Happy Halloween!

My favorite day of the year has arrived!

I've got six giant bags of candy, a front yard full of tombstones and spider webs, and I'll be seeing some of my favorite people tonight, so I'm one happy ghoul! I love seeing all the little kids dressed up, dragging their overloaded bags of treats as they climb my steps, looking for more. Witches, fairies, superheroes, even the killer clowns! I love seeing their parents watching proudly from the sidewalk, especially those who get into the spirit with them by dressing up themselves.

I didn't go as all out on the decorating this year as I usually do - I'm on deadline and have been concentrating on the new book instead - but I'm definitely still in the "spirit"! I plan to walk the neighborhood myself this year and see what everybody else has done to decorate (the people across the street from me have an actual 'lightning and thunder' machine on the roof of their house!)

I hope your plans include a little wandering around in the dark, scaring up some candy. Extra points to anyone wearing a costume for the evening! Happy Halloween, ghoulfriends!

Do You Like Scary Movies?

Halloween is almost here, and I've been watching too many scary movies! I'm blogging about them today over at Writers At Play, and if you stop by and tell me your favorite scary movie of all time, you'll be eligible to win a copy of WEDDINGS FROM HELL, autographed by Jeaniene Frost and me!

Talented People Blow Me Away

Well, I finally watched the taped version of last Saturday night's SNL (sadly, I couldn't seem to stay up until 11:30 that night), and yes, the Sarah Palin/Tina Fey silliness was awesome, and watching a 9 month pregnant Amy Pohler do a political rap during Weekend Update was utterly priceless. :-) (I was a bit worried about her water breaking on national TV, though!)

But who really blew me away was SNL's musical guest, a debut British soul/pop singer named Adele. I couldn't wait to get on the Internet this morning and download her CD to my IPod. If you want to hear some great music, visit this site to hear "Make You Feel My Love", or watch this cool video of my new favorite song, "Chasing Pavements".

Way to go, Adele. I wish you every success!

And The Winners Are...

Congratulations to the lucky winners of my October "Come To The Dark Side, We Have Cookies" Contest!

Brenda Erwin won the chocolate Tower of Fright, while Kristin Bennett, Vickie Marise, Mikael Williamson, Gigi Fioresi and Gina Growe each won a Coffin Tin full of skeleton mints and assorted goodies from some of my favorite authors!

Considering that I had over 600 entries (man, people obviously really like cookies!), I think Brenda, Kristin, Vickie, Mikael, Gigi and Gina have all got some ghoulishly great luck going for them!

Congratulations, ghoulfriends!

Have a sweet Halloween! :-)

Too Darn Crafty For My Own Good!

Are you sick of Halloween yet? Not me! :-)

What I am sick of is the low standards (and high prices!) of some of the decorations. For example, have you ever gone to a craft store looking for a Halloween wreath for your front door? (Yes, I know I could get a motion-activated something or other, but those things drive me nuts.) Well, I've looked and looked, and what it appears to me is that the craft stores take regular floral wreaths, stick a few pumpkins and/or scarecrows on them, double the price, and call it Halloween. Nope.

So I decided to make my own, and I think it turned out "boo-tifully"! (c'mon, you knew I was going to say that, didn't you?)

You can make one, too, if you're the crafty type, and here's how:

I took your average grapevine wreath (which will run you between $3-15 dollars, depending on how big of one you buy, and the more "irregular" and "grapeviney" the better), and spray painted it black (I already had the black spray paint). I bought black long-stemmed roses ($1.00 apiece) and pulled off all the black leaves, bought plastic floral garnishes in two shades of purple for .49 cents apiece, some black and purple ribbon (about $4.00). The little skulls and smaller tombstones are actually candles I bought for about .50 cents apiece, and the bigger one is a hanging plaque I got on sale for $5.00. The raven was the most expensive thing on it - he put me back $9.99, but I've seen them cheaper. The words 'scary', 'trick' and 'treat' came from the bargain bin at the craft store, costing me less than $3.00. (Oh, and you'll need a glue gun, which I already had, but they're really not expensive.)

All total, I figure I spent about $30.00 bucks and some time, but I have a great, big, totally awesome looking wreath (if I do say so myself!). You could make a much smaller one for about $10.00.

Any other "crafters" out there?

Halloween Hatchlings

Okay, so in my never-ending search for Halloween fun, I found this cute little game that is truly addictive - try it and see! (FYI, I made it to level 17) LOL Here's the description, and it's super easy to play. Skip the ad, and get right to it! (the instructions are at the bottom if you need them)



The old Count is up to no good as usual. He has created a new breed of monster and is about to release them upon the world this Halloween. You, Snuffit The Vampire Slayer, must kill the hatchlings before the count breeds enough to release.

Instructions:
Click on groups of two or more to destroy the hatchlings. More Hatchlings will spawn every time the blood tube empties, don't let them reach the top!!

PRISM Contest

More great news! (man, what a horn-tooter I am this week, hm? LOL)

I just got the news that DEAD GIRLS ARE EASY has won First Place in the 2008 PRISM contest, which is sponsored by the Fantasy, Futuristic and Paranormal (FF&P) Chapter of Romance Writers of America!

I remember reading about this contest several years ago, and looking forward to the day when I could enter, so I was really tickled to win 1st Place.

Plus they gave me this cool graphic to put on my website. :-)

You're The One That I Haunt - The Cover!

Woohoo!! I finally got permission to unveil the cover of my upcoming February release, You're the One That I Haunt!

It's a whole new look from the first two books, and I'll be honest - when I first saw it I had two thoughts:

1) Wow! Cool cover! and

2) She looks like she's going to kick my ass at any moment

LOL

Overall, I love it - the art department at HarperCollins listened to my input and gave me everything I wanted: a graveyard scene, a spooky vibe, a cool font, hot pink lettering, and a sexy, dark-haired cool-looking chick. It's not their fault if they didn't get Nicki quite right... Nicki has shorter hair, and she's not a kick-ass. She's a normal person who gets scared and makes mistakes and would rather laugh than cry, knows how to stand up for herself but doesn't go looking for a fight. I would've loved a naughty expression on her face because, well... she's naughty...but I ain't complainin' - I think it's an awesome cover. What do you think?

A Virtual Graveyard - A'Haunting We Will Go!

I just updated my website for October, which is something I look forward to (Halloween-obsessed-closet-computer nerd that I am!). Every year I do a special Halloween page, and this year I decided to do a "virtual graveyard".

I created custom tombstones that link to other fun sites, including my favorite Halloween recipes, Halloween jokes, ghost stories, ghost photos, and a special slideshow presentation of my annual Halloween party. (Yes, I'm weird. But it's so much fun!)

All you have to do is figure out which tombstones lead somewhere, and which ones don't. :-) Have fun!

Up For An Award At Night Owl Romance

Got a second?

I just found out this morning that A Match Made In Hell is up for Best Paranormal Romance at Night Owl Romance Reviews - if you vote for me, I'll be your BFF! :-)

Just click the graphic, then scroll halfway down the page (I'm in the first column on the left).

My "Semi"-Triumphant Return From The Dead

I've been sick as a dog all week, folks. (Where did that saying come from, anyway?) Today is the first day I've been at my computer since early Monday morning when I succumbed to the creeping crud. I feel like I've been on an episode of "Lost" - deadlines are looming, the financial markets are in a tailspin and I have some fabulous news to share, but since I'm still feeling icky, I'm going back to bed and will share it with you over the weekend.

It's too good to share when I can't squeal properly. :-)