Costumes, Candy & Spider Webs #MFRWauthor 52-Week #Blog Challenge

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This week’s prompt in the MFRWauthor 52-Week Blog Challenge is My Favorite Holiday, and mine is Halloween.

What’s not to like? You get to decorate the house and/or yard and dress up in a fun costume (if you wish), hand out or eat candy, and socialize with friends and neighbors.

As a child, I loved all the holidays, but Halloween was the only one that let me get dressed up and pretend to be someone I’m not. My earliest costume was Little Red Riding Hood, sewn by my mother. It comprised a red skirt and matching cape, which I wore with a white blouse, and of course, I carried a basket over one arm. I think that might have been my all time favorite.

After that I alternated between a bride costume and a witch costume for a while. Being a witch was way more fun.

gypsy fortune tellerOnce, as an adult, I went to a party dressed as a gypsy woman, only to be asked if I was supposed to me a milk maid! That was a lowering experience, I must say. I couldn’t shake that wholesome look no matter how hard I tried.

Since I visited Harry Potter World back in April, I’m all set for Halloween this year (almost). I have my Ravenclaw robe and my wand; all I need is a witch hat. I’ll be dressing up for the OCCRWA Birthday Bash on Oct. 21. The theme is Victors, Villains & Vixens. Not sure exactly who I’ll be, but I’ll come up with an appropriate persona.

LM at Harry Potter WorldOn Halloween Eve, I’ll be dressed as a Hogwarts professor, and my niece Patty will be in full pirate regalia. She can’t wait. No doubt she’ll have the house decorated with skeletons and spider webs.

What’s your favorite holiday?

Linda

As always, click on the linky list below for more fave holidays in the #MFRWauthor 52-Week Blog Challenge.

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Telling Stories #MFRWAuthor #Blog Challenge #amwriting

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This week’s prompt in the #MFRWauthor 52-Week #Blog Challenge is Why I Write. That’s a good question and I don’t know that I have a good answer.

Mostly it’s because I’m a book junkie and have been since childhood. I fell in love with the written word and the power of story as a child and the magic never wanes. I love to read books and I love to tell stories. In my opinion, writers of popular fiction (romance, mystery, fantasy, etc.) are storytellers rather than writers. You can write a non-fiction book or article and provide useful, interesting, factual information, but when you write a piece of fiction, you are telling a story. And I love telling stories.

Wired For Story coverI’ve been slowly working my way through Lisa Cron’s book, Wired for Story: The Writer’s Guide to Using Brain Science to Hook Readers from the Very First Sentence and taking the time to mark relevant passages and ponder what she said. The important takeaway is that scientists now know that the human brain is wired for story. It’s how we learn.

Besides finding that fact fascinating, I also find myself awed by the power of storytelling. In light of this revelation, I think it’s more important than ever for fiction writers to “get it right”. For instance, readers expect to learn a little history when they pick up a historical novel. I try to do my best to convey the period as accurately as possible, while not dwelling on the more unpleasant aspects of times past. Like the smelly horse dung in the street and the lack of sanitation, etc. You get the drift. But I also try to stay true to actual historical facts. It’s a balancing act, and the things that trip us up are the ones we didn’t think we had to look up.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on the subject.

Linda

As always, click on the linky list below to find out why other romance authors write.

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