This Is Halloween

      I started off my Halloween the scariest way imaginable, by getting sick and disregarding my responsibilities to stay in bed all day (candy corn is good for upset stomachs right?). So if you are spending a lazy Halloween like me, here are some creative ways to get your spook on:

1. Night Vale Radio

The internet is already obsessed with this, but if you haven't already listened to Welcome to Night Vale, download the podcasts now on iTunes. They are the most unique, hilarious form of media floating around right now and totally worth the zero dollars you have to pay to listen. The genius of these podcasts, beyond the voice acting, the music, and the writing, is hard to describe.

Check out the Night Vale twitter. It's the most amazing thing that will ever appear in your feed.

2. Welcome to Write Vale

No official association to Welcome to Night Vale, but along the same theme of making ordinary writing tips terrifying. Take a peek if you want a guilty laugh or if you're looking for prompt to write horror.

Also the admin of the blog seems a little concerned about the popularity of his or her posts about murder and violence. It's good when they have a conscience.

3. Surf through Figment's Horror tag

Uncensored gore and new writers. What's not to love?

P.S. The sequel to my Halloween horror is the six page essay I have to write tonight. Ooooo scary.

P.S.S. I now have a proper, writing/book themed tumblr.

To Nano or not to Nano?

     I'm about to drop a bomb on you guys. I'm a procrastinator. Sit down if you need to. Here's a glass of water. A teenager with procrastination issues? Somebody call the Times.

     But what I'm really terrible about is procrastinating with writing. If I get to writing at all, it's always an hour before I go to bed. I put it off and put it off and before I know it's 11 o'clock. For God's sake my url is a joke about me procrastinating on writing. I'm putting it off right now.

     That's why National Novel Writing Month is perfect for me. NaNoWriMo is an online challenge to write a 50,000 word novel in the month of November. It's based on the idea that writers are so afraid of failure that they end up not writing at all, so it's better just to get words on the page. 30 days, 1667 words a day, no excuses. I've done it for the past three years and it's been amazing every time.

     But this year I'm having second thoughts. Thoughts beyond the usual "I don't have time to write an entire novel in a month what am I thinking oh my god." I've just started a new novel and I don't want to abandon it to work on another project. NaNoWriMo has a way of completely wiping your brain clean from the shear immensity of the work and that's not the step creatively I need to be taking now. But I also know that after three years, I would feel weird not doing it this November.

     So here's the compromise. I will write every day in the month of November. It doesn't have to be 1667 words, but it must be something. No excuses, no procrastination. Emma write already.