The Fear Behind the Smiles

Things I Should Be Doing.... but I'm Not

I should be writing. I mean real writing on real projects, but I'm not. Likewise, I should also be putting together an ad spread for Carpe Nocturne magazine. And one more thing gets added to the list of Things I Should Be Doing.

Disliking my current feelings of hog-dom (we went to Chili's and I crammed more fried food down my gullet than I care to admit in polite company), and fighting the urge to just be slothful, I said to myself 'You should use this lazy time wisely and do some writing.' And here we are. Not doing the actual writing I had intended to do.

There are knitting projects gathered around me that should really have been done long ago, but again, lost interest. Now I can feel them scowling at me from their cute little project bags as they gather dust beneath my desk. Sorry, guys, I've got better nothings to do right now. Except for you, there, aqua socks. You may actually get done, and only because you lack the effort and concentration of your fellow knitting projects, so don't look so smug.

I blame the parade of non-costumed children milling around town last night for my current ennui. Don't get me wrong, my lights were off and I had no intention of parting with any chocolate in the house, so it didn't really matter that there were children running amuck with no costumes. But... there were children running around with NO COSTUMES. On Halloween, fer gawd's sake. And their parents let them go out like that?? What the hell, America? First we let the pledge of allegiance slide out of public schools and now no costumes on Halloween? Seriously?

OK, granted, some folks may consider Halloween a sin, but that's easy: DON'T LET YOUR KIDS OUT OF THE HOUSE ON HALLOWEEN. You can't have it both ways. All or nothing, parents. So if you're going to bring your kid out, they best be wearing a costume.

If you let your un-costumed kid out of the house expecting candy for no effort, well... you're just setting them up for failure in life. Like a stripper expecting a dollar when they're not even dancing and/or showing skin. And we certainly wouldn't hand out a dollar to someone doing nothing, right? Hell, we even hold the homeless to some standards before we give a handout. So why teach the kids at this most fundamentally basic level that it's okay to expect to be rewarded for total lack of effort?

Not that I'm going to share my candy with your kids anyway. I earned that candy and it's mine, dammit. In fact, if your kid knocks on my door and isn't sporting a costume but has a bag of candy, I'm totally taking some as Halloween tax. And you know I'll be dressed up when I do it, too.

Writing by the Light of a MacBook and Candles

The pic at the right has nothing to do with the obsession du cette nuit, but I thought I would share, nonetheless. It was my avatar's Halloween costume at the virtual night club I run in Second Life called The Hanging Cages. This year I went as Lilith from my own novels. And yeah, it was a lot of fun.

Tonight found me in the throes of a writing binge. Rather than force it away with mindless Facebooking or random surfing, I buckled down and did what any goth gal would do: I lit a ton of candles and put the band Rome on a loop. I got so caught up in the yummy scented candles and atmosphere that I kind of forgot to write. I jotted down something instead that looks much more like Enochian angelic script. I have no idea what it means, but I'm assured that it'll be a hit. Somewhere. Someday.

Tonight found me working partially on the latest project: The Nemesis Diary (a working title that I may end up changing after finding out there's a show with a name that's close to it, and I don't want the two confused for one another).

I posted some of it to my Facebook page (feel free to friend me: suzi.m.author).