on (this blog, for example). But I made a promise, and today I finally took that deep breath, squared my shoulders, and opened that scary folder, the one labeled Draft 1. And what did I see?

Here It Comes: That First Red Leaf

The burning bush shrubs in our front yard turn the most amazing red color each fall, but today this first, lonely red leaf caught me by surprise, and I had to stop in the rain to grab a picture. Because we all know what this means. Summer is coming to an end.