Halloween in Salem!

After a decade of thinking about it and bailing on the idea until "next year," we've decided to finally rent a room in Salem for Halloween this year. We are not going to spend actual Halloween night in Salem, as I can't justify being stuck in that many seas of people, but maybe a week in the middle of the October.

Hopefully the trees will be changing colors, and the chill will be in the air by this time. I'd like to be there with a lot of people, mind, but not the truly maddening crowds that the Home of Halloween gets on Halloween night. I've watched dozens of videos on YouTube, and it seems that it's difficult to drive around town and get a seat to eat dinner is nigh impossible. So, I'll leave those crowds to the younger folk and head up a bit early.

I'm debating whether to dress up in costume this year. I'm not sure folks will dress up in the middle of October evenings. I'm going to do all the touristy stuff, like visit the Hocus Pocus locations, and depending on the "Squatter rights" of Massachusetts, I'll break in and call the Dennison house my own. But just for October. The current "owners" can have it back the other 11 months of the year...

I'd like to see the witch museum, the 17th century homes, Gallows Hill, etc. I'm hoping to find some fun stuff to do that's under the radar of social media. You know, make friends with a local witchfinder and hang a witch, steal her black cat, or join an angry mob with a pitchfork. You know, the stuff only the locals are privy to and keep hush hush.

Haunted Happenings has been going strong in Salem for the past 40+ years and has changed quite a bit from its first incarnations. What was at first a small, mostly for-locals event catering more to younger crowds has blossomed organically into a world class event worthy of being called the Home of Halloween. I don't know, however, how large this event and holiday celebration would be without the Disney Halloween masterpiece Hocus Pocus. Thankfully we're in the timeline where the film came out and it has become a huge cult classic today so we don't necessarily have to debate what Salem would be like without it.

I have a child-like infatuation with this movie. It is completely adorable and innocent. It has become one of the definitive Halloween films. And having so many filming locations (at least exterior shots) in Salem is reason enough to show up for Halloweentober.

The witch history also is wildly fascinating. I was surprised to learn that not as many women had died during the 1692 witch trials, and that most were hung and not killed by fire. I think one may have been stoned? Or simply crushed to death... But while this is terrible nonetheless, the witch hysteria didn't see hundreds of women killed as every Tom, Dick or Harry accused every woman who spurned their advances to ladies who simply talked out of turn, as Hollywood has made it seem. I think Europe has that sole distinction of killing off whole generations of women for riding the broom.

Anyway, off to the Witch City!

Marketing

Is it ever too early to market your book? This question is retroactive to pre-publishing, too. I know very little about marketing. In fact, I guess I know nothing at all. My plan has always been, from the beginning, to get my story out there . To have people read it - that's the point to all of this. That's why this blog exists. And yet now I find myself searching for new, constructive ways to market this book. So far, I've been searching for an artist for the cover. I have it completely planned out, but I could screw up a stick figure, so I'll leave this to the pros. I'm wondering if it's too soon to design a website. Would a website even work for an unpublished work? I don't know. These are things I am looking into to help market my first novel. I've never had much use for an ego, but is self-promotion really egotistical? Or will it only hasten my prospect for publishing? Hmm.

BEING ELTON ALWINE

This is something that I've not give much thought about, and I'm not one to self-diagnose, but I have to find out if I have an anxiety disorder. All the symptoms are there: sweating, shortness of breath, headaches, etc. The list goes on. It's hard to concentrate, and I'm sick of excuses for why I'm not writing. It's certainly not lack of love or passion. And I am just a bit too affected on Sundays. The Baltimore Ravens are one of my loves in life, but this football team should in no way affect my attitudes and moods after game day . This, to me, is completely unacceptable. As of late, I've also developed an unnatural fear of death. I have witnessed this transformation seemingly outside of myself. I've never actually been the "worry wart" type, and I'm far from letting this behavior continue. Depression, Anxiety - these are words that I have always abhorred ; figments of the Pharmaceutical Industry's Utopian dream. Quite a bit of this d...

As of Today...

Nothing is certainly new. My fingers are still crossed, regarding Marvel. I really think I put together an ambitious letter inquiry for them. Now, if I could just get them to want to see my writing... If not, I will do my best to overwhelm their mail department with inquiry letters for the next few weeks. Eventually, someone's going to write back. I still haven't touched UNIQUE . This has to be a good thing. This is the longest I have gone without opening up the story and fixing something. The movie script project has been without attention lately, too. How unfortunate is the only thing I can think of. For thirty pages I was bursting with energy and creativity. I think I really got caught up in the BLADE script, and that settled me down for a few weeks. I need to get the enthusiasm back! And then there's school. Astronomy is the only class that can retain my interest for an hour and a half. But it's good to have the history lessons refreshed in my mind. It's good t...

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