In a place where the oak canopy opens and there is full sunshine, the Seminole-Wekiva Trail asks what you want before you die. A little apart from the murals of Paint the Trail, a section is painted with chalkboard paint. There's chalk to write your dreams. What do you want to do before you die? I stopped when … Continue reading Dreams and Summer Camp (NaNoWriMo)
I started reading Stephen King stories in elementary school, starting with the newly published paperback edition of “The Shining” after my mother was through reading it. I’d heard it was scary, and I liked scary. I saw the movie in the theater when I was ten. I was enrapt. And since that time, as Stephen King books came out, … Continue reading Stephen King, Coincidences, and Dementia
Red Bellied by Victoria Nations Red hair spilling down, nearly as bright as the red staining her belly
THERE ARE GHOSTS IN THE GROVES (II) by Victoria Nations There are ghosts in the groves picking oranges that fall through the net sacks and bounce onto the ground. The oranges are too bright to be anything but real. They look alive. The ghosts flit about, preoccupied by the work. They don’t notice the oranges … Continue reading THERE ARE GHOSTS IN THE GROVES (II)
The Midnight Society - a wonderful collection of horror and paranormal writers and literary folk - is hosting #SpookyAllYear, a blog hop to add a little horror and spooky fun through the year. And today is the first day! Folks posting creepy stuff on the 2nd and 4th Wednesdays of each month will be linking to their site. … Continue reading #SpookyAllYear
This week, I’m spending a few days writing in a mostly empty house on a bluff above a lake. People have passed in this house. I walk the halls with my laptop, listening for them. But all I hear are the waves lapping on the shore. Sounds magical, like the perfect writing spot, doesn’t it? … Continue reading Disciplined Porch Writing – Day 6 of NaNoWriMo
Happy, happy Halloween! It's the finale of my celebration of October and the spooky things that emerge at this time of year. My Halloween morning was perfect: I spent it running through the woods from zombies and a swamp monster. The MudWalk is a tradition for elementary school kids in our area. They visit the Environmental Studies Center and … Continue reading Running Through The Swamp – Halloween At Last
The Halloween shelves are shrinking with the last of the cackling skeleton brides and tombstones. There are some turkeys overlapping them, but Christmas and winter holidays are coming on strong. I see you, giant nutcrackers and elves, just on the other side of the shelf. Halloween is almost here, our last revelry of this spooky season, … Continue reading Christmas Is Creeping Up Behind You – 1 Day Until Halloween
There were heavy trunks full of old records in the work shop, the oldest from the 1930's. They were stored in newspapers that tracked with their eras, or the eras that my parents collected the albums. Amongst them, I found an old Halloween ad for the Harvest House Cafeteria. Details on Harvest House Cafeteria are … Continue reading Throwback Thursday from 1963 – 2 Days Until Halloween
In the movie Crimson Peak, Lucille Sharpe (the dark sister who holds the keys to the family manse) tells the gothic heroine, "It is a monstrous love. And it makes monsters of us all." Her version of love is menacing and possibly mad, as the best monsters are. My favorite monsters pursue their victims with a … Continue reading A Monstrous Love – 4 Days Until Halloween
Victoria Nations 