There have been several excellent posts here this month about costumes and dressing our characters, so I thought I would take a bit of a divergent path with my post today.  Have you ever stopped to think that life is so much like the bag of Halloween candy that we used to get when we went out trick-or-treating? The bag would fill up with all kinds of unknown things as we dashed through the darkness going from house to house shouting, "Trick or treat." The air was filled with electric excitement as we anticipated enjoying all the goodies that were filling our bags. Then sometimes as we walked along the sidewalk, we'd reach into the bag and pluck something out, not really knowing what we were going to get. Maybe it would be something really scrumptious, like our favorite candy bar. Or maybe it would be just a simple piece of peppermint wrapped in plastic. Or the dreaded apple. Life is like that. Often we reach into each day and we don't know what we'r...

There are two ways to look at Halloween. You can make it fun with great costumes at a party with monster music. Or you can make it scary. This tribute trailer to The Shining should put you in the mood. ------------------------ Patricia Stoltey is a mystery author, blogger, and critique group facilitator. Active in promoting authors in several genres, she also helps local unpublished writers learn the critical skills of manuscript revision and self-editing. For information about Patricia’s Sylvia and Willie mystery series, visit her website and her blog . You can also find her on Facebook (Patricia Stoltey) and Twitter (@PStoltey).