Playing Pretend, Vampires and Dark Alleys... Oh My!

Arrrrgh! I love Halloween!

Halloween is a holiday purely made for my little pirate enjoyment. The whole thought of dressing up like someone your not appeals to my devious heart. You can pretend to be anything you want for a whole day. How great is that? You can be a superhero (like Batman or if you’re Hellion, you might like Capt’n Jack Sparrow, and don’t try to tell her he’s not a superhero. She’ll bite you.) Or you could be the heroine, (*ahem* Stephanie Plum or Kiera Knightly’s Elizabeth). Or you could be something complete supernatural… like a vampire.

When I think of Halloween, I think of vampires. In the dark. Making their claim on human prey. I imagine I’m the one being watched, followed, marked to be bled.

“I could tell he was behind me. It wasn’t the steady thumping on the pavement behind me. No, there was no sound behind me, but it was the way the wind whispered in my ear. Giving me warning. Telling me that even though there were shadows behind me, he was still there. Stalking me. Making me his prey. Oh yes, I knew, with a little shock of pleasure deep within my black soul. Once I stepped into the alley, he would push me against the wall and make me his. He was vampire. My blood was all he knew.”

Ever since I was a little girl, I’ve wanted to be a vampire. I’ve always wanted the sharp canines, the ability to kick ass and heal myself, literally do anything within my reach because I’ve been alive so long I don’t have anything to worry about other than the sun (and who needs that anyway). Halloween is that one time for me to dream about being something I can’t be. Writing was that way for me for a long time as well.

Sometimes it just takes that one day for you to get the courage to be the one thing you’ve always wanted to be. It’s the day when you wake up determined to set out on your journey, even if it is just for one day. You have to start somewhere. With every great adventure, there is a beginning. And if it takes dressing up like everyone else to realize that you’re finally ready to break free from the mold and be who you were destined to be (whether it be a vampire or an writer), take that first step. Take that deep breath and walk over the edge. For one day a year I pretend to be a vampire. From now on, for the rest of the days, I will be a writer. I will stop pretending. I will start doing.

Halloween is just one day a year, but use it as a mind set. Be what you want to be. If you want to be a writer, don’t just want it. Be it.

Now, if you could be one thing for Halloween what would it be and how would it affect your writing?