Get yer #NaNo buttons here!

Everyone needs a little shove over the cliff to join NaNo, spruce up your blog with these handy buttons I whipped up. MLs, feel free to use as incentive/threats for your region!

Click on the graphic then right-click on it and save to your hard drive.

Victorian Halloween costumes with a dash of WTF

I'm fascinated by early photography but not the "Look! A landscape!" photos or stiffly posed people, I like a little WTF to make it sassy. Since Halloween is about as messed up as you can get and not be arrested, I've combined the two with my favorite pics from the late 19th century - early 20th century.

And a charming selection of WTFery.

Update: I've added even more WTFery!

Pendulum ghosts

I talked the 14-year-old into posing for pendulum photos and a video tonight. It wasn't easy since it had nothing to do with Jaden Smith or Justin Beiber but I lied and told her they totally loved pendulums and talking to dead people. Er, right. She eventually sat down and swung that bad thing like a pro but we didn't have luck in answering questions more burning than:

"Will I become a famous ecologist and live on a submarine with my dog, Pablo?"

and

"Do ghosts really like cheese and have they seen my glasses?"

The answer to both questions was stillness. Meh, we'll try again tomorrow. As for the video, it's trapped on my phone because of size. Any suggestions?

October crept in early one morning, stuck its finger up my nose and demanded waffles

circa 2004

Okay, it was Vyolette. But the month of October waits for no woman in the Graham household. The girls are already busy designing costumes, plotting tricks on unsuspecting neighbors and mapping out trick-or-treating routes like pros. We've slowed down the festivities, no one has drug out the skellies yet to hide in the trees but I suspect it won't be long now.


I'll be making peanut butter eyeballs for Kindergarten and teaching five-year-olds how to throw random body parts in a bucket for prizes. I get to tell them ghost tales and poems from those little stories I never got around to submitting and make brain cakes and zombie cupcakes for friends.

Now for the big people. I've decided to do my own version of the 13 Days o'Halloween and write up 13 true ghost stories for Wee Ghosties in the last half of the month. My writers are getting into the spirit at An Army of Ermas by dipping their toes into my world with their own ghost stories every Monday/Wednesday/Friday, be sure to check their spooky selves out.

So what are you doing for Halloween? Dressing up and going out or being witch bait?