Halloween Writing from Quarantine

Halloween has always been one of my favorite holidays, and I am usually very excited for the end of October to come around. I love the decorations, the costumes, reading horror novels and watching scary movies. The year 2020 being what it is, there will be no parties and no trick-or-treaters coming by my house. There will probably be no costuming, either.

I learned yesterday that I have been exposed to someone who was confirmed positive for COVID-19, and I’m now on a 14-day quarantine (I am fine so far, and it’s unlikely I have it; the quarantine is only a precaution at this time). Even though Colorado is allowing small gatherings, and I know a number of people who will be taking their kids out tonight to trick-or-treat, I’ll be at home with the lights off. I haven’t decided yet what I want to watch, but looking at my movie collection, I have a number of options: The Sixth Sense, 28 Days Later, Constantine, I am Legend, Alien, Halloween, the entire collection of the X-Files, Stranger Things… I could go on, but that’s more than I can watch in one day. The point is, even though I am stuck at home, I plan to enjoy my Halloween as I can.

One of the Halloween traditions that I started when I was in college was making jambalaya. It began because the recipe I have makes enough for at least a dozen people, and back then, I used to host parties every year. It has been a few years since I hosted a Halloween party; most of the friends we have are now married with kids, and the kids definitely take priority during this holiday. But, I decided I’m going to make jambalaya tonight anyway, and my husband and I can freeze some of the leftovers for later. Jambalaya and scary movies/shows sounds pretty good to me right now.

I will more than likely work on some writing today, as well, though my current project has nothing to do with the holiday. I like to work on my writing projects every day, even if it’s only a couple of paragraphs. Weekends are always better for this, especially when I’m able to carve out a couple hours for myself. I do my best writing when there is less background noise, and little conversation.

On the theme of Halloween, I recently read the book Hex, by Thomas Olde Heuvelt. It’s a supernatural horror novel with some unexpected psychological twists, particularly at the end. It was a good story, but the ending made me decidedly uncomfortable (which I suspect was the author’s intent). If you like horror novels, I’d recommend it – but it is definitely not a book that just anyone will find enjoyable. It took me several days to wrap my head around the ending, and to come to terms with it, but to refrain from spoilers, I’ll leave it at that.

I hope this finds everyone well on this stranger than usual Halloween!

Halloween Writing from Quarantine

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